Mojave 2-day 400+ mile ride

[boat440 0]

As a new member to this message board would like to get some feedback. What type of rides are most preferred with regards to length, difficulty and location? It seems that the more popular rides are the local, 1-day rides.

As a new member I thought of contributing by organizing a ride. I posted a Death Valley ride with interest, but had to change the date due to motel room availability. Instead let's substitute the below ride. Unfortayely only 1 SDAR member is participating. This is somewhat disappointing given the 469 members.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, as I have future plans for several No Cal, Utah, Nevada and Arizona rides.

Here is the latest Mojave ride:

We will start in Barstow at the Stage/Chevron location. You will be responsible for getting to Barstow by 8:00 AM Saturday, 10/6. We will have a quick riders meeting/introductions, buddy pairings, GPS download (I have a Garmin cable) & then suit-up and be off by 8:30.

It will be a long (200+) mile day, so we need to start on-time. Everyone please bring a backpack for overnight sleeping, spare tubes, first aid, flashlights, survival blanket, water and any other equipment/tools. Prepare like you will have to spent the night in the desert. The temperatures in early October can dip into 40's at night.

The start is the Lenwood exit off I-15 just outside of Barstow. There are a lot of outlet stores at this exit. We will then proceed to the Arco Gas waypoint (in Baker) using either the aqua or green tracks. This is 80.6 (short) or 92.2 (long) miles.

We will have to make a group decision which route to choose:

A. The longest route has 2 gas stops, gets into higher terrain and passes thru Ivanpah, Lanfair and the California/Nevada Air Force base. It is 153.1 miles and is the blue route. Choosing this route the total riding day mileage will be 245.1

B. The medium length route is 124.2 miles and passes thru "The-Hole-In The Wall" and the Mojave National Preserve and is the red route. You will need at least 135 mile gas range. Choosing this route the total riding day mileage will be 226.3

C. The shortest length route is 103 miles and passes thru Fort Mojave and the Mojave National Preserve and is the aqua route. Choosing this route the total riding day mileage will be 195.1

All 3 routes end in Needles. From there is another 11.5 miles (purple route) to the Tropicana Hotel, for an overnight stay. I picked the Tropicana, but feel free to choose your own accomodations. Unfortunately these are road miles (sorry about that) passing thru lower Needles to the river where the Tropicana is located.

You can make your reservation at ( http://www.tropicanax.com/ ) for the Tropicana.

The 2nd day we will use (the southern) yellow route. I need to check if there is gas available in Ludlow(by the Rt 40) symbol. If there is, it is 101.2 miles to gas/lunch, then an additional 95.1 miles back to Lenwood. If there is not gas in Ludlow, we can take one of the above routes back. Generally the southern portion of the terrain is easier, which is good, you will be sore & tired.

[boat440 0]

I'm still learning how to use this message board.

Here is the Google map attachment for the Mojave ride.

Thanks, Steve...

[Joliet 0]

Steve, it is very difficult for me to get away for 2 days for a ride. I need to plan in advance, and I can only get away with this a few times a year. So I ride more 1 day rides, and I only get to do them 1 or 2 days a month. I like to ride difficult, technical trails, a general rule of thumb I use is, if my truck will do the ride, I usually won't. I have 3 goals for this years riding, I want to ride a good ride in Baja 2 or 3 days. I want to ride death valley 2 days, and the Desert Dash.

Next year I would like to add Moab to the mix, or possible skip Baja this year and do Moab instead.

Your first ride sounded very interesting to me but there wasn't quite enough time for all the sucking up I need to do . I look forward to seeing you on a ride soon. Ken

[2Wheels 0]

I don't always get weekends off, but I can usually get them off with enough advance notice. I can't make the Mojave ride because my schedule is already set in stone for that weekend, but I'm going to try to make the Death Valley ride.

The rides you're proposing, No Cal, Utah, Nevada and Arizona, sound awesome. I'd love to go on all of them, but I'll be happy if I manage to make half of them. Sometimes you have conflicts in your schedule and you just have to do other things on certain weekends.

It's discouraging to post a ride and see no interest, but I hope you keep on posting them.

Also, the 400+ members on the forum is misleading. I think a lot of them just came across the forum, signed up and then forgot about it. I've signed up for lots of forums, but I've only ever posted on three of them. I can't even remember all the forums I've signed up for. We really only have about 20 or 30 members who post regularly.

[dirt dame 561]

I would love to do multi-day tours. I want to do at least part of the Trans-American trail and stuff like that, but like others, I can't get time off. Heck, I can't even get two days in a row off each week. I like to do single track alot and have the smaller machines that are geared towards technical riding rather than adventure touring, so I do mostly day rides in areas that suit my tastes and machines well.

[bikeslut 1]

boat-

i'm in the same... er... boat... as the rest.

My days off are Sunday/Monday, so a full weekend requires a vacation day, and time away from my kids... a lot of kids... anything that is multiday usually ends up being a family thing.

even when I did Baja with the guys, it was a sun up to sundown day in the saddle.

Before my last kid, I made a yearly weeklong trip to moab/brian head/fruita, etc., and look forward to riding that area again... probably next year when he's walking.

[boat440 0]

Bike slut, dirt dame, 2wheels & joliet & others,

Thanks for the reply.

Let's see how the 1st ride (Mojave) & 2nd (Death Valley) goes. Seems to be high interest in the Death Valley ride. We might need snow tires!

If the group wants more technical or single track, we can wick it up and go to Big Bear/Arrowhead area or Los Padres area. That's my preference too.

Anyhow thanks for the feedback, I have a better idea of the group rider preferences and work/family commitments (I have 3 kids), will customize the rides to accommodate.

As someone mentioned with most groups there is a large membership, but only 20-30 "regulars" participate. I will be a "regular".

See you on the trail, Steve...

[papaalex 5]

Same here, family commitments, just happy to have one full day of riding somethere on a weekend.

Alex.

[Kevin 0]

[There is a way to ride dirt from Barstow to Baker-if your intested-let me know! Afton Canyon is a great ride via the river and goes accross the dry lake bed!