Al's Moto Log

Invited myself to go riding with Tim Wolford (…and those guys) racingâ„¢.  Thanks for letting me tag along!  Conditions were awesome, the weather was beautiful, and the singletrack riding was “off the chart”.  Doesn’t get better than that for spring fever riding.  Jordan and Keston ripped it up with the big guys.  We had kind of a rough start, Cort was attacked by a monster section of barb-wire that wound him up with a vengeance… wound 4-5 times on the front wheel and totally wrapped up around the back wheel, brakes, fender, etc… it was nasty.  We ended up having to take off the back wheel to get it all out and fortunately it didn’t do any major damage, some scratches on the plastic and a broken rotor guard were the sacrifices I believe.  Right after that, Brock had problems with his spark plug and had to double-up with Ian to go back and get the truck for his spare.  Cort and I split off to check out some single-track and hit the jackpot, we sessioned a loop and went back for lunch.  After lunch and bb-gun shenanigans we all went out to the west to explore and found more and more singletrack.

Crew: Keston, Jordan, Ian, Brock, Wally, Tim, Cort and me.

Full photo album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alhill/20090328Moto_Desert

I decided to put my bike up for sale on KSL Classifieds, so I  gave it a good cleaning and took some pictures.  The next day, I hit Chaz up to go get muddy around Beaver Creek.  It was a lot of fun and by the time I got home, I had 3 messages on the answering machine from interested buyers.  I showed it to the first guy that called and he decided to buy it, he’s planning to take it to Baja next month… I’m jealous!

There were a lot of people in campgrounds getting ready for the first day of the hunt, but we only saw one other 4-wheeler on the trail the whole ride.  Some of the sections were pretty greasy, but overall the conditions were great!

For Sale – SOLD!

The 450X was an awesome bike, I really had a lot of fun on it for the past 3 years.  If I was a poet, perhaps I would pen an “Ode to the X”… but the best I could come up with is: There once was a man who rode an X, said it was the best thing next to *ahem*… nevermind…

So, for the next little bit I’m going to be “retro-posting” all the rides that I have data for from the past couple of years, as well as working on and completing the “Trail Guide” section of this site. I plan to get another bike next spring (currently planning on a KTM 450 XC-W), but have a few goals I would like to accomplish over the winter:

1) Lose 30lbs and get in shape BEFORE riding season so the first half of the season isn’t wasted
2) Upgrade some of my riding gear and tools before I get the next bike… while I’m not paying my monthly moto parts tax
3) I really should buy another house one of these days, condo life sure has a LOT of perks though…

If any of you have a “hookup” with a KTM dealer and want to see if we can get a discount on multiple bikes or something, make sure you let me know!  Thanks to all I’ve ridden with and until my next bike, later alligator…

There were a ton of vehicles in the parking lot and we weren’t sure why it was such a popular day until we got a few miles into the trail and realized that the trail we had picked to ride was also the route for the Bear 100, a 100-mile foot race that starts in Logan’s Dry Canyon and ends up in Fish Haven, ID.  These guys and gals had been running and walking for ~30 hrs and 80-90 miles when we started seeing them.  I asked at one of the stations and apparently ~73 racers started and over 40 had made it through the last checkpoint.

I ate my first Rueben sandwich ever at Gladys and it hit the spot… thanks Gladys!

Riding conditions were pretty good, it was just fun to get out and ride again.  We had rain a couple of days earlier, but it was starting to get dusty again.  First time riding with Shane and Tyler (aka Dewey), hope we get to again!

Crew: Chaz, Shane, Tyler, and me.

Full photo album here: http://picasaweb.google.com/alhill/MotoGladysLoop