Author: 2geeks2bikes

We had a year to plan the next trip and wasted all of it. At the last hour a trip to Germany for Oktoberfest was scrapped and I sent my bike west once again.

Last year we were searching for forests and mountains and found both in spades. This year we are in search of the Mars like landscapes of Utah. Sand. Stone. Slick rock.

We officially started the route with some nice winding paved roads out of Monument Valley, Utah and turned into the Valley of the Gods where we encountered our first taste of sand. The sand was deep; eating my front tire and bringing me to the ground. No harm done and the sand is soft.

We make our way up the Mokee Dugway to the Cedar Mesa where they used to mind uranium. Apparently they took all the uranium and left only sand. We slogged along in deep sand until sunset and then set up camp.

The silence at 6.5k feet was eerie and the stars were extraordinary. It cooled off quickly so we zipped into our sleeping bags and got some sleep.

We woke before sunrise and had breakfast (rehydrated eggs, coffee, whiskey). We packed up camp and were ready to face the sand.

I was a bit more ready than Bob was.

“Well I’ve been thinking ’bout
All the places we’ve biked and camped and
All the faces we’ve missed so let’s get
Back together and do it again” – Wilson / Love

I returned from my off-road adventure last year hating my motorcycle. I was beaten up, bruised and tired. So tired. And I’ve spent the year ignoring all my motorcycles. Time moved on and I didn’t miss it.

About a month ago, a friend from New Orleans asked to borrow my sidecar rig while he was in Hampton for a week or so. I procrastinated about even registering it but I had said he could borrow it. At the last minute I pulled it out of the garage, changed the tire and hit the start button. Nothing. Of course the battery is dead after that cold winter and the Russians thought of that so they included a handy kickstart. We are now in business.

I headed out to the bus station where my friend would be arriving and the joy came flooding back. This is fun. How could I have forgotten.

And the wheels were in motion. Plane ticket bought. BMW shipped to SLC. No real plan other than to camp in the snow, ride through the red landscape of Utah and meet new people.

Journey with us.

It seems like a year ago now but just three weeks ago I was still packing the bike and finalizing trip plans. The trip mostly followed our plans until my crash and then we altered the route to avoid further camping (a gimp in a tent seemed like a bad idea). We did make it to Canada and had a good laugh with the border agents when they asked, “How long will you be / have you been in the country?”. Our answer, “Long enough to take a picture.”.

Taking a look back, the 4 hour pavement ride to the start of the route and the 12 hour pavement ride at the end of the route weighed heavily on my mind. The 4 hour ride to the start of the route ended up being fairly nice as I got to see the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats. Once we turned onto dirt, I quickly realized that I was a bit out of my depth with regard to riding on dirt with a fully loaded bike. This didn’t stop me from riding like an idiot and I almost wrecked several times within the first couple of hours.

As the days wore on, I got more comfortable with the dirt and terrain (or so I thought). I’m not sure what the other BDRs are like but I suspect they are all hard pack dirt with loose gravel over the top. Dusty, slippery and washboards. This is only broken up by the occasional surprise section of sand. On the rare occasion where you run into pavement, you breathe a sigh of relief.

This slowed us way down. 1250 miles at an average of 20-25 mph? A slog.

Despite that, the ride was a blast and our riding improved day after day. The views were phenomanel (no time for pictures; go see it for yourself) and the isolation comforting in a weird way. Weaving our way through barely there towns, over creeks and up and down mountain after mountain. The large sections of burned out forests were dwarfed by the very much still alive sections. The drops dwarfed by the climbs (how can we still be climbing?).

Was this BDR too big for a first outing? I would say yes. The BDR itself is 8 days but because we drove to the start and then drove from the end back to Park City, we added 4 more days of riding. I will definitely look for alternatives next year on trailering the bikes at the start and end of the ride. My riding ability did improve even though I did have a bit of a crash but I will look into taking a course or two next spring and finding some terrain I can practice on regularly.

Another item I need training on is basic BMW maintenance. I’m fairly confident our air filters are full of sand and it was a bit daunting to change or clean them on the trail (we didn’t). Bob’s brake light was stuck on for multiple days even though we did take his foot brake apart hoping we could fix it ourselves. Turns out we took apart the right component but neither one of us slowed down long enough to see the connector was slightly unplugged.

I’m still a couple weeks from receiving my bike and beginning the process of fixing everything I broke. I suspect I’ll learn a bit during that process and I’ve already been watching videos on how to install a Rekluse clutch to make stalls a thing of the past. We’ll see how much I can hammer my pannier back into a rectangle shape. If I have to buy a new one, I will look at some alternative panniers and do a full replacement.

Thank you for following along and thank you for the kind words and concern after my crash. The final diagnosis is a Type I or II separated shoulder which means I will heal up and be ready to go in a few weeks.

Cheers.

I’m laying in bed at the Timber Inn in Pierce Idaho nursing a sore, possibly broken shoulder. The local Medical Clinic is not open on Saturdays so I grabbed some ice from the bar and a few shots and a few couple of beers. Anything to dull the pain.

I essentially locked up the rear brakes causing me to slide sideways (not a normal direction for a bike travel). Once in this sideways slide, I hit some rocks that caused me to immediately and forcefully slam to the earth. My helmet now has a nice chink in it. My left pannier is dented and not square. My crash bar is bent. My hand guard is split. All in all, the safety equipment worked but damn does my shoulder hurt.

Tomorrow we will try to push on to Wallace. If that goes okay we will press on and if it doesn’t, we will hop on the highway and head back to Park City.

Bob did have a Go Pro on his bike but sadly it didn’t capture the event. 

Warm and freshly showered, we headed east to pick up the trail after our detour around the wildfires.

A few hours into the ride, we arrived in Yellow Pine for fuel. Upon entering town, we first notice a “golf course” and further up the street an espresso bar. This town was not going to disappoint.

We grabbed lunch at the Yellow Pine Tavern and chatted with some of the locals. The town is home to a huge harmonica festival and jeep and small airplane clubs hold events here.

Before leaving town, we stopped in for some espresso and met some more interesting folks. One man spent 15 minutes listing all the dirt roads we should explore. I definitely want to make it back to Yellow Pine someday.

The next section of the trail was a steady climb to 9000′ and then a steady drop into Warren (which we drove through without noticing the town). 

We arrived at The Burgdorf Hotsprings, checked into our cabin, lit a fire and settled in for a cold night.

I knew Day 2 was going to be an issue. The wild fires near Lowman are directly in our path.

The day started well enough. We woke up at 7am and it was 46 degrees inside the tent. I was looking forward to a dip in Big Trinity Lake but I couldn’t convince myself that the water was warm. We ate breakfast (rehydrated scrambled eggs), packed up camp and headed out.

We crossed many bridges, followed many creeks and climbed a rutted out sandy track to the 50″ bridge. We turned to the east as the route directed and encountered our first closed road due to the fires.

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I suggested we head east and after 27 miles discovered my road around the fires was a hiking trail. We turned south towards Atlanta and discovered the road ended in Atlanta. We grabbed beers and lunch and then more beers. This did not solve our problem.

We inquired about gasoline and the guy at the end of the bar said he could get us some but it would cost us. This was no surprise so we waited for him to return.

He never returned. This did not solve our problem.

We backtracked to the 50″ bridge and made our way to Idaho City with one accident recorded. From there we headed to the heart of the fire and passed through with no injuries but did suffer minor smoke inhalation.

Now in Lowman and 9 hours of riding for the day, we spoke to a friendly Sherrif. He suggested a stay at the hot springs down the street.

Gluttons for punishment that we are, we pressed on for 2 more hours and the promise of a hotel in Cascade.

My bike made it not-so-safely to Salt Lake City. The upper crash bars took a beating during transit and are all bent up. The local BMW dealer has declined trying to repair them (and who can blame them). I had read bad reviews of these bars online but decided to purchase them anyway as they offered the most protection. Next time I’ll pay closer attention to the reviews and not rely on the brand name (Touratech).

 

So far, trip planning has gone very well. I spent yesterday afternoon chatting off and on with my riding buddy discussing what we are going to drink (bourbon and vodka) , what we’re going to eat (freeze dried) and what exactly a poop kit is (a shovel apparently).

All that chatter had me amped up to get this trip started so I changed my flight to August 17th. I’ll have 3 days on the ground before officially heading out on the bike on August 21st. I’ll get my new crash bars installed and have plenty of time to sort through all the gear and get it packed onto the bike.

The trip has officially started!

From the beginning planning stages I debated whether to ship or rent. The cost is comparable but in the end I decided to ship my bike. This gives me some flexibility in the overall schedule and allows me to ride a bike I know.

The ride to Lowell, MA was hot (90 degrees) but uneventful. It took about an hour to go through the motions at the shipping company but in the end, the bike was strapped to a pallet without incident.

To my amazement, when I checked the tracking info later in the day, the bike was already headed west. These shippers do not mess around.