New Bike 2014 KTM 300 XC-W - June 2014

On the 21st of June, I bought a replacement bike.  I loved the 2012 300 XC-W so much that I bought the same bike,  just 2 years newer.  What an amazing package the 300 is!  I spent a number of hours (8-10) pulling things off the old bike and installing them on the new bike.  I re-jetted the bike, installed the steering stabilizer with sub-mount, hand guards, FMF pipe, radiator guards, skid plate, and Tusk foot pegs.  Later on, I would install a rear disk guard on it too.

I'm actually writing this post in November and I have to say that all those extra gaurds have been well used.  In the 5-6 months of riding, this new bike has taken more abuse than my 2012 did in over 2 years of riding!  Lots of looping out on rocks and slamming down hills.  I think that's because I push things harder than I used to.  I don't back down from nearly as many obstacles.  That means I'm progressing, but it also means the bike is taking some real abuse! 

Since Karen had taken the kids to California to visit my mom while I stayed back to work starting on Sunday, I took the bike and trailer up to Strawberry Ridge to break it in later in the week. I only missed one day of work instead of missing the entire week like I would have done if I'd gone with Karen and the kids to California.  Scott Seely ended up camping over with me on Thursday and riding with me on Friday on the trails up there.  The bike took a MAJOR slam going up the "Wall of Death", but I ended up being able to climb that one one my second try up the hill.  This was my second time climbing that section and it was more torn up this time around making it more difficult than before.  The first time was last year on my 2012 when I didn't know the obstacle was there. 

A couple of weeks earlier Sam and I participated in a service project in conjunction with the Forrest Service in Willow Creek to help clear trails.  It was a fun day, but a lot of work.

A thing of Beauty! 2014 KTM 300 XC-W

It's a lot of fun to work on a clean fresh bike.

Swapping parts from one bike to the other took some real time!

Installed the Pipe and Silencer after going on the mountain.

This was before I installed the silencer and rear disk guard that came later during the summer.

Mayfield Camping Trip - May 22nd - 25th 2014

We went camping up Mayfield Canyon again this year.  This time we went with the Oldham's.  Although the camping spot we really wanted was already taken, we made the best of things and camped a bit lower down the mountain.  The first day was good weather, but most of the rest of the weekend was a downpour after downpour.  We even had to stay an extra night and make a trip to the church in Mayfield in our camping clothes due to all the mud.  Here are some pics from the trip.

Sam and I found very steep cow trail on the return trip the first day.

 

 

 

 

 

Almost looks like Kase was falling from the sky!

Found a little late melting snow on the Saturday ride.

3 Fork Trail Ride - April 19th 2014

I had planned on doing the Monk's Trail up Diamond Fork Canyon on Saturday after we did an Easter egg hunt with the kids, but the trail has not been opened up for the season yet.  So instead, I ended up on the 3 forks trail.  This is a really fun ride with a couple of technical spots and one challenging spot.  It's affectionately called the "Cliffs of Doom" by my buddy Scott who has seen a few bikes end up down in the river 50 feet below.  I've now been up and down it twice (after this ride) and made it both times, but you could easily break something (on your or the bike) while trying to make it up the off camber cliff.  Anytime you film something, it doesn't really do the angles justice, so trust me, this gnarlier than it looks :)

So if you are interested here is the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j8ta92wZ_I

Moab Camping Trip - April 9th-12th 2014

We decided to embark on a new adventure while the kids were on Spring Break this year and explore the Moab area.  We left the house on Tuesday night after work and drove to the exit for the White Wash Sand Dunes area.  Since we weren't exactly sure where we'd camp for the next few days, and it was long after dark by the time we got there, we spent the night about a block or so from I-70.  On the morning of the 9th, we scouted the area until we finally found our spot for this trip on the Klondike Bluffs road about 20 miles north of Moab.  There were some really fun single track and ATV trails (Sovereign Trail and Salt Wash Trail)  in the area that I got to ride on Thursday and Friday Morning.  We went to Moab on Wednesday night to see what was going on and we ended up eating dinner in town that night.

On Thursday, after I got back from my really fun morning dirt bike ride, we headed into Arches National park.  The kids did extremely well on the 3+ mile round trip hike to Delicate Arch.  Even Kase walked the entire way up the hills and back!  We had fun on that hike.  We also drove to the northern end of the park and then hiked to Landscape Arch taking pics along the way.  With a full day of hiking behind us, we went back to camp and Karen cooked some really awesome tacos.

Friday morning started with another trip on the dirt bike in the area.  When I got back from the ride, I took Konnor and Kase on four-wheeler rides.  Later in the afternoon the entire family went for a short ATV ride up the Klondike Bluffs trail to see the dinosaur tracks.  We ate a late lunch and then drove over to Dead Horse point to take in the view.  Back at camp, Karen made us a late dinner and we went to bed.

Saturday morning we packed up camp and hit the road to come home.  It was a really great trip.  Below is a link to the video and some of the pictures we took.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X40EpzrbX4

Our camp along the Klondike Bluffs Road

My two favorite girls

The Gang at Delicate Arch

Dead Horse Point

Dead Horse Point

Looking over to Klondike Bluffs

Jericho March 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgZPvo8xMY

Kauai Trip - 10 Year Anniversary

Check out the video:

Kauai Trip - 10 Year Anniversary

Warner Valley Ride With Scott and Sam - Jan 23rd - 25th 2014

We took an EPIC dirt bike trip to Warner Valley this weekend. We had great company, awesome rides, a ton of laughs and some really great conversations.  We need to do this type of thing more often.  We took off after work on Thursday evening and spent Friday and Saturday in the desert having a blast.  It was really great to catch up with Scott, and he really helped Sam and me to tune our bikes up.  He helped us set the "sag" on our bikes and we played around with carburetor jets and needles too.  Scott pushed Sam and me to do some things we may not have done other wise, and it was really fun.  The weekend could not have gone any better.  Great times had by all. Here is is the video and some pics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj4QPRpW1_A

Shooting 1K - 11/23/2013

Went down to "The Bottoms" today to shoot 1000 yards with Dad.  Tonight we decided to shoot the opposite direction as we've done in the past.  It was a bit windy but we were able to make a few decent shots.  We were shooting the 308 Winchester with my hand loads.

Check out the video too.

 Shooting 1000 Yards The Bottoms

San Rafael Swell Camp - October 2013

Here is the video from the trip!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKd1tSs69rs

9/17/13 - Steering Stabilizer

Tonight I installed the Billet Racing Products Rubber Mounted Sub Mount and Scott Steering Stabilizer on my KTM 300 XC-W.  It was a a little bit of a struggle getting the steering post installed since I had to remove the triple clamps (which frees up the front forks and tire from the frame) and then get it all back together.  The biggest pain was getting the fork/head to go back up inside the frame and line up properly.  Eventually (2.5 hours later), I got all of it working and I took the bike for a quick ride to test it out.  It should give me a little better control in rough/rocky terrain because it keeps the front wheel going straight.  You can dial the amount of dampening you want right on the unit.  I wanted to spend the extra money to get the BRP system that mounts the stabilizer underneath the bars for a cleaner and safer set up overall, although it's not the cheap way to go. 

Overall I think I'm really going to like this new set up and a bonus is that the bars about about an inch higher than they used to be.  That is good thing for me which will keep me a little straigher up when I'm standing on the bike (which is about half the time).  The rubber mounts are supposed to reduce some of the vibration although I didn't notice a huge difference on the 15-20 minute burn I went on tonight.  It shipped with blue bushings that you can swap out for a softer feel if you like.

One downer is that the Cycra wrap-around hand guards that I so pains taking installed while camping this summer will have to have different mounts in order to work with this new set up, so I had to leave them off for now.

Once I was finished putting tools away it was completely dark.  The pics below were taken on a tripod with a 10 second exposure since I don't have a flash on the Canon 6D.  I used my 50mm lens for these shots at f8.

Daddy Daughter Date - 9/6/13

Well isn't it obvious that if I'm going to take the boys camping that I need to take Kaylee on a camp too?  It's been a long time coming because you have to schedule this 8 year old out months in advance and then hope you don't get trumped by a friends birthday party or baptism, but we finally got to go camping, just the two of us.  We had a great time eating our tin foil dinners, and going on hikes.  This is the same area above Silver Lake Flat that Konnor and I went last year, although we didn't park/pitch the tent in the same spot this time.  I had a really special afternoon/night/day with Kaylee.  Here is the video that we made and some of the pics. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wu3lswNpfYs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUj8_8RcJRf73iO_0o1Djd-g

Boys Only Camp - 8/30/2013

Konnor, Kase and I went camping up on top of Lake Mountain near the Fairfield VOR.  Since it was Labor Day and the Archery Deer hunt, all 3 of the normal spots that I have scoped out for good camping up there were taken already.  We had to resort to plan D and find this little spot.  By the time we got there, the sun had already set (though not dark yet).  I hurried and set up the tent before making a fire for our dinner.  The boys ate hot dogs and ham steaks.  I ate ham steaks and a can of chili that I heated up by the fire.  I only took a couple of pics before the light was too low for shooting, but there wasn't enough light for video.  We all had a fun night in the tent, and I got up early to take pics of the morning sun light.  When the boys woke up an hour or so later, we shot some video and took some other pics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uflZpmlxEJc

Extended Family Camp - Strawberry Ridge

This camp really started the day after we got back from the camp with Brandon and Rusty.  I knew that if I wanted to get one of the 3 good spots up here, I'd need to get there early, so I pulled the trailer up on Monday the 29th of July.  Much to my surprise the best spot for a big group was available, so I left the trailer blocking/reserving the campsite.  I worried about it sitting up there all week, so I drove up to check on things on Wednesday and Friday Night.  I bought about a half of a cord of wood from a really nice old man in Lehi for us to take up the camp, since there is basically no wood to burn around our camp spot.

Everyone came into town for Kaylee's baptism on Saturday the 3rd.  What an amazing little girl she is and what a wonderful baptism!  Karen posted pics of her baptism on her blog so you'll have to check that out if you are interested.  After the baptism and brunch, Karen and my mom went out shopping for all the food we'd need for the week long camp.  We all headed up to the camp on Monday morning.  I had reserved a 50" Polaris RZR 800 for the group to use and for me to learn whether or not I'd like to buy one for our family.  When we got to the rental place in Springville they informed my that it had been returned wrecked (totaled) on the prior Thursday.  They said they tried to contact me, but I proved them wrong by having them call the number they had listed for me.  Needless to say, that was disappointing, but we still had a great week of riding motorcycles, bikes, four-wheelers, going for hikes, and sitting around the fire.

Yep, it only took 20 years, but I just joined the Robin Hood Club!

Shots taken from 30 yards.