Zubb

It's a wrap! Damn.

It seemed like a good idea at first.

@Goofy Footer as for a chase vehicle, I've done a lot of trips with and without. In my opinion, if you have a number of riders with less skills than the group as a whole ... the truck can help even up the group by removing the weight and sway of camping gear. It will speed them up, and lessen the number of drops, and increase everyones enjoyment because of that. UPDATE: Kelly goes to the hospital in June and screws himself out of a whole summer of riding. However . . . . my son Adam went with W38 and a mob of industry names that wanted to "free ride" together and goof off at whatever pace they wanted and scout the BDR conditions for a commercial tour the following week. GS's, 901's, 890's and similar weaponry were deployed. Adam iron butted down from Seattle to Baggs and met up with them there. Plenty of awesome scenery... Several good water crossings ... Very nice group riding roads ... Until it wasn't. If you find mud on this route, it will be legit. Don't trust Wyoming mud. Even the little bits. The expert sections were all very doable on the big bikes for strong intermediate level riders. Hint: not all the crew opted to ride the expert sections. So just know your skill levels and ride accordingly. Plenty of long boring flats to ride. The middle sections getting to the rim was pretty taxing to those not used to riding deeper sand and talcum powder. In Adams summary, he said he'd probably replace some of the middle sections of the route with something a little more interesting if possible. But the northern sections were stunning and very fun riding. Remember folks, you heard it here ...... 2nd hand info for what it's worth.

WABDR is pretty epic but it’s quite a hike from here. COBDR is a must do for any and everyone. I got shut down this summer on riding WY, AZ and UT BDR by the fickle finger of fate. But…. A couple of my good friends tell me the most stunning of all of them is to run the northern AZ tracks into the Southern UT tracks. A 50/50 BDR so to speak. I’m sure there’s plenty of intel here as to whether that’s a great idea or not. There’s a chance I’ll run the southern half of CABDR in January on the 1250. Motel it to keep it light and fun through the deep spots and fast through the firm places.

Tim I looked at the Airmethods.com link you posted. Boy is that an eye opener! there are still a couple companies with booths at large rally’s (BMWMOA) selling global evac memberships. I spoke with one of them at the Springfield MO rally and I thought they did a poor job of trying to sell their services vs the $99/yr I pay inReach for global evac. But it appears I’m wasting that money too. I think I’m paying about $24/mo year round for unlimited use of the inReach. I’ll look through the other info you posted. Thanks!

https://youtube.com/user/bmwmotorrad thats the YouTube channel. inside the channel you’ll se vids of Day 1 (like above) through day6 right now. we are still in 4th place. Right now they are riding day 7, final day. They have to turn it up!!! Last chance to podium today.

It's ridiculously good fun. . . . . . . . if you can handle the competition. It was a very rude awakening for me at the qualifier to learn that having skills is critical, but competition can psychologically crush you. Even goofy fun competition for such a serious title can wreck you. Cory and Jim both have considerable experience competing. I don't know about Ben though. They ended today in 4th place overall. And there's a challenge tomorrow worth double points. They are within striking distance of the podium. I'll have to check but I think they will be only the 2nd USA Team to podium.

Correction: My dad does have a new iPhone, but apparently it was a fall detecting and SOS device he wears around his neck that sent EMS. Not the phone. We now know this as it's happened a couple more times. I'm an Apple fan, but would never replace the inReach with my phone. Would rather have the sure thing, and let the phone be redundant.

^^^^^ Those skills are heavily discussed around the campfire when I see you in Oct.

End of day 5 - USA took first place today, moving them up to 4th place overall.

Dang it. They are in 8th place overall, end of Day 4.

I believe we moved up to 5th place today. The Instagram feed had sketchy audio. At least I got to see Team USA slide the rear around to "kick" a soccer ball through a goal.

I am not sure what their actual contract is, but I’m pretty sure they are not employees. I believe they in a sense subcontract with BMW motor rod for various events. Both have their own coaching and training companies.

Sean T and Jocylin Snow have become the face and voice of BMW Motorrad USA for quite awhile now. They are truly interested in anyone they encounter. Very genuine people and that’s pretty attractive socially. I’ve noticed that they give USA no unwarranted attention at these events. I want to see everything team USA does but don’t get to because they are in 7th place, not in 1,2 or 3rd.

A lot of folks see things that way, and to each his own. If he'd have had an inReach, it wouldn't have been "his time". To quote some ol' cowboy movie line " I aint a skeered a dyin' ". But I have an obligation to those that love me to try not to. Just because well prepared people perish isn't cause for me to shuck it out the window and say "whatever". Every person of course finds their own level of risk acceptance, as they should. I don't believe in forcing anyone to wear a helmet or carry a Spot just because that's part of my own protocol.

It worked quite well for my 86 year old father. He fell and simultaneously dropped his iPhone. Suddenly there was a voice saying "are you ok?" or something to that effect. When he didn't respond (as he didn't know where the voice was coming from), EMS was dispatched to his location. I don't know, or trust that this works all the time, in remote areas like Baja or Anza Borrego. Perhaps Tim (@goofy footer) knows more as he is first response. You have the inreach mini. Keep it. Turn it on for the sake of your fellow SDAR members who would jump to search for you should you find trouble. Not to mention for SAR's use. It's a little thing, you'll probably never need. Kind of like your helmet. One should note from the video above, the pace of decay from dehydration in the desert is astonishing. It would suck if your cell phone and/or inReach Mini was 'dead' just about the time you really needed it. But that's often times the way things go. An ounce of prevention, and such...

Team USA moves up to 7th overall.

Dam-funny idea. I like it!

This is the part where I wish I had a bigger garage and $10k sitting around, looking for a hole to stuff it into.

He does.

PM incoming.

Training camp is Friday evening through end of Sunday. Those going on to Baja, and arriving tour guests stay in Borrego Sunday evening together at a hotel and head south Monday morning for 5 days, returning to the U.S. Friday afternoon, about the time Geico is ending. I'll be guiding baja with Dusty so Geico is out for me.

Every year that Geico rally overlaps our baja tour!!! DANG it!

Yeh I saw your name on the list. Glad you're coming out, it's always a hoot! You bringing the DesertX? Or the Multi?

^^^ nice land rocket!