Mar. 28-31, 2013 Death Valley nOOb's Rally

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Huge thanks to Joel and his posse.
Great times were had by most.

Let the reports begin!

I didn't take many photos this year, so most of these are from Saturday.

I led a group up Chloride Cliffs. We did some non-noob sections and everyone rode through them like they were nothing. Especially Sampath:



Todd forgot that the Feats of Strength is for Festivus, not Easter:







After the mine, we headed up to the top. The group of guys with me had never to been to Death Valley before. They thought the view toward Beatty was incredible:





Until we hiked up to the top and looked out over the valley:





Sampath after riding like a pro:



Contemplating a BASE jump:



We hit Beatty for lunch and gas, the headed off to Rhyolite and Titus. Here we are at the top of the pass on the way to Titus Canyon:





In Titus:

Arnie on the SE


Chris on the DR650


Todd on the GSA


Sampath on the BMW 800


Tae on the WR 250


The canyon ahead:



Sampath and Tae:







Some of Titus Canyon:



















Trying some Joel photos:





Don't let Sampath tell you he's a Noob. He didn't crash at all. I wish I could ride that smooth.







The weather was incredible for the rally. I didn't even need (or bring) a tent. It would have messed up this view at night:

Holy shit I took a lot of pictures.

I'll just post some of the people I rode with in order to keep it simple.

I'm the guy on the left. (It was going to be the sombrero tour but I got tired of explaining my play so..F it!)


Drove in with this guy.


To stay in this guys RV.


Met these 2 like minded dirt bike folks when I got there. (before ditching the sombrero plan)




Saw and talked to a friend I've ridden with in the past. (Bob and I have agreed to disagree on "things".)


My friends went off on their own so I hooked up with a few new friends to do Beatty (Gas)Titus. (One to make our Mothers proud)


Took some cool pictures in exotic locations.


Jody/Jimmy (2 names...kinda like me but totally different) and his happy hands.


Teakettle (Where I had some words with a lady in a white Toyota PU who tried to cut anyone who dared pass he on the 2 way wide road. Dunerider and Valery(?) were coming the other way and she was WAY the f in their lane and had to ditch her shit to the right to avoid them. Her excuse was asthma (ha I know) and "you're going too fast" (F that).


The crew I was with wasn't into doing Lippincott so I hooked up with group 3 for that part.


Got back ready to shower and caught a bit of Jimmy's class.


He sure knows his way around a bike.


End of day one, time for intermission...cue elevator music.

Stinez, when I am able to ride, I will be happy to ride with you. Afterwards we can talks, beer, bikes and what ever else we agree on.

Throw babes in there and we'll have a deal.

For instance... The nice people we met at Furnace Creek after Goler, Mengel, burgers and beers.

I had an awesome time at the rally this year. Nice weather, good riding companions, and no major crashes or breakdowns on Friday or Saturday. I led a Hunter Mountain/Lippincott loop ride on Friday and joined the Cerro Gordo/Salt Tram ride on Saturday (where I ended up helping to lead a small group up to CG & the salt tram). Here are the pics:

Most of my group seemed to leave with the earlier ride to Hunter Mountain and Ubehebe, so it was a small group, including Eggroll (Luke), Soupknotzee (John), and Dirt Donkey (Mitchell). They were all on WR250R's, so I was the one on the "big" bike with my XR650L.

China Garden Spring



Darwin



We were buzzed by low flying fighter jets on the way to Saline Valley Road. Stopped for a brief look at Boxcar Cabin





Up the hill to South Pass and the Hunter Mountain junction







Lunch stop at Hunter Cabin



Down the hill through Hidden Valley to Teakettle Junction







On to the Racetrack & Lippincott









Stinez (Steve) joined us at the Racetrack for the ride down Lippincott





Out to Saline Valley Road and back over South Pass to the highway



Father Crowley overlook





Saturday, on the road to Darwin with a group of 7, including Eggroll (Luke), Soupknotzee (John), Fishwhisperer (Scott), Dirt Donkey (Mitchell), and Slugdad (Bill), AZ Tom and I.







Out into the Joshua Trees of Centennial Flat





Without any clear directions, we headed for the highway out to Keeler and Cerro Gordo Road









Quick elevation gain up to the former mining town of Cerro Gordo













Lunch stop at Cerro Gordo









Then we headed out to see the Salt Tram



Up to a nice overlook





"I think it's that way!"



On to a really challenging hill climb (even the donkey lost it's shoe...)



Only three of us (Soupknotzee, Dirt Donkey, and I) made it up the hill and continued on to the Salt Tram





Great riding & beautiful views along the ridge





The Salt Tram was really cool. An amazing engineering effort to lift salt from the Saline Valley up and over the ridge to Keeler and a ferry across Owens Lake.









We traveled back along the ridge and then down the back side of Cerro Gordo into the park and on to PSR



I had a great time. No photos of the evening activities, but the food was great and the raffle was quite a show on Saturday night. Looking forward to next year.

I swear one of these days I'm going to make this. IF my schedule will ever cooperate.

Till then Looks like a great time and perfect weather.

Once again THANKS to joel & co. Met a lot of new FF's & saw some I have not seen for awhile. Had the chance to ride my 950SE to DV & then enjoy my small bike for Saturdays ride with a GREAT group of boys, ALL thanks to Mr. GRINCH I love u man!
On my way to DV, my favorite stop


Escrow should close on my dez cabin next week


This guy look familiar?


Not a good afternoon, who the phuck serves seafood for dinner in the middle of phucking nowhere




The guy on left was some homeless guy we dressed up in m/c gear, & of course our Saturday night MC, good job jimmy. LOVE the GS jokes, phunny thing is, there all true!


Sea ya boys next year if not sooner

RIDE ON!

This years N00B rally was a bit disappointing for me since I had to stay off the bike. Could not risk more injury to the knee after surgery so had to take the 4x4.



Even posted up a N00B level ride over Hunter to the crater and no takers so it was a solo drive along the planned route, worse case I was a chase truck for any groups that went over the mountain who might need help.

Sopascat decided to come along for the ride, I am sure her sides are still sore from laughing for so long.

Left her in charge of the camera (what was I thinking :huh ) and off we went.

The drive out was pretty uneventful if not kinda boring but better than sitting at camp.

We came across a group of riders on small bikes right before you start going up into the hills below south pass.


(L18flyson -- DR350) (L18flyboy -- KLR650) - Got their names =)

They kept fiddling with the gas tanks they had strapped to the back of the DR350, I don't know how the ride panned out since we actually let them pass us then passed them again, and after that never saw em.

Afterwards we got down to hidden valley.

The guys in the camp site next to mine took my advice and did the same loop I did in the truck.



They made it..



This was the first time on a ride like this for the guy on the left, and the 990 was his first big dirt bike.



Once again if any of you guys on the 990s see this PM me your screen names so I can get this right.



Pretty much was a straight shot out from there to the crater then just took pavement back to camp. I was very surprised we did not see that many bikes out there given the time of day and the loop we took. It was fun following the 990's though hidden valley and having to wait cause they were slowing down the F150..

Other than that not much to report.

Upon arrival Friday morning there was already a lot of carnage: broken leg, injured wrist, dislocated shoulder and I think a foot injury as well

Here is the shoulder guy getting looked at:



Yes he did (LOST that is)



The rest are just random shots of the activities from the day in no particular order:

FYYFF getting the next generation ready



Jimmy doing his stuff



Teaching a N00B





The dinner tent



Lots of people







Bob as usual found hanging around with the ladies...:eek1



Got the shot



Camp for the weekend



The new fire pit was not nearly as good as the old one so will stick with the washing machine drum

Sorry I guess this should have gone here.

Had a great time catching up with yall, I love just being out there just Zenning out on 2 wheels but I was most stoked just to see some old friends and make some new ones.

Here are some overworked photos from my ride


















this last photo is from a previous trip but I found the little guy on the side of the road and I thought why the hell would he get this close to me... On my way out I saw some people stopped and feeding them around the same spot:ddog Now if some poor ranger has to shoot them because they end up biting some one we have these people to thank. What can you do...


Also someone (sorry I forgot your name) was asking about the ignition timing curves on my RD here is a link to the ignition system if your interested in learning more about it.
http://www.economycycle.com/servlet/...gnition/Detail

That was quite the machine you were riding, I was in the 4x4 with Sopascat when she stopped to chat with you in stovepipe while you were getting gas. I made her sit around for a few more minutes while waiting to hear that thing fire up and roll away.

Neat off road cafe bike.

Is the shoulder guy Ok?

Thanks I'm going to lace up some 19"s and make a wider swing arm so I can run fat flat track tires on it just make a hoon bike out of it.

Day 2 was great fun with some nice folks who I didn’t know that, rightfully, were initially reluctant to have me join them because they had big plans and riding with “that guy” wasn’t one of them. (I’d do the same so I understood).
I managed to say the right things and was welcomed into the group with the understanding that there would be bail-out points along the way if I found myself in too heavy with this very skilled dirt oriented group of best friends and family.

The ride leader who had the ultimate say.



We took a trail that started ~ a mile east of camp that headed south. It looked simple enough to start but got more and more technical as we went along. No pic but it was a wash with rock of all sizes, sand of various depths and lots of pinch flat opportunities.

Then on to Goler wash.



The Mine. ( I don’t know the name of it)





On to Furnace Creek for beer and grub.





Then slabbing it back to camp for beers, grub, old friends and new friends.











I didn’t win the Klim gear but I did win a bottle of smooth tequila that died a very pleasant death.

I had a blast!!!



And I’d hope that some of you might join us next year on the annual Cal City area rides.
Like this one without the drama.

Edit- I told some about the semi-famous fires we start in the desert so i'll go ahead and post a video I took.

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5ZWwBRxAJkU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Obviously since this is my first trip. This will be my first RR.

I mentioned it at the Rally but the 800 miles I rode over the 4 days were more than I've ridden in my entire life. I've had my license for 6 months but have just ridden around town that all changed when I was lucky enough to get a spot at the DV Noob Rally.

So here's the story...

Thursday morning I woke up, put on some gear that I borrowed from a friend, including a 30liter backpack cause I don't have any luggage on my G650X Challenge yet.

All ready to go, I turned the ignition and nothing. Silly me. I must have left the ignition on after prepping the bike till late the night before. First tried a push start for the first time and that was completely unsuccessful. Luckily I had plan B, jumpstart. Success!

I left Costa Mesa and jumped on the highway. Note: I never rode more than 5 miles on the highway so I was a bit nervous, especially getting my G650X Challenge up to highway speeds. But about 90 minutes later I was at Kramer Junction on 395 N. Where I found another group of travelers. These hippies held a sign "Full on love, Empty on Fuel" I gave them a few bucks towards their trip and was back on the highway.



Riding 395 was an adventure. With a heavy crosswind every time a semi truck passed I braced to be blown off the highway. Mother nature would have to try harder to keep me from getting to DV.

I reached Trona and stopped to fill up and met Fergus and his friend (sorry forgot your name) great guys who told me about the side loop out to Ballarat. What a great detour. There was a group of inmates there including Joel who called out as being a noob cause I was wearing hiking boots.
I also met Dave [meat popsicle] And that's when I rode on a trail for the first time. We took ?Indian Ranch? back out to Panamint Valley and arrived at PSR.











FRIDAY - The real adventure begins

Woke up early and met LostRider and the other 13 riders to go on Finn's noob tour around Darwin, Olancha Dunes, Trona Pinnacles, Panamint Valley.

The first few miles of the ride wasn't what I was expecting. We took the trail pass over the mountains to get to Darwin. Bikes were dropping all over the trail. LostRider would probably agree, it was chaos getting 14 mostly noobs up. I think it was BigTodd or Conteacher who helped me up and gave me the best tip. Stand up on the pegs and keep your momentum. Well that was so much easier.



LostRider photo of me "trying" to ride up the trail before getting some helpful tips.




Made it over the pass and onto some sandy trails.



Rode through the town of Darwin (LostRider) photo:


And down to the Olancha Dunes.
I've rode past the town of the Olancha dozens of times on snowboard trips to mammoth and never knew this existed right off 395. Amazing!



Me and LostRider playing on the dunes



Meat Popsicle giving it a try


Scubalong and a few others on bigger bikes tried to get out to the dunes but I can imagine a sandy trail on that is not so fun.



Trona Pinnacles


On the way to Ballarat we took a slight detour at the top of Trona Wild Rose Rd and turned off to a small trail before the road winds down into the Valley.

Lyle quickly realized this was no place for his loaned new 1200GS


This trail was so fun but challenging. Sadly, Scubalong had a fall and broke his collarbone.



LostRider photo of me


BigTodd and LostRider helped get him back to PSR and Izzyblue, Meat Popsicle, Conteacher and a few others of us continued on the dirt road till we found pavement. Smooth riding all the way back to PSR.

We did 240 miles! Wow. What a introduction to off road riding and the desert.

SATURDAY - Second Day Ever Off Road

Another early start to the day. LostRider planned a cabin loop around the valley. And I was excited to get back out there.



Unfortunately a little two excited. Less than 3 miles in I came into a corner too fast and could't avoid a large rock in front of me. my first wipe out.
Meat Popsicle and AirbornDad stopped to help me up. It only knocked the wind out of me. oh and busted off both mirrors, cracked the fender, and busted some of the plastic on the side. Not so bad! Back on the trail!



LostRider captured this pic right after I went down. Lesson learned. Slower on the corners.


We rode around on some trails for what seemed like forever. After my crash I was a riding a lot slower and even though I was trying to relax I couldn't. It was pretty exhausting. But still fun.

LostRider photo:


LostRider photo:


We rode around the dry lake bed near Ballarat. An awesome trail with some fun whoops, tight turns, sandy washes and hard packed trail. It had it all. My hands and legs were starting to get pretty tired.



We connected to the mining road and road it around the east side of the dry lake and into Ballarat. Sitting on a chair never felt so good. Thanks for the shade, old man of Ballarat.





Guess when you live in the middle of nowhere you have to do something to pass the time. Why not make bottle trees?




LostRider group photo:


Saturday night was a great time having dinner with Finn, Nancy, Dave, Casey, and Jimmy Lewis joined us for a few beers too.

The raffle was hysterical though I was really hoping to win something I could use. Grateful for a few discount coupons to A&S and BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County.

Ended the night with a campfire with the crew.

SUNDAY

Packed everything up and said goodbye to my first and not last DV Rally
Rode with Finn, Nancy and Dave to go play on the Olancha Dunes but the wind was so strong just getting to Olancha was exhausting and we all had hundreds of miles to go to get home. We said our goodbyes and were on our way. The wind never settled down and the 240 miles home rode with a strong headwind and crosswind. Never a tailwind :-/

So that's my first trip, RR, and time in DV.
Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

He got a ride back with DannyG (I think the next morning).
Other than that no idea...

That's a great first RR.

Welcome to motorcycling and the ADVrider community.
As you see there's some great people who do this stuff so I just know that you're going to love being a part of the M/C community.

Scubalong went to the Dr after DannyG dropped him off.
He broke his collar bone in three places. He said about 8 weeks of recovery.
He had such a great attitude about the whole thing. He cant wait to get back out and ride.

+1 Thats what the noob ride is all about

Bad news... Breaking a collar born sucks AMHIK but if got to break one riding is the best way. Heal well dude and get back out there.