Probably a noob question but...

[650hucker 0]

I understand the concept behind braking bumps on a mountain bike, one person locks up the brakes, hits a bump, the suspension locks out and bounces and makes a hole, next person does the same and makes another hole and pretty soon it evolves into a huge mess.

But what causes those huge whoops you find out at ocotillo parallel to the main road? It can't be braking bumps, because it's a pretty open place...

Just always wondered why race courses and heavily ridden places always have chewed up whoops, bumps, dips whatever you want to call them.

[bikeslut 1]

Its a combination of wind, rain, four wheelers and the French...not necessarily in that order

[dirt dame 561]

It starts out with one small bump in a soft type of terrain, and when a bike lands from that bump and power is applied, it digs another little hole, then when somebody comes up out of that little hole and lands, it make another....and so on and so forth. Do that over and over in soft dirt and sand and you have an endless supply of deep whoop de do's. The softer the sand or dirt, the deeper they get.

[Zenosan 2]

Its a combination of wind, rain, four wheelers and the French...not necessarily in that order

Bikeslut is right.

I am French and I have spent many hours out in Ocotillo avec mes Amis digging those whoops. A good whoop is hard to make. They teach you how to make them in French Cooking School.

[650hucker 0]

It starts out with one small bump in a soft type of terrain, and when a bike lands from that bump and power is applied, it digs another little hole, then when somebody comes up out of that little hole and lands, it make another....and so on and so forth. Do that over and over in soft dirt and sand and you have an endless supply of deep whoop de do's. The softer the sand or dirt, the deeper they get.

How come it doesn't seem to happen on fire roads at ocotillo?

And yeah, that does make sense. Thanks!

French? No.

[bikeslut 1]

Ok- Wil I answered you seriously in an email too...

The fire roads don't get a lot of the bouncing that racer type roads get. They also get scraped on occasion by ranger-types...they may, or may not be french rangers... Toyhaulers don't like whoops much.

Also; when it does rain, water doea collect in the bottom of the whoops leading to deeper ruts there

[dirt dame 561]

How come it doesn't seem to happen on fire roads at ocotillo?

You must have not ridden on Pole Line road. That road gets some gnarly whoops in it. Some of the ones near the campsites probably get maintained from time to time and also have big slow moving vehicles on them a lot. Others don't get enough traffic to beat them out of shape, and some just have too hard a base just under the surface.

[starpal2 0]

i believe its called the washboard effect also found on the road in mccain

[dirt dame 561]

i believe its called the washboard effect also found on the road in mccain

Washboard is just teeny weeny stuff though.

[650hucker 0]

That's another one. Washboard is annoying. I always thought it was caused by the tread of a bulldozer

[Zenosan 2]

That's another one. Washboard is annoying. I always thought it was caused by the tread of a bulldozer

The French don't do washboarding-they were always lousy at making them. It's a real whoop or nothing.

They were never very good at drivng bulldozers either.

[Spaugh 1]

there are lots of different groups riding and racing at PC. Some vehicles make much larger whoops than others.

[kellymac530 0]

okay it starts with the wash boards then grows to whoops.

they grade the bigger roads at ocotillo every few months. i have been there mid week on weeks before holiday weekends and they use a huge motor grader blade to cut the road flat. i have personally seen them grade gas dome road from the ranger station area to commune rd and cahuilla from 78 to gas dome. im sure they do others as well like wolfe well rd.

if you look at the main roads like those you can see the big ridges along the sides that is the berm that is left from a motor grader. think of the berm left from a snow plow.

now as to whoops and wash boards---both are the same thing just bigger. the actually come from a harmonic wave frequency.

if you have ever seen those big steam rollers rolling the fresh pavement when they are building a new road or repaving an old one. those are not just a heavy weight that rolls, the have a vibration to them that is timed precisely to a harmonic frequency. there are even different frequencies for different uses. as the wave is going out from the roller it adds to the compaction of the asphalt.

the exact same thing happens to the desert.

if you have ever driven on alot of freways the truck lanes are worse because diesel trucks dont balance their rims and tires, so the out of balance thumps from the trucks ruin the pavement, once they start they just keep growing.

same in the desert, buggies and quads and bikes dont balanace their wheels so it starts like a thump tapping the ground and just keeps growing untill you have knee deep whoops.

the wash boards on roads is small because cars balance their wheels so their harmonic frequency is much smaller waves so they are much tighter whoops so to speak. but once they start they keep growing if they never get re-graded.

i hope that makes sense....i used to rent and sell rollers and compacters and tampers.

[x-man 0]

You guys are kidding me. Hey the question is interesting. The washboard and the whoops follow a certain wave length. It will take a lot of vehicles landing exactly at the same spot to create a perfect sinusoidal wave. So, I would rather have another explanation. Sorry for being skeptical.

[TrophyHunter 15]

Who knew.....? Here ya go X....

Nen nen nen nen ner ner... (2 stroke sound)

YEAH!, OH NO!, YEAH!, OH NO!

I go riding through whoop-de-doos! Whoop-de-doos!

Then I pull a wheelie, yeah wow! Then I do a table top, OOOH!

Then I do a triple jump! YEAH!

When I was a kid, I never bothered with what my friends did.

I just wanted to be

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

Nen nen nen nen nen

YEAH!, OH NO!, YEAH!, OH NO!

I go riding through whoop-de-doos! Whoop-de-doos!

Then I pull a wheelie, yeah wow! Then I do a table top, OOOH!

Then I do a tripple jump! YEAH!

When I was a kid, I never bothered with what my friends did.

I just wanted to be

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

Nen nen nen nen

Yeah!

When I was a kid, I never bothered with what my friends did.

I just wanted to be

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

A dirt bike rider,

A dirt bike rider!

A dirt bike, a dirt bike, a dirt bike, a dirt bike, a dirt bike rider... !

gE('songlyrics').innerHTML = gE('songlyrics_h').innerHTML

[Jim 0]

All I know is that Plaster City West is way more wooped out than PCE. Most of the truck races are in PCW, most of the bike races are in PCE. Is there a relationship? I would like to think so!

Although Doug Wasser from Drive Racing does drag the trails after a Drive race, MDR does nothing like that. Thanks Doug for trying to keep the trails from getting wooped out! :punish:

[KIP 0]

The wheel jumps upon striking an irregularity on the roadway surface and results in digging.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal...=1&SRETRY=0

[xxxinsd 0]

I think its whats left after the wind gods battle the sand gods. It really angers the gods when we dont sacrafice enough desert virgins to them. if we dont burn denailed pallets and offer sobe bombs in their names. Look what happened to the nationals a few weeks ago they battled and then Zeus had to put a stop to the battle and then rained a great flood to soothe the torrmented souls of the sand and wind gods. A whole new desert is offered to us. (if you have been there this week its a new terrain right now). So young grasshopper offer all night buring of clean wood, sobe bombs, and (for you non alcoholic beverages, ) and keep the fun gods happy! X

[bikeslut 1]

I think its whats left after the wind gods battle the sand gods. It really angers the gods when we dont sacrafice enough desert virgins to them. if we dont burn denailed pallets and offer sobe bombs in their names. Look what happened to the nationals a few weeks ago they battled and then Zeus had to put a stop to the battle and then rained a great flood to soothe the torrmented souls of the sand and wind gods. A whole new desert is offered to us. (if you have been there this week its a new terrain right now). So young grasshopper offer all night buring of clean wood, sobe bombs, and (for you non alcoholic beverages, ) and keep the fun gods happy! X

:punish:

like he wasn't confused before

[tlking6 0]

Its actually a ploy of the endangered "Desert Tortoise". He comes out at night and digs the whoops in an attempt to save his species from the reckless dirt bikers that have invaded his homeland. Unfortunately his plan has backfired as man has countered his feeble efforts by increasing his suspension travels and dampening rates on his machinery making what was meant to be a deterrent, an actual feature, attracting even more riders.

I do agree with Brandon that we should continue to offer Sobe's to the Gods and ask for safety and honor to come to the Tortoise, and that they would never give up there fight for survival. We need to learn to live in harmony because after all,,,, what would the Desert be without Woops?

[Covered in Dust 163]

There's whoops in the desert?

[xxxinsd 0]

Its actually a ploy of the endangered "Desert Tortoise". He comes out at night and digs the whoops in an attempt to save his species from the reckless dirt bikers that have invaded his homeland. Unfortunately his plan has backfired as man has countered his feeble efforts by increasing his suspension travels and dampening rates on his machinery making what was meant to be a deterrent, an actual feature, attracting even more riders.

I do agree with Brandon that we should continue to offer Sobe's to the Gods and ask for safety and honor to come to the Tortoise, and that they would never give up there fight for survival. We need to learn to live in harmony because after all,,,, what would the Desert be without Woops?

Well spoken sensei! way to keep good chi. our yen to their yan. balance its what keeps this rock from spinning out of orbit.

"kam sah hamnida"

X

[xxxinsd 0]

There's whoops in the desert?

not when you go as fast as fakey and slut!

[kellymac530 0]

You guys are kidding me. Hey the question is interesting. The washboard and the whoops follow a certain wave length. It will take a lot of vehicles landing exactly at the same spot to create a perfect sinusoidal wave. So, I would rather have another explanation. Sorry for being skeptical.

once it starts it just keeps growing until it reaches a maximum size for that particular soil composition

it really is the process of a oscillating wave

[kellymac530 0]

here you go a scientific explanation of the up and down pressures causing a sonic wave effect...im just sayin..

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8279676&page=1