Category Archives: Arizona

Gunsight Pass

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I was planning to take it easy on the new bike, but I made a bet with Aaron that I would try Gunsight Pass if he put his KLR back together by Sunday (poor thing had been in pieces in the garage for months!)  Well, he slapped that bike back together so fast I had to hold up my end of the deal…

Our bikes from left to right – Me, James & Aaron
The three of us set out bright and early and headed down some graded roads towards Gunsight Pass. We took a break at a turn off and Aaron noticed the bolt holding on my exhaust pipe had wiggled loose and disappeared. We determined it was best to detour back towards town and fix it, lest it fall off mid ride. Ace hardware was just opening and we got in, out and back on the road fairly quickly.

The detour was a really fun bit of road with some sand, rocks and ruts. It was excellent practice turf for my new bike. I’m so impressed with its sand manners compared to the KLR.

The road we took back in the direction of Gunsight had some great puddles to splash through and I baptized my bike with mud.

There was a great steep hill we stopped in front of and James told me it was not as bad as it looks, but there was a road around if I wanted to do that. I just trusted in the bike and it popped up and over effortlessly. Just beyond that was a little pond we hung out at for a while.

We took some detours which included riding several washes lengthwise and I was really happy with how the DRZ did. There was one part where we turned off the main road into a wash and I hit with my tire turned a little too much. I fell over, but picked it up and started riding before my buddies came back for me. It’s like it never even happened!

We finally decided to give up looking for the mysterious all dirt route to Gunsight and booked it down hwy 83 to the trail head we knew went up.

The road was generally nice, with some sand and a bit of mud. The view was awesome.

Suddenly James’ bike stopped going. Apparently his bike had turned cannibalistic and the chain decided to eat its own guard. It was really wrapped up in there but Aaron and James eventually pulled it out without completely dislodging the chain.

Aaron and James lead the way up the rocky mountain to the lookout point. If you look very closely you can see them both.

The road is really rocky and fairly steep, I’m glad I’m not on the KLR, but even on the DRZ the last hairpin is tricky and I manage to drop it on the way up and on the way down, in the same place. This bike is actually taller than the KLR and when I try to put a toe down, it finds empty air. I will have to learn to trust myself to make the turn without pivoting on my foot.

We park our bikes and climb up to the ridge. What a phenomenally beautiful place. We hung out for a good long time just sitting up there and talking.

We left our mark and proceeded back down the mountain.

We decide to go down the hard side. We went up the easy side, going up the hard side is the way most people do Gunsight and I can see how it would be exhausting. It was very steep and rocky so we had to be on the breaks like mad the whole time. Going up you would be constantly on the throttle jostling up the rocks.

Aaron led the way and he was keeping things uber slow to show me how to descend a steep, rocky mountain safely. The only bad thing was, when we hit the rocky section, I used some more speed and momentum while he was putting down the last stair I found my front tire about to play bumper cars with his rear. I braked hard and managed not to hit him, but my bike fell to the right on a large rock. The puddle of green blood was a telltale sign something bad had happened.

I cracked the water pump cover badly.

I was honestly so close to buying a better bash plate earlier this week, but decided to hold off since I just dropped a pretty penny ordering a new headlight and a Trial Tech Vapor computer.
Ironically, the same thing had broken on this bike while in the possession of its previous owner and he showed me the broken pump and everything. I should have taken that as a sign and bought the bash plate.

We debate what the best plan of action would be and eventually decide to send James down the mountain to go home and return with a truck while Aaron and I coast down with our bikes off.

I was initially really paranoid about coasting down in neutral without engine power at the ready, but it was much easier than I thought. It made me realize how much I unnecessarily used the throttle in situations where the weight of the bike was more than enough to keep momentum. It was like riding a really big bicycle. We coasted down, braking frequently and then kicking like skateboarders in places where it flattened out. I didn’t dump the bike once through the whole ordeal and actually had fun with it, leaning forward to get more speed, bouncing the suspension and wiggling the handlebars to crawl forward on a flat bit until the next good downhill.

We stopped and Aaron rode off a bit to make sure we were in the correct rendezvous location.

Looking back at the Gunsight.

Waiting for help

Trucking the bike home while Aaron shows off.

Many thanks to my riding buddies for being incredibly awesome and helping me to take on new and daring terrain. I’m feeling much better about steep rocky crap now, but I have a new nemesis, the steep hairpin turn!

Arivaca (The Non-Deadly Way)

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I wanted to try the non Death in the Desert route to Arivaca, so I got a group together and we headed out.  This was a fairly easy and high speed ride, hence the lack of photos…

It was a nice relaxing ride, but we did get separated at some point and turned down a wrong road. I was lamenting the task of turning my massive bike around in the dirt.  James offered to switch bikes so I could try his DRZ out and not have to turn my KLR around. I had so much fun on his bike he would have had to pry me off of it to get it back!

As soon as I got home I went hunting for a DRZ of my own…

Santa Ritas

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In an effort to take it easy on myself, I gathered together the more relaxed dirt riders in our group and we went out for a day of easy trail exploring.


The group: James, JQ, me, John & Raven
The ride was generally glorious. Mostly smooth, graded dirt with some particularly nice sections near the gypsum mine which painted the roads a brilliant glowing white.

We spiced it up on the way back with a little more adventurous section feature a couple washes with short rocky climbs and some long stretches of sand. James warned me that the only tough spot was a 180 degree sandy turn near the end. Everytime we came to a turn I thought “Is this is? No, that wasn’t sharp enough…” and then “Oh shit this is the turn he was talking about!” as I slid over in the powder onto my right side.


The offending sand and subsequent panel damage (I bought it scratched on ebay to replace the one I destroyed at Sibley…that crack is new though…)

There was a benefit to my little spill though. My bike won’t start right up after it’s been on it’s side, so while we were waiting for it stop being flooded and for my adrenaline to subside, we realized Raven’s taillight had rattled off!


Brave James heads back through the sand to the rocky area where we suspect it got knocked loose…


Oh there it is!


And returns victorious!

Some action shots from the ride (these and a few of the previous pics were taken by James)

We ate some awesome pizza and watched the sun set on the way home!

Bisbee

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Ever since I bought the KLR I had been having big dreams of adventure. The daily grind started wearing on me and the desire to get away grew. I decided to ask my boss for a long weekend over New Year’s to do a mini adventure weekend to Bisbee.

(Side rant: I was really excited about the SPOT I got for x-mas and wanted to try it out but it was recalled before I could activate it! )

I wanted to do my first solo ride, but without the SPOT I didn’t feel confident enough to go out in the dirt alone. Instead I opted to ride dirt with friends to Sonoita and then continue solo on pavement.

I don’t have any pics of the initial dirt section, it was just Box Canyon and Fish Canyon again (man I love those jumps!) Too bad though really, Sean actually came with me this time.

I felt extremely nervous and did the ride even slower than usual, but with no mishaps. When we reached Sonoita, most everyone turned back, but Raven offered to accompany me to Sierra Vista and thought she could even find a dirt route to do it. We spent a while looking for the dirt route and exploring some roads in the area.


I was very proud of my minimalist packjob on this trip, even if my pajamas reeked of exhaust (Note: place clothes in plastic bag within cortech bag)

Eventually we gave up and decided I should try to cross through Ft. Huachuca, but they turned me away for not having a reflective belt and an MSF card. Who knew?

So we had to go the longer way around. Raven rode with me to Elgin and then set off back home. I tried to plug in my GPS but it inexplicably broke. So I set off without it. I’ve been to Bisbee before, just not recently. By this point I have been riding all day and I’m wondering if I’ll make it to my couchsurfing host’s place before dark.

I have to say, riding in those last moments before the sun dips below the horizon are the most magical. The mountains turn purple with orange highlights reflecting the setting sun. As I rode down through the riparian area, the trees were illuminated the most brilliant sea foam green. I wanted to stop and take a picture, but I was racing the sun and it wouldn’t do it justice anyway.

The sun went down just as I reached my destination and my fingertips started to numb from the cold. My host greeted my warmly and informed me he used to have a KLR too! We talked about bikes for a while and then went into town to watch the parade and the Flam Chen performance.

There was a lot of celebrating.

I explored the town a little the next morning and took a few pictures.

For those who don’t know, Bisbee used to be a mining town famous for its copper. Now it’s famous for its hippies and many, many stairs.


The houses are built up onto the mountains.

They have a special aesthetic here. I was joking that in the interest of packing light, I ended up wearing a strange outfit to the party. My green motorcycle garb over a fringed alpaca sweater (it’s colder there). I looked like a Peruvian astronaut. But in Bisbee you don’t have to worry about being criticized for attire like that, you get compliments!


This house is for sale.

This person really loves Hillary.

“B” Mountain

The tunnel back

I took a long wandering route home. I was glad the GPS broke and I could just do my own thing without the electronic voice barking at me to do something more efficient. Riding solo for hours was a very different but highly positive experience.

Laps For Life

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We did a little adventure ride through Box and Fish Canyon as part of a benefit for Diamond Children’s Medical Center. Was a nice easy ride and Fish Canyon has these great little jumps I am now obsessed with.

Yeah, so the ride was great and no spills…then I dumped it in the gravel parking lot at finish line.  Smooooooooth…

Sibley Mansion

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Somehow the stars aligned and I got a three day weekend off of work -and- school! It’s a miracle! I’m going to ride my butt off! I asked my ADV friends to find a ride that will kick my ass. I usually only have one day off a week and so I try to take it relatively easy, but now that I had recovery days at my dispense, I was going to take full advantage.

Raven suggests Sibley Mansion Click for sweet pics of trucks attempting the trail, Thomas and Jeremy agree it sounds like fun and we head out Sunday morning in high spirits.


The weather and scenery were fantastic!

The trail started off with lots and lots of loose rock, but it’s fairly flat and we powered through it, standing on the pegs, without much trouble.

Eventually the road smooths back out and there are some cool mining remnants to look at. We’re moving at a relaxed pace, taking pictures and taking lots of breaks to chat and hang out.


Fall colors.


Mining remnants


Raven on her NX250


Jeremy

The first real obstacle appears on the road, with a rocky face on one side and a steep drop on the other. The road is wide enough for a car, but it’s just big, sharp, bumpy rocks sticking up everywhere…except a wheel width path right near the ledge. It wasn’t difficult so much as it was paranoia inducing. You’d try to pick a line and then visualize yourself bouncing wrong and off the cliff. Or see yourself putting up the line near the ledge and tipping right off. As we are standing around contemplating the best plan of action, Rich appears, surprised we hadn’t made it further and joins us for the rest of the ride. We opted for a line over some of the lesser rocks just in from the ledge (the rocks got worse the further from the ledge you got) and sort of paddle over them.


Rich takes on the rocks (pictures never do justice to these sorts of things)


Jeremy and Thomas zip off to try an alternate route, they return stating it is much worse and we continue on our way. It’s nice moderate road with some curves and rocks, but nothing too bad. We chatted up some ATV riders with cute dogs and Raven decides to head back. The trail is looking rougher and her knees aren’t up to it today. I briefly consider heading back with her, but decide to go on. I wanted a hard ride, I’m sticking it out! If I’d only known…

We rode on a little further…

Then the trail goes to hell. Steep. Rocky. Mountains.

The first set of up and downs is not that bad. Loose, but not too large of rocks, so you can hold a decent line. But I’m having trouble keeping my speed up, my bike doesn’t like plugging uphill so slowly, it wants to stall, even in first gear.

Then there’s a way steep uphill. Jeremy and Thomas plug up on their smaller bikes and I try to hold a line and charge up on my Beast. The rocks are bouncing me off course and I end up next to a dirt and rock wall, trying to keep my tire on the smoother area right next to it. No good. I bounce and veer just enough to the right, that the bike stops and tips over into the soft loose dirt of the hillside. The boys run down and help me pull my bike up. Thomas offers to take my bike the rest of the way to the top and I am more than happy to let him. I hike up the last bit and we all rest at the top. He explains to me my bike isn’t really geared for that stuff and teaches me how to slip the clutch to avoid stalling.

I’m a little shaken up from the challenging terrain and it’s getting late. We discuss how much further it is to the mansion and decide we took our time a little too much today and may not make it out before sundown if we don’t turn back now. (I later find out we were almost there…d’oh)

Now here’s another newbie hint, if you just dumped your bike and your adrenaline is spiking at all time highs, don’t get right back on the bike and try to go down. Sit and rest until you recover and can think coherently.

So Rich goes down the mountain first and waits at the bottom, so he can help me if I need it near the end, while Jeremy and Thomas watch from the top. I debate for a long time if I should turn the bike off and use the clutch to control my speed, but opt for on in favor of engine power at the ready if I get stuck on a rock. So I start down in first gear, but I give it a little too much gas. I start panicking and I’m sure I must have pulled in the clutch because my bike starts flying down at an insane speed. Now my eyes are as big as saucers, I have a death grip on the handlebars and I’m just trying to keep some semblance of control and turn right with the curve of the road. I’m bouncing off of rocks so hard my bike is catching air and I am catching air out of my seat. I land a little off center and the bike goes down hard on a rock.

Rich took some pics of my high speed descent, but nicely stopped photographing when he realized this was probably going to end badly. It makes for a cool action series though and I kind of wish I had the grand finale included.

WHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah that was a scary moment. Everyone’s running over expecting serious carnage but I’m standing next to my bike dusting off. Jeremy points out a razor sharp rock just next to where I went down and tells me I was damn lucky.

We break for a while to assess the damages. I have a bruise on my right thigh, a tiny scrape on my right wrist and the bike’s right radiator shroud is obliterated. (Thomas retrieves these bits for me on his next ride up there and returns them to me at a meet up. Now every time anyone finds bits of plastic on a trail, they ask if I’ve been there first… )

Bruise and odd little scratches on my wrist

We head back up the next hill, and I sit looking down at the steep rocky descent home. I opt to turn off the bike and roll down using the clutch. I still fall over once, but at least it’s at very low speed.

My mind is not in the right place, I can’t think straight and on the next uphill, I pick a bad line and dump it in the loose rock. Thomas helps me lift the bike again and offers to ride his bike back to the parking lot and return with his truck for me. That just feels like giving up. I tell him if I dump it one more time, we can do that.

I keep it vertical after that.

At the trailhead there’s some great piles of sand where ATVs were playing. Thomas and Jeremy play around on their smaller bikes.

Rich and I hang out for a bit and then head home as the sun sets

I think I got my asskicking alright!

Track Day

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This post is mostly a ton of pictures from when a group of us got together to ride around the supermoto track. Who knew riding in circles could be so enjoyable?! I was the slowest one there, but I did manage to scrape my kickstand on a turn, so I still felt pretty badass.

There’s a dirt area on this track too and after some laps on the track we decided to head over there and play around. The track itself is a bit tight for a larger bike and the dirt area was downright silly, especially with my lowering links in. I managed to lumber through the whole mess of whoops, table tops and berms without dumping it, but it was sketchy. I bottomed out on everything, crawling up the table top and plopping off the back while the smaller bikes popped up and over gracefully. Someone said it looked like a wildebeest among gazelles.

This experience and other bottoming out episodes convinced me I needed more ground clearance and I soon stumbled upon a dished Corbin seat and put the stock links back in.


They have tiny little bikes you can rent!


Me riding in circles


Alan shows us how the supermotos do it.


Sean riding (yay we finally got to ride together again!)


Look at that hair fly!


Sean again


James on his sleek DRZ (he dominated the dirt area)


This track has some great S curves and nearly 180 degree turns.


Mike and Will


Only Alan can start this bike.


Seriously?! How do I turn it -on-?!


James


Alan on my bike and Sean.


May not be the prettiest bike, but Alan kicked some ass on it!


James


Serious pose.


ADV salute


Mike approves!

Parker Canyon Lake

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No dirt riding here, but my first overnight bike camping trip!


I overpacked like such a girl.

A group of us have formed a loose plan to meet at Parker Canyon Lake for beer and camping. It’s a couple hours away from Tucson on Hwy 83 and my friend Jen accompanies me in her car.

We head out and the temperature is dropping. It starts to sprinkle on us as we pull into the gas station in Sonoita. Alan and Will are already hanging out, having ridden an alternate dirt route. They have no waterproofs and are trying to thaw and wait out the rain.

At least my overprepared packing had one advantage, I have waterproofs at the ready!


“I ride motorcycles to look cool!”

We continue up the mountain in spite of the cold and sprinkles. We are rewarded with a perfect rainbow.


What a badass biker gang we are with a Miata in tow.

The lake is looking beautiful as the sun goes down.

Aaron had arrived earlier and starting a nice fire. He brought enough firewood and beer for an army.

More pretty lake pictures

Settin’ up camp.

This picture cracks me up.

Mike and Jen.
The sun goes down…

We drank Aaron’s signature “Apple Pie” beverage and partook in general merrimaking until it started to get too cold.  I probably should have tried staying up and drinking in front of the fire all night because I was freezing my butt off trying to sleep.  It got down to 27 degrees that night and a couple of us only had 40 degree sleeping bags. My parents live nearby and brought us breakfast burritos and coffee in the morning which was nice.

I headed back with Alan. His rear tire was completely bald and showing metal. He decides at the last minute to veer off onto old Sonoita highway, hit some gravel bits and high sided. Luckily, he wears as much gear as I do and he’s fine.

Twisty highway home.

All in all a successful trip!

Sasco

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Some ADVers take me out for what they promise to really be an easy, quick, newbie friendly ride…and Sasco is exactly that.

Smooth, wide dirt roads winding easily along. I’m still slow as a tortoise, but they all put up with it. 

I got to do my first river crossing!

Note to new KLR owners: Those rubber coated pegs get slippery in water! I still need to switch them out…

Group shot

Death in the Desert

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I’m intent to get better at this dirt riding business and have resolved to ride some dirt every weekend. This particular weekend I had a ton of schoolwork, but I figured if I start out early enough I could get some good practice in and still be back around 1pm. I ask Marisa and Brian if they are up for a short, easy, newbie ride and they say sure.

The sun climbed higher in the sky and the temperature was heating up. We had been out quite a while now and were starting to get exhausted. My water supply was looking dismal, so we took a short break.  Marisa and I joke that this is “Brian’s Dirt Riding Boot Camp”. The terrain gets a little more difficult with some rocky climbs and larger washes.

“Neither one of them took a nap in the wash (although Becky hit the last corner in a damn impressive two tire drift and blew out the back side like an AA rider (of course, she had a death grip on the bars and was screaming at the time.)” – Brian

I know now that Brian has no concept of the meaning behind those words and I am now skeptical of any time he calls a trail “easy” “noob friendly” or “fast”.

Since we were not going to be out long, I tossed a couple small water bottles in my tail bag and hit the road. Brian hauled Marisa’s TW200 on his jeep to a trailhead and led us out.

Things started out well. The terrain was exciting, starting out as nicely groomed dirt roads, but eroding into a rougher jeep road with enough rock and sand to keep things interesting. Marisa and I chugged along at our noob pace, while Brian drove ahead to take some sweet pictures.

I had discovered momentum was the best way to get over most things and zoom up a rocky climb only to completely blow the turn at the top and fall over.


I almost picked it up fast enough…

We discussed a lunch break and Brian says he’ll pick out a good spot with some shade. I’m zooming along with my momentum technique only to find Brian parked in the middle of a wash. Yes there is shade there, but my whole ‘speed through the sand’ plan isn’t very condusive to quick stops. I decide to go around him and park on the other side. I was going a little faster than I realized though and did a pretty sweet but petrifying manuever to get out of there.

“

I don’t even remember why I fell over here. Just a random sand nap I guess. That’s Marisa trying not to run me over.

She continues past me and starts chugging up the hill out of the wash. It was too steep for second gear and the bike stalls and falls over. She tries to grab it up right away and burns her hand on the engine.

There aren’t any pictures after this point because we have stopped giggling about Brian’s Boot Camp and moved on to jokes about how he’s drug us out to the desert to kill us. After a while we are hoping it’s still a joke…

It’s over a hundred degrees out now. I’ve drank all my water and Marisa is miserable in her non mesh riding jacket. When she removes her glove, sweat pours out like a water faucet. There are holes in her glove from the engine burn and blisters are forming. We stop for a while and Brian offers to load her bike on the trailer.

Now, I have to give Marisa a ton of credit. She could have stopped riding at any time, but she wouldn’t leave me on the battlefield alone and did the whole track like a trooper. She’s one tough cookie.

Brian assures us it’s not much further and we press onward. 

At one point  I get caught up on a large rock in a wash and dump the bike yet again. While lifting my bike up for the third time that day I nearly pass out. Reality sparkles back from the blackness but I’m feeling strange. Everything is in high contrast, sounds are buzzy and I’m starting to feel a bit delusional. I mooch some water off of Brian, but he’s low too and before long, there’s no more water to be had.

We only have about eight miles left, according to the GPS.

We climb a steep hill of baby-head rocks and find ourselves with an obvious road block. Brian suggest we turn back and take the longer, but possibly easier route. This road is blocked for a reason. I look back at the baby-head climb and deduce there can’t be much worse ahead and I don’t want to go back down than crap. We skirt the blockade and press forward.

There are rusted out abandoned vehicles decorating the trail. Miraculousy, no one drops their bikes for the rest of the trek. At one point I have a close encounter with a tree…but the bike stayed up, supported by its crunchy little branches. I launched myself up and out of a rocky wash without paying enough attention where I would go on the other side. When you get dehydrated you stop looking ahead and start picking bad lines. The good part is, you are too out of it to be scared and I found the whole thing hilarious.

At last the GPS states we are right at the road! But there’s one last wash out and it’s a steep one with a tricky turn. Marisa and I park and stare at the obstacle. Brian can tell we are beat, he takes pity on us and walks the bikes over the last wash while we remove our gear and lay out on the ground. We’ve made it!

Well, sort of. There’s a fair bit of pavement left and I’m so out of it I crawl along at maybe thirty miles an hour. I keep visualizing myself flying off the road for no reason. I’m distrustful of the pavement, everything looks like sand traps and loose rocks.

At last we arrive at the Coffee House in Arivaca and drink a million gallons of water.

Brian buys me a smoothie and all is forgiven. No one died and we get to say we pioneered a tough trail as one of our first rides. He is hassled relentlessly for trying to kill us and the ride becomes known as Death in the Desert.