OSO LOCO!! KTM 990s attack Colorado, Utah, and the best of the TAT

Thanks, RRR!
I know, I wish we had a little more sun on this ride.
Although, I did learn to love the rainy pics, too.

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Hey Cannonshot - thanks for joining us!
as always, sorry about the crappy maps

Hi CB,
haha - no comment about "the dishes..."

Glad you're enjoying this report!
Oh, I don't even want to *think* about what we would have to do to top it! :eek1

Thanks, dano!!
Osooooooooo!!

Haha, you're welcome reed valve!
Thanks for reading!!

Heh, that calls for the safety dance!
Everybody look at your pants!
Glad you're enjoying it, Q!

Thanks, Joel!
Yeah, I think I get the crap end of the stick.

Aww, it's fun. Sort of.



You readers make it fun!


thanks, everyone!





OK, I have no idea what's happening on Day 6.

Hancock and Tomichi passes?
Guess we'll find out!

see you next time!

AWESOME!!

I so love your RRs!

Jeff G.

Love following this !!

Wow! Awesome! Well done and well written!

Looks like you guys were having a blast. Have I mentioned how much I love Colorado? Looking forward to Hancock and Tomechi Passes.

3years ago on Hancock Pass after getting the bike righted with some help.


Finally got Lionsroaar to send me his pics of our TAT ride. RR coming this winter. 3 years late but it'll be fun to revisit it doing the RR.

Been following...Great report! Thought I better share my phone's wallpaper.

I'm with you everyday.

I thought you wans were nuts when you came up over Schofield in the dark, rain or no rain, but when you took the ST in the mts above Taylor you confirmed it! BTW, there are two ISDE vets in Gunnison, each has a MC shop! Morill Griffith is the other at the Yamaha shop.

PS, you didn't miss much when you didn't take Lily Pond, it is a short and pretty much uninspiring single track. The road over by Spring Creek Reservoir is a nice piece of hard pack though, maybe you'll get up there before the RR is finished. This is certainly bringing back memories from many years of living there and riding it all!

Every day when I get a chance to check for another update, I find two more pages of craziness that is even "better" than the previous days (and nights) of craziness!

It seems likely that y'all lived through it, but I can't imagine how. Thanks for the great read!

Just stumbled on your ride report this morning! I guess there is a silver lining to being stuck home after an emergency appendectomy! I got to spend my day catching up. Thanks for taking us along on another great one. I look forward to the rest.

That is a GREAT photo!

I think we were discussing the trail that cut off to the left that we had just past.

It also pretty much sums up our week of riding! Wade and I both had been to the area before (on dirt bikes) and were riding from memory, along with a few glances at maps from time to time to settle our questions. None of us had any GPS tracks, and my GPS quit working going up Italian Creek Road a little earlier.


Great Report! You are really putting in the hours with the amount of photos, video, notes and info that you have to sort through for the entire trip! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

rocking the st ! love it

keep it coming wans !

Only made it through the first ten pages but I'm honestly not sure how you can have any more Adventure?? Holy schnikey... I was sitting here making weird grunting noises and shying away from the left side as you guys were going up Schofield in the dark. My wife was like wut the....?

man, if it weren't for you guys, I'd have had my heat and mass transfer homework done an hour ago....or I'd at least have started it....

Great RR, and a fantastic reminder of why I bought my 950 (as if I needed one...). I really need to get out of this stupid flat state; I'm just happy when I find a gravel road that isn't a dead end, haha. Can't wait for the next installment!

Wan Hai, Jeff!
Thanks! I'm glad you're still with us!

Velkommen! Wow, vores første læser fra Danmark!
Tak for slutter sig til os! :d

Thank you, Off Limits!
Glad you're enjoying the RR.

Haha, I wonder how much has changed in 3 yrs?
Hey, you had some nice sun! :ddog We always have rain.

It was definitely not as steep or rocky as I thought it was in 2009.

Hey FOCKER ()
That's cool!
Matt looked at your wallpaper and said, "am I supposed to know that photo?"

It's Lica's photo of Scott, when they went to Grand Junction.
That's Hwy 12 in Utah, near Grand Staircase - Escalante.
(Matt and I rode that same stretch last year)



"Girls' tea and crumpets" sounds fun! Enjoy yourself

(also, hope your mom's surgery goes well!)

Hi McRuss!
OK, good to know about Lily Pond. That makes us feel better.
Yeah, next time I guess it would be good to get some local knowledge.
But, sometimes it's best to find out for ourselves, right?
I mean, only dumb flatlanders with no clue would have done Schofield in the dark...

Hola Jonathan!
Haha, don't worry - the pace slows down for a little bit.
We'll have more "adventure" later in the ride, but the next couple of days are less crazy.
Whew.

Aw, man!
Emergency appendectomy!! :eek1
Well, glad you're okay. :d
That is one of my biggest fears while sailing (long passages).
Matt always freaks me out by sharpening the swiss army knife - "Just in case..."




Glad to have you along - sorry I didn't have anything new yesterday!

Thanks, Brian!
I have another funny pic from St. Elmo...


Yeah, only the people who have done RRs can appreciate how much work this is!
I freaked out a little bit after Day 5 (when I realized I had 11 more days to cover)
But, I'm just going to chip away at it...

Hi Paul!
Haha, yeah, another one of everyone's big bike faves!
Mud, single track...deep water crossings, soft loose sand... We had it all.

Hey, how's the bike shopping? Find anything good?

Hi K_N_Fodder!
I'm glad you found us! Heh, glad you "enjoyed" that video!

Hey, Wyoming? What happened to Bend?
Aw, those guys must miss you!

Ah, contributing to the delinquency of an engineering student...excellent!

OK, not to screw up your studies or anything, but you need to get out West and do some riding!
Colorado, Utah, Idaho, British Columbia....

oh, hey - Winter is coming - Death Valley, Baja...







All right everybody -
I have most of my photos and screenshots for Day 6 uploaded...

Just need to see what Radek, Lica, Bartek and Osito have for pics (and then try and get them in order).
We'll see what story emerges...



PS. I'm having issues with posting this morning - I hope this works (3rd time's the charm?)

Day 6: 8/6/13
Gunnison to Lake City, CO 191 miles



It was a beautiful, sunny morning
but Bartek was prepared for rain...



They don’t call him “Smartek” for nothing!




It was hard to get the ol' wagon trail moving today,
no one was anxious to ride with full luggage again.
After breakfast, errands, fuel, etc..
We didn’t get rolling until after 10am. :huh













We headed out towards Taylor Park.






Matt and I had wanted to hit Star Trail on this visit, but ran out of time.
It had been on our original tracks for Day 5, but got scrapped when we stayed in Gunnison an extra day.



Having heard that the other guys had taken a peek (yesterday), Radek was curious.
Mud, rocks, downed trees - those were right up his alley.








We ran into this friendly biker - he asked if we had done Pearl Pass, 2up.
Wow, word travels fast in Colorado! :huh



I didn’t catch his name, but he had obviously been talking to Fritz.
He has a 950 adv and we talked about riding in Moab.






Radek took off his bags and went to check out Star Trail.
No one else felt motivated enough to go...





I wish I had brought some knitting.
heh.
(I always thought those were a joke. Nope.





He wasn’t gone long.







Star Trail - “What, that old thing?” It’s nothing for The Canimal.




He could do that trail with one hand tied behind his back, after 200 pushups and some PBR.






Haha. OK, with that out of his system, we were back on the road.



















Another irresistible hill...






And other diversions.












Lica.






Bartek got a nice shot of Scott.








Uh oh.






There *might* have been a little mishap.
Oh, Bartek.






Those were brand new rain pants!




Oh well. You won’t need them. It never rains in Colorado.





We were heading to Tin Cup Pass.







I’ve seen beautiful photos of Mirror Lake, but it’s always ugly when we’re here.













We had a bit of a snafu here - somehow Bartek ended up leading and he went zipping up the wrong trail.
Who let the hurt guy lead? :ddog








Crap! It wasn’t long before it looked like he was stuck.
Lica and Radek went up to help him. Thanks, guys!

Bartek’s photos.































We waited at the junction.
Hey, a marmot!






Watch out! Here they come.

















Here we are.



















Radek wanted to go up the hill...






same shot from another angle













Osos will be Osos...


















We headed down the pass












Into the ghost town of St. Elmo. I considered using the movie clip, but it was gross. Brat Pack!









St. Elmo has 3 things going for it -
ice cream...



Training!








Stickers...






and chipmunks.





I love chipmunks!





So cute.







Hey, look - Brian, Wade and Ben were here! Hey fellas!







They wanted to tell us about their ride, but they were having some kind of issues...
“DUDE. stop interrupting me...”



oser
heh heh, just kidding!
They told Matt that the Alpine Tunnel was pretty cool.
OK. we’ll check it out.




First, Hancock Pass.






Oops. Almost missed this ubiquitous TAT photo.





It looks about the same as it did in 2009.






Giant cluster f**k at the entrance. Wow, Colorado passes are so crowded.
















A few screen shots from Hancock. It was raining pretty steadily.






Matt and I hit something really hard right here.
I couldn’t see anything on the video, but we slammed into something that stopped us.
Like a big rock or a piece of metal. :eek1




After this we had some funny noise - I think the side stand relocator got pushed back (again).

























OK. And down the pass...

















We headed over to the Alpine Tunnel trail.
From what those guys were saying,
Matt thought it was going to be some kickass awesome ride-through tunnel...













But, it turns out it’s just a hiking thing. :huh


(photo stolen from the interwebs)


What? We can’t ride through the tunnel?
Hiking?
And it might be educational?
Laters.










Guess we’re off to Tomichi Pass...










































Too bad it was raining. This is how pretty is can be - looking back at Hancock Pass


(2009)





We stopped and took some photos. They didn’t turn out, but the screen shots work.
Osito






Scott






Lica






Radek.






Bartek was busy taking pictures, he would catch up later...
















Here he comes!






Wow, can’t believe that pic turned out - Tomichi Pass 11,990 ft (something like that).







And, we’re moving...



















































It was after 4pm. Oh boy.
Matt and I were keenly aware that we needed to find some food for the Osos...
and soon!




Anyone else having some kind of weird issue where you can't fiddle with a previewed post?
I've been having it all day.

I may have missed it but. What kind of bags are everyone using. I assume waterproof?? Did they get everything dry? How bout the Klim gear. After all those miles is the gear still keeping u dry?

That is one of my biggest fears while sailing (long passages).
Matt always freaks me out by sharpening the swiss army knife - "Just in case..."



A medical emergency,and a sharp knife, all Matt will need is a ball point pen. . . . . ..


http://aftermash.blogspot.com/2009/07/episode-104-mulcahys-war.html

Hmm.
I can't seem to edit my post. :huh


Well, that line was supposed to say,
"It was hard to get the ol' wagon train moving today,"

hi ukturfrocks,
Matt and I had the wolfman rocky mountain side bags and a wolfman duffle.
We only used 1 of the 2 dry liners in the side bags (they come with a liner for each side).
Everything stayed dry - even the stuff without the liner seemed to be fine.
We had pouring rain (and hail) and no problems.



Osito also had the rocky mountain bags and I assume his stuff was dry, too.

Bartek, Radek, Scott and Lica - I think they all had the Giant Loop thing. Great Basin?
Plus assorted dry bags, etc.
Scott had some type of side bags...
As far as I know, the only time their things got wet was if a beer or something inside the bags blew up.
Maybe they will chime in?




I love my Klim latitude suit!
I'm super lazy about closing the vents all the way, and zipping the collar to the top, but I still felt dry.

Of course, nothing keeps you bone dry if you land in an icy stream and your ass gets submerged in cold water...
Haha
But, for the most part - I was perfectly fine on this ride.
My feet got wet and my boots were always damp and disgusting.
My hands were always wet and cold...
(I have expensive waterproof gloves but hate them and never wear them - I only wear my $20 dirtpaws)

But the rest of me was dry and happy.
I didn't bring long underwear or any base layers and I never felt I needed them either.

Glad you enjoyed that, redog!
Hope there were enough photos and screen shots for you...


I can't believe Sam took Hancock and Tomichi off the TAT! :huh
Marshall Pass is a total snoozefest.
Even with all the jeeps and quads, Hancock and Tomichi are worth the hassle.






hey Nova Rider!

Ack! Don't give him any ideas :eek1

I've heard of people having their appendix removed before a passage, just in case.
Yikes.

WOW. Schofield pass in the dark was epic. You rule.
The punchbowls are a great kayak park and huck
https://vimeo.com/5786052

Thanks for the awesome ride report....