Bilco's TAT tour 2011

TAT

1st things 1st, we of course have to repair Skygods HP2 which had cracked the subframe before being loaded. Found a brilliant welder locally who MIG'd and TIG'd the beast back together.One brilliant thing about the USA is people still know how to mend things:thumb The guys welding shop was like an operating theatre.

Thats my old bike. How sad am i that it's not me riding it over there, but very happy to see it beeing used as it should be:thumb
 
Cos that's breakfast and Bakes oping for two lightly poached free range eggs on a slice of granary and the other were looking forward to cornflakes and orange juice.

NOT Coping well with the food , I ve put a stone on, can`t zip up my jacket.

What a day, epic fantastic stuff,

It all started today when we hit MISSASIPPIY what ever, the trail started proper today, one day has made up for the road work over the past few days.

The roads have taken us to the depths of these states, but now the real stuff has started, the dust and red red roads of sand,

One hard faller Grez hes hurt,we are in the hotel now, taking about what todo tommorow, as not sure hes up to it with a few hurt bits.

He came down hard on a gravel road, Gray Mike and Myself came to his aid and we managed him back here safe, with the group spliting in two we met the others back at the hotel, with our stories of the trail.

Gary Skygod doing his stuff sprange into action as Grez was hurt bad, fantastic to watch him work and I became sushi bandage cutter and wound cleaner, to this master medic.

Top man GARY :thumb2

Mike fixed the bike as the started wireing had been torn

got to go
 
As Bakerman says, Grez had a big moment toaday and Skygod was superb in what could have been a very dangerous situation. Big off miles from anywhere in 100 degree heat and he sorted the sitiuation brilliantly. Grez will ride the roads for a couple of days while he recoveres from the bruising but hats off to Skygod:clap

Everyone has had an off now though and I had mine yesterday. I have an excuse though because it was a huge storm and I couldn't se anything. Front washed out and gravel/bike interface but at least it was so wet that no real damage occured:augie

Road closed signs mean nothing to this hardy band of brits and we went through for road closed signs and found a route through. These pix are from the best one which will be forever called Bakermans Gulch. The bridge was out so we had to take to the river and negotiate a steep drop in and out. Most had a moment but Bakes's effort deserves a giant credit as we almost died laughing. He came into the stream to fast and nearly somersaulted then proceeded to bury the bike up to the swingarm in sand. Bear in mind 100 degree heat and it was like a comedy movie. Memories are made of this sort of stuff:D
 

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A few random pix of riding the TAT in Mississippi. Brilliant gravel roads, very slippery rivere crossings, riding the levee's and old towns which are hanging on by their finger nails.
 

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Took me 45mins to work out how to post a picture on Mikes P.C book thing
off to bed now and not even the picture I wanted to post
 

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Enjoying this!

Keep it up guys - and remember the leg's already been broken!
:beerjug::D

PS finally finished putting photos into a DVD slideshow of last year's Trans-Am tour!
 
Today was simply one of the best days riding I've ever done. Me and the KTM have finally gelled and it's simply awesome on the dirt. It's eating the back tyre though. Anyway, you know when a day has everything? As I mentioned, the bike felt spot on, the company was top notch, we rode as a fast group, we can all ride our bikes and now trust each other on the trail and we just laughed all day and had a blast.:D

The day started with fast gravel but turned to thick gooey mud. It must have taken us an hour to do a couple of miles but it was hilarious. I've never seen bikes ridden at angles like it and arms and legs flying about trying to keep control:eek:. The mud seemed to be about 3 inches deep and stuck like sh*t to a blanket. Bloody hard riding. I don't have too many pix but Skygod has some great camera footage and the other guys have pix which they will post in due course.

After the mud, we went back to the dirt and just rode the wheels off the bikes all day:thumb Now in a small town called Clinton AK and will be in the glorioius Ozarks tomorrow:D Grez stayed on road today as he is pretty badly beaten up after his off and will do the same tomorrow.

Here's a couple of pix. You can clearly see the mud in one pic but that was too deep with waer to pass!! The tryres on my bike are also full of this gooey mud so they are like slicks:eek:
 

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A few assorted pix of today. We found an old church which has just been abondoned to the elements with everything just left inside. Skgod has a slight problem with teh rubber gaitor on his HP2 so in the fine tradition of adventure riders, Duct tape and cable ties to the rescue:D A word here for Murdoch who has this happy knack of being able to repair just about anything:thumb
 

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Great stuff it look's really good riding over there :thumb2

Love the road-book holder ;)

Please keep the pictures coming :thumb

Louis
 
A word here for Murdoch who has this happy knack of being able to repair just about anything:thumb

Howling Mad Mikey Murdock........ the main man!:thumb2 How does his Husky look with the touring kit on it?:drool
Hey, I had no idea BlueUK was going along either...... watch those v-twin KTMs in the water dude!!:eek:

Great stuff so far...... the 'bridge out' shot of Bakes giving it some, I can almost here the valve bounce from here.... mint!:D

More, more, more.......


Timpo.
 
I've never seen so many fat people in one county in all my life

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Harsh but fair :D
 
Yet another brilliant days riding through the Ozarks. The trails are fantastic and out of 190 miles, around 160 were dirt which is the way we like it:D Problem is I've broken my damned camera but will hopefully be able to get the pix loaded in the next day or so. I sawa Bobcat cross the trail just in front of me and as I pointed it out to the guys behind, I seemed to hook the strap of the camera which was in my tank bag and flung it over my shoulder:blast Skygod and Blue have some awesome camera footage which will be loaded in due course.

We are in a small towm called Alva AK and have now done the Wallmart experience....:eek::eek: Jeez, it's frightening.

Blue is an awesome rider Timpo and that big V twin Katoum is getting a hammering. I'll be doing 50 on the gravel and Blue will be coming past and hooking another gear with the back end sliding everywhere:D Blue is a great roomie as he can't hear my snoring:augie

Louisdut, the roadbook holder is fantastic and I owe you a beer:beer:

Me and Timolgra will be headed to Tulsa tomorrow for new rear tyres. The Karoo's have only done around 1300 miles and are shot:mad: Hopefully we'll be able to pick up something decent that will last.

Weather was nice and cool at around 90 today and the same tomorrow. It's hell here I tell you:augie
 


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