I planned this ride for a while now and finally did it. Their was a large area of no cell phone signal and no people so I packed quite a supply of parts and tools. They were heavy but once I got used to the weight it was just fine and luckily I didn't need any of them, well except for the Protein bars, GPS and a compass. The trip was about 142 miles / 228 km one way- the most I've ever done, to the destination where my wife and kids were waiting for me. Of that, I only rode about 15 miles of pavement which went fast at around 58 MPH and was only about 15 minutes of the approximate 5 HRS the trip took. The bike is a 2008 TE 450 that I've recently converted from mostly single track with light trail riding and nearly no D/S stuff to pretty much all D/S bike for me anyways. The trip had a good mix of different terrain and exploration to make up the kind of D/S ride that I like to do. Some lazy stuff and some not so lazy stuff. To start with, it was an old rail road grade 1 mile from my house to get me going. Then a little bit of regular old dirt road in the great state of Wisconsin. Their was some ATV trails that was a lot like the rail road grade that offered some scenery. Here taking a break overlooking a large area and a lake. This is about as tall as anything gets around here. The trip offered up no single track but a good amount of ATV wide stuff. I rode many miles of relentless relatively deep and loose sand with long sections of 2-3 foot whoops followed by long sections of 4-8 inch washboard stuff. The relentless part was miles and miles of a mix of deep sand, 2'-3' whoops and Karoo tires! It was awesome! The first mile or so I was weary until I got into a good grove with the bike giving me great confidence. The bike handled the sand whoops flawlessly, tracked straight, held lines well, the front never wanting to break my teeth out, the back end never hitting me in the behind. This must be the result of the WER re-valve earlier in the summer- awesome! Dorkishly taking cell phone pictures. It is my "real" camera Here are endless miles of fire roads. They are sooo fun to ride. Traffic is rare, the hills are a blast to wheelie over at speed and all the corners are long sweepers that are great to "flat track style" drift around. Traction is perfect because the soil is sandy, not deep sand but with the right mix of grass to hold it all together. Wow, this pic sure doesn't look like much with my crappy iphone camera but was a neat place where their was thick vegetation and trees so thick you couldn't see into the woods surrounding it to this wide open spot that probably was a forest fire burn down area at one time. Here I'm nearing my destination talking a load off, literally. It probably doesn't look like much for you true dual sport riders but that pack was full of all sorts of tools and my camel back pack was heavier than when I fill it with water, but before I filled it with water. All in all the weight wasn't bad and once on the move, kinda forgot it was there but nonetheless was nice to take the break.
Awesome stuff, Jason!! The bikes looks good all blacked out, too! Looks like you had a great time! Did you camp with your family? How was the ride back? Your photos aren't bad at all considering you were using a phone. My camera can't make a phone call so you're doing better than me
looks like a great trip, nice to get away from everyone. the pics look pretty good too, i use my phone for pics all the time aswell.
Nice looking day trip up your way. Out here, most of the dirt would be desert, or at least desert-like. I carry a satellite phone when I ride alone.
That terrain looks pretty good for riding to me ... I'll be much faster and the suspension will have to deal with more than just bouncing over rocks&roots .... and 140 miles is quite a long ride ESP on that seat ....
Surprisingly the seat didn't affect me. When I got off the roads I immediately got up on the pegs knowing I needed to save the seat time for road work. I also have the medium seat foam on this bike. Glangston, what is a SPOT? Is it a sat phone like dirtdame mentioned? My wife is not much for tent camping these days especially with our "crazy 3". So she and the kids met me at my destination, we stayed in a hotel and just goofed around town for the evening with a nice dinner out. She enjoyed her "mini" vacation and said we should do it more often- we all got what we wanted. Funny storie on the "mostly black bike". The wheels are off my 11 TE 250. I mounted them on the 450 because the 250 is likely to get a lot more abuse and several tire changes compared to the 450 and I didn't want to scratch them. Also I really like how the black wheels look on the 450. With that said, as soon as I mounted the tires/ wheels on the 450 the rear tire went flat over night! I aired it up to check for the leak and found none. Several days later- just fine. Over the next night- flat. Completely. Arghhhh, had to spoon the tire off the new black wheel to soak the tube in the bath tub. Sure enough I found the smalles pin hole leak I've ever seen. Trying to be cautious and not scratch the black, thus was the longest tire change out I've ever done and with just a couple tiny scratches. I hope those karoo's last forever!
That right there is cool! Everyone got what they wanted...perfect! So I guess we'll be seeing a few more of these reports from you in the future
