oobus
Dirt Monger
Every year after Christmas I get a call from a riding buddy who has been too cooped up and asks if it would be cool to go ride somewhere different. First it was Usal Beach to Southern Oregon, Butt Valley Lake, etc. He enjoys planning routes that have as much off road mileage as possible, and spends hours putting the trip route together.
This year was no different this time he wanted to hit the Applegate Immigrant Trail in the Black Rock desert then head north. Last year we went up the coast, overnighted at my dad's in Coos Bay(435 mile 11 hour first day) and then headed out to Crater Lake. Unfortunately, we hit a storm, Crater Lake was closed due to snow and we ended up riding all the way from the entrance to the park to Redding in Snow, hail and rain. I've never been to Crater Lake. So this was a necessity for me and I also needed to see the Fly Geyser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Geyser) a bad ass multi-colored man created geyser next to the Playa outside of Gerlach Nevada. I also wanted to stay at a lookout that I'd spotted a year earlier that was off of Bald Hills Road on the Klamath River. Other than stopping in and seeing my dad, these two places were my only requests for the trip. The desert always seemed interesting to me, but not the high desert, more like Baja or Mexico in general.
So a little back story to the trip. Myself and 3 other of my riding buddies have KTM 690's that are set up for "adventure riding", I was the first to buy one, they rode mine and then got one of their own. Always work on my own bikes/cars and am pretty confident in my mechanical/electrical abilities. Well, as shit happens, my fuel pump went out 2 weeks before the trip, and to make a long story short, I swapped out the fuel pump/filter, installed a new led headlight(needed for the desert of course) heated grips and a did a full service, somewhere along the line I managed to flash the ecu (we think) and the bike would not run worth-a-shit. Spent hours trying to get it fixed but finally gave up and took it to the dealer (1st time ever). After it was not fixed 2 days prior to the trip I had to either bail or find another bike. A good friend had offered me his 3 month old 690 for the trip that had a total of 2,000 miles on it. I absolutely hate borrowing other peoples stuff but there was no choice. And the bike needed a full service, new rear tire AND the owner said that it was using 1/2 quart of oil every 400 miles. Took it to a friends shop (he also has a 690) and let him do the service. When it was done and ready to be picked up, he informed me that it only had 3/4 quart of oil in the crankcase and he was concerned the engine may have been damaged, but it appeared to run just fine. Shit, great. I bought 2 quarts of the inexpensive Motul oil that he runs in the bike and loaded up and went home.
Got the bike home at 4pm the day before we were going to leave and started loading it up. This bike is a 2015 which has shorter suspension than my 09 and was stock. Fine for my bud who is 185lbs. and 5'8" but not great for a 205 6'3" person. What the hell, he was exceptionally nice to let me use his new bike so I told myself to shut up and pack.
With everything ready to go, got to bed at 11pm and tried to sleep.
This year was no different this time he wanted to hit the Applegate Immigrant Trail in the Black Rock desert then head north. Last year we went up the coast, overnighted at my dad's in Coos Bay(435 mile 11 hour first day) and then headed out to Crater Lake. Unfortunately, we hit a storm, Crater Lake was closed due to snow and we ended up riding all the way from the entrance to the park to Redding in Snow, hail and rain. I've never been to Crater Lake. So this was a necessity for me and I also needed to see the Fly Geyser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Geyser) a bad ass multi-colored man created geyser next to the Playa outside of Gerlach Nevada. I also wanted to stay at a lookout that I'd spotted a year earlier that was off of Bald Hills Road on the Klamath River. Other than stopping in and seeing my dad, these two places were my only requests for the trip. The desert always seemed interesting to me, but not the high desert, more like Baja or Mexico in general.
So a little back story to the trip. Myself and 3 other of my riding buddies have KTM 690's that are set up for "adventure riding", I was the first to buy one, they rode mine and then got one of their own. Always work on my own bikes/cars and am pretty confident in my mechanical/electrical abilities. Well, as shit happens, my fuel pump went out 2 weeks before the trip, and to make a long story short, I swapped out the fuel pump/filter, installed a new led headlight(needed for the desert of course) heated grips and a did a full service, somewhere along the line I managed to flash the ecu (we think) and the bike would not run worth-a-shit. Spent hours trying to get it fixed but finally gave up and took it to the dealer (1st time ever). After it was not fixed 2 days prior to the trip I had to either bail or find another bike. A good friend had offered me his 3 month old 690 for the trip that had a total of 2,000 miles on it. I absolutely hate borrowing other peoples stuff but there was no choice. And the bike needed a full service, new rear tire AND the owner said that it was using 1/2 quart of oil every 400 miles. Took it to a friends shop (he also has a 690) and let him do the service. When it was done and ready to be picked up, he informed me that it only had 3/4 quart of oil in the crankcase and he was concerned the engine may have been damaged, but it appeared to run just fine. Shit, great. I bought 2 quarts of the inexpensive Motul oil that he runs in the bike and loaded up and went home.
Got the bike home at 4pm the day before we were going to leave and started loading it up. This bike is a 2015 which has shorter suspension than my 09 and was stock. Fine for my bud who is 185lbs. and 5'8" but not great for a 205 6'3" person. What the hell, he was exceptionally nice to let me use his new bike so I told myself to shut up and pack.
With everything ready to go, got to bed at 11pm and tried to sleep.
I'm in for the ride.
