1night noob ride with weather.

[Mr.JAJA 380]

I met the group at the motocaffee in Ramona where everyone trudeld in in the expected time.  Had a coffee and the afternoon  cake and a lot of talking was going on. It's an easy ride and we stopped the first time at the Southerland dam Bridge. At this point we lost one rider (Dunken)and gained one ( Hawk) who run late. Next stop the old MesaGrande trading post and one at the Hideout. One more dropout here. Than we got our sausages in Warner springs and on the road / trail we went. The sky start to get darker with the minute. As soon we arrived at camp, we picked spots and setup tents. We ended up with 6 tents at one spot and some scattered around.  The candrink and shats where more popular than the tent setting. Assoon the fire got started, everyone gathered around the fire pit. Meet the new guys, learning about the past and hearing about the future. It was a active discussion going on and you have to listen to 3-4 conversations at all times. We got some sprinkles during the night but not enough to get flushed away.  That would be a Adventure. In the morning, I called it a night with my wake-up call. After setting up the kitchen I made breakfast for me and started the day as it should be. The ride home went without incident,  except that I got past by a TW200 and a Husky, (I stopped to take a picture). Back home safe,thanks to Tom, welcome all Noob.

[tntmo 887]

Wow, when I first thought about putting this together I figured 3-4 people may be interested but this turned out to be quite an event.  I think we had 15-16 bikes at the start or something like that?  A few people were just there for the ride, but we ended up with enough people to take up three or four campsites.

One minor get-off on the dirt section, sounds like MacDuncan is ok....sorry to see that happen but you shall ride another day.  The Warner Springs gas station food was very good, highly recommend that if you're in the area.  The campground was awesome, only a few other campers there and we weren't too loud or annoying I don't believe.  Thank you to Tim for bringing firewood and beverages.

Thank you very much for everyone involved, y'all made this a great experience.  If you were a noob camper before (including if this was your first camping trip with this bike, or this luggage system, etc) then you are now promoted to "amateur camper".  You may pick up your certificate in my garage if your bring me a cold beer.

Please post your pictures and writeup on this post.  

Edited October 23, 2022 by tntmo

[tntmo 887]

Oh yeah, we did get a little bit of rain.  It started misting a bit maybe around 7 pm and get to the annoying level around 9pm.  It wasn't bad, enough to get the ground wet but not muddy.  I don't think the wind ever was a factor.  Anyway, just goes to show that if you worry too much about forecasts you may just end up staying home forever.

[moto_rph 177]

I can't add much to what @Mr.JAJA and @tntmo have said already other than saying thanks to Tom again for what turned out to be a really nice get together.  Lots of good people and lots of interesting conversation around the campfire.  

Thanks to all that attended.....hope to see you on the roads/trails soon

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2022 by moto_rph

[Pokey151 244]

wish I could have made it

[Bub_Hannah 174]

Great pics folks!            Hated wussing out.     Honestly, I've never been the camping type but I did want to give it a try.    I'm the guy who stayed in a Hotel in Borrego for the Westmoto38 training....lol.  Anyway, I waited too long for prep and stressed out at the last minute. 

Thanks to everyone who offered up, tents, bags, parkas and everything else.   Mike even offered me his extra bike if I hadn't gotten mine together.    You can tell this is a great group of folks, many of whom I've had the pleasure of riding with previously. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by Bub_Hannah

[Zubb 1061]

Thanks to everyone that can along and thank you @tntmo for organizing. 
had a great time with great people. 
 

after all that sausage going around I needed a ‘cleanse’ and hit the bar for a little baseball and Ahi Salad. I feel better already. 8-)

[J5ive 92]

@tntmo THANK YOU!!!   I hope you put one of these on again, I believe I had a successful first time camping on a bike.  I think I'm in for my second bike camping trip.

I was able to see some friends, meet new people, got to hear some great stories, all while enjoying a beer. I had a Blast...

There were of few of us Noob's at the camp fire that heard stories of the BDR...sounds like some of us want to do one - we'll be looking for post.  Could there be a SDAR  BRD in the future???

[tntmo 887]

5 hours ago, J5ive said:

 

There were of few of us Noob's at the camp fire that heard stories of the BDR...sounds like some of us want to do one - we'll be looking for post.  Could there be a SDAR  BRD in the future???

There are a lot of them, it’s just that the people going aren’t sharing the adventure with the group.  I’m trying to change that a bit.

Thank you for coming along! 

[shutterrev 469]

Man, thanks for sharing the pics and some report guys - sorry I missed this campout looks like a good time.

Nick 

[DSM8 360]

Video

[Zubb 1061]

Am curious to hear if anyone discovered any pros or cons to their kit they want to change before they go on a larger adventure?

luggage?

clothing?

tent / gear?

[tntmo 887]

6 minutes ago, Zubb said:

Am curious to hear if anyone discovered any pros or cons to their kit they want to change before they go on a larger adventure?

luggage?

clothing?

tent / gear?

It was my first trip with my KTM 690 and first time using the Mosko Moto setup.  I had used a Giant Loop bag on my Husky before, so have done soft luggage in the past.

Packing before the trip, I realized that my usual sleeping bag just wasn't compact enough.  Might work now that I have repacked a few times, but I used my wife's sleeping bag that is much more compact.  It was ok.  I have a small pillow that I have always took along, will probably replace that with an inflatable.  I carry too many tools, not sure that I can change that because I am "that guy" who helps others.  My tent, may experiment with not packing it in the original bag to see if I can make it smaller.  I don't want to get a smaller tent.

All said, the trip was put together by me for 100% selfish reasons so I could test my setup.  It was my honor to be able to share the experience with everyone who showed up.

[Zubb 1061]

It was my first camp trip with the Mosko 25/25's on a rack.  I wanted to pack all gear except the tools inside, except for hydro flasks and fuel bottles.  Also, test my 1 man superlight tent in the rain.

The reckless80 setup rides a LOT better and I'll run that on personal trips.  The 25/25 on a rack is much easier to get in and out of.  I'll run that on tours as I'm often helping others with stuff.

The 1 man tent is going back to REI !!  I stayed dry enough, just realizing that I'm willing to pack a bigger tent for more "reasonable" space for a man my (tender) age.

Minimizing the Pbottle, and leaving the chair at home leaves me a little empty space for everything.  I hate overpacking the luggage.  

I'm looking at options for a collapsable Pee bottle.  Dedicating 1 liter of space for an empty bottle is just too "expensive".  Gatorade bottles do not work.  They all have a small opening that I can't get the sausage into.   Sidenote:  For those that got up a couple of times and crawled out to pee in the rain. . . . now you know why I have a pee bottle.

I forgot to bring my doormat!  I always have a sort of mini-tarp in front of the tent zipper so I drag less dirt/sand into the tent with me.

Riding gear:  I've pretty much had it all through the years.  Last year I went down the motocross rabbit hole and tried the Mosko Moto method of separate armor under a shell when needed. Particularly in light of all the desert riding I do.  I'm done with it.  I'm going to have a MoskoMoto sale and get rid of most of it, returning to a proper adventure riding suit.  This means I'll probably also have to sell off my Garnae G12 boots!  I love those boots!  You just can't get Klim or BMW pants over the top of them.  Since resale $$ is quite low on boots I may keep them and one pair of Mosko ITB pants for 90* + riding we have.

So here's the thing.  This always has been and always will be a journey.  Our evolution through bikes and gear and camping gizmos is always changing.  It's innate in most of us to want something just a little bit better.  The most important thing to me is to just ride.  Get off the web and out of the garage and put some miles on today.  The worst thing you could do is to have a pristine bike and the fanciest gear, all without a dent or scratch on it.  That setup belongs in your living room where you can look at it every evening and dream about "someday". Which would be awesome..... as long as you had a seasoned warrior waiting for you outside.

[DSM8 360]

So some thoughts on this.

Over the boot pants, I have had too many times where they catch on my pegs when trying to get a foot down in a hurry, they are on my do not fly list.

Compartmental gear(armor under jersey under rain shell) works very well in the time of year when cold is not such a big deal. For winter camping and trips it HAS to be a jacket with integrated armor for me. I am not a huge fan of gortex so I prefer a rain shell that fits over everything and packs small, this serve many purposes in addition to rain protection, Cold Wind etc all are more manageable if the first layer is impervious to all of that.

Pee Bottle -  hey what ever floats your boat,  apparently for @Zubb it's pee...who knew

Tents/Pads/Sleeping Bags - This is VERY much a personal preference thing. BUT that said the most important thing on any ride is being able to get sleep. Everything else is secondary to that, so what ever combo allows you to sleep is more important that how small you can get it (I am talking about your gear packing, get out of the gutter).

I Personally prefer a tent that is open on the end and not the side, with a single larger vestibule, these are hard to find but work well for me, gives me enough room to get stuff out of the weather and still packs pretty small. Like Zubb I also run a "Doormat" to help keep crap out of the tent.

In the summer my camp role is about 2/3rds the size of when I am winter riding and the sleeping bag actually is not the biggest factor in that, I use a 0deg down bag, again giving up something (H20 proof) to get something (small pack size). Usually it is the warmer riding gear I bring that makes up the difference and a slightly thicker pad on which to sleep.

Dunno if this helps anyone but if so, great, if not...

@Zubb reach out to @J5ive if your going to sell those boots that is what he is looking for.

[kkug 146]

Thanks Tom for getting everyone out . If it was not for a ( Exclusive BDR mini adventure ) I would have liked to have gone . 

[DSM8 360]

1 hour ago, Zubb said:

...willing to pack a bigger tent for more "reasonable" space for a man my (tender) age.

[shutterrev 469]

2 hours ago, Zubb said:

The reckless80 setup rides a LOT better and I'll run that on personal trips.

I've never owned the R80, but have borrowed it from Wade before and wanted to offer a pretty objective review - my wife, at the time was on a new to her bike, Multi 950. The multi is much taller, and heavier than her F650GS was, and has gas in a standard tank, not under the seat and in the tail like the F650GS had. We set out to go ride and camp around Joshua Tree area for a few days, and there was to be dirt on the trip so didn't want to use her shiny painted Ducati boxes. 

Remember how I mentioned the MS950 was much taller, and heavier than her previous bike - well I was worried about then strapping Tent, sleeping bag and her stuff to the back of that thing throwing her off her game. But she said the entire time, no matter what she had in the R80 she could not tell the R80 kit was on the back of her bike, it really hugs the tail and doesn't alter the ride - at that point she was still figuring that bike out so that was great - the trip went well, even the dirt and sand out to the campsite etc. 



R80 is a pretty fantastic rig, if you can afford it. If you can't (or don't want to) shell out that coin, TUSK makes a pretty descent copy. 

Edited October 24, 2022 by shutterrev

[moto_rph 177]

4 hours ago, Zubb said:

Am curious to hear if anyone discovered any pros or cons to their kit they want to change before they go on a larger adventure?

Going on a larger adventure for me may mean switching from my KTM 500 to my 1200GSA.  I can pack more.  I found out for this simple overnighter, I had to make choices on what I could take.  Sunday morning, I was cold/wet and didn't have enough room for my JetBoil.  @Mr.JAJA took pity on me, and I made some hot chocolate.

However, for Saturday night I did manage to find room for a 64oz YETI full of Hornitos margaritas.

Maybe my problem is with priorities??

 

[Zubb 1061]

2 hours ago, shutterrev said:

I've never owned the R80, but have borrowed it from Wade before and wanted to offer a pretty objective review - my wife, at the time was on a new to her bike, Multi 950. The multi is much taller, and heavier than her F650GS was, and has gas in a standard tank, not under the seat and in the tail like the F650GS had. We set out to go ride and camp around Joshua Tree area for a few days, and there was to be dirt on the trip so didn't want to use her shiny painted Ducati boxes. 

Remember how I mentioned the MS950 was much taller, and heavier than her previous bike - well I was worried about then strapping Tent, sleeping bag and her stuff to the back of that thing throwing her off her game. But she said the entire time, no matter what she had in the R80 she could not tell the R80 kit was on the back of her bike, it really hugs the tail and doesn't alter the ride - at that point she was still figuring that bike out so that was great - the trip went well, even the dirt and sand out to the campsite etc. 



R80 is a pretty fantastic rig, if you can afford it. If you can't (or don't want to) shell out that coin, TUSK makes a pretty descent copy. 

I completely agree with your wife.  I've been running the R80 for 2 years, a rough guess of 10,000 miles on BDR type riding and 20,000 miles on the luggage.  It literally does make you forget it's back there, even over all those CO passes.  Why would I try something else?  Because to find anything at all in the side bags I have to pretty much pull the bag and dump it on the ground.  It's super power is also it's weakness.  Do that in the rain a couple times . . . . . ugh!  Do it on tour helping others with frequent needs.... get's old fast.  That's why I'm of a mind running the 25/25's on tour like Dusty and Tom do.  But the R80 is proof that if weight is carried low and forward, it's affect on the bike is greatly minimized.

That picture of you and your wife out living the dream is Epic!  

[shutterrev 469]

1 minute ago, Zubb said:

That picture of you and your wife out living the dream is Epic!  

It's one of the best things in my life if not the best, sharing riding with her and being there to watch her learn how to ride, get better at it, and love riding herself. I know you love riding with your son, and watching him turn in to a great rider - it's just a good thing. 

[Zubb 1061]

1 hour ago, moto_rph said:

Going on a larger adventure for me may mean switching from my KTM 500 to my 1200GSA.  I can pack more.  I found out for this simple overnighter, I had to make choices on what I could take.  Sunday morning, I was cold/wet and didn't have enough room for my JetBoil.  @Mr.JAJA took pity on me, and I made some hot chocolate.

However, for Saturday night I did manage to find room for a 64oz YETI full of Hornitos margaritas.

Maybe my problem is with priorities??

 

And thank you for the Marg's!!

I have a friend that doesn't carry a jetboil.  When asked why, he said look around you.  There are 10 jetboils in camp!  Personally I cannot let my access to coffee be dictated by anyone else.

Edited October 24, 2022 by Zubb

[J5ive 92]

6 hours ago, Zubb said:

Am curious to hear if anyone discovered any pros or cons to their kit they want to change before they go on a larger adventure?

If I go again:

PRO - Clothing - was very comfortable/warm, happy with my choices

CON - Tent - need a larger tent and sleeping pad - used a Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 person tent - way too small for me, loaned to me by a backpacking friend.  I can add a pound or two more in the weight of the tent, I'm on a bike, she walks.  My sleeping pad (loaned) was narrow, don't know if that's how it is or do they have wider ones.  I needed something to get my stakes out of the ground in the morning and I didn't have anything.  @Hawkins loaned me one of his tent stakes and I got the job done.

PRO - Luggage - I used a dry bag mounted to the seat and a Rigg Gear Large Tail bag, had more room then I needed.

This overnighter is making me re-think a purchase I made - I have (did not use) Mosko Backcountry 35L panniers and a Backcountry 40L duffle for the top.  This might be way too much for my T7, time will tell.  The products are still in the box they came in waiting to be assmebled and put on the bike...may think about selling it.

This trip showed me the value of going as light as possible, BUT with enough stuff to make sure I enjoy the trip.  I'm not Euell Gibbons and living off Pine Cones...you know many parts are edible...

Edited October 24, 2022 by J5ive

[Zubb 1061]

3 hours ago, DSM8 said:

So some thoughts on this.

Over the boot pants, I have had too many times where they catch on my pegs when trying to get a foot down in a hurry, they are on my do not fly list.

-SNIP-

In the summer my camp role is about 2/3rds the size of when I am winter riding and the sleeping bag actually is not the biggest factor in that, I use a 0deg down bag, again giving up something (H20 proof) to get something (small pack size). Usually it is the warmer riding gear I bring that makes up the difference and a slightly thicker pad on which to sleep.

Dunno if this helps anyone but if so, great, if not...

@Zubb reach out to @J5ive if your going to sell those boots that is what he is looking for.

OTB pants,  I've torn open 2 brand new pairs of KLIM pants hooking them on the footpeg.  Both pairs, on the first day I wore them.  The embarrassment of falling over is gone, but the seamstress' repair of them, one with a new leg zipper lives on to remind me of my failures.  While I prefer ITB (unless it's raining), I have learned with OTB to always always always tighten up those pant cuffs so they are snug to the boot!

Bags - I have a 30* 850 fill down bag.  It's quite compact packed.  It was plenty warm enough in the low 40's saturday night. If it got much colder though I'd have needed to zip it all the way up and draw the collar in.  Probably the first bag I've ever owned that I feel will match the temp rating very closely.  And I always have a light puffy in my kit and when it gets horribly cold anytime, anywhere, the puffy comes out and works a treat in the bag as well.  It's the Mosko Ektotherm, so it will also plug into the bike and heat me up during those weird random snow storms and rain storms over mountain passes.  Ultimate variability without "adding" another piece of gear.

[DSM8 360]

1 minute ago, J5ive said:

If I go again:

PRO - Clothing - was very comfortable/warm, happy with my choices

CON - Tent - need a larger tent and sleeping pad - used a Big Agnes Tiger Wall 2 person tent - way too small for me, loaned to me by a backpacking friend.  I can add a pound or two more in the weight of the tent, I'm on a bike, she walks.  My sleeping pad (loaned) was narrow, don't know if that's how it is or do they have wider ones.  I needed something to get my stakes out of the ground in the morning and I didn't have anything.  @Hawkins loaned me one of his tent stakes and I got the job done.

PRO - Luggage - I used a dry bag mounted to the seat and a Rigg Gear Large Tail bag, had more room then I needed.

This overnighter is making me re-think a purchase I made - I have (did not use) Mosko Backcountry 35L panniers and a Backcountry 40L duffle for the top.  This might be way too much for my T7, time will tell.  The products are still in the box they came in waiting to be assmebled and put on the bike...may think about selling it.

This trip showed me the value of going as light as possible, BUT with enough stuff to make sure I enjoy the trip.  I'm not Euell Gibbons and living off Pine Cones...you many parts are edible...

You have a 3rd option if you ditch the Mosko stuff.
Small and THIN bags on the side racks, you put into those everything you DONT use for camping etc.
Tubes, tools to change a tire and other stuff go into the bottom of the bags, and maybe stuff that is light goes on top, only getting into the bags once a day at most helps to determine what you stuff into them, they also take away bulk from areas where you need the space but allow the bringing of important stuff for emergencies.
Mine always have the tools and tubes, emergency food ration (dehydrated stuff just dont do that in bear country), usually a pair f shoes I wear at camp go on top.

stuff like that.

 

https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/parts/tusk-traverse-pannier-bags-p