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Oracle

Fall 2014 Bar 10 ride report....

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Well, most of us got home sometime last night. My crew and I (Vanjoosten, Boston Mangler, and Cl300Capt) mobbed it home from Mesquite in about 7.5 hours. And that included a stop for double doubles and a few "pit stops" for the Mangler, who contrary to his size, apparently has a female size bladder... :heh:

Our trip started from my house in Ramona, where we loaded up the trailer with four of the sickest dual sport bikes every built, correction, three of the sickest dual sport bikes ever built and a Suzuki DRZ 400. We took off Thursday around 4 pm and pulled into Primm around 9 pm to partake in a few ICDB's (Ice Cold Delicious Beverages) at the Tree bar with Crawdaddy, and the rest of the Bar 10 crew that opted for the first day of riding out of Paradise.

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The first day option turned out to be a ton of fun, and the weather was epic. The forecast was for fairly warm temps but that didn't play out and we enjoyed excellent riding conditions, with a slight breeze and temps in the 80's. The scenery was amazing, but because I'm an impatient SOB, I only took a few photos...no time to stop...have to see it all...and pics never do it justice anyway...so ride on...that's what my little voice is always telling me...and I usually listen.

We packed up and left for Mesquite around 2pm on Friday. As we drove, Mangler was telling us how he was going do a night ride as soon as we got there. Unbeknownst to him, I called my bookie and put a $100 at 20/1 odds and it paid off big. I'm pretty sure he just started drinking beer like the rest of us while we all partied in the Holiday Inn parking lot waiting for other SDAR members to arrive.

All the talk at the parking lot party was the weather forecast for Saturday morning, our scheduled departure for the infamous Bar 10. The app of the day was Radar Now, and before our eyes, everyone became an instant Meteorologist and gave their expert opinion of when the thunder storms would start and stop. How much rain we would get and whether or not the washes would be flowing. Not unexpectedly, my predictions were spot on...aside from the fact I was convinced there wouldn't be enough rain to get the washes running. I was wrong...and my crew pointed it out several times…Even The Oracle makes mistakes.

The majority of us pulled out of Mesquite between 9 and 10 am. After heading down trail for an hour or so, we encountered our first challenge of the day. The wash, that I had predicted would not be running, was basically a raging river with 2 foot rapids. A raft certainly would have come in handy at this point and would have provided us an opportunity to do some true dual sporting…dirt bike riding and river rafting (copy right)….hum, I might be on to something here…Chris, I think it’s time to add raft to your list of “tools needed” for dual sport riding.

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Anyway, back to the raging river. As we were debating our next move, I noticed my front tire was flat. Now, I considered riding a wheelie all the way to Bar 10 but decided because of the wet conditions, two tires on the ground was pretty important. So I knocked out a quite tube change and our crew decided to back track to the last trail crossing. Once there, we met up with the bulk of the Bar 10 crew and we all put our heads together to formulate a plan. That didn’t work out, so Strega pulled out his fancy tablet computer, plotted a new route, and we were off. The next 5 hours was a challenge, but fun as heck. We all rolled into Bar 10 caked in mud and wet to the bone. But that was quickly mitigated by cold beer and Crawdaddy’s stories about getting his truck stuck several times on the way out to the ranch.

Sunday started early as the sun crested the eastern ridge. A few cups of cowboy coffee, a hearty breakfast, and pre-ride cleansing started the day off right. Our plan was to head over to Toroweap the hard way. But Boston Mangler decided to take another route as his shoulder (previous injury) was hurting and he wanted to hang out with guys who take more pictures. Myself, Vanjoosten, and Cl300Capt topped off our tanks and started out for the days destination. After taking a few spills in the “rocky” section, Cl300 decided to turn around and head back to Bar10 to fix his Johnson rod and to put some helium in his tires.

Erik and I kept pushing forward through the 10 miles of rocky sections only to be treated to some of the best forest double track conditions I’ve seen in years. Now, you can’t talk dirt conditions with just anyone, but you dirt bikers will understand when I say the moist loamy soil was insane…and that’s all I have to say about that. The ride to Toroweap was nothing less than amazing. We had lunch on the ledge above the Colorado River and debated about whether or not someone would die of a heart attacked before hitting the ground if they fell over the side. Either way, it encouraged me to be respectful of the 1500 foot drop. Dying either way would suck.

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The ride back was uneventful, until my little voice told me it was probably unnecessary to be doing third gear through a downhill rocky section. And then it happened. The rock Gods taught me a lesson…again. The back tired swapped several times and I got launched. Luckily, I landed on the left side of the trail and managed to avoid “most” of the rocks. But I took one in the ribs, which evacuated the air within my lungs, leaving me gasping for precious oxygen. But I had enough air in my lungs to shout, I use the work loosely, to Erik to shut off my fuel petcock like any good biker would do.

It was the hardest hit I have taken in a couple years. But I was grateful nothing was broken and that I would eventually mount my bike again and nurse myself back to Bar 10. Once there, Erik was nice enough to invite me down to the river view, which I politely declined so that I could start slamming Advil in private.

Monday started out with sprinkles and the dread of having to ride 100 miles on a dirt bike with sore ribs and a bruised right elbow. The thought crossed my mind to ask Crawdaddy for a ride out but I quickly dismissed that when I realized the stigma that would certainly be attached to that…So I manned up and the four of use started for home. As it turns out, we had an excellent ride back, and although pain shot through my body every time I crossed a square edge hit, it was worth it.

In all seriousness, I would like to thank Chris for putting this amazing ride together. And I’d like to say thanks to all the Bar 10 vets for making me feeling welcome. It was a pleasure meeting all of you and I look forward to many more Bar 10 visits in the future.

The Oracle out!

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LB...it was great to finally meet you... :smile_anim: I think maybe you missed another one of your "callings" and you could get into writing adventure stories... :coolio: Good stuff...

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Great report!!

Glad to help with the reroute to Bar 10 after the chest high river that washed out the road stopped us.

Dress4Less joined PMB and I for our riding extravaganza for the weekend and our trio had a blast. I'll post up a few pics in a new post once I have them uploaded.

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Always weight the inside peg. Or the outside peg.

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Obligatory standing-on-the-edge-of-Toroweap shot.

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My tormented riding buddies- Dress4Less and Strega.

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Find Dress4Less:

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Strega's easy to find:

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Faux finish- it's a texture tinted and thinned to look like mud. Much of it applied by a Motoz Tractionator.

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Zoot getting the work done

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Others, not as much

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Mangler tackling the hardest section of Friday's ride...Death Valley Boulder Gulch or whatever it's called:

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Vanjoosten showing us how it's done:

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...and the Captain:

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Thanks for starting this thread Loren. Unfortunately I'm limited to a phone for the next few days, I'll contribute more to the thread when I have some time.

Any/all are encouraged to post pics/trail trails.

One note on pics, please use a hosting service like Photobucket or (?) to host your photos rather than attaching directly. You have to be a registered/"signed in" SDAR member to view "attached" pics.......hosted photos can be viewed by the general public and we'll likely have a lot of non members viewing the thread......

I'm headed back to the ranch next Monday-Wed with a 4 wheel group.......I'll have more to report on the updated/aftermath trail conditions when we return.......hopefully the standing lakes will have dissipated....

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Here's a little peak of what I was working on Friday for the 2015 event(s) while you folks were out on the 2014 optional day one tracks out of Goodsprings......do NOT skip day one :coolio:


94C4A994-A530-40F7-9814-A4E67223EB3E_zps


CDF24848-7372-4DF9-8E37-F3B27DAB1CDE_zps

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I got to tag along with Paul aka: PaulMBowers and Roger aka: Strega for three great days of riding, laughter and fun.

Paul at BAR 10 river overlook ~10 mi south of the ranch

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Chris at Bar 10 river overlook ~10 mi south of the ranch

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Paul at Toroweep

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Paul and Roger at Toroweep

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Met two retired couples from Connecticut at the Toroweep picnic table. They were an absolute crack up! The lady sitting down in the picture really liked "stirring up the pot." When she heard that a certain individual in our group fell over in a mud bog she said, "What? Are you some kind of Wussy or something?!" They had us in stitches... :smile_anim: See that striped hand bag on the table? It was an endless supply of snacks...Ritz Bitz Crackers, Coconut/Lime flavored brownie thingies, special Connecticut Peanuts, Trail Mix and on and on...it was like a super market in a hand bag!

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The helo showed up in time for one flight around the ranch! :smile_anim: Quick story on the pilots. The "main" pilot, Logan, is from Wickenburg, AZ where Cdaddy, I , Vaudois (V-Dog) and hopefully my son...will be riding the "Howlin' at the Moon" ride the first weekend in November. Logan said that if he has that weekend off he would try to ride with us. The other pilot was Scotty. Scotty attended and graduated high school in Rancho Bernardo the same year as my daughter. They had classes together...small world indeed.

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I got to ride shot gun! :coolio: Keep the feet away from the pedals Chris!

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Flying down the valley south over the road that leads to the ranch overlook

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Mountain range east of the ranch

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Looking down over the horse corral and gas area of the ranch. The road to the right is the main rode in/out. It heads north towards the school house and/or over the Whitmore point.

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Sunset out the helo window

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Ranch view from above, coming in to land

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Our landing pad

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Ben works at the ranch. He and Garth gave us a great history/background lesson on the ranch. Crawdaddy (the man!) is seated far left in light blue shirt.

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I should have taken a lot more photos...just gives me an excuse to go back again. I had a great time riding with Strega and Bowers and they were very helpful with my rear flat tire. Thanks again guys. I got to see some folks from last years ride and I met some new friends and fun people! :smile_anim: Highly recommended... :coolio:

Chris

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I got to tag along with Paul aka: PaulMBowers and Roger aka: Strega for three great days of riding, laughter and fun.

Bowers and they were very helpful with my rear flat tire. Thanks again guys. I got to see some folks from last years ride and I met some new friends and fun people! :smile_anim: Highly recommended... :coolio:

Chris

Aw, so I wasn't the only one to get a flat. I don't feel so lonely now.

Thanks for sharing the pics Chris, great times for sure. I'm hoping to go back next Fall.

LB

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I got to tag along with Paul aka: PaulMBowers and Roger aka: Strega for three great days of riding, laughter and fun.

Bowers and they were very helpful with my rear flat tire. Thanks again guys. I got to see some folks from last years ride and I met some new friends and fun people! :smile_anim: Highly recommended... :coolio:

Chris

Aw, so I wasn't the only one to get a flat. I don't feel so lonely now.

Thanks for sharing the pics Chris, great times for sure. I'm hoping to go back next Fall.

LB

LB - Yep. It happened right after the split to the School House route/Whitmore Overlook route...in retrospect, it could have happened in a much worse place for sure. It was a "snake bite" pinch...

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Here's a little peak of what I was working on Friday for the 2015 event(s) while you folks were out on the 2014 optional day one tracks out of Goodsprings......do NOT skip day one :coolio:
94C4A994-A530-40F7-9814-A4E67223EB3E_zps
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Chris slide the cam to the left....that little rock thing looks like a line.

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Went back out in the Side X Sides/Jeeps with Hoss on Oct 6th-8th.....trails are fine now......."The Lane" (as it's known) in front of the School House has been repaired......

A few pics

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Then I did some more riding on land/water in the Bullhead City area

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Went back out in the Side X Sides/Jeeps with Hoss on Oct 6th-8th.....trails are fine now......."The Lane" (as it's known) in front of the School House has been repaired......

A few pics

568_zps07afb694.jpg

026_zps9b0b6e97.jpg

035_zpse0d29636.jpg

578_zpsa1c43c8e.jpg

Then I did some more riding on land/water in the Bullhead City area

594_zps4a7bdcd6.jpg

021_zpsfb49f86a.jpg

591_zps1e12233d.jpg

Looks like a great time...four wheelin', two wheelin' and a little water wheelin'! :smile_anim:

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First time out there "not" on a bike.....quite different and more scenic as I wasn't blowing through the sites. We all had a great time despite the "shakedown" breakdowns....Going to be an annual trip with the Jeeps/sidex's

May even go back around March if the weather is good at that time.

Bummer the head gasket blew on the Cherokee I had spent so much time getting ready to make the trip. Good thing one of the guys in our group had a fully loaded Ford Raptor just sitting in the parking lot back in Mesquite. (we were only about 8 miles in)

Turned the broke down Jeep down hill and raced to get the Raptor for the remaining of the trip.....drove his Jeep the remaining and he drove his Raptor.

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Walked the short walk and found lots of Petroglyphs

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Might have to get in on the 4 wheel version. Looks like the Tundra would do it. It'd be nice to get my wife out there.

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