Hello, I’m back! My friend Chuck is with me and we have started on the first leg of the journey. Pheonix to Tucson. We left Las Vegas after 4 days of heavy work getting Chuck and his bike ready, he really put his head down and got through some ugly projects. Two afternoons at the licence branch getting every thing legal. I waited with him watching the people and soon made freinds with a old dead head and we were sharing war stories and tour tales, Hey Donnie!
Chuck had to get plates for his truck, bike and get his motorcycle endorsment, so here is an ex-nationla MX champion doing the cone course, it was kind of funny. He passed the riding and the written test so we loaded up the truck and left Las Vegas about 10 PM headed back to Pheonix.
We had to meet Starr half way to get the keys to the mansion again and that was a miricle. Starr was driving North from Phenoix to Vegas. We had just gotten out of the Hoover Dam canyon area where the cell phone would work, so we dialed up Starr, he was two miles south of us according to the mile markers along the road. Another ten minutes and we would have missed him.

We made it to the house around 3AM. We got up early Friday AM and headed down to Premier Motorsports to work on Chucks bike. He needed a oil change and front tire. He had already gotten his freind Steve to do a valve adjustment, at the last possible minute… “Hello Steve? Chuck Sun here, how about doing a valve adjust for me? Tonight? No, toinght, I’m leaving town tomorrow.” Steve got the job done, plus several other projects on Chucks 950 KTM.

Premier is owned by a lady, Olga is her name and I had no idea what to expect. What a pleasant suprize, she was very nice, very pretty and very helpful. Of course she gave Chuck a hard time, every one does, this helps keep the heat off me!

So we finally hit the road, Pheonix to Tucson, I was picking up a new GPS unit from Cyco Active at Performance Cycle Center. The GPS unit I started with would not work properly, it would not lock on the satalites, I tried and tried, you know I’m an electronc idiot, so I called Cyco Active and got the best advice. The GPS unit was faulty so they sent another to Tucson and we made the pick up. It was not with out drama.

I have been wondering what I was going to write about, well, let me tell you. I had a new Dunlop tire on the rear, I can’t remember what the number was, but. After 50 miles of 90mph Interstate work we pulled over for lunch and I looked at the tire, it was coming apart! The knobs were all gone, giant chunks were missing and I was terrified the tire would come apart on the high way. Then we looked up and the sky turned black and it started to pour. Performance Cycle Center closes at 5PM, they made that perfectly clear, several times. Now we are late. We had to ride through a terrible storm, and I was totally worried about the rear tire coming apart and dumping me on the highway to get run over by trucks and cars. Uggg.

Finally the sun came back out and we made it to the shop with 45 minutes to spare. We went through their tires and chose a Pirelli Scorpion, it’s the standard tire that comes on the 950 and is a big tire but we got it to fit, plus it was the best of the selection they had. We want to thank Sarah Martinez for doing an awesome job helping us out at the end of the day, Thank you so much, we were just about to get in a bind, but good people came to our rescue, again. I can’t get over how many people who have helped make this trip possible, I know you are probabally getting tired of reading all these thank you’s, but they are making it possible.

Okay, so let me tell you a little about my travel buddy, some of you might know him but for all you non moto heads, Chuck Sun was the 1980 500cc Motocross champion. He was also on the American team when they went to Europe and won the MX Des Nations. This is an event where countrys host 4 man teams and add up the score. Chuck was on the team for the first USA win. He has ridden and raced all over the world and is lots of fun to hang with. He has just wrapped up his position with KTM after 10 years, he’s striking out on his own. I’ll let him tell you more about it, so I’ll turn the key board over to him now and let him tell you about him, it is one of his favorite subjects.

My long time friend Ross Williams (Stanford MBA,propieter of SuperMex Las Vegas, and the Hard Hat Lounge plus the Best In The Desert 40+ Champ) has been on my case to get going on to the next buisness-opp gig. I am Certainly pumped to excersize an entrapernial spirit in my blood. I reminded Ross and myself why we love the motorcycle industry, and that is “To ride!” Charlie and I were watching Easy Rider on TV while preparing for the race at Starrs house. When Charlie mentioned a ride to famous Copper Canyon in Mexico I said “Why not?” Charlie and his significant other Wilma Stoughton kinda set me up though…I had a couple Motobrews after the AMA National Enduro in AZ with a slightly impaired judgement. I said: “Yes, I’ll go!” Never to leave anyone out on the trail however, I’m in! Come rain, chunked tires, warm hispanic sunshine or scolding from the local senioritas! Viva Mexico!
I called my freinds at www.wolfmanluggage.com and scored a tank bag and a tail trunk for my 950 KTM. I stuffed some things in them and took off. Charlie has been preparing for months for this trip, I just grabbed every thing that smelled clean and left the house. Wonder what I’m getting in to? Oh well, it will be an adventure and fun. I’ll get back to work when I get home in a few weeks.
I already have a few ideas and have made many contacts with freinds in the industry. I know the motorcycle industry the best and think that is where I should stay, so if you are in the positon and want to talk business with me, contact me here at Charlie’s address and I’ll get back with you. trailridercharlie@yahoo.com
Okay, that’s enough for now, I’m not quite as good on the old ivorys as Charlie is, (or thinks he is) so I’ll turn it back over to him. We cross the border in the morning, so I’d better get some rest, or some drinks, or both!
See ya, Chuck.

Thank you Chuck, that was very informative, it’s kind of funny, the two unemployed guys go on vacation. Some body give us jobs!

I did forget to tell you about the enduro, I plan on writing an article for Trail Rider, but for now I’ll just give you some highlights.
First off, Matt Stavish got second overall again this weekend. That puts him in the lead for tne National Enduro Championship. Yea Matt, keep it up old boy, we are all rooting for you!!!!
Steve Hatch won the event which is cool too, we really like Steve and are glad he is back on the Enduro series. Good job Steve! Mike Lafferty got 3rd place, uhhh I don’t know any more finsihes, you can find out on the Arizona Trail Riders web page.
What I do know is it was a good event. It started out nice and easy. 9 day’s of rain before the race made for perfect conditons, no dust, not hot, just perfect.
Then the first loop was nice and easy, lots of time keeping every one just crusing along. I was on Rich Lafferty’s minute and he kept us on time, then boom, he’s gone and I’m playing catch up till the next reset.
So after the first loop, was the second loop and from there we had the A loop. Oh my, it got tough and rough. It was a 16 mile section at 18mph and I houred out by 4 minutes. That means my speed was around 11 mph. I know for those of you who do not understand enduros 11 mph may not sound fast, but I was going as fast as I could! It was tough!
Then the best part was when the A loop rejoined the B loop and there were B riders laying everywhere! I was passing them like “I” was a Lafferty! It was great, even at 11 mph I was passing riders right and left.
Then the famous water fall section. I din’t have the energy to ride down it so I was off the bike creeping it along when this young girl stepped up and said: “Give it here” She took my bike and walked it down the water fall, the crowd gave her a big round of applause and I was greatful.
I got to the next check 4 minutes after my hour, which was fine because I was quitting any how. All the other Idaho guy’s finished the event, I was 11 miles short of the finsih but I could care less, “I” was finsihed.
It was a good event and I was proud of all my Idaho pals for finsihing, Chuck also finshed the course but he too houred out by 4 minutes at the last check. So technically he got a DNF but he did ride the whole course. ME? I could hardly wait to get back to Starr’s house and the hot tub!

Okay, that’s enough for tonight, we cross the border in the morning. I made a new freind, Bruce Crawford, he told us about a dirt road route that leads from the border all the way to Copper Canyon. He described a 60 mile strech of road that will take 5 hours or more! Now that’s what we are looking for. So find a map, look up Nogales AZ, run your finger along the border to Agua Prieta, now follow an imaganary line south east to Creel, that is our route. I’ll check back in as soon as we can get a internet connection, so keep checking here and I’ll talk to ya later.

Charlie and Chuck