Operation Grizzly Adams: Brian's Solo Western TAT Tour

Day T -4, 1654hrs

No razor, no work, no (or minimal) cell phone and interwebz, no cushy motel rooms. Just myself, my bike and my gear and nearly three weeks off. This should be an adventure. On Friday, 17 June at O dark thirty I'll be leaving the fine city of Monterey, CA on what I hope will be an epic adventure: ride backroads from Monterey to Monticello, UT and from there, ride the TAT to the coast in Oregon, camping all along the way.

The Prep

I've read nearly every ride report on this site so I know a bit what to expect--I hope Last week I got the roll charts and maps from Sam and with much help from Craftycoder, I've been getting the route loaded into my Garmin Zumo 550. I don't have a backup for it, so if it craps out on me, I'll just be roll charting it

The Motorcycle

My trusty steed for this adventure will be none other than the legendary Yamaha WR250R Its got all the essential farkles: Pipe, header, fuel tuner, Thumper Racing big bore, steering stabilizer and HDBs bulletproof handguards. If she's been as reliable as she has to date, we'll be fine. For tires I'm running non-DOT Michelin S12XCs front and rear. I got a nice billet roll chart holder from BilletInnovations.com and also got a backlighting kit for it from Touratech just in case I get stuck out on the trail after dark. I've got a spare fuel pump for the bike just in case. The fuel pump is one of the known issues with '08 WRRs and being as mine is an '08 with the original pump I thought it prudent to have a spare. I am a rolling advertisement for Wolfman Motorcycle luggage The stuff is the poop. I'll be using their Expedition dry saddlebags with a medium dry duffel, enduro tank bag, tire/tool roll holder and 4 of their 1 liter bottle holsters and bottles to carry an extra gallon or so of fuel. With the Safari tank that puts me at 4.75 gal total fuel load which gives me a range in excess of 300miles. I feel good about that.

The Gear
The following is a list of gear I'll be taking, feel free to comment or offer suggestions:
-MSR Hubba Hubba tent
-US army issue bivy/sleep system (without the light green heavy bag, just the dark bag)
-self inflating camp matress,
-MSR SuperFly stove and pot system
-2 32oz Nalgene bottles of water
-64oz camelback
-few packs of mountain house food
-1L oil
-No Toil air filter cleaning kit
-patches/rubber cement (I don't plan to carry tubes, talk me into or out of this if you feel strongly--I have spare tubes, they are just bulky and heavy)
-MSR CO2 inflator
-small Slime air pump
-3 pair undies, 3 pair socks, 3 t-shirts
-BMW Rallye 3 suit (jacket and pants)
-Alpine Star Tech 7 boots
-Shoei Hornet DS helmet with bluetooth
-Leatt kneck brace
-1 pair lowcut, lightweight hiking shoes
-SPOT GPS connect
-GZ'one Cell phone
-Garmin Zumo 550
-small power inverter
-two pair goggles, one tinted, one clear
-two pair gloves
-US army issue poncho
-US army issue cold weather fleece pullover (the tan one)
-Camera
-mini tripod
-Macbook Pro
-Hero helmet cam
-chain lube
-spare fuel pump
-2 8oz fuel cannisters for stove
-pocket knife
-various selection of tools (bike specific)
-matches
-Zippo lighter and fuel
-First Aid kit
-wet wipes
-baby powder
-toiletries (deodorant, toothbrush, etc, etc)

I think that is about it.

Photos

The bike




Pardon the wires, my switch to go in the HDB top clamp for the roll chart lighting kit hasn't come in yet.


The Gear





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I'm in!

oh.. diggin' the Macbook Pro too :)

Good luck and have fun! Bash3r and I are both WR² club members.

You should know, one of my three t shirts is my ANYWHERE t shirt.

Good luck!

The S12 rear/M12 front was my go-to combo for quite awhile

Any idea what mileage you can expect from your S12's? I ran them for HS/Enduro racing...

No idea. But we are about to find out!

Oh yea..

Good luck buddy.. can't wait to hear how your trip goes..

How are you gearing your steed for the event?

Hope you have good weather.

13/46 gearing. I also forgot to mention the bike is equipped with a Revloc auto clutch. For this trip, I kinda wish it wasn't. With no kickstarter, if the battery takes a dump on me in the middle of BFE, I am S-C-R-E-W-E-D, to put it succinctly. My plan is to never shut the bike down anywhere but a town. Of course thats the plan, who knows what will really happen.


So here is the deal. I have the SPOT GPS connect thing and I'm getting the plan where it will plot your position in nearly realtime. If you guys see me not move for more than a few hours, and I'm in the middle of BFE and it isn't sleepy time, send in the calvary.

Yea.. send us the link..

Will be following with interest. Looks like it will be a great trip.

Take the tubes. If you are alone and rip a tube you are screwed. There are places out there where you could easily die before someone sees you. If I was traveling alone i would have 2 fronts and 1 rear. Then you will have a spare even after a flat.

At the very least I would carry a front tube.

Don't pass up water. Even if you think that you have plenty with you.

Sounds like a blast. Looking forward to enjoying the adventure. I am in Springville UT if you run into any trouble or need a hot shower (or cold one )

BTW where does one obtain those very nice looking maps?

Right here: http://www.transamtrail.com/

WRR TAT AOK. BFE.....nice. Subscribed.

Have a fun, safe journey my friend,

I'll be watching!