Forums > Adventure Touring > 2009 GS Trophy Training has begun

About 10 days after the sand out in Utah... I took a fun ride over Haggerman Pass from Carbondale, CO up the Frying Pan river valley (east of Basalt) up to the old train grade to the lake on the west side of the pass then up over to Leadville dodging a few thunder storm that passed through the area...  the colors were amazing... and there even was some fresh snow above tree line on the north slopes.   the upper part of the Haggerman Pass road is mostly dirt with a lot of imbedded rock.... not too technical... I have done it on road tires before... the back knobbie was now even more burned off from the highway ride back from utah...

 

 

Off to Grand Junction, CO and the OHV area North of the city.... you can ride all the way into Utah for the most part... i did a good 30 miles along the ridges, atv tracks, some roads, and some single tracks... it was a mix of hard packed dirt to a bit os soft surface from the last rains....  there is a lot of good practice going down in the narrow creek washes and back out without spinning out on the steep sides.  There was a few single tracks i wanted to do but being 15 miles from the nearest town and by myself on a week day... it could be a tough walk out it i had a major issue and got stuck down the side of a dirt hill...  though i did get some fun and techical stuff in with a now almost fully bald rear tire and got into some dicey lines working my way back to the main road...  just too much fun for three hours.... will have to find someone else on a big bike to head out and hit some more lines and hill climbs...  there is a lot of good practice with steep desents...

Me and my new little one before heading out to GJ...

''

 

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X

Nice reports, looks like you have some nice riding/training areas nearby. Keep practicing in the sand next year they will probably have the GS Trophy in the jungles of South America But as we all know it does not matter what the terrain is as much as how much saddle time you get.

Keep the reports coming and stay tuned in for our daily updates from Tunisia.

 

Really nice pics, man! I wish I had such a good training area.

That little one looks just like you :-)

Mud is a good friend of mine....  i normally get in some nasty rain storm on every big trip and have to deal with getting out of somewhere on slugged up roads... and my rain suit soaked through to my bones...

Jason,

thanks... she is a quite good baby... only crys when hungry and destoryed another diaper...  it was a bit of touch and go from about August 25th and then for a week... my wife did have a lot of false contractions so it was good i stayed at home since she really needed me.

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X

Got out for a few hours to just west of Grand Junction off exit 2 of I70... Rabbit Valley area...  a lot of good trails that runs along the north edge the Colorado River down to an old area called Westwater.  The road is a big mix from hard packed clay to some short sections of soft sand and some rocky ledges.   I did have a oops to day...  was heading down towards West water about 10 miles out from I70 exit with a off piste angled section of the road into some sand and loose rocks and got caught enjoying the scenery...   tipped over at a near stop and snapped the right tank mount part attached to the second foot peg... due to the side case pushing on it...  got to look where i am going not just he great views...  over all the riding is great and will head back with out the side case and a buddy to hit some more of the techincal stuff.  There is some ATV MTB MC trails taht have some fun looking ledges to ride up and down, but with the weight of the side cased i did not want to overly beat up the cases while allow... i guess that is the difference for me now since there is a little one at home crying for daddy to change a diaper at 334am  I take it a bit easier when alone the first time in a new area.   I did get up a side trail that turned interesting with some rocky sections.... still found good lines to ride up the more rocky sections until i was drenced in sweat and sun was starting to go down.  On the way back to Grand Junction and the hwy i took the Kokopelli Trail back to old US6&50 to Frutia before pumping up the tires to hit the highway.  The KT was a good gravel road with some views and was nice change from the riding the hwy back to GJ... It was a good day of inital exploration to go back and ride more of the technical areas.  I glad the sand did not get too deep... i was having an issue with amy ABS... i could not get it to turn off no matter that i used the process to turn it off when starting up the bike... it does make it different handling going down more technical areas...  i think i have a short somewhere in the under the seat fuse box with the reley that goes to the handle bar controls and dashboardi... i guess i got a winter project to do on the bike.... will be a good learning for me since i am good with mechanical but not as much with electircal..

 

the overlook

 

some picts of the trail and rock formations along the way... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What line would you take...  i went up the right edge... bit loose but no worries...

 

 The Damage not much easily a quick temp fix with some zip ties...

 

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X

I had not gotten out much the last two weeks, one, i had to head to denver to pick up my R1200ST from the dealer from a front shock replacement on week so there went my riding day, then the weather has started to get more winter like up at the higher elevations... so besides riding to work to wake up i nthe 25F temps for 10 miles riding has been limited with work also.  I did get out last week before 14 inches of the white fluffy stuff fell above 9000ft and 3 inches down to 5000....  I had never been just west of Carbondale, CO (for reference) up to an area called Haystack Gate.  there are a ton of snowmoblie/atv trails that link Cabondale, to Silt to even Grand Junction 100 miles away.  it is half nice dirt roads in some parts (due to the oil/gas industry) and then some track roads then some single lane Jeep/ATV/snowmobile tracks.  Really wanted to do a 70 mile dirt loop back to McClures Pass over by Paonia, CO but got down some steep trails to find a 20ft wide at least 10 inches deep (what i poked a stick into in a few spots) very rough V -shaped transisiton section of Mud.  I relized i did not have my EPHIRBs on me and i was 15 miles to Silt and 25 Miles back to Carbodnale... it was 130PM and i had to be at work at 430PM.... no time to get stuck by myself or hurt.   it is a lot more difficult riding and exploring when you 95% of the time ride in the middle of nowhere or more solo... it i had had one other person the mud would not have been as much a worry since then it is easier to get unstuck quickly.   I also did not feel like building a twig and log bridge in the mud and then get stuck.... so i turned around...  in the spring it will be a lot of exploring on dry days...  but the ATV trails were a blast to blast up espically the up high climb out of back to the dirt road.  

Looking back about 10 miles out west of Carbondale, CO

 

one of the nice side tracks i explored... most ended up being very trenched up by the hunters and some deep ruts... many are gated off by Forest Service

 

beginnig of some fun ruts 

Heading up to Haystack Gate and the Atv/snowmobile track

 

you can see the road way down in the valley flow where i ended up at almost... plus where i wanted to get to way in the distance

where i turned around... there was a few rocky sections but just a lot of nice dirt with steep switch backs and some hill climbs.... i did find out later that there are a lot of easier ways up the ridge... glad i did not find them and did he more techical stuff... the one problem with riding and having a good time you forget to stop and take more picts...

 

With the snow... i hope this comming week if the roads stay dry to get out ot GJ and ride another area where i did a month ago (picts above) and burn up a left over rear knobbie before putting on a fresh one and seeing about getting a couple others to head back out the Sand Dunes in UTah for a weekend of riding in the dunes....

 I also am working to rack up some winter time miles to get my 200,000 mile award.... only about 11k from it...stay tuned

 

 

 

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X

That area is so inviting looks like perfect GS roads. Keep it coming 

Had a slight break in the wintery weather on Wendsday... so off to Grand Junction and the OHV area north of town again.  this time i went and explored the dirt bike/atv tracks due north of the airport... i got way out to the book cliffs and cound a great training area of hill climbs and quite techincall stuff... i really need to find someone to ride out there with so i can really take the GS on some more technical stuff... it is a safety thing... you are 5-10 miles out from the nearest help at a minimun... and i dont care to have to walk a couple areas just to try and find someone to help get a GS out of a nasty section....  So until i can find a riding buddy on a GS will have to stick to 85% of what i can do....It still is a blast riding out there....

 Here is the very funn looking more technicall stuff

 

Looking back at some of the trails i took to get out to the big hill

 

View of one of the hill climbs i played on for a couple rounds... you can look around... view from the ridge from next images...

the other hill climb up to a ridge trail... with panoramas

Of Course... with the short in my underseat fuse box still causing some issues i got home after riding through some rain that turned into snow flurries... i for got to unplug the relay buss fuse for the headlights and handle bar clusters so the Emergancy button light remained on for three days... so off to get the Milli volt trickle charger....

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X

Man I wish I lived out there, I would go riding with you. Next time I am in Colorado can you show me these areas???

Any time Jim....  

PMed you via the "20" list email.. 

let me know... all winter is good time much nicer in the cool in GJ then in the heat of the summer... sometimes it is a muddy mess... very clay based mud so even smaller dirt bikes get completely locked up with mud at times...  will try and get Brad out for a weekend of riding with some sand dunes thrown in also...

BTW... i am goingto see if i can get a NARS event out here in COlorado next end of July for some fun at high elevations on the big bikes... so maybe a group from the East can ride out up from the flatlands... for some rock riding...

maybe places like this Mosiqutio Pass, only 13,185ft up (first image) or Ophir Pass

Mike

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From out of a dream I rode to beyond the Horizon. Got Adventure? The Zen Gear One Meteior Crater surrounded by a lot of roos, emus, Yowies, drop bears and one major flood in the driest desert on Earth... There still was a bottle of red with dinner. IBA#13157 BB1500 SS2000 Die Hohen Berhunde Agent X