Cockpit, check...high revving tach, check...slow speed recorded on the speedo at first aboard the excellent 950 Adventure S, check...right then, a bit of the ride report upon Alton's wonderous circus pony...

had I a clue of how this bike rides in advance, I would not confess as such to being so ignorant...ignorant of the unbridled power...ignorant of the superb balance...and ignorant of the agility of the bike...in total, I now have a smidgeon of understanding for why dual sport riders absolutely rave about this two wheeled wilderbeast...

from the get go, I let the lads motor up ahead upon the jeep track trail as I started out in the slow-mo (thats them in the top center of the image, spitting dirt my way and no doubt laughing at my initial pace)...however by the time I reached the dirt covered pipe jump, I was wheel spinning though loads of muck with me arse tucked towards the rear, standing on the pegs...shortly thereafter, I layed left foot to ground and proceeded to back the bike into a left hand hooking corner at speed and slide...you simply could not have convinced me of this before I had done so...the bike simply did it with the greatest of ease...

as to agility, I unfortunately did not get a pic, but I made the mistake of taking second post to Jim.B as we scampered into the woods...before I knew it, he bounded up the steepest and longest of the climbs like a gazelle shot from a cannon...so whats a girl to do in this case one might ask...follow and pray that the REVerend Jimenez had thanked the gods beforehand...another surprise awaited me as I crested the top...and that being the TOP, with less worries than scotch into a bucket...although Alton has had less than zero problem with several of the climbs he has done, this was indeed the trickiest if not the steepest, and I was ill prepared for the ease of which I ascended to the higher road...once atop, I had to catch myself as I simply could not believe how simple it was...

there is no wonder that Charlie Booreman and Ewin "I am a whiner" McGregor had such a screaming pen and pie throwing fit when KTM told them to bugger off in regards to giving them bikes for their "Long Way Round" trip/film...hands down, this would have been the best bike for the trip...and if I were to get another of the dual sport that could take me thousands of miles with big stupid shiite eating grins, the Katoom 950 Adventure S model would be the one resting uneasy in my stable...

have I said simply incredible enough???!!!!!

click on the thumbnails below to see the next image in sequence, going from left to right, row by row...