5,500 mile ride

[burnham]

WOOKIE YOU HOT SHIT!!! Good deal man, good for you. That's one hell of a trip. We need a full report.

[wookie]

I FUCKING LOOOVE 191!!! used to be RT666. i did it going south on an SV with a passenger. you crash out there you will be veeerrry lonely. im sooo jealous you got to do that. i wanna do it again. hands down the HARDEST road ive ever ridden. with a 100 miles of SERIOUS switchbacks and twists and turnes and hairpins at a an average speed of probably 40mph...you are on that road WORKING for well over an hour.nice choice

yeah, that road is an eleven! I'm glad you can confirm I am not exagerating. I was dead tired by the time I stopped for the night.

[SVRACER01]

i had to stop halfway down it.....my PASSENGER was tired we were both hanging off in some corners..at 15mph...with the peg buried...and still unable to stay in my lane

[wookie]

continued from above

I made it out of the high elevations and found a place to camp. My luggage included a small/medium size tank bag and a Ventra tail bag. I really wanted to pack light for this trip so that I could enjoy the twisties. The Ventrua is an okay system but holds the weight pretty high. As a result, I only took less than half the stuff I planned on bringing. In total:

the tail pack:
- some cold weather stuff (thermal underwear and shirt)
- one pair of extra gloves (winter weight and water proof)
- clothes (one pair of jeans, 3 t-shirts and some underwear and socks).
- sleeping bad and tarp (a small, light weight sleeping bag)
- I wore a first gear jacket and joe rocket pants with removable pannels (the jacket liner I carried in my luggage).
- misc. (WD40, zip ties, camera/phone/mp3 charger, maps, garbage bags, tinted shield)
- in the desert (stories coming up) I also carried a bunch of extra water.

the tank bag:
- camera, smokes, phone, etc.

I really wouldn't suggest bringing anything more. If you really need something you can buy it. Less weight equals more fun!

Anyway, camping was great. I found a restaurant and ate a big meal. I grabbed some extra water and found a quite place off the road. No one bothered me and I was too tired to worry about animals. Later some people noted all the scorpions and poisons snakes that like to share a warm sleeping bag....I guess, but I had no problems.

BTW - if it rains. Get a hotel...even if I had a tent I would get a hotel if it was raining.

[wookie]

Middle of nowhere AZ to Escalante, Ut.

The next few hundered miles were straight. However, on back roads it was pretty interesting. North eastern AZ is amazing.

At first the landscape was flat and straight.




You could really image the buffalo (ala Dances with Wolves) and the plains of the old west. It is really something worth seeing.

Then canyon country. Dry and red.



It was very cool landscape. Interesting to look at buy kind of depressing because there was nothing growing.



Finally I entered Utah. I came to the first river I had seen in a long time and took a swim. The water was cold and fast moving (weird because it was so fucking hot out).




Now, the route I was looking at apparently took me over some dirt roads. A local guy warned me about the dirt (you have to look very carefully at the map to realize there was a section of dirt). I was a little nervous about this section because the guy said the gravel was kind of thick, the road was narrow and curvy, and there would likely be cars pushing you toward the edge of the road (which was a cliff).

Here is the sign leading up to the dirt section. Notice, that the road appears to end at a straight cliff wall. The gravel road actually climbs that cliff wall.


Here is the road:


And here is a view from the top of the plateu looking down on the road I just came in on.



It was a fucking relief to make it safely up that section.

Now I was truely in Utah canyon country. Straight sections followed by high speed sweepers and amazing canyons.






I went around the top of lake powel and headed over some nice twisty canyon roads. I finally reached rt 12. An amazing road, pine forests north of the grand canyon...oh and twisty as fuck. This is where I had a little trouble...

Before I start with that, this I don't have good photos to explain this area. Basically, it is lazy twisties in the canyons followed by some tighter stuff in the woods going up and over a summit.
If you want to see what the canyons check this out: YouTube - Escalante Staircase Utah VFRD Ride

[wookie]

Anyway, in the tighter stuff the bike felt great, I was ripping the road (I reached that point where I knew exactly what the bike can do and I had spent so much time in the twisties it felt like part of me) (I actually tore up the tires a bit).

HOWEVER, At that point I looked back and the the tail bag was GONE!. I lost it somewhere over the last 60 miles (last gas stop). I spent the next 3 hours traveling back and forth looking for the bag. No luck. The big cliffs along the road suggested that the bag was lost forever. Maybe some hunters would find it in 2018.

It started getting dark and my clear shield was in the bag I lost. Shiiiiitttttt! I got down the mountain and stopped at the first town. I found some light sun glasses and started again. Unfortunately I accelerated too fast throught town and was pulled over. The cop stopped and said I was 16mph over the limit...."licence and registration."

What a shitty day.

So, the cop looks at me and says "did you lose something?" I said "yes" of course......turns out he had my bag in the back of his truck. Someone turned it in to him!!!!

If I hadn't been pulled over I never would have found the bag. And guess what, he didn't give me a ticket. Thank you Escalante, Utah police. You guys fucking rock! That is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to me, ever!

I stayed the night in Escalante (hotel).

[nerijusj]

Damn Kevin!!! You're my hero What a nice ride and story you got! Unfreakin believable! I wish I could do a ride like that, maybe sometime soon. However I'd need to get a more comfy bike
Can't wait for the remainder of pics and ride report :grabs another beer:

[catch2otwo]

hey wookie! sick trip, lovin the pics and the stories

[Hoss]

Hey Wookie! Great stuff man, enjoying every bit of it!

Just returned from a 2900 mile rie myself to the GP race and back home via Deals Gap and the Blue Ridge Parkway, but nowhere near the great pictures here! Awesome!

[obsolete]

Awesome thread. The pics make me mis living in NM. The riding out there is so great. Thanks for the pics and stories!

[The Crashing Tomato]

THIS THREAD DELIVERS

[ku996r]

u r living the dream man! Keep it up

[OreoGaborio]

Holy shit dude! I had no idea you were planning a trip of this magnitude. This is friggin awesome, bro. I SOOOO hope I can do a trip like this in the future. Consider yourself one LUCKY MOTHER FUKKER!

Congrats on one EPIC ride

[butcher bergs]

Unfortunately I accelerated too fast throught town and was pulled over. The cop stopped and said I was 16mph over the limit...."licence and registration."

What a shitty day.

So, the cop looks at me and says "did you lose something?" I said "yes" of course......turns out he had my bag in the back of his truck. Someone turned it in to him!!!!

If I hadn't been pulled over I never would have found the bag. And guess what, he didn't give me a ticket.

My faith in humanity has been restored.

[wookie]

My faith in humanity has been restored.

Dude, when something like that happens (tired, dark, thousands of mile from home), well shit. I am writting a letter to the Utah tourism folks with a huge thanks to the good people of Escalante and Officer Joey (of course copying the Escalante PD (I just bought a printer so I could print off the letter).

[wookie]

Escalante, Ut to Tonopah, NV

I looked at this as an epic portion of my trip. Crossing the desert of NV. The road I chose is rt. 375 also called the extraterrestrial highway or the loneliest road. It is a single stretch of highway that crosses NV just north of Area 51.

But first, I had to get out of Utah.

Route 12 still has some more great views. Check these photos out. There is a giant canyon on either side of the road....this was an isthmus of high desert plateau surrounded by canyons. Amazing.



It was also a nice little section of twisties. (btw - that is not sand on the road, it was just the way the road was colored.)

Next was Nevada. As I approached Nevada the land flattened out and there seem to be far fewer people (or gas stations). I reached this


This was it... the real desert. The triumph does about 170 mile until bone dry (according to "thespeedtriple.com"). I had come 10 mile from a gas station to reach that sign. Hmmmmm. While I wanted to burn across the desert, the only way to assuredly make it was to travel at 65-70 mph and tuck the whole way. An un-nerving proposition. Fueled up and with a gallon of extra water I started making my way.

This is looking back after 50 miles.


There was nothing out there except the occasional sign that read "caution..low flying aircraft." (holy shit!)

As I crossed the desert there was one town...nothing but a couple of trailers and a single structure that acted as a bar and general store. They believe in Aliens out there (well some do and the others have a great sense of humor....actually pretty cool folks, but one bud light and 3 waters and I was on my way).

This is the town

And the bar/general store





Later on down the road I notice a great deal of sand on the road, then...the road was covered in sand. Earlier sand storm...excessive use of sand for road maintenance? I don't know, but the tire tracks of earlier vehicles were ridable. However, the edge of the road was treacherous (this is an understatement) Here are pictures in both directions




Just fucking unbelievable. So, no problem I made my way at about 45 mph (good for gas I hope). The road was deserted...until I see the far distant lights of a vehicle in my mirrors (at this point I had seen less than 6 cars). No problem I figure, but I'm not excited about pulling off. The next thing I know...it is an 18 wheeler baring down on me. Oh shit!...!!!....!!! I tap my brake light furiously hoping he sees me and carefully slow down to pull off into the thick sand on the side of the road. I end up half tire deep and only a foot off the road when he comes barreling by me. Thankfully he saw me and moved over a few feet.

One thing I noticed about riding in dry, hot weather generally was that it dried me out excessively. I drank almost a liter of water every 100 mile. I wasn't that hot because my sweat dried instantly, but dehydration was a big issue.

I reached a modern day ghost town and the first trees I had see in what felt like years. There was a natural spring, but it was full of sulfur and undrinkable.





you don't know how great trees are until you are without their shade for hundereds of mile.

I finally reached Tonopah, NV....I checked into the shittiest hotel, brought my bike inside and slept like a baby. The desert crossing had absolutely warn me out.

[wookie]

Tonopah, NV to Reno, CA
I woke the next day and wondered why I was in such a shitty hotel. It fucking stank. What ever, it had a shower down the hall (just kidding, thankfully it had a shower in the room).

I continued on into CA.



Now this is not exactly how I pictured CA...but soon enough it got better.

At a gas station a ways down the road I bumped into a bunch of guys on sport bikes (it was Saturday). They were out on a group ride and invited me to join in. We did CA rt. 120 up to mono lake....holey amazing road.

They didin't grade it at all, it just went with the flow of the land. The road was like dirt bike whoops...you would come over a rise, drop down and after a bit see a 15ft wall of asfulat rising infront of you. I got the front wheel of the triumph way off the ground because of the fall off of the road (like coming over turn 5 into the bowl). If I had the balls I could have jumped the whole bike. ....I wish I had pictures of that road...I was just having too much fun and there was no safe place to pull off (with the next bike jumping off the whoops behind you).

Seriously, look at this video. The twists start at the beginging but the bumps and then the whoops don't start until about 2:00. (it is a car driving but you get the idea when you take the road at aleast 2x speed) (and the whoops get bigger as the video goes on).
YouTube - Motoring on Eastern CA 120

[CEO]

Holy shit wook! This is fucking awesome!

I'm glad you've had safe travels thus far

It was good to meet you... unfortunately I met you the day you left haha

[wookie]

continued from above

So I rode with those BARF guys into CA.




They knew an awsome lunch spot. Somewhere on BARF is a picture of me rounding a corner in CA...at this point I started to comprehend how far from Medford, Massachusetts I was...Holy shit. CA is full of amazing bikes and amazing roads, but fuck, it is far from home. I would have to travel at least 2k mile to make it back to San Antonio.

Then it was off by myself again.

I traveled throught Yosemite and then raged through rt 4 and rt. 108....I was looking foward to these route for the whole trip. They did not disapoint. I didn't take any picture.....lets just say they were worth the 2,000 mile trip.

[wookie]

Reno

I finally reached Reno. A good friend of mine moved there from NH. Thank god. I was so fucking spent. He was cool about it and pointed me to the spare bedroom. I slept for almost 18 hours.

I was so fucking dead at this point...an average of 500 mile a day really got to me. I just had to get off the bike for a while (wierdly, I didn't want to, but I was shot and needed to).

Instead of riding we went shooting in the desert (for a guy from boston it was crazy...you just go out in you four wheel drive vehicle and shoot the shit out of last night's beer bottles), golfing in the desert, gambling, etc. It was a great to get off the bike for a few days.


BTW - I asked if he minded me taking a picture of his guns. He said no. But I can tell you...don't fuck with guys in Reno....they are armed to the teeth and lots of them carry all the time.

[wookie]

Thank you for confirmation that its possible to log LOTS of miles on a Speed Triple!

yeah, the speed triple is no problem for long miles. It is no road king, but who wants to ride a touring bike the the twisties. IMO - it is the best compromise between a race replica and a sports touring bike.

[x2468]

That journey and this thread are both EPIC. props for doing such a long route with open straight aways on anything but a big v-twin cruiser

[x2468]

that cliff in utah, and the 50 miles of straight road in nevada as far as the eye can see is just breath taking. unbelievable. you should compile the whole story and submit it to magazines.

[brady]

best trip report I've seen yet, thanks