Rider Alaska and Yukon Tour, The Last Frontier
August 21, 2010
Final Cell Phone Blog
Most photos by Genie Tuttle
Penultimate evening, Talkeetna, Alaska.
Denali’s ulu-knife top is sheathed in ever-present clouds, then clears suddenly and slices the red-orange skin of sunset, opening a stream of darker shadowy blood across the sky. It’s only the second clear day in this part of Alaska after raining for 32 straight. We are blessed, amazed and humbled. The locals seem to exhale.
We all started the trip as riders, now we are more. Certainly not Sourdoughs, but no longer just Southerners. Alaska and the Yukon get into your bones, like the chance of finding the yellow metal here that forever changed so many so long ago…and still does.
The highways of the last frontier were our lure, shooting and winding like the silvery rivers do through corridors of snowcapped Kodachrome mountains and endless rainbow forests cradled in a huge fisheye sky.
Despite its size modern man must concentrate in the more hospitable southeast part of the state. Fewer than 700,000 live here, and almost half are in Anchorage. The pipeline reaching down from no-man’s land is the cartoid artery, the means for those on the grid to have something like a normal life…if they want it. Even then there’s plenty of eccentricity to go around in places like Skagway, mostly show for the cruise ships and tourists who are otherwise barely noticed by locals quietly but frantically preparing for winter.
We enjoyed the comfort and convenience of good to great weather every day of the August ride, and luxury hotels when available or good route location and simple quarters if not. Even the lumpiest bed felt heavenly, though, compared to the life the locals must lead in the winter, clues to which our modest new friend Ed shared in the lovely rural home he and his wife built themselves outside Fairbanks. The oil heaters and hand-skinned birch planks separating inside from out seem like fine protection from the -40F, mainly because Ed finished and placed each one by hand.
Big kudos and thanks to guides John and Nuno, our lean, sharp-eyed Ayres Adventures lead dogs, who showed us Alaska’s heart, bones and muscle–virtually every major paved road–and most of the Yukon’s, too. They dealt with bugs, flats, stragglers, and road construction, yet dearly wanted to show us more. To Genie and me, though, washed-out Top of the World Highway was just a possibility before all of our eventual victories. It may be closed; now it’s another reason to come back.
And we will; we must….
Tuttle Out.
Sent from my iPhone
Rider Alaska and Yukon Tour with Ayres Adventures
August 14, 2010
Taking a break on the Glenn Highway.
“The last foreign country still friendly to Americans,” read the first, but far from last, hand-scrawled sign we would see expressing the many interesting sentiments Alaskans have for their state and visitors to it. These are independent folk up here, rugged individuals who are not a little suspicious of the “southerners” who come callin’ every summer. Motorcyclists on big, fancy and electronically festooned BMW motorcycles dressed like textile astronauts tend to loosen up the locals’ attitudes, though, and after the first six days of the Rider Alaska and Yukon Tour with Ayres Adventures, August 9-21, to a man (and two women), for the most part our group of 12 has been received with open arms.
Clem is Bonneville Bound!
July 30, 2010
I don’t think there’s a motorcyclist out there who doesn’t know about Bonneville. Annual home to some of the world’s fastest wheeled vehicles. The Southern California Timing Association has hosted Speed Week each August at the Bonneville Salt Flats since 1949. More recently, the motorcycle speed junkies at BUB Enterprises have been putting on a motorcycles-only event, the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials. This year is their 7th and they’re going stronger than ever. In addition to AMA and FIM classes for just about any kind of bike imaginable, there is the “Run What You Brung” class. No records, just bragging rights and an opportunity to hit the salt.
What about Clem Salvadori and his Triumph T100 Bonneville – named after Triumph’s record runs during the 1950s? Wouldn’t it be great fun to get all 220 pounds of him out on the salt? He say’s he can still fit into his leathers. It wouldn’t take much prep work and we could be there to watch Marty Dickerson ride again on the eve of his 83rd birthday. Marty holds several records and gained wider notoriety as one of the people who helped out Burt Monroe as depicted in the movie World’s Fastest Indian.
A call to Triumph got us a skid plate to protect the bottom of the engine from the salt and an Arrow exhaust system for a little more oomph. A call to Continental got us a couple of V-rated Conti Go! tires. The rules call for taping the glass parts and safety wiring the drain plug and oil filter – just in case. Adjusting the valves and giving the bike a thorough going over is all the tuning it’s going to get. We figure the jetting will be OK at 4,300 feet elevation with the less restrictive exhaust. We’ll be loading up and heading out to the Bonneville Salt Flats on August 26 with sign-up and tech inspection at the BUB Motorcycle Speed Trials opening on the 28th. We’ll also be bringing along our Suzuki DR650s in case there’s some slack time due to weather or salt conditions. More to come….
 Nice, new V-rated tires getting installed with particular attention paid to balancing. |
 Safety wire keeps things in place quite well, thank you. |
 Soft luggage supports make great number plate mounts. And check out our spiffy new Arrow exhaust. |
 It’s going to be tough getting the duct tape glue off later. |
Triumph’s on a Roll
June 18, 2010
The lobby of Triumph's headquarters in Hinckley, England.
No one needs to be reminded of how tough the Great Recession has been on the motorcycle industry. Those once-humorous cartoon images of a chart showing a line of plummeting sales figures extending off the board, onto extra sheets of paper and down onto the floor became a harrowing reality. Surviving companies have emerged leaner and meaner. Not only is Triumph Motorcycles stronger as a result of the economic challenges it has faced, the British manufacturer actually flourished during the toughest of times. [Read more]
Pixel Addiction
June 15, 2010
I have a message for some of my colleagues (none on the Rider staff, thank goodness). I noticed something very disturbing on my last overseas press junket, and I need to get it off my chest.
Quite often (and especially in these times of tight budgets), overseas press junkets have itineraries that are more like marathons. Fly in Day 1, arrive Day 2, ride and shoot Day 3 and fly home Day 4. Just about the time you get your appetite back from the plane “food” and learn how to use the weird fixtures in your bathroom, it’s time to go home. Not much time to see stuff except what you can gander from the saddle–and that’s if the weather cooperates during the 8 hours you’re let outside. [Read more]
The Trouble with Textile
May 7, 2010
Recently Senior Managing Editor Donya Carlson and I had the pleasure of having lunch with Andy Goldfine, founder of Aerostich RiderWearhouse and inventor of the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit. The Roadcrafter celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2008, which means this year it’s celebrating 27 years of protecting riders from the elements and the pavement. Over falafel sandwiches and cabbage soup, he told us how textile riding gear was all but unheard of when he designed and made the first Roadcrafter suits. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, if riders wore protective apparel at all, it was leather. (Flipping through old issues of Rider, there were lots of new-wave colors, cuts and hair styles going on back then. I’m not naming any names…) Goldfine believed in his product and kept insisting that riders and magazine editors give it a try, and now the Roadcrafter is considered one of the best pieces of riding gear you can buy. [Read more]
International Female Ride Day
May 5, 2010
The fourth annual International Female Ride Day is this Friday, May 7, 2010. The event was founded by Vicki Gray of Motoress as a way to encourage women to get out and ride. In conjunction with all females around the world, this first Friday in May has been promoted as a day to celebrate and highlight the many numbers of women who share a passion for the sport. The request is simple: Just get out there and ride.
According to the Motorcycle Industry Council’s 2009 Statistical Annual, 12 percent of females made up the total number of motorcycle owners in 2008. And, according to this same annual, 10.4 million motorcycles were in use in 2008 in the United States.
The Motor Maids, established in 1940, is the oldest continuously operated women’s motorcycling organization and is participating by having an international flag exchange at the borders of Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.
Harley-Davidson is also in the mood for promoting women motorcyclists. For the month of May Harley dealers are celebrating by hosting rides and parties; you can check out its website, www.harley-davidson.com, and click on events under the “Experience” heading. The big weekend for women is May 22-23, where you can join a group ride and mingle with fellow riders at the H-D party at the Harley-Davidson Museum.
The request for the International Female Ride Day is simple: Just get out there and ride! Hmm, maybe this can be my excuse for not coming into work on Friday…I want to promote women and motorcycling, so I need to ride, ride, ride all day long! Wonder how that one will go over….
THIS JUST IN:
I received an e-mail this morning from Kawasaki Motors Corp., USA, that in recognition of International Female Ride Day, Kawasaki is conducting a special one-day promotion. For 24 hours, starting at 12:01 a.m. Pacific time on Friday, May 7, 2010 the first 250 females to sign up on Kawasaki’s International Female Ride Day page at www.kawasaki.com/KawiGirlPromo will receive a free Kawi Girl cap.
In addition to the cap giveaway, a group of Kawasaki employees will be participating in a ride in Irvine, California. The ride leaves from Mission Motorsports in Irvine at 12 p.m. The group ride goes for about 45 minutes and is open to all licensed motorcycle riders (men, too!) regardless of brand of motorcycle. The ride will finish back at Mission Motorsports, where free hot dogs and sodas will be served. You can contact Mission Motorsports at (949) 582-0351 for directions.
The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!
April 12, 2010
On the last day of March a big plane landed in Los Angeles and 22 Brits — English, Scottish and Welsh — arrived in the U.S. Next day they went down to the Long Beach seaport and liberated 21 motorcycles — 19 Triumphs and two Other Brands. And set off on a four-week adventure, beginning with a trip up the coast to San Francisco. This was all the doing of the Social Secretary of the South Essex branch of the Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club, one Martin Kerwin. He had bought a container, outfitted it to carry 21 motorcycles, and club members rapidly filled it up. Since the container was going by sea, the bikes had to be in place by January 15th — but nobody with any sense is riding in England in mid-January. I met them when they overnighted in Morro Bay, and they were headed up to Big Sur for lunch, then to Carmel to meet Craig Vetter who was throwing a party for them that evening. [Read more]
Little Blue
March 29, 2010
Twenty-one years ago a little blue Honda was born in Japan. It was brought into the USA with little fanfare. Stuck in the shadow of the CBR’s greatness and only a few Franklins cheaper than that plastic wrapped wonderment, the “little one” sat on the floor next to other era cult bikes like the Hawk GT, the Trans Alp, the GB 500 and the NX 650 and 250. Heady days for an unknown product planner seeking to capture the motorcycle enthusiast. Alas, they were all flops compared to the CBRs and Shadows, their essential goodness lost in the flash of performance and chromed plastic. I lusted after that CB-1 when it was still on the sales floor a couple years after its tepid reception. Red sale tag hanging limp. But college sucked up the greenbacks. And one day she was gone. [Read more]
Welcome to Spring
March 22, 2010
In a country this large we all realize that while some hardy folk are still battling snowdrifts, flooding, painful basketball defeats, and motorcycles still parked in the living room, a fortunate few are already keeping the shiny side up. On this first Sunday of spring a local (Atascadero) tradition is to gather a few friends and ride out to a pleasant meadow to have a picnic. [Read more]
