Hi John! Did you conquer the IDBDR in 2021? I am zero for three on my attempts. Lost my clutch in 2020 and haven’t attempted it again. Maybe 2022 is the year!
Thanks John ! I get a kick out of making these so I appreciate your comment. I actually think part 2 is a bit better. I hope you have time to see it! Do you ride?
Have watched SCORES of ADV videos and this style and content is among the best. Good balance of video, commentary and stills. I rode my DR650 Virginia to Oregon Coast 2019 completing the TAT. Stored bike in Portland and will ride BDR’s in 2020. ADV riding checks all the boxes for me, like bush flying which is in the past. KLR’s, DR’s, XL650’s are best bang for the buck for these trips. My older brother cannot ride with me due to health, so good on you guys. . . Now for part two!
Hi Joe! You need to get some of your videos posted! Would love to see the TAT. What a journey I'm sure that was! Thank you for the compliment on my videos. I really appreciate the feed back. I'm actually a hack at putting them together. I have no equipment--just my iPhone. There are not a lot of road videos because I have to ride with one hand while I am filming and I am always afraid of dropping it! So where's home for you?
Excellent video. In September of 2018 I went out to Colorado, Utah & on to California on a little Honda NC 700X (from Florida) & did some off road riding - absolutely loved it. Even though the Honda really wasn't an off road bike because of its suspension the light weight helped. Came home & traded the Honda & a FJR in on a new Super Tenere with plans on doing the first two sections of the MA-BDR in May & going to Alaska in June. On that trip I'll be staying in Dawson City for the Dusk 2 Dawn gathering. Although I'm new to going off road I love it & wish at age 71 I would have started it long ago. I'm happy that you two are brothers & ride together - its a good life that you share.
Stephen Evans, welcome to the club! I’m not that far behind you. I’m 58 and my brother is 67. We have a blast adventure riding. In fact, we rode to Dawson City and up the Dempster to Inuvik in 2014. That is big country up there-when it’s just you, the wind, and the open space you feel sort of small. Wonderful trip that I will definitely do again! You’re riding the right bike to go up north. A Super T would be perfect! I love my KLR, but there was so much highway riding that in reality I wish I had a bigger, more comfortable bike. Best of luck on the trip! Be safe! Come through Idaho on your way back home!
@Johnmartin…doing the Dempster?!?! One of the best experiences of my life-also challenging. We did the trip in 2014 and the road to Tuk was still only an ice road-not open in summer, so we missed it. I guess that’s reason to go back? 😃
Holy cow i worked for you for all those years i had no idea you were into any of this. i know this is from a few years ago but i love the bdr and riding hope you enjoyed it and are doing well
Hi Mike! I didn’t know you were into ADV riding either, so I guess we’re even! How the heck are you? Thought about you a lot over the years and I hope you were able to land on your feet after Triad! I’m doing okay! I can’t really complain (nobody would listen). 🤣
Thanks Gary! Love getting out and getting lost in those wide open spaces. So few places left to do that. My KLR is the perfect bike for this, too. The just discontinued it but I’ve done way too many mods to trade up. I think I’ll just ride it till the wheels fall off!
Hi Gary Kentner, come on out! Tons of great riding- so much so that in 40 years of riding I’ve barely scratched the surface. Tons of history and beautiful scenery. Happy to show you around a bit!
S.H. I promise some are on the way! So much going on that life just got in the way. I've never taken RU-vid or my videos too seriously but I've gotten some great feedback, some of it constructive, that's motivating me to do more. Thanks for the nudge. More are coming this summer. (snow still on the ground right now) : )
Tim, so true. We talked with some other folks that had gone before us and It was highly recommended that we get a GPS-which we did for the second half! Really glad we did as I think we would have some real challenges. The crazy part was my brother and I had grown up riding in southern Idaho and we always thought we had a pretty decent knowledge of southern Idaho and owyhee county. But that is a huge area..... we didn’t know it as well as we thought!
DJ, you are so right! As a direct result of this experience I bought a Garmin Zumo for my bike and downloaded the BDR track! We still had some occasional issues on the 2nd half of our ride but nothing like that first section. Oh well, you’re never really lost until you run out of petrol, right! Lol
Hi Ed, it was the Butler Idaho BDR map. Really, I can’t complain about the map. But out in the Owyhee desert, there are side roads and goat trails everywhere and that kind of detail isn’t on the map. And of course there are hardly any road signs anywhere. 😜. I still have to post the second half of our adventure which we road a couple of months later. Needless to say, I bought a GPS! It made it so much easier!
Haha! Yea, a little self inflicted. So funny, I have ridden for decades with only maps and did just fine, but.....I did finally buy a GPS for the second half of out trip though. You know us old dogs are slow to learn new tricks.
Hi Kal. We didn’t bring extra fuel. There are enough fuel stops you don’t have to. That said, we didn’t ride the McGruder or the Lolo. However I’ve driven them both and I’m pretty sure you’ll have adequate range if you get around 200 per tank. I’d buy a BDR road map though. If I recall, they have the fuel stops and distances mapped out for you. Are doing the IBDR this year?
Don’t listen to the whiners. Thanks for the hard work, packing the extra weight of camera and batteries, and taking the time to edit and upload so the we can all enjoy! Great vid.