Denver Trip: Preparations

A little background.  I was worried that my tires were getting worn so I decided to buy some new tires to install before the trip.  I decided to install them myself which was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Well, while installing the the rear tire, I tore the bead of the tire.  So it was basically useless.  This was the day before the trip.  I thought that the trip was ruined and I now wouldn't be able to go.

I decided to put the old tire back on.  By the time I got the bike all back together and everything packed it was about 2:00 am.  I was hoping to leave at 6:00 am.  But luckily everything got back together and I was still able to go on the trip.

Old Tire

Getting ready to take back tire off

My little helpers

Working late into the night

Broken tire bead

My first motorcycle trip

Well, I am finally doing it.  I am heading off on a motorcycle road trip.  It will be for 3 days.  Below is a picture of my actual route, as I have already returned from the trip.

I am traveling down to Southern Utah and will camp the first night.  Then I will travel on to Denver where I will meet up with my brother-in-law to hang out for the evening and then come back home the next day.

The whole trip is 1,400 miles.  It will be about 480 miles each day with estimated time of about 9 hrs and 30 min.

I am leaving Thur the 22 and will be back Sat night the 24th.  I have been checking the weather and it looks to be good weather for the trip.

As this trip was getting closer I realized that I had a lot to do to get ready.  I had to order quite a few things including a new rear tire.  They are suppose to get here either Tue or Wed so I won't have much time to get everything ready.

I am excited but also a little nervous.  I will try to document getting ready these next couple of days.

A New Bike

So, I finally did it.  I bought a motorcycle.  A couple weeks ago my brother and I were going to go snowboarding, but he ended up not being able to go.  So I decided to go up to South Valley Motorsports off of 11400 S in Salt Lake.  For the last year or so when looking at motorcycles I have narrowed it down to a Kawasaki KLR650.  South Valley Motorsports had a 2009 in blue left.  That is the color I wanted.  They said there was a $750 rebate if I bought the 2009.  I spent some time talking to the salesman and then left to come home.  One thing I learned from my dad is to never make a large purchase the first day.  So I will think about it and make a decision.

The next morning, I still felt good about it so I went back to the dealership to make the purchase.  Everything went smoothly and they really spent time going over the bike with me which was nice.  It was raining pretty hard and I was nervous to ride it home so I brought the trailer to bring it home.  I did buy the extended warranty so the bike is warrantied for the next 5 years.  I normally don't buy warranties but for some reason I decided to buy it for the bike.

I have now owned the bike for a couple of weeks and have put about 265 miles on it.  I have driven it to work 5 times and several other small trips as well as my first ride which was out west on the other side of Utah Lake.  For the first 500 miles I have to keep it under 4000 rpm, so that basically gives me about 55-60 miles per hour.

Below is some pictures of the bike.  I wish I would have gotten some pictures of it at the dealership as well as the odometer at 1 mile but I didn't.

Attempt to reach Mineral Basin

I have heard that you can ride from Tibble Fork in American Fork Canyon all the way to Mineral Basin that is part of Snowbird ski resort.  I hear you can ride right up to the bottom of the ski lifts.  Last year my brother and I rode up towards that direction, but went off on a side road and never made it.  So we decided to try again.  This time I looked it up on Google Maps and then routed the trip on my new GPS app on my iphone.  I recently downloaded the TomTom app and so far it has worked really well.

A couple of weeks ago when we went riding, my brother broke his pedal off his bike.  He was kick starting it and it snapped right off.  Luckly his father in law was able to help him weld it back on.  Here is he is installing his pedal before our ride.



 Right by the entrace to American Fork canyon we looked off to our left and we saw a Ram and some other mountain Sheep.  I tried to snap a picture real fast as it was starting to run away.  It was pretty cool to see so close to the city.

Hopefully in the next couple of years I will get a truck.  But for now this is how we carry the bikes around.  Luckily the bikes and the trailer aren't that heavy.  Hopefully it isn't hurting the transmission too bad.

When we were unloading and getting the bikes ready, a guy pulled up and got his 4-wheeler out.  He came over to us and was talking to us for a minute.  He asked where we were headed and asked if he might tag along for awhile.  We agreed and he ended up riding with us all day.

We started up the trail about 8:45 and it was really cold.  I guess it is October.  We just kept hoping the sun would come up soon.  The trail also was pretty rocky.  Some parts were smooth and enjoyable but a large portion were just rocks. 

The route from Tibble Fork to Mineral Basin on the GPS said it was 9 miles.  The first 4 miles or so are somewhat rocky.  Also it was freezing cold so we did have to stop a few times.  When we got within 2.5 miles from Mineral Basin we came to this.  Huge rocks.  We probably could have made it but I really wasn't in the mood.  So we decided to head back and go the direction it was pointing to Midway.

Going towards Midway was a great idea.  This section of the trail from here to Pole Line pass was incredible.  It was really smooth with some great hills and curves.  We went up it pretty fast.

We didn't quite make it to Midway as we had to get back.  But it was a fun ride.  By the time we got back to the car our hands were hurting really bad because of all the rocks.  It was a fun ride though.  I'm glad we got to go.  I think in all we did about 30 miles.

Reason for Starting Blog

I have always been interested in motorcycles. Two years ago I finally bought my first dirt bike. It has been a lot of fun going riding, and I have been able to see some amazing things. I have always wanted a street motorycle and recently discovered adventure touring. This combines motorcycle road trips with off road riding as well. I found a website, advrider.com where people can post ride reports of their trips. I have been very fascinated by the reports and the images of the places they have gone. Some day, hopefully sooner than later, I will get a dual purpose motorcycle to start participating in these adventures.

I plan to use this blog to post my ride reports as well as any other outdoor adventure that I do. I'm sure this will include a variety of activites. I am excited to see where life will take me.