TwoWheelsGood

I received this email from Cals: Hi Rich, How are you? Do you know by chance the total number of people coming in the riggerdan group this coming December 14th? Thanks! Have a great day. Lalo, Management. +++++++++ Let me know and I'll relay

Gents, I'm sorry but I'm out. I just have too much going on and I've been out of town too much already. If there's a reboot in early Jan or early Feb, I'd in. Now I have to install my farkles with no ride scheduled to show them off...damn

Reserved my spot at Cal's

Plz PM me with details of your Day 1 AM plan. Thx

So, to confirm, it looks like I don't need to hook up a rez at MSR but I do need to call Cal's to add my name to The Partay? And where are we staging from, though you can also just tell me to read the damn thread. Lemme know, thx

Not yet, but it will be.

Dan and Co: room for one more on this trip? Yesterday I picked up a new-to-me KTM 500 and I'd like to join you guys. Let me know and I'll make my calls tomorrow. Thanks!

I ride with a PTT on the handlebars, within easy thumb-reach, and have a second PT on my pack/chest, radio in the backpack. This way if I'm separated from the bike, I can plug into this second PTT and still talk.

I just picked up the Baufeng radio, antenna, cig charger, hand mic, and RR pig tail to carry as a space / give to a non-radio'd riding partner.

The topo map is downloaded directly to your iPhone before your trip, ie, it lives on your phone vs streamedinorwhatever via a cell signal. Then when you're in the bush with (1) InReach turned on (2) iPhone turned on and (3) them talking to each other via Bluetooth, you pull up the map in your iphone app and drops your location, via the connection to the IR, onto this map.

I just fired up the unit and I don't see an option to display a map. I have the InReach SE. I think the other flavor may have a map. I was able to download and import maps into the iPhone app and the InReach will display my location on the app. Basically, the app lets you use the phone to take the place of / be used as a good screen and keyboard for the InReach, if that makes sense.

Did you receive texts, Rich? Yep

Got one, used it last weekend in Baja, very happy with it. Let me know what you need.

Hey Ken, We passed through VT on Day 1 but the taco stand in the center of town near the gas station was closed so we went to this one, a couple blocks away. Very good, staffed by a dad, his wife, and 2x 6-7yo daughters. Very cute. The hotel is actually the parking lot on the right. You can see the white chairs in front of the rooms. The rooms very nice and very clean. However, No heat, at least for the Gringos, but the room had a stack of awesome blankets so we were good. No hot water, or at least we didn't really care enough to let the water run and heat up? Not staying at Mikes that night easily paid for my tire so all good.

Dan, Thanks for starting the ride report and sharing the pics! I took about...4...for the whole trip . Dan and I last did a multiday ride together in Utah in 2012, my best ride ever and my benchmark for massive miles and fun times with a great group of guys on the trail. I knew this trip, with Dan in the lead, would be another epic experience and I really appreciate the Baja knowledge and route information that he brought to organizing and leading the ride. I came down to Baja with Arnie and Co over Thanksgiving on the 990, as my 3rd Baja trip. This would be my fourth so I'm beginning to know what to expect, but I continue to not bring a damn map with me so I'm still embarrassingly lacking in a perspective of where we are, where we're going, etc. I need to look more closely at the tracks, bounce that off the map and off the Arnie ride to put it all together in my head. My notes: Day 1: Jamul to Mike's Sky Ranch I'm in the Pasadena area of LA, Dan is Jamul. When he said he wanted to be KSU by 0630 on Saturday, that meant a very, very early morning for me, with a 2+hr drive to start the ride. But cold and windy at Dan's place meant we were able to string out the start time a bit to let it warm up...but it was still a pretty damn cold day. Heated grips and glove liners helped. However, Dan's radio could receive but not transmit so we had to reset our comm plan right away. Not a huge deal. We entered in Tecate with no issues and banged a left onto the dirt within just a few miles. All of it new-to-me stuff on the front end of the day and then familiar stuff into Mike's. Mike's is Mike's but I'm ready to do something different. Just hard to wrap my head around $70/person for what you get, I guess. My screw up: as Dan mentioned, we fixed his flat, carried on, found he had a slow leak so we busted out my air compressor to top him off. As we figured this might be a recurring task, I rearrange my stuff to make the compressor more accessible...and in the process mistakenly left all. of. my. tools. on the side of the road. Everything, including a brand friggin' new MicroStart jumper battery. Day 2: MSR to San Quetin One of my best days on the bike, no doubt: challenging, but not super crazy mix of trails out of Mike's to El Coyote, then more awesome stuff to Vicente Guerero (aka, Vinny G). Then miles and miles of incredible riding on the beach with quick stops to refill Dan's rear tire now and then. Not a big deal at all. Everything going great until I endo'd in some crazy mud and found myself stuck under the bike. Crawled out and radio'd Dan to come back, as it was easily a 2-man job getting out of that mess. As Dan said, we ended the ride in San Quetin, fixing his flat over margaritas with access to a light, an excellent fish dinner "trail side," a hose to rinse myself off, etc. Coulda been much worse, for sure! Day 3: SQ to MSR (planned), but we stayed in Valle de Trinidad instead. Hugely epic, with 100+ miles of on the beach or on the bluffs riding. As Dan said, we rolled into Valle T with plans to ride in the dark to MSR, but my tire was flat in the gas station. So...found a bike stand beside the garage, had good lighting and gas station air...but we still managed to dork up the tire enough to render it unusable. No worries, we found a very nice by Baja standards hotel for $30 with a taco shop right next door. Again, coulda been much, much worse Day 4: In the morning I scored a Pirelli MT-18 in pretty good shape at a tire shop with access to massive tire levers, shop air, soapy water, etc, for $50. Again...coulda been worse. Another good day of riding, with us spending a bit of the morning retracing our Day 1 route to find my tools. No joy. So we carried on to Laguna Hansen, for $10/gal gas in Sunny D bottles, 8x burritos, and layering up before out final push to Tecate. Dan was really wicking it up but I was in dialed into "steady, no mistakes, don't screw up now" mode. About 25 miles out from Tecate, with the rain starting and more on the horizon, the bike started to roll very roughly. Yep, blown wheel bearing. So...two guys on the trail with rain and cold coming in, about 90' of daylight left, 20-25 miles from the border, with things likely becoming more and more sketchy as we got closer to Tecate. I switched over to mission first, troop welfare second and decided a trashed rear wheel was a good price to pay for us getting out of there and ending the ride safely. So I'll be calling Woody's tomorrow for a new cush hub wheel in annodized blue...and maybe a new axle, we'll see. Dan has a comprehensive packing list, for sure. I dig planning stuff like this and I'm tweaking my own gear list, breaking it down into: Wrenches, sockets, and "hard tools" group Flat repair group: tubes, levers, patch kit, multiple air sources. Fasteners, adhesives group: Quicksteel, fasteners, loctite, super glue, radiator repair stuff, tape. Dan brings lots and lots of tape. Lubrication group: ~500ml of oil Communication group: working radio (!), spare radio, spare PTT, spare shoulder mic, cig charger Navigation group: GPS, map Survival group: SOL bivy, head lamp, 2x fire starting methods, whistle, InReach, down jacket, goretex jacket First aid group: see tape above and lots of vicodan Riding attire group: one set, for a range of temps. I was filthy but fuggit. Civilian attire group: convertible pants, shirt, sandals, toothbrush, done. What Dan and I did right was we were prepared to spend a night out on the trail. Would have absolutely sucked but we'd be fine. Successful end to a great ride and I can confirm that Dan does not snore, which seems to be a rarity among SDAR guys I've bunked with in the past. . Dibs on Dan!

Hi, Hypothetically, let's imagine our hero, accompanied by his faithful sidekick (we'll call him "Riggah") is closing in on the US/Mex border after nearly 700 miles of mostly dirt riding in 4 days, when one of his rear wheel bearings goes out about 20 miles south of Tecate in the dirt. It's 3:30pm, storm is moving in, will be cold and dark on the trail in Mex in 90'. He says "fuggit," keeps riding, nursing the bike, trashes the other bearing, but makes it to the border and to Jamul in the cold, dark, and rain for a successful ending to an epic ride. Q's: This hypothetical exercise would have taken place across 20 miles of not-gnarly-but-not-graded-road dirt, then about...25-30 miles of pavement, at speeds from 25-40mph. How long could one expect to ride like this? Are there any cascading failures that could happen if one choose the "fuggit, ride it" course of action above? I mean, once the bearings are gone and the rear wheel is doing what it's doing, what else could go wrong? Assuming you had a new wheelbearing in your pack, for emergencies. Is there a trail side / town gas station fix? What tools are required?

No, I'm home safe, bike in the truck in the driveway, etc. After a cursory inspection, I'd say the hub is likely trashed, not sure if it's fixable. I gotta a guy who can check it out. I may be calling Woody's on Friday...

Like - going to garage right now to put an extra on my pack. I heard stories of completing the circuit on the plug with a finger after a Pterodactyl attack but I like the extra switch option. I've heard of the wet finger trick but have never been able to duplicate. Recommend you attach to pack strap so you can get to it without taking the pack off. Comes in handy when you're off the bike midway up a hill, telling guys which lines up to not take

I picked up one of these last week before my trip with Rigger to Baja. We got back last night. I really, really like this unit. Between the display on the unit itself and it's connection to an iPhone via Bluetooth, the user interface is far, far superior to the Spot. I used it to send quick "all good, this is where I'm staying" type text messages to my wife and friends while on the ride. Highly recommended...and now I need to submit the rebate paperwork :-)

Just measured my smallest UV-5R(I have 4, don't ask) and its a hair over 8 inches long with the antenna.......so if you can have the antenna sticking out I guess it'd be ok? Highly recommend you keep the radio on your body, as a safety device if you're separated from the bike, or need to step away from the bike but still need to be able communicate. I keep my radio in my backpack / Ogio vest, with a PTT on the handlebars and a spare velco PTT attached to the front of the pack. So (1) the radio is always with me and (2) all I need to do is plug the harness into the spare PTT on my chest if I need to talk while off the bike.

All, Of course I waited until the last minute to find my passport and, yep, it expired in 4/14. Any problems getting back into the US with valid DL, expired passport, and a very surprised look on my face?? Edit: CINC Home found my birth certificate so I'm good

Passport, MX insurance, USD, CC...got it.

It's been a while since I've ridden in Baja. Can you guys learn me up on the admin stuff? I have passport so good there How much cash should I carry? Are we exchanging at the border? Mex insurance? Are we purchasing before we cross? Do I need to hook something up online? Does USAA work down there? Nevermind. The Google says I'm only sorta covered up to 75mi inside MX. Anything else I should know re admin jazz? Bike just got serviced so I'm all good there. Thanks!

None of the GL stuff is waterproof, not even close, unless they've changed their manufacturing process. Which was, as I found, to include a tube of seamseal and a small applicator brush with the $$$$ bags, which means you're the final step in their assembly process. Cheesy. For me the beef is the inability/PITA of getting into the Coyote once it's on the bike.

I jumped on the GL bandwagon when they first came out a few years ago. After several trips on the 570...I sold all of my GL stuff and am now using Wolfman luggage on both bikes. The E-12's are all you need for weekend stuff, maybe toss on their enduro duffel, or expedition duffel if you need a water/dust proof option for clothes, etc. Wolfman stuff is very modular, allowing you to add/remove options for a variety of trips. And smaller is better. There's a temptation to fill bigger bags with stuff you don't need...because you have the space. Once you pack the GL stuff and put it on your bike, total PITA to get to items during a ride.