jdrocks Rides 2013: CO, WY, MT, Canada, and Alaska

Awesome.............. I actually stumbled onto ADVrider a few years back via your first Ninja build. Been enjoying it pretty regularly now that I've got a Vstrom. Love your writing style, always fun to read whatever you are writing about, traveling, bike building, etc.

So tell us more about this other bike that needs to be moved Could this be the start of an section on ADVrider for "bike move service". Post your bike where it is and where you want it moved to. I'm sure some people would freak out about the legal/liability side to it but maybe not.

Have a great ride.
Shannon

Dave - LOVE that 'blue' bike...!

Outta here tomorrow early. I'll be watching for you.

Beartooth today, eh? We'll be doing it from the opposite direction in about six weeks- can't wait to hear what you think-

thanks Patrick, betcha it was a little warmer in Virginia Beach today than this...



when it started sleeting, i figured i better get my butt down off the mountain.

all i can say is, if ya drink a couple bottles of MD 20/20, wear your bifocals, and squint really hard...that bike will look Blue.

How do you manage that (all the pics)? That's very productive... and you did all your riding in under 8 hours today!

Looks like you're camping where we're planning to- how is it?

no palm trees growing up there today, man, plenty of snow across the top.

crossed into Montana on the way down, i could definitely recommend these roads.

i'm camping in a motel room with wifi, hail, rain, and wind here today and it looked like a repeat, so i wimped out.

i took a bunch of shots for sure, but as always, i rode past or missed about a hundred more. let's see, 500+ miles in 8 hours, hundreds of photos...where's my damn calculator, i need to figure this out. i tried the calcs by hand already and came up with 159mph, that can't be right. i think it came out at 8 hours cause i skipped lunch, that's my theory.

the roads were great, but quite a bit of the riding was brutal. bike is a fine runner, quite the machine. i'm going to send the Versys guys to you so ya can talk about how it's set up.

i rode up to that campground off the ski hill road (not the commercial campground), and it looked little used and poorly maintained.

Absaroka, Judith Gap, Martinsdale cutoff, and now Townsend. It is a nice little place to have lunch. Did you like the pass over highway 12?

Can't wait to see your direction after lunch.

Ah, looking good. Flesher Pass, Choteau, aiming for Browning.

route included the roads we talked about, a combination of mountains and open range, beautiful country to ride, although today was a repeat of extreme wind. some of the tougher conditions i've seen, with the bike doing under 30mpg, an unheard of number.

stopped at St. Mary, after 570 miles and snow flurries coming up 89, i'd had enough. 1400 miles from Denver.

the bike has been to 11893' per the GPS, and i lost track of how many times i crossed the Divide, a bunch.

if choosing a bike for a trip like this, pick one with some legs...it's big country out here.

Down by Darby they got some snow on the pass.

June Snowstorm

I think you only crossed the divide twice, Flesher Pass and then Rogers Pass. Continental Divide goes down west side of Helena, to Butte, then along the west side of the Yellowstone Part through the Tetons. You crossed a couple nice passes. I think you are too used to the little hills you play around on out east; every speed bump is another pass.

Wind is one of the hazards on the east side of the Rockies.

Glad you made it St Mary in one piece.

David

I know that Versys has the legs. She used to be my wife's.
Here she is (in the midst of 5 950s and 990s) at Coco's Corner.
Yeah Coco was there.



And here near Mission St. Javier, on the road to the Comundus, where we had to turn around because the road was washed out.



Proof (if you've been there, you know what the little V was put through)


The bane of the V - deep sand around the salt flats north of San Juanico
The challenge - finding knobbies that fit the V's rims. At least the roads to Alaska shouldn't provide that challenge (6" deep powder sand)




The V had Pirelli super moto rain tires, knobbiest thing I could find. Barely lasted the 3000 mile round trip from Yuma to Cabo.

I know the bike can do it! Good luck guys!

When you are bucking the weather, loaded with everything and the kitchen sink, including a 230lb 6'-2" tool pusher, and climbing 6K' to 10K' passes, a 1200 cc motor would be nice. Especially if you are just staying on pavement. Just saying.

Looks like JD fired the spot up at about 7:30 am local time. Hopefully there wasn't any snow on his tent this morning. Might be some frost.

David

Gol darn it JD. Should have clicked on this sooner. Could have hooked you up with free beer, booze, bed, shower, etc at my cousins cabin on lower St Mary. He is over there building a new deck. damn it






wouldnt have been the first time a Versys was there,,,

Looks like the border stop was pretty short. Look out GWN, JD is headed your way!

David

Your an animal JD. I had you figured to hunker down in Jasper, but it looks like you are taking advantage of the sunlight and heading on.

David.

Yup, he's hardcore.
Looks like he settled in at Mt. Robson- He might actually be camping?
600+ miles today?