Hungry Tenere has Appetite for Miles. (first ride report)

Sweet RR!

Stay safe out there!

Been tagging along.. thanks for the tire review! I've been seriously considering a set for my S10 Raven (the fast color )

+1

Okay I'm done with west. It's overwhelming me.

How about crawling out of your tent to a view like this?



It was a bit chilly in the morning but I was nice and toasty in my sleeping bag. Bit of frost on my seat





After leaving steamboat springs, I headed south on some beautiful twisty farm roads, perfectly paved and lightly traveled. I came upon Colorado river road which is a 35 mile stretch of dirt road that comes out on I70. Time to get her dirty FINALLY.

Where the pavement ends!







I came out to I70 and headed west for a while until I came to route 65. I took that and rode up and over Grand Mesa. Fast, winding, sweeping turns for miles and miles. The Yamaha put big smiles on my face and never did I wish I was on a pure sport bike. What an amazing machine. Oh and the scenery was okay too:




You can see the road winding back down if you look closely:

Beartooth pass and homestake pass have both already been closed here do to snow, homestake being on the interstate was immediately re opened.

be very careful, Montana is famous for its black ice, meaning if it is in the shade you will not realize you are on it until it is to late.

Take your time in the morning, let things warm up a couple hours before taking off.

The Yellowstone Area is famous for its cold temperatures.

Be careful and enjoy your trip.

The highlight of my day though, was the last 2 hours. I found a jeep rental place and spoke to a really friendly lady who was knowledgable of the trails. With bad weather coming last night It wasn't looking good for the high passes unfortunately. Crap. If I'm going to ride something in Ouray, I had about 3 hours daylight to do it. I quickly rented a cabin, ripped of my luggage and headed for Yankee Boy Basin.

What a ride. It starts off tame and easy, and gets more and more steep, with some 180 switchbacks and really rough sections. I made my way up slowly not knowing what to expect. One section in particular was really nasty, and after a while I decided to turn off the traction control because it was robbing too much momentum. I was unable to get pics of the nastiest spots because you simply cant stop the big bike. The bike did great though and I'm amazed how it handled it. Just ride it like a big dirt bike!!! Grip with your legs, stay loose on your arms, and if in doubt, PIN IT. Oh... And momentum is key.












Coming back down was a whole new challenge. I had to keep it in first most of the way, and creep down the rough stuff. It was nirvana as I idled down listening to those big coffee can sized pistons thump-thump-thump, and give me the engine braking I needed to get down uneventfully. This is much steeper than it looks.....






Nice foliage to add to the fun





So I got back to my cabin and completely passed out. Now I'm in the lobby writing this and need to figure out what I'm going to do on my way to Moab. Stay tuned, whatever happens will be an adventure!!

Great pics and thanks for bringing us along. The Super T is on my wish list and love reading these reports. How many miles did you have on your T before leaving? Sure looks great in black. Be safe and keep having way too much fun!

Tim

Great report. I think heading out just before the snowy season was a good pick you will get to see those areas in a way most don't when they ride them during the summer. Hopefully you will do a full on report on the tire when you are done, I'm curious to know how then feel in the rain.

Thanks for following me! Before I left the bike had 15k miles. I'm over 18k now and will be well over 20k when I return home. No issues so far!!! Well except for today.

I agree. I got some pretty dramatic snow pics today and will post up shortly.

Full tire review coming at the completion of the trip, so not to worry!

Day 6: Mud. And lots of it. Over 100 miles of it to be exact. After waking up in Ouray, I decided to head to Moab. It rained steadily the entire night after about midnight, and the snow line was around 10k feet. My hopes of doing Ophir pass were dashed. Okay, time to shove off to Moab. Hmmm... Which route should I take??? Wow, Divide road looks cool. It runs north through the entire Uncompahgre National Forest.
100 miles of maintained dirt road according to my map. I was sure it would be a bit muddy, but I figured it would be doable, and I can always turn back if it got too bad.. The weather was mostly south anyway and I was headed north. So, off we go!!!

After about an hour road ride in the rain and snow, I find the road. Looks easy enough...

How it began:






Well about 5 miles in the mud now becomes legit MUD. I was able to hold about 20 mph when the conditions were right but had to slow to a crawl when it got deep. About 15 miles in I came to a spot about 200 yards long, that was absolutely horrible. My front fender started to pack in and clog, and I was getting a bit nervous about getting totally stuck. I contemplated turning back but I was just about through it, and doing so would surely clog it totally.






I decided to press on. After all I only had about 80 miles of this to go so why not? Well thankfully that was the worst of it. It never did dry out the entire day. At times there was mud just as bad but it usually only lasted about 50-100 yards, and it gave the fender a chance to clear out in between.
My mud skill definitely went up a notch today, and was able to complete the trip without any drops. Although there were countless :eek1 moments. And one in particular I thought for sure I'd be testing my Altrider crashbars.












Here was one particularly slow going section:

After playing the game of: pick-a-rut, ride-a-rut, for,roughy 7 hours. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. And wow was it worth it. It was as if I exited the forest in a whole new world.
Technically I was still in CO. But it sure feeeeeels like Utah!!!








Here is the road as it descends down to actual, honest to goodness PAVEMENT.







My goal was to make it to Moab today, but it was just getting too late, and setting up the tent is no fun in the dark, so I stopped about 85 miles short, in the town of Naturita. After examining the bike I discovered both fork seals leaking. Very badly. It was (is) getting on the brakes and splattering back on the engine and exhaust. I need to hopefully get this repaired tomorrow. Maybe someone in Moab has a seal saver. I might even attempt to work on it in the AM. Many times it can just be fixed by wiping underneath but we will see. I still have a lot of mies to cover....

Brrrrrrr!!.....That looks chilly! It's not that cold up here right now!
Your Northern Neighbor......just jeff

It looks colder than it was I think. I was comfortable.
it was about 35-40 degrees for the trip today. Utah will be much warmer, as will the rest of my trip. I'll be taking a southern route home through the Ozarks, and blue ridge parkway.

Good to hear! You are writing a great report of an epic ride.
Ride safe!.....just jeff

Nice ride ...In for the duration.

Blue S10 here, did a similar trip last year, but no mud only gravel roads. Bone dry and HOT for my ride, til I hit Cali...that was the coldest...go figure.

Thanks man I sure do appreciate it. Comparing it to some of the ride reports on here I think it's pretty tame, but it sure feels epic to me!!! It's quite the feeling being out there alone and with nobody but yourself to rely on. I really do love it. I just hope these fork seals don't cost me too much time!

Awesome, thanks for tagging along. I would have been more than happy with just gravel roads today

HF

Great read. Loving the trip!

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This makes me really wish I still had my Adventure and two weeks of vacation.

Keep up the good work Randy, I look forward to checking this thread every day.