padu

Same for Sardegna! When I was riding there last year, there were times I thought I was in McCain Valley!

Yep, that's what I meant. Maybe the best way to kickstart is to organize a ride and publish the roadbook beforehand, so people can have a taste, even if only using a cell phone mounted on the handlebar.

Yes, all of them please!

This is what I'm installing on my KTM 500 EXC, but is easily moved into my DesertX. It has a TMobile SIM card as well, so I can still use Waze, Google Maps or YouTube while riding 😁

Great opportunity to be heard! Let's join!

Thanks for posting. Interested

May 27, 2023 After finishing section 5, we stopped at Death Valley's Racetrack Playa (the famous and "mysterious" sliding rocks) for snacks. We knew section 6 wouldn't be the cakewalk that five was, but we were ready. The beginning of section 6 continues on Racetrack Valley Road for a short while, less than a mile, then it turns right for Lippincott Pass. The pass, which is really just a downhill, is part of the expert section for Section 6. The very first posted sign warns fellow travelers that there's no towing service for vehicles that venture down the pass, so proceed at your own risk. The road is rocky. In the beginning, it's small rocks, and the terrain, albeit sinuous, is easy to navigate. There's some exposure, so hug the mountain side if you don't like heights. As you start going down, the slope gets steeper, the rocks bigger and looser, forming steps of about 1 ft. in places that require some courage and momentum to overcome the steps. With some skills, though, any bike can pass. As you approach the bottom of the pass, the rocks get bigger, and the rain causes some big ruts. Line selection becomes a prime discipline. At times, we had to navigate very off-camber tracks to avoid the deep ruts. The challenge of this pass is not that it is super technical, but it is average technical for miles and miles. You will get exhausted if you're not in shape or your body position is not top-notch. Once you reach the bottom of the valley, there is not really anything challenging. You will find rocky roads and some sand, but nothing too gnarly. We ran out of water as we started climbing up and out of the valley. It was a scorching day, and Lippincott used much of our energy. It's a good thing we crossed a small stream and were carrying water filtration systems. The water didn't taste good, but it didn't kill us. We reached Cerro Gordo Rd., at the bottom of the mountain. The BDR website warned us of "deep sand" or something similar. We were a bit confused because we were not in a valley, and sand in that place would be misplaced. We were both right; it was not deep sand but deep, small, loose rocks. They were almost white, which made a very beautiful and peculiar white road, and yes, they were deep and it rides like deep sand. There are several bifurcations on the road, but they all follow the same direction and eventually merge ahead. Around the half point going uphill, the rocks become bigger, and traction improves. Very quickly, we were at the summit, where the Cerro Gordo mine is located. Unfortunately, there was an event that day - a marathon coming from the other side of the mountain with runners crossing the finish line at the mine; talk about craziness... We started our descent towards Owens Valley and Lone Pine. We were rewarded with the most amazing views of the snow-covered Sierras and the entire valley beneath us. The sky was deep blue and visibility was great. The descent is easy, but attention is required. The road is slippery, and there is a lot of traffic from regular cars, jeeps, side-by-sides, and even buses. We arrived in Lone Pine, a very quaint and charming town at the foot of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the continental USA at 14,505 feet (4,421 m). There, we met with another rider who would be joining the expedition the next day and followed the trip to Alabama Hills, a campground site on the road to Mount Whitney. The place is just stunning with its weird rock formations and the most amazing views of the sharp snow peaks towering up upon us. The only problem was that the sun was setting, and the place was packed with campers. We rode around for a good part of the hour and decided to camp in a place that wasn't really a designated camping site. We were exhausted, so nobody had trouble sleeping in our tents after a good steak dinner and some fireballs. We were hoping to finish the CABDR the next day...

Some call skills, some call courage, and some other call dumbness. 😂 It's probably somewhere in between all of those

May 26, 2023 As promised, we returned in May to complete sections 4-8. All the snow in the mountains is gone, and while it's getting hot in Death Valley, it's not brain-melting hot, so in retrospect, my opinion is that sections 1-4 should be done in February/March, and sections 5-8 from May and onwards. This time, one more rider joined the group (Terry Rossi) and we did section 4 with 3 riders. Max Thielen on the Norden 901 and Terry on the Honda XLR 650. We scheduled Section 4 to start early morning on Friday, May 26, starting from Primm. Me and Terry met in Palm Desert the day before and decided on taking the dirt route to Primm, via Joshua Tree NP and Mojave Preserve. Berdoo Canyon getting into JTNP and some less well-travelled roads at the end of Old Dale Road, getting out of JTNP were one notch up on the spiciness level, and if you watch the video above you will see a close call that had the potential to ruin our day or trip. Joshua Tree NP was infested with what looked like crickets or locusts. At some points, we rode inside clouds of insects. The bike, helmet, and jacket, it was all covered with insect goo after we left the park. We stopped for gas at a really weird gas station in Amboy. Really expensive gas. We arrived in Primm at night, bought some logs, and then went for some primitive camping around Primm. Max rode from LA to Primm and decided to stay at the Buffalo Bill again. And again Buffalo Bill sucked big time. He arrived at the hotel at 10pm. Their computer systems were down, and they couldn't check anybody in until 3am. Friday morning, we woke up, packed our tents, and rode to Primm to meet Max, have some breakfast, and get started. Our first challenge was the climb up to the Colosseum Mine. That was marked as an expert route on the BDR map. Not sure if we got lucky, but it was an easy climb. Unfortunately, the mine was closed, with people working tractors and heavy equipment, so our visit to the bottom was denied. The next long dirt segment was Power Line Road. It was really rocky, which prevents higher speeds and it's tiring to ride. Max had a bent rim and a blister on the sidewall of his tire, which is greatly concerning since there are another 3 days to go. A bit later, we stopped for a mandatory visit to the China Ranch. It's really surprising to find a green oasis in the desert. The people at the ranch were super cool and the Date Shakes are everything we've heard before. We were planning to stop in Tecopa for lunch, but all the restaurants were closed for the season. The dude from one of the restaurants told us we should be riding big bikes in that area this time of the year . Instead, we had lunch in Shoshone at the Crowbar. Really good food and a great vibe. After lunch, we visited the museum adjacent to the restaurant. It was really interesting and gave us a lot of knowledge about the region. After lunch, we started our descent towards Death Valley. The first big challenge was Ibex dunes, but again, either we were too fast, or the roads were in good condition. Apart from patches of deep sand, it didn't pose a problem for us. As we made our way through the Death Valley, we felt the temperature quickly rise and stabilize at around 100F for the rest of the ride. Before arriving in Furnace Creek, we made a few unscheduled stops at Badwater Basin and Artist's Pallete to admire the valley's beauty. The off-season comment from the dude in Tecopa made more sense in Furnace Creek. The place had very few visitors, and most of the campgrounds were closed for the season. We found one open a few miles north of Furnace Creek, the Furnace Creek Campground. We've set camp and decided to do one more exploration with the bikes. We ascended to Dante's Peak right in time to catch the last few sun rays of the day barely illuminating the valley. Perfect way to finish the day and section 4. We rode down to base camp at night and finished the night with some fire pit hot dogs and beers. It was hot as hell to sleep in the tents at night.

I'm in, but I need to finish Colorado BDR first - and get the Dirty Dozen badge

Dakar is always at an end, and for the ones that want to dip their toes into navigation rally, the SoCal Roadbook Rally promises to be a great training opportunity. I've registered and intend to go. Here's more info if you're interested https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/2024-socal-roadbook-rally.1660705/

I've been training with Dakar on the PS5 in PRO mode and it got me brain cramps!

4 screws

I'm doing super budget. I got a digital mount from RMS, an outdoor rugged android tablet, and a bluetooth handlebar control. I had assembled it on the DesertX, now I'm preparing the setup on the KTM 500.

The organizer says it's not. I never done it before, but I'm planning on taking the KTM 500 and the DesertX. If I see it's feasible on the first day, I might do another day with the big bike

This one right?

You guys trucking to gas station? I'm not interested in riding freeways on my 500

Interested. Still happening?

Happy Thanksgiving you all!

I made a sling with a long-sleeved t-shirt and drove myself to Sharp Chula Vista where they did the initial diagnostic. They called 9-1-1 and sent me to Scripps Mercy's trauma center in Hillcrest. Thank god for SENTRI - although even SENTRI was packed that day - 1 hour waiting time. I do recommend the Mexican paletas at the line - much better than the Costco ----. Medical expenses - remain to be seen. I have PPO insurance and my daughter had surgery earlier this year. I'm almost sure I'm going to max out the out-of-pocket this year.

One sportsman spot is open. I've canceled mine. Check the story on the other thread

That's a story without a happy ending. The trail absolutely kicked my ass. It was tight and I never got to ride relaxed. It got me fully exhausted at mile 6. I called it quits and decided to go back to the truck and just wait for tacos and beers at the end of the day. I was trying to keep up with the sweeper on regular 2 track dirt roads and I got a pretty bad spill on a rutted downhill. That bought me a week at the trauma hospital, dealing with a displaced shoulder, a broken rib, and a pierced and collapsed lung. Now I'll be out of commission for a couple of months. The lessons painfully absorbed (I knew the lesson before, but that didn't help me did it?): 1. Ride your own ride, even if you are on an "easy road" and 300 mts from the truck 2. Don't go to events that are clearly over your head. It's good to push your limits, but don't skip levels 3. Only ride as fast as you're willing to crash (another one I "knew" already)

May 27, 2023 In our third full day of riding, we finished two sections of the CABDR, sections 5 and 6. We camped at Furnace Creek campground and it was hot at night. I used no tent cover and had to sleep on my undies on top of the sleeping bag. Not comfortable. We woke up, packed up and headed to "The Ranch" at Death Valley. It's a true oasis amid the desert. Palm trees, a nice restaurant and facilities, and most importantly, AC in the convenience store. We bought breakfast and ate on the porch just outside the convenience store. After filling both our stomachs and gas tanks, we started our day riding north on CA-190. Our first stop was really close, just a few miles up ahead onto the Harmony Borax Works. That gave us a glimpse of the working conditions for the pioneer miners working under scorching conditions in the 1800s. Very interesting stop. Titus Canyon was closed due to road damage because or recent floodings, so the great majority of section 5 was paved, well, at least all the way to Ubehebe Crater. I've heard about this crater before and always thought it was due to a meteor impact, but no, it was a volcanic explosion, and pretty recent ("only" 2100 years ago). The pictures and videos don't tell the magnitude of the crater. It's almost a mile across and 600 ft. deep. People can actually hike down. We didn't - first because we had another section to complete, and the other that it would be super exhaustive to climb up again, especially on heavy MX boots. From Ubehebe to "The Racetrack" was the only part of section 5 that was unpaved. It's a fast washboard decomposed granite with dispersed bigger rocks. If you don't ride fast, this road will rattle the bones out of you. We obviously stopped for mandatory pictures at Teakettle Junction (yes, lots of tea kettles hanging on the sign). We left Furnace Creek around 9am, stopped by Ubehebe by 10:45am and by Teakettle by 12:00pm. We finally arrived at The Racetrack Playa by 1pm. We stopped to take some picture but didn't hike all the way to the sliding rocks. Too hot, too far. We ate our packed lunches and ready for the next section... a complete turn of gnarliness - to be continued...

Not so sure about that, the guys here are badass. Anyway, I've committed for the Baja Enduro on Nov.4, so I wouldn't be able to make it. Good luck for all that will!!

That's exactly how I broke my foot in Baja a few months ago.