Baja Bound

Sold today...my old Tiger

I sold my Triumph Tiger today.  I had a lot of fun with that motorcycle and I took some great rides on it, but truth be told, it’s a huge, tall, heavy motorcycle, and I just didn’t feel like wrestling with it anymore.  When I first bought it I was attracted to its awesome dual sport styling, and I thought I might actually go offroad with it a bit.  The first time I took it on a dirt road in Mexico, though, I sure changed my mind in a hurry.   It was a handful.  The Tiger is really a sportsbike styled like a dual sport, a fact I think Triumph recognized when they changed the styling in 2007 and made the Tiger a pure streetbike.

Undergoing a preflight inspection...my Baja bound CSC Classic

Still, that Tiger was a great motorcycle, and it sure looked good going down the road with its new rider.  For a brief instant, I had a pang of regret, but it passed quickly.  The guy who bought it seems like a nice guy, and the bike’s a good bike.  He’s happy, I’m happy, and if the Tiger could talk, my guess is it would tell us it’s happy (I haven’t ridden it much since I got my California Scooter, and the Tiger deserves to be ridden).  Like they say, a win-win situation all the way around.

When I stopped by the plant earlier today, my little red California Scooter was up on the lift and the guys were checking everything out prior to the Mexico trip.  It’s looking good, and our Baja team is pumped. 

Simon Gandolfi arrives in Los Angeles tomorrow (he is flying in from the UK as I type this), and I’m picking him up in the morning.  Yep, I unloaded one Brit (my Triumph) and I’m picking another one up (that would be Simon).  I’m really excited about meeting Simon face-to-face.   I read his blogs about his trips across India and down to Tierra del Fuego, and his book (Old Man on a Bike) is one of the best I’ve ever read.  The man is awesome, and his writing is hypnotic.  

I think the conversation on this trip will be more than worth the price of admission.  It’s going to be one of the world’s all time great runs.   And I’ll do my best to find a way to get stuff posted as we meander through the magic that is Baja.  Keep an eye on the blog, boys and girls…

And speaking of blogs, we’ve got a couple of other cool ones going about the upcoming Baja trip.  They’re very, uh, presidential.   Both are written by company presidents, and both presidents are going to be riding along with us to Cabo San Lucas (sorry, Barack, but you didn’t sign up in time for this presidential getaway).   Arlene (she’s the president of Go Go Gear) wrote a very nice Go Go Gear blog entry on the upcoming trip, and J Brandon (president of American Sahara) wrote a cool piece on the American Sahara blog.  My advice to you is to bookmark all three blogs (this one, Arlene’s, and J’s)…I think it will be interesting to read their impressions of this trip in addition to mine.

It’s just over 2 days until we make our run for the border…so stay tuned!