Its been a while since my last post after we completed Leg-3
last August 2017. Since then I’ve been planning for our last portion of the TAT
(Leg-4) from Salt Lake City, UT to Port Orford, OR. Lots more detail on the
plan later.
Riders - The original four TAT riders are still holding
strong and have ridden all sections; Mike (me), Terry, Steve and Woodrow. My
son Jeff has ridden Legs-2 and 3 with us and will also be on Leg-4. Woodrow’s
son Matty has ridden Leg-3 and will also be on Leg-4. This makes our group a
manageable 6 riders; the same as rode Leg-3.
Bikes – The same bikes from Leg-3 will be used on Leg-4 with
a few upgrades (of course):
·
Mike – KTM 350 EXC-F (Adding a tubeless tire
system soon)
·
Terry – KTM 690 Enduro (only bike that gets
detailed before each TAT leg!!)
·
Steve – Yamaha WR250R (Adding a tubeless tire
system soon)
·
Woodrow – Honda CRF 250L
·
Jeff – Yamaha WR250R (Rekluse Clutch and larger
fuel tank)
·
Matty – Honda CRF 250L
Intercom – We all used the Sena SMH10 Bluetooth intercoms on
all the previous legs (2 groups of 3 riders connected at one time). I think
it’s great to have intercom capability on group motorcycle trips for safety and
just having a more enjoyable ride. That being said, we all became pretty
frustrated with the SMH10 intercoms for several reasons:
·
Two riders work great, three not that good and 4
is a pain, more than 4 almost impossible
·
Pairing for more than 2 riders is complex and
time consuming
·
Depending on how you have the riders paired,
riders drop off if someone rides any distance from the main group
·
Re-pairing after they disconnect is a pain and
not always reliable
·
Range is no more than ¼ to ½ mile (no matter
what Sena says)
As a result, 4 of us have upgraded
to the new Sena 30K intercom. We decided to go with the Sena 30K for several
reasons:
·
It uses an iPhone app to do all configuration
and pairing tasks (WORKS GREAT!!)
·
It uses not only Bluetooth but Mesh-Network
which can have many more than 6 riders on-line at a time
·
If someone disconnects due to range, they
re-connect automatically once they return
·
Still connects to the older Sena SMH10s so we
can have all riders on intercom at the same time
·
Range is still being evaluated but doesn’t
appear to be much better than the SMH10s (no matter what Sena says)
·
Even with limited range, the other enhancements
make the 30K a much better fit for our group
·
Price is steep, but you get what you pay for and
I’ll only be doing this ride once
TAT Legs – We started our TAT adventure in 2016 and will
complete it this year. We broke the TAT up into multiple legs due to available
time off, work commitments and old age (primarily me). For details on our
previous legs you can research my earlier Posts but here is a brief summary:
·
Leg-1 (Mar 2016) – Charleston, SC (Atlantic
Ocean) to Little Rock, AR
·
Leg-2 (Aug 2016) – Little Rock, AR to Lake City,
CO
·
Leg-3 (Jul 2017) – Lake City, CO to Salt Lake
City, UT (including 3 days riding Moab, UT)
·
Leg-4 (TBD 2018) – Salt Lake City to Port
Orford, OR (Pacific Ocean)
Leg-4 Plan
Date – This has been one of the most difficult planning
issues. Based on the availability of the 6 riders, we originally set the last 2
weeks of May as the ride window. Only after our support truck driver set her
vacation days in stone did we determine this was poor planning on our (MY) part
due to the weather. My wife is the one who informed me that we may have a
problem in May. My wife and I do a lot of white water kayaking and rafting, and
we have rafted the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in ID and the Rogue River in
OR in May and June. The TAT runs very close to both rivers. This is the prime
rafting time in those areas due to snow melt that fills the rivers. On several
of those trips we encountered extremely freezing weather including rain, snow
and hail. We have also experienced closed forest service roads due to snow,
fallen trees and forest fires. Only after I started looking at the route in
more detail did I determine that May is NOT late enough in the year to ensure
these weather conditions won’t impact our Leg-4. I take full credit for missing
this. We are now looking at July or August but still have not made a definite
decision. As a side note, I have a rafting friend, Les, in ID that also rides
dual sports and says we could do May but be ready to reroute as necessary. He
may even hook up for part of the ride through ID. More in future posts.
Support Truck – Yes, we are using a support truck again as
we did on Legs-2 and 3. It just makes the trip so much more enjoyable since we
travel lite and only carry extra fuel, tools and safety gear on the bikes. I
turned 70 last October so give me a break, I like a soft bed and a cold drink
at the end of a hard ride and both are hard to find in a tent. The support
truck also gets the bikes to the start and brings them back home at the end.
We’ve used 2 friends (Marty Leg-2 and Michael Leg-3) as support truck drivers
and they both had a wonderful time and got to see lots of county you just don’t
see on the interstate. On Leg-4 we hope to have Terry’s wife Donna as the driver,
but it will depend on the dates we finally select. Marty has already
volunteered to drive if it doesn’t work out for Donna.
Motels vs. Camping – We plan on using motels again (see soft
bed and cold drink comment in previous paragraph). The availability of motels
dictates our daily ride mileage and we try to average around 150 miles a day. Les
recommends and I agree that we should carry minimal camping gear on the bikes this
time just in case we have to spend the night on the trail due to breakdowns,
etc. The distance between available fuel and motels is in some cases at the
limit of our fuel range. In addition, the distances we will ride between
crossing highways is long meaning it could take hours to get the support truck
to a broken-down bike. We may even camp with the support truck rather than use
a motel if the weather and locations work out.
Fuel – This is always an issue on the TAT for short range
bikes. Several of us have installed larger fuel tanks but a couple still have
the factory tanks (2 gallons). We carry several RotoPax with extra fuel but on
this leg, we may need to carry more than on the previous 3 legs. I’ve planned
for two different scenarios considering fuel; 1st with only what we
carry on the bikes, 2nd having fuel stops with the support truck.
The support truck fuel connection is the most likely approach we will use and
the connection point (Lat/Long) and mileages are on my planning spreadsheet.
That’s about all I have for now. I’ve included my planning
spreadsheet and the ride maps for each day. Ride days 1 and 2 have 2 maps each
while days 3 through 9 have a single map.
As I’ve said many times before, those that ride the TAT
non-stop and without support vehicles are the real TAT riders, but our approach
is a viable alternative for those wanting a more relaxed experience.
Ride Safe!
