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Me with my Yamaha WR250R in the mountains

It’s a painful thing to have a too-clean new enduro, sheepishly looking at it each day knowing you’ve been riding it only in town to dinner or Walmart or places like that.  Real men get their dirt bikes dirty.  They ride trails, damn it.  I’m not a very experienced dirt rider.  In fact I had only ridden in the dirt once, and it was honestly less than 1/4 of a mile.  Shameful.  Really, that tiny little detour was the extent of all my dirt riding.

I bought the Yamaha WR250R to man up and ride some dirt.  Thankfully my dad led the way by going tough-guy and buying himself a side-by-side ATV.  He suggested that we head up into the nearby mountains and ride some dirt roads up there, with him and my mom in the ATV and me on my 250 enduro.  Of course I pounced on the opportunity to ride up there, and become less of a street sissy in the process.  Yes, I was about to join the ranks of dirt riders who can, well, ride on the rough stuff.

Rough, by the way, is a bit of an understatement when talking about roads and trails in the Wasatch mountains.  They’re not called the Rocky mountains for nothing, and seriously, there are rocks everywhere.  In a lot of places the road is entirely rocks, with no dirt at all.  This is quite different from the loamy east coast trails or standard motocross tracks.  I’ll get to that in a minute.  Here’s a map of my route, starting from my house:

The first leg of my trip started on the street, which I was very comfortable with and which the WR250R is actually very good at.  So many motorcyclists look down on 250cc machines as if they have no value and have no place outside Motorcycle Safety Foundation classes.  I’ve never agreed with this.  250s can be a real blast, and most modern 250s can run the freeways when necessary.  In the case of the WR250R, it has a very spunky 250cc engine that makes about 30 HP and it’ll easily do 85 MPH which is plenty fast.  The Honda Shadow Spirit 750 weighs about 240 pounds more and only makes 45 HP.  Honestly, 250cc motorcycles are very capable machines.

I met up with my folks at their house in Cedar Hills and followed them and their trailered side-by-side ATV on pavement until Tibble Fork Reservoir where they unloaded and prepared to ride.  I went over some things in my head like how to handle a little sliding in the dirt and to take it easy on the throttle.  Soon, it was time.

In the dirt I realized two things very quickly.  First, following the slower ATV, the motorcycle really hated traveling slower than 7 MPH on those rocky roads.  It was hard to stay upright.  Second, long travel motorcycles can handle some serious bumps!  At first I was completely avoiding all the rocks as if they were filled with magma or something.  Soon I learned that while it was still a good idea to intelligently avoid the big boulders, most rocks were no big deal and they could simply be ridden over.  It was a lot like riding a trail ATV.  The ride was very forgiving.  I moved ahead of the ATV once I tired of fighting the bike at low speeds and eating dust and I found that 25+ MPH even on the rough roads was very comfortable, even optimal.  Soon I was floating over the rocks with ease, traveling well ahead of the ATV.

The other travelers (my parents) in their side-by-side ATV

I became a little overconfident and attempted a very steep, gravel covered singletrack trail which ended in me fishtailing and spinning the rear wheel, unable to climb.  I guess while most trails are fine for dirt bikes, in some places there’s no replacement for four wheel drive.  A similar experience happened a little later along a riverbank covered completely in 15″ boulders which stopped me pretty quick.  Again, four wheel drive would have been better.  I’m sure a more experienced dirt rider would have been able to ride through both places, but I suck at dirt riding so I turned around.

Dirt riding is fun.  It’s different from street riding because things like road conditions and motorcycle weight play larger factors, as well as tire grip.  Heading home, I realized how impressive that little WR250R is, considering that it had traveled on an interstate highway and a rocky mountain trail all in one day and did both very well.  It’s no touring bike, and 50 MPH+ aggressive twisty rides aren’t its thing–that’s the V-Strom and Ducati’s territories–but it’s an astoundingly capable machine wrapped in a lightweight and efficient package.

Looking East Toward the Oquirrh Foothills

I switched my Ducati’s computer to show the outside temperature, and sure enough, it indicated a fantastic 71 degrees.  After enduring the depths of yet another winter, it seemed wholly unbelievable that the air could warm up like this again.  It snowed just two weeks ago.  Spring always messes with my emotions, especially in a place like Utah where temperatures are very volatile throughout March and April.

On Route 73, West of the Oquirrh Mountains

Today’s plan was to try a little short range touring on the Ducati, just for kicks.  Just an easy 110 mile trip around the Oquirrh Mountains in northern Utah.  This mountain range is interesting because the east slope is dominated by the Salt Lake City metro, filled with people, and a large portion of the west slope is nearly untouched Great Basin Desert, very empty and very dry.  This is a very easy ride on my V-Strom, and because it’s pretty close to home, it’s a route that I ride often.  But the V-Strom has a big fairing and a big windshield and a very upright riding position, whereas the Ducati has no fairing and no windshield and I’m rather hunched over the whole time.  Basically, I wanted to see how the little Ducati would do on a longer haul.

Of course, the little Ducati Monster 696 is no touring bike but I was very impressed with its ability to travel on long, straight and fast roads and keep me comfortable most of the time.  One thing that a lot of motorcyclists don’t seem to understand is that windshields can be a really mixed bag.  While any sizable windshield will effectively deal with wind blast, which is good, windshields often cause another problem called helmet buffeting.  Buffeting occurs at higher speeds (55 MPH+) when a windshield churns the air in the pocket behind it, causing the rider’s head to get knocked around by the violently changing air pressures.  This used to happen all the time on my V-Strom until I installed a Madstad Bracket to alleviate the pressure issues.  In short, buffeting sucks.  Nothing like that happens on a naked bike like the Ducati.  All I get is smooth air streaming past my helmet.  Of course, this only really works with a full-coverage helmet, which is designed to be very aerodynamic to cut through the wind.  Without a windshield, it’s no fun to ride at high speeds with an open-face helmet because I have to constantly push my head forward against the wind.  That, and I end up eating bugs and rocks.

This is not to say that wind doesn’t affect a naked bike, because it very much does.  On the Ducati I’m not in full sport-bike crouch but I am leaning forward against the wind.  This is nice because my body weight  counters the oncoming wind and it makes things rather comfortable, instead of holding on to the handlebars for dear life at 70 MPH like those poor guys on windshield-less cruisers have to do.  The downside is, the stronger the oncoming wind the more I have to lean forward.  When heading into really strong winds like I ran into toady on the Great Salt Lake shore on I-80,  I got really leaned over (nearly with my chest on the gas tank) and as a result, I had to tilt my head upwards more and more  to keep looking forward.  It’s not a comfortable position.  I wouldn’t like to do 450 miles like that.

The bike’s suspension was probably the biggest detriment to comfort.  Sport suspension on a bike, just like a sports car, is very tight and isn’t very squishy.  This is fantastic in a sport riding situation because the suspension holds to the road like glue and keeps the bike’s attitude very settled in corners.   But on an open road, the tight suspension doesn’t soak up bumps like a softer setup would, which causes every bump to hit harder.  Over time this becomes fatiguing and eventually painful.  On a perfectly smooth road this isn’t an issue, but roads are not perfectly smooth and I wound up striking a lot of bumps a lot harder than I would like.  With bumps pounding me and my head effectively tilted skyward, some sections of this trip weren’t as fun.

Despite the downsides, overall this was a really fun day of riding and I definitely could have traveled twice this distance today in sufficient comfort.  I’ll probably limit my daily distances to 300 miles or so on the Ducati, but within that distance this can be a perfectly suitable ride even away from the twisties or the city.  Gobbling up some decent miles at over 65 MPH today really showed me a different side of the Ducati, one where it’s not a specialist but where it can perform adequately when required.

Showing off my reflective stickers

My V-Strom is a very good motorcycle.  I have other bikes with their own strengths, but the Strom has the ability to calm me down and let me just enjoy the ride.

Tonight was the first night of the year warm enough that the cold didn’t force me indoors.  Until tonight, I would walk inside after a ride with stiff hands and and a mummylike gait, often making my way to the shower to warm up.  So when the warmer weather comes, it’s always shocking to realize that, yes, I can stay out and ride as long as I want.  It’s a wonder of nature that sneaks up on me every year.

Understand, it was still only 52 degrees outside and I was wearing warm clothing.  It wasn’t 80 out there.  But it was nighttime and that kind of temperature is fantastic at 9:30 PM.

The Strom was a great companion too.  It’s a gentle, calm bike that you can ride leisurely.  If you get hungry for power or noise, the bike can accommodate you, but I never felt that providing a visceral experience was its thing.  That’s the Ducati’s territory.  The Strom is more like a proper grand tourer.  There’s performance when you want it, but you don’t have to sacrifice much civility for it.

So the cabin fever is really coming to an end, at least for this year.  Perhaps I’ll take this bike out to Nevada and into the summerlike weather this weekend.  I think it might be time to take the Strom camping.

I bought the WR250r in December, which is not the funnest month to buy a motorcycle in Utah, and certainly not a dual purpose bike.  Anyway things have been getting warmer and warmer for the past month and today we finally had a weekend day over 50 degrees.  I’ve been feeling a little like a sissy with the WR-R because obviously the thing belongs in the dirt and all I’ve done this year  is ride a few hundred road miles with the thing.

Well I was out today on the WR-R, riding on the street as usual.  As an interesting aside, other motorcyclists don’t appear to know what to make of the little Yamaha.  Sometimes I might get the standard wave, but a lot of the time people just look at me.  I guess I’m breaking some kind of road rider rule by looking all weird perched up high on the WR-R and making those farty thumper noises as I ride past.  I guess I’m lumped in with the scooter crowd or something when I’m on it.  Certainly the Harley riders don’t want anything to do with me.  If only they knew how much fun that little 250 was to ride.

It was windy today and I had to find another rote home because I would be facing a nasty head wind on the freeway all the way back and the WR-R would probably really hate it.  I actually rode into the wind for a couple freeway miles and it was a terrible idea.  I had to tuck in and gear down just to keep up with traffic.  I guess I’ve found found the limitations of that 250.  For a while there I thought it was pretty much unstoppable.  After all, highway travel is usually pretty easy for the bike but the poor little thing just didn’t like all that wind with my tall body acting like a big dumb sail on top.

I decided to take the frontage road home, which actually deviates from the freeway pretty significantly in one place.  Along that far out section, there was a little dirt road heading away from the street, and of course it was time for me to finally show the WR-R (and myself) what dirt riding is like.

So I headed up that road which pretty instantly got a lot nastier than I expected or wanted, especially since I have absolutely no dirt riding experience.  The dirt was really soft and the road dropped down into a steep gully and popped out up the other side.  This section was really steep, at least to me, and was deeply rutted with nasty little whoops.  But I figured it was time for me to man up and ride it so I did, with moderate success.

I mean, I made it okay.  I killed the bike twice and had to catch myself from falling over twice but I guess that’s all a part of the experience.  The WR-R did a fantastic job of soaking up the big bumps, actually a lot better than I expected, and I stayed pretty planted on the seat.  Having bike tires slide around is an unnerving feeling for me, one that was very new, but overall I thought the bike handled pretty predictably.

So I ended up finally experiencing a little dirt today, and I guess sometimes it’s better to just throw yourself to the wolves to learn something new.  I’m looking forward to a fun summer of dirt riding with this little bike.

I’m dry in my hotel room but my bike is outside in the wind and the rain.  The wind gusts are so strong that I keep jumping up and bolting for the window to make sure my motorcycle is still standing up.  It is, for now.  But if  it’s survived this long it probably isn’t going to tip.

I’m actually more worried about getting dinner now.  Maybe I’ll order pizza.

I arrived in Casper about an hour ago looking as attractive as an athlete who just ran a few miles wearing long johns and a winter coat.  Really, the others in the elevator were pretty good sports about the smell thing.  I took a shower to fix things and when I was done Casper was getting hit by a storm.  Here’s a video:

The tree is just about doing a complete backbend right now. I don’t know how much the poor little thing can take. One thing is sure, I’m glad I’m not riding that motorcycle.

I didn’t stop for any pictures during the first half of the trip because I was in familiar territory and it seemed so boring. During the second half of the trip the wind kicked up and I couldn’t get the tripod to stay upright. After two or three attempts resulted in me looking horrified at the tripod and dashing toward it to prevent my camera from doing a header, I decided that a shot with me and the bike would have to wait. Here’s all I could get:

From Motorcycle Trip

Ta-Da!  It’s Wyoming!  Most of the state looks like this actually.  I didn’t see any scenery that even slightly resembled Yellowstone.  Central Wyoming is barren but it has a certain beauty to it.  Despite the wind it was a very lovely ride.

Well, despite the wind and the constant urge to purge lunch from my stomach it was a very lovely ride.  I had chicken fried steak at this total roach-hole of a restaurant in The Tiniest Town on Earth and it was really, really terrible.  The big upside was the dinner roll which had the consistency of old, weathered tires and a similar taste.  Really, the butter helped.

Okay, well, I’m here and I’m alive and I’m having fun.  It looks like the rain is stopping so I’m going to walk to the Casper Mall for food and to find a belt.  You know, I always forget something.

*UPDATE*

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the Sturgis situation.  Apparently I’m the only motorcyclist in Wyoming who isn’t riding a Harley.  Every single gas station is packed with about 48,000 mean looking bikers waiting in line at the pumps.  They’ve all been really nice, but the whole gassing up thing makes me nervous.  I worry that they’ll all get to see the sissy on the Suzuki dual sport–wearing full gear and a helmet, no less–drop his girly bike in front of everyone watching at the Exxon.  How awful would that be?

Tomorrow my path heads south and east and away from Sturgis.  My oddyssey with the bikers will soon be coming to a close.

*UPDATE 2*

I just made reservations at the Budget Host Inn in Geneva, Nebraska ($39.95 per night…do you think they’ll have valet parking?).  I’ll be able to pull my bike up to the room door!  This is one tiny town, folks.  I’m truly getting out of my comfort zone here.  If I like it in Geneva then great!  If not, well, I might treat myself to the presidential suite at some place in Garden City the next night…