A little adventure ride close to home today - less than an hour from where I live, yet I rode these roads for the first time today. Found a private toll road leaving the mountain road - bikes ride for free, the poster said.
This really falls into Where Are You Gonna Go as the ride hasn't started yet, but a group of us are doing the Western TAT starting mid August, finishing at the end of the month. I've ridden the entire thing before on my WR250R, but this time I'm loaning that bike to a friend from the UK who is flying in the the ride. I'll be taking the Terra! It was fine on the COBDR and should be OK on the TAT as well, although I much prefer a lighter bike for these long rides. I have the TE630, and it is set up for this kind of thing, but the Terra needs a workout. The group has grown from just a few to 7 or 8 riders. Bikes range from 250 to 1200 cc. We are using Sam Correro's GPS tracks this time, where last time I used roll charts. Because the route has changed over the last 5 or 6 years, the challenging riding in northern NV is now out. I really enjoyed that part of the ride, but with a large group, including some big bikes, we are taking the "new" route. It looks like 15 or so trail days, but we will take it easy, and take some time off along the way too. Should be fun!
Mexico! My buddy Stuntman Jeff and I just returned from a 1500 mile dual sport ride in the mountains of Mexico on our TR650 Terras. Here are a few bike shots from the trip.
Tomorrow morning we are actually doing it, leaving home for 5+ months and riding our Terra's all the way to Siberia. Passing through some of the inspiring places we have been dreaming about for a long time: Turkish Capadocia, the Southern Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia), the Iranian cultural heritage in Isfahan and Shiraz, other Silk road cities in Uzbekistan (Khiva, bukhara, Samarqand) and on to the Pamir mountains of central Asia. Getting very excited now while we're busy packing.
Oh man, what a trip you have planned! Looking forward to following along. I was stationed in Turkey and loved it; neat place and so much history there. Enjoy!
Probably. At some point. But while on the road we'll already have enough work with keeping the Facebook and blog pages up to date.
Hi Charlie, sorry about that, I thought I had linked them. We're in Vienna now en route to Turkey. Staying here a few days to hopefully get our Turkmenistan visa sorted. The consul is very friendly and helpful, so I am getting a good vibe. The blog is over at www.destinationworld.be Facebook is at https://www.facebook.com/destinationworld.be/
I did Sydney, Gloucester Festival of Motorcycles, then Nabiac Motorcycle Museum then home 600klms - brilliant day - TR never missed a beat Although E10's have worn badly & caused lots of high frequency vibration thru' the handlebars My Moto Oz goes on in the next day or so The Mefo on the rear, looks almost brand new
Hi drzcharlie - it would appear that we suffer similar physical challenges - I suffered a work injury last year which "stuffed" my knee & pelvis - so looking for a "gentler" bike Based on your appraisal of the Vulcan S I undertook a 100klm test ride today - very impressive & justifies the rave youtube reviews - I would say though tht the rear suspension needs a lot of work, or ones back would suffer very quickly, spinning above 5,000rpm works well - the ergo adjustment would need to be exact, from the Dealer the pegs were in the forward position (175cm), & the gear lever too low making up changes difficult (could be adjusted) Sadly, the trade-in off was too low to make it commercial AU$10,000 plus AU$1,000+ for the suspension work Would mean I had 3 bikes & the need to dispose of 2, the ZRX1100 & the TR - in the words of the Dealer "Unique bikes with virtually no retail value" ??
Meanwhile the visa for Turkmenistan have been confirmed. Or at least we now have our authorisation letters, which should be enough to get the visa in either Tehran or at the border. Lots of pics already available on our smugmug account: https://destinationworld.smugmug.com/East-and-back-again-2016 more background stories on the blog and on Facebook. Spoiler alert: both Bulgaria and Turkey have already been amazing. People are just so wonderfully friendly.
I managed to get out of the city into farming country for a bit of R&R. It's always nice to claim a patch by yourself and put the Husky on guard duty.
