It looks like I will try my hand at a trip report.
What a crazy week it has been! After a few months of rough planning, I would meet two other riders in southern Utah for a three-day tour of south-central Utah. Getting across the Rockies in early spring is always a gamble, and this trip proved to be no different, I pulled out of my garage at 7 am to light snow, but as I headed across Denver towards Hwy 285, the snow shifted to mist and fog, then the temps started to drop. By the time I reached Conifer, Colorado, 1hr later, the temps had dropped to 23*, and the freezing fog was leaving me and my Super Tenere covered in a rapidly growing layer of ice. I pulled off in Conifer to warm up over coffee and check the weather & road conditions.
https://yamahasupertenere.com/[Vid]%20https%3A//www.youtube.com/shorts/6vT8B-AN4pM
Thankfully, I got out of the inversion about 10 miles further up the mountain, and the fog disappeared, replaced by the glorious Colorado sun. For the next 7 hours, I ripped across some of the best roads in southern Colorado as I headed toward Utah. When I arrived in Utah, it was in the low 80s and sunny! What a difference a few hundred miles makes.
It wasn't an excellent site for Utah, but a great restaurant was nearby, so I was happy.
I love waking up to this view.
Friday morning, we learned that our third riders flight was delayed last night, and he was running behind. So we decided to set a new rendezvous location in Hankville, and Brian and I took off into the Valley of the Gods and climbed the Moki Dugway. It had been a few years since I had last done this route on my 2013 R1200GS, but I could already tell that I liked the Super Tenere's suspension and overall steering feel much more than my old BMW.
We then headed over to Bears Ears, where we began to encounter Snow above 8500'. The Snow drifts were manageable, but sure enough, on the last major drift, I hit some of that famous Utah mud and lost all traction to terra firma while exiting the drift. Holy F' the Super Tenere is hard to pick up in zero-traction mud
IH8MUD!
More to come...
What a crazy week it has been! After a few months of rough planning, I would meet two other riders in southern Utah for a three-day tour of south-central Utah. Getting across the Rockies in early spring is always a gamble, and this trip proved to be no different, I pulled out of my garage at 7 am to light snow, but as I headed across Denver towards Hwy 285, the snow shifted to mist and fog, then the temps started to drop. By the time I reached Conifer, Colorado, 1hr later, the temps had dropped to 23*, and the freezing fog was leaving me and my Super Tenere covered in a rapidly growing layer of ice. I pulled off in Conifer to warm up over coffee and check the weather & road conditions.
Thankfully, I got out of the inversion about 10 miles further up the mountain, and the fog disappeared, replaced by the glorious Colorado sun. For the next 7 hours, I ripped across some of the best roads in southern Colorado as I headed toward Utah. When I arrived in Utah, it was in the low 80s and sunny! What a difference a few hundred miles makes.
It wasn't an excellent site for Utah, but a great restaurant was nearby, so I was happy.
I love waking up to this view.
Friday morning, we learned that our third riders flight was delayed last night, and he was running behind. So we decided to set a new rendezvous location in Hankville, and Brian and I took off into the Valley of the Gods and climbed the Moki Dugway. It had been a few years since I had last done this route on my 2013 R1200GS, but I could already tell that I liked the Super Tenere's suspension and overall steering feel much more than my old BMW.
We then headed over to Bears Ears, where we began to encounter Snow above 8500'. The Snow drifts were manageable, but sure enough, on the last major drift, I hit some of that famous Utah mud and lost all traction to terra firma while exiting the drift. Holy F' the Super Tenere is hard to pick up in zero-traction mud
IH8MUD!
More to come...