RTW on a thumper...KTM - LC4 Round the World ADVenturization

[rtwpaul]

both of us were very tired from virtually no sleep the night before, we took a easy ride out of Valley of the Gods and thru the canyons for the rest of the day, with a storm brewing to our west the whole day, but not one single drop of rain…result finally.








We headed towards Green River UT, using old route 24 the land is being reclaimed and soon this road will disappear back in to the desert.



Got in the state park early and did a little minor maintenance and had a few beers, by 8.30 the storm caught up with us and it another night with the sound of rain on the outside of the tent

[Motojon76]

Paul,

You have a great eye for photos. A great motorcycle. A great job. A great opportunity to allow me to live vicariously through your ride report.






I hate you.

Thanks. And hurry with the posts; reading is about all I can do for 4-6 weeks....

[eakins]

Paul, i'm working with Wilson's in Fresno, CA for a "Bring the 660 Tenere to the US" promo shot if that works?
The parts guy is moving the conversation up to the GM
http://www.wilsonsmc.com/
http://www.butlermaps.com/Company/Dealers

[SchizzMan]

Gotta say, Paul, you really know how to ride it, shoot it, and post it. A truly beautiful Ride Report. Thanks!!

[spress]

Hey Paul,

Nice ride, excellent photos. I'm running the same engine as you in my MT03 and I remembered something I had read previously when you mentioned that your rear brake fluid boiled coming down from California Pass.... and then using the engine to brake on the way down with it turned off. According to Yamaha, the transmission on this engine is not properly lubricated and may be damaged if the bike is coasted or towed for any distance with the engine turned off. Just a thought and a heads up.

Good luck with the trip and the new venture.

Stuart

[BluNozr]

I met you a year and a half ago in L'Anse aux Meadows, NF while riding with a friend. You offered me a few tips on my the ride I was about to take to Ushuaia. My buddy Ryan and I looked for you in Rocky Harbour later that day but we never found you.

I'm looking forward to reading the stories and seeing the photos. Enjoy your time in Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba and if you find yourself back on the east coast of Canada drop in.

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by spress

Hey Paul,

Nice ride, excellent photos. I'm running the same engine as you in my MT03 and I remembered something I had read previously when you mentioned that your rear brake fluid boiled coming down from California Pass.... and then using the engine to brake on the way down with it turned off. According to Yamaha, the transmission on this engine is not properly lubricated and may be damaged if the bike is coasted or towed for any distance with the engine turned off. Just a thought and a heads up.

Good luck with the trip and the new venture.

Stuart

i get exactly what you are saying but with no way of using the front because the slope was so steep it would lock up so i had no choice...well i did kind of, sleep on a mountain at 12,600 feet, i had 4.3 total miles to the bottom so i did it very slowly and ran the bike as much as i could to keep any sort of lubrication going, and tapping the front brake like a manual ABS system...times like these you need to improvise as much as you can...remember i had a complete noob riding with me and he was on fumes and beginning to freak out, i needed off that mountain

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by BluNozr

I met you a year and a half ago in L'Anse aux Meadows, NF while riding with a friend. You offered me a few tips on my the ride I was about to take to Ushuaia. My buddy Ryan and I looked for you in Rocky Harbour later that day but we never found you.

I'm looking forward to reading the stories and seeing the photos. Enjoy your time in Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba and if you find yourself back on the east coast of Canada drop in.

i'll be up in toronto for the HU meeting doing a slideshow of the trip so far and answering questions if you can make it would good to see you again

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by SchizzMan

Gotta say, Paul, you really know how to ride it, shoot it, and post it. A truly beautiful Ride Report. Thanks!!

need to get you in some of these photos...

do think our babies with attitude avatars could go a few rounds

[rtwpaul]

a quick ride from Green River to Moab to top off the tanks…

next it was heading to Shafer Switchbacks




can you see Pat on his bike in this shot below?



and here are the switchbacks heading down to White Rim Road




and to the Musselman Arch…



in hindsight that would have been a good time to come off the trail, having never done it before we were interested in the ride to see what all the hype was about…

this is what we saw







here lizard lizard!!!





well great weather cool scenery but after a while it all seemed very similar the sun was beating down and we spent too much time at the start taking photos, not realizing we were drinking more of our water than we thought. By the time we got to Potato bottom were were virtually out of water!!! NOT GOOD…we agreed that we could see the Colorado,

this is what we saw



if we could get to it we were going in the river to cool off, we found a way in by Hardscrabble Campground, we wallowed in the water for nearly an hour in full riding gear




nicely cooled off and now a few clouds were in the sky blocking the sun, all good again, well for about 500 yards, as we rounded the next corner the river had spilled its banks onto the trail and we had two sections of very soft mud to cross with water flowing at a good rate, done not to difficult, 500 yards more and another corner the is a car partially submurged and a guy sitting there,



we crossed the mud and the water and he offered us a gallon of water as he had plenty in his car, nice guy, thanks if you ever read this.

from then on until mineral bottom road



about every few hundred years there was standing water and deep sand washed down from the flash floods that have been happening all over southern Utah for the last few days since we have been here…spending the night in Moab

[SchizzMan]

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

need to get you in some of these photos...

do think our babies with attitude avatars could go a few rounds

We should let the kids have a turn at it.

[Patrol]

Holy crap I just stumbled across this thread. I'm geeked to read it! Opening post is unreal!

[rtwpaul]

Originally Posted by Patrol

Holy crap I just stumbled across this thread. I'm geeked to read it! Opening post is unreal!

stay tuned, i'm only 5 days in on this part of the ride, another 7 months or so to go before i may take a break (or not!!!)

[tennyis]

Originally Posted by rtwpaul

stay tuned, i'm only 5 days in on this part of the ride, another 7 months or so to go before i may take a break (or not!!!)

count me tuned in!

[rtwpaul]

coming out of Moab early in the morning




i headed out on the Utah backcountry discovery route north of Green River, having done a lot of the routes further south i was on section 8.

Over the last few weeks Southern UT has been having severe flash flooding on a daily basis, i was wary about heading out just in case areas had been washed out or made impassable for one reason or another.

Initially the route seemed OK for the first ten miles or so



after that the heavy rains started to show the toll on the trail, there were long sections of deep sand, so if you don't like deep sand avoid this section, there's lots of it right now



i found a section that first appeared to be a gate i needed to go thru, but there was no way



later down the trail i found what i think was the right gate, so i went thru



all good again and at one point you cross the 'spanish trail'



then out of nowhere i hit so rough ground and the GPS cut out, i have a zumo 550, so i did the normal check - taking out the battery and replacing it - nothing, i then pulled out the tools and went thru the electrical system, connections, fuses, charging wires from source to the head unit, everything was good, but all it would do would scroll thru the initial first two flash screens and then cut off.



i have a 60csx as a back up on the bars but it only has base map, as i use it mainly for altitude or compass, now this was my main unit!!!

a quick check of the map showed the main paved road maybe 6 miles away, i was at a point on the trail where i had two choices, follow the trail and head in deeper, but with no GPS tracks and the map has no names and the trail doesn't either....so i headed towards the road - hopefully, it was all a little vague, i was trying to find a definite point i could recognise - i came across a ranch entrance

no i know if you see this you are heading the wrong way



i came to a cross roads after being chased down the trail by a big black bull for about 100 years!!! and there was a truck there, it was the rancher who owns some of this land, he wanted to know if i had see any of his bulls!!! YES, i told him i was chased and he laughed, " that bull is heading this way for water, he was chasing you cause he thinks you might steal his water

so i tell him i am looking to get off the trail as my GPS as taken a shit, we are sitting at a crossroads, 4 ways to go i figure, so i ask which is the best way, he points at two of them and tells me i could use either, and then points in a direction where there is no trail and said you could go that way if you want as well.

he laughs and then points, "go that way" its the shortest, i said 6 miles, which is what it shows on the maps to scale, he told me it was 16 miles, and it was...he took off



the road is fast and scenic





i get back to the highway, but on the way something isn't right with the front end...later in the day i check the bearings that "the guy in silverton helped me with new grease a few days earlier". i pulled the whole front end apart in a motel parking lot




what i found is the "mechanic" just added new grease to the bearings and didn't clean them first, there was old grease with grit and dirt under the new grease, this is what made the front end feel notchy so soon...i went thru the whole thing, cleaned and regreased and got it all back in one piece in about an hour for $10.50 spent at the local Napa store

because of this i decided to head out of UT and go to Reno, long day on the road passing Bonneville Salt Flats, but a whole lot of nothing else for the rest of the day