Desert Dash 2012

[zancat 0]

INCIDENT 3:

5:30 pm, just waiting for final sweep near canyon sin nombre....got another call from roger....rider down needs immediate medical assistance....

He was on vallecito wash just 8 miles from us, so we got there very quickly.....This one was serious....sure hope he is doing well....if anyone hears, please post up...

Just 0.6 miles from the end of the dirt for the day, the dust from his group of 6 previous riders filled the wash and with the bright sunset light in his eyes...he nailed this rock....and ended up 60 feet up the trail after the bike went out of control....I guess he was unconscious for 20 minutes...he was just coming to when we arrived....the ranger and a couple riders with EMT training had just arrived also...But Chris took control and did an amazing job...Way to Go Chris.....he treats dirt riders ALOT with the D38 racing circuit..another C collar and back board...I think every emergency vehicle in the desert ended up coming out there at one point as darkness took over..a multi agency effort......Not long into it, they called the helicopter to take him to the hospital......they don't mess around with head injuries...sure hope he is doing well.

He is an acquaintance of mine. Heard he is scheduled to get out of ICU, eating, talking etc. No broken vertebrae. That was as of yesterday AM....

Thank you and the other 1st responders for doing what you do!!

Zancat

[carguy 1]

From my friend Tony,

"The Desert Dash. Surely a fun dual sport ride. One that I had been looking forward to for months. The photo shows the background where the course lies... I hate rocks but I was sure to have to endure them to get some good desert riding out of it. 6.5miles into the course. I came up behind a rider and needed to slow on the rocky mountain road. There was a lot going on but the short story is that I used the front brake to slow. Using the front brake is a well honed skill that I use in street riding. Not for the dirt. Especially not on loose rock. The brakes on the KTM are very very good. My front tire locked up and down I went. The part of my body that met the earth first and absorbed the impact of my fall was the place where I didn’t have armor... my rib cage! I couldn’t have picked a better group of jagged rocks to fall on. They were perfect for inflicting maximum damage.

Once down, I couldn’t get up. I had trouble breathing and the pain was excruciating. Riders behind me stopped to help me up. For some reason I couldn’t raise my arm but I could move my fingers and bend at the elbow.

My riding buddy (Bob) stopped at the top of the hill and then came back for me. I teamed up with Bob, another solo rider, just minutes before the start. And this recent acquaintance stayed with me until the sweep riders came through. The sweep riders checked on me and rode on to a place where they could get cell/radio coverage to call for help. Bob stayed. The second sweep team rode up and stayed with me while Bob rode my bike back to the start/finish. He always wanted to ride a KTM.

The sweep riders must have been successful because a 4x4 came to get me. It was an amazing experience as everyone was at their finest. I thank the drivers, EMT, sweep crews and Bob who fell way behind and essentially gave up riding the rest of the day to make sure I got down the mountain. I thank John who helped me with the basics and then helped me get the bike loaded... post trauma. Me... well I broke my collar bone and four ribs. That explains the pain. ;-)

All-in-all, one heck of an experience even though I didn't finish. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone involved and hope I can return the favor some day. I guess I won’t be riding in the Hare and Hound race next month. Oh ya.. I got a T-shirt. That was cool too. :-)"

I'm feeling better already. Breathing is less painful and I'm sure I'll be tip top very soon.

Tony

[SCHWINN 0]

I would like to thank all volunteers, sponsors and paid services. It all seemed very professional this year. I know alot of hard work goes on behind the scenes that we don't see.

Alot of great food was prepared over the weekend. There was the volunteer dinner, DS Fox cooking breakfast 2 mornings for our little group. Those huge burgers at Johnsons Landing at Salton Sea for Saturday lunch, Saturday night banquet is always great thanks to Campfire Skewers and how bout those quality prizes after dinner, and the sandwiches and Gatorade on Sunday at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs. I had 2 PB&Js on Wheat that hit the spot.

[Michael15 1]

Glad to hear both are recovering! As part of the midsweep team I was sure wishing we had a some sort of satellite phone so we could have called right from the spot. Luckily the three of us had 3 different cell phone service carriers and shockingly it was my AT&T service that was able to get through.

[dirt dame 559]

and the sandwiches and Gatorade on Sunday at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs. I had 2 PB&Js on Wheat that hit the spot.

Would have liked to have seen the Nemo's cakes there too.

[Kris 0]

My AT&T service always works out in the dez!

Glad to hear both are recovering! As part of the midsweep team I was sure wishing we had a some sort of satellite phone so we could have called right from the spot. Luckily the three of us had 3 different cell phone service carriers and shockingly it was my AT&T service that was able to get through.

[SCHWINN 0]

and the sandwiches and Gatorade on Sunday at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs. I had 2 PB&Js on Wheat that hit the spot.

Would have liked to have seen the Nemo's cakes there too.

I would like to SORRY that I forgot 4 Cases of Nemos cakes back in my trailer. I was so worried about the sandwiches and the condiments to go with them that I forgot the desert.

[SteelRain 0]

I would like to SORRY that I forgot 4 Cases of Nemos cakes back in my trailer. I was so worried about the sandwiches and the condiments to go with them that I forgot the desert.

Hey, us big guys like cake; it helps make up for all the calories we burn riding

[eddie 0]

I would like to thank all volunteers, sponsors and paid services. It all seemed very professional this year. I know alot of hard work goes on behind the scenes that we don't see.

Alot of great food was prepared over the weekend. There was the volunteer dinner, DS Fox cooking breakfast 2 mornings for our little group. Those huge burgers at Johnsons Landing at Salton Sea for Saturday lunch, Saturday night banquet is always great thanks to Campfire Skewers and how bout those quality prizes after dinner, and the sandwiches and Gatorade on Sunday at Christmas Circle in Borrego Springs. I had 2 PB&Js on Wheat that hit the spot.

+1

It was great meeting those that I had only "seen" on the forum. The volunteer dinner was incredible.

Thanks for being so welcoming to newbie.

[tntmo 887]

Would have liked to have seen the Nemo's cakes there too.

I would like to SORRY that I forgot 4 Cases of Nemos cakes back in my trailer. I was so worried about the sandwiches and the condiments to go with them that I forgot the desert.

I was excited to have a Nemo's cake when I got to Borrego Springs, but they said you left it back at your trailer. That meant I was excited to get a cake when I got back to camp, but when I got there I saw you were having trouble with your RV dumping procedures so I kind of didn't want cake then. Deb came through with brownies and made up for all of it!

[tntmo 887]

One more pic, here's our innovative bike stand to swap out wheels back at camp. It would have been nice to have on the trail, we had to stack rocks there.

[Strega 0]

Another Desert Dash under our belts and I had a really fun time.

Started off picking by picking up Bendobe:

...and heading straight for...

Once we made it to camp, unloaded the bikes and went over to the volunteer dinner. Thank you to everyone who helped put that together, it was incredible as always. TLKing and Carguy were manning the grill and doing a fine job. After some fish, carne, and pollo burritos, we helped PMB construct his domicile for the weekend:

We headed over to the registration area and setup for GPS downloads and Rex had already gotten a head start. Thanks for getting there early. We did a bunch of GPS downloads and it all went very smoothly. Only 1 or 2 GPS devices we couldn't get working and even got 2 Lowrance devices working after converting the .GPX files to .USR.

The next morning we did more downloads at registration then suited up and we were on the bikes about 0830. Since we were leaving late we decided to shoot down S2 to Vallecito and up to Diablo Drop and down into Fish Creek. Here's a shot of our crew Sat morning at Diablo Drop:

Strega / Crawdaddy / Paul M Bowers / Bagstr

Fish Creek:

Fish Creek:

It's Breast Cancer Awareness month

Coming around a right hand corner in Fish Creek I see a Black Jeep and a tall guy pointing at us, and I'm thinking, "WTF did I do wrong?!?" Then I realized it was Erick. I spun back around and chatted with him for a minute while PMB and Bagstr waited at the paved road for us. Crawdaddy and Bagstr had swapped bikes for a bit and I don't think Crawdaddy liked the seat height on the 690 too much, nor would I I'm sure.

We headed off towards the INS tower, then cut over to the NW side of Superstition to pick up the hard track. It was definitely a challenge taking the 620 ADV with 5 gallons of gas up and down all that really rocky stuff, the 2 track, single track, and deep sand over there by the sand wall.

Once we got up to the tower we stopped for a quick view of things and when we started rolling again, I felt something bind up on the front wheel. Let the guys know on the radio I had a bike issue and I found that the pin holding the brake pads in was 1/2 way out, broken and bent. I pulled the pin out, took out both pads and we zip tied the front brake handle in the forward position so I wasn't able to pull it and send the caliper piston into the brake rotor.

We got moving again and opted out of that really steep downhill section since I was sans front brake so we took the alternate way around to the left. I tipped the bike over one time coming up over a small sand berm right in front of 2 girls sitting there on quads. I got a golf clap and then they watched me pick up my 420+ lb machine as I sunk into the sand. Getting started again was even more challenging, as having it pinned in first gear barely got me moving. I was well into the 6k rpm range in 2nd gear when the bike lept out of the sand and I was off and running.

At the bottom of the hill, PMB was showing us his donut skills:

After coming down the front of Superstition we headed over to Wheeler Road to find ourselves the track to get to Plaster City:

You all know this guy...and look, the motor is still running!

PMB and Bagstr:

And here's the final pic I took for the day on Sat:

Sunday I was unable to find the right part to fix my front brake so I decided I would take it easy and survive to ride another day.

All in all, it was a great event. Thanks to all the volunteers and everyone that put effort into making this event happen.

[pyro 1]

Thank you very much to everyone. I had a blast riding sweep on Saturday with a really great team, exceptional weather, delicious food, awesome friends and fun fun fun!

I am so impressed with all of you. Rock On SDAR!

What a great club and amazing group of truly wonderful people!!!

[Bagstr 287]

PMB having wrapped up the Dark Knight role model, I thought to go for White Knight.

No front brake, Not a problem coming off the Top of Superstition =

Chris' idea of a "Fun" trail =

PMBs idea of camping =

Bagstrs review of the day =

[paulmbowers 236]

We got moving again and opted out of that really steep downhill section since I was sans front brake so we took the alternate way around to the left.

We went around that section because there was no way in hell I was going down it.

[Strega 0]

Meh, it's not THAT steep, I've been down it before. (Ok, it IS THAT steep, but only for the first 6-8 ft)

Don't think I wanna try to go up that thing anytime soon. Maybe on the WR with none of the bags and extra weight on it.

[Bagstr 287]

AND, why did we not get a picture of the hill?? Distracted by something,,what was that??

[AATA 0]

We had a great time as well! The only trail side repair we had was simply wiring up the rear fender from a few lost bolts in the steep whoops right before Texaco on Sat. The axle nut repair is way more impressive! Nice work! Other than that, our ride was smooth sailing. Weather was great, good food, good people = good times!

Highlights were the Superstition route and the sweeping sand wash shortly after heart attack hill on Sun morning, but there were a lot of great sections.

Thanks to all the people that put the event together including the nice staff at Butterfield. Overall a great event and we will be back!

[paulmbowers 236]

[Strega 0]

Awesome

[SCHWINN 0]

After lunch on Saturday myself and Pasta Pilot hooked up with Ste63 and CVRick for some fun times on all hardways including my own fun stuff I threw in on the tour. We hung and messed around for about 1 hour at Superstition.

Ste63 coming up the right tuff side of Sand Dam

CVRick following

Taking a break at the towers

The face of Sand Dam looking down

The approach to Phantom Trail. You can just see Pasta in the red jacket bottom middle. You can see the Z of the cutbacks in the middle of pic.

My 1986 Honda Z 50 at the old Daley Ranch House

John and Julie

[650ben 0]

Great shot Paul.

[paulmbowers 236]

Great shot Paul.

Thank you.

[ADV Bum 205]

Great shot Paul.

I thought he was setting up for a show.

[Ste63 0]

SDAR another excellent ride, THANKS..

Schwinn and Pasta the tour after lunch was a blast, great riding with both of ya again.

CVRick

Can't wait till next year ..