I have 2 pairs of these.
The black pair, I bought in 2016, and I use on my ’79 IT250.
The brown pair, I bought in 2020, and I use on my ’01 XR650L, and I bought these to keep out in Montana.

They’re both basically the same, except the brown ones are the “HP” version which is kinda the 2nd version that came out a couple years after the first, and they have a metal shin plate.
But, not to be confused with the newest “icon-elsinore-2-boots” version which came out recently and seem unfortunately worse.

Anyway, why am I making this post?
I don’t know… This year I told myself I’d get a “better” pair of mx boots like the “Alpinestars Tech 7 Enduro Boots“. They seem like the best option and are more comfy for dual sport riding, living in them etc.
I’ve looked at them a few times, and I just can’t do it. I just can’t.
Why do all modern ADV / dirt bike boots have to be so damn ugly and dumb looking?

So it got me thinking, do I really need to change boots?
Was Alex Quinn right?
I don’t know…
I’ve done a ton of riding in each pair.
Lots of trips.
Lots of trails. Lots of rocks.
Lots of pretty technical gnarly shit.
Lots of walking around supermarkets and sitting around campsites.
A handful of riding at the local MX track.
I’ve thrown almost everything at them and I have no complaints.

Am I doing the most insane technical difficult riding like 5 miles of hell? No, I’m not.
Maybe if I ever plan to do something like 5 miles of hell, I’ll get the Tech 7 Enduro then I suppose, but honestly… I’m sure the Elsinore boots would be fine.

The Elsinore boots do have protection.
They do have a metal toe-box.
They do have reinforced shin plates.
They do have ankle protection on both sides, however the ankles can bend.
They’re def pretty fuggin stiff, but not as stiff as real racing MX boots.
I like that they have a normal wedge sole like a Vibram sole on RedWings. It’s a real sole that can be re-soled.

I guess I’ve found them to be pretty good at everything.
Anyway, that’s my take.
I’m keeping them going.

Maybe someday in the near future, an mx boot manufacturer will come out with a dual sport / enduro boot, that’s both protective, and more normal looking?

Bike is feeling great.
I found some fun little spots to ride just west of Lake Atsion. Prob 30 mins from my new place.

Basically when you twist the throttle, regardless of if the bike is on or off, the carb literally shoots a stream of fuel down into the engine. This shot of fuel reduces velocity-lag response (or something like that) so throttle response seems instant. A pumper carb wont necessarily make more power on its own as a carb upgrade, although some would argue the smoothbore internal design and lack of central choke plate blocking airflow is a big benefit.
Maybe 1-2 hp increase if you get the jetting dialed in.
The real benefit is zero throttle lag. It is much more snappy instant dirt-bikey brappppp feel.

After freshening up the top-end of my XR650L this winter, I decided to top it off with a “better” carb.
My engine is close to all stock internals still. The only thing I changed was I installed an XR600R JE piston which bumps compression from 8.3-1 to around 9.5-1.
And I chose better valve seals (Kibblewhite red viton).

Back to the carb

It’s def a bit different than the normal mechanical slide type carbs i’ve jetted.
Tuning the accelerator-pump (AP) is a little tricky, so i’m making this post in case I forget anything in the future.
Basically with the “AP”, you can determine when the squirt of fuel happens, the squirt direction, when it turns off, and how thick the squirt is which is all confusing.

There are a bunch of different brand and type pumper carbs. Folks on the interwebs say the Mikuni TM40 works well on an XR650L. Decided I’d give it a go. The kit was bought from Niche-Cycles for about $450, came with cables and extra jets and was “setup” for my bike already, although I ended up jetting it differently than how it came.

Normally on non-pumper, non-CV, mechanical slide carbs, like Mikuni VM’s or Keihin CR’s I’ll go a hair rich on the pilot circuit to yield better instant throttle response. On the Mikuni TM pumper you don’t want to do this since the accelerator-pump (AP) does this for you.

Upon first setting up the carb I followed the Mikuni tuning manual – link here to its spec and the bike ran like crap wtf. After a bunch of Googling it appears the Mikuni manual was centered specifically around the Harley application which is obviously different than using this carb on a single thumper dirt bike. Which… there’s a lot of usage of this carb for dirt bikes, but regardless the manual was written for Harley usage.

What screwed me up is the Mikuni manual says to have the AP engage immediately. I guess that works well on Harleys, but it doesn’t on big single thumpers.

So, basically, what you should do for a big thumper, is have the AP engage at 1/8th throttle, and have it turn off at 3/4 throttle.
Also, you can have the squirt hit the needle directly or have it shoot off to the side of the needle so it shoots down into the intake runner.
The Mikuni tuning manual says to hit the needle directly, and I decided to stick with this. I don’t like the idea of raw fuel getting sent down to land on an intake valve. I’d rather it hit the needle directly and get atomized more evenly, especially since the XR’s have a split runner to both intake valves.

So, how do you tune the AP?

It’s not that bad, but do it off of the bike.
Here’s what I did.
Get the base jetting pretty darn good, then focus on the AP at the end.
Take the carb off the bike. Have it all fully assembled with gas in the bowl.
Hold it upright, look into the carb as though you’re standing on the air-filter side, and turn the throttle and you’ll see fuel shoot out.
Make sure the fuel does NOT hit the slide. Adjust the one adjuster on the white nylon to ensure the fuel does not hit the slide … but DOES hit the needle dead on. Some folks say to use a popsicle stick as a feeler gauge for the AP engagement point.
Then adjust the other little adjuster screw at the top, which is an ultra small allen-key, so the AP stops at 3/4 throttle.
And put some Loctite on the 2 AP adjuster screws, because folks say they can vibrate themselves loose/tight over time which would affect the AP jetting.

Other notes

I moved the throttle return spring to the softest setting. You can see in the one pic there are 3 setting notches. By default from Mikuni its set to the stiffest notch, but the softest notch felt like the oem XR carb which I liked better.
I stuck with the “carb-body” choke type. Basically you don’t need a choke with this carb. If the bike is cold and hasn’t been run in a while, just give 1, and only 1, twist of the throttle which will shoot fuel into the carb … then you can start the bike and this is kinda like choking it. Also … if you needed to use the normal choke, I’m able to reach the carb-body choke, so that still def works, but haven’t had a need to use it. I removed the oem handlebar choke and put a nut/washer in place of where it was.

I’m still dialing in the jetting but it feels pretty great so far.
Bike is running great and ripping.
When you hit the throttle the bike def jumps forward in a much more snappy way compared to the oem CV carb… so thats cool.

Below is my jetting so far

main – 145
pilot jet – 30
pilot air jet – 1.2
fuel mixture screw – 2 ish turns out
needle – 9DJY4-96 – 1 step rich from middle, no shims.
needle jet – 568-Y6
accelerator pump nozzle – 45

Below are pics of what the AP looks like when you turn the throttle… so you get a better idea.
So, the AP rod doesn’t get engaged at all until around 1/8 throttle … and then around 2/3 or 3/4 throttle it stops, by hitting the black allen-key.

My ThumperTalk forum post for more detailed top-end rebuild info.
Link Here.

My pics:

Jessie pics:

Steve pics:

I brought my film camera.
Nikon n80.
Kodak Ektar 100.
Cost of everything is up these days. When shooting film, every time you click the camera shutter button, it costs about $1 dollar (regarding overall cost of film / development / scan).
Interesting way to think about each photo.

Well. Month of Montana and riding the XR around the area has been an absolute blast. Kinda bummed to leave Missoula, who knows if I’ll ever be back. But, what better way than to leave MT for good, then to do the Idaho BDR. I wasn’t really sure what to expect despite having watched a ton of YouTube Idaho BDR vids. The riding looks pretty easy to be honest, but who knows how long we’re going to ride each day. I want to have a balance of riding and hanging out, having fun.
Also, my iPhone camera broke due to vibration from the iPhone GPS mount. Oh well. So, I bought an old 80’s Nikon rangefinder point/shoot 35mm camera and 5 rolls of film. Gotta be honest I’m a little bummed with the results. In the future I don’t plan to use this camera again, and I’ll use my legit 35mm film camera. Is what it is, was still fun to shoot the pics.
And I’ll say it again. The XR650L has turned out to be such a great, inexpensive, solid, bullet-proof bike. Work horse. Can do 75 on highway all day and then tight gnarly technical dirt bike stuff no problem.

Quick Ratings

• Cliff factor = 12/10
• Isolation factor = 10/10
• Off-road difficulty = 2/10
• Tiring factor = 7/10

Day 1 – Missoula MT to Wallace ID

• Leave Missoula for good. Was a blast.
• Meet Adam an hour west at a tiny town called Superior. Four Aces bar. Beers. Good time. Talk about horses. Head out.
• Arrive in Wallace, gas up, head into mountains on dirt roads.
• Quickly find a great little camp spot along river. Booze on river, then pass out.
• Meet a group of guys on KTMs who are boozing but still riding.
• 3500’ elevation.
• I slept like shit. Woke up to piss at midnight at it was semi-snowing wtf was def freezing temps.

Day 2 – Wallace to Pierce ID

• My new sleeping bag is legit so I wasn’t cold at all through the night but you can still tell it’s freezing outside.
• Wake up and had a rough time getting going. Was so fucking cold and we were in a little pocket covered by trees, so never got sun.
• Coffee, pack up, head out cold.
• Arrive in Avery, cool little town. Gas up, coffee, hang for a few in sun, then head out.
• Did about 120 miles in total today, and man it was tiring.
• The off-road riding is not hard… it’s just so long and so much of it. Hard to be focused and “on it” that many hours.
• A million mountain passes. Some all dirt. Some ultra loose gravel. Some slow rocky / rutty.
• Was fun. But I’m tired now.
• Stopped in Pierce ID for gas and a Timber-Burger. 3/4lb whoa.
• Head back out to find camp. At a nice spot at 6000’ elevation, hope it’s not too cold.

Day 3 – Pierce to Darby

• Super warm night really surprised.
• About 6 hours of riding.
• Did a portion of BDR that was closed to fire but we didn’t know. The closed signs were only on the far other side when we ended.
• Was def gnarly.
• Real tough riding.
• Rocky, loose, steep, sketchy, just not safe.
• Would not do this portion on a bigger Adv bike no way.
• Finally make it to Locksaw Lodge. Beers / burger.
• Then did Lolo Pass off road which is cool.
• Then highway did an hour to get near Darby.
• Camped near Darby at Como Lake. Hobo Fish tacos dinner.

Day 4 – Darby to Elk City ID

• Grab decent diner breakfast.
• At breakfast there were two strippers who I’m assuming had gotten off work a few hours before. They were in the diner same time as us. When they left the old guy next to us says; “huh look at them, you’d catch a fish with her shoes” ha.
• Head towards Magruder pass which is basically a gnarly dirt mountain pass for over 120 miles. I guess it’s kinda famous out here.
• Super fun, real flowy. Almost felt like riding bmx at times pumping the lines.
• I had a ton of fun doing this route.
• See two other XR650L with easily double the amount of gear we’re carrying, wtf.
• See a group of GS1200s and 1 new Africa Twin who look like they’re ready for battle ha.
• I think the big Adv bikes are pretty dumb and impractical.
• End in Elk City. Would recommend.
• Another solid burger.
• Camp spot on a babbling brook with swim hole. Was sick.
• Take a bath and clean up. Was warm enough for me.
• Woke up at 1am by large animal snarling at us from outside our tents as loud as it could 15 times. I shit myself it was fucking scary.
• A random local guy later next day said prob an Elk or deer pissed we were in it’s area.
• The one BW film roll might be ruined? I had to crack the light seal.

Day 5 – Elk City to Riggins ID

• Get a late start, feeling run down.
• Head out and do a million more mountain passes. Mostly dirt gravel fire roads.
• But then come across super fun all dirt section that was super flowy like riding bmx. Was a blast.
• Get to Salmon river and dead tired, need a break.
• Swim, eat.
• First time in 3 years XR is at under 2000’ elevation, kinda cool.
• Go into Riggins for gas and a burger.
• Salmon river stretch east of Riggins is fucking insane beautiful. Hidden gem.
• Everyone rafting, swimming, camping.
• We camp and have drinks on river.
• XR’s are still champs and are eating up all the riding great, fucking legit work horse.

Day 6 – Riggins to Yellow Pine

• A million mountain passes. Don’t die cliff factor is all time high.
• Bikes back at 8000’ elevation.
• But then came across some more fun flowy dirt sections.
• All I can say is so many fucking mountain passes and views it’s so staggering and tiring to focus this long. Can never relax because you’ll loose focus for 1 min and make 1 mistake and just die on a cliff. Dead serious.
• Meet older guy ripping on a DR650 with sooo much gear. But he was cool.
• Yellow Pine is closed wtf.
• But then it opened back up later and we got burgers and beers.
• Camped 2 miles down road.
• Camped along water almost every night and always free.

Day 7 – Yellow Pine to Lowman

• On a mountain pass a running huge Buck with 5’ wide antlers almost took me out, but I beeped and he swerved last minute fuckkkkk.
• Fun water crossing … and lunch but yellow jacket wasps swarming was insane.
• Met a couple older guys camping who we chatted with. They caught rainbow trout and fried us up some. And gave us beer. It was great.
• Guy said he fell down a cliff on his dirt bike the other day. Wild. They were also boozing a lot. Guy also said in mid 1980s he broke into Boise zoo and hung with Wolves. Then years later had a pet wolf.

Day 8 – Lowman to Pine

• Find a great natural hot spring called Kirkland.
• Maybe best I’ve ever been to.
• Hang for a bit and swim.
• A million more mountain passes to Pine.
• Cool little random hill climb we saw.
• Pine kinda sucks, I don’t recommend.
• Really fun riding today. White sand roads were wild.
• Every day different epic off roads and views.
• Camp 30 mins south of Pine along reservoir which is so shallow and low we’re basically in the grasslands instead of next to water.
• At first I was bummed but it ended up being great.
• Wake up to numerous coyotes howling through the night which was so cool.

Day 9 – Pine to Jarbidge NV

• Wake up and do some fun riding through grasslands to get to Glenn Ferry.
• Awesome breakfast at cool little diner.
• Sick skatepark.
• Our XR’s consume a little oil. Half a quart each on day 3 … and half a quart each today. I’m not bothered by it. We’re ripping pretty hard.
• Then a million miles of gravel / dirt roads ripping 60mph.
• Harness my inner Johnny Campbell and rip it.
• Kinda wild and sketchy but fun.
• F14 fighter plane rips past us low elevation and scared the shit out of me it was so loud. Like earth shattering speed barrier loud.
• Rattlesnake Canyon was wild scenery.
• Bad black flies swarming.
• Jarbidge is kinda cool maybe.
• In Nevada now.
• Instead of riding… walk 1 mile from camp into Jarbidge. Get burger / beers and hang.
• On walk back we’re drunk, oops, it’s insane pitch black can’t see anything, long dirt road in woods, and we forgot headlight lamps
  Get half way and we see something… oh shit it’s a cow in the road … we’ve seen a thousand on our ride earlier to Jarbidge. Turn on iPhone flashlight
  Oh fuck … no it’s a 7’ tall male moose with antler rack 6’ wide fuckkkkk.
• Adam runs into the woods. I stand there in shock frozen. The moose charges towards us, and then just runs down the road. It was huge. Yikes that could’ve been bad. They’re normally aggressive I hear.
• Wild shit.

Day 10 – Jarbidge to Wells … to Salt Lake

• Bad wind for first time.
• 8500’ elevation.
• Sand challenges.
• Wind got insane and was tornado we rode through.
• Difference of Bisen and Buffalo?
• Difference of Elk and Deer?
• Hung in a shitty town of “Wells NV”.
• Had some rain today. More annoying than anything else.
• Eventually made our way to Salt Lake. Dropped our bikes off at a MC dealer thats basically kinda identical to Philly Cycle Center. They’re gonna hold our bikes for a week or two waiting for Haul Bikes to come get them and ship them back to Philly. Then we flew home first thing the next morning.

If the Harley Roadking is a La-Z-Boy, the XR seat is a broken lawn chair. But it’s really fun so it’s a fair trade off.

Roadking is for comfort, the XR is for fun. Which makes a pretty strong case for needing both bikes. I think a cruiser is in Ed’s future. Or mine.

Which brings me to my next point – It’s time I learn to ride. Ed won’t teach me (I write this with THE BIGGEST eye roll), so taking volunteers who will.

It’s surprising how many people at gas stations go out of their way to talk about bike stuff. Most people ask if we rode here from PA.

When Ed’s not around people assume it’s mine, so I go with it and say:
– “Yea she’s been really good to me.”
– “75 on highway all day, and the technical dirt bike stuff too.”
– “I have to make some adjustments to the carb but overall I can’t complain.”

Dirt biking up mountains is incredible, but nothing beats a country bar and a cold bud light. Some of the best parts of Montana are the remote Cowboy towns.

So far I’ve beaten Ed in pool, a beer taste test, and music trivia several times over.

Has anyone ever seen someone bite into an ice cream cone? Scroll for the visual. *Warning: it’s uncomfortable.

Phillipsburg & Granite Ghost Town were really fun but smokey at the top of the mountain.

Sailing Flathead Lake was incredible. Huge shout out to Colin for taking us on the boat.

Working on convincing Ed he needs a boat too. Feel free to help a girl out and drop some hints as well. Thanks friends.

Didn’t get to camp as much as we wanted. No campfires allowed due to the wildfires (understandably), and camping without a fire is tough. It’s cold as fuck without one.

Montanans are built different. They don’t feel the cold. They wear shorts and flip flops in 50 degrees, while waiting in line for ice cream. And they hate Californians SO MUCH.

Stayed on a dude ranch for 3 days outside Wyoming. Riding horses might have been the highlight of the trip.

Yellowstone is incredible. 10/10 would recommend. But only on a motorcycle so you can pass Bison traffic. Also not nearly as crowded as I expected it to be.

After the event, Adam and I go out to where we had parked the XR’s on the street, and someone was fucking with us, and put a big bicycle lock around both our handlebars. WTF. But then we realized it wasn’t actually locked. Weird.

And Colins worker Jimmy raced in the amateur class and got 3rd which was rad.

The day started out with Brain, Will, Dana, Steve, and I meeting at the world’s worst Wawa. Yup, the Aramingo Wawa. For some reason, the store looked like it was looted but then again, it’s just the status quo for that location. Steve was the only one in this group not riding so he led us in his car to Mike’s cabin in the Pines. Soon Mike & Tom came rolling in. 

The last time this ride happened the camp spot was on LBI but the major complaint was the bug situation. We decided to change up the plans and slab it back to Mikes’s after the beach. We got our camp set up, ourselves geared up, and Mike led us on our route. 

The bikes:
Brian – 2008 Husqvarna TE450
Dana – 2001 Kawasaki KLR250
Mike –  2006 Kawasaki KLX250S
Nate – 2014 Yamaha WR250R
Steve – 1980 Yamaha IT425
Tom – 1987 Honda XL600R
Will – 2017 Honda CRF250L Rally

I’m not going to go into too much detail but I will say this, the route had all you want from a Pines rip… fun two-track that was a little technical but has way too many whoops; wide-open fire roads that get the heart pumping when you hit some deep, loose sand; a blue hole to explore and play at; and many deep ass puddles. There was no one without wet feet this day and you know what? It was perfect. Tom had a bumpy start when his entire pack came loose and lodged itself between his rear wheel and swingarm. Gotta make sure everything is strapped well or those god damn whoops will get you. Will had the fortune of losing his Go-Pro & then finding it but then having the misfortune of losing it again. 

Hours later we came out of the woods and had lunch at Lucille’s Country Kitchen. They were just closing but were kind enough to let six soaked and muddy dirt bikers order some sandwiches and dry out a bit. After lunch, Brian headed back to Philly and the rest of us did one more stretch of off-road on a wide sandy access road before popping out in the most cookie-cutter suburban development. It was some Wrinkle In Time shit. I’m sure we were a sight to see to the families enjoying their nice quiet cul-de-sac life. Especially Steves IT and all of its glorious two-stroke noise and smoke. 

On to LBI! We posted up at a spot near a bar that Steve and Mike are familiar with then found a spot on the beach. When I say the water was perfect, I mean it. Surprisingly it was not cold at all, it was crystal clear, and had a great surf to play around in. Not bad for my last Jersey shore trip in who knows how long. Maybe forever? 

We had our fill of the water and dried off, sort of, for a few drinks at the bar called Hudson House. What a great dive bar. I’ve coined it “Perrys By The Sea” (if you know, you know). We had two rounds then geared back up and got Surf Tacos before riding into the sunset back to Mike’s cabin. Thankfully Steve had the foresight to get a case of Banquets on the way to the cabin so we all relaxed at camp and crushed the case until exhaustion picked us off one by one. 

The next morning, I had a wet helmet because I stupidly forgot to put my shit in my tent and a storm rolled through. Dana and I rolled back to Philly soon after waking. Will stayed back to find his Go-Pro and guess what? He and Steve managed to find it! That’s wild. 

I want to say this trip was bittersweet but it was not bitter in the least. This trip was as close to perfect as you can get and I couldn’t have asked for a better ride with a great group of guys. I look forward to doing rides up north with the squad as well as me riding back south for the bigger rides. The point I’m trying to make is, though you shitheads might not be seeing me every day, you’re still stuck with me for some time yet. 

Day 1 – Missoula to Sula mountain side

• leave Missoula and head south on highway
• camped on the side of a mountain next to a babbling brook
• Sick first day/night

Day 2 – Sula mountain to Ajax Lake

• wake up with light rain
• Coffee on babbling brook
• Pack up and head up the mountain 2-track
• As we continue climbing on dirt roads rain gets worse
• Turns to snow at 7-8k elevation
• Prob 2 hours of 2-track in rain/snow
• Eventually pop out on highway and have freezing 20 min ride into Wisdom MT
• Go to a restaurant and wait out freezing rain for 2 hours
• Drink 100 coffee
• Rain dies and head more off-road 2-track to Ajax Lake
• Ajax Lake sits up 8k elevation in middle of no where at top of a mountain in Big Hole Valley (BHV)
• Road towards top got gnarly
• Super rocky and steep
• XRs barely could make it up but did
• GS1200 was too heavy to make it
• Camped about 30 min hike from the lake
• Was raining almost all day into night
• Freezing at night – prob 34 degrees

Day 3 – Ajax Lake to west side of BHV

• wake up at Ajax Lake and it’s finally nice weather again
• Hike 30 mins up steep shit to the lake
• Coffee at the lake and hang
• Go back to camp and let shit dry in sun
• Pack up then head back into mountain 2-track
• Find a single track to take us up and around the mountain sides
• Colin said the single track was chill and he’d prob be able to do it no prob on the GS1200
• He was wrong. The single track was gnarly and intense. Pretty hard on the XR. Almost undoable on the GS
• Many spots help needed to spot each other
• I took a semi bad spill uphill on rocks, toppled over
• Finally got through it all sweating asses off
• Cool creek crossing at the end
• Adams boots got wet as shit bummer
• More 2-track until a sick camp spot on a bending creek – super sick creek spot

Day 4 – BHV to Centennial Valley

• great weather now compared to that second full day in rain
• My RSD jacket zipper took a shit
• We do more endless super fun 2-track for a couple hours and end up in Dillon MT
• I buy a Wrangler cowboy cut jean jacket and throw out my RSD jacket
• Tried to do 100mph on dirt road. Only hit 95
• Get more beer and get a solid burger
• Head out of town on more endless dirt fire roads for 50 miles into Centennial Valley.
• Camping in the open valley with nice mountain views
• We shoot the gun Colin bought in Dillon.
• Moon was real good

Day 5 – Centennial Valley to Ruby River Creek Griz country

• endless dirt roads
• I hate my tires. Garbage off road. TKC80 front is bullshit offroad. Pushes and slides too much.
• Legit in middle of Griz area now
• Meet cowboy Bill herding ton of cattle
• Hang for a while eat lunch but get eaten by flies instead
• More endless dirt roads – insane views can’t describe it
• Pretty technical riding 2-track
• Find insane camp site on Rosa Creek
• Legit swimming hole on creek
• Colin fishes
• Sleep in fear of Yogi

Day 6 – Ruby River Creek to Meadow Creek Lake

• leave Griz spot and head out
• Really technical but really fun 2-track with even more insane views than before
• Super warm during day. Sweating on the bike
• XR is a champ
• Head into Ennis MT and grab a late lunch and chill
• Head towards Meadow Creek Lake
• The lake is similar to Ajax Lake, as it sit at the very top of a mountain primitive road
• Colin is a nut. The road got insane rocky but he still tried it on the GS. Eventually accepted defeat the trail was insane too steep
• Headed back down and found a sunken valley style camp spot with a nice mountain look out view

Day 7 – Meadow Creek Lake to East Fork Reservoir south of Phillipsburg

• Head into Sherredon. Grab breakfast
• Then head back towards mountains for today’s off road route Colin put together
• Today was fun riding off road trails all through the valley. Felt like the desert
• Lots of miles today. Dusty

Day 8 – Head back to Missoula

• Really cold morning.
• Saw 2 female Moose. Saw a nice Waterfall.
• Ride some highway and get back to Missoula. Tired now.

Day 4 – Lovell, ME to Benton, NH

The sun rose and so did we. Dave had some coffee for us. What a guy! Going to Dave’s was the right move. It’s kinda wild that you can meet total strangers who will take you in and treat you as their own all due to the fact we both enjoy sitting on an engine with wheels and shredding through the woods. Dave gave us all the advice on what to do this morning. He pointed us to Gorham, New Hampshire. It had everything we needed. Food, gas, a powersports stop for Will to get a spare tube, and Walmart for us to stock up on some supplies. Gorham is where the climb for Mt Washington is located. We had intentions to climb it while planning this trip but decided to pass due to the time crunch. We took care of our errands and left Gorham, rounding Mt Washington to its northside via forest roads. This led us balls deep in the White Mountains. These mountains are the biggest mountains I’ve seen in the East. Just awe-inspiring to ride between them. We took a break by a creek to relax. Brian and Jake decided to get in for a dip. Jake got in some trunks while Brian decided to swim in all of his gear. We left the creek and headed deeper into the mountains. It was all dirt from here on out. We started to see amazing vistas and even more amazing homes. The latter would be a very big theme in both New Hampshire but even more so in Vermont. I was very impressed by the Sandwich Flats area. My only complaint was the dust. Being the guy in the back meant a lot of visibility issues but, whatever, I was still having a great time. We took a break at the most idyllic crossroads by a Quaker Meeting House. This spot really stuck with me. I felt like I was in a fairytale or a set from a movie. I could not believe such a perfectly peaceful, summertime spot existed. Leaving the crossroads we came upon the Durgin Covered Bridge. What is it about covered bridges that are so exciting to see and ride through? It must be that chance to experience a small bit of what was. A slice of old Americana.

Soon after this, we got onto Sandwich Notch Road. Holy hell what a ride! It’s not a typical road but a mountain pass that is only open in the summer season. I don’t know how or why but it was full of some great jumps. The whole road was stupid fun. The downhill portion was a little busy with large road repair trucks and other traffic. I would love to go back and do that one again. Technical but not so much that it was scary. Finally, we came out of the mountains and took a lunch break. The rest of the riding for the day was really good but was more road than track like we had earlier. We came upon a small closed ski mountain and had a bit of fun. As we neared the spot we had picked out to camp, the first of many rains began to fall. We got into our rain gear on the side of the road just in the knick of time. On the way to find a camp spot in the White Mountain National Forest, we saw the most high definition rainbow I have ever seen. It was so intense that it appeared tactile. Have you ever seen the end of a rainbow? Never have I until this day. It was wild and in that moment I wasn’t bothered by the rain. The closer we got to its end, the quicker it moved away. There would be no gold on this trip though. The rain stopped as we got onto the forest road that we intended to camp on. We found a large clearing near the road but big enough that we would be hidden from anyone driving up the road. No fire tonight so an early bedtime for all.

Day 5 – Benton, NH to Pittsfield, VT

Two more rainstorms moved in as we slept. It wasn’t raining when we packed but we did have to pack our gear away wet. No bueno. It was a chilly ride into Woodsville, NH. We posted up to get breakfast but realized we would be here for a little while. That 21” tube in Will’s rear decided to give. Pretty great it got us as far as it did and pretty great he got a spare tube in Gorham. Will took to swapping the tube while I laid my rainfly out to dry in the morning sun. I hate a wet tent. We all took the time to do some chain tightening and couldn’t believe how much stretch we were getting. With Will all patched up, we crossed the Connecticut River into Vermont. It was not long before we were on dirt roads. In fact, I’d say 90% of what we rode in Vermont was unpaved. We knew from BDR reports that Vermont was the most technical (rocks and mud) of all the states. It sure did not take us long to find out how true that was. Right off the bat, we hit some ATV trails. Fucking rutt, mud, and rock city. Everyone rode it at their own pace. I was the turtle of the group. I was determined to have a good time without injuring myself as I am quite prone to injury. Brian ended up looping his bike. He was 100% ok. He picked up his Husky and we ripped on. The scenery became rolling, green hills and farmland. After a small break in Corinth, we got back to the technical shit. Will ended up getting stuck in the mud on a long hill climb. It took some work to get him out. The trail became gravel and soon we were swimming on the stone. We probably were riding the dirt, gravel, and rocky roads a little too fast but fuck it. One thing I love about my WR is, while it is not a flashy bike, it always does what I ask of it without giving me any shit.

In the town of Chelsea, we got lunch and enjoyed it out in the middle of a small brook that runs through town. After some more backroads, we came to Vermont’s only floating bridge in Brookfield. It was here that I was inspired to find a swimming hole. A quick search on swimmingholes.org and a check of the map, put us right on track to check out Warren Falls. The rolling hills became the Green Mountains and we crossed a few ridges to get into Warren, another beautiful New England town. We got to the falls and were absolutely blown away at what we found. Crystal clear water, cascading falls, jump spots, natural water slides, etc. Basically a natural water park. We wasted no time jumping off the cliffs. The water was ice cold and beyond refreshing. This spot is easily on my top three swimming holes I’ve been too. Honestly, it might even be my number one. We could see dark clouds rolling in so we left Warren Falls and rode up and over the Lincoln Gap Road. As we came down from the mountain, the rain began to fall. We geared up and rode on, deeper into the Green Mountains. Somehow we managed to escape the storm and found sun in a different valley. With lighting speed, Will led us through forestry roads all the way to Hancock. We stopped to fuel up and eat at a great country store. It was for sale. Both Brian and I started turning the gears. Fuck the city life. Let’s buy this store and retire to the Green Mountains. Live that good life. Later in the trip, I checked the listing. The store was under contract. Bummer. I was able to find a campsite for us outside of Pittsfield. It was a good rip out to the site and what a good site it was. We took our time setting up but another thunderstorm moved in super fast. We all got into our tents just as the rain began to fall. When the storm had moved on, I joined Will by the fire while Jake and Brian had called it a day. Will and I burnt all the wood we had and soon crashed.

Day 6 – Pittsfield, VT to Stratton, VT

More rain came through as we slept. It was another chilly, wet morning. We packed up and rode into Pittsfield to warm up at the general store. I fucking love all the general stores in this area. They have a little bit of everything, and this one had the coffee and breakfast sandwiches we required. It was all pavement into Barnard. We gassed up at their general store. The sun was now in full effect and warming us quite nicely. As we left Barnard, it took no time to hit more of Vermont’s technical riding tracks. All the rocks! All the mud! And tons of fun. I even did my first true rock crawling. Just me and three other guys having a blast in the woods of Vermont. I was on cloud nine. The tracks would come out into what seemed like people’s yards but these are all legal roads. I was the guy who would not shut the fuck up in the Bluetooth about all the amazing houses. In my opinion, New England homes are the best homes. As with all of Vermont, these quaint roads led to technical trails again and again. I was far in the back from the crew but as I came down a very steep and loose rocked hill, I heard over the Bluetooth that Brian went down and went down hard. When we got to him he was on his back and holding his hip. I was terrified that he had broken it. Thankfully he had not but he could not stand nor walk. When he came down the hill he rode over a very large piece of bedrock that happened to be wet. That’s all it took to lose it. We stayed in this spot for some time to let him recuperate. Eventually, he was able to get up but needed support to walk and someone to help him swing his leg over the bike. While we were waiting, another storm came in. The rain fell harder just as we got him situated on his bike. Pretty quickly we were outta the woods and onto a main road. This led to the White Rock Recreation Area and back on dirt. By the time we got to Londonderry the rain had stopped and the sun was burning off all evidence of said rain.

We took a lunch break at a grocery store where Brian was able to use a shopping cart as a walker. Use the tools that you got, right? With full stomachs and full tanks, it was time to go. Outside of Londonderry, we had another wipeout. In the words of the great Alex Quinn, Jake ‘…got caught partying’. He decided to grip it and rip it on a dirt road but didn’t realize there was a hard right after a blind hill. He and his DRZ ended up 10 feet in a wooded embankment. Thankfully the only thing that was hurt was his luggage, though it was a struggle to get his bike out of the woods. He got his bike in order and we rode on and on. Mountains, woods, creeks, quaint towns, and villages. It just kept coming and coming. Vermont was my idea of Shangri La. I was in my element. It took us a little longer to get to a camp spot than I would have liked. Admittedly, I got a bit cranky. It was worth the wait and the sore ass. It was a great spot outside of Stratton in the Green Mountain National Forest. A large pad that should give us plenty of sun in the morning to dry off our tents. We set up camp, scavenged for wood, and had a fire. Brian was in good spirits and semi-mobile. The stars were on again tonight and it was just as good of a show as every night has been.

Part 1

Part 3

Part 1: Days 1 – 3

After hearing about Ed and Adam’s planned month in Montana, an extreme FOMO kicked in for me. A couple of days later,  I overheard Young Will say on a Thursday night pocket beer ride that he was doing the newly created North East BDR in August. Boom! FOMO problem solved. I ran joining the ride by Will and he was all for it.

MC trips are like their own sort of fun-virus. They are highly contagious amongst friends and can infect at lightning speeds. Not before long, Jake and Brian G had caught the NEBDR-20 as well. 

The NEBDR is designed to be ridden south to north but Will wanted to do it the opposite way. He was 100% right. The plan was to slab it the first two days and start at the Rangely, Maine portion then head south. 

The Bikes:
Will – 2014 Suzuki DR650
Brian – 2008 Husqvarna TE450
Jake – 2005 Suzuki DRZ400S
Nate – 2014 Yamaha WR250R

Day 1 – Philadelphia, PA to Conway, MA

Will had to work this day so Brian, Jake, and I got off to an early start. Having the whole day gave us the opportunity to ride a better route than the all Interstate route that Will had to do later. We headed north in Jersey and got to great 2 lane roads once we got into New York state. We rolled up into the Hudson Valley and took a pit stop in Poughkeepsie. I found out the hard way that using a Ram Mount for your iPhone on a thumper will break the main camera.

It was decided that any pics I take this trip would have to be selfies. So fair warning.  We took the Taconic Parkway north into Western Massachusetts. The closer we got to Conway the better the roads and towns got. It was here that we hit our first quaint New England towns and covered bridges. Camp tonight was at Jenny’s house. Her and Waldo rolled out a spread for us and had a campfire going. What a great way to start any trip! We sat around the fire waiting for Will’s arrival. Finally, well after the sunset, we heard his 650 roaring up the road. We welcomed Will with leftovers and beer. The night was still kinda young but we all climbed into our tents to get prepared for the long ride tomorrow.

Day 2 – Conway, MA to Rangeley, ME

The four of us woke with the sunrise. Jenny had made us a killer quiche w/ a pesto spread and Waldo was slinging french press coffee. Not a bad way to start the day. We soon had everything packed and headed out some great winding roads but the fun would not last long. We knew today was going to be a lot of shitty interstate riding. We had to head out east on 2 then 495. This turned into 95 in New Hampshire and Maine. I’ve ridden my WR many times on 95  in Philly but only for short bursts to get around the city. The hours spent on this leg were me getting blown around and beat up. I didn’t realize it was still an 8 lane superhighway this far north but Maine is vacationland, after all, and this is the height of the summer season. We took a much-needed break from the highway and rolled into Ogunquit, Maine. I had found a walk-up spot to get lobster rolls (I was not coming to Maine and not leaving without grabbing one) but did not realize the tourist hellhole Ogunquit was.

The four of us on loud ass dual sports riding through all the families trying to enjoy their picturesque Maine seashore summer vacation was a site to see. We gave up and headed away from the staring eyes and crowded streets. Just outside of town we got what we came for at the Clam Shanty. It was worth it. We made the collective decision that we could not stomach anymore interstate highway. It was 50 more minutes via no-highways than it would have been with. We headed north away from the ocean and into the countryside. The ride got better and the mountains grew taller. We got into the Rangeley Lake area in the early evening. We stopped at an overlook for some killer views then rode on to the camp spot that Jake had found. It was a killer spot on a creek, nestled back off of the road. Unfortunately, being by the water and being this far out in the wild meant too many mosquitos. I came prepared with some 98% Deet spray and Brian had his bug mask. The other guys were up to their own devices. After sunset, we huddled by the fire and got lost in the stars. No moon and all the stars. Better than any show.

Day 3 – Rangeley ME to Lovell, ME

We expected some chill in the morning but not 40 degrees. Everything was dewy too. We sat our tents out in the sun to dry and packed up for the first official day on the NEBDR. We fueled up bodies and bikes in Rangeley proper. Breakfast was by the lake. It was cool to see the seaplanes on the lake. With everything in order, Will led us on. Instantly it was dirt roads. Wide-open, dusty tracks circled the lakes and into the Maine woods. We came upon a bridge that was out but it was easy to do the very small water crossing. The first part of the journey gave us a great mix of dirt and paved backroads. We stopped by Coos Canyon for pics and then tried to find some more falls that were off the track. We found no falls but did find a nice spot by a creek to take a break by. After we rolled on we rode fun roads around so many lakes. eventually, we got to the first technical section of the trip. It was some rocky ATV trails up through the mountains. We were in the woods for a while having a blast but soon came out to a small country store in Waterford called Melbys. They claim to be the “Home of the Buffalo Burger”. We were hungry so it was da round 4 buffalo burgers. While we were eating a dude on an XR650 rolled by and threw us a shaka. He did swing back and talk to us. His name was Dave.  He just got his XR and was wanting to do the BDR. We talked for some time but soon had to be on our way or at least we thought. Will had a flat rear. We first tried patching it but that was a huge fail. Then we threw a 21” tube in his 17” tire. Will didn’t bring a tube so he had to use what we had. The entire time we worked on the tire, Dave hung out with us.

We let Will do his own work and got to know Dave. He was a rad dude who has done some cool shit and been all over the country. By the time Will had his tire holding with the 21” tube, it was getting late. Dave offered to let us camp in his yard. We decided that Dave’s yard would be the perfect camp spot. He then led us on a super-fast, sick ride through some dirt roads that were all around the area. He took us to the Kezar Falls Gorge. If it were only earlier and warmer, we could have taken a dip. Finally, we roasted all over till we got to Dave’s house. We met his lovely wife, Vicky, and enjoyed some beers by the fire with Dave. He had some great stories and we shared some of ours. Soon we were all beat and got to fall asleep to the lullabies of owls hooting and coyotes howling.

Coos Canyon

Maine Dave

Kezar Falls Gorge

Part 2

Part 3

Ton of fun. Loose rocks are difficult on the XR650l. Especially steep downhill loose rocks. Plenty of spots where I had to just lock up the rear wheel and let the XR’s weight slide me down the rocky decline.

Pics and vid don’t do it justice. Trails were steep as shit, with insane views. Honestly, it was some of the more challenging riding i’ve done. The XR was a champ, but heavy big bike made it pretty tough.