A handful of us GJ locals rode the San Rafael Swell last Sunday. We slabbed down I70 it to Green River and top off tanks, then continued West where we turned off at Black Dragon Canyon for some challenging rock, gravel and sand riding, thru Jackass Benches then headed towards Temple Mountain road and on South towards Goblin Valley. From Goblin Valley we hit the turnoff for Hans Flat to the Green River Airport road... that part was very sandy and challenging. We had two KTM LC8 Adventures, a BMW GS1200, BMW GS800 and BMW GS650 along with a KLR an a XRR.
A few of us were riding very fast... too fast, actually. I was on my KTM 990 Adventure and topped it out at 110 MPH in the dirt! Also jumped a cattle guard at 100...
On the Green River Airport road with a lot of sand... we were running between 60 to 80 MPH as it was mostly straight! Somehow I dropped my guard, just enjoying the ride and wasn't prepared for a turn in the road... ran off the road and into the ditch with a 2 1/2" bank... at around 60 MPH.
I have to say, the KTM 990 Adventure crashes VERY well!
I broke a mirror and a blinker, the bars were twisted and the front fairing wasn't sitting right. I think the crash bars took the brunt of the impact and really protected the bike. I came out with just a couple bruises and no worse for wear! Pretty sure I got VERY lucky... time to buy a neck brace!
It was a rough ride, took 12 hrs long... with us arriving back in GJ in the dark, 130 miles in the dirt and about 310 miles total. Lots of rocks and sand, plenty of bikes dropped and a couple wrecks... it was a bit more than I expected/planned, but in the end it was one hell of an adventure!
And the most important pic.... burgers & beer at Rays Tavern!