Motorcycle.com

baconsandwich · 10-21-2009, 06:34 PM

Sorry about the dust – OR/NV 09

We have been planning this desert tour since last fall. 4 friends from the Seattle area that I’ve ridden with a few times were keen to set u their bikes for a multi-day loop even though they’d never done an unsupported ride like this. I knew the way out into Nevada by heart (sort of) and they pieced together maps, google earth and gps tracks for about 3 of the days we’d be in Nevada.

The crew that left my house from left to right:

Colin – 07 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank
John – 06(?) 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank
Myself – 07 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank and new motor (had about 35 miles of easy break in) all new driveset, suspension, seals, spring, brakes, clutch and tires. Basically a rebuilt machine!
Jim – 02 XR650R with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank
Ken – 08 530 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank

more...

The_AirHawk · 10-21-2009, 08:35 PM

Did anyone make it back Alive? Or did the Sierra Clubbers get everyone?

Kenneth_Moore · 10-22-2009, 05:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_AirHawk

Did anyone make it back Alive? Or did the Sierra Clubbers get everyone?

The Space Aliens got them. They are currently undergoing repeated anal probings as their brains are vacuumed from their helmets.

pushrod · 10-22-2009, 08:32 AM

Sounds epic!

Where is Episode Two?

Kenneth_Moore · 10-22-2009, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pushrod

Sounds epic!

Where is Episode Two?

Episode Two is crumpled balls of paper in a Space Alien trash bin next to some worn out probes.

pplassm · 10-22-2009, 09:57 AM

Buckets of awesome, Dude!

baconsandwich · 10-22-2009, 09:13 PM

Episode two is coming... stay tuned.

baconsandwich · 10-22-2009, 09:18 PM

Of course, since I’d been starting and stopping my bike, idling for short periods, checking stuff out, the re-conditioned stock battery gave out. It’s 8:am on the beginning of a huge ride and I’m pushing my fully loaded machine up a hill to try and bump start it. Talk about a workout first thing in the morning!?!?!?

But it started and we rode to meet 2 more guys at the south end of town for final fueling.

At one stop light, a vehicle had discharged all it’s coolant on the road. You know the smell. I was glad it wasn’t one of our machines – yet.

The Seattle crew grabbed breakfast at the Albertsons across the street and I hung out with H.O. and Jason in the shade of the gas stop.

Jason lent me his 950 for most of the winter to create the Great Basin Saddlebag. For his generosity, we gave him a brand new orange unit. I was really looking forward to seeing him punish this bike and kit for the next 3 days. He’s not one of those guys who polishes the 950 – in fact, this thing has had everything thrown at it in hard-core style with Jason at the controls. He has his tools under the seat and was so happy to be able to get the bag off the bike in less than 30 seconds. It went back on just as easily. Cool.

Thumbs up – we’re ready to roll out of town.

more...

baconsandwich · 10-22-2009, 09:42 PM

We’d been joking around as if this was a ‘guided tour’ and they were the ‘clients’ with a very particular set of expectations hence the name of this thread – ‘Sorry about the dust”.

We had many jokes in this context and I’ll try to remember the funniest ones.

Even though it has been the wettest June in the history of Bend, Oregon, there actually was a little dust heading out of town, but not for long.

Here’s Jim, scaring the rodents back into their holes.

Big John on the binders into the corner behind the camera.

Jason on the 950.

I was out front cruising towards Pine Mountain when I saw the law enforcement fellas roll by. They slammed on the brakes and initiated a U-turn which of course, triggered my flight response and I continued ahead to the next junction. Waiting about ¼ mile ahead, I could hear some unintelligible pieces of the conversation. Since I didn’t have a mirror, I figured it would be prudent to just sit tight as see what happened.

The fellows passed the inspection and the 2 officers were actually quite friendly and interested in our journey. After they apologiezed for taking our time Colin said not a problem. “Good to see you guys out here enforcing the rules. It’s the Yayhoos that are screwing it up for the rest of us and we appreciate your work!”

We keep riding south and east. Guys are happy with the route so far.

more...

baconsandwich · 10-22-2009, 10:22 PM

We roll the big cinder road past Pine MT out east toward the Millican road. I got off track a little bit but we hit the big sandy road south towards the Christmas Valley sand dunes. Millican road was hilarious fun, we’re riding side-by-side just hauling ass on moist sand leaving these huge roosts in the road when Colin and I clear a small hill to see more BLM law enforcement guys coming our direction in a truck. We sit down, slow down, wave and hope for the best. There are 5 more bikes behind us doing the same thing and at the next junction we hope they join us.

Which they do. Jim and John rallying the last corner of the delicious sandy entre.

Another 12 mile chunk of big gravel road takes us near the dunes. We couldn’t resist a little sample. There was no one out there and the sand was like that at the beach after a big wave washes up onto the shore. It’s rarely this good out here – very rarely!

It was like a feeding frenzy for about 5 minutes. We could’ve easily used up all our fuel just ripping around the dunes but we had to make Wagontire for lunch and fuel. Plus, we had some fairly rough country to ride between here and there so we continued east towards the big black cloud that we’d been chasing all morning.

My business partner H.O. on the 08 Husky TE510 he ‘borrowed’ for the trip. His trusty XR blew up just before this trip and he was able to spring this machine out of a shop. It’s a long story, but this machine only had 750 miles on it and had just received the ‘power-up’ kit. H.O. was not too sad about his XR at this point.

Jim making tracks on the XR.

Even the 950 was having fun in the compact, wet sand.

So we leave the heavenly dunes and head east through the Lost Forest. It’s a strangely beautiful Ponderosa forest stuck out here surrounded by sand. It should not be able to exist without the normal amount of rain fall but some how it survives quite well and there’s this *****in’ sand track right through it!

Colin –

Ken railing it –

Jason – dual FMF Q pipes booming

Are these the conditions you guys ordered in your tour package? ‘YES!’

more...

10-21-2009, 06:34 PM	#1
baconsandwich Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 26	Sorry about the dust... by Wachs Sorry about the dust – OR/NV 09 We have been planning this desert tour since last fall. 4 friends from the Seattle area that I’ve ridden with a few times were keen to set u their bikes for a multi-day loop even though they’d never done an unsupported ride like this. I knew the way out into Nevada by heart (sort of) and they pieced together maps, google earth and gps tracks for about 3 of the days we’d be in Nevada. The crew that left my house from left to right: Colin – 07 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank John – 06(?) 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank Myself – 07 525 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank and new motor (had about 35 miles of easy break in) all new driveset, suspension, seals, spring, brakes, clutch and tires. Basically a rebuilt machine! Jim – 02 XR650R with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank Ken – 08 530 with Acerbis 6.5 gal tank more...

10-21-2009, 08:35 PM	#2
The_AirHawk Founding Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Livin' in a Van: down by the Mariana Trench Posts: 10,891	Did anyone make it back Alive? Or did the Sierra Clubbers get everyone? __________________ *Parfois, on fait pas semblant* Sometimes, it's not pretend Oderint Dum Metuant Let them hate so long as they fear политики предпочитают безоружных крестьян Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants Nothing to see here, Citizen. Move along now...

10-22-2009, 08:32 AM	#4
pushrod Founding Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Baja 'Bama Posts: 3,478	Sounds epic! Where is Episode Two? __________________ You would not understand, this is not how I am... I have become - Comfortably Numb.

10-22-2009, 09:57 AM	#6
pplassm Founding Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 3,875	Buckets of awesome, Dude! __________________ Mongo just pawn in game of life.

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10-22-2009, 09:13 PM	#7
baconsandwich Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 26	Episode two is coming... stay tuned.

10-22-2009, 09:18 PM	#8
baconsandwich Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 26	Of course, since I’d been starting and stopping my bike, idling for short periods, checking stuff out, the re-conditioned stock battery gave out. It’s 8:am on the beginning of a huge ride and I’m pushing my fully loaded machine up a hill to try and bump start it. Talk about a workout first thing in the morning!?!?!? But it started and we rode to meet 2 more guys at the south end of town for final fueling. At one stop light, a vehicle had discharged all it’s coolant on the road. You know the smell. I was glad it wasn’t one of our machines – yet. The Seattle crew grabbed breakfast at the Albertsons across the street and I hung out with H.O. and Jason in the shade of the gas stop. Jason lent me his 950 for most of the winter to create the Great Basin Saddlebag. For his generosity, we gave him a brand new orange unit. I was really looking forward to seeing him punish this bike and kit for the next 3 days. He’s not one of those guys who polishes the 950 – in fact, this thing has had everything thrown at it in hard-core style with Jason at the controls. He has his tools under the seat and was so happy to be able to get the bag off the bike in less than 30 seconds. It went back on just as easily. Cool. Thumbs up – we’re ready to roll out of town. more...

10-22-2009, 09:42 PM	#9
baconsandwich Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 26	We’d been joking around as if this was a ‘guided tour’ and they were the ‘clients’ with a very particular set of expectations hence the name of this thread – ‘Sorry about the dust”. We had many jokes in this context and I’ll try to remember the funniest ones. Even though it has been the wettest June in the history of Bend, Oregon, there actually was a little dust heading out of town, but not for long. Here’s Jim, scaring the rodents back into their holes. Big John on the binders into the corner behind the camera. Jason on the 950. I was out front cruising towards Pine Mountain when I saw the law enforcement fellas roll by. They slammed on the brakes and initiated a U-turn which of course, triggered my flight response and I continued ahead to the next junction. Waiting about ¼ mile ahead, I could hear some unintelligible pieces of the conversation. Since I didn’t have a mirror, I figured it would be prudent to just sit tight as see what happened. The fellows passed the inspection and the 2 officers were actually quite friendly and interested in our journey. After they apologiezed for taking our time Colin said not a problem. “Good to see you guys out here enforcing the rules. It’s the Yayhoos that are screwing it up for the rest of us and we appreciate your work!” We keep riding south and east. Guys are happy with the route so far. more...

10-22-2009, 10:22 PM	#10
baconsandwich Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Posts: 26	We roll the big cinder road past Pine MT out east toward the Millican road. I got off track a little bit but we hit the big sandy road south towards the Christmas Valley sand dunes. Millican road was hilarious fun, we’re riding side-by-side just hauling ass on moist sand leaving these huge roosts in the road when Colin and I clear a small hill to see more BLM law enforcement guys coming our direction in a truck. We sit down, slow down, wave and hope for the best. There are 5 more bikes behind us doing the same thing and at the next junction we hope they join us. Which they do. Jim and John rallying the last corner of the delicious sandy entre. Another 12 mile chunk of big gravel road takes us near the dunes. We couldn’t resist a little sample. There was no one out there and the sand was like that at the beach after a big wave washes up onto the shore. It’s rarely this good out here – very rarely! It was like a feeding frenzy for about 5 minutes. We could’ve easily used up all our fuel just ripping around the dunes but we had to make Wagontire for lunch and fuel. Plus, we had some fairly rough country to ride between here and there so we continued east towards the big black cloud that we’d been chasing all morning. My business partner H.O. on the 08 Husky TE510 he ‘borrowed’ for the trip. His trusty XR blew up just before this trip and he was able to spring this machine out of a shop. It’s a long story, but this machine only had 750 miles on it and had just received the ‘power-up’ kit. H.O. was not too sad about his XR at this point. Jim making tracks on the XR. Even the 950 was having fun in the compact, wet sand. So we leave the heavenly dunes and head east through the Lost Forest. It’s a strangely beautiful Ponderosa forest stuck out here surrounded by sand. It should not be able to exist without the normal amount of rain fall but some how it survives quite well and there’s this *****in’ sand track right through it! Colin – Ken railing it – Jason – dual FMF Q pipes booming Are these the conditions you guys ordered in your tour package? ‘YES!’ more...