Desert Dash 2015

[danrider 5]

I am giving a big hats off to all of the volunteers who make this event happen including all the sponsors who continually give. This year I got to ride around with Randy for two days and chat with him on our drive to pick up broken down bikes and to all the staging areas. Randy I know for a fact you have put your Heart into this Cub and that is why you have kept faithful volunteers over the years.

You have made this a fun and safe event for everyone. You take the time to introduce yourself to all the riders and that is cool.

The Volunteers, Steve over the years Brown Bag has made an effort to feed the riders on Sunday, (I know Steve you do this because you love the group and I am glad you are better)Ken and Big man John, Debbie, Tracy and other names that belong in this thank you. You guys setup take down each day with smiles on your faces and while I was with Randy he told me he could not do this without you and he appreciates each one of you.

The Sweep Team= French'y and group Saturday morning, then Tim and Jason for the afternoon. Sunday Dave & Danny group. I have ridden sweep only once and I had the honor of doing it with Tree, and Sunday with Dave at the DD, and I know how important the job is and what you guys go through on the ride. Help guys change tires, calling in the EMT, calling in a pickup for a broken down bike and on and on.

Rick thanks for taking the EMT's around, my son said he had a great time with you.

The food for this years dinner was the bomb.

And to you the rider of the Dash I hope you had fun and met some new friends.

Feel free to post some of your pics of your ride, that would be cool

[danrider 5]

some more pics

[Dan Diego 40]

Wow, looks like a great time was had by all! So sorry to have missed this.

Excellent photos, Dan. Thanks for posting.

[Hawkeyenfo 0]

Looks fun!

Dan, who is the guy with the ATK605 in the second pic of your second post? I have one living in my garage as well

[amgems 79]

Had a great experience riding sweep with Kato and Brandon Sat AM. Thanks for putting up with the old guy. Only came across 2 break downs, and luckily those guys were riding with buddies who went back for the truck. Smart riders. It was a good day. Food, company, and everything was just excellent.

[jeffrocomb 0]

The Desert dash was my first event with SD Dualsport. Rode out solo on my 990, and camped on the south end so I could get some sleep. Wasn't sure how this was going to work, my expectations were pretty low. The resort, the riders the comradere, everything was fantastic. Thanks to everyone who helped me pick my bike up, especially Dean Chaney..

Route selection was fantastic, I saw more of Anza Borrego in two days than I've ever seen before. Please have some of the sand removed from poleline before next year's ride please.

Dinner was fantastic, and I had a blast with my new friends during the raffle. Sorry we were so loud Randy.

Jeff, Thanks for the gas on Sunday morning. Really appreciated it.

See you all next year.. Jeff

[danrider 5]

The Desert dash was my first event with SD Dualsport. Rode out solo on my 990, and camped on the south end so I could get some sleep. Wasn't sure how this was going to work, my expectations were pretty low. The resort, the riders the comradere, everything was fantastic. Thanks to everyone who helped me pick my bike up, especially Dean Chaney..

Route selection was fantastic, I saw more of Anza Borrego in two days than I've ever seen before. Please have some of the sand removed from poleline before next year's ride please.

Dinner was fantastic, and I had a blast with my new friends during the raffle. Sorry we were so loud Randy.

Jeff, Thanks for the gas on Sunday morning. Really appreciated it.

See you all next year.. Jeff

I am glad the ride met your expectations and then some, I hope you met some new guys to ride with and I am glad you got to see Anza, I know how much of a challenge that ride is on a big bike and doing the deep sand, hats off to you. Where you one of the six in the KTM 990 group?

[Onanysunday 0]

Thanks to every body that helped with the DD.Also BIG thank to SCHWINN for the ride back after my hub EXPLODED.Thanks to bob (wildwood) for leading the way.thanks to randy for making all this happen.For my first DD i almost made it and there's always next year.

[robertaccio 406]

looks like George got a gold medal at this 2 day enduro grand prix.

[bikeslut 1]

He said he was going to win...everyone doubted him

[tntmo 887]

Looks like the Honda power was too much for the rear hub!

[kato 53]

I also thank Randy and everyone else involved for this great weekend!

I'll add a few more pics:

Friday down oriflamme on my way to camp and the start of a great weekend:

Sat around 8am. Randy briefing sweep and EMTs about Sat Phones as the Docmeister supervises operations:

Sat morning sweep team (Jim, Brando, and I) refueling and making sure everyone is in front

Anotha blown sprocket. This was Sat during the sweep in grapevine. Luckily no other damage somehow. He had a truck on the way and ended up taking his bike to AAktm for repair and apparently was very well taken care of there.

Sat night sunset just as Brando and I are about to drop into Sin Nombre after a quick chat with the EMTs:

A few quotes from the 2 days, good memories:

- On saturday, 'shiny new rider' on 'shiny new ktm' to us in Inspiration Wash as we were sweeping: "hey, do you guys know a way around all the rocks and sand?"

- 8am sunday, Seth prepping his DR under gusting winds: "anyone seen in which direction my air filter flew away?"

- 9am sunday, me at Winty after watching him perform a special stunt @ the queeze: "Yo Winty wtf?", Winty back at me: "chilling, I'm feeling Australian!"
- sunday as I pull up next to EMT guys chatting with the ATV rental dude on splitmountain & 78 he glances at my bike and goes: "is this guy really riding a Rotax??"
- anything Schwinn says around the bonfire

- Brando @ refuel in Salton City after he tries all his credit cards to no avail: "i must have been hit with static electricity guys"

[Hayseed 0]

Randy and the Volunteers,

Thanks for another great DD. This was my 5th consecutive Dash! I rode Saturday with Arne C., Arnie F. and for the first time, my son Jackson. We all had a great time. We were hoping to do the entire loop on Saturday but the TE 250 decided that it wasn't going to leave Ocotillo unassisted. I did some slab time to make sure that I could get the Husky trucked back to Butterfield before dark, so I missed riding the western leg. Fuel Injection problems aside, my son had a blast and is looking forward to next year.

Not to disrespect any of the previous Saturday dinners, but this one seemed particularly awesome.....maybe it was the 175 miles on the bike and the 70 miles in the truck, who knows?

Thanks again!

South end of the Gypsum Rail

The Husky waiting for a ride

[dstss 27]

Another great desert dash completed. I want to thank Danrider for suggesting my son and I sign up for Sunday sweep 3 years ago. We had such a great and rewarding time that we look forward to it every year. With a couple of minor mechanical issues and a couple of lay downs, the only riders we had to help this year was ourselves. The ride after Borrego in the rain was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. Real hero for us was Jim Martin from Martin's motor sports in Santee. My son Danny's slight leak from the front sprocket became a blowout on Saturday just as we crossed over Hwy 8 on dunaway rd. Wade and I road back to camp on S2 to get our truck. While we were gone, Danny was able to get a hold of Jim who prepared a care package with the seal and the necessary tools to fix it. Danny's wife drove it ( and a case of beer) out and met us just as we got back with the truck. We were able to fix the bike early Sunday morning just in time for Sunday sweep duties. I have a wonderful daughter in law. Final call out for my wife who's birthday was Saturday. She only gave me moderate amounts of hell for spending the weekend in the desert instead of with her. She is an understanding woman. The Dash brings together a lot of great people. Already looking forward to next year.

[Oracle 195]

Kato, you made me LMAO with your quotes of the day. I especially liked the "is this guy really riding a rotax"...

[kato 53]

Kato, you made me LMAO with your quotes of the day. I especially liked the "is this guy really riding a rotax"...

To which i replied "no, the rotax is riding me". Then he just fired up his quad and left

[tntmo 887]

I hope you stayed off the golf courses, Kato. I'm really wishing I could have made it out there, at least for a day.

Next year should be less hectic for me, so I am volunteering for DD2016 sweep right now!

[wcgiv 0]

The DD was awesome super tough for me. This was my first organized big ride. I signed up for 2 two days but after being beat up for only 80 miles on dirt. I realized my six months of riding was not enough experience to ride the whole ride. Me and my little DR650 went home and rested.

It sounds wierd but it was really fun using the roll chart But i am going to acquire a gps unit for next year. I didn't get lost but I think it would be reassuring to know I am going in the right direction.

Hats off to you guys for an AWESOME ride.

P.S. I will visit the RR track section again and conquer it.

Bill

[wildwood 11]

Another great desert dash completed. I want to thank Danrider for suggesting my son and I sign up for Sunday sweep 3 years ago. We had such a great and rewarding time that we look forward to it every year. With a couple of minor mechanical issues and a couple of lay downs, the only riders we had to help this year was ourselves. The ride after Borrego in the rain was much more fun than I thought it was going to be. Real hero for us was Jim Martin from Martin's motor sports in Santee. My son Danny's slight leak from the front sprocket became a blowout on Saturday just as we crossed over Hwy 8 on dunaway rd. Wade and I road back to camp on S2 to get our truck. While we were gone, Danny was able to get a hold of Jim who prepared a care package with the seal and the necessary tools to fix it. Danny's wife drove it ( and a case of beer) out and met us just as we got back with the truck. We were able to fix the bike early Sunday morning just in time for Sunday sweep duties. I have a wonderful daughter in law. Final call out for my wife who's birthday was Saturday. She only gave me moderate amounts of hell for spending the weekend in the desert instead of with her. She is an understanding woman. The Dash brings together a lot of great people. Already looking forward to next year.

Awesome DD2015 this year. Cheers to Randy, the Volunteers and all who make this happen.

Great to meet You, Dave. Can't wait to look you up on our next run to Patton Valley/Picacho. Jim Martin (Martins Motorcycle Specialties) is a great guy. Not surprised he'd be the one to get you taken care of.

Looking forward to DD2016

[blakeNY9 0]

Great ride!! 342 miles via GPS, the bike ODO had 35X something. My throttle hand is so fatigued I've lost partial motor control of it!

Thanks to all the organizers for the hard work to put this event on.

Didn't take too many pics, I guess we were too busy riding.

Seth's bent rear brake lever 5 mins out of camp on Saturday morning. Almost ended the ride real quick! Mind you this happened again later that morning. Seth did a bang up job bending it back, still looks factory!! (kind of)

Bike porn in Fish Creek

Flat rear tire on Hal's BMW GS450X that he made quick work of.

[robertaccio 406]

Nice job SDAR,

ps 2 wheel/sprocket blow ups are highly unusual even for long hour machines.

We know that all metal has its fatigue life, but to maximize that life, you need to check for proper torque of fasteners along with locktight type thread locker for those critical fasteners as well as very important proper chain slack (OEM usually has proper guidelines) all the way through the swingarm arc.

[jeffrocomb 0]

The Desert dash was my first event with SD Dualsport. Rode out solo on my 990, and camped on the south end so I could get some sleep. Wasn't sure how this was going to work, my expectations were pretty low. The resort, the riders the comradere, everything was fantastic. Thanks to everyone who helped me pick my bike up, especially Dean Chaney..

Route selection was fantastic, I saw more of Anza Borrego in two days than I've ever seen before. Please have some of the sand removed from poleline before next year's ride please.

Dinner was fantastic, and I had a blast with my new friends during the raffle. Sorry we were so loud Randy.

Jeff, Thanks for the gas on Sunday morning. Really appreciated it.

See you all next year.. Jeff

I am glad the ride met your expectations and then some, I hope you met some new guys to ride with and I am glad you got to see Anza, I know how much of a challenge that ride is on a big bike and doing the deep sand, hats off to you. Where you one of the six in the KTM 990 group?

I didn't start out as one of the 990 groupies, but it ended that way, yes..

[karlaeda 0]

Finally had a chance to upload the pictures (and I just realized the monitor I was making image adjustments had brightness/contrast set wrong, sorry for dark images). It was great ride this year. Thank you very much for making it happen. The ride was fantastic, second day seemed like such a breeze! Hell, even managed to cook my rear brakes (!) coming down Culp Valley.

[Dress4Less 162]

Nice pictures Karlaeda!

[Dirtdiver 2]

Wow, hats off to those guys on the big bikes! Those sandy washes are no fun on a 990!

steve