I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake: Big Bikes on the Vegas to Reno

Is there gps tracks for this?Need more desert for my xrr.Very good job of posting pics and vids.

Hi oldxr -
Well, I googled around and found the 2012 tracks here (scroll down to the bottom): LINKY

I tested the "2012_V2R.gpx" file and the tracks looked great.


Have fun!!

Aaarrrggghhhh!


Another awesome ride that I want to do but don't have time for.
You guys are killing me...
But thanks for letting me come along virtually.
Q~

No way I'd miss a wan-report

This whole work thing is killing me. I need more time in my life to do this stuff.

Awesome riding guys , airborne 990's , silt , rocks , speed ...great stuff.

more more more

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sxQizcWVnM

"burn that seat"

Man the video you spliced with Matt and Bartek is just great, love it, and the screen grabs are surprisingly clear. Bartek you sure had the "good" lane in that first section! The sound of that twin up close is very familiar, having ridden next to similar guys on similar bikes on similar terrain :)

Scott good to see you healing man!

So funny!





Hi Questor, hey acesandeights, hiya Chrish4ku!
thanks for joining us!

hey Ladybug!
The Clown Motel was just fine - the lobby was a little weird, but the clerks were very friendly.
Our rooms were clean and the place was quiet.
Luckily, I didn't notice the cemetery next door, but Matt said he did.

Wait, how are you posting? The wifi at Panamint Springs must be better than I remember...
Hope you're having a great time in DV - looks like you've got good weather!






Hey Goggles, more more more, coming up...
I gotta get this thing wrapped up...







Hi K_N_Fodder!
Great to hear from you!
haha, did that video give you flashbacks to the great Bend dust storm of 2012?

Sunday 3/24/13, continued.







The last map:








Here are a few more screen shots from earlier (before Rick got in the truck)...
(sorry, it got confusing with my photos + screen shots from 3 cameras - photobucket loads them all out of order)




























OK - Back to the present time. Sunday at 3:48pm.
Rick and Scott got oil and were waiting at the next pit stop...














Thank goodness for the chase truck. This was a desolate place.














Riding big bikes in the dirt requires constant vigilance.
It's always a good idea to take inventory whenever possible.
During this stop, Radek noticed he had sheared a bolt.








He couldn't get at the sheared bolt right then, so he locktite'd the 2nd bolt and hoped it would hold.







In other news,
A rock tried to eat Smartek's passenger footpeg...







And, one of his lights tried to make a run for it. He caught it, though.
It went into his tank bag...








Our tires.
Mitas rear.







Scorpion Rally front. Oh, this is Radek's actually.
(we were borrowing his rim, remember?)







Rick had found oil in Mina and his bike was good to go.
He put in a whole quart.







MediumWan and BigWan.







Everyone had topped up, except Ceasar.
He added what was left in his jug and thought it would be enough.
We said "Thanks" and "goodbye" to Scott and got back on the course...
The turnoff was up on the left...







More fast, open roads.







Smartek.






KTMADV.







MediumWan.







rburkat.






























Poleline Road.







Go Smartek!!






Go MiddleWan!!







Go KTMADV!!








This seems like a good place for the next video...
Some nice footage of Bartek, Rick and Ceasar - from various parts of the day.



Radek, Matt and Rick did the filming for this one. Great job, guys!

HD if you want it...

"





Somewhere on this powerline road, Matt and I hit a ditch.
We were moving pretty good, so it was a hard hit.
I ran back to warn the others, but they were all fine.








Happy to have not crashed, we continued on.
After a little bit, Matt was hearing a funny noise, so we stopped to check it out.







I think the guys needed a break anyway.







Crap.
One of the fuel lines had gotten damaged and we were leaking gas...



But, Matt was able to just cut the hose a little shorter and that fixed the problem.
Whew.




We're almost due for a new bash plate...



Other than that, the bike seemed okay.







Smartek took the opportunity to save his license plate.
Matt had ziptied it on, back in Baja, but now it was barely hanging on by a thread.
It went into the tank bag with his Rigid light...








OK.
The bike seems fine.
Sorry about the wait you guys...back on the road!









Just when everyone was ready to get moving again...
Flat tire!





Poor Ceasar!

MacGruber could have fixed that!

the guy's a friggin' genius

No Kidding!

Better the passenger peg than the rear brake reservoir!

Awesome RR so far, and excellent videos.

Please Mwan, enable ratings in your videos. How else can I give you a thumbs up?
(edit) the music is awesome,
Tuba, Chimes, and Propellerheads! It's great to hear 'different' music then same old same old.
(end edit)

Wow,

I love my state.

jaz

Kelly...

You do the best videos.

Tuba music? :huh
Heck yeah!
Brilliant!

Q~

Kewl, just got back in town and instead of catching up on my chores and projects, I get to read another great WAN ride report! I really like these (WAN attention deficit work avoidance) WANADWA oportunities. Reading your reports are the next best thing to taking my own rides. Actually, considering the amount of terror and crashing on my rides, your ride reports might be a lot better than my rides! Time to sit back and get caught up to page 4.

Haha!
I don't know...
we didn't have a bucket filled with bum sperm. :huh

time to make riding your favorite!

Very true!

Hey jazzmans,
yes, NV is pretty great for riding!

I'm so glad you liked the videos! thank you.


But, I have no love for the general population on youtube.
I keep the comments and thumbs disabled for a reason...
These videos/reports are so much friggin' work.
I haven't been to bed before 2am all week.

As wonderful as it is to get thumbs up from enthusiastic folks such as yourself,
If I got a single Thumbs down from one of those idiots, I'd probably nuke everything.



So, it's in everyone's best interest to keep ratings disabled.

Thank you, Q!
I'm glad you guys liked the music!
I thought it was fun.


In case you're wondering, that tuba stuff was from Nortec Collective/Bostich + Fussible.
from the album “Tijuana Sound Machine.”






That video cracks me up.

The song in our clip was "Norteña Del Sur"(the tubisimo mix )




I actually own this CD and I had wanted to bring it for Scott to listen to in the truck!
But, then I thought that was too cruel and left it at home.


Looking back, he was so hard up for music, he might have liked it after all.
Scott?

Hey Jonathan!
WANADWA! Love it!!



Aw, thank you, thank you.
Nothing like contributing to more lost productivity!


Thanks for reading!








OK, we're almost finished, you guys!
Here's the penultimate post...






Sunday 3/24/13, continued.






Scott was such a good den mother - he had been watching our dust from the highway.
When we stopped, so did he. We could just barely make out the truck parked on the side of the road...
Rick gave him a call so he wouldn'’t worry.








Also, anyone on the phone in one of our RRs gets this caption:
"Buy! Sell! Buy! Sell!"











This was Ceasar'’s first tire change, out in the wild...








He couldn'’t have been with a better group!
These guys have lots of experience with flats. LOTS.








Everybody wanted in on the action.








Everybody.
How many KTM guys does it take to break a bead?








It’'s all fun and games until somebody gets squished...















Ceasar said he’'s used to using a Nomar (?) tire changer.
I don'’t even know what that is...







So, these Mitas tires don'’t seem very tough.
This tiny little rock went all the way through the knob and punctured his tube.









Can you see it?








Eventually, they got it sorted out.






Flat count -

Matt - 1

Scott - 2

Ceasar - 1






Looking back...






Ahead of us...














OK, back on the road. We had lost a lot of time...



Aw, man. The road didn'’t get any easier while we were waiting.
These whoops were a lot of fun, 2up...







This sand wasn'’t bad, though.







We were making good time on this section.








Everything was going really well.
Until...



Monkey fighter!


Another flat!








That’'s it. We’'re done.
There was no way we were going to make the guys wait another second.
It was getting late and there was still a long way to go.

Matt told Radek, Bartek and Ceasar to go on ahead.
Radek had the GPS tracks, he could lead them on the rest of the course.
We would go on to the next meet up point (where Scott was waiting).







That was a deep spot!







MediumWan stayed with us.
We would ride as much of the course as we could...
but, if it got too dark for his meager light, we could always take a detour.







Matt checked the tire, but couldn'’t find any obvious source of the flat.
It wasn'’t a pinch flat or anything - this had been a puncture of some type.







After seeing how Ceasar'’s tire had been pierced by those tiny rocks,
it seems plausible that something sharp went through the tire
(maybe here in the crack?)
and cut the tube.







Total Flat count -

Matt - 2

Scott - 2

Ceasar - 1

Sunday 3/24/13, continued.






The shadows were getting long. Time to hit the road.






Looking back.






This is the last of my pics/video.





It got dark quickly.
After that point, we were just looking for the next highway crossing and our meetup with Scott.
Rick had filled up in Mina, but still almost ran out of gas.
He had to stop and knock the bike over to get to the secret stash...
and pretty much made it to the truck on fumes.




It was completely dark by the time we got to the next pit.
Good thing Matt had it marked on the GPS.
Scott saw us though, and was flashing his lights.
He was so happy to see us - now he could start drinking beer!
(thank you, Scott! I know that cooler was very tempting).









Norm.



So, I didn't realize it at the time, but this wasn't the right screen. It was still navigating.
The number on top is "distance to the next turn"
not "trip odometer."


Our total miles for the day - about 250.






We were hanging out with Goggles, enjoying some cold ones, when the phones started ringing...

Oh shit!
Ceasar had run out of gas on the trail.
(I've made a huge tiny mistake)



He was sitting out there in the dark, but Radek and Bartek were on their way to us.
Without a GPS, Cesar had no idea where he was or how far he was from the pit.
But he knew he was close - when he left, he had had just enough fuel to make it...
And now, he was out of fuel.








BigWan sighed.
Roadside assistance, on it's way!
He put a bunch of gas in one of the cans and strapped it on the back of the bike.



Just as he got to the trail, he ran into Radek and Bartek.
They said Ceasar was only 6 miles back.
What they neglected to add was that it was 6 miles of deep sand and silt...
Thanks, guys.






I think they were just happy to be off the course.






















Here's a couple screen shots from Radek's helmet cam.






It must have sucked finding a barbed wire gate!






I think they got a little lost, too.
It's easy to miss trail turnoffs in the dark...






Poor Smartek was starving!
We were WAY past feeding time.
Here he is, ripping the head off one of the bananas.
He tore through them, just squeezing the goop into his mouth
instead of taking the time to peel them and bite.













It was a huge relief when we finally heard Matt and Ceasar...
Now that all riders were accounted for, we could breathe easy.







After loading up the bikes, everyone was happy be in a nice warm truck.
Until, that is, we realized it was going to be at least 2 more hours of driving
before we got to Scott's house...






It was 11:30 when we got to a town. Almost everything was closed.
This burger king was closed, except for the drive in.
Drive in with a trailer?
The workers reluctantly let the guys in to get take out.







It was about 2am when we got back to Scott's place.
Everyone was wiped.
We chatted a bit and then it was off to bed.






The next morning started with coffee. Delicious coffee.






And video.
We wanted to swap GoPro footage with Radek and check out some photos.







Matt wasn't looking forward to breaking into the Honda trunk...



But, taking it off the trailer must have dislodged whatever had jammed the latch.
This morning, he gave it one last try (before he started tearing things apart)...
And the trunk simply popped open!

Son of a biscuit!




The important thing was that it was open.
You know what that means -
Sausages for breakfast!








Eggcellent.
Bartek made sure everything was perfect...








It was sooo good...
Breakfast of champions!





Thank you, Smartek!





Speaking of Smartek,
here he is, practicing his riding stance in Scott's garage...







So, this Mitas E-09... The Flat Maker.
Meh.
It was really good in the sand, but just didn't last.
This is pic is after 500 miles. At best, this is a 1000 mile tire (for us).
For $150 (plus shipping from Canada), it should be better.








The only bad thing about this weekend was losing my favorite riding sweater.
JustPaul calls it my "grandma sweater."
But I loved that thing! I got it at Goodwill for less than a dollar.
It's been on every ride since 2008 and was the best mid layer, ever.


(oregon, 2010. on the TAT)




I checked the Ridgeline, I checked Radek's truck...
No luck.




bye, sweater.
(edit - this was the hugest tiny mistake of the whole trip! )





It was starting to get late and Radek had to go all the way back to Canada...







The guys dropped the trailer and got ready to go.







Bye Radek, Bye Ceasar!
Thanks for riding with us!








Unfortunately, we didn't think about doing a group photo until they were gone.
Sorry, guys.




Here's a partial group pic.
yes, that's a metal goat (don't ask me - ask Scott).








We had a 4+ hour drive ourselves...so, after a quick Goodbye...
(thank you Scott! Gracias for driving, grazie for hosting! You're the best. )


Then, we were on the road.



Stopped and dropped MediumWan off in Sacramento.
Thanks, Rick! We're so glad you made it!






By this time, it was past feeding time (again)...
Smartek found the perfect Mexican place.
The food was muy rico.
He was on that burrito like Bartek on a taco!



needless to say, we'll be seeing El Smartek again...






OK - that's it. Another ride (and ride report) is in the books.
Done and doner.
Whew. I'll be taking a nice long break from ADV after this.





Thanks for reading (all 10 of you )!




Smell ya later!
the Wans

Awesome!


You posted enough pics that if you have threads set to 40 posts per page, (I do) if you just click and hold the scroll down arrow on the right, it's like a cool as hell time lapse.
(edit, click and hold just above the arrow, and it page downs quckly but still afaik shows each picture for a nano-second)




thanks for the RR!