Hey everyone. Long entry ahead. A few videos and photos as well.
So been quite a few months since my last update and until this weekend there was not much to report. As usual had been riding around town just to exercise the bike and took a few short rides over to Scottsdale for quick errands, but nothing really big. During this time I did manage to get bike in for some maintenance since it had been a while, and while I had not yet hit the mileage, the time was long enough we did the next scheduled maintenance anyway. Bike was at about 3200 miles as of a few days ago.
However....drum roll....we FINALLY took an actual trip on the bike! Yes, after 3.5 years of owning it, we finally actually used it :)
I had bought a weekend pass to attend the Overland Expo West in Flagstaff last month. Went with the camping option as well. This was not only a great opportunity to see some vendors and products up close, and play with them and talk with vendors about various product needs, but also attend and learn some cool things from those more experienced and also to network and meet other riders. It was also the perfect time to take an actual trip on the bike.
Over the last year I have reached a point in my riding that I feel really comfortable around town, my riding has become almost instinct now. I do not ride along thinking about how I need to shift, or brake or corner or anything, I just do it. So it was time to finally get out on the open road and do a long ride. (Until now, the longest ride was the 75 miles to a relatives place north of Phoenix, which was an adventure in its own sense, but was just a ride staying with family, so did not pack or take anything other then simple change of clothes.)
Now remember, my bike is basically a stock bike still. I had to figure out how to pack a weekends worth of clothing, some food and water, tent, sleeping bag, cameras and various other things I thought I might need or want on a bike with no storage/luggage on it.
I put most of the stuff in a decent sized duffel style bag I have. The tent was in it's own bag and sleeping bag was also in a bag. I put water bottles in a small lunch box cooler and then using the bag on the bottom, arranged the rest on top of the bag on the rear seat/rack space of the bike. It was then covered with a cargo net I had and 2 bungie straps to hold it down. Everything was attached to everything else. I looped the tent bag strap through the sleeping bag strap, the cooler strap was looped around the tent, and the tent strap was also trapped in the Velcro of the handles on the duffel, so it all became one large block.
The cargo net had 6 attachment points that allowed it to cover all sides with a decent tension to prevent any serious movement, then the 2 straps where used to keep downward tension, and those straps were woven in and out of the cargo net to hold them in place in case they would come loose, did not want them flapping around, flying off or getting tangled in rear wheel.
It all worked, though looked a bit precarious and was not an ideal setup. I could feel the difference in bike balance with that weight so high up on the back, and the wind did knock things around a bit more with that large mass sticking up, though probably no worse than riding with a 2nd person on back (and far less heavy)
The event itself ran Friday through Sunday. I rode up to my relatives on Thursday evening, as they are at roughly the half way point. This allowed me to ride up when traffic was lighter than during the earlier times of day, and as I was half way there, allowed me to arrive fairly early in Flagstaff without having to be up so early.
Spent the night and then in the morning repacked the bike, added a few food items and beverage, and also decided to slip the duffel into a large garbage bag to offer some protection against water if it would happen to rain (there was a small chance of rain, but still a chance).
Left around 7:30 a.m. and had a decent ride up to Flagstaff. Along the way I tested taking a few videos with the GoPro which I had installed on the bike to see what kind of footage I could get. (Sadly I accidentally deleted them all earlier today in a bone head action, so the few videos I got, while they worked nicely, are no longer existing!!)
Arrived at the exit to reach the Fort Tuthill grounds and pulled off the freeway. The traffic instantly became a standstill. Took about 30 minutes of creeping along to get down the highway to the entrance, then into the park and then to the check in lines. They checked me in and gave me my wristband (but failed to give me the other things I should have received, had to track them down later). And then pointed me to next person who directed me to the motorcycle camping spots (which were actually right where they were standing).
Pulled off and then parked bike along parking lot and walked around a bit to find a spot. Camping was festival style, no assigned spots, no saving spots, just find a area large enough for your tent/bike/gear and claim it. I found a spot about 50 feet away that met my needs, so proceeded to unload the bike and place all the gear in a pile to save it. Then moved the bike over and parked it there (after having to find a rock to place under the kickstand so it would stay stable and not fall over, ground was too soft for the center stand to work right.)
Setup the tent, loaded everything inside and organized it some, then headed over to the main event grounds which were about a half mile walk away.
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| The tent setup |
Day 1 at Overland ExpoOnce inside it was overlanding overload! Every conceivable variation on trucks, bikes, campers and gear of all kinds was there. I first tried to find main event booth to get my t-shirt I had pre-purchased, but was directed to wrong spot, and they let me know where to find it that day, or the new location it would move to on Saturday (which is when I actually went and picked it up). I then walked around the entire place looking mainly for the motorcycle related vendors and of course noting where other vendors were that might be interesting, as well as checking out some awesome expedition trucks that I will never be able to afford anyway!
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| For the serious Overlander! |
I had a late lunch (LONG lines) and then took some time to attend a few late afternoon talks, both on packing a bike. One focused on solo travel needs (I missed about half that one) and the other on weight considerations in packing. Instructor even gave me his typed up notes for that one when he was done as I had spent some time talking with him and he had seen me at the earlier talk as well which he attended.
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| Lunch lines! |
I also stopped by a booth for a local bike business in the Phoenix area and bought a pair of riding boots which I needed. (Up till now I have been using hiking boots for longer rides, though around town I usually just wear my regular sneakers.) Walked back to camp to take boots back and hung out there doing a few things in the tent and figuring out how I was going to sleep that night and setting up bag and such. I had forgotten my travel pillow, so figured I would use my leather jacket I ride in as a pillow (did not work that well, even adding a pair of shorts into it to bulk it up). I then left to go back over to see the film festival film that night which was a great 10 year look back on the BDR (Backroad Discovery Routes) organization and the work they had done.
Friday evening recap
After film it was back to tent, updated journal and then attempted to sleep.
That did not work out so well. Temperature went down to about 45 that night, so was much cooler than I like, I kept my jeans and shirt on, even put my fleece jacket back on half way through the night. My cheap sleeping bag while rated for much lower temps, was just not sized right for my height and body, so if I zipped myself into it I could not move well, and I had not picked up a ground mat, thinking I could deal with it, but nope. Ground was hard, uneven and cold. Could not get comfortable for long and tossed/turned all night.
Woke about 7 a.m. and just moved around tent a bit doing things to wake up. While the park had showers, I was not sure where they were, and had been warned that they were limited, and probably would be busy, and not very good either, so I had already decided before I left that I would just sponge bath with some water for the weekend. (Mostly outdoor event, figured the odor could be handled by deodorant).
Saturday Morning
Changed clothes and then picked up stuff I wanted and headed back to the event. Saturday I had planned mostly to attend talks and had my agenda all setup in the event app (which was brilliant by the way). Throughout the day I attended talks on getting published as a travel writer, what tools to pack, First Aid, How to pack for various travel scenarios, security practices when travelling and dealing with international borders.
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| Getting published panel |
I also had some time to spend at several vendors and picked up other things that were of interest or need which were:
*3 year subscription to the Overland Journal (which also gave me a 1 year sub to an app based GPS as a special deal along with the discount).
*A new motorcycle focused GPS system to install on the bike from Garmin.
*A throttle lock device to basically give me cruise control for the bike.
*The AZ BDR map for riding route in Arizona.
*Another t-shirt from an overlanding media company whose videos I have enjoyed watching over last 2 years - and got to meet the main guy behind the company and who has been in all the videos.
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| One of the companies many trucks. |
*A ground mat for use that night and a thermal insert for the sleeping bag to help warm things up some.
And of course lunch and a couple of beverages during the day.
After all that I went back to tent to unload and then hang out a bit trying to install the throttle lock on the bike. Things did not go well, could not seem to get it to install correctly, then dropped the torx wrench which got trapped in my bike fairing, requiring a partial disassembly of it to retrieve, and then as it was getting dark, I had to remove what I had done so far and appears the screw in the device was stripped. I got it out, but still not sure if the device was cross-threaded or not.
Eventually headed back to event space for the nights moto dinner and party to benefit a legal organization that works for motorcycle legal issues. I had paid extra for this event when I bought my ticket. Was a simple BBQ dinner and we all got a raffle ticket as well. Some live music and lots of people. I of course did not win anything, and night was getting cold, so once over I headed over to the film fest tent, but it was half over, and while it looked interesting, was not sure exactly what the story was about, so decided not to stay.
Went back to tent, setup my new sleeping gear and then went to sleep. It was much warmer and the ground mat did help some with the ground warmth and hardness, but did not work as well as they had talked or like the demo mat, but I did not spend much time trying to blow it up. (Supposed to be self inflating due to the type of foam used, but it did not seem to inflate much. But picked it for 75% off retail, so for that cost it did something at least).
Woke up Sunday morning in a slightly better mood, but it was also not a good day. Overcast, humidity was up and rain was predicted for a good part of the day. I sponged off, changed clothes and then packed up most of the stuff so it was nearly ready for loading. Then went back over to the event for a few last things I wanted to do.
It sprinkled for some of the walk down and then rained hard for about 10 minutes, but then stopped. I visited one of the guys who had been on 2 of the panels I had attended Saturday. He and his family have been living on the road for just over a decade, and he had written several books about their travels. When I talked with him after the 2nd panel he did mention they had the books for sale, so went to find him this morning.
I arrived but they had not yet setup, but they did have a sign with a web address on it, so I was looking at that to see what books would cost and see about having them shipped as I was not sure I had room to pack more stuff. His son came out while I was doing that and I got into a discussion with him for awhile, then his wife joined. She helped me find the stuff online which was currently on sale for the event and was able to put in the order for the new book coming out soon and it would come with all the other books and a t-shirt. She also gave me her contact to reach her to get some info on some people they know who build luggage for bikes as well as some other references for bike related travel from people they knew or knew of at least.
After completing my online order I left them to go get some food, then visited the place where I had bought the throttle lock to check out the demo again, and was able to figure out what I was doing wrong, and the sales girl also went over a few things that helped clarify the install instructions, so hopefully I will get it installed sometime soon (was not going to try it with the threat of rain coming). After a quick look at a few other things, and seeing if anyone had a good rain jacket I could buy (did not find one) I decided to head out before the rain became worse as it was predicted to do, and also beat the rush of leaving later in the day with everyone else.
At the nearly last booth as I was leaving, I spotted some solar powered battery packs and thought that would be nice to have and picked one up. I had earlier borrowed one on Saturday evening from my camping neighbor (who offered it when he saw me trying to charge phone on the bike).
Back at camp I did the final pack, pulled down the tent and packed it, got my riding gear (if you can call it that) on and loaded up the bike and secured everything.
Sunday Departure
Got bike warmed up and pulled back onto the park road and headed for exit. Barely hit the highway and the rain started and started hard. For the 3 miles to the fuel stop it was pouring. I was already soaked when I pulled up to pumps. After topping off the tank, headed back out to a downpour. I was taking the back way home to avoid heavy traffic on the interstate which was always bad on Sundays even in good weather, riding it in the rain would have been a nightmare.
Took Lake Mary Road out of Flagstaff which would bring me down to highway 87 and then to Payson, and from there back to Phoenix.
The rain out of Flagstaff was coming down so hard I could barely see, and visor was fogging up, so had to leave it gapped at the bottom which of course let some water in (though not much). The old helmet I have, while doing its job, was not up to this much rain, and even worse since the visor is cracked form a fall it took last year. (A new helmet is going to happen soon here). By now my leather jacket was soaked through, and my jeans were soaked. Eventually the rain lightened up and even stopped for a few minutes now and then, but always came back. I also was now heading up in altitude before I would come back down. So temperatures got cooler, I got wetter, and at 50-60 mph, the wind made things worse.
I finally reached Payson after about 2 hours of riding and was sopping wet and starting to feel numb and also hurting in other places. My feet were now wet too, left foot was swimming in the new, supposedly waterproof boots, so not too happy about that. I need to figure out if defective or was not sealed up correctly, or if perhaps my wet jeans were wicking and leaking water down my leg into boot, though still not sure why left foot was so much worse.
I stopped at a gas station to use restroom and was shivering while in there, body was aching and it was hurting to lift legs up and down while moving in traffic coming up to station. I knew I needed to get out of the cooler temps, so that meant getting back down to lower altitudes sooner than later, and since rain was predicted to continue if not worsen later, was not going to wait.
Painfully got back on bike, got back on highway and heading south. Thankfully a short distance out of Payson and you drop down pretty fast. Temps which had reached 60 in Payson (from a low of 50 on Lake Mary road) were now going up to 64. Rain let up for a bit, and traffic was moving well, and not too crazy.
About half way to Phoenix, near the top of a big hill, things ground to a stop. Both lanes backed up, and soon saw patrol car lights and signs about an accident ahead. Spent about 20 minutes moving along at a crawl, thankfully most of it downhill, so just coasted in neutral which saved my clutch hand some pain. And of course the rain started up again, but at such low speeds was not as annoying.
Finally passed the crash scene (horrible roll over of a single SUV, did not look good for who ever was inside. Medical teams were already gone, they were just cleaning road and waiting for truck to remove wreck I guess) and was able to get moving again.
As we moved south the temps finally increased to 70, and rain let up for a bit. Reached edge of Phoenix and thankfully that is part of town I live in (which is another reason I took this route, saves crossing most of Phoenix and all the traffic and stops). I turned off for the last 3 miles to house and it started to rain again.
Pulled into garage and was exhausted. Though I was feeling better now that I had warmed up, wasted no time in getting into dry clothes and then unloading bike, unpacking and spreading out things that were wet. Tent was of course wet when I packed it, and had picked up a bit of moisture from the trip, so spread it out in garage. It needs to be washed as it was also dirty from 3 days of dust build up. Most of the luggage was good and dry other than some moisture on the outer bags. My backpack, which I had thought somewhat water resistant faired the worst. It had taken on enough moisture to soak the papers and books inside, causing some fair damage to one book and many brochures and papers were messy, though not a big deal as most will just get tossed once I get details off them to research items.
After all that, I wiped off the bike to remove excess water and clean off the dust and dirt built up on it, then took care of some business around the house and then headed out for an early hot dinner!
So there you go, my first motorcycle adventure. Probably told you way more detail than you care about, but figured I would make this first trip entry large enough to make up for the last few years of lame updates about me riding around town for no reason.
I learned a lot from my time at the event, from people I talked with, things I saw and the many mistakes I made as well as confirmed many things I knew and just had not done yet (like buying proper riding gear and getting luggage for the bike, both of those things now at the very top of my list and will be dealt with over next 30 days, so look for those updates coming soon).
Till next time, hoping you are spending your own time doing something interesting and fun or crazy and fun, but just enjoying life.
