North up the CDR, G650 Xchallenge and DRZ 400

This past winter I decided this year I would take a trip up the CDR, my goal, the Canadian border or as close as I can get, and go to the rally in CO, and be home in about two weeks. A tight schedule, I know.

The hard part is getting someone to go. I like to do long days, long trips, camp, all that stuff. My friends generally like short rides, and their beds. My track friends, no way, lunch in Tucson is a long ride to them.

Lightfighter, my friend and fellow inmate here has previous plans, bummer, the one guy who likes long rides, bad planning, don’t mind falling down, and has a positive attitude no matter how crappy it gets. I will see him in CO, but he has work duties that prevent him from going on this ride.

Trying to get a buddy to go one day at work I casually mention the ride to my friend Kevin. For a little background, he is a rock climber, he is tough (not a pussy), has a dual sport bike (key requirement), and can hang on a long trip, hopefully. He is one of the only two people who have agreed to do my 500 mile lunch ride up to Alpine and back, Lightfighter is the other.

Much to my surprise he thought it would be a good idea. Two weeks and a few thousand miles on his DRZ 400, yeah, this is a good idea.

So the plan, leave Sierra Vista on 17 July for Antelope Wells NM, snap a pic of the Mexican border, and start heading north. The goal is the Canadian border, but I want to be back down to Paonia CO on 28 July for the Top O’ the Rockies Rally to meet my brother and nephew, then back home and at work on 2 Aug. Lots of time, no problem, right? Did I mention we are going to try to avoid pavement as much as possible?

I need to say thanks to BigDogAdventure and Cannonshot, and others I am sure for putting together the GPS tracks of the CDR. We are using these tracks as a rough guide, but not following them step by step.

So you know who you are dealing with, here is a shot of Kevin.




And this is me.




The bike is black now with lots of mods, will cover that.

More to come.

Before we get into the bike and the ride here is a little about me.

I love my family and home, but need to get away sometimes, not from them, but just from normal daily life.

As far as work, well, I am a cube dweller. This is where I spend my work days, the basement floor of an ugly concrete building. Actually not a bad environment, I have been in much worse.




Nobody messes with us if we do our job. I spend my days performing somewhat important tasks with a relatively high level of efficiency. I try to ensure those that rely on me are satisfied, and I do my best to complete my assigned tasks as directed on time, all the while using common sense to provide hopefully helpful input to the process.

Most likely I will spend my days in this type of environment until they carry me out in a bag, place me in a box, and return me to the earth from which I came.


moving on………

You need to flip the page on your calendar. Today is after Dogbert hit Dilbert with the rock, and saved him three years of work to get the masters degree.

I laughed when I saw your work space. Just like mine, even the thermos, except yours is cleaner. I also work in a basement (old fallout shelter) for the goverment. Same story with riding friends too. Those that still ride, ride harleys. I'm planning to do the CDR solo next season before my warranty runs out on my 2010 F650gs. I have mixed feelings about which end to start on. I like the sun on my face but the New Mexico mud is the issue. If I start up north and hurry through and hit rain at the end I'll end up leaving the trail for home. If I start from the south I can bypass the mud (if needed) and use the time to poke around Colorado or other pretty places and feel like I've done my best to complete the trail. Look forward to your report. Good luck!

Good luck! I did park of the CDR from Steamboat to Pinedale this spring, some roads are washed out north of Steamboat lake, just remember to look ahead!!

Subscribed! I'll be doing this trip (also south to north cuz I wanna be different hehe). Leaving in 10 days. I'm crossing my fingers that the stage 3 fire restrictions in Carson and Santa Fe NF's are lifted by the time we get there. Safe travels!

Looking forward to hearing about it......................I intend to use my XChallenge more, so inspire me

looks fun.
subscribed

Yo...Swartzy, If i recall I rather enjoyed our ride up Mt. Lemmon (perhaps it was the trip to Hooters after). I'm just not sure my ZX-10 is really gonna be comfy for 500 miles in a day.

I should have taken July off again.

oh well. at least I get to take the short route. See ya under the scoreboard!

I'm in. I like all western RRs..

The Bike

I will be riding my G650 Xchallenge on this trip. I took it to CO last year, I really like this bike. Out of the box, it needed some upgrades as most bikes do, so I have made a few monor changes.

Scheffelmier bash plate
Scheffelmier axle bushings
Functional front fender
Buell Headlight housing on custom home built bracket
Modified KTM 950 windscreen
Marzocchi Shiver forks
Ohlins Shock
H&B Pannier racks
Touratech luggage rack
Wolfman dry bags
Power Commander V
Leo Vice slipon exhaust

She runs pretty good, and rides really nice, we will see how she does loaded down.

So here she is, all packed and ready to go.



Before you guys start making comments about Hillbillies and Gypsies, I only packed what I absolutely needed, I even left a few pairs of undies, and some socks at the house.

We are camping every night, and there is a 250 mile stretch between fuel stops, so I need to lug 2 extra gallons. Somewhere along the way some lucky home owner may get a couple free gas cans, we will see how long I need to lug these along.

We leave tomorrow at dawn.

Better put ur rain gear up top... Looks like the first leg could be a wet one.

That is what the bungee net is for, to hold the rain gear to my Duffle bag. I used to carry it inside the bag, but than I never put it on because it was too hard to get to. I hate putting on rain gear, but I don't like being cold.

Also have a XChallenge and want to do this ride, so will be watching and learning.
Safe travels.

It is 4:40 in the morning, the air has a crisp feel to it, and the smell of rain is in the air. It is still dark but the light on the horizon shows a new day is about to begin.

I have that anxious nervous feeling I only have before I stat a long trip. This is going to be good.

Good luck Rob!
See you in a few weeks.

We have completed two days and are in Cuba NM staying in a hotel as it was pouring down rain. The ride is great so far, I did lose my front fender today, homemade bracket failure due to serious rough conditions today (and possibly poor engineering on my part) on the route north of grants, but it strapped to the back of the bike so I am legal. The good news is I got it on video.

i will post pics and videos when i have time, too tired now.

Good on ya for doing this ride!

Several of us made this same ride last year during July and it has got to be ridden to be believed! We did have the good fortune to have dry weather except for a couple of light showers on several afternoons.