Isola d'Elba Picture
June 1, 2007 10:59 AM
These pictures just arrived from my tour of the Isle of Elba, the hard way --- on the dirt and in the rocks and hills.
Talk about happy faces. This is the group of Americans I rode with in Elba. We are just about to begin our morning ride. On my right, a couple of very nice guys from the Salinas area. Somehow, I ended up in the middle. On my left, Scott Harden and his assistant Devin.
Next to Devin, I think I was the least capable enduro rider. I just don't like plonking around on big rocks and steep hills; the fun/risk trade-off doesn't suit me.
As usual, Scott's leadership, organization, and friendship made the trip very enjoyable. Man, can he ride. Try an upcoming KTM Adventure Tours camp with him and you won't be disappointed.
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Elba and Airoh
April 27, 2007 09:48 AM
It was nice to ride with the KTM Adventure Tours group in Isola d'Elba. Scott Harden brought a few American riders over to ride with the group; he runs KTM Adventure Tours here in the US. I think I was the worst of the American group as I do not like enduro riding. I prefer faster riding and cross country, desert, or fast fire roads.
The Port d Ferraio in Elba from the hotel.
This Airoh helmet sitting on the handle bar of the KTM 950 Super Enduro is just gorgeous and light as air. It is an Italian design with a hinged front to open the face. Or, you can open just the shield. Their motocross helmet is just as impressive. They have to be purchased abroad for now but will be available here soon. The other bikes in the riding group are in the background. I rode a KTM 450 EXC. Nice, but not as nice as my 525.
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Isola d'Elba
April 15, 2007 09:07 PM
I am off to Italy to ride enduro trails with a KTM group on the Isle of Elba this week. My friend Scott Harden will be leading the rides.
I will be riding a KTM 525 like my own, which is shown in this picture. I have to say, if you can reach this age and do all the things you love to do, it isn't so bad.
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Benelli TNT
September 2, 2006 07:52 AM
This is one of the loveliest things I have ever set eyes upon. It was sitting on a high pass above Corte d' Ampesa in the Italian Alps. Frank Lenz, one of the riders in our tour, took the picture. I was just standing there reverently with my jaw open and unable to do anything.
Michael, our guide on the Edelweiss Tour, rode it at the track at Catalunya. He rode many bikes that day and said the Bennelli was the best ride, by far. It is even more beautiful than the MV August Brutale. Those Italians. They know beauty.
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The New 599 Ferrari
August 24, 2006 03:16 PM
I am taking note of all the comments on endurance events. I appreciate the discussion.
Now for something exciting, though nothing would ever convince me to give up my Range Rover, the 599 Ferrari is pretty nice.
And then there is the Pininfarina design for the new 612 P4/5. This was a reengineering and custom body design by Pininfarina of a Ferrari Enzo.
I couldn't afford either car and wouldn't drive one if I could. My motorcycles are so much more fun and so much less expensive.
But, these Ferraris are lovely pieces of automotive art. Thanks to Doug at switchcars.com for the pictures. He is the guy who found my supercharged Range Rover in Benatti Grey and Parchment interior for me.
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Back
June 11, 2006 04:35 PM
I have returned from my travels to Italy and Southern California.
The motorcycle riding in northern Italy was spectacular. A few shots:
I am still smiling.
In my castle.
Coming around the bend.
The tour guide was a very good, stylish rider; he and I went off together and then played wait up for the other riders. I found that my condition let me ride all day for all 5 days without fatigue. I worked out every evening upon returning to the hotel, hit the sauna, showered, and worked on my pool before dinner. I was at least 25 years older than anyone else in the group; they expressed amazement at my condition and the lean angles at which I cornered.
The surfaces high in the mountains offered tremendous traction and the roads were surprisingly smooth. There was a lot of traffic in some spots because of the Italian holidays. I found the Italian drivers to be quite skilled on the narrow mountain roads.
The sheerness of the Dolomite Alps constantly amazes you; the Dolomite limestone is so hard it can stand in nearly vertical columns and the mountains appear young and jagged. Villages are scattered throughout the mountains in spots that look to be inaccessible from below. The roads snake up the mountains in a series of switchbacks that make for great riding.
The Skeptics Society Environmental Wars Conference at CalTech was pretty good. I found some new reading to do and read Crichton's State of Fear between sessions and evenings. He is a great story teller and the book offers a wide ranging bibliography. The audience of Skeptics was very smart. When people heard I was retired, they asked me how old I was. When I told them they expressed amazement and admiration. Some of them are probably new readers. Everybody who meets me tells me this, so I may even start believing it myself. To me it is just so easy because I use a superior technology.
Several calls from reporters to answer; one on home runs and pitching, one on motion pictures, and one on Evolutionary Fitness.
Finally...
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Mods to my KTM 950
September 2, 2005 04:54 PM
After returning from the KTM Raid in Ouray, Co I made a few changes to my bike. It ran too hot to suit me in the high altitude and somewhat slow speeds that the jeep traffic required on the high trails. And I broke a piece on my old Arai helmet. It was old enough to be replaced anyway.
Having read the outstanding Motorcyclist Magazine review of helmets, I reassessed the Snell standard and decided it wasn't safe enough to suit me. The standard requires the helmet to withstand a double hit, but as a result, the helmet is made too hard to absorb shock and passes too many G's to the head. So, I bought a new helmet too. I bought the Shuberth S1 helmet which came just behind the highest rated helmet (an inexpensive polycarbonate that I have for my grandson). The inexpensive, but safe, helmet didn't fit well and the visor wasn't quite optically perfect. The Shuberth S1, a German high end helmet, fits all these criteria and has a pop down eye shade that works well for me. Its beautiful too.
Here it is sitting on the back rack of my KTM.
I also changed the mufflers...
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Adventure Riding
July 23, 2005 07:32 PM
I am off to Ouray, Colorado next week to ride in the KTM Rocky Mountain Raid. Next month I turn 68 and we are doing some things that I love to do, but with the comfort and safety that keeps my wife, Bonnie, assured.
I can't explain it, but riding over mountain trails is something I just love to do. One reason, I think, is that I don't think. I do spend a lot of time thinking, so this is a true relief. On a trail you use your evolved and very effective fast processing mental mode to move safely and gracefully over an unknown trail. The focus is intense, but it is a non-thinking focus that strongly integrates mental processing and movement.
For me, there is a calmness and focus that I find hard to get in any other activity. I know my blood pressure drops when I turn onto a dirt trail and look far into the distance. Something like this must have been true of our ancestors when they go onto the trail to hunt, scavenge, forage for plants, or move camp.
I have long believed that modern life is cognitively deprived relative to the intensely stimulating life of our ancestors. This is the way I have found to capture this high processing, non-thinking, physical action mode of behavior that must have been a very large component of ancient life. The barrenness of modern life in this kind of mental/physical activity is one of the many reasons that there is a high demand for entertainment and mental stimulants and depressors such as alcohol and drugs.
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Our First Ride Together
May 17, 2005 09:48 AM
Sunday was the first day my grandson, Corey, and I rode our motorcycles together. Though his dad and I were primarily there to teach him to ride his new adventure motorcycle, he wanted so much for us to ride together. So, I brought my KTM along and we rode down the valley and back together. Here we are returning.
Is there anything better than to teach a child to share something you love to do? We will do many more of these rides together.
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My New Riding Buddy
May 6, 2005 04:49 PM
This is the day after my grandson's birthday and I am indulging myself a bit here. But, I am excited too, because I have a new riding buddy.
I have gone through two sons as riding buddies as well as an attempt at having a wife and daughter ride with me. My oldest son still rides with me, but he is rather far away (though I go to see him somewhere in Colorado each summer).
My grandson Corey is my newest riding buddy. He is just now 10 years old and I bought him a motorcyle so we can ride together. That's Corey on the bike in his new riding gear.
I chose the Yamaha TTR 125 LE because of its better (and adjustable) suspension (set up is as important as anything else and this bike has that), larger wheels and electric start. My last pure dirt bike was a Husaberg 501, which I gave to my oldest son, and I think electric start is an essential component of a good dirt bike in this era. The weight penalty is no longer high and the benefits are large, particularly if you stall on an uphill path.
The Yamaha's competitors just didn't offer the same components or performance. The Yamaha dominated even though I started both my sons on Honda 100s. Corey is tall and so we waited for him to get his coordination more in hand before putting him on a bike.
Corey wants to go to Princeton (maybe because I gave one of my last lectures there and showed him pictures of the baseball complex that I took on my visit). He also wants to be a baseball player and a writer. Both may be poor choices, but they are probably modeled a bit after me (a lucky UCLA student at a time in the Economics Department that was completely unique and with a cohort that still stands out in the Department's history).
I still love to ride alone on far off the highway roads. Long ago I realized that I am my own best company. I think as Corey grows that will no longer be true. Nonetheless, this attitude has made me completely incapable of riding in clubs and organized groups. Could it have been much different 40,000 years ago?
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Scot Harden Offroad Adventure Camp
March 31, 2005 04:39 PM
If you are riding an adventure bike, I enthusiastically recommend Scot Harden's Adventure Camp for fun and skill.
Scot Harden is a well known racer and the manager of KTM USA's recent team in the Dakar Rally. He finished 17th in the Rally, which is amazing. Only a third of the bikes even finished the Rally. In the picture above, I am standing on Scot's KTM 950; I rode it and Scot's 660 Rally bike.
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