Adventure Rider Magazine

Adventure Rider Mag Spring 2012

James Pratt — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:14:24 +0000

After a long delay and lots of trials and tribulations, the next issue of Adventure Rider Magazine is finally out and available! Everyone here at Adventure Rider Magazine World Headquarters (me and a black lab named Levi) are going to kick back, drink a beer and celebrate the delivery of yet another issue. Well, I think Levi prefers dog biscuits so I might have to drink his beer.

Everyone knows what excuses are like, so we will spare you a long excuse. Just suffice to say that we were inconvenienced with two heart stents and a server hard drive crash. But those are past and the Spring issue is finally here.

Adventure Rider Magazine Spring 2012

By James Pratt in Adventure Rider Magazine

48 pages, published 7 MAR 2012

Adventure Rider Magazine covers traveling in out of the way places on two wheels.

In this issue our favorite writer Bill Dragoo takes us on a ride down Utah’s Kokopelli Trail. Now it seems this ride is a challenge on skinny little dirt bikes, but Bill and fellow BMW GS Challenge competitor Shannon Markle decided they would prefer to tackle this nasty piece of earth on non other than giant BMW R1200 GS Adventures! Luckily for them Shannon had a secret weapon in his panniers. Kids, do NOT try this ride on your own GS. Unless of course you are a intellectually challenged like Bill and Shannon.

A new contributor Brienne Thompson writes about riding a KLR in Guatemala. She and friends explore this country on two wheels and she writes about riding as a single gal in a strange country.

Josh Kutlin, a past contributor to the magazine, brings us a story on riding clapped-out Honda XR-250′s in Cambodia. It sounds exotic, but the way Josh tells it, that is a trip most anyone can do easily and fairly inexpensively.

This issue we have a new feature, a rider profile. This time we profile Stacy and Billy Benedict of Portland, Oregon. They both ride and recently completed a long-planned trip to Alaska.

Two KTM 690 Enduro riders recently discovered that nobody made mounts for their Dirt Bagz, so they fired up the welder and went to work making their own.

Bill Dragoo writes us a funny piece about what he terms Garage Contemplation Factor.

Of course we have our normal sections, Farkles and Gear Bag.

Arkansas 500 Dual Sport Ride

James Pratt — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 00:00:22 +0000

Those Razorbacks are at it again, with the next installment of their Arkansas 500 dual sport ride. The ride spans three days and travels over 500 miles of back roads in the Natural State. Arkansas offers great, diverse sites and experiences for dual sport riders, including beautiful wooded forest, large hill climbs, incredible water crossings and more back roads that can be ridden in 10 years! Get on your bike and ride the 2nd Annual Arkansas 500 April 13-15, 2012 with like-minded people out for a great weekend.

San Diego Anza Borrego Desert Dash

James Pratt — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:58:12 +0000

The San Diego Adventure Riders will be hosting their annual Anza Borrego Desert Dash dual sport ride on February 25-26, 2012. The ride starts at the Butterfield Ranch RV Park in Julian, CA. The ride is limited to 100 bikes, so sign up early.

VIO POV Helmet Camera Mic Relocation

topolake — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:11:38 +0000

VIO Mic Relocation

I have had my VIO POV camera over four years now. It has been a great investment as toys go, but I always wanted the microphone inside the helmet, not halfway up the cord to the camera. The way I look at it with the microphone inside the helmet I can talk while riding and also reduce wind noise. Attached is a video showing the process I used to relocate the microphone. As soon as I get a chance I’ll test it on the road and update this article with the results.

Maumee Ohio APV review video

topolake — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:22:23 +0000

For those riding State ORV areas I’ve been trying to do reviews of those areas in Ohio. The hope is to address pros and cons of the areas so people can decide if they are worth the trip. The link below is to the You Tube video report for the APV area.

Maumee APV Review

The Good Group Rider

topolake — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 02:26:43 +0000

What does it take to be a GOOD group rider? There is some simple etiquette to group riding beyond the simple “follow the rider in front of you”. It is long over due that someone put it into print. Call it “Group rides for dummies” if you will, because some people just don’t get it.
First thing you need to recognize in a group ride is that someone went to some trouble to organize, plan and lay out a route for this event. Unless that someone was you, you are a guest and you need to follow their lead unless by doing so you are putting yourself in unnecessary risk, breaking the law or riding above your ability. If this is the case, talk to the lead rider and let them know so they can either assist you or help you safely get home. That is part of their duty as a ride leader, but that is also another article.
Now that we have established you are in for the ride you need to obey the rules that a good lead should address before the ride, oh yeah, I have a list:
1. You are responsible for the rider behind you. If they stop, you stop. Check periodically to ensure they are there.
Okay it is a short list. Important but short. So now we can address the etiquette of group riding. This list is a little longer but can be far more important.
1. Proper bike maintenance. Break downs happen, lord I know they happen to me and I hate it. You feel like you just ruined everyones day. But it happens to the best bikes, so the least you can do is minimize the possibilities by properly checking things before the ride.
2. Do whatever the lead rider says’. They should know the route and be familiar with the trouble areas.
3. If you are a newer or inexperienced rider on the terrain you are entering let the lead rider know so assistance can be made available if needed.
4. If you take tracks of the ride, do NOT share them with others without permission. This is theft of intellectual property in a way. Most people don’t mind others riding their favorite routes but it is the right thing to ask first before posting the track online or leading a group thru the route yourself.
5. If you enjoyed the ride, say thank you. It will not only increase your likely hood to be invited again but gives the person who invested their time and energy in putting it together the warm and fuzzies. If you didn’t like the ride, keep it to yourself. It’s just not nice and lowers the chances others who hear you will put any effort into doing more rides.
Doing a fun group ride can be a lot of work, so encouragement of that effort is important especially for the unpaid. I strongly encourage everyone to do at least one group ride every year that they put together. Size doesn’t matter. But the appreciation you develop for the art will make you a better participant in others rides. So start planning that route for 2012 and have fun.
Topo Lake

Sooner Adventure 2011

James Pratt — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:19:53 +0000

Performance Cycle in Bethany, OK is hosting the first annual Sooner Adventure Ride on November 13. This event, sponsored by Performance Cycle, Seaba Station Museum, and Moose Racing, will leave from Performance Cycle in Bethany, OK and head to Stillwater to hang out with former AMA National Champion Guy Cooper at his house. After Cooper’s house, the ride goes to the Seaba Station Motorcycle Museum in Warwick, OK on old Route 66 for other events.

The 175 mile route will be about 25% pavement with the other 75% consisting of gravel, sand, and dirt country roads, and some occasional single track if some desire. More detailed information can be found at this website:

Sooner Adventure 2011

Is There a Place for Adventure Bikes in Enduro Competitions?

Joshua Farnsworth — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 04:59:47 +0000

On October 16th, I had the opportunity to ride my 1200 GS Adventure in the Scrub Pines Enduro in New Jersey. I joined twelve other adventure bike riders who registered to compete in one of two exhibition big bike classes – 600-1000cc or 1000+cc. These time keeping events are typically reserved for the smaller, more athletic brethren bikes, but Jack O’Connor (a.k.a. “Jack Splash” on advrider.com) had a great idea to work with the Ocean County Competition Riders club president Rocky Spano to invite the pigs to come out and play.

Jack created and coordinated the big bike route at the event. The course included several challenging single-track sections that tested our ability to negotiate tightly wooded and sandy terrain (video from event). Everyone completed the course successfully and had a great time doing it, which begs the question, “Why don’t more clubs across the country add big bike classes to their enduro events?”

For those less familiar with what it means to compete in an enduro (which was me about three weeks ago), I want to differentiate an enduro from a rally race. An enduro is a thinking person’s race that focuses on motorcycle finesse over a long period of time. Both event types test a rider’s ability to navigate the course and handle various obstacles, but the difference lies in how time is handled. An off-road rally is a race for the fastest time from start to finish, whereas an enduro tests the rider’s ability to keep to a predetermined schedule (arriving early or late to a check point will cost you points). Please note there is a difference between rally racing and similarly named rally gatherings, which is widely used to also describe non-competitive events where riders gather to socialize and ride more casually.

A big barrier to acceptance is the misconception that adventure bikes can’t handle the off-road terrain. Few people understand the capabilities of our machines, including some owners. In the U.S., we are a fairly small, but growing, rider community with very little exposure outside of the inner circle. We are caught between the clubs that cater to the road tourers and ones that serve the off-road riders. Adventure riders are underrepresented and we fly under the radar when we do ride off-road (chalk it up to having a quiet exhaust).

Without a doubt there are some things pigs can’t do well but that can usually be overcome through careful course planning, teamwork amongst the competitors, or simply adding a section bypass. Dropping an adventure bike more than once can really start to fatigue a rider and recovering a bike stuck on a log, buried in deep sand or mud, or caught between some big rocks can sometimes be more than what an individual can realistically overcome. So I propose that the new adventure bike class be set up with competitors riding the course in two-person teams, each on their own machine but riding together (most useful when some man-handling is required to clear special tests and tougher sections). This idea is not too different than the BMW GS Challenge but could make competitive adventure riding more accessible to the riding community and could create a feeder series to help discover the best competitive adventure riders.

Adventure riding is not a “when in doubt, gas out” style of riding. It takes incredible skill and patience to finesse the machine through a variety of rough terrain. Enduros provide an opportunity to test those skills in a format that is already widely used across the country. It wouldn’t take much to modify the rules and the events to accommodate adventure bikes. So if you agree that enduros provide a great opportunity for expanding the sport of competitive adventure riding, here’s your call to action:

Reach out to your AMA district representative and share your interest in creating the new enduro class for adventure bikes. Every year the AMA congress reviews proposals that could amend the rule book for the following season. We can aim to have the adventure bike class officially added as a competition class in the rule book for the 2013 season.
Get involved locally. Work with event organizers in your area to add and promote the new big bike class concept. Help them plan the course and spread the word through forums like advrider.com or other social networking sites like Facebook. This would make the case to the AMA more compelling by showing that it can work and there is sufficient interest in the sport.
Share this information with other riders and ask them to get involved.

It doesn’t take much to get this going but we have to reach out to the organizations sponsoring these events and express our interest in participating. They provide great riding opportunities with the added benefit of bragging rights.

What are your thoughts on the subject? Please comment on this post and share why you think this is a good or bad idea.

Utah Primitive Camping

James Pratt — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:14:27 +0000

Last summer Adventure Rider Magazine publisher James Pratt was on a return trip from the Adventure Rider Challenge and stopped to camp in southern Utah. While there he took this 3D panorama picture of his campsite.

Do you have an Adventure story?

adampratt — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 16:41:26 +0000

So far, the September/October 2011 issue release is getting a great response! We are so very thankful for all of our supporters and friends in the adventure motorcycling community! With the official start of the fall season, there are so many awesome opportunities to ride motorcycles in somewhat bearable weather after enduring record-breaking summer temperatures. New riding opportunities help plant the roots of new adventures and Adventure Rider Magazine is interested in your adventures. If you have a compelling story and a desire to share it with the rest of the adventure motorcycling community, we would love to open up the opportunity for you! Submit your stories for review and you might have a feature article in an upcoming issue of Adventure Rider Magazine!

You can view our Submission Guidelines here.