Wyte Lightening, a KTM 690 "Adventure"

250+ mile loop ride today!  Rode I25 to 24 to Woodland Park.  Stopped for coffee/muffins.  Got chased out of a car wash parking lot and had to find a different coffee shop.  Then on to Victor and Phantom Canyon Rd.  Hero dirt!  Very scenic ride, not very technical.

Then to Canon City where we had a great Cajun lunch.  Then up Shelf Rd, which was tight, a bit loose no great places to stop for pics.  Very there we made it back to Woodland Park and decided not to take I25.  So it was Hwy 67 to Deckers, then along the S Platte River to Pine Creek Rd to get to Sedalia.  Pine Creek Rd is very steep and has a ton of gravel on it.  Etiquette for cars is to let the dirt bikes go, cause if they stop in front of us on a hill, we're not getting going again.  Sadly the loser in a Ford Edge in front of me didn't know that, or didn't care.  The corolla in front of him pulled over to let us by, he didn't.  So we passed him anyways. 

Managed to avoid getting rained on, had a few droplets here and there but got lucky given the huge storm clouds.  Renazco saddle is much better than the stock one!  Did a 3 hour stint after lunch without a real break, butt was sorta sore but I was fine.  On the stock saddle I had to stop every hour.  I'd stiffen the suspension some, in between normal and sport, it handled the wash board really well but feels a bit stiff for embedded rock.  I might back it off 1 click and see how that feels.

Next big ride is early July, the northern part of the COBDR.  I might do some day rides thru Rampart or try and hit Switzerland Trail...

First "real" ride of the season today!  Last one didn't count because it was basically the equivalent to an off road cruise.  Hit Rollins Pass today, which is an out and back since the tunnel has been closed for years.  Which is a bummer, because then you'd have a direct route from Golden to Winter Park, which would be an epic ride. 

Decent amount of varied traffic, everything from full rigid pedal powered gravel bikes, E bikes, no pedal assist, trucks, jeeps and two dudes on off road powered unicycles. (?!) Man were my forearms burning on the way up!  Lots of whoops, embedded rock, loose rock, one ledge/step, water/mud puddles.  I was kind of in between gears, 2nd was too high as this motor really wants to be 3500+ rpm, so I did most of the ride up and down in 1st.

Ride down was wicked fun! Grabbed lunch in Golden and absolutely fried in my riding pants, must've lost 5lbs just on the ride home on 470...

Ended up not doing the Red Desert X/COBDR last weekend as I had to drop my son off at a soccer camp in Steamboat.  We were planning on doing the Alpine Loop over Labor Day weekend, but the traffic on those passes that weekend is going to be insane.  So we're going to do the Red Desert X and nothern part of the COBDR then instead

Took a Labor Day weekend trip with my friend.  We rode pavement up to Baggs Wyoming Friday, which was uneventful but not super awesome.  Oddly enough I ran into one of my patients at the gas station in Kremmling, super random! 

Then the next day we headed out to do the WYBDR Red Desert X loop.  This is a ~150 mile loop that has 44 miles of pavement, so ~106 miles of dirt.  They say to run it clockwise so you hit the hard stuff first.  I'd watched their film on it and it didn't look too bad?  Of course, conditions are highly variable and lets just say things changed since they ran it.  It's MUCH harder now.

I'd say the hard section is an easy 15 miles of deep 4-6" of sandy double track, where you can't hop over the center, then 4-6" of sandy climbs, then 4-6" of sandy climbs with 12" rock ledge steps at the top. 

I started off pretty well in the sand, the bike handles it decently and it's a surfy feel that I'm sorta used to from my days playing in the ocean growing up in San Diego.  My partner has a Yamaha T7, which weighs 500lbs.  After picking that up a few times I was pretty tired, which then led to me dropping my bike more and more, which meant I got more tired every time.

I know the pics don't show it, but that last pic, the hill climb was steep, you had to slalom around in the sand to keep the line, then try and pop over a 12" ledge.  My partner didn't make it and we had to pick up his bike 3 times there, plus I had to push it over the top of the ledge.  He also bent his shifter there

Luckily we were able to bend it back using a tire iron. 

The views were wide open awesome tho

Needless to say, we were really happy to get back onto pavement

The riding in Colorado was much easier and really scenic.  Just really pretty

I thought this sign was really funny as the rain literally stopped right before it...

So we did last two sections of the COBDR this trip, from Baggs WY to Steamboat, then Steamboat to Gypsum.  We beat a huge rain storm to Gypsum, thankfully not getting stuck in it as the trails would've been impassable.  Then we rode I70 home from Gypsum yesterday, which being the end of a holiday weekend, was predictably all backed up.  We rode over Loveland Pass vs waiting for them to open Eisenhower Tunnel (they were metering traffic there) and then split lanes when I70 ground to a halt.  Once we were able to pop into the Express Lane it was clear sailing to home.

Great trip, had tons of fun, didn't damage the bike or myself, winning!

Bike has been put away.  I did an oil change on it and a nut and bolt check.  It's all good.  Part of my daily routine is surfing FB marketplace.  Used to be CL, now I never go there, but I digress.  I always check for Klim stuff, I really like it and you can never have too much gear, right?  I've been on the hunt for a Klim Marrakesh jacket, which is a hot weather jacket but not a mesh one like the Klim Induction.  It actually looks like a regular light jacket that you'd wear out.  Well, one popped up yesterday for a smoking deal, so I grabbed it today. 

Happy New Year to me!  It's basically new, score!

First ride of the season.  To the neighborhood bank and back, lol!  Checked the tire pressures and put some air in, pulled it off the lift and out of the garage and away I went.  Weirdly the Garmin GPS worked fine on the way to the bank, then refused to power up at all on the way home.  Called Garmin, they walked me thru a procedure, got it powered up and updated the software and it seems fine now.  Gotta wait for the snow to melt before I can really hit the trails, but I'll ride around town some more next month...

In reply to docwyte :

Woohoo; awesome!

Sad day yesterday, after 3 years I've decided to move one of the best moto's I've owned down the road.  Why?  Well, I ride with my friend who has a T7 and I'm envious of the smoothness of that motor, plus my wife gave me a gift card to my local big moto dealer for my Bday.  I ride 50/50 pavement/dirt, which is why I tend to buy smaller, lighter thumpers like the 690.  I thought I might be interested in the 890, and a sweet 890 Rally popped up used on advrider.

I went to my local dealer and rode an 890 Adv R and was underwhelmed.  Very smooth motor, good power, but the ergonomics were weird and while it was well balanced, it wasn't very flickable, it didn't change direction as easily as my 690.  No surprise given the +120lbs it weighs.  Given their spotty reliability, I sorta back burnered the idea.  Then I rode a Husky 701 long range that has the newer, dual counter balance shaft motor.  I'd heard they were quite a bit smoother than my bike and was curious to see how much of a difference there really was.  Well, it's a substantial difference, to the point where the newer 690/701 motor feels almost as smooth as a twin cylinder moto.  Ok, this seems to be what I want, basically my bike, but with a much smoother motor.

I went looking and found that everyone selling one locally was incredibly unrealistic on pricing.  I saw another well built 701 on Friday, guy seemed firm on his price.  He reached out to me Saturday morning and asked me what I thought.  I was honest with him and pointed out I could buy a brand new, left over '23 for thousands less than his used bike and examples of built bikes like his on adv rider were selling for $2500-3500 less than his.  To his credit he understood and we were able to work out a deal. 

I do wish I'd removed some more parts from my old 690 before I listed it and sold it.  Turns out the Perun luggage plates I had are no longer made, plus I wish I'd kept the double take mirrors and hammerhead shifter/brake pedal.  Oh well.

Hopefully I can pick it up in the next few days, he's out of town but his business partner should be able to work the deal for me.