Dual Sport Adventure

October 20, 11:56 AMFort Collins Motorcycle Travel ExaminerAbby Clabough

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KLR and DR650 on a beautiful October day in northern Colorado

Note to self: if you're thinking about calling your boss to tell him you might be late to work before a ride, because you aren't confident the bike is going to make it back, maybe you should rethink the ride.

Nah... how can you have an adventure without a little uncertainty?

I was finally going to make it on my first dual sport ride. When I got to my friend Dan's house, he was putting air in the DR's rear tire, and it took quite a bit of it. I was quietly skeptical, but I'd hemmed and hawed enough for one day, so I kept it to myself.  We went inside and decided upon a route that would get me back to his house at a time that would allow me to get to work by 5:30. In fact, there was even a little extra time built in there, just in case. We went outside, I jumped on the bike, and... nothing. Dead battery. Of course I'm checking all the obvious reasons it might not start, like the tricky engine cut-off switch, but it was just plain dead.

The bike went on the battery charger and we took off to grab lunch, two-up on the KLR. After coming back, the bike started right up and we took off north out of Wellington. We kept on zig-zagging along smaller and smaller country roads, and then we finally hit dirt. Yay! I'm OK with riding my Harley on reasonably well-maintained dirt or gravel roads, but it's not a lot of fun. I have a skinny 21" front tire, and it meanders all over the place on a loose surface. I can do it, but I'm tense. On the DR650, it was a breeze!

Near Red Mountain Open Space

Because this was my first time on the dirt, Dan had me lead so I could set the pace. I wasn't sure if I was going too fast. I felt comfortable, but I didn't want to find out I was pushing it the hard way. I asked Dan, who told me that I'd feel the tire slide if I was. We started getting into some more tight and hilly turns, and I did start feeling a little squirelly in the rear end. I started taking the turns a little slower. Not too long after that, we came upon the log cabin I believed to be the cue to start looking for the road that would take us to Red Feather Lakes. When we got to the intersection, somewhere within the Roosevelt National Forest, I stopped to make sure that was the turn. It was then that Dan mentioned my rear tire was getting very low.

 We were now 38 miles from my car, flat tire, no cell phone service, 15 miles from the remotest chance of getting air, and 2 hours from the time I needed to leave for the job I've had for three days. Ack! Dan bought the '99 DR650 with 1,100 miles on it. Even though my son Dan had ridden it around town a bit without a problem, it was clear the tire was at the end of its useful life. We made the decision to keep riding and hope that the tire wasn't destroyed so much that it couldn't hold enough air to get me back home - even if we had to stop a few times along the way.

  Photograph of spot in center of the map above

It was a long 15 miles, and I was bummed because there was so much beautiful scenery. I wanted to stop and take pictures or just explore, but not being certain how far we would make it made that a bad idea. We finally made it to Red Feather Lakes. Because I couldn't turn the bike off (remember the dead battery?), Dan went in and got a can of Fix-a-Flat. I got the bike turned around and ready to go so I could take off the instant he was done spraying foam and compressed air into the tire. That lasted about 5 miles. We finished off the can of Fix-a-Flat, and I made it about 15 miles to Livermore, leaning as far forward as I could and taking a very deliberate outside-inside-outside path of travel on my turns to keep the bike as upright as possibile. While we thought we'd made that goal, it turned out that they don't have air at the only gas station in town. When Dan asked about the air while I kept the bike running, a woman volunteered to lead us back to her house where they had a compressor for their own dirt bike tires. I have to admit I started getting stressed as we turned off on her road and backtracked a couple of miles on a dirt road. I kept thinking I'd be lucky to make it back to 287 with air still in my tire and another half an hour burned.

We put the air in, and the woman was chatting us up. She did us a big favor, even if it was going to be short-lived, and I didn't want to cut her off. I turned the bike around as Dan kept talking, which is when the nice lady pointed out that the tire was already flat again.

It was decided to leave the bike there, have me hop on the back of the KLR to get to Dan's house and my car, and he'd return with his truck. I chilled out considerably at that point, since with that plan in place, I knew I'd make it in time. I enjoyed the last 20 miles on the broad custom seat of the KLR, and made it to work on time.

With that little trip, we've figured out what needs to be done to get the neglected 10-year-old Suzuki in shape. I've also decided that dirt bike riding when I have to go to work that night is probably not going to produce the carefree enjoyment of the mountains that I'm seeking.

Don't have a dual sport but are interested in trying it out?

Visit National Motorcycle Examiner Ken Bingenheimer's Passes and Canyons site for a list of business that rent motorcycles or offer tours in Colorado.

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