Great Sandy Desert, Part 2

[Humunn]

Heading out Friday morning with 3 riding buds for our second attempt of the 3 day, 750 mile Great Sandy Desert loop. See our first (failed) attempt over over spring break!

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=670770

[oldx]

Great, have a good trip and take lots of pictures.

[Humunn]

Originally Posted by oldx

Great, have a good trip and take lots of pictures.

Will do, thanks!

[BigHo]

This out to be good.

[Humunn]

Originally Posted by BigHo

This out to be good.

Oh it will be good...as long as you guys remember to bring my forks over with you!!!

[BigHo]

Originally Posted by oldx

Great, have a good trip and take lots of pictures.

750 miles in 3 days may not leave anytime to take photos, at least not any still photos. Might have to stick with video along the route.

[Harp_63]

Well we made it back... the 750 turned into 840-something and my hands are so sore that it is hard to type this. I sure am glad I didn't have to go into work today.

The riding was amazing along with the views. The pace was grueling at ~35mph moving average and a 20mph overall average.

Let the stories begin.

[JDRobin]

Not for the faint of heart, but this was awesome! I'm a newbie, but this seemed to have all the elements of a good ride.
Riding...ride, scenery, drinks , cigar, puke , sleep, ride, scenery, navigate a bizillion blowdowns, a little hike, hot springs, ride, "get jacked", blaze trails, apprehension, manna from heaven, night ride, rabbit slaughter, more manna, drinks, cigar, crash for a couple hours, ride, ride, ride, dehydration, pinch flat, ride, celebrate! I'd do it again tomorrow!

Note for next trip...carry more gas and water. Now that I'm an addict...time to get a GPS!

[Humunn]

LOL!

Good summary Robin!

Yah I'm pretty sore too, especially my ribs and left hip from that table top I didn't know I was trying to do! Hurts to sneeze!

Think I'm still re hydrating too.

We'll be talking about this one for YEARS.

I'll post up pics soon!

[Harp_63]

[QUOTE=Harp_63;16503108] The Heat rash on my feet is starting to subside, finally. I guess the long 1st day of 245 miles combined with the crazy 2nd day of 300 miles and not getting to Fields until after midnight then back on the road at 8:15am for another 300 along with the heat… was just too much time in the hot sweaty boots.



I agree with Robin though I would do it again tomorrow if the opportunity was there. It was a blast and I got my share of those darn Jack-rabbits that seemed to be attracted to the headlights on the bikes…

If you are out there thinking that these guys must have been on easy gravel roads to cover this many miles think again. Here is a picture of the bottom of my boots and these were new boots, maybe used twice before this ride. No wonder my feet were so sore....

[BigHo]

I am thinking this was about 30 minutes prior to the jacking given the time stamp. Seems so close, just right over that 50ft rock face. Actually from my track log here's exactly where we were. Maybe still a ways from the jacking location.

7/23/2011 4:39:14 PM 5689 ft 0.2 mi 0:00:32 23 mph 37° true N42 28.851 W119 34.819

Great ride. Think I've recovered. Looking forward to another some day.

[JDRobin]

Pinch flat at 780 or so miles. Greg told me back in April to start changing my own tires in the man cave, so this went pretty easy...except for the darn valve stem! And of course, the guys showed me the trail side tire/kickstand trick. I was getting ready to start stacking up some rock! LOL

[JDRobin]

I was surprised to see this tire go from bran new to gone in one trip. This tire came as an extra with the bike and was a few years old but never ran, Bridgestone Motocross M402. A new Desert IT is ready for install though...which also came with the bike.

[BigHo]

Originally Posted by JDRobin

I was surprised to see this tire go from bran new to gone in one trip. This tire came as an extra with the bike and was a few years old but never ran, Bridgestone Motocross M402. A new Desert IT is ready for install though...which also came with the bike.

Your tire is shot because your rear tire has an actual milage more like 1700 miles on it cause it was always spinning....... At least this is what I observed at the intersections when you took off.

[Humunn]

Thursday night July 23, Don, Dale and eventually Robin roll into Prineville and meet up at the Horseshoe Tavern for our traditional pre ride “planning”. A few beers and a lot of lies later we bunk down at my house to catch some Zs before a bright and early start.

The plan is for an approx 740 mile off road ride over three days on as many new routes as we can find. One of the places I’m excited to see is the petroglyphs on Hart Mountain. Another is to find a direct route into Fields while avoiding pavement (this mini adventure took on a life of its own, but more on that later). Also hoping to get to the top of the Steens. None of the other three have ever been there.

Leading up to the trip I told them I want to ride as much new area as we can. They’ve been riding with me long enough to interpret what this means: riding in unknown country means we could have fuel and water issues and we may (likely) ride at night. They call it “getting Munned”. I call it “all part of the adventure”. But they are all solid and reliable riding partners so I knew they would be up for it, whatever “it” might turn out to be!

Day 1 – Prineville to Silver Lake, 200 miles planned, 230 actual.

Leaving Prineville we headed west toward Sisters and knocked off the first 60 miles pretty quickly. We stop for fuel and grab a couple $1 breakfast burritos at McDonalds.



Heading west and then south out of Sisters we ride as close to the wilderness boundary as we can.



In the background is Broken Top.



We ride a portion of the Cross District Trail, still heading south.





…until we run into this at about 6,700 feet. It is the end of July and there is still snow! We pondered our options and even rode over a bit of it to see what was ahead but it was too deep still.

Then, out of nowhere, a shirtless dude on horseback with another horse and dog appear behind us. Startled me. Thought for a minute we’d stumbled into someone’s deliverance camp. We nicknamed him “Geronimo”. Not a native American but old leathery tanned and tatted skin, long white hair in a pony tail out riding amongst swarms of skeeters. And, of course, while we tucked our tails and turned around because the snow he proceeded to continue on through the snow with two horses, no shirt and his dog. I think he was making a statement! As we rode away, you could almost hear each of us quietly uttering personal affirmations to ourselves, “I am not a pussy, I am not a pussy.”



Doubling back we seek lower elevations. Here we cross over Tumalo Creek.







Cross over the Cascade Lakes Highway and pass a bunch of mountain bikers. Bet they love to see us. Then follow a power line south. Pretty dusty and whooped out, it was giving my new suspension a test and it was failing. Before the ride I sent my forks to Pro Motion in Vancouver to have them re valved and serviced. Wanted more forgiveness in the initial part of the stroke to handle the rocky conditions better. Robin brought them back for me and we installed them the night before the ride. I found that the front end was much more supple but I hadn’t adjusted the shock softer and the bike felt very unbalanced, especially in the whoops where it wanted to buck me off…and did, a couple times.

From mountain bikers to hikers we roar into Benham Falls. Old maps show a through road but NOT anymore. A bunch of families and weekend Columbia sportswear hikers. The parking lot was full of Subarus if that tells you anything. Got a few “you are evil” looks from the enviro-snobs but a couple of little boys just stood there in awe looking at the motorcycles…made me smile as I knew exactly what was going through their minds…the same thing that goes through mine when I see a motor with two wheels. Priceless!

We return to our comfort zone and drop into Sunriver a few miles to the south. Fuel and a gas station sandwich and we are off again.

No real stops the rest of the way to Silver Lake. I don’t really want to hear anything about “night riding” or “getting Munned” on the first day.

We cross over Highway 97, riding south to Highway 31 where we cross over just west of the Big Hole. From there we meander through the northern portion of the Fremont, still heading south, until we hit the Silver Lake Rd where we turn east toward Silver Lake.

Arriving in Silver Lake we stay at Harris Cabin. Called the motel a few weeks back and they were full. The cabin is a nice place to stay. A little cozy for four guys but it worked great.



R & R.



About ¼ mile down the street is the bar.



Carol’s race car.



Dean at the bar. Dean and Carol are great folks. Because the gas station is open intermittently they had 10 gallons of gas for us ready to go, and premium non-ethanol. Awesome!



Up next, the loooooong ride day from Silver Lake to Fields by way of Nevada, almost.