DigDug

Awesome! Thanks!

Thanks everyone!

As some of you may know, I'm out in Arkansas doing some training for a few months. I decided to haul my bikes along since I knew I'd have some days off out here. I have been out a few times on the 450, but had yet to have taken the 950 out to explore. Well, when my friend, Dan, sent an email out letting people know he was doing that TAT (entire trail from TN to OR), I asked him when he'd be coming through Arkansas. Well, as luck would have it, the trail passed within 20 minutes of the base and I was able to meet him for lunch last Friday. He was nice enough to let me tag along for two days of riding as far as western Arkansas. Nothing all that difficult (with the exception of Warloop Road on Saturday afternoon - there's lots of stuff out there about it, but it wasn't as bad as the hype on ADVRider. I guess you get a lot of big-bike guys having trouble with it) so I decided to stretch the legs of, and enjoy the comfort of the Great Pumpkin. We kept a pretty good pace and didn't stop much, but here are a few pictures: I had to get a few shots of this place. Oark, Arkansas. Tiny little town and an even tinier cafe. They knew we were on the TAT - I guess that's where most of their out-of-town business comes from (especially dirty guys on bikes). You should see the log book of riders and the stickers on this place! Well, I had to get back to the base for class on Monday, so I had to part ways with him in Alma. He continued and I decided to take the long way back on Sunday. Here are a few pictures from my trip back. It was a blast. 3 days on the road, 530 miles (240 on my way back on the last day). I'd say that the TAT was at least 75% dirt in AR. And it really has me itching to do a nice long road trip on the bike!!! For those of you interested, here is his SPOT live page: Danno's TAT Ride

It was hot! Actually it wasn't too bad while riding, but when stopped it heated up. Most of the riding was mellow. He said he was into the hotels by 2 or 3 each day which was the heat of the day. On Saturday afternoon it got up to 106 after we were safely in the motel in All, AR. I hope to get some riding in before I depart CA, but we will see how the timeline works out.

Haha.. No.. On the RFS motors (450/525/etc) yes, about 10,000 miles is what you get out of the top end of those race-singles. The LC-8 is a totally different v-twin beast. My 2006 950 Adventure (exact same motor as the SE) has 19,000 miles and the valves haven't even needed adjustment yet. Oil change intervals are just under 5,000 miles, etc. FYI - I know the add-ons are tempting, but I've seen SEs new for right around $10,000 (past years models on the showroom floor - but zero miles, nobody has monkeyed with the emissions/quiet stock pipes/stock jetting/etc, never been dropped, etc).

Back the end of Sept / early Oct depending on how quick I get my training events done. Then I leave mid-Oct to head north.

No, not at all. He waited for me most of the time. The 950 is fun, but it doesn't like to slow down and it turns like a pig. Actually, the way the eastern portion of the trail is laid out, you don't have to go all that fast. We averaged between 30 and 35 while moving and were into the hotels each afternoon by 2 or 3 pm. Danno can ride. It was his bike we raced in the 500 and he and I did a few D-37 desert races back in CA. Yeah, I was impressed with his packing job. I had more saddle-bag space for 3 days than he had for the entire trip! He did save a bunch of room by planning motels for every night and by mailing ahead his roll-charts/maps/etc to post offices along the way for about each 1/4 of the trip.

That's what's called a HIGHside!

If you've never been SCUBA diving, I'd highly recommend doing a "discover SCUBA" program with one of the shops out there. Catalina Divers Supply has a little shack right at Casino Point so that might be convenient, but there are other shops out there. Discover Scuba - Catalina Divers Supply If you enjoy that kind of thing, you can also do some snorkeling (the shops will rent you the gear you need). I've always done SCUBA over there, but I understand Lover's Cove is amazing for snorkeling: Catalina Snorkeling The zip line is supposed to be pretty cool too. Catalina Zip Line Eco Tour That website has some pretty good ideas too for other activities: http://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/

Sorry if this is a repost. So many different forum areas to check here!

Sitting in the campground in Ensenada. And they have interweb! Pre-running this week. Tomorrow I get to ride the parts down by the beach, should be nice! Tuesday out to the east to pre-run my section.

Totally different bike. It's race ready bike versus a dual sport bike. More power, 100 lbs lighter, much better suspension, but yes - more maintenance and more expensive. No contest in the sand and whoops, a those 100 lbs will wear you out much quicker. You're a good rider and I've seen you make that L dance, but I can pretty much guarantee you'll have more fun and be a lot less worn out at the end of the day riding an X. The only problem is that you can't plate one in California - legally. Fun bike all around, I might be riding one now if it weren't for the plate thing.

NOTHING compares to the mighty XR-650L!!!

No, I'm off the seat, but staying low and "crouched". After almost getting thrown over the bars for the entire section, I started to take the hits a little differently - staying low and back on the bike and hitting the bumps a little less aggressively. That "bucking" wasn't a problem with the suspension itself, but rather with the setup. None of us rode the race bike down there the week prior to the race. Between time constraints and our pre-running schedule, we just didn't have time. I wasn't the only one to notice it on race day - It just needed more rebound damping dialed in is all. Fun bike for sure, just a different tool for a different job - that's why they run the snot out of them in Baja and they're always winning, but you don't see as many in the technical European enduros. I definitely wouldn't want to run one of the two I rode down there in the Big Bear run for example. Just a different type of bike for a different type of terrain.

I still haven't downloaded my camera, but here are a couple pictures from the pros: It was a lot of fun. The motor was really nice. Dan had it ported and installed a 450R cam, so it's revs like nothing out there. Straight line or sand washes are a blast. A little twist of the wrist and the front will loft over stuff easily. Not as much torque as my 450 (even before the 540 kit), so I had to break myself of my short-shifting habit. More difficult to control in the technical stuff a gear higher (yes, there were quite a few rocky stretches in my section) but once it revs, it revs hard! I wasn't too impressed with the suspension. I rode two different 450Xs down there and both felt like they were fighting me back. It might have just been setup (the race bike was seriously lacking on rebound damping, but the first time I rode it was when I got on the bike for my section - and I wasn't going to stop to mess with it. So I just dealt with the back bucking and rode carefully) or the fact that I'm used to my KTM and know exactly how it's going to react.

We're safe and sound. Just went out last night to drown our DNF sorrows. I blasted my section pretty quickly, even picked off a few bikes. We changed the tire and air filter in the pits at the end of my section and the oil was pretty low. Filled it and sent the bike off. At the next stop, it was very hard starting, but we got it going. And the following rider had a hard time keeping it running on the course. They tried some quick troubleshooting, but nothing helped, so they loaded up the bike at about RM 377. It was definitely an experience. We were in 5th place in our class when they loaded the bike, so doing pretty well except for the mechanical.

Tech inspection today. We bumped into Crusty over there and snapped some pictures. I think he got one of me standing by the race bike with Coco (from Coco's Corner). Checked out some of the festivities. It's a total party! We're in the sportsman-over class. Bike number 253x. I have a relatively short section, getting on at Saldano - RM 267 and taking the bike down to Borrego Summit - RM 207. Click here for a google map of the course My section starts from the dry lake bed at the northeast corner (Under the word "coyote" on the map) and runs south to where it meets the freeway (By the words "El Arrajal" on the map). I'll have mine with my for emergency purposes, but I don't have the tracking service enabled. Dan has a Spot with tracking, but we don't have a good way to mount it to the bike and don't want to take the time to pass it between riders at the pits. It would be cool, but one more thing to mess with.

Pre-ran my section Tues and Weds. Here are a few observations: Silt sucks!!! (Yeah, I stole a line from Dust to Glory, but it's true) Monster whoops for miles and miles on end (darned trophy trucks) suck!!! Deep sand washes make for great rest sections at full throttle, unless they're full of rocks and have 4 foot trophy truck whoops - then they suck too!!! It's a challenging section but lots of fun. Today is rider registration/rest day, and tomorrow is tech inspection day - time to bring the camera and take pictures! Our bike goes off the line at right about 6:30am on Saturday morning

We pre-ran the beach section this morning. I played wingman to the rider that will be doing that section. Beautiful roads right overlooking the cliffs. Even got to roost around in the sand on the beach for a few minutes! We ran into a snag when the course encountered a locked gate. According to the rancher "Nobody talked to him about the course coming through his land" (not very believable) and "yesterday, racers were leaving all the gates open, letting his cows out and someone hit his dog going too fast." So, about 5 bikers, 1 quadder, and two pre-runner trucks worth of guys schmoozed him into opening up the gate after we called and let him talk to the SCORE officials. Tomorrow I make the 3.5 hour drive to pre-run my section way out east. It's supposed to be pretty whooped out and loaded with silt. I guess I'll see! Still need to get some saddle time on the race bike to get the feel for it. So far I've been pre-running on the KTM, which has been working great!

I'm tossing around the idea of heading up to get some mountain riding in this weekend. They might get some weather this week, but so far, the weekend looks pretty nice. I'd be up for either Saturday or Sunday. Or - if enough people want to go both days, I might even be up for grabbing a motel and riding both days. I'd like to do some of the intermediate-plus trails up there and keep a fairly decent pace to get some miles in and scout the trails. Maybe the 50 mile loop out of Pinnacles (if Devil's Hole is crossable - if not, then we'd have to backtrack adding more miles. That loop does a bunch of the nice roller-coaster quad trails right around pinnacles, Deep Creek, Dishpan Spring, Redonda Ridge, White Mountain, The only legal true singletrack left on the mountain down to Devil's Hole, then back to Pinnacles via a few more quad trails/fire-roads). I also have a pretty good loop out of Big Bear Lake that loops around the mountain and hits all the good trails over on that side (Gold Mountain, John Bull, Jacoby Canyon, Some OHV stuff at Cactus Flats, Heartbreak Ridge, with more options depending on time). The Pinnacles loop is green-sticker legal (but a plated bike helps if we have to modify it at all due to time or other issues), the Big Bear Lake loop requires a plated bike. Anybody interested in one or both days? I'll post more details as we get takers and I can firm up a plan/loop. -------------------Update Wed, 5/18, 10am------------------ Ok, it looks like its Crusty, me and possibly KTMRad so far. Here's the plan. Meet up in North County around 7am on Saturday morning. (I'll post a more definite location soon - probably the park-n-ride at I-15 and highway 76, unless people want to meet at my place in Bonsall and carpool). Drive up to Pinnacles and ride the "Pinnacles-50" loop (or as much of it as we can - depending on trail conditions and the water level in Devil's Hole). It's about a 2 hour drive so we'll be there at 9 and riding shortly after if anyone wants to meet up there. (Again, I'll post more details on meeting location/directions for up there if people don't want to caravn). If we get done and still have riding time left, there's some other fun trails to play around on until we get tired or bored. I have reservations at Motel-6 in Big Bear Lake for Saturday night. Sunday morning, we'll meet up in Big Bear Lake and ride the "best-of" loop I talked about starting with Gold Mountain. I'm thinking, again, 9am start time if anyone wants to drive up that morning, earlier if it's just those of us staying up there. Again, I'll post some details on location/times/etc as the time gets closer. Anybody else thinking about joining us? ----------------------Edit 5/19, 3:45pm---------------------------- For anyone that wants to caravan, plan on meeting at the park-n-ride at I-15 and highway 76 to be rolling by 7am on Saturday. GOOGLE MAPS LINK So far, nobody wants to caravan, so let me know, either by posting, or IMing, or we'll skip that stop. IF NOBODY LETS ME KNOW, WE WILL NOT PLAN ON STOPPING AT THE ABOVE LOCATION! See later posts for directions to the Pinnacles staging area as well as maps/gps files for the rides. Should I bother with a Sunday morning meetup location on the mountain or is nobody from here coming up for just Sunday?

We discussed various options while we were enjoying the rest break by the stream. I walked across, we tried piling some rocks in the hole, walked different lines, etc. Someone had ridden across these two logs (visible tire tracks on them) But they weren't level and it wouldn't take too much of a bad tire placement to make the wheels slip diagonally down between the logs. Plus, the water was swift and deep on both sides. We thought about just bulldogging the bikes across with motors off so we didn't suck water. The concern wasn't just the depth, it was the current. I've had swift, shallower water literally lift the bike up off the wheels. Pin it against a rock with the water running hard, and you'll have a hard time getting it lose. I'm pretty sure we could have gotten across without any issues, but this was day one of what was planned to be a two day ride. Plus, it was still early. We had nothing to prove, so we decided to enjoy the single track in the opposite direction and log some more miles rather than fighting the water and then riding the boring fire-road back to the trucks.

Here's a few pictures:

Wheel bearing is fixed. Oil changed, bunch of other maintenance done. Still haven't downloaded the pictures, but hopefully tonight. That was a great loop! Too bad Devil's Hole is still too deep to cross. Looks like the winter has been cruel to that crossing. Deep holes, large rocks even on the dry shores moved all around from when the water was high. Lots of the trails looked different up there for sure! I'm ready to go back!

Sweet - that was some quality troubleshooting online Don! I hear Cycle Gear sells chains. That way you can apologize to the dude there for badmouthing him!!!! (I'm just yanking your chain man!)

Good call Don. This is on the new KLR, right? The one with the fancy custom rack on the back? Could your rear suspension be bottoming out and the tire hitting something up top?