2009 - Vintage TAT Ride - NC, Tn, Ms, Ar

Fairytale's I'm told start with "Once upon a time" and Motorsickle stories start with "This ain't no shet".


So, with that being said we start our 2009 Vintage TAT Ride - Eastern Section and making of more "Rocking Chair Memories". This is Part III of an adventure that I dreamed about long before Sam took the time to develop this great trip.

One thing I have learned about the TAT Adventure. Sometimes the TAT takes, but it always gives much more than it takes.

The history of the ride began in 2006. Finding ADVrider.com, reading BigDogAdventures, GasPipe's and so many other great adventures decided to get my big ass off the couch and back on the bike. I had long dreamed of ride from Broken Arrow, Ok to Salida, Co on my 1975 DT400 Yahama, where I spent my youth riding the Rocky Mountains instead of getting in trouble here at home. Many of the rides I took covered much of the now TAT in Colorado. I also, had the joy of riding New Mexico and much of the Oklahoma routes as well. Sam putting it all together just made it all become this great adventure.

Myself and a few other Vintage Yahama Riders found our shared interest here on the world wide web in another forum YahamaEnduro.com dedicated to vintage Yahama's. I was restoring a couple old DT400's when the TAT was introduced to me by ADVrider. One thing always leads to another and off the story goes.

Looking forward to the report, your vintage reports ROCK.

:)

Like I said, I started riding the parts of the Colorado TAT 1975.

Marshall Pass Road, doing a little hill climb.




My first 10 day Adventure Ride in 1974, camping, riding and enjoying.
Top of the mountain South Face of Tin Cup Pass up on the Mountain.



Finally, my Favorite Weapon of Choice for Adventure Riding my 1976 DT400C Mountain Bike.

2006 into 2007 was putting together the TAT Vintage Gruppe. Misfits maybe, but a hell of a challange to find 6 guys who never met, never rode together and did not really know if one might be a serial killer. Pretty sure Joe would be the killer guy, just has that look.

The TAT Vintage Gruppe.


May of 2007, the day we met.



The gang always around the table some damn place.


Little Riding


Little, "what the hell we trying to do".


Little "Oklahoma assisted sight seeing". 26 miles of it actually. Hell, I had a good time, not sure about Gary (makotosun)


Little "Midnight Overhaul"

Along for your RR

Jed.

Little "Welcome to Oklahoma Dudes" The Mile-O-Mud




The wonders of the adventure


The broke bones of the ride

The Ride





Finally, the 2007 Ride, two very tired Vintage Yahama's


Let it be NOTED, Joe, took a few Advil, one good nights sleep and then rode his 1971 RT1 Yahama from Monticello, Utah to Marithon, Flordia. Now "that ain't no shet".:eek1

Check the whole 2007 - Vintage TAT ride out on the link in below.

My foot was killing me! "they said no problem just ease it over" sounded good on paper but you dont just ease 400 lbs of bike and 300 lbs of an old fat man over a 10' embankment. Needless to say the big red pig did an endo at the bottom applied its full force on the side of my foot and broke a couple joints in my arch. SWELLED up big as a watermellon, still hurts sometimes even after 2 1/2 years. Oh well the TAT just keeps on taking. We be a much better rider now and dont do 10' banks.


I guess we be just a few more of the many inmates here on ADV:







dman

CORRECTION:

I think it was more like, "hold still Dave, I gotta get a picture", we felt bad, but then hell, gotta have the picture to tell the story. More on pain later.

Thanks NOTAR, Hope we live up to the expectations. We going to give it a go for sure.

The Beginning Is A Very Delicate Time
​

Know, then, it was the year 2005. The group of misfits destined to become GruppeTAT, AKA the Vintage Enduro Adventure Riders (we have to change our name regularly so we can still get a motel reservation after D-man took that shower in his muddy riding gear in Richfield, Utah) met in the dusty netherworld of the internet.

​

Vinnie the Snake tossed down a nasty old riding glove on the oil stained dirt of Oklahoma and challenged the assembled to a ride. Not just a ride - but even in it’s infancy, an epic ride. A ride that would eventually grow to include a complete transcontinental crossing of North America, following the Trans America Trail, in the knobby tracks of Sam Correro. Not satisfied with a simple crossing, Vinnie decreed that the steeds must all be two stroke motorcycles. 30 year old vintage, twin shock Yamaha two stroke motorcycles.

Fast forward to 2009. As we sit poised to make a final assault on the Trans Continental Vintage Trans Am Trail Adventure Epic it is once again time for reflection. Why am I doing this again?

​

Oh yea - my bike is sitting in Vinnie's shop in Broken Arrow, and if I ever want to see it again I gotta show up in Kitty Hawk in two weeks. But I digress.

Tickets are purchased. The bikes are already on their way to the starting point. New video equipment has been procured. Time off has been arranged. Significant others have been bribed. Packages are being shipped to the east coast. All that is left is the countdown . . .

​

Joe, Dman, Mark, Big Nick (chase truck) Vinnie, DEET and Makotosun
​

Time until Kickstands up . . .TAT EAST

http://www.echlforums.com/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2009;10;4;9;00;00&timezone=GMT-0500
​

I hope to have the new and much improved website ready for prime time in a few days. We will have our signature mailing list to directly receive GPS and other updates.

Now if we can just keep Mark off of his other bike until we go kickstands up!

​

The TAT is always an adventure, and your among friends.

Back in the Day my DT400 with oil injection seized up on me more than once,lol. I never got as far from home as you gents, hats off.

Thanks for sharing

Vinnie:

I'm in!!!

Lee

i've been waiting for some more vintage TAT RR from you guys. you're gonna love the east. you guys starting on the coast? dont know what you're plan is but if you need anything while you're on this side of the big river:huh i'd be happy to help. vinnie, you and all the boys in tulsa have always been big help when i've been out that way so dont hesitate. lots of good riding here in western carolina and east TN. let me know if you guys need a place to hold up around asheville,nc and do any maintanance or want to ride some nasty trails round these hills. truck and trailer avail. for emergencys . do it to it fellas! i'll be watchin! PM me if you need.

Actually as a matter of factely we will be going right thru Asheville and that maybe our first stop, so we may take you up on that. That will be a marathon day but its all on slab so it should be doable. have to see what the wind blows in.

dman

Last year, the TAT Gruppe planned to attack the Western Section of the TAT. UT, NV and OR.

As all great adventures begin, food was the topic of our first evening.



The Road Trip to Monticello from Broken Arrow



Started the ride at Monticello and headed West. We soon found that we started a little early and hit snow and hell the first day.

La Salle Range


After a couple hours trying to bust the pass, we had to turn back and find a route to Moab.



Joe "your kidding me, we going there"


And the adventured continues. Need help guys with a few pics. Seem to have misplaced some.

The ride continued as hoped for the first couple days. Grinding and Riding.


Like Joe always added "Vance, we working the piss out of the old bikes".


Anthony showing off the FBI Stealth RT1


Me ole Mountain Bike, soaking up a little sun.


To read the whole story, check out the 2008 - Vintage TAT West ride in my signature. The next few days dished out some Whooop Ass on the boys.

Anthony did a double full on his bike in the sand. We hit snow on the last range in Utah, and later I busted my ass and got mailed home. Check out the story, it is a hell of a ride for sure.

Ass Whoooopen #1, Yes I am pissed , yes the deputy had a gun and I had a knife , and Yes, for the first time in my life had to leave my bike behind. Remember, he had a gun, and I'll be damned, he was very convincing with it.


The rest of this recap will require support from the others, due to a little issue, I did not get any more pictures, don't care to relive it, so I will break here and allow the others to fill in the blanks.

Will move ahead to the 2009 - Vintage Ride in a day or so. Take over dudes.

Yep, going Coast to Coast, I still have to go back to the crash site and finish the West Section next year, then will bust the CDR and have the Northern Cross Completed. Lets see if we can meet up for a beer.

Well - after too many hours of fighting new software, The Vintage Enduro Adventure Riders - AKA - GruppeTAT - is online once again with our new cutting edge website. There will be more content posted as we get closer to Kickstands Up, but for now you can get a bit of our history without reading the complete threads.



We will be posting GPS tracking logs from Dman's SPOT on our GPS map. (It is blank for the moment, but I will have him upload a few checks to give you an idea of what it is like.

You will need to sign up to view most of the content, and there is a separate signup for the mailing list if you want to get Vinnie's haphazard SPOT updates directly to your inbox! Right at the bottom right of most pages.

We also have a facebook page if anyone is socially inclined.



Please let me know if you find any problems with the website as I am still picking the bugs out from it's teeth . . .