As I was preparing to leave the Regional Park behind, my trusty old (and it is old let me tell you) Combo watch, altimeter, thermometer read 79.4 F in the shade. My elevation was 1380 feet above sea level. It was already 3:07 in the afternoon. Yikes, better get a mosey'in along lil doggie.
Under the sun, blazing away in a cloudless AZ winter day, I was already getting warm. I decided to fore go my MSR enduro jacket and just wear my long sleeved riding jersey. Kick starting the XT is easy. There is a well curved steel kick starter lever that tucks right away when not in use, and it operates a decompressor in the four valve engine, allowing for a very easy boot.
In any case, the engine lights off pretty much every time on the second or third kick. Not much of a workout really, not like the '90 DR 650 I was looking at. Even with a finger operated decompressor lever on that bike, it is a brute to kick over.
Oddly enough, here I was at the base of the White Tank Mountains flanking Phoenix on the western boundary and I wanted to ride just to the north of this small range. For some reason there is no road either north or south from this particular area, I would have to ride east again on Olive back to either Cactus or the 303 to get north into Surprise, where I could pick up Bell road west once more.
I find the gearing on this bike to be a wee bit low. At an indicated 60mph (102kph) the engine is using 6000 of its 8500 available revs. Fortunately Keith had an alternate rear sprocket that, once installed, should take a thousand revs off that. There was no time nor tools to do this in the few days I'd had the bike in my posession. Next time I vowed.
These bikes with a six speed gearbox can easily be geared taller to lower the revs at cruising speeds, and still have plenty of muscle for puttering around in first or second gear. Even my XT 600 carries higher gearing. After all, most of my time is spent on harder surfaced roads or trails and not paddling thru sandwashes, more on that later...
I was amazed at how far the city has grown, pushing it's boundaries in every quadrant. When first riding this place in the winter of '98, the city was miles from these mountains. Now, it was nearly butting right up against them. Phoenix, which is made up of many individual cities, brings the term 'urban sprawl' into sharp focus. IN that way, it reminds greatly of Calgary, another city where land values were cheaper the farther out you got from the city center, and housing tracts and their attendant shopping areas blossomed!
The other thing I found was the fence! I rode for miles before I found an opening that led me into areas that I had rode extensively years before. There are gullies and washes and tracks in every direction possible, paralleling the mountains and leading into them. Wouldn't want to be out here at midnight trying to find the way! I found mucho evidence of man's presence everywhere. An old auto frame, junk including a hulk of a washing machine, debris and countless shotgun shells and various calibre of rifle ammo, especially 22.
Taking a break, I heard the obvious low rev growl of an ATV or similar. Turned out to be a side by side had stopped about 200 yards from where I was parked, while I was taking some pics and drinking my water. Water by the way is an absolute necessity out here at any time of the year. More so the hotter it gets. I have been stuck in Baja and even on a mountain top in the Okanagan having to push and clutch a bike thru foot deep sand. When this happens, b elieve me, you work up a sweat pronto and you will drink your water by the gallon.
Forget pop... stick to water.
Two people emerged from the 4X4 in camo gear, I could just make out a man. who waved at me, and a blonde haired woman. They walked about the place and within minutes, they had unloaded some armament and began shooting. It was small caliber, the sharp short crack of a 22 I'd guess. By this time I was heading outwards, the shadows were getting long in the afternoon and I didn't want to have to find my way out in the dark.
Remind me later and I will fill you in a little more on guns...
I took a different set of trails on the way out, funny thing is one moment it's heading south, then abruptly turns east or west, then north, then south... you get the picture.
The highest daytime temperature I saw on my watch was 84.8. Not bad at all for a January day. By the time I'd wound my way back to the roadway, it was late in the afternoon and I stopped to don my jacket for the ride back into Surprise.
I knew if I followed Bell road eastwards, I would eventually find an 'In N out' burger franchise. Andrew had stated in no uncertain terms that "I had to try it, they were the best burgers on the planet!" Well I found the joint and I have to say a couple of things here... "They were incredibly busy!!! The service was great, the staff seemingly happy and friendly, the atmosphere for a burger bar, was pleasant too.
Sitting outside surveying how I was going to wrap my rather smallish mouth (no comments from you guys) around this sandwich, the air temperature although dropping was very pleasant...
to be con't...
Under the sun, blazing away in a cloudless AZ winter day, I was already getting warm. I decided to fore go my MSR enduro jacket and just wear my long sleeved riding jersey. Kick starting the XT is easy. There is a well curved steel kick starter lever that tucks right away when not in use, and it operates a decompressor in the four valve engine, allowing for a very easy boot.
In any case, the engine lights off pretty much every time on the second or third kick. Not much of a workout really, not like the '90 DR 650 I was looking at. Even with a finger operated decompressor lever on that bike, it is a brute to kick over.
Oddly enough, here I was at the base of the White Tank Mountains flanking Phoenix on the western boundary and I wanted to ride just to the north of this small range. For some reason there is no road either north or south from this particular area, I would have to ride east again on Olive back to either Cactus or the 303 to get north into Surprise, where I could pick up Bell road west once more.
I find the gearing on this bike to be a wee bit low. At an indicated 60mph (102kph) the engine is using 6000 of its 8500 available revs. Fortunately Keith had an alternate rear sprocket that, once installed, should take a thousand revs off that. There was no time nor tools to do this in the few days I'd had the bike in my posession. Next time I vowed.
These bikes with a six speed gearbox can easily be geared taller to lower the revs at cruising speeds, and still have plenty of muscle for puttering around in first or second gear. Even my XT 600 carries higher gearing. After all, most of my time is spent on harder surfaced roads or trails and not paddling thru sandwashes, more on that later...
I was amazed at how far the city has grown, pushing it's boundaries in every quadrant. When first riding this place in the winter of '98, the city was miles from these mountains. Now, it was nearly butting right up against them. Phoenix, which is made up of many individual cities, brings the term 'urban sprawl' into sharp focus. IN that way, it reminds greatly of Calgary, another city where land values were cheaper the farther out you got from the city center, and housing tracts and their attendant shopping areas blossomed!
The other thing I found was the fence! I rode for miles before I found an opening that led me into areas that I had rode extensively years before. There are gullies and washes and tracks in every direction possible, paralleling the mountains and leading into them. Wouldn't want to be out here at midnight trying to find the way! I found mucho evidence of man's presence everywhere. An old auto frame, junk including a hulk of a washing machine, debris and countless shotgun shells and various calibre of rifle ammo, especially 22.
Taking a break, I heard the obvious low rev growl of an ATV or similar. Turned out to be a side by side had stopped about 200 yards from where I was parked, while I was taking some pics and drinking my water. Water by the way is an absolute necessity out here at any time of the year. More so the hotter it gets. I have been stuck in Baja and even on a mountain top in the Okanagan having to push and clutch a bike thru foot deep sand. When this happens, b elieve me, you work up a sweat pronto and you will drink your water by the gallon.
Forget pop... stick to water.
Two people emerged from the 4X4 in camo gear, I could just make out a man. who waved at me, and a blonde haired woman. They walked about the place and within minutes, they had unloaded some armament and began shooting. It was small caliber, the sharp short crack of a 22 I'd guess. By this time I was heading outwards, the shadows were getting long in the afternoon and I didn't want to have to find my way out in the dark.
Remind me later and I will fill you in a little more on guns...
I took a different set of trails on the way out, funny thing is one moment it's heading south, then abruptly turns east or west, then north, then south... you get the picture.
The highest daytime temperature I saw on my watch was 84.8. Not bad at all for a January day. By the time I'd wound my way back to the roadway, it was late in the afternoon and I stopped to don my jacket for the ride back into Surprise.
I knew if I followed Bell road eastwards, I would eventually find an 'In N out' burger franchise. Andrew had stated in no uncertain terms that "I had to try it, they were the best burgers on the planet!" Well I found the joint and I have to say a couple of things here... "They were incredibly busy!!! The service was great, the staff seemingly happy and friendly, the atmosphere for a burger bar, was pleasant too.
Sitting outside surveying how I was going to wrap my rather smallish mouth (no comments from you guys) around this sandwich, the air temperature although dropping was very pleasant...
to be con't...
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