Kings of the West: Riding and Camping Event

[sopascat]

Was just amazing to have a front row seat for some of this event...

What a fantastic bunch of riders... & very cool people.

[wachs]

Awesome fellas - wish I coulda been in 2 places at one time - AMAZING!

[brents347]

Here's some of my pics of the alledged event.


Trick17 and I arrive at Javiers place the night before and attempt to get our shit in order.



Morning of, Rreuger and Toast try to get THEIR shit in order.


Trick relieves himself somewhere in NV. I beleive the theory was to pee on competitors as they went by in an attempt to slow them down. Strangely, we hadn't seen any other riders in hours and wouldn't again for MANY more. On a side note, Capt. Ron, is it true that you wore diapers to avoid just this type of trail stop? That's just wierd man!


Some of the typical scenery from the ride.


Preparing to leave Moapa, morning of Day 2.


Typical views coming in to Brianhead, UT. end of stage 2.


The hotel parking lot in Brianhead. How cool was it for them to close the front of the hotel for us?


Hilslamer trying to get the front/rear bias of the 990 just right... A little more weight in the rear, Tim, you're just about there!


look at the look on Tricks face... I think he just figured out how to slow down some of those XR's.


Had to ride through these guys to get up to the Brianhead pizza feed


Sunset, Day 3, as seen from nearly 11k.


And here was our rest day location as seen from same.

[Cpt. Ron]

Originally Posted by brents347

On a side note, Capt. Ron, is it true that you wore diapers to avoid just this type of trail stop? That's just wierd man!

Nope, no diapers for me.....

[mattomoto]

Originally Posted by herrhelmet

Matt lets meet up in Utah... do some riding... your TE would love it, especially since it's probably jetted for High Alt.

By how much time everyones wasting, obviously hard to plant back into reality...

Lets do it in the Spring. I will roll through there a few times in March and April. Heck, will be in LA for 2 weeks in March... This new bike is so slim, she fits in the race trailer no problem which was also one of the excuses for getting it. She will be traveling to quite a few races next year

[Rev Kiecker]

It simply cannot be stated enough; Thank you Rob and to all the volunteers - without you none of our rides and memories would had been possible.

Only a few days prior to the non-race my bike was in the shop getting an oil leak repaired.




After getting my bike back I mounted up a new set of tires, replaced the pads, added a couple other knickknacks and called it good. With a simple bag of clothes tied to the seat (previously sent my tent/pad/bag with Razr - thank you ) I was off and riding to TrailTricks cabin.


After a quick stop at Jawbone for a PB&J I was finally on dirt.


On the way up I Johnny 5 as I .



The food was awesome....super yummy veggie burgers.


Later that night with the help of Toast's computer, BiggieFalls become an appointed dedicated GPS guru hooking all of us up with tracks throughout the event.


The next morning Razr and I get ready to ride.


Before getting fuel in Trona we passed through the Pinicles.


It was tough not to stop and take more photos but I really like how Rob routed out of Trona. We were up on a ridge over looking the valley below before bouncing around on baby-head sized rocks before climbing into Gohler Wash and Mengle through Death Valley. The full tank I had didn't help me much as I descended. Heck I've only started getting more involved riding dirt 8 months ago.



Wheeler Pass was bermmed all the way up which some riders took advantage of....me, not so much.


Near the end of Day 1 there was a set of railroad tracks to cross. Baja Joe decided this wasn't a very good place to try.


I finally made it to the end of Day 1.


I asked the Hilslamer and Henrikbuus where everyone else was and was informed I came in 3rd. What? Sweet! I felt I rode pretty well for myself and tried to minimize my stopped time. It also didn't hurt matters that others got one or more flats or had other mechanical issues.

My stats for the day.


Sleeping arrangements for the night; I actually got my best and most sound sleep this night as well.


The property owner let us use his bar for more gps'n.


I loved Johnny 5's field fix for her flat tire.


Day 2 started out with a hill climb. After seeing a bunch of carnage scattered around I hooked up with Johnny 5 and Hilslamer and routed around the hill. Granted it didn't save any time whatsoever, but did help save our bodies and bikes. Not shown in the picture is about 8 other riders all waiting in patiently to take a turn.


I was riding fairly well picking up a couple places along a powerline road and into the gravel pit. The next section however had us going through sandy whoops. I was riding up and down all of them when Broken Spoke buzzed passed me skipping across the tops. I applied a bit more throttle but not enough to skip the tops. The bike was bouncing every which way and thought for sure I was going down. Just then it all came back and I was going to save it. That was until the next whoop was even bigger and spaced differently that I hit. Wham-O! Highside!! Knocked my melon really good. Stood up but couldn't focus or walk straight. Blurred vision. Ribs and wrist pain. Eventually I came around enough to lift and move my bike out of the way to some flatter ground to asess both myself and the bike when Hilslamer comes down the whoops. On the same fucking whoop he highsides as well.


The two of us put our bikes back together and continued.


It took me a long time to recover; I must have dropped my bike 3 more times on simple stuff in the next 30 minutes. With Hilslamer up ahead I ended up hooking up with Razr and YZLVR. However, that wasn't the last we'd see of Hilslamer. Around a turn we found him attempting to trail blaze his own route.




Unfortunately I had forgot to go around the corner to take a photo of how far down the cliff it actually went, but little did I know we'd reverse course this trail on Day 3.



It wasn't until after I stopped for fuel a couple hours later that I finally felt more like myself and rode better. This was right after a jeep trail.


On the way up to BrianHead.




And I finally arrived at the hotel.


I believe I came in 10th this day. My stats.


CaStu made a few trailside modifications.


That evening at dinner.




The following day is a rest day. I think I'm starting to make some friends on the ride. Hey CaStu


I spent a few hours going thorugh and tightening various bolts and then got a massage. Later that evening I headed to Jim's cabin and then to The Peak for dinner.










Day 3 was a reverse of Day 2 with some added milege near the end so we'd end at Lake Mead.
Remember the cliff Hilslamer was attempting to ride? Here it is a couple days later.


Upon closer inspection his tire tracks are completely visible still with quite a drop below.




I had swapped places with a few faster riders but tried to take advantage of my fuel range and didn't make the last stop. I wasn't sure what the terrain was ahead but I was going to do my best to create a gap and hold it the last 40 miles to the finish. Little did I know Rob routed us on part of the Nevada 2000 race course. Holy fucking shit I'm 250+ miles in for the day and now I'm on a whooped out race course for 20 straight miles loaded with silt. At times sand/slit was thrown off my front tire and I couldn't see a thing. I had no idea how I'd get going again if I dropped it or stopped. Luckily I kept on the gas and bogged along. It was only a matter of minutes before Hinrikbuus and Broken Spoke came flying by me.

But I made it to the end in either 5th or 6th place. I'm pretty proud of the fact I only had a little over 10 minutes of total stopped time for the day I may not ride as fast as others but I don't stop much either I also learned I ride much better without a concussion







Broken Spoke works on next year's sponsorship dollars.






A storm rolled in and some of took shelter under a palm.








Listening to Javi talk about both his crash and run-in with the police kept everyone entertained.


Razr arrives.


For Day 3 I left the added accessory on all day but not being able to see many gages they were tossed for Day 4.


Lake Mead.


Sleeping arrangements.


Start of Day 4. I woke up this day still feeling really tired and I think just ready for it to be over. As a result I rode quite a bit slower and dropped my bike 3 times just turning around in some loose sand.


Just after we crossed the pavement at BiggieFalls checkpoint I saw riders on the www.the508.com and was reminded of my friends out pedalling and racing that event.




Eventually I made it back to Jawbone.


Everyone was happy to see us.


I finished the day in 6th I believe. I could had kept my stopped time down a little bit more but decided to take just a splash of fuel in Randsberg.


After congratulating the other finishers and thanking as many of the voluneers as I could find I tied my gear on to the bike and made the ride back to the ocean.


My D606's are completly toast after 1500 miles.


And in the end I'm left with endless memories, many new friends, and an improved emblem.


Thank you once again to everyone involved

[Team Longriders]

maybe i should learn how to operate a gps. this sounds like a real adventure ride.

[jonkem]

If the (failed) hill climb shows the poor standard of the riders on this event.......I'd fit right in

If only I lived a little nearer and hadn't stuffed in my rotator cuff in a highside

Rob..looks like a good job for the 1st event and I can't wait to read about next year

[spafxer]

Nice, front page pic for KOTW Good job Rev !

[Crawdaddy]

Originally Posted by Rev Kiecker

Thank you once again to everyone involved

Excellent report/pics!

[notmybikemodelname]

Hey Kiecker!

Great RR and pics! You really sum it all up very nicely

[hilslamer]

Originally Posted by notmybikemodelname

Hey Kiecker!

Great RR and pics! You really sum it all up very nicely

+1, hard act to follow....

[NSFW]

exciting reports, especially the one from revkiecker....


hey mark, i remember you telling me on our way to mammoth. don't have to ride very fast, just keep your breaks and stop time to a minumum...

can't wait to see more...

[hilslamer]

Most computer systems are down at work today, so I have a little time to work on this.

It has been said over and over again already, but there is really no price you can hang on a Riding And Camping Event like this...I enthusiastically put my deposit down early, and then as the year wore on, poor vacation time budgeting combined with family stuff that cropped up and I attempted to bail on the entire deal with an email to notmybikemodelname asking if I could get my deposit back. I was going to be out of vacation time from work, and low on cash just due to timing and roommate moves and and and...

It's a damn good thing he had spent all the deposit money already and could not give much of it back, because I was roped into finding a way to make the KOTW ride happen for myself. I flexed time off of work, took my last couple to f vacation days for a long time(where I work, they "acrue" - they don't come in a lump...) and prepped my trusty KTM Adventure 990 for the task at hand. Super-stoked to be headed out, as I always am going riding!


Tuesday morning before the ride, I loaded up and headed into work, prepared to leave for the starting coordinates ASAP from the work parking lot:



And as always seems to happen, work ran later than expected due to a hot job that my boss needed done that afternoon, and locked up computers...blah, blah blah...long story short, I finally roll into Ranch de Trailtricks at about 11:30 after getting good and turned around via Garmin and romping the truck kwith the bike in the back all over the Jawbone Canyon area. When I shut the truck off I realized how many people were just sleeping on their mats on the ground around me...a cacophony of snoring permeated the still air. I approached the cabin where I heard some voices, and caught up with everyone on the festivites and critical information I had missed. A few FF's helped me unload my bike and I turned in for the evening.

After ~5 short hours of sleep, I awoke and began assessing how much of the stuff I had brought I would be able to fit into the support vehicle...and promptly forgot some really silly stuff, like to grab goggles for the day and also to throw a brimmed hat in anywhere, and my spare SPOT batteries...duh. I just have too many irons in the fire to be able to function fully after that much stress and too little sleep...at least until I wake up...

Went to start the bike, and I have no HID low beam...it tries to fire but fizzles every time. So it looks like I'm on high beam only now...hmmm. Well, it'll be light soon and I can get by on the high beam for now...so I roll over to the start and break out the camera. Looking down the row to the start:




Johnny_5 lined up:


Looking back up the row, Trailtrick getting blinded by my flash first:



We had "start partners" to keep dust down and get more poepl out faster, and Johnny_5 and I line up and launched. Descending the road out of there was kind of surreal, with morning twilight distorting depth perception but fresh tires to make up for mistakes - we all headed down the mountain. After a brief stint re-re-cinching the straps on my toolpack(never had this loosening problem before...?), and losing my too-heavy jacket to the inside of my Kriega backpack...and then getting stuck behind a locked gate and encountering all sorts of wandering riders that had started ahead of me...I found a way around with the others and finally shook off the grogginess and wicked it up a bit, passing a few people and enjoying the sunrise through my silt-lined face shield(did I mention I forgot goggle for the day? duh...really, duh). First stop was Trona:





...and first gas station is out of order:


I'm not really sure how fast I need to go, and while I'm competitive I guess it hadn't kicked in yet. Hinrikbuus rolls up and eager to mak e new friends, I tak e apic:


I head out and zoom out on the GPS to look for the next dirt turnoff:



That takes us up a loose road, and breaks over an awesome horizon that overlooks the barren-ness of the dezert here:

This road stitches down a ridgeline like a cat walks down a bannister, and ends in a giant rock garden that I was too busy picking lines through to get a picture of and want to stay moving anyway, because it was probably 85+ already and the bike fan is running fulltime.


From there, it turns up a flat-bottomed rocky canyon that gets narrower as we go, and I spy my first dust cloud that I can't catch - yet:


The sign makes it clear that I'd better stay moving, and watch for sharp rocks and go around them so I don' t have to fix a flat in the swelter:


Where it got really technical, I came upon Hinrikbuus plinking through the rocks. To keep my bike cool, I have to stay moving so I pass and hold a pace, knowing that I'll get over-tired if I keep that up for too long. No more dust, though! I blaze ahead and enjoy the clear air.

I think these guys were as curious of me as I was of them:



I asked them nicely to pose, and they just stared:



Man, this place is big...I slow down from a 70% pace to snap a pic on the fly of the vastness, and also the crazy eons-old monolithic formations:


It's funny how being able to see so far away changes your pace...when things are tight(as in a rough, narrow canyon just previous), and it feels like you have no reference for the distances you have to cover for the day, I get anxious and ride faster. But with this sort of view, I can stay ahead of my mind and remember how far I have to go and to just stay moving. This notion came to me early on this ride and I'm glad because it kept my speed in much better check, as well as my physical pacing. Headed out of a canyon, I notice a stand of trees and a two-track headed that way...ride over for some shade and a quick snack and discover what was once a really swanky place. this is easily 35+ miles down dirt roads from ANYWHERE:

I learned later that it's the former "Warm Springs Ranch", previously a mine that a moviestar bought and made into a resort of sorts. The spring was still running in the stand of bushes, I could hear it but the foliage was so think I couldn't get to it...and I wasn't about to splash around in the pool...


Someone passes me while I'm transfering some water into my drink bladder, and shooting pics. Shortly after, I'm eating dust again but the wind changes and we can both really make some time on the smooth roads now:


We hit pavement for a while, and I reel him in with 6th gear:

...and then pass again on another dirt section.


Pavement again and then through Tecopa:


Across a dry lake bed, I do some bobbing and weaving for fun and then remember I should shoot a pic too:


Abruptly, the dry lake ends and an oasis appears...HinrikBuus rolls up and shoots photo proof of me to be sure I'm not seeing things:

No time to investigate right now though...

At the terrible Herbst some others are ahead and getting gas too:




From there, I don;t have a lot of pictures because the riding was so much fun...up over Wheeler pass was a hoot, with big, berm-banked turns that you could really mach up. Only incedent was a helmetless kwadder that just about rolled his quad when we approached oncoming, while I swung wide in a slide. Stopped at the top to cool down in the breeze a bit and shoot a pic:


Looking back the other way, we started way beyond the last mountains on the horizon there:


Pavement again, after riding past a bunch of homesteads on the East side of Wheeler pass and that mountain range...past a prison and then down towards Las Vegas.

I stop for gas at a turn on the GPS track, after wandering around a bit because the exit was such a convoluted maze...and finally discover why my Kriega US5 toolbag kept coming off the rack on my bike: I had re-routed the straps and in the process flupped the buckles, aso that the strap appeared to cinch but did not actually bite...duh, again. Fixed, and got all that weight off of my backpack again...whew! A sip of high furctoase corn syrup and I'm headed across the North side of Las Vegas on pavement again, and reminded how much I'm glad to not be there:



I didn't get any pictures but we then had to find our way across a set of train tracks...no small feat on the 990, especially with double railroad tracks...I can see where someone ahead of me tried to cross them the hard way, and has dug a couple of spots out and also ripped osm eknobs off their tire...damn. After some wandering ad looking, I find that they join so I only hafta cross one set of tracks...find a place to use a little popper of a dirt mound and jump them, and I'm good to go. Break out onto a powerline road that you could use to teach "perspective" in an art class:


More smooth, FAST dirt troads and no dust anywhere...am I on course? Yup, Garmin says so...boy, it's alonely place when you feel like the only one truely there. I back off the pace for fear that somehow I AM lost and might not be found for a long time if I make a mistake and catch a washout wrong or something...

Eventually, I hit pavement again and wind down into Moapa, where the track ends. Heinrik, who must've passed me in Vegas, maves me in to the Muddy Rivver and we chake hands and celebrate 1st and second finishers:


Out support vehicle is parked in the back, where the GPS track actually ends, and he approaches and offers a beer to us...and sets up a sign for the rest of the RidingAndCampingEvent-ers to spot:


And they begin to flood in. Trailtrick arrives, Hinrikbuus congradulates:

Trailtrick take sone good look at the Muddy River B&G and says "Well, how nice, another hangover waiting for me right there."

More roll in, and for soem reason we all sit around in the sun and heat and reminisce instead of heading inside:


We're informed of our accomodations for the night, a front yard and a hose for a shower:



...and gladly set up camp:


Trailtrick nurses the end of last night's hangover:


Tools come out and the bivouac sprawls out into a maintenance frenzy:







Johnny_5 arrives at dusk:

...and explains how to make a substitute for a melted rimstrip using bandaids:


Partying commences:


...as well as taking nourishment:


I'm tired and stinky so I don;t hit on the waitresses, but the support crew doesn't hesitate:


Battle weary bikes sprinkle the parking lot:



Desperately needing sleep, I collapse in the middle of the yard and listen to everyone babble about the day as I drift off to sleep...tomorrow, a later start and better breakfast and a full night's sleep for me. This group has a good vibe and a strong drive, and already I can see how much effort this took beforehand...and only glimpse the appreciation I will have for them as the trip progresses. Tomorrow, I will have goggles, tools I don't have to carry on my person, fresh socks and a lot of smiles from new freinds made.

[herrhelmet]

Absolutely the best pics from all of you guys...

STOP! get back to work! I can't concentrate...