2012 Howlin at the Moon Dual Sport Info and Previews

The Howlin at the Moon AMA National Dual Sport and Adventure Rally will be held October 27-28, 2012 in Payson Arizona.

More event information
http://www.arizonatrailriders.org/pdf/howlin_2012.pdf

Registration is OPEN!
http://howlin2012payson.eventbrite.com/

Arizona Trail Riders returns to Payson for 2012 to put on our EPIC 2 day AMA National Dual Sport / Adventure ride.

The ATR boys were out scouting new routes yesterday for this year's ride.

With highs forecasted to be 108 degrees, we were hoping the cloud cover would hang around.



Shady pine trees.

This agenda for today was to get mileage for some of the "A Loop" and explore some other possibilities.

Some "A Loop" material. Yardstick joined us as a technical observer.



If you like rocks, you'll love this year's "A Loop".

Awesome pines.



Scenic roads.

Kickass single track.

Exploring around Dupont Cabin.



Beautiful canyon.



Obstacles to go over.

Obstacles to go under and around.





At some point you just have to give in and call it impassable. It was hot and we were dropping in elevation, most of us were pretty beat up.

High tailing it out, we were treated to some switchbacks and awesome views.





Elevation low, temps HIGH.



115 degrees. I wonder it that takes into consideration the humidity.

The payoff for a long hard day of trail riding.



This place was really cool!



The food was hot and the beer was cold! Both were excellent!

Brush fires closed the Beeline Highway forcing us to return to Phoenix through Globe, an extra 60 miles! It would be a long drive. Longer when you have a flat tire!



Yardstick quickly found the offending instrument of disaster.



NASCAR pit protocols were engaged and the spare was quickly installed.

Those little bastards just cost me another 2 hours and $50, but now I've got a new tire on the truck.

It was a good ride!

Forest Closures?

I have fond memories of the Dupont Cabin area the last hill with the switchbacks and views is the same trail we rode the big bikes fully loaded down on the way out from our Porkfest 2 route home. NDTransplant was on his Versys with hard boxes. We had to put his handle bars back on four times... Sonoran has some sweat and tears on that hill as well while trying to get his Adventure down it. Love that trail.. a little bike will make it much more enjoyable though.

Ride video

<iframe width="853" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GszLPhJcZFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Chris,

Great vid (and very appropriate music - kinda like a Sergion Loene western meets new age) and it got me really phyched up and looking forward to the event. I'm already signed up! You guys do a fantastic job on the H@M event.

Great pictures and video as usual Terry.

Fyi, Payson was the location of our first H@M National although we did not call it by that name then. We could have just gone with the routes we used in 2009 but what fun would that be? Gotta keep it fresh and the A, B, and C routes will be different from the 09 event.

Thanks to everyone who has already registered. We appreciate your support

Registered.

So now for a couple questions.

The last two years I ran a heavily modded F650GS on Dunlop D606s on the B route. I rode to the event each time so this worked out to be a good combo. The BMW sucked in the sand wash last year (not the tires fault).

Now I have an Aprilia RXV5.5. I've been riding the heck out of it out in Havasu (rocks and sand). It came with Michelin Deserts. I've been reading up on the trials tires on the rear. Everyone says they excel in rocks and hard pack. I saw guys running them last year. Wondering if anyone had any negative experiences from last year with the trials tires what with the sand, snow and mud?

Looking at the video posted it seems the trials tire would be ideally suited to this years ride. Thoughts?

Cheers
Brett

I've got a few thousand miles on trials tires now. The Pirelli MT43 is awesome - DOT approved. The other manufacturers tend to shred and throw off knobs during high speed tarmac runs. The Pirelli lasts forever!

Works OK in the sand, as long as you don't stop. Works awesome everywhere else.

I rode "C" sweep on last year's Howlin at the Moon on my 450 (SNOW) with the trials. Miles and miles of high speed black top. No problem!

Just from your pic it looks like the trials tire isnt clearing the tread like the traditional knobbies are.

Im trailering the Ape to this years ride, so Im not too concerned about on the road performance, just how they do in the nasty stuff.

Cheers
Brett