a day in the desert

[Spaugh 1]

It had been a long time since briana and I went for a ride just the 2 of us. We slept in, had breakfast and made it out to the desert by noon. The weather was still mild with lots of greenery on the ground. First stop painted gorge.

There is one rather large hill that I've been trying to get up for a while. Its been dubbed "THE hill" by our gang. Here is video of me finally making it... twice. Free lunch and beer for anyone that can follow me up this one.

THE hill take 1

THE hill take 2

Briana shows me how to do some hill climbing next

brianas hill

after testing the hills, we did a little desert single track

briana rearranges some rocks

we cross country'd it for a bit, I followed briana for a minute until we found shade.

ok, enough resting, more cross country in some untracked washes

then we found some cool ridges to ride along

and then she leads the way up to the top of this one.

then we found this thing

the end

[Crawdaddy 96]

[TrophyHunter 15]

Nicely done! Great day.

[rexr 0]

Very cool.. Looks like it was a great ride..

[mctrails 38]

Nice! Wish I could have been riding with you guys. I've done that hill a couple of times. It's a good one.

Thanks for the virtual ride!

[dstss 27]

I think I recognize that last hill in your pics over looking the wash. We always called it Mat's Hill. Mat is one of the kids in our camp who one day saw that hill in the distance from our camp at Superstition and said "Let's go there". Looks like a great day for a ride.

[Bagstr 287]

Interesting open desert exploration north of Painted Gorge. Fun to flip back and forth with Google Maps to try to locate the reference points.

That Flat Top mountain is a good reference.

[dirt dame 559]

Looks like you had a blast.

[Zoot 0]

Where is "The Hill?" Do you have a gps coordinate? I am always looking for new poi's I believe we met at the last desert dash. I was part of the sweep crew drowning our sorrows in beer and pizza cuz we missed the lunch truck

[briana 0]

32.810515,-115.969266

[Zoot 0]

Righton. Thanks!

32.810515,-115.969266

[dsfox 0]

Thanks for sharing...Looks like a great day....as a land surveyor, we use similar gps stations to set up control for surveys....where is that one?...

[kellymac530 0]

looks like a great day.....a little dirtbike date

[HotRod82 2]

looks like a great day.....a little dirtbike date

Hey that was pretty good on a 2 smoker....that hill is a lot easier on my 525 than it is on my kx250. nice.

[dirt dame 559]

I don't know why everybody bags on two stroke bikes. If they are tuned for cross country work, even little bikes will climb hills decently. There's a cult following for the Husqvarna WR125. They don't work good out of the box, but after a little powervalve tweaking and installing the correct carb (Kehien 38 Airstriker), they will climb just about anything. I wish I had the money to buy a new one, because they look like a blast. Even larger, heavier riders seem to enjoy the heck out of them.

[Spaugh 1]

looks like a great day.....a little dirtbike date

Hey that was pretty good on a 2 smoker....that hill is a lot easier on my 525 than it is on my kx250. nice.

I have a big bored 450exc and the 300. Its much easier on the 300 for me anyways. Especailly when you don't make it and have to pick it up and turn around!! The 300 is my weapon of choice for cross country and technical terrain. There is only one terrain I prefer the big pig thumper on, the highway.

By the way, if you listen close to the 2nd video during the final ascent, you can hear the power valve working its magic. Getting that correct 2$ power valve spring and putting the correct pre load on it has made a big difference in the power delivery on that bike.

[BrendenSD 0]

Awesome pics! Looks like some nice ridin!

[robertaccio 406]

I don't know why everybody bags on two stroke bikes. If they are tuned for cross country work, even little bikes will climb hills decently. There's a cult following for the Husqvarna WR125. They don't work good out of the box, but after a little powervalve tweaking and installing the correct carb (Kehien 38 Airstriker), they will climb just about anything. I wish I had the money to buy a new one, because they look like a blast. Even larger, heavier riders seem to enjoy the heck out of them.

its all about the indian not the bow/arrow.

a pro on YZ80 (or similar) will climb anything any of us will climb, with possible exception of a pure sand steep dune hill, but even that is not even out of the question.

You all would be surprised at what my kids 97 XR100 or RM125 will climb with my tank arse (read heavy weight) on it, its all about balance, clutch and mostly WOT position.

Nice fotos and vid, good stuff B&B!

[HotRod82 2]

I don't know why everybody bags on two stroke bikes. If they are tuned for cross country work, even little bikes will climb hills decently. There's a cult following for the Husqvarna WR125. They don't work good out of the box, but after a little powervalve tweaking and installing the correct carb (Kehien 38 Airstriker), they will climb just about anything. I wish I had the money to buy a new one, because they look like a blast. Even larger, heavier riders seem to enjoy the heck out of them.

I'm not baggin on 2 strokes at all....there is nothing like the smell of Castor in the morning. I wouldn't trade my 2007 KX 250 for anything. With that being said, a MX set up like my KX is much more difficult to hook up on that LOOOOSE hillside. I cruise up that hill on my KTM...its all about traction. I did ride a KTM 300 a couple of years ago and it was really good too....