Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

Tires changed, balanced, and back on the bike. Equipment, food, and clothing gathered and set out. Will fit check tonight. Just based on looking at the pile, I may want to prioritize a bit. The problem is that I want everything to be easy access.

Need to find a place to put the hard cider. Most likely in the dry bag with the tent.

Rick, Jim, and I are in Midland eating BBQ. Rained as we were getting out of town but nothing terrible. Out here the weather is great. Sunny and 64.

JeffStrom wrote:Rick, Jim, and I are in Midland eating BBQ. Rained as we were getting out of town but nothing terrible. Out here the weather is great. Sunny and 64.

I didn't think it would rain on y'all all the way out there. Did y'all eat at Katy's BBQ? Rick loves that joint, however, I have yet been able to eat there as it was closed everytime I go to Midland (f*&kers). Enjoy the warm weather and riding!

Study Butte

It rained leaving FTW. After Abilene it wasn't so bad, mist and fog, by the time we got to Midland it was pretty nice.

WTF...not in the park itself? THat is crappy camping where you are!!

Park is full tonight. We have a site tomorrow and Sunday.

JeffStrom wrote:Park is full tonight. We have a site tomorrow and Sunday.

I heard...it is 13.7 miles down River Road near the River. River campsites scare me. Y'all be safe!

Camping lesson learned.

I guess I would have known this, had I thought about it, but I didn't. Modern, inexpensive backpacking tents are double wall type, that is a breathable upper body and a separate rain fly. In my case the breathable upper body was a screen like mesh that is see through but fine enough to keep bugs out. Nice if it is mild temps so you can leave the rain fly off and see the sky and be protected from bugs.

With rain fly Without, note mesh top The issue was that while the screen keeps bugs out, it does not keep blowing sand out. On the first night the blowing sand came under the lip of the rain fly and in through the screen. The Eureka tents used by Jim and Rick had a different material for breathable panels (light green below). It was not see through and did not allow sand to come in. Ironically, I actually have one of these same tents from 30 years ago. But I brought my newer tent because it is lighter and more compact and I have doubts about the water tight integrity of the old one, and it smells funny.

Tent that does not allow blowing sand in... Note that the end of the tent has mesh but that can be closed off with a non-permeable zip up panel from the inside.

Pro tip - if anyone ever gets the dumb idea to go ride black gap road on a motorcycle, don't do it. Just, don't.

Few pics

fixxervi6 wrote:Pro tip - if anyone ever gets the dumb idea to go ride black gap road on a motorcycle, don't do it. Just, don't.

We made it, though!

What worked:
Helinox chair, packed up light and small, kept my ass off the ground
Whalek Sleeping pad, packed up light and small, comfortable enough and did keep me warm
Trailhead sleeping bag, right price, right size, kept me warm in the 30's with just my skivis on, kept me alive when the temps fell to the teens (had to be the teens)
Timberline 2 tent, packs up small, goes up easy, held up to a dust storm and kept the dust out, enough room for me and all my shit
Jetboil - not it's not the cheapest way to go but its light and it boils water damn fast, the temp indicator is nice.
Dromedary - strap it down to the lid, flip the lid up to get water, I'll take two next time.
freeze dried food - actually pretty good meals that pack up LIGHT, combined with a jet boil you can eat well with no dishes or fuss.
Beer - but keeping it the right temp was a pita
cheap ass folding shovel - if the ground wasn't soft it would have been an issue, it worked fine for digging poo holes but if the surface was hard it would have been a problem, I may need to upgrade to a Jim class shovel.
67,500 mah battery - charged all my crap and ran my cpap
Pactalk - no sena drops and battery lasted all day
GS1200 - she's a big bitch but it impressed me, far more capable than it's rider, the extra fuel capacity and adjustable suspension was nice.
Shower wipes - I stunk like rotten ass in soaked in a sewer for a month but the shower wipes actually worked pretty good, the problem was I kept putting the same nasty shit back on lol
Karoo tires - no grip issues anywhere except the lose rock that was hard to even walk on let alone ride.
Ear plugs - nature can be noisy
Camel back, never leave home without one
9mm - when they coyotes were getting a little too close for comfort, I felt more confident in my own than Jim's .380. No animal issues occurred but it was a comfort to have my piece.
Hero 7 with an active gimbal - video turned out GREAT but the camera kept getting covered in dust.

What didn't work:
Inflatable pillow, it was great on my back but too low for on my side. I stuffed a sweatshirt into my sleeping pad carrying bag and that worked much better.
Sleeping bag when the temps dipped too low. I stayed alive but my ass didn't sleep. When the temp was 35 the bag was perfect, I just have slapped my foot warmers on but I forgot.
Touring suite - it smelled real bad by day 2 because it never dried out and it didn't breath, I had to ditch it and go squid on the hard stuff because I was dehydrating and almost passed out a couple of times. I may not use it anymore unless I'm just riding in cool temps, even with no liners and all vents open you'll fry like a frog on a hot rock when it's only 70 out, I would have preferred my armor. That suite made a rough road 10X worse cause I was being boiled inside a bag.
Helmet was kind of ok so not quite a "didn't work" item but it could have been better, I'd have preferred my hybrid helmet since there were a couple of times the sun got my eyes and I was driving through prickly bushes
My heads up display transmitter, 91 in a 70 I think it got beat up off road
Didn't take enough water, a full camel back (I have a large one) and a drom bag wasn't enough to get me through black gap, I was dehydrating and it could have turned into an emergency - closest I have ever come to hitting the SOS button.

Video is still processing so hopefully quality will improve

https://youtu.be/H0fAoJR_o_4

Nice. Where's the fall compilation video?

I only got two get off's on video, I'll do a clean up and load all the raw up at some point

Nice trip, video and great write up! Saw some sandy patches in the roads, and how'd the GS do in that? Better than the KLR?

Why was black gap road so bad? Washed out and steep?

Was it hotter during the day than Utah last year, and colder than that at night?

I don't think I would have been happy without showers... You guys are troopers.

SputnikSam wrote:Nice trip, video and great write up! Saw some sandy patches in the roads, and how'd the GS do in that? Better than the KLR?

Why was black gap road so bad? Washed out and steep?

Was it hotter during the day than Utah last year, and colder than that at night?

I don't think I would have been happy without showers... You guys are troopers.

I think Utah sand is special, big bend sand gave 0 issues, even the super soft stuff in the river bed wasn't as bad as utah.

Temps during the day ran between 70 and 80, problem was single digit humidity.

fixxervi6 wrote:Pro tip - if anyone ever gets the dumb idea to go ride black gap road on a large ADV camping gear laden motorcycle, don't do it. Just, don't.

FIFY

Did you guys do Old Ore Road? I personally think it is the most fun road in the park and more difficult overall than Black Gap. Black gap has the stepdown (or up depending on direction through the gap) and the long bumpy up hill (if going south to north) but that's about it (at least that's all I remember). I do so hate any of the roads when the park service (or contractor) has just dumped fresh pea gravel in the dips, clearly thinking of 4 wheel vehicles only.

Yeah, you guys are tough! No way I'd camp primitive on a bike. I can dig and take a dump in a cat hole no problem, but Bike camping for me has got to at least have a handy clean water supply where I can get water and heat it up and pour over my head for some refreshment.

Hey Marty. I did Old Ore Road last September. It was fun, but I didn't think it was that difficult. Even though it was my first real off road ride, other than the unpaved county roads around here.

I thought Black Gap was much more difficult. We had a hard time getting past the rocky, uphill section (we went South to North). I wouldn't hesitate to do Old Ore again. I won't do Black Gap again. Unless I'm riding in a Jeep.

The remote camping wasn't bad. I had a 6 liter dromedary bag, but next time I would bring two of them. One night it almost froze solid. So did I. That sucked. Next time I'll pack more cold weather gear.

Something I didn't notice. Strange timing.

BIG BEND RIDE
FEBRUARY 22 – 25, 2019
Departs from Eurosport Cycle – 3100 Airport Freeway Fort Worth
This ride leaves on Friday morning and returns on Monday afternoon, riding 400 – 500 miles per day with a stop in a different town each night.

Makes me wonder where all they went. Bet you they didn't go down black gap.

Probably just rode up to the caldera and back