New Bikes, New Year, New Me!

HELLO LATTE!

Meet my new ride, Latte.

Ever since I rode this bike 2 years ago at DC Dirt Camp, I fell in love with it immediately.

July 2021 on my super friend Marjorie’s XT250 (also before working at REVIT) at DC Dirt Camp during an Adventure Bike Class

It was lightweight, easy to ride and super comfortable. Unfortunately I don’t have any pics of me sitting down on the bike, only standing up! :) :)

IS IT TOO SMALL?

No. Absolutely not. Yes, I have almost 20 years of motorcycle experience under my belt but I am absolutely positively new to dual sport riding and I would be fooling myself to think that I could easily conquer a mid size 750cc ADV bike to learn on.

When I took the Adventure class with DC Dirt Camp, riding this bike felt fairly easy since my bike is 400lbs! So jumping on a sub 300lb bike felt super easy. Of course, learning some ADV skills was challenging but I’m so glad I had a little bike like this to try things on.

For me personally, here is my intention with a dual sport motorcycle (which GREATLY affects an individuals’ bike choice)

• Short, day trips, possibly overnights with minimal highway / freeway riding (max 30 minutes if possible)

• 80% offroad / 20% on road focused riding (thus the need for a smaller bike overall)

• Build AS MUCH confidence as possible while I increase skills

• Accelerate my learning / skills so that I can master this small bike to where an upgrade is going to feel easier, less intimidating and feel more confident

Doesn’t everyone want to become super proficient and highly skilled at motorcycling sooner than later? For me that happens quickest when I’m on a bike that’s smaller, easier to manage and super comfortable.

If my experience level on the dirt were much higher, say 10+ years of dirt riding maybe, AND I wanted to do long distance, 50% onroad, 50% offroad type riding then of course a larger displacement bike would be necessary. I’ve never heard anyone say “Oh no, I don’t want to get really good at this quickly, I want it to take months / years to get better and feel confident”.

I also have a rear hitch carrier on the Jeep, so I may take it places to go riding. But I am not planning anything pavement focused unless I’m riding on the street with my Triumph to do a pavement focused ride.

So there you have it, my little 250 is going to be perfect for me and my riding needs. Always, always write down what your needs are for a new to you motorcycle, if you want to be as certain as possible that you are making the very best choice. I also know that if I need to move onto a different bike, I can easily sell Latte and get it to someone else very quickly. So I’m not worried about that.

Remember, motorcycles are like kleenex! There’s always another one waiting! They’re also like dating, you aren’t necessarily going to marry the first person you meet, right? :)

TALLNESS

But I can tell you that yes, it’s a bit tall but remember, taller and lighter. Please revisit my short tips to understand how that does work when you’re 5’2”! I also modified my boots like this ==>

That didn’t give me flat footing, but it didn’t need to because for me, I’ve been One Footing my motorcycles since the very beginning, even when I was riding a taller scooter.

The XT was my little dream dual sport bike, super capable when I did the BDR ride and I knew I had to have that bike!

I looked at many others including:

• Kawasaki KLX250 and KLX300

• Suzuki DR200S

• Yamaha TW200

• Honda CRF250 and CRF300

But it always came back to the XT250. Mostly for the fact that I already rode it, and it just felt right. You know that feeling? When you meet the love of your life, or the perfect pair of shoes or the perfect motorcycle? I also read lots of reviews of the XT250 against these other rides and the XT always won.

There are also lots of upgrades and parts available and I can’t wait to start collecting parts! But for now, it’s going to stay stock other than proper dual sport tires:

Dunlop D650 Tires on Latte

UPGRADES

The only upgrade for now are proper 50/50 tires : Dunlop D605’s .

PROTIP for PARTS SHOPPING:
When you are shopping for bike parts, you can ALWAYS visit the manufacture website because they will usually have a bike / part finder to enter your bike into their website and see what fits / is compatible!

This bike came from a local motorcycle school outsider of Denver so it had pavement focused tires and I need something just a bit knobbier that will also handle ~30 min of freeway riding to the mountains (I LOVE DENVER).

Also, tire shopping for offroad bikes are a whole thing. Sizing isn’t normal metric usually (e.g. 120/70/17) like on my street bike, so you may need to translate sizes. Grab your owners manual (or download one), LOOK UP your recommended sizes and then go from there. There are also lots of tire size translation resources on various website, but if you just scroll to the bottom of this page for the Dunlops, checkout the handy chart!

Looking at dual sport tires was super confusing for me until I found translations like this that told me what my size was in width (inches) and metric so I could understand the translations from metric to regular inches.

So that’s where I’m at for now, I’ll be posting another one soon about the gear I’m going to wear and why I chose it so stay tuned!

When One Door Closes....

Another One Opens! Like Really, Really Wide.

It’s been a crazy Summer so I haven’t had time to update.

I’m excited to announce I’ve been spending it at my new job as Retail Experience Manager for REV’IT! USA. Luckily we are based in Denver, so no, I am not moving back to Philadelphia anytime soon. (No more humidity!)

Since April I’ve been traveling, seeing friends along the way and most importantly, talking to riders! So here’s what I’ve been up to in case you missed my IG feed.

AUSTIN, TX

Right after I started, I headed right to MotoGP in Austin. And bumped into Danilo Petrucci! Ok, he was invited to our party in downtown Austin since he’s one of our sponsored riders in this year’s Moto America Championship. He’s also a former MotoGP rider and has taken the US championship by storm.

PORTLAND, OR

After MotoGP I went to Portland, to the amazing One Show. We also had a booth there and were able to preach the gospel of REV’IT to the masses. It was an incredible experience, with SO MANY PEOPLE! The creativity and overall enthusiasm for bikes was such a wonderful thing to see and experience. And YES, that is the very funny Alonzo Bodden.

NETHERLANDS

Then a few weeks later, it was off to visit our Global HQ just outside Amsterdam. Yep, the company is Dutch! It was such an incredible experience. I was able to ride bicycles in the canals, try stroopwaffle, see the HQ and more. I am definitely not good at the whole jetlag thing. I don’t know how I managed to stay awake the entire time.

Then the first week of June somehow showed up and I headed to Philly for our US Sales Meeting. I got to meet dealers from all over the US and Canada! Wasn’t a whole lot to see there, except meetings.

BROOKLYN, NY

Then came late June, as I headed to Brooklyn to actually help Comoto open the 3rd ever RevZilla Showroom in Brooklyn. Yes, it was surreal but it was also such a great time! Everyone was happy, in a great mood and just all around excited for RevZilla to land in Brooklyn. I was incredibly happy for them and was glad I could be a part of it. Part of my job is conducting training around the US and Canada for dealers / stores that need me. I spent a couple days training almost all of their sales staff on our brand and what we have to offer.

MOTO AMERICA LAGUNA SECA

14 Year Old Kayla Yaakov, Altus Motorsports

The following week, I ended up going to a last minute event called Moto America! It was hosted at Weathertech Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey. The weather was incredibly perfect and the racing was awesome. I was particularly impressed by this young woman named Kayla Yakoff, just a cheerful 14, going on 15 year old girl doing what she loves! She’s racing in the Junior Cup series on her Ninja 400. Last month she made history by winning the first Junior Cup race by a female!

I also got to meet Patricia Fernandez. She was racing in not just 1, but 2 series (my favorites) that weekend: King of the Baggers and Super Hooligans. If you’ve never seen a Harley Bagger leaning over far more than anyone probably thinks it can, going 100+mph down the straightaway, it’s something to witness. There are only two women racing in the Bagger and Hooligan series and it’s Patricia and Shelina Moreda who’s been racing for over a decade. It’s been so great to see her move through various racing classes as well. She also runs women’s dirt training classes in Northern CA and is just an all around talented human.

Right now, we are sponsoring PJ Jacobsen, Tytlers Cycle Racing on a BMW M1000RR and Danilo Petrucci on a Ducati Panigale V4 R, Warhorse HSBK Racing.

We also had a little booth in the vendor area because REV’IT is sponsoring the Twins Cup series this year! Hopefully by next year, you’ll see a little more of our track suit son the podium. :-)

You can catch up on all the races on Moto America’s youtube channel.

STURGIS, SD

Then the following week was RevZilla’s ADVFest in Sturgis. I’ve never been to Sturgis so for this one, I brought the man so he could ride his new to him DRZ400S! Thanks to Rawhyde Adventures for the killer novice adventure class that he took. It was insanely hot, but everyone still had a great time and I got to see a ton of ZLA friends that I hadn’t seen since pre pandemic!

LEADVILLE, CO

Then it was off to Leadville, CO for the first annual Holiday Moto event, which took place at the Leadville MX Track. REV’IT! was the title sponsor and I got to see a lot of new faces. No riding for me at this one, but soon!

CANADA

And finally I had a few weeks until I left for Canada to visit and train a couple of our awesome dealers over the border. I got to spend 2 days in Calgary with Blackfoot Motorsports, (please tell them I sent you!) training their sales team and meeting local riders.

TORONTO

Then it was a couple days in Toronto at GP Bikes. Another team of passionate, excited riders who needed some product training too. It was so busy I didn’t have time to take a lot of photos. I did manage a selfie in the Triumph room!

it’s only August but there are a few months left and a few more fun projects and events coming. Stay tuned for updates. :)

Updates: Broken Bones and Saying Goodbye.....

RevZilla Denver Grand Opening with some of the best people I’ve ever worked with in the motorcycle industry. October 2021

UPDATE #1: IT’S SO HARD TO SAY GOODBYE, REVZILLA

Well, it’s been a wild couple of months.

First things first, after 8 years of dedicating my career to RevZilla / Comoto, I decided to leave at the end of February. For reasons I won’t go into deeply here, I had to make a decision for myself that was extremely difficult to make. But I am 1,000% happy that I did.

A very, very wise woman I know recently said:

Just don’t drain your well filling everyone else’s glass. Your well being is important too.

I poured my heart & soul into the RevZilla brand but after 8 years, I needed to do this to regain my mental health and passion for this industry. I appreciate everyone’s support and love over the years and have not lost my love of two wheels. And in case you’re wondering, yes, staying in Denver for the time being and hoping to enjoy the mountains around here very soon.

So after I decided to leave, I flew home to visit my family in CA for some down time including riding on two wheels. First, I went for a lovely day ride through Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge with my wonderful friend, Kurt of Transformative Journeys.

On my friend’s Royal Enfield Classic. Such a lovely bike.

He led me on a beautiful ride through Muir Woods, around Mount Tamalpais and up to Point Reyes Station. It was a gorgeous day and a really wonderful re introduction to street riding after taking all of Winter off. As a shorty, the RE is an easy, classic bike to ride. Of course, you may not flat foot if you’re short like me but as you move up your way from 250-300cc bike, this 650cc twin is an easy upgrade. Remember, us shorties must put in more time to learn how to ride before we ride our dream bikes.

UPDATE #2: BREAKING THINGS

Later in the week, I decided to go off roading with my friend Joe, and he took me to the beautiful Carnegie SVRA Off Road Park out in Tracy. Well, things didn’t go quite as planned and I bit it going up a hill with some small whoopdies (bumps) that I didn’t see until I was halfway up. I also looked down at the bumps since I wasn’t really expecting them. And then boom, hit the ground and broke my humerus.

The good news is that my dirt gear saved the rest of my body parts and albeit severe, this break was the only injury I walked away with. I decided to have surgery a week and a half later near my parent’s house and then I flew home the end of March. The upside was spending time with my parents and eating everything in sight that my mom was making for me and taking some much needed time off. I highly recommend it.

No worrying, stressing or thinking about my job. I simply wasn’t happy anymore, and I finally got a chance to just relax and be happy.

Even though I was in some pain and recovering from surgery it was much better than the mental stress I was carrying from my job. I truly was able to relax and enjoy some down time.

Recovery is going well, my wound is healing and I’ve started physical therapy.

I’m hoping to have full use of my arm (bearing full weight, lifting, driving, riding, etc.) in month and a half or so.

UPDATE #3: POLARIS EMPOWERSPORTS COUNCIL

All 16 members of the Polaris Empowersports Council, March 2022

When Polaris asked me to join a unique group of individuals in the Powersports industry to increase the visibility, inclusion and participation of riders how could I say no?

• https://www.polaris.com/en-us/empowersports-diverse-riding-council/

This group is comprised of talented, passionate and unique riders who come from all over the Powersports industry including snowmobiles, side by sides, offroad and on road motorcycles. I’m excited to volunteer my time to contribute to the efforts that Polaris is making to make our industry a more inclusive one.

I hardly see anyone who looks like me in my industry, as it’s dominated by mostly white, male men. Those numbers changing slowly, but I am thrilled to do what I can to move that needle a bit further, faster. The council was just formed in March so I’m sure there will be exciting events and announcements this year as I’m asked to work on various initiatives set forth by the Council.

Stay Tuned for more Updates!

See Me Soar, Hear Me Roar

Last summer I had the privilege of riding with the amazing Pat Jacques of ADVWoman.com, on parts of the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route. The ride was sponsored in part by WomenRidersNow and SeeMeBeauty.

As part of this trip, I was honored to be chosen as part of a series of short videos that WRN and SMB put together about our journeys. This was one of the most transformative two wheel journeys of my life, having very little offroad riding experience. I feel lucky as ever to have ridden with all of these women and learned so much from my coaches and fellow riders. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I was to be a part of it:

Related Posts:

• DC Dirt Camp

• Getting Dirty, Moving to Denver