fudgypup

It was nice to have met you finally, Randy! Doc too. Weather was on the cold side for mid-May. Bit of rain on the front and back ends. Doc was a good passenger Rode my new OneWheel around which was great given the altitude and that I needed practice on it. Mosko Moto has some very interesting new apparel coming out soon REVER has this new beacon they were handing out and it pairs with your REVER app on your phone and essentially just makes tracking your own rides and making yourself visible to your REVER friends a bit quicker and easier (your phone will do most of that now just fine). Got to spend some time with the Motorcycle Relief Project crew and really enjoyed that Saw Tiffany Coates Simon (and Lisa) Thomas And of course there's always plenty of really cool overland vehicles that would be fun to have NEMO has some new tents, bags, pads. I was a beta tester for the bags like 8 years ago and I like what they do. And... most importantly they don't contribute to groups shutting down riding areas.

I did this trip last February and am on the fence on this one in Nov. Kind of depends if I can trailer with someone to the start in Benson, AZ. It's the second trip down on this link All hotels, no need to bring camping gear. Video from February trip:

Thanks for posting this. Im the XLADV guy. My two cents is they're a fantastic tire. The tread life astounded me at first but when I see they give you 15mm of tread (not thread) on the rear, that makes more sense. Very good off road and you'd expect that in a 70/30 tire. I discount many of the complaints for that reason because people need to understand a 70/30 tire isn't going to perform as well on pavement. Others over at advrider reported the front is being re-designed because of some reports of it not seating properly. I did have an issue there but just lubed it up good, used a lot more psi and it seated fine after that. My first set was free for the evaluation but I bought my second set and have them on right now. The first set got me through Death Valley's Mengel Pass, LAB2V, a few days riding in Mojave and a trip to Copper Canyon and back; about 5400 miles on the rear before it was done. I couldn't find a new front so I have their Desert H/T up front now instead (KTM 990).

Jealous! Sounds like you got a lot of great riding in. Good to see lots of ladies out there.

Nope, just lifted it above my head to give the perspective of how close we were to the edge. I hate heights, so I wasn't wiling to get that close

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3upVdBjDNII

It's been a week now, so I guess I'll start it off... I first attended this event in '11 and had a great time. Jesse Kimball hosts it and he and his wife Brandy are super nice people who love adventure riding. I finally learned how the event got its name... it was originally supposed to be held near an old rocket test facility where they used monkeys to test rockets and ejection seats. Now you know. There were probably about 30 riders there (I think). Judge for yourself. DSFox was there, along with a few other SD riders. I rode two up w/the gf and just took the easy stuff. Get yourself a short gf if you want to ride two up. It really helps! We went north to Navajo lake and over to Duck Creek Village then back the first day. Only about 65 miles. Lots of green meadows, clear lakes and tall pines. The second day we headed south to see the north rim of the Grand Canyon at Toroweap. Roads were good except for a few silt patches. We got through all the hard ones fine then tipped over on a very small one near the rim and became two human powdered donuts and DSFox likes to say. Saw this critter was unfortunately dead when we got there. Amazing views. Great tracks too (thanks Crawdaddy) We came back through the park on the way back and got to experience a few lovely interaction with some park nazis. Lots of great pics taken by others you may have seen already.. Jesse's dad has this sweet custom Jeep made by a company out of Montana that was featured recently on the American version of Top Gear.

Looks like you guys had a great time. I did it w/7 other guys from the Seattle area two weeks before you guys.

Doing a three day easy dirt trip down to Baja May 23-25 (Memorial Day weekend). You'll be home Sunday afternoon to enjoy the Monday holiday with your family. Leaving from Denny's La Mesa at 8:30 am. First night is Mike's, second is Coyote Cal's. You need to make your own reservations at Coyote Cal's and don't forget to request dinner in the box at the bottom. I have 8 going right now and we're all good riders. Room for maybe 4 more. Noobs are welcome, but you have to be comfortable riding in dirt and not have this be your first time. Knobby tires recommended. The terrain isn't hard (very big bike friendly) but you have to be comfortable on dirt enough to ride faster than 10 mph. I heard the last Escondido BMW ride was a bit of a clusterfark as some guy got lost for 6 hours and couldn't ride faster than 10 mph and another busted his collar bone. Nobody wants to have to deal with that. I've been down there before with noob-ish riders and haven't had any problems. We just have longer breaks and everyone's happy. We will probably do an A/B grouping so faster riders can go ahead. Dunes also an option for the better riders. I think right now we have: two 690's, 650 xchallenge, two GSA's, one GS

Went again this year and was not disappointed. The tracks were much better, as was the rv resort (Wine Ridge). Lots of terrain variability, scenery, dunes, sand, even a flash flood. The resort had hot showers, jacuzzi, wine, food, wifi, etc... Jimmy Lewis offered instruction on Friday and Sunday and quite a few took him up on that. I did his class two years ago and it helped a lot. I need to go back. We pre-rode the intermediate tracks in reverse the day before and ran into a lot of rain, which got worse in the afternoon but made for generally great traction. Stopped in at the Pioneer Saloon in Goodsprings and had a "professional" flash us her charms. I forgot that's legal in NV. This is the bartender, not the one who flashed us. She rides Razor's in the desert a lot and wanted to see what we rode in on. And then more rain after lunch... Lots more... Interesting water crossing Go ahead, Rich, tell me how deep that is while I sip a latte Tent stakes too short for soft ground... Scotty Breauxman's new "butter" F800 with custom suspension and flexx bars Fun in sand... Karoo 3's hooked up very well Mmmmm...doughnuts More great views Tim wanted a convertible for more air flow Funny, this oil cooler says "KTM - Austria" on it

Very sorry to hear this yesterday. My condolences to his family and friends. I was just down there heading southbound through Laguna Hanson and we had some close calls with cars/trucks coming up from Ojos Negros. I had another riding buddy get hit by one (hit and run) south of El Rosario two years ago. Luckily he was just banged up a bit and we spent the day trying to get his front wheel fixed. Since then I tell everyone I ride with that your biggest risk down there is hitting another car/truck (or cow/burro) on these narrow dirt roads. I always hug the right side and slow down at a crest or turn for that reason. We owe it to ourselves and our families to absorb and learn from these tragedies so we can all keep enjoying such great lives together. Rest in peace, Dana.

great trip!

Sure, no problem. PM me for details. I have some small bike tracks too you might enjoy. You might get two of our group to join you on those tracks. We got a guy on a 690 and a girl on a 650 (she's really good).