KTMrad

From Stewards of the Sequoia......... Victory for Forest Health For Immediate Release Federal investigators recently concluded the Forest Service acted properly in felling hazardous trees in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, bringing to a quiet end a probe loudly sought by congressional Democrats based on complaints filed by Save America’s Forests & local group Sequoia Forestkeepers. The Giant Sequoia Trees are truly monumental, some having been around since before Christ. There is grave danger of them being incinerated due to many surrounding dead & dying trees caused by a hundred years of fire suppression combined with decades of lawsuits filed by anti groups to block active management. Fortunately the Forest Service decided to clear dead trees in a small area around some of the most special Giant Sequoias trees on the Trail of 100 Giants, but even after the project was done, with excellent results, the anti’s complained. They claimed Giant Sequoia trees had been chopped down, but investigators found this as well as all their other allegations to be untrue. Thousands of miles away a federal judge rejected an attempt by the New Hampshire Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society and the Center for Biological Diversity to halt two logging operations in White Mountain National Forest. It came down to wanting the judge to intervene while the anti groups succeeded in making the logging operations unprofitable through delay. Meanwhile in Humboldt County the owner of the local logging company hiked in to deliver his message to tree sitters who protested logging there for decades. “Come down out of the sky.” He told them ”The war is over”. After he explained the logging companies sustainable plan for renewable tree harvesting, tree sitters abandoned their perches in favor of a truce to allow logging of as much timber as the forest produces each year while leaving the old growth untouched. Now that loggers & tree sitters have ended the war, perhaps through public pressure anti groups can be persuaded to drop their swords & stop filing lawsuits which are incinerating our forest & wildlife while costing taxpayers billions. Find out how we can promote better stewardship of the land at: http://www.stewardsofthesequoia.org/SaveOurForests.html The future of our forests are at stake. Chris Horgan Executive Director Stewards of the Sequoia Division of CTUC 501c3 non profit

to video on my last day of the TAT, just before dark, heading towards Port Orford. I rounded a corner and there was a huge Bull Elk and he started to run along ahead of me, so I reached into my tank bag without stopping, grabbed my camera, turned it to video mode and rode one-handed while holding the camera, catching the elk running ahead for almost 2 minutes.........not a great video, but a very cool experience. The elk was bigger than a horse, with a huge rack about 4 feet tall above his head !!

from TAT, outside Tiller/Drew, Oregon. The trail took us on some old, overgrown trails in sections, which were sometime pretty challenging on the big bikes.At the end of video, you hear the bike stall and I laugh, as I tipover on the trail ....After moving my tripod, I set up the camera to shoot uphill as I went up. Hope you have your sound on.....you can hear me try to get going 5 times at the beginning of the video, then finally get moving up the steep, loose rocks and make it to the top........there's a long pause in between, so you can fast forward towards the end as I walk down to get my camera afterwards.

We're in West Pueblo having out rear tires changed. Tomorrow we start the TAT. Left Tuesday night at 9:00pm, got to Gila Bend, AZ at 1:30am.....300 miles. Wednesday, close to 500 miles to Cortez, Colorado. Thursday, close to 400 miles to Salida, Colorado. Today, just 150 miles for tires, then to the start from Cotopoxi, Colorado. Ron and I did one short dirt pass in Colorado at 11,000 feet, and we came to the conclusion our bikes were too freakin' heavy for 2 weeks of off-road, so we bailed on the camping idea. We shipped our stuff to the Oregon Coast to his ex-wife, will pick up on way home to camp going south. I saved only 24 pounds, while Ron saved 60 pounds..........that was huge for him. Did some great twisties in Colorado. On one, I passed a bunch of stopped cars at road construction, riding on the double yellow, then when traffic started coming in one direction, I passed more on the shoulder to get to the front of the line. Some a$#@%^* in a car called the cops on me, so in Ouray, he pulled me over. Then the a$#@%^* showed up to confirm it was me....I was going to walk back and tell him he's an a$#@%^*, the cop said "don't do it". After the a$#@%^* left, the cop walked over without a ticket, just a verbal warning......COOL. I shook his hand and said thanks for being cool. That's about it for now..........later, RAd

Sitting here in Eureka, NV. As were getting gas, 3 other guys from Oklahoma pulled up, also doing the TAT. I'm on they're laptop (they have a chase truck ). Trip is awesome so far, over 2500 miles with a lot left to go. Group has gone from 7 to 6 to the 3 Amigos from San Diego, to Ron (Dual BMW, aka Spiceman) and I. Mostly, the group has split up due to time constraints, maintenance issues, nothing major. No major problems, awesome scenery, awesome riding, etc, etc. Don't have time to write much, we have some cold beverages to throw down our necks, and some bench racing to do :cray: Have not had much motivation to get on the internet while in small towns, too busy having fun !! That's it for now, Rad

I'm outta here either the 11th or 12th, be gone for a month. You all have a good month and keep the rubber side down. Don't bash each other too bad on the forums while I'm gone If anyone has any problems or issues with the site, etc., look at the thread in the Website Info Forum for contact info. I'll be high on life.....in the Rockies, Moab and across Utah, Nevada, Oregon, then some coastal riding, then possibly more riding thru the Sierra on the way home. Later,

Remember the rules about posting non-moto photos ???????????

You have a point there

To me, BMW has always been too heavy and too overpriced, and still is. My 950 has never had a problem with jetting in different elevations, and I've been up to 12,000+ feet with it. They chose the BMW's for Long Way Down only because KTM turned down sponsorship of the ride. They wanted 950's for the ride, because they're lighter and more of a dirt bike than a 1200GS. To me, I just can't get over the fact that the BMW's have cyllinders sticking out the sides that get in the way when you're doing difficult, rocky trails. Maddog Mike has to worry about his cylinders when we do rocky trails, where my 950 clears the rocks no problem.

Hey Chris, Welcome to SDAR.......we have a couple riders here who bring their sons along also. Man, you have a lot of bikes at your age........you must have a cool parents ! Pretty cool you have a vintage MX bike, older than you.

I don't know, I have something about Fuel Injection on a dirt bike (990). I heard from one guy, it has too much snap when you whack the throttle. You can save a lot of bucks by looking for an older 950 with low miles. Many people don't abuse them in the dirt, use them more for street and light dirt duty.

Roger, I see your sig.....did you get a 990 ??!!!!! My partial answer is.......anything bigger than a single.....the rest depends on what you like. I'll elaborate more later.

Hey all, thanks for getting involved and voicing your opinions. I hope many of the lurkers out there are also doing something to get involved, stay informed and help in the fight to keep our public lands, forests, deserts and riding areas open to motorized....because it really is a FIGHT !! Even if it's not in our backyard, we need to help all over California and the west as well. See pinned topics at top of this forum for groups to support. Stay informed. Thanks for participating !!

Go to this LINK for details of the actual Memorial Service for our fallen brother.

Thanks RW.......I pinned the topic with link. I will close this one so people go to the original topic to respond.

If you haven't heard, one of our members passed away after a vehicle accident while riding...... HERE is the link to Thread Here is info about the ride Friday......... UPDATE Memorial night ride and candlelight vigil for Dennis Sherod (dsherod). Meet spot: ACE Parking Lot (next to Sempra Energy Headquarters) 2nd Ave & Ash St San Diego, CA 92101 Date and Time: Tomorrow night (07/18/2008) @ 7pm Plan: Leave promptly at 7:30pm. Ride to accident site as a group and participate in a candlelight vigil with family, friends, and coworkers. Send a PM to SD Frontier if you have any questions.j

I have not been on the board for a few days, and just found out about this sad news when SanDiegoLand called me to let me know......thanks Craig. My sincere condolonces to Dennis's friends and family. I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but will attend the Friday night ride for him. SD Frontier, if there's anything else I or we can do to help, please PM me. Godspeed Dennis

I enjoyed this and it's actually pretty good.......friend sent me this link...... The Joys of Motorcycling: Why We Ride

George Arrues, former owner of Kon Tiki Motorcycles in Pacific Beach, on Garnet....passed away 2 weeks ago. Hey all, some of you probably knew George Arrues, owner of Kon Tiki Motorcycles in PB on Garnet. Alex is his son, who took over the shop (used to work at Rocket). Alex is a great guy. Anyway, George (father) passed away 2 weeks ago, I just happened to call the shop to ask Alex about 950 service. Mike the mechanic told me they're having a Memorial Service at 5:00pm for George.......I am going for sure !! Anyone else ?? In case you don't know, Kon Tiki is almost directly next door to the 7-11 on Garnet, about 3/4 of the way down Garnet approaching the beach, on the south side. Kon Tiki Motorcycles, Pacific Beach - San Diego 858-272-6751 If any of you know Alex or knew George, would be cool if you showed up. Rad

Called Alex......dress code is casual.......MOTORCYCLE SHIRTS ONLY.......oh, and of course, I guess you should wear pants or shorts also

LINK to article about George and Kon Tiki

From Stewards of the Seqouia........ Hi Forest & Trail Lovers The Sequoia Forest asked us to post information on two new fires the Dark & Woodpecker in the Kennedy Meadows area. Hopefully they will be able to be controlled so they do not incinerate Kennedy Meadows as the Piute fire has done at a cost to date of over $18,000,000. Read more here about the Kennedy Meadows fires & see the most recent Piute Burn area maps If you would like to restore forest health please contact Congressman McCarthy's office at 661 327-3611 and ask how the Congressman plans to thin our overgrown diseased forest to reduce fuel loads & promote forest health. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you ever have ridden or will ride up there, PLEASE support Stewards of the Seqouia with your membership........they are very instrumental in keeping the trails maintained and open in that area !!

Link fixed.

You all should go HERE to check status of Kennedy Meadows and the surrounding area fires...... Also, since you're all riding up there, PLEASE consider joining Stewards of the Seqouia...........they are a VERY IMPORTANT group who works to maintain and keep the trails open in that area !! IMHO, if you ride up there, you should join them or send them a few bucks

I'd like to, but I'll see as we get closer to November. If I do, it'll be on the 950 or Elefant.