It's only a long video cause you were going so slow
Just kidding man, you had a pretty good pace there. it looks like you had tons of fun. How sore were your legs after the first day?
Haha I like to say I'm "brisk", not fast. Plus down there you always have to leave 3/10s available if you come around a corner to find a tractor trailer. My legs were ok the first day, but by the end of the trip I was hobbling. We rode for hours upon hours every day. If you watch the end of the video when I pull into the garage you get to hear my sore old man groan when I get off the bike.
It was a friggin riot, between the bottle rocket duels, diving off overpasses, and launching the Challenger off the bridge into a streambed (no pics until the insurance claim is handled, sorry) I think the riding was the safest part of the trip.
I was out riding the morning the Triumph rider was killed unfortunately. I made the uncommon decision to warm up on the Foothills Parkway next to the cabin instead of the Tail for some reason. Came back up 129 to see an ambulance blow by and the road closed.
That said, don't let the trucks keep you out of the area AB. They're something to be aware of and ride accordingly, but roads like the Dragon and the Cherohala Skyway plus a ton of other nearby roads are too amazing to miss.
Oh and for the record the bikini clad squid wasn't with our group, the only eye candy we had with us was our poor buddy's younger sister you can see lighting off bottle rockets. 19 year old Serbian med student? Yes please
we gave him so much shit I'm surprised he didn't kill any of us. I'm a jerk though and gave her a full set of gear to wear, that's her on the back of my bike in the two up picture. Not as skimpy as a bikini but I'd like to keep her in one piece. It was her first time on a motorcycle and afterwards she didn't want to get back in the cars. Her first time on a bike is on the Dragon and the Skyway... girl has been spoiled.
