Scott and Jack teamed up for the last pre-trip ride before they start out on the TAT in August.
We purposely selected a rainy, two night, 430 mile route to test our wet gear and provide a variety of riding conditions (rock, scan, water, gravel, mud, swamp, hills, pavement). We were packed at about 75% capacity compared to what we are considering to take on the TAT.
The trip did not disappoint. It rained the entire weekend and we experienced all the conditions we had hoped for which provided a good test for ourselves and our gear. We had a blast and it increased our confidence regarding trip readiness. At the end of the trip we felt like we could bring less gear than what we originally planned.
We learned the mosquito head net was the single best comfort item we brought on the ride. Apparently we were never in any danger of being stranded in the woods and having to walk out because the swarm of mosquitoes which descended on us at every stop were of sufficient size and quantity to carry us out of the woods. At one stop Jack looked down at his hand and saw 3 mosquitoes biting on each finger. Without the head net we routinely had multiple mosquitoes in our mouths as we tried to talk and breath. Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet (more deaths are associated with mosquitoes than any other other animal on the plant) but thankfully they are quite terrible at flying which means they cannot keep up with us when we are moving. While they can flap their wings over 700 times per second they only travel a bit over one mile per hour. No wonder they are thirsty for our blood – they are working so hard, poor things. https://qz.com/943245/mosquitoes-are-actually-terrible-at-flying
We also learned most of our gear is well suited to our needs. Scott learned his rain gear was too small and his single person tent was too warm – it felt like body heat was reflecting from the close walls of the tent so he will be opting for a cooler and slightly larger tent. We also confirmed the stock tires are not as aggressive as we would like so they tend to lose traction sooner than expected ( they have too many knobs with not enough space between them ). We put new tires on after this trip and we have ordered a second set of tires to be delivered to a motorcycle shop in Colorado at our half-way point where we plan to perform service on the bikes before we get into the Rocky Mountains. We wish to extend a big thank-you to Topar Racing in Trinidad Colorado for providing our planned mid-point service.
The luggage systems worked great. Scott is using the Reckless 40 liter from MoskoMoto which is upgraded to 54 liters by using the Stinger 22 liter as the center bag instead of the Stinger 8 liter. Jack is using the 40 liter Excursion from Tusk upgraded with 2 additional MOLLE attached sleeves for additional storage. Both systems worked very well keeping everything secure and dry even in the very wet conditions we experienced.
Scott’s KTM EXC-F 350 and Jack’s Honda 300L both performed very well. We like our bike selection and feel they are well suited for the trip. We appreciate them being on the small side of what could be considered for the TAT because they are lighter to handle and still have plenty of power. We felt the difference between the two is how they approach dual sport (dirt and highway use). The Honda 300L feels like a street oriented machine coming to the dirt and the KTM EXC-F feels like a dirt oriented machine coming to the street.