Death Valley Noobs Rally
March 2009
March 2009
I discovered on the Adventure Rider Forum that a large group of primarily Southern California riders had been holding a gathering called the Death Valley Noobs Rally for a few years, and I decided to ride down from Camas, WA and join them. The rally originally started as a much smaller group of relatively new riders that met one year in Death Valley to practice off-road riding and explore Death Valley. It has since grown to an annual affair where more experienced riders will help both new riders learn some off-road skills, and show those riders new to Death Valley all of the riding opportunities within the park.
I hadn't actually met any of the riders before joining them in Death Valley, but as is usually the case with motorcyclists, they were a great bunch of guys and gals, and I left Death Valley with many new friends that I have experienced countless rides with ever since.
I left in the snow from Camas on a Monday to ride down to Las Vegas. My original plan was to ride dirt roads through the Cascades and into Nevada, but Mother Nature screwed that up. Instead, I simply slabbed it down I-5 through snow, sleet, and rain, eventually stopping in Stockton for the night. The next day was better and I made it to my Mom's house in Vegas. Wednesday, I took my GS in for a service at Las Vegas BMW, and had them install some TKC-80 knobby tires for the riding in Death Valley
Thursday, I left Vegas with two riders that were renting BMW's from Las Vegas and also heading to Death Valley although they were not taking part in the rally itself. We had a good ride together to DV though, and then I continued on to Panamint Springs. Although most of the rally participants were camping at Panamint, my old bones enjoy a bed and I had reserved a room at the small motel at Panamint.
I hadn't actually met any of the riders before joining them in Death Valley, but as is usually the case with motorcyclists, they were a great bunch of guys and gals, and I left Death Valley with many new friends that I have experienced countless rides with ever since.
I left in the snow from Camas on a Monday to ride down to Las Vegas. My original plan was to ride dirt roads through the Cascades and into Nevada, but Mother Nature screwed that up. Instead, I simply slabbed it down I-5 through snow, sleet, and rain, eventually stopping in Stockton for the night. The next day was better and I made it to my Mom's house in Vegas. Wednesday, I took my GS in for a service at Las Vegas BMW, and had them install some TKC-80 knobby tires for the riding in Death Valley
Thursday, I left Vegas with two riders that were renting BMW's from Las Vegas and also heading to Death Valley although they were not taking part in the rally itself. We had a good ride together to DV though, and then I continued on to Panamint Springs. Although most of the rally participants were camping at Panamint, my old bones enjoy a bed and I had reserved a room at the small motel at Panamint.
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I woke up Friday morning ready for some riding in Death Valley. I ate breakfast at the restaurant, and then headed across the street to the campground and introduced myself to Gary, Dan, Rob, and Nate. They were finishing up what look to be a pretty good breakfast by their resident chef Rob; and getting ready for a ride so I asked to tag along.
They wanted to minimize the amount of pavement, and so decided to take Saline Valley Road north to Hunter Mountain. A little ways before actually reaching Hunter Mtn, I had my "senior" moment for the day. I was stopped and decided to take a picture of a great view of Panamint Valley while sitting on my bike. But I leaned to far over to the right, and before I knew it the bike had reached it's critical tipping point and down it went. We reached Teakettle Junction, then headed to what is known as the Racetrack, a (usually) dry lake bed infamous for its "moving rocks" - large rocks that leave trails in the lake bed and they move around in strange patterns.
After the Racetrack, we went down a technical, rocky Lippincott Mine Road, and then back to Saline Valley Road to head back south to Panamint. At the junction of Saline Valley Road and Hwy 190, a KTM rider pulled up and mentioned he was low on gas so I offered him some from the extra bottles I was carrying. I mention it now because it becomes important on Saturday.
Anyways, it was an awesome first day of riding in Death Valley, and of course we enjoyed the BS session at the end of the day!
They wanted to minimize the amount of pavement, and so decided to take Saline Valley Road north to Hunter Mountain. A little ways before actually reaching Hunter Mtn, I had my "senior" moment for the day. I was stopped and decided to take a picture of a great view of Panamint Valley while sitting on my bike. But I leaned to far over to the right, and before I knew it the bike had reached it's critical tipping point and down it went. We reached Teakettle Junction, then headed to what is known as the Racetrack, a (usually) dry lake bed infamous for its "moving rocks" - large rocks that leave trails in the lake bed and they move around in strange patterns.
After the Racetrack, we went down a technical, rocky Lippincott Mine Road, and then back to Saline Valley Road to head back south to Panamint. At the junction of Saline Valley Road and Hwy 190, a KTM rider pulled up and mentioned he was low on gas so I offered him some from the extra bottles I was carrying. I mention it now because it becomes important on Saturday.
Anyways, it was an awesome first day of riding in Death Valley, and of course we enjoyed the BS session at the end of the day!
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It's going to be another day of adventure riding. Of course, it starts with a good breakfast! Then we get geared up, fuel the bikes, and start gathering for the day's long ride. We plan to ride Saline Valley Road to the Warm Springs, and then continue to Steel Pass, Eureka Dunes, Crankshaft Junction, Ubehebe Crater, the Racetrack, Lippincott, and back to Panamint Springs - at least that was the plan.
Our group of seven is soon heading north on Saline Valley Road. It's a fun road on the GS, where you can really open it up; so while Aaron is herding the cats (making sure everyone is making the right turns), I race on ahead. We get over South Pass, and regroup at the junction to Lippincott Road. We continue north on Saline Valley Road.
The next stop should be the Warm Springs. The big bikes take the lead, with Aaron leading followed by myself and Jim. We see Aaron stopped to take out picture and he waves us by. Unfortunately, Aaron didn't realize that Jim and I did not know where the turnoff to the Warm Springs was, and we flew by and kept heading north. Jim and I stopped about 4 or 5 miles past the turnoff, and thought we should wait for the others to catch up. We backtracked to the cutoff to the cutoff to the Warm Springs and caught up with everybody else at Matt's truck (Matt had driven out to the Warm Springs to have extra gas for us before heading up to Steel Pass.
We're all set to head up to Steel Pass. The road up is pretty rough - a combination of loose gravel and boulders - some small, some large - some round, some sharp. It makes for an interesting ride on the big bikes. Our group of seven had met up with another group, so now there was about 12 heading up to Steel Pass. Since I had been out in front for most of the ride so far, I decided that maybe I would ride sweep to help the slower riders if needed - and I figured I couldn't get lost that way.
Just a little ways up Steel Pass, Jason's bike was having shifting problems, and his bike seemed to be stuck in 3rd gear. This was too tall a gear for the conditions, so his bike would stall, and then he would have problems starting up again from 3rd gear as well; but to Jason's credit he kept trying to forge ahead. We were losing time to the riders ahead. I finally decided to ride ahead and catch his brother Jeff who had the tools. I caught Jeff and he turned around to help Jason, and I continued to catch up to Joel to let him know what was going on.
Talking it over with Joel, we decided that one of us should head back and convince Jason and Jeff to turn around and head back to Panamint Springs. The other would try to catch up to the riders ahead, who we are sure are wondering what going on by now. Joel let me continue on, since he would have more opportunities to ride Steel Pass in the future (since I live so far away). I continue up Steel Pass, now trying to catch up with the riders ahead of me. I'm not trying to go exceptionally fast, but quick enough to hopefully catch the riders ahead. I probably hadn't gone but a mile or two before my front-end feels like it is just bashing into every rock on the trail. My first thought is that I had blown the front shock on the GS Telelever front suspension. So I stop and take a look, and it's not the shock. My front cast wheel has a pretty big dent in it, and the tubeless tire has lost all air.
Now I have a conundrum. I'm assuming that Joel, Jeff, and Jason are heading back to the Warm Springs and then Panamint. Being a virgin to Steel Pass, I'm not sure whether it might be shorter to continue forward or go back. I decide to continue, figuring someone up ahead will be waiting. So with the front flat, I continue. Now I realize how much the air in the front tire aids in suspension, because it feels like I don't have any. I feel every little rock I ride over, and the cast wheel is getting more out of shape with every turn of the wheel. Luckily, the tire seems to be holding the bead, but I'm having to go pretty slow.
I get another few miles, and haven't seen anybody, and I again wonder whether I should turn back - but decide to continue on no matter what. About another mile up the road, I catch Vern on his big GS 1150. Apparently, he's been stuck for awhile. He ran into an area with really loose gravel, and his big 1150 GS just keeps sinking up to the axle. He's pulled it out once or twice already, tried again but just can't get through this section of loose gravel. His rear TKC tire just doesn't have enough tread left to dig in and not spin in the gravel. But I'm happy to have come across somebody.
We talk it over, and decide to make the the wise decision and turn around. We get our bikes turned around, and start heading back to the Warm Springs. I now get to look forward to riding the 12 miles or so of Steel Pass back to the Warm Springs on my flat front tire. But just before starting up our bikes, we hear he sound of motors heading our direction, and 3 angels show up (Joe, Dave, and Jim). They had ridden up Steel Pass earlier in the day, and were now riding back down. Apparently, they had come across Aaron and Jim at the top of the pass, who I'm sure were wondering where we were.
My front wheel now has 3 or 4 spots on both sides where there's a pretty big gap between the edge of the cast wheel and the tire. Vern said each spot looked like a taco. I pretty much figured I would be riding back to the Warm Springs on the front flat, and then probably have to wait to get trailered out. Joe mentioned that he's had some luck before with tubeless tires and cast rims in pounding the wheel back into shape - at least enough to get the bead set and hold air again. Nothing to lose at this point.
So we get the wheel off, and start pounding away with the biggest rock we could find. When that proved not to be enough, we searched and found an even bigger rock, and continued to pound the rime to try to make it as round as possible. Slowly, the wheel got back to a reasonably round shape. We tried inflating it with my air pump, then Joe's air pump, then CO2 cartridges; but just couldn't get enough air into the tire fast enough to set the bead.
So Dave volunteers to let me have one of his tubes. You see, Dave was the KTM rider I met the the junction of Saline Valley Road and Hwy 190 the day before, and offered my spare gas to. Anyways, we soon have the tube installed, it holds air, and get the wheel installed back on the bike.
We've now spent a long time at this, and Dave is anxious to get going again and heads down the trail. I was getting all my tools collected and put away, so Vern and I ended up following everybody else. What a difference having air in the front tire makes! But we don't get more than about 1/2 mile down the road before we see that Joe is stopped. Son of a bitch - he's got a dinged up front wheel and a flat. Again, it's off with the front wheel, find some big rocks, and try to pound it back into shape to hold air. Dave's up ahead, and we know he's got one more spare tube so Jim takes off after Dave, while Joe, Vern, and I are working on the front wheel.
We get Joe's wheel reasonably round, and Dave returns with Jim with the last spare tube.
Our group of seven is soon heading north on Saline Valley Road. It's a fun road on the GS, where you can really open it up; so while Aaron is herding the cats (making sure everyone is making the right turns), I race on ahead. We get over South Pass, and regroup at the junction to Lippincott Road. We continue north on Saline Valley Road.
The next stop should be the Warm Springs. The big bikes take the lead, with Aaron leading followed by myself and Jim. We see Aaron stopped to take out picture and he waves us by. Unfortunately, Aaron didn't realize that Jim and I did not know where the turnoff to the Warm Springs was, and we flew by and kept heading north. Jim and I stopped about 4 or 5 miles past the turnoff, and thought we should wait for the others to catch up. We backtracked to the cutoff to the cutoff to the Warm Springs and caught up with everybody else at Matt's truck (Matt had driven out to the Warm Springs to have extra gas for us before heading up to Steel Pass.
We're all set to head up to Steel Pass. The road up is pretty rough - a combination of loose gravel and boulders - some small, some large - some round, some sharp. It makes for an interesting ride on the big bikes. Our group of seven had met up with another group, so now there was about 12 heading up to Steel Pass. Since I had been out in front for most of the ride so far, I decided that maybe I would ride sweep to help the slower riders if needed - and I figured I couldn't get lost that way.
Just a little ways up Steel Pass, Jason's bike was having shifting problems, and his bike seemed to be stuck in 3rd gear. This was too tall a gear for the conditions, so his bike would stall, and then he would have problems starting up again from 3rd gear as well; but to Jason's credit he kept trying to forge ahead. We were losing time to the riders ahead. I finally decided to ride ahead and catch his brother Jeff who had the tools. I caught Jeff and he turned around to help Jason, and I continued to catch up to Joel to let him know what was going on.
Talking it over with Joel, we decided that one of us should head back and convince Jason and Jeff to turn around and head back to Panamint Springs. The other would try to catch up to the riders ahead, who we are sure are wondering what going on by now. Joel let me continue on, since he would have more opportunities to ride Steel Pass in the future (since I live so far away). I continue up Steel Pass, now trying to catch up with the riders ahead of me. I'm not trying to go exceptionally fast, but quick enough to hopefully catch the riders ahead. I probably hadn't gone but a mile or two before my front-end feels like it is just bashing into every rock on the trail. My first thought is that I had blown the front shock on the GS Telelever front suspension. So I stop and take a look, and it's not the shock. My front cast wheel has a pretty big dent in it, and the tubeless tire has lost all air.
Now I have a conundrum. I'm assuming that Joel, Jeff, and Jason are heading back to the Warm Springs and then Panamint. Being a virgin to Steel Pass, I'm not sure whether it might be shorter to continue forward or go back. I decide to continue, figuring someone up ahead will be waiting. So with the front flat, I continue. Now I realize how much the air in the front tire aids in suspension, because it feels like I don't have any. I feel every little rock I ride over, and the cast wheel is getting more out of shape with every turn of the wheel. Luckily, the tire seems to be holding the bead, but I'm having to go pretty slow.
I get another few miles, and haven't seen anybody, and I again wonder whether I should turn back - but decide to continue on no matter what. About another mile up the road, I catch Vern on his big GS 1150. Apparently, he's been stuck for awhile. He ran into an area with really loose gravel, and his big 1150 GS just keeps sinking up to the axle. He's pulled it out once or twice already, tried again but just can't get through this section of loose gravel. His rear TKC tire just doesn't have enough tread left to dig in and not spin in the gravel. But I'm happy to have come across somebody.
We talk it over, and decide to make the the wise decision and turn around. We get our bikes turned around, and start heading back to the Warm Springs. I now get to look forward to riding the 12 miles or so of Steel Pass back to the Warm Springs on my flat front tire. But just before starting up our bikes, we hear he sound of motors heading our direction, and 3 angels show up (Joe, Dave, and Jim). They had ridden up Steel Pass earlier in the day, and were now riding back down. Apparently, they had come across Aaron and Jim at the top of the pass, who I'm sure were wondering where we were.
My front wheel now has 3 or 4 spots on both sides where there's a pretty big gap between the edge of the cast wheel and the tire. Vern said each spot looked like a taco. I pretty much figured I would be riding back to the Warm Springs on the front flat, and then probably have to wait to get trailered out. Joe mentioned that he's had some luck before with tubeless tires and cast rims in pounding the wheel back into shape - at least enough to get the bead set and hold air again. Nothing to lose at this point.
So we get the wheel off, and start pounding away with the biggest rock we could find. When that proved not to be enough, we searched and found an even bigger rock, and continued to pound the rime to try to make it as round as possible. Slowly, the wheel got back to a reasonably round shape. We tried inflating it with my air pump, then Joe's air pump, then CO2 cartridges; but just couldn't get enough air into the tire fast enough to set the bead.
So Dave volunteers to let me have one of his tubes. You see, Dave was the KTM rider I met the the junction of Saline Valley Road and Hwy 190 the day before, and offered my spare gas to. Anyways, we soon have the tube installed, it holds air, and get the wheel installed back on the bike.
We've now spent a long time at this, and Dave is anxious to get going again and heads down the trail. I was getting all my tools collected and put away, so Vern and I ended up following everybody else. What a difference having air in the front tire makes! But we don't get more than about 1/2 mile down the road before we see that Joe is stopped. Son of a bitch - he's got a dinged up front wheel and a flat. Again, it's off with the front wheel, find some big rocks, and try to pound it back into shape to hold air. Dave's up ahead, and we know he's got one more spare tube so Jim takes off after Dave, while Joe, Vern, and I are working on the front wheel.
We get Joe's wheel reasonably round, and Dave returns with Jim with the last spare tube.