From December 29, 2007 to January 1, 2008, I was in Phoenix visiting family (daughter, son-in-law, grandson as well as my brother and sister-in-law).

 

Here's a photo of my #1 man in Phoenix. This is the face he makes when you take his picture and tell him to "say cheese".

 

 

I figured since it was Phoenix, the weather had to be nice, so I wanted to rent a bike for one of the days I was there. There are a few places in Phoenix that rent bikes. I've been thinking about adding a dual sport bike to the garage to keep the Wing from getting lonely. I've been considering getting a Suzuki DL650 VStrom (a weestrom), a BMW R1200GS or a BMW R1200RT (not a dual sport, but I'm interested). The only place I found that had the choice of those bikes for rent is MCTours LLC (http://www.azride.com). They have a really wide selection of bikes. Probably 5 R1200GS's, a 650 VStrom, 2 GL1800 Gold Wings, a BMW K1200, a BMW R200RT, a Ducati, plus a couple more. I choose the Vstrom.

 

I got there and was met by Gabor and Monica, the husband and wife team that own MCTours.

 

 

Gabor and Monica are touring riders themselves. They wanted to take their hobby and make it their business. They rent bikes and lead tours. They really know their bikes. My impression is that Monica runs the office and Gabor runs the shop. They have fantastic customer service. I wanted to rent on a Sunday and they came in just for me.

 

The Vstrom had 10K miles on it and came with hard bags. I brought my tank bag and riding gear. Here is the VStrom:

 

 

I wasn't sure where to go, but I knew I wanted to get out of Phoenix and not be riding on the slab.

 

I told Gabor I was looking for something that got me out in the country and would last a few hours. This is the route he gave me.

 

 

MCTours is just off Thomas Road in Scottsdale. The route takes Thomas Road across the Pima Indian Reservation to Hwy 87 North. Hwy 87 up to Hwy 188 (almost up to Payson). Hwy 188 South along Roosevelt Lake to Hwy 60 in Globe. Hwy 60 West to Phoenix/Loop 101 and Loop 101 to Thomas Road.

 

It was a cold day in Phoenix. When I started out it was 37 degrees. I thought I came prepared. I had on a pair of coolmax long underwear, then a pair of Army surplus polypro long underwear, my BMW motorcycle jacket with liner, my Tour Master windproof riding pants, my heavy goretex riding golves, a pair of coolmax socks and a pair of smart wool socks. I've ridden like that at 37 degrees in Omaha no problem and I figured that the day would only get warmer.

 

Here's a photo of me geared up. If I look stiff, It's because I have on so much stuff.

 

 

I took off East on Thomas Road. Here's the view looking East toward Hwy 87.

 

 

This is Pima cotton grown on the the Pima Indian Reservation. It looks dry and ready to harvest.

 

 

Just a forewarning. I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I wanted. The roads are twisty (even the divided highway) and I didn't see many safe places to pull off for photos.

 

Well, I hit Hwy 87 a few miles down the road. Hwy 87 (the Beeline Hwy) is a four lane divided highway (4 lanes, but limited shoulders) that winds its way up to Payson. It was mostly 70 MPH, but it has 7 percent grades up and down with four lane twisty's where the speed drops to 50 MPH.

 

The scenery from a few miles Northeast of Phoenix up through Ft. McDowell is incredible. There are dense "forests" on either side of the road, but instead of being forests of trees, they are forests of Saguaro cactus. It's really beautiful.

 

The elevation only went from 1,000 feet at Phoenix to 1,225 feet at Ft. McDowell. After Ft. McDowell, I started to climb. Instead of getting warmer, the temp was dropping. When I went through the 4,300 foot pass just south of the 187 junction, I don't think it was more than 25 degrees. Holy smoke, I was cold. The view after going over the pass is exceptional. You are looking into this enormous valley that holds Lake Roosevelt. I wish I could have gotten a picture. There were a couple of rest stops along the way, but they were closed (it looked like they were only open in the summer). There was no good place to warm up. I stopped outside the gate blocking the closed rest area at the 87/188 junction and took my gloves off to make sure my fingers weren't frostbitten. They looked OK, so I went the 4 miles to Jakes Corner (about 80 miles from my start). I didn't need gas, but since I wasn't familiar with the area I filled up anyway and went into the General Store. Arrhh.. The coffee pots were empty. I warmed up a bit and headed South on Hwy 188.

 

As I started down the road, it seemed awfully loud. I realized I had left my earplugs somewhere in Jakes Corner. I think I was so cold, I didn't even think about them when I was leaving. I thought about going back, but I didn't figure I'd be able to find them, so I continued on. The VStrom just had a short windscreen. At my height, it put my Nolan N-102 helmet right in the windstream. I usually ride with earplugs, so I never noticed how loud the helmet is. Man is that a loud helmet. 

 

Hwy 188 is a nice road with a mix of twisty's and straight sections. It follows along the West side of Lake Roosevelt. It was a nice, but noisy ride to Pumpkin Center, eleven miles away. I stopped in the store there. No earplugs. Oh, well. On to Globe. I had only saw a few bikes when I was on Hwy 87, but now there were quite a few bikes on Hwy 188. There is a large arched truss bridge about half way from the 87/188 junction to Globe. There is a dam right next to the bridge. The dam holds back Apache Lake. There is a scenic turnout near the bridge.

 

Here is photo from the turnout looking North.

 

 

Here's the bridge.

 

 

And here is the view looking South.

 

 

I continued on to Globe. It felt like I had been descending most of the time I was following the lake (makes sense right, water goes down hill). About 20 miles outside of Globe, I started climbing again. By the time I hit Globe, I was pretty cold and a little fatigued from the helmet noise. I stopped and had some lunch at a McDonalds. I also had an extra large cup of coffee to warm up with. I stopped at a Fry's grocery with a drugstore and bought some earplugs. It was nice to have earplugs again.

 

I headed back to Phoenix on Hwy 60. From Globe to about 1/2 way back to Phoenix (maybe 35 miles), it was a terrific ride through a winding canyon. Two lane road. Canyon walls on both sides. It really made the whole trip worthwhile.

 

About 30 miles East of Phoenix, the road (still a 2 lane) drops down to the desert floor and is flat on into Phoenix. At Apache Junction, it turns into a 4 lane divided Hwy (2 each way), then a 6 lane and finally an 8 or 10 lane (don't remember which, just lots of lanes). The VStrom is only a 650, but it had no problem keeping up with fast moving Phoenix traffic and had plenty of OOMPH left for passing.

 

I made it back to the MCTours office about 3:30 p.m. Gabor and Monica were waiting for me. Even with the cold, it was a really exceptional experience. I'd love to do the ride again and I'd be more than happy to do business with Gabor and Monica again. A great business and a great couple.

 

After the ride, I grabbed a Famous Dave's platter with ribs, brisket, and BBQ chicken and went over to the kids house for dinner.

 

Four days off, some time with my family, a great motorcycle ride and some BBQ. it doesn't get much better than that.