Boulder, Co to Guadalajara w/a KTM 690 enduro

Though I've done lots of crazy rides, this will be my very first "Ride Report".

My name is Ricky and I don't know where I'm from. I was born in the US and have lived in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Philipinnes, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Texas

I recently bought this KTM 690 enduro after having a 98 LC4 in Malaysia for about 5 years. I (and I bet many of you) am curious as to the reliability of the KTM 690 enduro and how it will hold up, what kind of problems it may have etc. If it passes my test it will come to Malaysia with me next year! I already know it is a blast to ride!


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<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on">I'm presently living in Boulder</st1:City>, <st1:State w:st="on">Colorado</st1:State> and will be teaching at a conference in Colorado Springs. A few days later I need to be in Dallas, Tx then Waco and then Austin. The following week I'm scheduled to be in Guadalajara and 2 weeks later, Los Mochis, Sinaloa. If I've crunched my numbers right, it looks like I can pocket the airfare and ride my bike instead. I've always wanted to ride the barrancas <st1:State w:st="on">del</st1:State> cobre (copper canyon) so my thougths right now are to ride up thru the canyon, and then head from <st1:State w:st="on">Chihuahua</st1:State> to <st1lace w:st="on">Juarez</st1lace>. At the same time, I'm considering putting <st1:City w:st="on">Los Mochis</st1:City> off and just riding south into <st1lace w:st="on">Southern Mexico, </st1lace>Guatamala and seeing what happens from there.


Anyways, my trip wont be all riding - I need to do some work along the way, but there should be lots of adventure!

Rick

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*Note: This ride report is about 10 days behind so I'll be posting multiple day chunks as I try to catch up to where I'm at right now.

Buen Suerte.

I thought I'd post some quick thoughts on WHY post a ride report. (Afterall it does require some extra work and instead of just enjoyinig the beauty, you have to dig that camera out to tell everybody else about it.)
Anyways here were my top 5 reasons:

1.) To pay back the community that enertains me when I'm stuck in a boring place and can't get out and ride.

2.) It can put a positive spin on the inevitable bad, unfortunate things that happen. You dump your fully loaded bike in a deep river crossing for example. Before ride reports it was always hard to find the good in that. Now when something bad happens I think "hey - at least this will make a good picture or make my ride report more interesting." The way I figure it, if you really get into your ride report you may start looking for bad situations and greet them with enthusiasm just to make your "rr" more enertaining.

3.) With a clear conscience I can answer police/immigration officer's questions of what are you doing here with, "I'm a writer and I'm writing about my experience in your country!" If you've never tried it, you'd be amazed what kind of doors that answer opens ... and not just with the police but also with hotel prices, service etc. I use it with KTM mechanics and they'd better believe I'm serious

Forgot my other 2 reasons ....

just remembered one of the other 2 reasons. I'm what my friends call a "technotard". Not too good at this posting pictures stuff. Part of my thoughts here are, by the time I finish this ride report I'm aspiring to even be able to post videos!! Woo-hoo!

Ok here go some attempts at pictures. These were taken close to where I've been staying in Colorado a few days before I left. They are just so you can track the changes in scenery as we go from North Colorado to deep into Mexico!







Here's my bike set up to "tour" ...



As long as I'm doing a circle, if I want to do some more serious riding I just take my panniers and milk crate off and and lock them to a tree.

can't wait to see more!

As it turned out a couple friends from Colorado were moving to Dallas Texas about the same time I was leaving and didn't have a car. In light of that and the 15 degree weather I decided to wimp out, put the bike on the back of my truck and drive down to Texas and leave the truck there.

Here's my fully loaded truck in Colorado Springs.



I ran out of gas somewhere near the Colorado, Okalahooma, Texas border. No problem with the bike on back!





That's a five gallon bucket with about 3 gallons of gas on the back. I love the small town feeling. When I went to pay for the 3 gallons of gas the store owner (he sold gas as well as tractor parts and repair) said, "just pay me when you get back. Heck, if you were the kind of guy who wasn't going to pay you'd probably steal my bucket as well!"

The conference went great in Colorado Springs and I was really grateful to have my friends with me driving there to Dallas, Tx (900ish miles). I wasn't finished in CS untill 3:00 pm and needed to be in Waco the next day.

It was a hoot traveling in the cab of my truck with my 2 friends. They both speak 7 language each and are pretty passionate about teaching linguistics. We had a lot of overlap, but I spoke a couple they didn't and so we spent much of our time taking turns learning different languages. They were actually really good at teaching people how to teach a new language and so as I would teach them some Malay phrases they gave me some great pointers on how to do it better.

We got to Dallas about 5:00 am and I dropped them off at the Wycliff language center, slept a few hours, picked up another friend and was in Waco by early afternoon.

By now I was excited to ride! The temp had gone from well below freezing in Colorado to the 80's! Unfortunately I had 2 days to go in Waco. I heard on the news that night that a cold front was coming in .... whatever that means. I didn't matter - what would that mean? That the temp would drop to the mid 60's - I can handle that.

The next day the temp went from 82 to 37 .... ahhhh that's what a cold front is! To bad I couldn't leave a day earlier!

I ended up driving the bike on the truck to Austin Tx where I left the truck at a friends house. The temp was still in the high 30's.



I don't know why I've always like these pictures but I needed to do some work on my bike before really leaving! I was woking on it outside in the dark, my fingers were freezing, it was snowing and blowing all around. I ended up getting a cheap motel and parking the bike inside the motel.

I didn't get away from Austin untill about 4:00 pm. As it was late and I just wanted to get across into Mexico where I could eat some tacos I just flew down the freeway.

I can't believe how cold I was ... my fingers hurt so bad I kind hoped I'd crash or something - for some idiotic reason I thought that might warm me up :)

I had ridden in the snow in Colorado (I haven't been there that long though - I'm coming from tropical Malaysia) but I was better dressed for it. This was faster freeway riding.

All of a sudden I got the best ideas of how to kill 2 birds with 1 stone! 1.) Warm myself up and 2.) mantain a good excercise schedule while on the road!
I had recentyl read in Barnes and Noble an work out book by some excercise guru who specialized in core training. I think he was joking but he said in the book that if he were to do his gym he'd get rid of all weights and cardio machines and replace them with broken down vehicle for people to push. You know Lincoln Navigators for football playing studs and cooper minis for the chicas.
I jumped off my bike, killed the motor and started pushing. Pretty soon the blood was pumping and reached my fingertips. I switched sides of the bike to balance things out. That excercise guru was right - there are so many combos! Get close to the bike, put your chest between the bars and you feel in in your pecs. Extend your arms and it's more a tri/shoulder work out! Stretch your body out and it works your but more, straighten your legs and you feel it in the quads and calf. Rapidly switch between positions and your abs are working to switch.
And hey!! This isn't just 2 birds with 1 stone - I'm saving gas! And it's a nice break for your butt if your using a KTM enduro seat and not a GS1200 seat! As crazy as this sounds, I'm now trying to do a bit of this everyday :)

Somewhere south of San Antonio the tempature suddely shot way up - and that in the middle of the night! I crossed the border into Nuevo Laredo and ate some tacos and hot dogs and was a happy camper.
I had been stressed I wouldn't be able to get papers for my bike to cross the "21 mile checkpoint" as I had recently driven into Mexico and not turned in my papers. It worked out just fine though.
I got a pretty good hotel for $40 US dollars - It would have gone for $150-200 in the states. I usually do cheap ones but I needed internet and a color printer.

Its called El Camino and is located here:
N27 26.984 W99 31.173

By the way just wanted to comment that since my last trip to Mexico I got a newer update to bicimaps for gps and I was really impressed! There was a night and day difference between the two.

Had some awesome tacos in Nuevo Laredo and was on my way to Saltillo with a "quick stop" in Monterrey to visit some friends.

Here's a guy fixing my tire at one of the many, many tire shops on the side of the road. Cost 70 cents (yes of course I gave him a tip!).



From there I hit some fast but fun dirt roads towards Monterrey. I honestly think that these types of roads are where the KTM 690 really shines. Of course its a dual sport and so a compromise of a lot of things, but on these types of roads I can't imagine going faster on anything else.







Got some lunch at a great small restaurant and then found a motorcycle/lawnmower/chainsaw repair shop where I refastened my exhaust shield which had come loose. (I took it off when 1 of the bolts fell out so as not to lose it and with in a few minutes had burned a hole in my pants.)

Here's the restaurant.



And here's Samuel's shop!

Hi mate, i like the report, and would like to have any details you have on the bracket you use on the back of the ford to carry the bike. looks like a useful set up.

Digger - the rack is a addabike rack. It claimed it was good for 450 lbs but it felt very unstable with my 300 lb bike. I went to a Mexican welding shop and they added the 2 braces on the end and the front tire stop. As it comes new its all aluminum and only has that 1 middle bar that slides into your hitch. I never had a problem with it, but I didn't trust it. My 2 bars on the outside are galvanized steal and I've driven all over the US with it like that.

Rick

Up untill this point it's just high desert. Upon coming into Monterrey (I think about 4 million people) from these dirt/gravel road, it looks absolutely huge and really cool surrounded by these towering majestic mountains!

Monterrey is crazy! I've lived in LA, Guadalajara, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta Indonesia and I think this was the scarriest place ever for me to drive! I personally thought it was worse for a motorcyclist than the DF (Mexico city). It is very modern, and it super fast and upbeat. I love the way when you leave you just ride up into the sky as the mountains immiediately start right afterwards. Here's a few shots.





I told this girl to keep an eye on my motorcycle at Starbucks ... by the way, unlike the U.S. Starbucks in Mexico has free, fast internet and if you're looking for a place to get on line it's a good bet. I don't recommend it in the US - I bought a month from TM Mobile at Starbucks in the US and then went back to Malaysia. I tried to cancel but had forgotten my password. Hours on the phone with them, no one knew how to cancel it. Eventually I shut my bank account down but when I got back to the US recently I had a bill from them for $1280. Moral is: Starbucks Mexico - Good. Starbucks US - very bad for internet!






Notice how high the mountains are all around Monterrey - Actually I'm sure everyone says this but it really does look a 1000 times more grandiose in real life.






OK I'm going back to photobucket to see if I can load my first ever video! Wish me luck!

Geek - great to see a Boulderite! I'm bummed we never got to go back to left hand - I left a couple days after Sauls birthday ride.

double post

For what its worth I was getting late in Monterrey and I thought about getting a hotel. I still had energy so I checked the prices and looked at about a dozen rooms. Monterrey was far more expensive than Nuevo Laredo and Saltilllo (1 hour to the south). It's also quite a bit more than the US. I found great deals on both sides of Monterrey, but total dives for 600 pesos - $45 dollars (wouldn't compare to a Motel 6).

Saltillo on the other hand had some amazing prices. I still needed to do a bit of work, and wanted a color printer. For about $60 US I ended up staying at the Fiesta Inn in Saltillo. It was a nice, mamoth room with a full size desk and they even gave you a wireless external keyboard and mouse to use with your laptop. It had a very nice leather office chair on wheels, King size bed with firm mattress. They also let you use their printer and fax for free.

While I was here I got insurance that covered theft of my bike. GenIII Com was the only company I found to cover an enduro for theft. (Most of the guys would cover a GS for ex.)

Here's the coordinates for the Fiesta Inn:
N25 28.873 W100 58.405

The Vibrations caused the touratech "pucks" to come off my panniers and I had to fabricate something. It was Sunday and most everything was closed. I stopped by taller (auto workshop) that was about to close. They were supernice and let me use all the tools in their shop. Grinder, welder etc. Gave me some scrap pieces of steel and some bolts and wouldn't let me pay a dime for it all. So I enertained the guys with some stories from Malaysia instead.

The shop was called Sukar and here are there coordinates:
N25 27.282 W100 59.717

Just to add to that, that was probably the 3rd time someone helped me at a shop letting me use all their tools etc. The Mexican people are amazingly generous!

I got a late start out of Saltillo and did the first part of my journey on some gravel/dirt roads. Came upon some guys playing volley ball and took a couple of pictures.


Saltillo town



Dirt/Gravel roads outside of Saltillo



The volleyball game

a bit before dark I got back on the free highway (54 I think) headed towards Zacatecas. It was pretty dark, no painted lines on the road and it seemed to be fresh blacktop that was very dark and absorbed any trace of light around.

A car coming at me swerved over into my land and flashed his lights several times. It was pretty deserted out there and I hadn't passed anyone in a while. I was just thinking how my bike headlight really wasn't close to sufficient in these kind of situations. All of sudden I passed in the middle of the road a wheel with the A-arm still attached it. That got my attention and I really slowed down. 150 meters later there was an upside down pickup truck with the wheels still spinning. It was completely dark and the pick up was black. Right after that there was another upside down pickup with groans and moans coming from the inside.
My stomache tensed as I parked the bike but left it running for the lights. In the worst shape was a guy named Carlos whose right foot was turned around backwards and the bone a few inches above the ankle was poking thru the skin. His wife was pretty scrapped up but seemed to be doing amazingly good. I grabbed a hi-power flashlight and gave it to Carlos as he lay in the road to flash oncoming cars from that side so they wouldn't hit him.




All I had to give them for the pain was advil pm. We couldn't call anyone as there was no cell phone signal out there. Some other people stopped and it appeared as if the people less hurt in the first car and who had been at fault (suppossedly) jumped in one of those vehicles and left.
Since we didn't have enough lights I had some of the guys who stopped go back several hundred yards and put small rocks on the road to work as "speed bumps".

It was 50 km to the nearest small town and about 90 km to Fresnillo the nearest big town with any resources. Since it appeared there were no spinal injuries I figured it was best to move him ourselves. No one seemed real anxious to volunteer their vehicle. Carlos was bleeding extremely badly where the bone had popped thru. I got a pick up to stop and take him. As we went to move Carlos though he wet himself and defecated - the guy who was going to give him a ride ran back to his truck and took off when he saw that ... I'm sure he'll be ashamed someday.

I took off on bike thru the desert having given them my lights to find a redcross stand. I followed my bicimaps most direct roads thru the desert sometimes hitting 150 km/hr in the dark. I know it seems stupid, but no more stupid than anyone racing in the baja or parris/dakar and I would argue they don't have near as good a reason to do it. Red cross was closed but I banged real loud on the door and tried to jerk the door open. Instead the handle broke off and I fell back. That got everyone's attention and soon an ambulance was on the way. All in all it was about 3 hours from the accident till he was at the hospital in Fresnillo.

I rode into Zacatecas about an hour later tired, once again cold and very hungry. I wondered why my bike seemed wimpy and I felt so cold. My gps told me it was because I was 8,400 feet high.

I got some tacos in a fun, crowded restaurant and met some nice folks. Later I gave some cute girls a ride on my bike!