Trading places: Introducing a motocross racer to adventure riding

Rob was referring to the KTM 1090 Adventure R sitting in my driveway, still covered in dirt from the KTM Rally East the weekend before. He had just helped me move the rest of my tools over to my new house and we were leaning on the tailgate of my truck, drinking beers, and reliving the event. What he said was exactly what I'd hoped I'd hear.

The backstory

It all started a few months back when I received a phone call from the American Motorcyclist Association. The AMA sponsors a national adventure series of events in conjunction with KTM and apparently I had won the grand prize for the year.

At first I thought it was a joke. I called Mike Lafferty over at KTM and he just laughed. “Dude, I thought it was a joke, too. I was like, ‘No one is going to believe that you won this.’ But I talked to my boss, and you won fair and square.”

The grand prize was an all-expense-paid trip to the inaugural KTM Rally East being held in Snowshoe, West Virginia. As this was an event I was already planning on attending, I quickly hatched a plan to donate my prize to a friend.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how interest in motorcycles is waning and how we need to get more people involved, but what about just getting existing riders to branch out of their comfort zones? I am sure that all of you reading this know someone who owns a motorcycle but has never done a track day, an off-road ride, or even a long tour. What if we could introduce that friend to a different aspect of motorcycling that is a bit outside their norm?

In business, it is easier and cheaper to retain an existing customer than to attract a new one. What if the same can be said for jump starting our passion for motorcycling in America? I set out to test my hypothesis.

Running my plan by Lafferty, KTM readily agreed to the idea. They would let me donate my prize to a friend as well and offered up a loaner 1090 Adventure R for use at the event. All I had to do was find a friend who wanted to go.

Meet Rob

Rob Kirkpatrick works as a merchandiser at RevZilla. He and his wife, Melissa, live down the street from me, and between beach trips and summer cookouts, we have become fast friends. Rob’s garage is full of vintage motorcycles, minibikes, and old trucks in various states of restoration as well as a few meticulously clean dirt bikes.

Rob got his start in motorcycling at an early age. He’d work summers at the Jersey shore on the back of a garbage truck to support his addiction to two wheels. On the weekends, he could be found at the motocross track, honing his skills. Rob is still working for the weekends, with his Saturdays and Sundays spent racing motocross in the AMA District 6 B Class.

Over our five years of friendship, Rob and I have surprisingly only ridden together once, a short street ride to meet up with some fellow Zillans for an after-work party. While Rob and I spend most of our weekends in the dirt, he can be found turning laps on a track while I favor trails through the woods. We’ve been trying for years to find an opportunity to cross paths, and with one phone call, KTM offered up an opportunity to make it happen.

The ride

For those of you who are not familiar, KTM hosts an annual series of rider rallies around the world. In America, the event usually takes place out West. Last year, for example, it was held in Crested Butte, Colorado. While you’ll see a lot of orange bikes, all makes and models are welcome, as it’s more about celebrating adventure bikes than it is about KTM.

Recognizing that the location was a bit prohibitive for East coast riders, KTM partnered with the Pine Barrens Adventure crew, who are known for hosting events like the PA Grand Canyon 500 and Pine Barrens 500, to put together a rider rally for the other half of the country.

Nestled deep in the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia, the ski resort of Snowshoe is mostly known for its wintertime activities. But the combination of paved roads and dirt trails snaking their way through the hollers and hills made this area a prime location for a three-day adventure ride.

Rob and I made the eight-hour drive from Philadelphia on Thursday night after work. Driving through the night directly into a nasty thunderstorm, we made it to the hotel shortly before 2 a.m., just as my buddy Carlos Barrios was about to give up on us and head to bed. Beers were cracked, introductions were made, and a good time was had by all before calling it quits shortly before 4 a.m.

We woke to a blanket of dense, wet fog hugging the top of the mountain. The ride on Friday was the shortest of the three-day event, an 80-mile shakedown ride to get riders loosened up for the rest of the weekend. We figured we could afford to get a late start and still be back long before the sweep riders were sent out to pick up the stragglers.

Unfortunately, our start was delayed by a trip to the hospital. Rob woke with a fever and a swollen hand, apparently from a spider bite gone wrong. A few shots and a bottle of pills later and we were able to make it out on the bikes just before the 3:00 p.m. cutoff when the sweep riders start sweeping.

A misty rain was falling as we began our descent down the mountain. This was my first ride on two wheels after my crash on the Royal Enfield Himalayan. I was sporting a new pair of Leatt C-Frame Knee Braces and my 1090 was wearing a new pair of Mitas E-09s. All things considered, I was having trouble finding my groove. I wasn’t the only one.

Rob had never ridden a bike with ABS or traction control before. In the world of motocross, it is up to the rider to control the bike, often through intensely physical commands. He wasn’t used to the motorcycle's brain trying to do the work for him.

After a quick tutorial on how to disable the 1090’s safety features, he began to calm down and speed up. Turning off the pavement and onto the gravel, we began chasing one another down sweeping dirt roads with Carlos leading on his 690 Enduro R Rally bike.

At the bar that night, Rob confided in me that he was ready to hate the idea of adventure bikes after the first half of the day’s ride. He didn’t like the way the 1090 handled on the street. He felt that the feedback at the front end was vague and he didn’t trust it. He felt a little bit more comfortable in the second half of the ride in the dirt and gravel, but all things considered, he was less than enthused about the idea of adventure riding after that first afternoon. 

Saturday morning we got a much earlier start. Hitting the road around 9:30 a.m., our group had grown to include Steve and Amelia Kamrad as well as Evan Yarnall, the mustachioed co-owner of Solid Performance KTM. In Evan, Rob found a kindred dirt bike enthusiast. And when he saw Evan roll out on a 1090 as well, he perked up a bit.

The 170-mile route on the second day consisted of almost 140 miles of dirt road. With all of the rain, a lot of the trails had turned to mud and Rob reminded me of a kid splashing through puddles. I would ride ahead to grab ride-by photos and Rob would come blasting down the trail on one wheel chasing Evan, who was busying himself by keeping up with the Kamrads.

We had chosen our group wisely. A bunch of knuckleheads with more adrenaline than sense. (This counts for Amelia, too. She was coming off of a third-place finish at the Sandblast Rally in South Carolina and was determined to remind all us boys exactly how fast she was.) At events like this, it’s always a good idea to ride with folks whose abilities you trust. Have a conversation ahead of time about how aggressively you’re planning on riding to make sure you don’t get stuck in a situation where you’re either bored or feel like you’re riding above your ability all day. Or, at the very least, be sure you don’t mind waiting at stop signs for the slower members of the group to catch up.

Pulling into a random Applebee's for lunch (choices were few and far between), we parked our bikes in a sea of orange. I fear that people heard “KTM Rally” and assumed it was specific only to Austrian machinery. I just want to stress that this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Spirits were running high as we ordered burgers and Cokes. Lafferty was there with his wife (he was doing the event two-up) and he had a whole group of riders with him that he was leading. Rob, Evan, and Carlos were deep in a conversation about electric dirt bikes, while Steve could be heard teasing some rider I didn’t know from across the room. Amelia and I were trading pictures that we had shot throughout the day.

As we wrapped up lunch we decided to cut the afternoon portion of the ride short and head back to the hotel as there were severe thunderstorms heading our way. We had no sooner got back to the mountain resort and the rain started to fall. We grabbed beers from the cooler in the back of my truck and piled under KTM’s large tent to wait out the rain and hail.

The results

With a long drive home, and full day of work waiting for us on Monday, we had to bail on the Sunday ride. From what I heard, it was actually the gnarliest and best riding of the entire weekend. With that being said, I would say this event is the perfect option for folks who want to try their hand at an adventure rally, but have shied away because they were afraid the terrain would be too intimidating. I think most of the riders in attendance would agree that the terrain was tame enough to be welcoming yet challenging enough for more advanced riders to turn up the volume and have some fun.

As for Rob, he went from being “less than impressed” with the “whole adventure thing” on the first day, to standing in my driveway a week later undressing my 1090 with his eyes.

“I get it man, I really do,” Rob said, taking a swig of beer. “When I am racing it’s all about competition and beating the other guy. With you and your friends it was all about working together and then everyone just has a big party and talks about bikes all night. It was so much fun.”

Rob has been sending over ads for used 1090s and 1190s on a daily basis. Suffice to say, I think my plan was a success. I was able to turn on a friend to a different style of riding and hopefully by the time the next rally rolls around he’ll be joining us on his own bike.

As for me, Rob has been insisting on repaying the favor. Perhaps it’s time to see how badly I can hurt myself at a motocross track.