RTW with Noah on a KTM 690

[squawk77]

Originally Posted by RoninMoto

Think KTM exe frame with rally fairing and a duke 390 motor. 42 hp is enough for me.

Amen

[GuiltyParty]

haven't heard from the man in a while...busy snowboarding? girl? or taken the job offer?

[kwakbiker]

Probably all three

[levain]

Originally Posted by kwakbiker

Probably all three

That would explain why there are no snow bunnies in his reports

[RoninMoto]

Originally Posted by GuiltyParty

haven't heard from the man in a while...busy snowboarding? girl? or taken the job offer?

I've been boarding every day. Spring time riding is always fun. Easy to build good jumps. I will be doing a write up about our road trip to Mestia in the next few days.


And don't worry.. I won't be taking a job anytime soon. The adventure continues. oh.. and Siberia is going to rock. Glad you decided to come with!

Guiltyparty is planning on meeting up with me to ride Mongolia, BAM and Road of bones. We had so much fun in Morocco... this is going to be epic. Hopefully his triumph is up to the beating he will be giving it.

[MeinMotorrad]

Have you seen Gliga's RR: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=858799?

The views seen from the tracks through the mountains of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia look fantastic

[levain]

Originally Posted by RoninMoto

I've been boarding every day. Spring time riding is always fun. Easy to build good jumps. I will be doing a write up about our road trip to Mestia in the next few days.


And don't worry.. I won't be taking a job anytime soon. The adventure continues. oh.. and Siberia is going to rock. Glad you decided to come with!

Guiltyparty is planning on meeting up with me to ride Mongolia, BAM and Road of bones. We had so much fun in Morocco... this is going to be epic. Hopefully his triumph is up to the beating he will be giving it.

Epic picture! I switched to snowboarding 3 years ago, so I'm nowhere near that, but I'll never get on skis again, I know that! Riding a Burton Custom now, but curious about Capita boards???

Can't wait to see how an XC does on those roads. Thinking it'll be way too heavy, but...

[hardwaregrrl]

I don't know shite about winter sports, but am seriously enjoying the pics. But......I miss the bike in them.

Hope it's about to warm up.

[davidbrundage]

Originally Posted by RoninMoto

Rodeo?

[RoninMoto]

Originally Posted by davidbrundage

Rodeo?

No.. just a simple backflip. I'll have to get a backside rodeo at least once this year though.

[RoninMoto]

There is a small town tucked in the mountains in northwest Georgia called Mestia in the Svaneti region. We heard stories about a ski resort with only 1 lift and lots of trees. After riding Gudauri for a couple months which is 100% above tree line, some forest riding was needed. The way the crow flies its less then 200 km from gudauri but on roads it is about 550 km. My girl and I left Gurauri on the "bus", a over crowded Mercedes Sprinter van at 5:30 in the afternoon. We met up with our friends in Tbilisi and loaded the Mitsubishi Delica. The Delica is a right hand drive 4x4 van that fit the 7 of us and our equipment well. Our last stop out of town was a supermarket were we loaded up on about $300 worth of alcohol... should last 7 people 4 days


Loading the Delica




Time to find room for all this booze.


found room.

We got into the town of Mestia just as it was getting light. From the time we left Gudarui it had been 12 hours. Places the road was down to 1 lane because of slides and such. Mestia is best know for its "towers". Each family built these towers long ago and they still stand today.


Every tower has lights on it.. makes for great night pictures.











And ofcorse the food was epic.

Khinkoli..



The resort itself isn't very big. 1 lift about 2 km long. Maybe 8 or 900 vertical meter? There are 3 buildings. A restaurant at the bottom, one at the top, and a shack to sell tickets out of. The parking lot can fit 25 cars max. My kind of place. We rode for the next 4 days shredding every pillow line we could find.


The view from the top.




The crew +2











And a few action shots pulled from video... which I need to edit.







Even my girl can shred pillows


It was snowing on the night we were supposed to leave.. we almost stayed..

The trip back took about the same amount of time. All night. The ride in the van was horrible but you seem to forget about that when the riding is so good. I'll try to put together a short video clip.

On a side note, on Friday I'll be getting my bike back out of storage. The RTW will continue May 1 as I go into Azerbaijan. I'll also be trying to do some exploring here in the mountains this spring. Especially if the snow doesn't last. Oh oh! and I got my Russian visa!

[Long Trail]

Sounds like my kind of mountain. I live in the northeast USA and have several resorts to choose from to go riding. Killington is a short drive from my house, however I would rather drive a bit further to a smaller, more out of the way type of place. I like the less crowded atmosphere, and the feeling that the mountain is open for you.

I just want to say that I have been following your report from almost the beginning. I lurked around these forums for quite some time before joining. I don't post often but thought I would let you know that I really enjoy reading about your adventure. Looking forward to when you get back on the bike. Until then keep shredding.

[eakins]

Rock on dude.

I use to live in Steamboat and near Crested Butte and spend alot of time riding in the backcountry w/ a snowmobile lift assist and some hiking plus the occasional day$ riding a cat. We'd also hike to cool spots inbounds looking for a nice rock to huck. In the end, love to get freshies more than anything else.

[hound master]

Noah,

Your trip report has been an inspiration man. I really like that you've taken a timeout to go rip up those strangely secluded "resorts" ! those are unreal.

As a thanks for the ride report I made a drawing of the bike you started the trip on. I'm an illustrator by trade and enjoy drawing peoples bikes and I really liked the one you started the trip out on... so as a way for you to remember it I drew it up for you. Was thinking I might offer these to other inmates as a way to fund-raise for my own trip that I'm planning for next Fall, so to get some practice in I thought I'd do a couple of the bikes from some of my favorite journeys, and yours is definitely one!

Anyways, hope you like it and keep the reporting up!

Greg D

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by RoninMoto

Oh oh! and I got my Russian visa!

Ok Noah or should be now call you "HOй" until you reach Magadan or Vlad...so tell us the process for the Russian visa, costs/ problems or not/ docs required to get it, how long it took, i'm guessing a multiple entry, any restrictions on certain areas or border crossings...we know you have time between the snow, the girls and no bike