Gold Point / Death Valley October Rally

cozmoedog is heading up the planning for this great adventure for the 2 of us. I've never ridden in Cali and Cozmoedog says DV is the best and he has been breakin my balls since I was a wee lad to ride out there. Well I can only take so much and I caved so DV here we come. Looks like great riding, I AM IN!

Nice post.

I haven't even left FL yet and I'm appreciative of the planners for this event!

Thanks steveWFL, I see you have a Kawasaki fetish! Cheers to that, my 1st was a gpz550

wow nice, but actually I'm not crazy about the Kawasaki brand. I'm serious...there's a reason every one of those ended up in the garage

Sick mod on the KLR!

The Strom has plenty of range, but I will carry a spare Primus can in the XL sized tool tube under one of the pannier racks just to be safe.

I'm also in the process of ordering a centerstand and then the skidplate. Been riding around for a year plus with no centerstand, figured it was time to be able to fix a flat if needed venturing this far from home. Also worth the investment for chain maintenance, I'm tired of pushing the bike around my apartment complex and doing it that way!

looking forward to hearing the stories at the rally

It's ridiculous.

Glad to see you can make it, DV has been on my list for a looooong time, ever since I moved to CA in 2001. Seeing it by motorcycle the first time vs a cage with a great group of folks also on motorcycles has got to be the best way to go, hands down. I'm pumped.

Thanks again to the organizers for putting this together, I know a lot of your spare time is invested in this.

Thanks!

I use my sport bike's pit bull race stands when home for maintenance, I'll be suffering on the road. I bought a gadget that holds the front and rear wheel up, hasn;t came yet - not sure how thats going to work out either

I tried the lift n' lube from aerostich, but it didn't work with my bike. Definitely got to have something though!

A few of us will be pre running some of the routes at the end of the month to check and see how much damage has been done with all the rains in the area..hopefully most all tracks that we normally run will be open.

One route I'm running will be Gold Point to Oriental Wash to Ubehebe Crater, to Tea Kettle Junction, Race Track then decide on Lipponcot Mine Road down to Saline Valley, then left to Hunter Mountain and back.


Another route i will run will be Gold Point to Stateline Cabin, then hit a few more cabins on the way to Hard Luck Castle, then to Scottie's Castle and back towards Gold Point on Death Valley road to Oriental Wash and Gold Point.


Then the Bishop and White Mountain ride........one of my favorites....

That's right shower and tent spot about $10 a night but....


Make sure you RSVP meals with Herb if your getting any....I do suggest at least the Saturday dinner.

recon rides, that is fantastic. ive been to UT a bunch and ofcourse CO and occasionally come in contact with sand patches which causes me all kinds of grief. cozmoedog says just get on the throttle but I just cant seem to get it. I suspect I am gonna have lots of practice in the valley?

Hardest thing to teach is acceleration through the soft stuff. Its counterintuitive but it works.

Sent from the depths of my pockets

I'll have to try that. I got a new to me smaller lighter bike and I would be willing to try on that as opposed to my previous big heavy r1150gs. I miss that bike, but not in the sand

I recently have ridden a light 250 and my heavy Vstrom through the exact same sand wash, both over and over again to try to get better at it.

Big bikes and sand don't really mix unless you've got mad skills (I don't). Kept flopping over and in general just wasn't fun. Doable, but not fun at all.

Wasn't too bad on the light bike as long as you kept up on the throttle and kept your weight back.

When I have the space, I am getting a light dualsport for sure and reserving the Strom for commuting and gravel road duty.

yeah, yeah...'till you hit 50, can't turn and hit a big rock - BOOM!!

We just LOVE sand on the big bikes.

From what I hear we may have a few Adventure Bike Instructors coming who may teach a few free classes during the weekend...

Free and classes, whoa! Right there worth the price of admission which is also free. Cant Wait

You been talking to Les?

Maybe.... Wait who is Les :)