Styx In The Mud - Adventure Rider

With the inaugural trip just a week away I'm starting to scramble to get everything ready. I have most of the gear and equipment yet still have a laundry list of tasks to complete before the trip. The overnight test-trip taught me a few things and the bike isn't quite ready yet. The first project that needs completion is the swap-out of my rubber. I had previously purchased a bead-breaker (for my shop) and a set of tire irons (for use on the trails in an emergency) and, much like testing of my camping gear, I could benefit from using these in a more-or-less controlled environment to gain a little practice. I select a Sunday morning to make an attempt one week before the actual trip and get to work setting up the bead-breaker and gathering the other tools needed: flat tire irons, curved tire iron, rim protectors, valve stem core removal tool, tire bead lubricant and the miscellaneous hand tools needed to pluck the wheels from underneath the bike. Rim removal is a snap and b...

It's been a few months but I finally have the majority of the camping gear ( part 2 ) and mods ( part 3 ) finished. As the date of our first ride is quickly approaching it's time to move on to the next part of the planning step: riding gear . Now, make no mistake: this is likely the most important step of trip planning and also one of the most tedious so, before beginning, a question that every rider should consider is what the most dangerous part of a trip will be. The answer, while not so obvious to most, is (in my opinion)  the squishy bit atop the bike . Yes, you, the rider are the biggest wild-card of the trip. In my years I've seen bikes flip end over end, skid down the highway sideways, bounce in and out of roadside ditches and then, with little or no effort, a handful of tip-ties and an occasional roll of duct-tape, be propped back up again and ridden home. Of course it can get much, MUCH worse but ask yourself which is stronger: the steel, aluminum and plastic t...