Hmmm Not Well Thought Out, Just Sayin

[Plane Dr]

So my recent adventure on a Gen 3 KLR was an Adventure. The ride over view is pretty straight forward. Las Vegas to Calgary, Calgary to Penticton, Penticton to Nanaimo, Nanaimo to Las Vegas. Done in segments, all easy peasy. Throw in weather, a Wedding that changed the timing, and an Airline strike it gets "interesting". I'll add the next segment tonight/tomorrow.

Initial trip was to be 4 days Las Vegas to Calgary, then a couple day rides in the area. Routing was Las Vegas, Idaho Falls, Helena, Calgary. Nothing was planned after Idaho Falls. I was hoping for some relaxed foothills riding. End of May should be lovely, maybe a bit chilly but it's May right? This was supposed to be a 4 day ride up, and it became a will power exercise.

Leaving Las Vegas was 85f all the way to Idaho Falls. It was both up hill and downhill from there. I never got to stop and smell the flowers as planned as the whole trip was socked in and cold. The morning was 50f ish and as I climbed into the first CD crossing it got cold. From that point on it was sleet leading to snow. Luckily, heated grips, jacket, and long johns! It was then like that off and on all the way to High River. Added rain suit fail, due to every layer of clothing I had being on! It fit great over my mesh gear! My guess average temp in the high 30'sf. The poor KLR was wide open for 14 hours (only 650 miles) that day if not because of up hills then due to headwinds. After a great night with my old friend from high school. On to Carstairs the final destination. 2.5 hours of driving rain in the mid 30's.

Since it was miserable all my local rides in Calgary were a loss. I borrowed a car and hit a couple stops. Including a new rain suit to prevent ever needing it again! (Guess which way the wind blew from the picture?).

Mileage total 1400. 650 each of the first 2 being 11 and 14 hours respectively. With a quick 100 miles North the third.

 

[gixxerjasen]

That sounds a bit miserable.
Better than work? Questionable
Better than riding in the 100F in Texas. Very likely.

 

[Plane Dr]

The next leg of the trip was a run around to see family. I went to Edmonton, back to Rocky Mountain House, then Bow Valley (Icefields?) Parkway, Kamloops, then on to Penticton. This run was about 1100 miles through some of the most beautiful country on the planet.

I was extremely lucky in that the weather was stable, not stellar, but pretty good for the high mountains this time of year. Again the KLR did superb, but as always the lack of power was a struggle. The redeeming quality of it all was the speed limits are horribly low through Canada. Wildlife was like 4 bears, mountain goats, whack tons of deer and a few Elk. Nothing notable for me as this is my old stomping ground. I used to do this trip all the time. The bonus was being able to just go ride it and enjoy.

 

[Tracker]

spectacular!

 

[Plane Dr]

As I got to the end of my time in Penticton I had some logistics issues. I am always flying standby so Westjet had had a strike earlier in my trip. While their system had mostly recovered it was still a bit off. The other challenge I wasn't able to coordinate a visit with my brother in Nanaimo.

The random decision to run Wilbur back to Vegas was made. It was another 1300 miles so not too bad for a 2 day run and I would make dinner reservations Friday.

SO south bound it was. The goal was Twin Falls day 1 then leave there butt crack early to avoid the now record temps in Vegas. More a stretch goal.

The trip to Twin Falls was uneventful and I got to ride a couple stunning areas that day. Steamboat Rock was stunning, and I hit another Alpine area further south that was incredible, I've lost the area name though. Twin Falls had the beautiful sunset below seen from the bridge. This is where my internal stupid comes in. I was pulling out of the viewpoint to go to the hotel with an "that was odd".

2am southbound to Wells NV it is cooooold. But better than frying right? I started a couple pulls and the "that is odd" occurred again. Next thing you know I'm nursing the bike into Wells. Um wow that chain is loose. Hmm tightened it up and inspected it and wow the teeth are gone in front and the rear is ugly. Oh and the chain is binding on the rear. Well tighten it as much as possible. Bear in mind I was lubing it and keeping a sort of eye on it. Total mileage was around 8K on it. Well crap, 400 miles of desert and only fuel stops ahead. No uhauls in town, but wait there's a dealer 50 miles out of my way.

Head for the dealer! (still at 7am even after mucking about). Hmm get there and a front and a chain only, hmm no uhauls in town either. So Mister dealer how much for the sprocket off 1 of the 2 bikes on the showroom floor??? A deal was struck ($$$ but not stranded anymore, so it's good I guess). Cheers to 5th Gear Powersports in Elko! Then beeline back to may route.

Side note, the dealer had told a group of riders how far they would go to help stranded riders. While waiting for mine I got into a discussion with a group of KLR riders there for scheduled service. They were blown away the Dealer wasn't just blowing smoke!

At this point it was 11 am and I have 7.5 hours to get to Vegas. Through the heat. This was interesting as it was 104 to 118 the rest of the day. The poor KLR would over heat if out of a speed window, or it would overheat if there were elevation changes. Down hill it would start to get way hot as the ambient temps went up. It was a really challenging ride. Semi's, R1200GS and Harleys were overheating everywhere, so not just my diminutive KLR.

This was Thursday, and a rider had died a couple days before in death valley at similar temps. Rolled into Vegas at 118f around 6pm with a much lighter wallet. A 17 hour day and a bike that was overheating now at almost any speed, oh and burns on my leg from radiator air....

Morals,
Camelbak is a life saver literally, I emptied 3 or 4 times a day both days and never had to stop to pee!
Spontaneous rides are great but maybe think it through.
Chains, amateur hour here, maybe check the slack when the suspension is not compressed (duh) as opposed to leaving it slack when it is compressed? I know better but dumb dumb dumb. I expected it to be done when I got back, but it went way off, way fast for being so slack.
I didn't get my numbers for Iron butt do to the side run and breakdown, but was at 800+ miles with hours to go before Wilbur broke.

 

[Plane Dr]

Oh and as a final note, Next time I decide to do this, I will plan it. I may even use the more appropriate bike! The VFR1200 I have sitting here!

 

[Mextrekadv]

I just wrapped up 5 weeks and 3800 miles from Texas to the pacific Mexican Riviera. I don't want to even think about travelling right now.

On a klr in bad conditions I can't even imagine. I was in a 1997 4runner with AC, lol