BigJon01 25 Posted May 7 Got the opportunity to head into NV for 3 days of riding. We were on the NVBDR on the way up starting in Beatty, NV and ending in Diamond Valley. Day 1: Leaving with only 5 hours sleep from the long night before getting to Beatty from San Diego. Weather was perfect riding from Beatty. We made quick work of the section through to Gold Point. We had planned to get fuel in Gold Point (and even called a day ahead to be sure fuel was available), only to find no one there. Be aware of this issue. Pressed on into the mountains near Tule Summit where we found some deep nasty mud. Got lucky that we got out of the mud pretty easily (save this location for later in the story). Dropped down into Goldfield and visited the car museum. Pretty neat, I suppose. Arrived in Tonopah for lunch at Tonopah Brewing Company, good food and nice atmosphere. We pressed on, arriving in Belmont we were tired but the day was still early so we decided to keep moving. Above the Northumberland Mine We found snow covering the entire road from far above the road and off the edge. Decided to find a spot to camp nearby, we camped on the driveway to the mine from the valley floor (locked gate so no traffic). Asleep by 7:30pm... so tired. Day 2: Woke up at 5:30am; coffee breakfast and planning how to avoid the snow covering the road. We opted to backtrack and try a couple different trails that didn't work out. One ended in the mine with no escape. After 13 miles enduro riding loaded bikes through the mountains into the mine (a lot of weeds packing into the skidplate on the T7 caused some smoldering, scary, we put out with water) we decided to traverse the snow. This turned out to be a 15min process, stomp down the snow, pull the bags and ride across, lol. Now dangerously low on fuel on the 690 we decided not to chance the potential snow and reroute on Kingston pass. We took the highway to Austin. Dropped the T7 skidplate to clean out thoroughly and also made a fork seal hook to clean out the leaking seal. On the BDR map it shows 220mi from Austin to Elko, the 690 with the aux tank range is closer to 200mi. We decided to ride into Diamond valley and divert from there to Eureka NV. Hit a bit of strong wind and decided to hotel instead of camping (great choice you'll see why in a second). Day3: We woke up to snow and 25 degrees outside. Over breakfast we mapped our day south toward Tonopah. Decided on a route through Antelope Valley and Little Fish Lake Valley. Leaving Eureka, 25 degrees and windy. Stayed windy the entire 25 miles to Antelope Valley Rd. COLD. All through the valley we never crested 35 degrees but the ride was worth it. Amazing graded road that outdoes most San Diego paved roads. Heading West on 6, the wind was hideous all the way to Tonopah. Lunch buffet at Hometown Pizza was good. We lamented over the map trying not to reverse this section of the BDR back to Beatty... No luck. We rode the BDR north to south from Tonopah. Saw a few badgers in the desert between Goldfield and Tule Summit... who knew there were badgers in NV??? Pulling up on the mud stretch near Tule Summit, we had already planned our sick route around the mud on the hillside. T7 caught a heavy branch which pushed it back and to the ground, 690 made it around nicely. We decided to take a break just on the other side and help Baker Jim from Vermont get his 890 unburied from the abyss of the mud trap. He had been there for a few hours and managed to get in up to just below his seat. With some makeshift wood levers and a lot of hard work we got Jim out. He was very thankful and called off his SOS! Just as we finished another solo rider pulled up riding South to North, he was lucky to be able to stay clean a little while longer. We followed Jim for a little while on our way to Gold Point to make sure he wouldn't have any mud related issues with his 890. After a short stop again in vacant Gold Point we pressed on to Beatty finishing our ride at 788 miles. Loaded up and headed for home (rescuing Jim one more time with the makeshift fork seal tool to stop his leaky seals). Followed the maps through Death Valley and down 395, WTH, arriving in Temecula by midnight. Great weekend! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigJon01 25 Posted May 7 Some pics... 2024-05-05_15-34-23_792.heic 2024-05-03_09-53-10_178.heic 2024-05-04_08-04-51_640.heic 2024-05-03_17-56-54_859.heic 2024-05-04_08-53-49_403.heic 2024-05-05_08-57-39_173.heic 2024-05-04_09-29-33_195.heic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MacDuncan 133 Posted May 7 Great action Big Jon, quite the challenge, thanks for sharing! Mac (Only see 1 pic, and the bikes look clean in that one given your wild ride 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BigJon01 25 Posted May 8 Had to convert my pic files... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
