Beware the nOObs of March (a sure to be epic weekend in Death Valley)

I am obligated to put up the very few drops I captured this weekend.


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Don't worry, Goler is still coming.

I ran into the group by accident. I was in DV with a friend and we decided to ride to the hot springs on Friday. We stop for gas in Panimant Springs and I see all these bikes. I ask someone and he informs me it's the nOOb ride. I haven't been on advrider much lately and had no idea. So we take off for the hot springs and at the saliene valley turn off, there is a lone Husky. I stop and make sure everything is ok. He says yes... Then says "what's up Nate?" I almost fall off my bike. Who the he'll is this and why does he know my name? It was mootosuno. Small world! I really should keep up on adv rides.


Nate

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jab and traveltoad left me 1 full box. gave away some but surely there are plenty left.

those who where there nOObing and didn't get any or broke it while unpacking...:ddog, send me $5 and i can ship it to you usps.

I love this title, it really stands out
Johngil going down is a rare event, lucky to have caught that.

panamint valley, just west and outside of dv







soon we hit some groomed dirt; here's keith and justin



lots of gs/gsa in our group; here's jim aka 1224r looking good


melikecookies



adam or muddydonut?



tony on his new gs800 (anthlglick?)



goma and cathy




my turn to sweep and eat dust


those phat pigs love this road



if you want to know the morning temp, look and you'll find...



justin pulling into the ballarat general store parking lot









andreas aka edelweys













fyi, you have to make a $2 donation if you walk inside the store/museaum not too bad since it makes a good spot to take a break on the way to goler






how do you get this atv up on the rack and down?...:eek1





jim pointing out the jail, morgue, and motel (if vacant)







minutes later, the xr boyz....dualbadger, catsailor, and temecula kid showed up.

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This is a first for me, posting video before the ride report.
This one is for you Sito, and you thought these videos were just for my own enjoyment.
Another ride video coming tomorrow, then the campfire video of our beloved leader for those that didn't make it.

great video, toast!!

Mike: "You know he got that on video, right?":huh

Awesome!

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="PlaceType"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="Street"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="PlaceName"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="City"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-comffice:smarttags" name="address"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> DV Noob Rally - year 3<o></o>
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So the event started off easy enough, I brought a ADV Noob to the party. We just call him Evil Dave to keep things simple

On<o></o> his XR600.<o></o>
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Despite the bike looking like some sort of clapped out POS he races this thing!<o></o>
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Not bad for a guy well into his 50's <o></o>
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Left early Friday morning and got into camp and set up by around 10:30am.<o></o>
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Ride for the day was going to be the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Darwin</st1lace></st1:city> loop just cause we both were a little beat from a long week and being up at 4am.<o></o>
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Going up the wash on the right hand cut off was pretty easy.<o></o>
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Your typical shots.<o></o>
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The old H2O pump<o></o>
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and tank<o></o>
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was a pretty big operation in its day I would imagine.<o></o>
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Got into <st1:city w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">Darwin</st1lace></st1:city> and it was pretty uneventful<o></o>
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On the way out we took the sand wash route which had us going past an old mine<o></o>
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I tried to get him to move in but he wouldn't bite.<o></o>
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Da hole...<o></o>
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Going back towards Panamint<o></o>
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Nice having the snow on the mountains in the background<o></o>
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Once back at camp a lot more people showed up.<o></o>
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We laughed at this, an example of two extremes. On the left is the ultimate in excess..the right is minimalist at its best.<o></o> They were riding bikes through the valley when they were not driving their hybrids. They didn't even have a fire that night.<o></o> Now that is a tree hugger.<o></o>
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This was to be food central:<o></o>
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It also served as bike parking<o></o>
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We filled up the place.<o></o>

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I have a feeling their beer stock was a little low back at the bar by the time we left.<o></o>
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So for Saturdays ride the plan was to follow A.vern through his loop.<o></o>
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Basically it went like this.<o></o>
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PS - Beaty to get gas<o></o>
Beaty to <st1lace w:st="on"><st1lacename w:st="on">Titus</st1lacename> <st1lacename w:st="on">Canyon</st1lacename></st1lace><o></o>
<st1lace w:st="on"><st1lacename w:st="on">Titus</st1lacename> <st1lacename w:st="on">Canyon</st1lacename></st1lace> to <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Ubehebe Crater Road</st1:address></st1:street> to the Dunes<o></o>
From here the group split one went north while Dave and I went over <st1lacename w:st="on">Steel</st1lacename> <st1lacetype w:st="on">Pass</st1lacetype> to the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1lace w:st="on">hot springs</st1lace></st1:city>.<o></o>
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The players:<o></o>
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Larry/Galactic GS: R1200GS<o></o>
Roger (pretty sure it's Roger): KTM ADV Dakar<o></o>
TravelTOad: KTM 950SE<o></o>
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This guy was doing this on Scorps..Yikes<o></o>
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Jon: KTM 990 ADV<o></o>
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JAB: XR600 IIRC<o></o>
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Travel Toad's brother: R100GS<o></o>
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A.Vern: R1150GSA<o></o>
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We get out of Titus and take a quick break to rest and take in the view<o></o>
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We head out to Crankshaft Junction<o></o>
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Then motor along around the dunes<o></o>

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Evil Dave<o></o>
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Old beemer dude<o></o>
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There was some challenges in the sand but I didnt get any pics. We made it to the start of <st1lace w:st="on"><st1lacename w:st="on">Steel</st1lacename> <st1lacetype w:st="on">Pass</st1lacetype></st1lace> to the first steps.<o></o>
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This was where the group split up.<o></o>
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Shots going up the steps<o></o>


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Waiting for the carnage<o></o>
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My attempt<o></o>
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Nothing too bad just stalled it on the first step<o></o>
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Then this ass hole comes along and makes it look easy, gues it was since I already showed him the best lines...<o></o>
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We kept on going<o></o>
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By the time we made it to the springs it was already hitting 430 and we had to book it back before it got too dark. Not many<o></o> more pics after this point, this was the last one.<o></o>


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Ended the day with 270 mile loop. Overall not a bad way to end a weekend.<o></o>
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You say I made it look easy but it sure didn't feel all that easy.:eek1


Moose

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who helped me wire my bike back together to get me back and all those who gave me some good advice. I hope to see you all at the next gathering where ever it might be!

Adam, good riding with you. Thanks for sharing the tent site. YOU SNORE!!!

Glad you came out of your 'incident' without scratches.

Hope you get your bike fixed up asap, and hope to be riding with you again.

Got a couple of pics with you from the noobs rides: check out the first link below.

Best,

Toast You bastard! Damm that was a great weekend! we had a great group of riders and found some great trails! Thanks Matt (Rider914) your GPS tracks really helped out! We also found a bunch of great roads on our own! I have to say some of the best trails are the ones going in and out of DV!

It was a nOObs ride after all...

great, never give up and see you on the next ride....hopefully you will be denoobed by then....

andreas, you have talent, the slide show is pretty cool...and damn i look good in orange.....

Heading down into Panamint Springs



Photos from the Saturday Goler Wash/Mengel Pass ride.



Our first sacrifice to the desert - a fuel can took a spill...



The steps at Goler - we walked a few of the bikes up







A cabin, not Barker Ranch though...





Riding up into Mengel Pass



Mengel Pass









Second mechanical failure (if you count my crappy saddlebags tearing apart as the first...:huh)



We were also stopped by one of the Ridgecrest 350 riders with a dead bike (soon to be revived, as we saw him at Furnace Creek later)



There are wildflowers out here



West Side Road





Back to the pavement



Well... at least they stayed on for the rest of the ride...



Back at camp in Panamint Springs - great ride all around



Photos from my solo Sunday ride to Rhyolite/Titus.



Emigrant Pass





Nevada state line



Rhyolite





Ride out to Titus





Red Pass





Titus Canyon







Titus was awesome, the road construction on the way back to camp - not so much...

Bike loaded and headed for home



Thanks again to all who made this happen.

I had a great time and really enjoyed meeting everyone.

-Randall

Yes, you look good in orange, and my cousin from Virginia thinks you have a damn purrrty mouth...
(he is the romantic type)

and the very lucky nOOb hit the soft sand...

A great trip,

Unfortunately I left my camera at work, so I did what I could with the iphone....

Seeing how I missed the burgers last year because I arrived late, I was determined to get an early start..... until, my rear Ohlins decided to drop all of it's oil.




I called Javier at Trail Tricks and he said bring it in. Rode it down to Frazier Park and he did the rebuild on the spot. I pulled over South of Mojave as my tank bag was blown into my right hand in the 50 knot winds... low and behold, the shock was leaking again. There was some damage to the shock that Javier said the body may need work, so time will tell. It held up for the weekend and never completly dumped, or if it did, it was a slow dump.

Few beers on Friday night, with breakfast the next day doing some research on the map as to where the ride will go.



We decide to ride to Beatty, get gas, ride Titus... then decide again.

great pic by Roger....



From there, we head North up big Pine RD to Crankshaft Junction.



Then Eureka Dunes....



The crew....



The sand that claimed 2/3rds of the GS's (mine and a R100) as well as 2 KTM Adv.




We rode to the steps of Steel Pass, took a look and decided to let DSM8 and his sidekick head over while we would track West over Big Pine RD.



The views from Big Pine RD of the Sierra was incredible, although a little chilly in the high altitude. Some of the group were wearing mesh gear.



With daylight getting slim, we slab to Lone Pine and take Moffett RD to the Alabama Hills.... incredible views that the Iphone can't do justice to.







We beat the sunset just in time to join the group at the fire pit to celebrate another great March nOOb's ride. Thanks again Joel and everyone for the great times!