Here's a pic of the latest adventure machine. Just picked it up last night. I decided that my KTM 300XC, while probably the best bike in the world for trail riding, is probably one of the worst bikes for the wide open desert and open roads. Although the KTM was built to conquer the trails of Northern Arizona, I only used it up in Prescott 4 times over the last 4 years. Seeing as how many projects I have going right now and they all seem to be ongoing, I decided best to part ways clean with the 300 and get something that I could use more often.

Enter the XR 650 R. I have been toying with the idea of buying something that could be street plated and be a little dual sport and a lot desert. Something that I could use at least once a week, even if it meant driving it to work and back one day a week on the back roads. I've been researching bikes that would fit the bill over the last couple months. I finally came to the conclusion to get rid of the 300 before I could get anything new. I listed the 300 for sale on Tuesday evening this week and it was sold 12 hours later to a guy here in San Diego. Mixed emotions selling the KTM. I loved the bike when I was using it for what it was designed for, but I had been going out to the southwest deserts which are wide open for the most part. The 300XC is a purpose built bike for tight terrain that is only a 5 speed. Top speed was measured a few weeks ago with my phone gps at 77mph. The XR 650 R is a world renowned desert racing machine. It has won the Baja 1000 more than any other bike and is wicked fast and stable when set up right. Key words, set up right!

My goal was to buy a low hours 650 that was already set up with most of the aftermarket parts that I wanted. Many of these bikes that I saw advertised all had pretty much the same set up. They were all bought in socal and taken to Precision Concepts shop to do suspension and motor mods that would be similar to the XR 650's that have been winning baja for so many years. I found one that had one more mod than all the others and it was up in the Temecula/Murrieta area. It had all the mods that I wanted plus the HRC Power Kit. This is an "internal" motor kit, adding a different cam, piston, cam sprocket and chain, in addition to all of the carb and intake mods. The HRC kit adds 10 hp to an already powerful bike, putting out approx. high 40's hp stock. cont.......

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Nice Road Ride This AM.

Went out for a great Road Bike Ride this AM. Started a little late (9:30), but got in 45 miles and still felt good afterward. Did one of my usual loops without too much climbing. Only 2000' of climbing. Can actually tell that my legs and lungs are getting back into shape. Been stayin off the scale, cause I really don't want to know what I weigh. I know I'm getting back into pretty good shape and my body composition is changing for sure. I would guess my weight is around 207. Optimally, 195 gets me back to really good shape. Funny thing, last year when I was 185 (which was really hard to achieve and maintain), I noticed that I had lost some strength, as opposed to 195. Figured this out when I'd hop on my mountain bike. Just didn't have the strength in the same way that I used to. I had plenty of stamina, which is what road biking does for you. Mountain biking has a way of taking you anaerobic really quick and unexpectedly. Road biking is just the opposite, where you usually know the hills and plan accordingly. Mountain biking can throw you for a loop with a rut or something while climbing and get you out of your zone really quick.

Anyway, my ride today felt great and got me feeling good about my road bike again. I've been trying to stay away from it and get back into shape with just the mountain bike, but it seems almost impossible. I know the time factor has something to do with it as well. When I'm out riding mountain bikes by myself, a 2 hour ride seems like forever, while on the road 2 hours seems like not enough. So, it's probably fair to say that just the time put in, road vs mtb is a big factor in road biking showing more results than mountain biking.

Still riding the Trek with Campy. The Garmin 705 is working great. I did get a new droid x and have an app that's been working great for mountain biking, giving av speed, elev gain, calories, etc. I took it with me today to compare it's accuracy with the Garmin, but for some reason it didn't start tracking until 14 miles into the ride. Strange, hasn't happened on the mtb on 6 rides yet.

Looks like Daniel and I are heading out to do some motorcycling at the desert tomorrow. We are going to Ocotillo probably. Daniel has been training for an Olympic triathlon in April, so he's been doing quite a bit of working out, running, riding and swimming. He's actually in really good shape and should do pretty well on his tri. I'll keep this updated with his training and results.