First, a little background. I am in the last year of my schooling to become a pharmacist. We have to do a certain amount of hours (in blocks called "rotations") at different facilities in order to graduate. At my school in Omaha, Nebraska, 1/2 of those rotations (so 4 five week blocks) can be done outside of the area (the "area" stretches from roughly Lincoln, NE to Des Moines, IA...not the most interesting country.) So I chose to do 2 of these "rotations" in Alaska, one in Colorado, one in Oregon. All great places to ride. I didn't think about how much it would cost to get the bike I had (a Suzuki DRZ400s) to Alaska because I assumed I'd be riding it there. When it became apparent that wouldn't happen due to time constraints, I looked into having it shipped and realized shipping it there and back would cost significantly more than I paid for the bike. :huh I was not too hot on the DRZ anyway, having rode it out to colorado last october with a couple of guys. It had the deathwings still on it and pretty much sucked to ride between the crap tires, the handling issues and the seat. (The trip was a great time in spite of the bike.) So I sold it. Fast forward to now, I have been in Anchorage for a little over 7 weeks, with only a bicycle as transportation. I don't want to see a bicycle for a very long time after this summer. They are terrible as a source of transportation. One very nice ADVer (AlaskaSolstice) who works at the hospital I am currently at asked me if I wanted to go riding with him to Hatcher Pass and of course I was not going to turn that down. By now you are thinking - get on with it - I dont care about this other crap I want to see pics of riding!!! OK......If you insist... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So....AlaskaSolstice lent me his KLR 650 and he used his son's KLR. I had never been on a KLR before then...I ride mostly street with my Z1000 and so I haven't been on a lot of dual sport bikes. But the KLR :eek1 It was like riding a cloud compared to the DRZ I had. And it had....HANDLING! We left Anchorage at 11 ish, rode the 1 up to Palmer (a fairly uneventful 35 or so miles of slab...it is pretty but definitely not as good as going south out of Anchorage IMHO). You take Fish hook Rd which is a paved road but is much more twisty than the road we were on before. A couple of almost hairpin turns, but mostly just curvy. Then at the end of this road is a mining operation place and a lodge that you can stay at. Very scandinavian looking. I expected to see someone on the side of the road yodeling. Then the fun began...turned on to hatcher pass road. This road was gravel in most sections, dirt in others and was steep in places. After stopping a few times we get to the top. You want pics?? A cool little lake at the top A photo of my ugly mug... It was pretty decently windy at the top Stopped to watch a paraglider try to get going ... he was having a little bit of performance anxiety with the two of us watching... (he couldn't get it up...the glider, you sick bastard.) Went down the other side of the pass and then rode all the way till the road turns back to pavement, which is a decent ways. Saw a lot of ATVs and trucks down there. We decided to come back the way we came in, back up over the pass. (Hatcher Pass is 3850 ish feet, Palmer is about 250 ish for reference.) Decided to check out a side road this time up to an old abandoned mine shaft. I say road in the loosest way possible. By road I mean "group of medium sized rocks randomly put together to resemble a semi-straight line." It was a fun section, had to take it a little bit slower than we were taking the rest, but got up to the mine shaft. The end of this road - actually looks like a real road. Don't be fooled, the rest of it is rocks and mud puddles. (Mud puddles ) Upon arriving at the mine shaft, I promptly stepped in dog crap. My first thought is - who went to all the trouble to bring their dog all the way up here :huh. And here is the man (AlaskaSolstice) himself. Got down the pass and had a pretty uneventful ride back down the 1. Trip took about 5 hours total...we were lolly gagging around though, time was not an issue. In conclusion: "Hatcher Pass....so easy, themocksta could do it!" In related news, I'm looking for a KLR when I get back to the oppressively hot Midwest. (KLR...) Thanks to AlaskaSolstice for showing me a good time!!
Thanks for the ride report Mocksta. Y ou KNOW you need a KLR. Can you describe the origin and possibly model number of the top case on back of the borrowed bike? They look a lot like a pelican case, and my KLR needs something just like that. Dean
Glad to hear you enjoyed the ride. I was up there on Sunday...went over to the mineshaft too. You should probably just buy a KLR. AlaskaSolstice sounds like a good dude.
Yes, we had a great ride out there on Saturday. I first met Jake at work but I had actually run across him before that on this site. It was apparent from his earlier posts that he really wanted to get to ride some while he was here in Alaska. I took this opportunity to let him get some riding time in while he was in Alaska as well as show him one of my favorite day trips. At one point on the ride, when we were still on the paved road but had just passed the turnoff where the dirt/gravel starts, I asked him if he wanted to go get a closer look at any of the buildings (Independence Mine buildings). He glanced over at the dirt road and said "No, lets just ride." So we went back to the turn-off and continued on up over the pass. We stopped at the little lake, and a few other places for photos, etc. and kept going until we hit pavement again and then turned around and came back. I think Jake might have liked to go a lot faster than I did, but I was in front most of the way, and I was a little skittish on some of those loose gravel corners. I must say though that he left something out of his ride report. But let me back up for just a moment... At the beginning of the ride I apparently failed to go over the following rule: If anyone has a minor drop/dump/tipover of the bike, they must not pick it up until the other one of us has a chance to take a picture! (actually this rule would be a moot point for me, because when I dump the bike, I need the other person there to help me pick it up!) So when I looked in my mirror and didn't see him, by the time I stopped and got back to him, it was too late to take a picture. So while I don't have that picture, I can show you the newly modified curvature of my brake lever: I think Jake might explain to you that he was just following me and I was going too slow around that steep uphill corner... which is all true... Anyway it was a great ride in a great location in good weather, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for posting the report and pictures Jake! Gary
Dean, The black case is a Pelican model 1520. The grey case is made by Underwater Kinetics. I bought that case about 25 years ago for a video camera and it is still going strong. It looks like it is very similar in materials and design to the Pelican cases. I can't find a model number on this particular one, but it is very close in size to a Pelican 1520, maybe slightly larger. It is probably a model 718 UltraCase. Gary
That drop was my fault, I tried to lug it going around that corner and realized I was going too slow for the gear and gave it a handful of throttle and killed it...sigh. I should have known better. I dont like the thought of dropping someone else's bike - it just isnt right to use someone else bike (well - really anything that belongs to someone else) and give it back in worse condition than I got it. And yeah - I'm not much for checking out buildings like that, maybe that is a product of the guys I normally ride with but I like just getting out there and being on the bike. I really liked the dirt and gravel, it was nice and the bike handled it perfectly.
The bride and I headed up there Sunday..it was nice when we left, by the time we got to the shaft it was starting to turn a bit There were some "yoots" rolling boulders down the mountain behind her, making a noise like a bowling alley The bike was so clean there. The rain cloud in the valley took care of that. "I'm going in!" As far as I needed to go "Hellloooooooooo......" The last time I was up that road, it was in better shape, not quite as washed out in spots. Still pretty decent.
It does pretty well for being a rather heavy bike. I used to own a Pegaso that was much better off road, and a R1150GS that was much worse. It has a typical British ride quality, long legged and compliant without being sloppy. Nice for 2 people, maybe a bit big for one. Smooth, comfortable, I've owned a fair number of bikes over the years and the Tiger is my new favorite. Wouldn't mind one of the new 800XC's but that will have to wait a bit.
KLR > DRZ! Who knew? $20 dolla, in Vendors, in case you missed them. Not the same case, but...$20! Hey Solstice!
Hey Suby, Yeah, handguards would have been good to have. Someday I'll probably get some, just haven't got around to it yet. Current project is to install some Pelican sidecases. I've been using Ortliebs, which are great, but I thought I might try some hardcases.
Just razzing ya! I had the same custom lever for a long time. Then I tried to straighten it, and it got more custom. Me too, except night vision cases. I'm kinda leery of having so much hard stuff hanging down, but all the cool kids are doing it...
