Posts
8094
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Mesa, AZ
US
Edited Date/Time
11/9/2017 10:57am
A few weekends ago we spent up in the beautiful mountains of Payson Arizona and rode a two day DualSport Adventure named "Howlin at the Moon".
The Arizona Trail Riders put on a great event and Payson just happens to be my favorite of the three different locations they go to.
Two breakfast's, one lunch, roll chart and a banquet with a raffle for motorcycle related goodies are all included in the entry. All proceeds from the raffle go to keeping trails open in AZ, so it's for a good cause.
The Elks Lodge in Payson host the event and do a great job as well.
After 220 miles of rocky, challenging terrain we were tired but satisfied after a good ride.
Our crew of seven riders were just one of many of the 150 or so riders.
Donna Blatt took a couple of these photos as well. Thanks Donna also thanks to Don Hood, his wife Trish, Frank Staley and many more.
For my Moto comrades that have DualSports, mark your calendars for the same time next year.
It's a great event and you'll be back for more.
http://www.arizonatrailriders.org/
Ready to Roll Day1
This would be my first ATR Dual Sport ride on the KTM 350 after doing it for years on my 520.
She did pretty good and was flawless through the whole weekend.
First Pit Stop--Jakes Corner
Friday meal with the Biker gang
My buddy Rik Smits, former All Star of the Indiana Pacers.
I was talking to him about when I used to watch compete against my Phoenix Suns back when he was still playing as I've been a season-ticket holder for 26 years.
Now that he is retired he can focus on his true love of riding motorcycles, mostly dirt bikes and he's just a regular guy like the rest of us...
I hooked another one back in after 10 yrs gone...
This was my ol buddy Dano's first DualSport event on the 6 Days 250 I sold him and he had a good time as did Marko.
A Dual Sport ride is not complete without a trailside flat repair...
Arizona TrailRiders provide these cool maps of the three different routes (A, B and C) you can look over while chowing down the breakfast.
Speaking of Breakfast, while they had some chopped up Primerib from the Banquet, the look on our faces told the story of Day 2 morning blues..... Ha!
Donna and Trish checking us into the banquet
How many entries include a tasty PrimeRib meal?
This is just one table of the Raffle Swag
Crossing the Verde
Dano removed his elbow guards as they were too tight and causing arm pump of course shortly thereafter he took a dive and paid the price of not having guards on like I've said many times "you can't get enough protection"....
Along with Dano, Don and Bob were my first Dirtbike friends when I moved to AZ as I knew nobody to ride with or where to go.
30 years later, we are still going at it. Dang I luv Motorcycles!
This was a nice place to take a break and reflect on what a great weekend it was.
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed the pics....
The Arizona Trail Riders put on a great event and Payson just happens to be my favorite of the three different locations they go to.
Two breakfast's, one lunch, roll chart and a banquet with a raffle for motorcycle related goodies are all included in the entry. All proceeds from the raffle go to keeping trails open in AZ, so it's for a good cause.
The Elks Lodge in Payson host the event and do a great job as well.
After 220 miles of rocky, challenging terrain we were tired but satisfied after a good ride.
Our crew of seven riders were just one of many of the 150 or so riders.
Donna Blatt took a couple of these photos as well. Thanks Donna also thanks to Don Hood, his wife Trish, Frank Staley and many more.
For my Moto comrades that have DualSports, mark your calendars for the same time next year.
It's a great event and you'll be back for more.
http://www.arizonatrailriders.org/
Ready to Roll Day1
This would be my first ATR Dual Sport ride on the KTM 350 after doing it for years on my 520.
She did pretty good and was flawless through the whole weekend.
First Pit Stop--Jakes Corner
Friday meal with the Biker gang
My buddy Rik Smits, former All Star of the Indiana Pacers.
I was talking to him about when I used to watch compete against my Phoenix Suns back when he was still playing as I've been a season-ticket holder for 26 years.
Now that he is retired he can focus on his true love of riding motorcycles, mostly dirt bikes and he's just a regular guy like the rest of us...
I hooked another one back in after 10 yrs gone...
This was my ol buddy Dano's first DualSport event on the 6 Days 250 I sold him and he had a good time as did Marko.
A Dual Sport ride is not complete without a trailside flat repair...
Arizona TrailRiders provide these cool maps of the three different routes (A, B and C) you can look over while chowing down the breakfast.
Speaking of Breakfast, while they had some chopped up Primerib from the Banquet, the look on our faces told the story of Day 2 morning blues..... Ha!
Donna and Trish checking us into the banquet
How many entries include a tasty PrimeRib meal?
This is just one table of the Raffle Swag
Crossing the Verde
Dano removed his elbow guards as they were too tight and causing arm pump of course shortly thereafter he took a dive and paid the price of not having guards on like I've said many times "you can't get enough protection"....
Along with Dano, Don and Bob were my first Dirtbike friends when I moved to AZ as I knew nobody to ride with or where to go.
30 years later, we are still going at it. Dang I luv Motorcycles!
This was a nice place to take a break and reflect on what a great weekend it was.
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed the pics....
Wish I hadn't thrown my NBA card collections out, I had a few of Smits.
I dig his passion for moto a lot, especially considering how tall he is.
The Shop
It was a blast and haven't regretted a moment, (well there was the time my buddy had an electrical issue in the Nevada desert as darkness fell and we were LOST) but we made it out alive and have stories to rehash for our lifetime.
So then I wanted a bike with the Magic button and scored a used 02 520EXC that was an awesome machine.
If you get a DualSport, you will say "why did I wait so long"?
That looks awesome and sounds like it was well organized.
Does everyone get hotels at night, or is it a camping event?
And my only friend that rides, just rides my spare bike which is a 2015 DR650 so it is a bit of a tank and better on the easy terrain. Plus he does not have much experience, he is fine on single track and the easy trails, but struggles on the technical areas (hell anyone would struggle on a 350 pound DR650 with shit suspension). Would these type of rides be over his head, or do they have different routes for different skill levels?
And is a big fuel tank necessary, or is there enough stops along the way to fuel up? I have a 15 FC450 (the MX version) that I converted to barely street legal so I could get a plate/ registration. But it just has stock tank and I usually carry a couple small jugs of extra fuel as a back up. But have never done an event like this so not sure on the range.
Edit- sorry I had not clicked on the link for the above questions, most of which was answered in the link to the website. I am planning on being ready for next years event, long ways off but I am looking forward to it!
That dude standing over his bike, that's a tall dude!!!!!
Makes that look like a mini...
I raced against Smits years ago at an AHRMA race at Speedworld years ago. He was surprisingly fast on the even smaller vintage bikes.
Good to know!
That looks awesome and sounds like it was well organized.
Yes and Yes!
Does everyone get hotels at night, or is it a camping event?
Depending on which location.
Payson, my favorite, has ample camping in the dirt parking lot but we camp in an established campground 1 mile away.
Prescott has limited camping in the dirt parking lot and we did that last yr but there are also many hotels close by. Campground is far away. Two of my buds are Pilots and they hotel it.
Wickenburg has camping in their asphalt parking lot, but we camp in a dirt lot not too far away.
And my only friend that rides, just rides my spare bike which is a 2015 DR650 so it is a bit of a tank and better on the easy terrain. Plus he does not have much experience, he is fine on single track and the easy trails, but struggles on the technical areas (hell anyone would struggle on a 350 pound DR650 with shit suspension). Would these type of rides be over his head, or do they have different routes for different skill levels?
Yes they have A loops which in Arizona can get real nasty (ROCK and BOULDER infested 1st, 2nd gear sections).
B loop consists of some Fireroads, trails (like all AZ trails rocks and some boulders but not too bad).
C loop is for the Adventure bikes and KLR’s. Easy fireroads and a lot of hwy.
And is a big fuel tank necessary, or is there enough stops along the way to fuel up? I have a 15 FC450 (the MX version) that I converted to barely street legal so I could get a plate/ registration. But it just has stock tank and I usually carry a couple small jugs of extra fuel as a back up. But have never done an event like this so not sure on the range.
Not sure your tank size, but you might want to think of getting a slightly larger tank and also a Trail Tech Computer/Odometer to track mileage. They are easy to mount and you don’t need the high dollar one but they are great to have and also track your hours on the bike. The reason for the odometer is so you will be able to follow the roll chart which is tracked thru mileage. We also have GPS’s that they can load the different routes on but you will need one to fit the bill. The routes are not marked and if you are not careful you can get off course and lost…… LoL But that is part of the FUN and adventure….
Yes they have fuel stops but ideally you should be able to do a 80 mile range as a estimate.
My 16 350XCFW comes stock with a 2.25 tank and I would like a larger one but this will do for now.
They have tanks these days that you barely notice as far as being larger and you could still moto on unless you want to be changing fuel pumps back and forth.
You will also want to regear your bike as you will be on the hwy to connect the different sections.
On my 520 it was no biggie but I did not want to have the 350 work so hard (HIGH rpm) on the road and it comes stock with a tall gear. I put one tooth larger on the C/S and one tooth smaller on the rear and it was perfect. With MX gearing I would do the C/S up one and go down two to three on the rear. Something to think about so you won’t have to remove links from the chain.
Another great feature of these bikes is you can rotate the axle blocks for drastic chain adjustments, not sure if yours is like that (it should be).
Edit- sorry I had not clicked on the link for the above questions, most of which was answered in the link to the website. I am planning on being ready for next years event, long ways off but I am looking forward to it!
Hope this helps, glad to see you are excited about it and you will be back for more!
Where do you trail ride mostly, I’m in East Mesa.
Yep kzizok, Rik is a really good rider.
Who's in!!!??
Post a reply to: Howlin at the Moon