Border Ride Sunday 3-14-10 - It Happened

[Yeti 0]

The ride today was a lot of fun but we had a flat (on my rear tire) and a bad crash that resulted in a helicopter ride for Tom. And the water crossing . . .

Thanks Ken and every one for organizing and herding all of us along this ride today! I had a great time, flat tire notwithstanding, and was bummed I had to bail after 1/2 (?) but we had a couple of delays. I hope Tom's ok, looking forward to hearing.

We had 27 riders at the start!! Pre-ride briefing:

I'll post up some more pictures in a few.

[650hucker 0]

Was a great ride, minus the helicopters...What is tom's screen name?

The water crossing at Corral/PV was even deeper, if you can believe it...

[TrophyHunter 15]

I'll let others tell most of it but first...awards.

Vegetable Television - Andrea - Huevos Rancheros (even if you have no huevos)

klrscumbag - distance award - Pyro from Temecula

kkug - McGiver - only bike with a bead breaker & onboard air compressor

Beezzz - Stork - only guy with long enough legs to save the disappearing front end in the water crossing

Tom - Best body board air surfing - Heal quickly, my friend

Fakey - Magellan - Great lead

Erick - Radio Houdini - give me back my stuff! (already had a PM from him when I logged on )

Ron - Best 2 up knarly washed out road ride

Todd - Best passenger

Nomilk4u - best looking

27 riders started off....and on it goes....let the pics and stories rip....

[Crawdaddy 96]

27 riders started off....

Wow, what a herd............

[Strega 0]

Figures, I didn't get paged once all day =\

Hope Tom recovers quickly

[starpal2 0]

so last week i talked to my dad about going on this ride that trophyhunter and fakename set up for everyone. it was supposed to be a pretty easy ride with a water crossing and awesome scenery and it was for the most part. Well that morning didnt go quite as planned as my dad couldnt find his key for a while then my bike didnt feel like starting but once we were on our way we had no problems at all. we meet up with everyone and get started from rancho san diego. we get down to otay and meet up with the rest of the riders and even added a stranger into the fold. from there we started what was going to be a very eventful ride. riding along the border fence was awesome although the trail was kinda slippery for everyone and i know that i was sliding all over the place in the turns. then we get to the first challange of the day... the water crossing. this turned out to be a very exciting part of the ride as there were some people in the group who hadnt done a water crossing ever or not for a very long time. one of the bikes went down in the water and was pulled out then i went through and made it but was quite wet by the time i got to the other side but also felt extremely accomplished. then one other bike fell down and was pulled out but everyone else made it through. the two bikes who fell had to be blown out to get as much of the water out as possible but after a little coaxing they both fired up and away we went. from there we rode the trail up and around the mountains enjoying the scenery passing by a few border patrol trucks and then we started nearing barrett junction. we stopped and waited for one of the group to get a tube repaired and then those of us that were gonna hit the bail point started off toward the bottom of the hill. on the way down one of the riders (my dad) crashed. his front wheel washed out and he landed hard on his shoulder. others were helping pull the bike up and get his settled on the ground as comfortable as possible. when i got there fakename was already there helping him out and keeping him as calm and comfortable as possible. he was in excrutiating pain and was showed it. we had him lying down on some jackets and got a screen over him provided by fakename to keep him as cool as possible. fakename was awesome keeping my dad in good spirits while at the same time trying to keep him as comfortable as possible AND giving the rest of us directions. we ended up calling 911 and had help on the way. a few minutes later two mounted border patrol agents showed up who had no idea what was going on. we filled them in and they talked with their superiours and stayed with us till help arrived. then a police helicopter showed up and the ballsy pilot landed right on the trail. and came over to assess the situation. seeing as my dad was in no way mobile and the trail was washed out so bad an ambulance was NOT going to even come close to making it up... another helicopter had to be called in to airlift him out. again fakename did an amazing job assisting the officers and getting my dad in the helicopter. i had been holding up just fine for the whole ordeal untill my dad was lifted into the air and he looked so alone suspended beneath the helicopter that it was just kinda tough for me to see. during all this two other members took my dads new but now well used husqvarna down to barrett and had the bartender keep an eye on it. (thank you for doing that by the way) so after i got myself mentally back into riding condition... we continued down to barrett where i parted ways with most of the other riders and headed home with a few others. after a quick gas stop i headed home. arriving at home i found out my dad had been taken to scrips and was going in for x-rays. ( they took him there because of the trama center they have there just in case) then i grabbed my brother and we went and retrieved the bike and brought it home. so now my dad is most likely in route to kaiser hospital (where our doctors are) where he will get surgery on his right shoulder which was dislocated and something was also fractured i dont know what it is yet. however he is okay and was well enough to worry about his bike as any good rider should. im sure there are other who have there side if they haven posted while i have written this also with more and better pictures. thanks again for everyones help and for the great ride even considering. hope to ride with you all again soon.

[TrophyHunter 15]

Anthony...hope you're Dad's okay and heals quickly.

And I hope you're coping...it is kinda wierd seeing someone you love airlifted out.

[bikeslut 1]

Hope everything works out...bummer...

[ShocknAwe 0]

http://s816.photobucket.com/albums/zz86/ph...der%2003142010/

beautiful day and ride with a big group of dual sporters - thanks - get better soon to injured rider

[dstss 27]

Looks like it was an awesome ride. Best wishes and get well soon to Tom.

[Zenosan 2]

Looks like I missed a great ride, thanks for the photos.

[TrophyHunter 15]

More awards:

cmayer31 - Jr Sweeper & all around nice guy

Spyder - The Spyder Award - quietly always there, helping. From co-medical with FN to coach to calling me while we were still out offering up a trailer for bike pick up.

cmayer31/N2TM/klrscumbag - Obstacle Coach - great help

Sure wish we didn't have any injuries but all in all a great day. Outstanding weather, great group. Lots of 1st time SDAR riders...some still in the registration process. Welcome aboard!

The only 3 pics I took were of helicopters...& they'll be plenty of those.

[cmayer31 3]

Thank you Fakename for leading, Trophyhunter for sweeping and everyone else for coming out for a great Sunday ride. It was fun meeting everyone and I look forward to the next ride.

Tom, hope you have a quick recovery!

Some shots from the day:

[Yeti 0]

I, as always, took a lot of pictures.

So we headed out:

First break:

The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular:

Our fearless organizer:

The trail wound up and down:

We rode along the border fence for a while. Now I understand all of the epilepsy comments - the sun shining through the slats created quite a visual effect:

Taking a break on a bridge, there were a few of them:

The road was very twisting:

Me at one of the breaks:

The 205 monument (or 250 or something):

Looking back at the trail we rode along the border fence:

Approaching the dreaded water crossing:

A stylish finish to the water crossing:

I was a water crossing virgin before today. I think I did pretty well on mine, I hope someone got a picture of the water going over my head as I plowed in! It went perfectly except that I left the vents open on my pants so the water poured down into my boots. Really fun.

So at this point we rode up and down and then at a stop someone pointed out I had no air in my rear tire. Crap! So I was a water crossing and flat tire on the trail virgin before today. Not so much anymore. I got a nail in my tire which the collective group fixed.

Let me say it again: Thank you so much to everyone for the help! NoMilkForYou, kkug, whoever it was that had the bead breaker, and whoever gave me the tube!! You all ROCK. (Yes, I had a tube but it was a 21" and someone gave me a 17". Whoever you are let me know so I can get you a replacement.)

As we were finishing up, we heard that someone in the group ahead had crashed and they were bringing in an ambulance for him.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this as I crested a hill:

Sheriff 1 landed and they got all their gear together for a hoist:

They lowered a paramedic down to Tom:

They loaded Tom into a flexible litter:

And lifted him into the helicopter:

And then flew him down the mountain to a waiting ambulance:

Tom, my thoughts and best wishes are with you!

In the meantime, Ron and Todd had taken Tom's bike down the mountain. Just as the helicopter left, they showed back up. Riding Euro style.

After that we rode down the rest of the way. I didn't take any pictures at this point as I was just kind of wanting to make sure I made it down.

I want to point out that Andrea deserves some real props. She rode a heavy bike with semi-street tires and went for it every time. There was one particularly rutted out portion where she rode through it herself rather than having someone do it. HUGE props to you.

So I bailed out at 94 (family obligations) and tried to go home. Except the Border Patrol checkpoint had a line that was frickin' long and annoying:

Right after this I got a HUGE cramp in my hamstring. I had to pull off and stretch it out. Argh.

Yeah, my bike got a little muddy today!!!

Thanks again everyone for an awesome day!!!

[kellymac530 0]

starpal...im glad your dad is gonna be okay, and glad it wasnt worse. most of us have busted up shoulders in the past {i hope only in the past}

and im sure in a couple of weeks or months he will be fine and back at it.

have great people around you when you ride is great.

i havent gotten to ride with the sdar guys yet {as im recovering from a series of surgeries myself} but they all seem like great ride partners.

best wishes starpal and tom

nice looking ride guys

[kkug 146]

I just got done watching The Amazing Race on TV. It kinda reminded me of todays ride. We all just kept plugging along --helping any one that needed help or encouragement.

What a great group.

Thanks

[mainblockhead 0]

Great ride today ,(except for the couple of issues) Tom I hope your going to be alright, get well soon, Yeti don't sweat the tube I'm sure I'll need help someday also .!!!

[starpal2 0]

im doing okay i have and will continue to find ways to cope. i think once he was lifted up it was the not being able to help anymore + not knowing where they were taking him + knowing how much pain he was in + seeing him all alone suspended under the helicopter that made it real tough for me but im home with my family keeping active while my mom and her sister are at the hospital with my dad. and he heals quick and seemed to be having a ton of fun with you guys as i was and im sure he will be anxious to get back out there on another ride with all of you. thanks again for both the ride and all the help when my dad fell.

[hobiee 28]

was this you guys??

http://www.10news.com/news/22841019/detail.html

looks like an eventful ride.

[Zoot 0]

Ayup.

[paulmbowers 236]

was this you guys??

http://www.10news.com/news/22841019/detail.html

looks like an eventful ride.

Nice.

"was spotted" as if a group of fellow rides hadn't called with very specific GPS coordinates. Sheriff's department was terrific- very professional, and clearly on the job.

Journalism in the new millennia.

[Strega 0]

Journalism in the new millennia.

Sad state of affairs.

Like you said, it wasn't like he was all alone and happened to be randomly spotted. He was with a bunch of knowledgeable individuals who would do what it takes, whatever it took, to render assistance including giving Sheriff's detailed information on location, etc.

[Erick 0]

was this you guys??

http://www.10news.com/news/22841019/detail.html

looks like an eventful ride.

Nice.

"was spotted" as if a group of fellow rides hadn't called with very specific GPS coordinates. Sheriff's department was terrific- very professional, and clearly on the job.

Journalism in the new millennia.

The results of a reporter publishing something from just listening to a radio scanner. fragmented info.

Tom, hope you mend soon.

Great ride guys! We have some amazing options close to home (with a plate of course) Hopefully a good lesson to all as well. Calling in help to a remote location in action. Executed perfectly. Those helicopter pilots are GOOD.

[paulmbowers 236]

Just sent to Sheriff's department- ken.culver@sdsheriff.org might help the club (and make someone's day) if they got more than one of these:

Hello!

I'm Paul M Bowers, one member of a large group of motorcyclists riding off-road in the Tecate Mountain area yesterday afternoon.

One rider had an unexpected forceful encounter with the earth which resulted in a painful shoulder injury requiring medical transport. Two members of our group worked together to call 911 with specific GPS coordinates and requested medical assistance.

I'd like to commend the Sheriff's department for their amazingly fast response with two aircraft. The professionalism and abilities demonstrated by the responding officers (sorry, I don't remember their names) were both excellent and obviously valuable to the injured rider.

These are clearly well-trained and dedicated members of the law enforcement community. I hope you'll pass along my personal thanks and kudos to the entire crew of both aircraft.

Law enforcement is not an easy job- thank you for doing it, and doing it well.

p

[socalhodaka 104]

Tom, I hope you have a speedy recovery. I almost recover from just bruised ribs and back from the DD. I'm kind of new to the adventure riding thing and would like to ask after reading some of the comments on the 10 news page about who pays for something like this?

Your on approved roads right so would you driving insurance cover any as if you may have been on a paved road?

Or is this a good case to have the Spot with the insurance. I hope these are cool questions to ask, after my fall at the dash I now know it can happen at any time. It would be hard for me to explain something like this to my wife that I would need to sell her car or something like that to cover a rescue.

Thanks Kelly