Manhattan to Moab or City Blocks to Slickrocks

sakurama · 10-23-2010, 08:32 PM

Ever since I first laid knobbie onto Slickrock Moab has been my favorite place to ride but the trouble is I live in Manhattan. All my riding buddies live east of the Mississippi too. For ages I've wanted to pull together an epic Moab adventure for my friends in Gotham and finally, this year, right now, it's happening. From an email invitation to 32 friends we've gotten down to 9 hardy souls willing to take a week off and hit the trail.

This ride report will be different than my others and hopefully just different as we have a good crew of tech savvy riders who can all post and shoot so I'm hoping that this will be a multifaceted multimedia report with everyone chiming in. Hopefully Flanny will spread a little of his magic as well. Many have never ridden "the west" and experience varies but we're all pretty decent riders. It's all small bikes - 250's to 450's.

Today we loaded 8 motorcycles into my pickup and Christian's trailer. Tom is driving them west one week early. Here's a quick time lapse of our load up:

Moab Loading from Gregor Halenda on Vimeo.

Here's your cast:

Gregor - facilitator, organizer, instigator
Flanny - GPS giant and media tycoon from the great white north
Tom - mover, shaker and young gun
Gino - Italian stallion and comic relief
James - Enduro nutter and all around rider
Chris - fabrication phenom and comeback kid
John - mysterious secret agent man
Christian - super fast east coast enduro and slickrock virgin
Clipper - former Dirt Bike editor and poetic wordsmith

We span 30+ years but we share a desire for one glorious week of riding in the west. Our bikes are somewhere in Ohio at the moment and we all fly in to Grand Junction where we will kick this thing off for real.

Buckle up your helmets!

Gregor

Lee C · 10-23-2010, 10:20 PM

This should be good Ride safe and have fun

Deadly99 · 10-24-2010, 06:32 AM

Stravoxylo · 10-24-2010, 08:21 AM

can't wait for some of those great photos. Only been to Moab once, and dying to get back out there.

Was recently in Max's BMW and saw some of your work hanging up! Recognized it from your Trans Lab adventure.

Flanny · 10-24-2010, 05:12 PM

Yee-haw...

Totally stoked that my bike is riding in the back of the truck, and not in the bike-grinder-mixer-moulinex you call a trailer...

GB · 10-24-2010, 06:42 PM

This should be great

Stovebolt · 10-24-2010, 07:00 PM

Jolly705 · 10-25-2010, 05:29 AM

James checking in......

I can't wait!! This week is going to draggggg...........
Here are two mobile pics from the morning of the load

Elevator full of bikes

Right before Tom departs, double checking the trailer

JohnHa · 10-25-2010, 05:34 AM

Just a few dirt bikes going down the elevator.

A Cosentino KTM Sandwich on Husaberg bread.

Our intrepid long-haul truck driver.

JohnHa · 10-25-2010, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolly705

James checking in......

I can't wait!! This week is going to draggggg...........
Here are two mobile pics from the morning of the load

Hah! Ya beat me to it.

Jolly705 · 10-25-2010, 05:42 AM

You just proved the iphone 4 takes better pics than the 3gs

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnHa

Hah! Ya beat me to it.

markbvt · 10-25-2010, 06:20 AM

This oughta be good...

--mark

sakurama · 10-25-2010, 07:29 AM

Thanks for posting those shots guys - I'm counting on everyone's participation to make this thread interesting. Because 9 guys from the east coast riding dirt bikes in Moab won't be

So as we have been planning this trip some guys bailed and some wavered and honestly I figured we'd end up with about 4-5 so to get 9 was a big surprise. When I saw 7 bikes in the elevator it finally hit me how big our group is - huge. Thankfully Flanny has been hard at work collecting GPS routes.

Our plan right now is to ride Book Cliffs outside of Grand Junction this coming Saturday as a shake down/warm up. Everyone gets in at different times with James and Christian getting in first (hopefully after Tom) on Friday night. They aren't staying on for the full week so are eager to ride every minute. Sunday is Rabbit Valley which should be a good full day warm up then off to Moab for trick or treating.

One of the issues we'll have is that in order to get 5 bikes in the trailer we had to take off the front wheels - we're hoping that once we're in Moab there will be little need for the trailer.

Now let's just hope that the bikes make it to Colorado!

Gregor

JohnHa · 10-25-2010, 08:20 AM

mcc66 · 10-25-2010, 08:25 AM

mcc66
Michael

10-23-2010, 08:32 PM	#1
sakurama ^OP on an endless build Joined: Oct 2004 Location: NYC & PDX Oddometer: 1,210	Manhattan to Moab or City Blocks to Slickrocks Ever since I first laid knobbie onto Slickrock Moab has been my favorite place to ride but the trouble is I live in Manhattan. All my riding buddies live east of the Mississippi too. For ages I've wanted to pull together an epic Moab adventure for my friends in Gotham and finally, this year, right now, it's happening. From an email invitation to 32 friends we've gotten down to 9 hardy souls willing to take a week off and hit the trail. This ride report will be different than my others and hopefully just different as we have a good crew of tech savvy riders who can all post and shoot so I'm hoping that this will be a multifaceted multimedia report with everyone chiming in. Hopefully Flanny will spread a little of his magic as well. Many have never ridden "the west" and experience varies but we're all pretty decent riders. It's all small bikes - 250's to 450's. Today we loaded 8 motorcycles into my pickup and Christian's trailer. Tom is driving them west one week early. Here's a quick time lapse of our load up: Moab Loading from Gregor Halenda on Vimeo. Here's your cast: Gregor - facilitator, organizer, instigator Flanny - GPS giant and media tycoon from the great white north Tom - mover, shaker and young gun Gino - Italian stallion and comic relief James - Enduro nutter and all around rider Chris - fabrication phenom and comeback kid John - mysterious secret agent man Christian - super fast east coast enduro and slickrock virgin Clipper - former Dirt Bike editor and poetic wordsmith We span 30+ years but we share a desire for one glorious week of riding in the west. Our bikes are somewhere in Ohio at the moment and we all fly in to Grand Junction where we will kick this thing off for real. Buckle up your helmets! Gregor __________________ www.gregorhalenda.com Previously on ADV: My endless rebuild: 950 Refresh or Mission Creep My ride reports: 5 Up on Two Bikes - Long way to the Trans Lab and City Blocks to Slick Rocks

10-24-2010, 06:32 AM	#3
Deadly99 Fast and Far Joined: Apr 2008 Location: Merrickville, Canada Oddometer: 6,826	__________________ *www.GravelTravel.ca Canadas Source For Overland Routes* Tales From The Bivouac Rally Print Publications *TCAT Trans Canadian Adventure Trail 15, 000 km GPS route across Canada*

10-24-2010, 05:12 PM	#5
Flanny Flanny-it-up! Joined: Feb 2003 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the World, the Universe Oddometer: 2,744	Yee-haw... Totally stoked that my bike is riding in the back of the truck, and not in the bike-grinder-mixer-moulinex you call a trailer... __________________ Flanny Flanny-it-up!...Check out the FlannyMedia Web Site and Blog at www.FlannyMedia.Com

10-24-2010, 06:42 PM	#6
GB Mod Squad Joined: Aug 2002 Location: Toronto, ON Oddometer: 53,466	This should be great __________________ ADV decals, patches & flag? Here

10-24-2010, 07:00 PM	#7
Stovebolt Team Ruptured Buzzard Joined: Mar 2006 Location: Tetons Oddometer: 393	I'm IN __________________ Stovebolt Team Ruptured Buzzard http://bustedcompass.com http://www.spotadventures.com/user/p...?user_id=47618 "Never Give Up"

10-23-2010, 10:20 PM	#2
Lee C Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Feb 2009 Location: Ontario Canada Oddometer: 443	This should be good Ride safe and have fun

10-24-2010, 08:21 AM	#4
Stravoxylo Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Nov 2008 Location: NYC Oddometer: 270	can't wait for some of those great photos. Only been to Moab once, and dying to get back out there. Was recently in Max's BMW and saw some of your work hanging up! Recognized it from your Trans Lab adventure.

10-25-2010, 05:29 AM	#8
Jolly705 Beastly Adventurer Joined: Jun 2005 Location: Tri State Area Oddometer: 2,136	James checking in...... I can't wait!! This week is going to draggggg........... Here are two mobile pics from the morning of the load Elevator full of bikes Right before Tom departs, double checking the trailer __________________ http://www.motorcyclecompetitioninc.com/ http://www.fmfracing.com/ http://www.rekluse.com/ http://www.motorexusa.com/ http://jgrmxsupport.com/

10-25-2010, 05:34 AM	#9
JohnHa Gnarly Adventurer Joined: May 2006 Location: New York, NY Oddometer: 155	Trailer loading, Saturday 2010-10-23 Just a few dirt bikes going down the elevator. A Cosentino KTM Sandwich on Husaberg bread. Our intrepid long-haul truck driver.

10-25-2010, 06:20 AM	#12
markbvt Beastly Adventurer Joined: Sep 2007 Location: Georgia, Vermont (that's one town, not two states) Oddometer: 2,397	This oughta be good... --mark __________________ '11 Triumph Tiger 800 XC / '03 Honda XR650L / '01 Triumph Bonneville cafe My ride reports: Missile silos, Labrador, twisties, and more Bennington Triumph Bash, May 31-June 2, 2013

10-25-2010, 07:29 AM	#13
sakurama ^OP on an endless build Joined: Oct 2004 Location: NYC & PDX Oddometer: 1,210	Thanks for posting those shots guys - I'm counting on everyone's participation to make this thread interesting. Because 9 guys from the east coast riding dirt bikes in Moab won't be So as we have been planning this trip some guys bailed and some wavered and honestly I figured we'd end up with about 4-5 so to get 9 was a big surprise. When I saw 7 bikes in the elevator it finally hit me how big our group is - huge. Thankfully Flanny has been hard at work collecting GPS routes. Our plan right now is to ride Book Cliffs outside of Grand Junction this coming Saturday as a shake down/warm up. Everyone gets in at different times with James and Christian getting in first (hopefully after Tom) on Friday night. They aren't staying on for the full week so are eager to ride every minute. Sunday is Rabbit Valley which should be a good full day warm up then off to Moab for trick or treating. One of the issues we'll have is that in order to get 5 bikes in the trailer we had to take off the front wheels - we're hoping that once we're in Moab there will be little need for the trailer. Now let's just hope that the bikes make it to Colorado! Gregor __________________ www.gregorhalenda.com Previously on ADV: My endless rebuild: 950 Refresh or Mission Creep My ride reports: 5 Up on Two Bikes - Long way to the Trans Lab and City Blocks to Slick Rocks

10-25-2010, 08:20 AM	#14
JohnHa Gnarly Adventurer Joined: May 2006 Location: New York, NY Oddometer: 155	And a video of a bunch of dudes loading a trailer

10-25-2010, 08:25 AM	#15
mcc66 Gnarly Adventurer Joined: Sep 2007 Location: forrestfield, western australia Oddometer: 196	mcc66 Michael

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