This Little Red Piggy is going out West

These pictures are from Valley of the Gods and back to Monticello. Lots of riding on rock and sand.

We ate at the Granary Restaurant last night and liked it so much that we went back tonight. Really good hamburgers. They have what they call red fries. They are thick red potato slices French fried with dipping sauce. Very tasty.

After dinner, we did bike maintenance and packed our stuff for tomorrow. We're going to do the Lockhart Basin section on the way to Moab. We're trying to leave early around 7am. It gets crazy hot out here. It was 110 degrees this afternoon.

So far the bike has handled everything really well. Hopefully, the LRP will keep up the good work tomorrow. I heard somewhere that's it's 20% bike and 80% rider. If that's the case, the LRP has more than held up it's end of the bargain so far.

Hey! My sister lives in Germantown!
I'm originally from Jackson, living real close to @motocopter now in Bethpage. If you guys end up coming to middle TN and riding, I may be able to get away for a few hours or a weekend myself!

I'm planning to load up my old KLR in the pickup and head to CO here in about 2 weeks. I've been dreaming about going back since my first trip there a few years ago. It really is dual sport heaven.

Small world indeed. We plan rides all over the place. I'd love to get a middle TN ride together one day.

Two of the guys in my group out here are on KLRs. Tim rented a KLR because he couldn't get his bike through Canada right now. It has street tires on it. He just rode that thing through Lock Hart Basin like a boss.

Tuesday June 23

UTBDR Section 2 - Monticello through Moab (Expert Route through Lock Hart Basin.)

It was another scorcher today around 110. We left Monticello at 7am. We should have left at 6am. Chris decided to skip the ride and go on to Moab. He had heart surgery a few years ago and just can't endure the heat all day. That turned out to be a very wise decision.

The route was exactly 100 miles. 100 very tough, extremely hot miles. If anyone is wondering if it is really an expert route, let me clarify that for you: it is absolutely an expert route. Given the sand, technical riding, terrain, and heat, it can very easily get riders in over their heads. I've ridden some pretty gnarly stuff. This was the hardest ride that I have done yet on a dual sport bike.

Now, on to the slide show.

This is the mountain just outside of Monticello. They were repaving the road after this with some weird tar stuff that seemed really slippery. We tried to stay on the side of the road to avoid the stuff.

Here's a picture of the famous Newspaper Rock. It was really cool to see writing/images from thousands of years on one rock.

Here's some pictures along the route to get to Lock Hart Road.

Here's some pictures at Lock Hart Basin and Hurrah Pass. I'll post more later.



There was plenty of sand, then it would get really technical, then it would get just plain hard. The heat sure didn't help.

They were "grading" the road across Hurrah Pass. I would call it more like rototilling to expose every darn babyhead rock on the whole road for miles. The only traction that you could get was the exposed large flat rocks that the grader couldn't move. Just think freshly laid deep pea gravel on a really steep hill laced with a healthy dose of babyheads and sand.

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When we made it back to town alive, we started looking for the hotel. Chris was supposed to already be there. After a few blocks, we ran into Chris on the street. He had scouted out a great place to get a beer and burger, the Moab Brewing Company. They have very good food and a great selection of beers. I had a hefe and tri-tip burger.

We're going to discuss the route for tomorrow. We're supposed to do the White Rim Trail. It's going to be over 100 again. It wouldn't be smart for Chris to be out there. Tim is from Alaska and the heat is really hard on him. It might just be me and Ken. If Ken doesn't go, I'm going to have to ditch it this trip. It just isn't safe to be out there alone.

I know it seems like I'm beating a dead horse about the heat. I just want to get it across to everyone to respect the environment out here. It can be dangerous. I was in the first Gulf War. I've been in the desert before. I have experienced hot. The middle East has nothing on this place. We are taking it very seriously.

Oh, no white rim, I am crushed. But, I'll get over it, better safe than sorry for you guys.

I'm so bummed. White Rim is definitely off for tomorrow. Ken had a chain issue. He had a roller come off. I had never seen a roller come off of a chain before. Chris got him a new chain today, but they gave him the wrong one. We didn't know it until we had Ken's KTM apart in the parking lot. The bike shop doesn't open until 9am. By the time that we got the new chain and had it installed on the bike, it would be pushing it to even get done with White Rim. Add the heat to that equation and we decided that it just wasn't meant to be this trip.

We are going to hang out in Moab for the day and go to Arches National Park. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow. It always seems to work out in the end.

My wife and I are driving my Jeep out to Colorado in September for two weeks. She suggested that we come back to Moab and do the White Rim then in the Jeep. Not a bad consolation prize.

Go ride the short practice course for the Slick Rock. It's east of town only a couple of miles.

Wednesday June 24

We started the day by going to get Ken another replacement chain. Nothing like parking lot bike maintenance to add some adventure.



Then, we toured Arches National Park. It was very beautiful, but Utah hot. If I come back here, I'm going to make sure it is in a cooler part of the year.

After Arches, we had dinner at the Sunset Grille overlooking Moab. The view was awesome. The food was really good, but pricey.



This was a very good hefe beer.

Thursday June 25

Moab to Telluride via LaSal Mountain

Just spent 30 minutes writing today's ride report. The screen refreshed and poof, it disappeared. I'll try to rewrite it tomorrow.

Stay tuned it involves a crash and some really good riding.

Spent some time at the Uinta brewery outside Salt Lake City. At the time, last year, drafts could not exceed 4% ABV. The law has changed to allow for a slightly higher ABV, but, not sure as to what the actual numbers are now. To drink the real stuff had to get in a can. Ridiculous!

More, beer brewed out of state and sold in Utah is restricted to no greater that 4.5% alcohol.