It’s always
a letdown after we complete one of our TAT legs because so much planning goes
into it before the ride then it all ends when the ride is completed. I have one
more leg to plan then I’ll have to find some other project to occupy my time.
This post
will summarize both our TAT Leg-3 ride and our total TAT accomplishments to
date. I’ll also touch on our Leg-4 initial plans (UT to OR). And lastly I’ll
provide comments on the bikes and gear we are using on our dual-sport coast-to-coast
TAT adventure.
Please note
that my comments are based on using motels and a support vehicle; not camping.
The campers have more freedom for miles to ride and when to stop. In addition,
they have much more gear to carry so many of my comments are not applicable. I
provide my views only to document our experience and maybe offer input to
someone doing a similar type TAT ride.
TAT Leg-3 – Lake City, CO to Delta,
UT (23-28 July 2017)
We knew this
leg would be more of a challenge than Legs 1 & 2 (Charleston, SC to Lake
City, CO) primarily because of the terrain and weather. We were correct. The
ride over the CO Mountains and UT desert is significantly different from the
lower elevation plains of OK and wooded trails to the east coast. In addition,
the availability of fuel and motels is a big factor out west, which requires
proper planning and preparation.
Day-1 – Lake
City, CO to Dove Creek, CO (165 miles)
This gets
you over the Continental Divide and onto the Rocky Mountain foothills to the
west. Even though Cinnamon Pass is the highest elevation it by far is not the
most difficult part of this section. All the ATVs and 4-wheel vehicles are more
of an issue than the trail. We rode this section on a Sunday so it would
probably be less of a problem on a weekday. Ophir Pass I felt was more of a
problem primarily due to the big rocks (baseball to football size) on the trail
on both sides of the pass. The climbs and descents were long and steep and in
many places narrow (remember the ATVs and 4-wheels). Although the uphill
vehicle has the right away, motorcycles going down these steep trails are not
that easy to stop and pull out of the way. On several occasions we had our rear
wheels skidding trying to slow down our decent and some jerk in a jeep wouldn’t
even try to give us room to get by. It must be remembered that anyone can rent
a jeep or ATV and ride those trails so their experience level is very
questionable. I always tried to get out of their way but at one point we had
three of our riders drop their bikes in a tight switchback turn because some
4-wheel vehicle wouldn’t give them room to maneuver.
Day-2 - Dove
Creek, CO to Moab, UT (136 miles)
Not much to
talk about on this section. Pretty flat and dusty and mostly long gravel roads.
Day-3 – Moab
day ride to Arches National Park (95.8 miles)
It rained
all night and we were afraid the trails would be too muddy to ride so we took
pavement to see the Arches. Worth the ride but take some comfortable walking
shoes. Several of us only had our riding boots and I gave up trying to walk to
the Arches after several attempts. The rain did stop early so on our way out of
the Arches we took a gravel road out of the park. This road is great and we had
a good ride to the highway (details in previous posts). Once on the highway we
took the Gemini Bridges Road, which is part of the TAT northbound out of Moab.
Another exciting ride but requires making some climbs on big solid rock to the
top of the ridge. Nothing our dual-sports couldn’t handle but the larger
heavily loaded bikes will be challenged here. If raining this could be a
problem. Once on the top of the ridge it is just a lot of varying gravel and
rock trails but all good.
Day-4 – Moab
day ride to White Rim Trail (WRT) in Canyon Lands National Park (88.7 miles)
We took
Potash Road out of Moab to connect with the WRT. We connected with the WRT at
the point where the Shafer Canyon Road & Switchbacks end. The road to the
switchbacks was closed for repair. We rode about 25 miles on the WRT before we
had to turn back towards Moab. I think we got a good sampling of what the WRT
is like for its 92 mile ride around the park but I would like to ride the whole
thing sometime in the future. The rain a few days earlier had washed out part
of the WRT so be sure to check the condition before attempting the complete
trail. It has some great scenery and never a dull riding moment. There is NO
SHADE on the WRT so beware and take lots of water. We were lucky that the
temperatures were 101 at the most and not 110 as we had been expecting.
Day-5 –
Moab, UT to Castle Dale, UT (210 miles)
This is a
very interesting ride with some beautiful sections and some very desolate
sections. I’ve never ridden miles and miles in the desert before but I did on
this section. The ride from Moab to Green River is about 60 miles and not too
bad. At Green River you turn south for a 100-mile loop through the desert and
return to I-70 west of Green River. This section is long and mostly in the
desert. We encountered many sand piles on the road left over by the rain
several days previously from 10 to 30 feet wide. Not real deep but did require
slowing down to ride across. Some muddy spots but nothing too bad. If it is
raining when you ride this section, watch for flash flooding across the road in
the low spots. It was obvious flash flooding caused the many sand piles across
the road that we found. The worse riding was on several miles of deep dirt/sand
that had been spread onto the road by graders. We passed no civilization for
that 100 miles; no buildings, no facilities, etc. Although we filled up at
Green River and knew we had enough fuel for the 100-mile loop to I-70, there is
no fuel once you reach I-70. Closest fuel was 27 miles away and off the TAT. We
elected to continue to Castle Dale about 45 miles north for a total of 145
miles between fuel stops. Of our 6 bikes, 5 of them have about a 100+ mile
range with their small tanks. I installed a 3.45 gal tank (170+ mile range) on
my KTM so I never had a fuel problem. We had at least four 1-gal RotoPax with
us so we had enough to make sure all the bikes made it to Castle Dale ok.
Day-6 –
Castle Dale, UT to Delta, UT (170 miles)
This section
goes through two mountain ranges, the first through a pass of 10,200 feet. Some
good riding and scenery through this section and the passes are easy compared
to the Rocky Mountain passes. As stated in my previous post on this section, we
rode it in the rain with mud and temperatures down to 44 degrees so we didn’t
enjoy it that much. If the weather is good, this will be an enjoyable section
to ride. We ended our Leg-3 at this point.
Day-7 &
8 – Shuttle bikes back to Little Rock, AR
All the
riders except me and the support vehicle driver, Michael, left Salt Lake City
on Saturday to fly home. Michael and I left Delta, UT around 7 am (mountain) on
Saturday driving back to Little Rock via Tulsa, OK where we dropped off Jeff’s
bike and gear. We actually drove non-stop the 1700+ miles in 24 hours arriving
in Little Rock around 8 am (central). We took turns driving and sleeping so we
could get home ASAP, neither of us wanted to stop for the night in a motel. We
had good weather and no traffic issues all the way, which made the trip
bearable. I did take two days to recuperate with sleep as a result of the TAT
ride and the drive back home. If you do the math 1700 miles/24 hrs = 70 mph you
can see we made good time. Most of the speed limits out west are 80 to 75 mph
plus we were on interstate 95% of the time.
TAT Completed
In 2016 and
2017 we have ridden approximately 3800 miles of the TAT from Charleston, SC to
Delta, UT. Of the 4 core rides, all four have been on every trip. We have
picked up a few other riders along the way, including my son, and now they have
the urge to go back and ride the sections they missed.
We elected
to use Sam’s maps and tracks for our TAT adventure and so far have no
complaints. We recognize that they provide a recommended track but things
change and sometimes we had to divert due to bridges out, roads closed,
property becoming private, etc. This is part of the adventure for us and we’ve
always been able to compensate without major impact. I know other TAT riders
are using GPSKevin routes or others and I have no issue with that nor do I feel
strongly which is better. I did download the GPSKevin track and he does provide
lots of alternative routes for those more aggressive riders. Our ultimate goal
is to ride coast to coast on dual-sport motorcycles, not to ride every inch of
a specific TAT route.
The
maps below shows the USA with our completed ride in green and our to-be
completed section in red. More on the red track in the next paragraph.
TAT Leg-4 – Delta, UT to Port Orford,
OR
I’ve just
started planning for this last leg. One key factor is that several of us have
elected to NOT ride the section from Delta, UT through the UT desert to Nevada
then back to north of Salt Lake City. This is about 250 miles of desert with
limited resources along the route. Terry and Steve do want to ride this section
and think they can do it in a single day. I’m not sure that is realistic but
will work it into the plan for either 1 or 2 days prior to when the rest of us
join them for the ride to Port Orford.
Logistics
for this last section is more complex than all the other legs primarily due to
the distance we have to shuttle the bikes from Little Rock, AR:
Start - Little Rock, AR to Delta, UT
Finish – Port Orford, OR to Little
Rock, AR
We currently
think May 2018 will be the time for this last ride based on availability of all
the riders. This will be a longer ride than all the previous legs at 9-10 days
riding plus travel at both ends (2 weeks total is my guess). As of now the 4
core riders (Mike, Terry, Steve and Woodrow) have committed to go. Woodrow’s
son Matty is also going and my son Jeff is about 90%. Others have expressed interest
but nothing firm. I have found out that a group can be too big. 6 riders are
about the upper limit as far as I’m concerned. It gets too tough to keep track
of everyone with more when they are spaced out due to dust or steep
climbs/descents. Another issue is if someone lags behind then everyone has to
wait to see if they catch up otherwise they could be many miles behind and in
trouble before the others make the decision to ride back looking for them.
For this
last section, Terry’s wife Donna will be our support vehicle driver. She has
volunteered for this task so she can be there when we finish our coast-to-coast
ride. A couple of us are thinking of having our wives fly out to OR to meet us
at the end so we can have a proper party. More on that as it is worked out.
This section
still goes through some rugged county in Idaho and Oregon and I’m still
gathering the data for those sections before I determine our day-by-day ride
plans.
Bikes and Gear
We have used
a variety of bikes since we started the TAT in March of 2016 (all fuel injected
except the KLR):
Mike – new
2015 Honda CRF250L (Leg-1 &2), new 2016 KTM 350 EXC-F (Leg-3)
Terry – new Kawasaki
KLR 650 (Leg-1), new KTM 690 Enduro (Leg-2 & 3)
Steve – Used
Yamaha WR250R (Leg-1, 2, & 3)
Woodrow –
new 2015 Honda CRF250L (Leg-1, 2 & 3)
Jeff – used
Yamaha WR250R (Leg-2, & 3)
Matty – used
2015 Honda CRF250L (Leg-3) (same bike I used on Leg-1 & 2)
All of the
above bikes did great on the TAT so far. I love my KTM after many mods but the
best all round bike has to be the Yamaha WR250R. It is strong and reliable and
the price is right.
The Honda
CRF250L with the FMF muffler mod is also a good choice and is $1600 cheaper
than the WR250R. It is a bit underpowered compared to the WR and doesn’t seem
to have as good of suspension but ride it conservatively and it will get you to
the end. Both CRFs had front shock leaks either just prior to Leg-3 or while on
Leg-3. Riding hard on rocky roads and dirt around the seals seems to be the
cause.
WR250R – All
around good bike for the TAT.
My KTM
350EXC-F has more power than I ever need and climbs the mountains like a
mountain goat. Down side is the rear frame is weak and can’t carry a load. It
also has an open loop fuel injection system meaning I had to tune the Throttle
Position Sensor (TPS) when I got into the higher altitudes. A closed loop fuel
injection system compensates for altitude changes, just like your car. It also
vibrates like a banshee! It will do 65+ mph but hands, seat and pegs vibrate so
much it isn’t maintainable for long distance. It will do 55 mph all day without
wearing out the rider.
The KTM 690
is certainly one of the best of our fleet and for long legged strong riders
would be the best choice except much more $$ than the WR. It’s a bit heavy for
me and is extremely tall.
KLR – Great
bike and lots of them on the TAT. It is very heavy compared to all the other
bikes listed and is carbureted. It can carry a heavy load if you are camping
but even Terry as big as he is traded it for a lighter bike after riding it on
Leg-1.
We used a
variety of bags but the Grand Loop (GL) bags (me on my KTM) and the Wolfman
bags seemed to be the favorite and what most of us used.
I brought
along a Baha no-pinch took set and it was used for tire changes prior to the
trip and seemed to make tire repairs much easier. Only had 1 flat (slow leak)
on the trip (my KTM) and I had it repaired when we got to Moab by MadBros
motorcycle shop.
Tires – 2
CRFs, 1 WR and my KTM used Dunlop D606’s both front and rear with excellent
results. Long wear on pavement and great grip in the mud and sand. The other
KTM and WR used other tires but not sure of the brand or model.
One last
comment about the support vehicle. We’ve used a support vehicle for 2 of the 3
legs (2 & 3) with great success. It lets the bikes ride light plus provides
a safety net in case of breakdowns or injury. It greatly increased the
enjoyment of our rides and I would hate to lose that support. We have used two
different drivers and they both had a great time participating in our adventure.
In fact, our support driver for this last leg is thinking he would like to do
this for other groups if they are interested. Michael is retired and has a very
flexible schedule. I highly recommend him and have known him for many years. If
you are interested in having a support vehicle but finding it hard to get
someone to commit to your time table, send Michael an email and discuss your
requirements; sailstrobel@yahoo.com .
That’s
enough for now and this will be my last post for a while. Thanks for all the
positive comments and hope to see you on the trail!
Ride Safe
