Idaho

Bed, shower, tv and four walls vs Hammock, river, nature and freedom.

Action Motorsports in Idaho Falls. If anyone is in the area and needing parts of service ck these guys out! Scored a Michelin T63 rear and a quality chain for a reasonable cost. The general manager came out and we chatted for a bit while I worked Marla over in the lot. Come to find out he also rides a KLR and frequents ADVrider, even offered to get me work in Denver at a shop.

Just about toast, but with no replacement in sight I was forced to ride an additional 1,000 or so miles on this sucker to Denver.

Never again to a Trail Wing!

Michelin T63, awesome tire just wish it lasted longer.

Mr.Vintage's (ADV host) shop (Pullman, Washington)

Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route (OBDR)

Day 1 

  So the first day of my OBDR experience was pretty classic in my opinion. I was camped outside Ashland off Copco Rd. for about a week waiting for my friend/couch surf host from Bakersfield "Casey" to ride up on his Drz. When our schedules didn't work out I decided to hit the trail and have him meet me down the line. The morning I was set to leave I decided to ride Copco the 40 or so miles to the California border to make it official. It was hot and I left half my gear at camp and went without protection, dumb I know. Sure enough whipping around a loose left corner my Trail Wing rear tire decided to let go. I over corrected and shot all the way over to the shoulder where my front picked a rut and went with it. Next thing I know I'm sliding on my right arm and helmet and notice a barbed wire fence coming up fast. Thankfully the shoulder was deep and soft and Marla dug in and stopped us in time. I jumped right up and looked at my right forearm/elbow and all I saw was blood and sand. After some grunting and shaking it off I pulled out my first aid kit, cold water from my camelback, a bandana and went to work. After patching my self up and happy that I finally got to pop the cherry on my first aid kit I hit the road again...






Official start of the "3" trail near Ashland off 66 (Old Hyatt Prairie Rd.)


Climate change?!



Stoke!












Casey ADV Salute



Going, going.......


Gone!


This series definitely deserves some background. Somewhere north of Bend I believe we ran into a volcanic area which was being used as a quarry. The view was spectacular and you could see the last lava flow down below for miles. Well we decided to take a snack break on top of the hill while enjoying the scenery. Not soon after a fire truck pulled up with a few guys and gals inside. Apparently they were there on a mission. From what we heard all newbies get brought to this spot and have to go through this. You have to run down the loose lava rock hill which is probably a good 8 or 9 stories, get to the bottom pick up a car tire and come back up with it. It was well into the upper 90's that day and probably around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I felt pretty bad for this 18 year old kid and what he was about to do. Props to him for putting up with the hazing and getting through it, even if it took him close to half an hour. Personally I would have told them to well you know. It was pretty surreal to watch his peers on top of the hill cracking jokes, laughing their asses off and reminiscing of their own runs at it. Pretty sad we as a species actually enjoy watching each other struggle and being humiliated for no reason at all. 





Every once in a while we'd run into something like this.


My idea of a short cut, an expert mountain bike trail.




Casey even though a newbie rider (DRZ as a first bike and only owning it a few months before taking on the obdr) tackled whatever I threw at him with no sweat!


Though on one section I shamelessly set him up for failure. We had gotten turned around on a trail when the gps wasn't working and ended up at this section. It's not part of the OBDR though it definitely made the ride interesting. This was one of those underground rivers where a thin layer of soil with grass on it covers a moving body of water. We both walked it and figured on a line. Since he had the lighter bike and load I suggested he go first. I set up for the shot of what I thought was gonna be an easy crossing though unfortunately for Casey this wasn't the case. Somehow he managed to find a sinkhole and it was a good one! As I was shooting this sequence I was attacked and chewed by red ants while unknowingly standing on their nest. No one was seriously injured and it only took a few good tugs and some digging to get the DRZ out the hole. As for Marla we just walked her across without incident. Live and learn!







What my arm was looking like that night in Bend. No pain.....


The river we DIDN'T get to camp at that night so we could go get drunk at Ten Barrel in Bend.



So the next morning shortly after leaving Bend and getting back on the trail I had my second incident in the OBDR. The trail had whoops which were pretty close together and with Marla being loaded every time I hit one with any speed I'd bottom out the rear. So I started to swing to the side of the whoops every time one came up. As luck would have it there was a perfectly placed set of logs who decided to make my day a little more interesting. As i was going through the berm on one of the whoops while up on the pegs I noticed a small to medium sized log sticking out into the trail, I had very little time to react. I was able to swing the bike away from the log enough to miss it but my saddle wasn't as lucky. As I was being catapulted through the air I had clear vision of my landing site and log number two who patiently awaited me. Somehow this log ended up being the perfect width to slip right in between the chin and lid of my helmet through the opening where the visor should have been (had it up). It felt like I got punched in the face by a mountain gorilla and I thought for sure my nose was broken. If I hadn't been wearing sunglasses my right eye would have surely been damaged as the glasses themselves got a bit banged up. After shaking it off and pulling off my helmet I checked my face for blood, surprisingly there was only a small amount. Soon after Casey who was tagging behind pulled up and we got Marla back on her feet who off course was unscathed. Turns out all I had were some scratches on my nose, a future black eye, a small cut under my eye and a hell of a story.








Much more to come......