X1Glider
08-18-2008, 02:21 PM
Sorry, no pics of the trip. I left the camera at home. Probably a smart idea as I'd have lost it in a crash I had. It was a textbook perfect roll into a sidefall per my martial arts training after I sailed over the bars. Came out of it AOK. Anyway...
I left work and headed towards San Antonio. Met with IvanCRF from TT on Saturday and rode some empty land near his mom's house. Came back, met the family and rode Red Sands Dunes for a while as his mom was making lunch. The sand got deep...it was all deep...but in places it was deep enough to swallow a bike if you didn't stay floating on top of it. Looked like there was a lot of miles of sandy trails behind the bowl. It was a fun afternoon and good to meet Ivan and family.
Upon leaving San Antonio, I drove straight out to Green Valley, AZ (25 miles S of Tucson) to meet my friends, CAP and Buck. Got in around 10:30, checked in and headed straight to the "Wet Spot." That'd be the bar attached to the bowling alley. They were already trashed by the time I got there and working on the local wimminz. We got kicked out around 1 am after CAP was just starting to get into a scrap with the husband of a rather pretty married woman. A good start to the week and hopefully telling of things to come!
We hit some wide open spaces in the morning and got up to speed on a utility line trail. Every power tower had a 2 ft rolling jump under it and you could easily sail 30-40 ft. Some places had washouts across the trail and CAP thought he could double the washouts. Front end made it over both but the rear hit the last one and jolted him over with no chance of recovery. Got some serious rash on the shoulder and arm and a bloody, ripped shirt. Good material for sympathy sex later if he doesn't get us kicked out again. After the warm up we found some singletrack with lots of sand whoops. Got into some dead end stuff and figured we'd cut our own trail to get back towards a trail that would take us where we wanted to go. Buck and I rode past some cactus that snagged us good. It took about 50 yards for the pain to set in and realize we had something stuck in us. Looked like baseball sized balls of cacti with 1.5" long needles stuck in our arms and thighs. We stopped to pry the prickly balls out of us and that took a while. We had to find some sticks to pry them out as they were embedded about an inch into us. Felt like someone superglued my skin to something then proceeded to rip my skin off! Looked like a bloody pincushion when all was done. Just a small injury to start the trip off. Chased some cows, rabbits and mule deer. Man the deer out there are huge...and probably tasty! The creeks were dry with silt and deep sand. Miles of it. The Desert IT on the rear was everywhere. I did my best to stay on top of it in 3rd gear but had to drop to 2nd occasionally. The knobs are starting to tear from getting sideways on the hard pack and rock and I couldn't get any traction on anything.
Well....it turns out that Green Valley is the Pensacola of Arizona. The place shuts down at 8 pm, except for the casinos and has it's fair share of retirees and those on the border of retiring.
The next day took us to Gunsight Pass. The trails were better and had more elevation. More turns and climbs. I was happier. I'm used to tight woodsy single track and the high speed featureless trails of the previous day bored me quickly. Had some dunes too to play on. Terra Firma was better everywhere. Recommended place to ride for desert stuff.
Spent the eve in the casino and made 70 bucks at the blackjack table.
Day 3 in AZ was spent off the bike. Buck had lawyer stuff to do so CAP and I went to Guitar Center to show everyone in Tucson how to play guitar. Apparently no one paid attention. We were looking for live music that rocked and the employees recommended a few places. OMG did those places suck! The first place didn't have a bar! And the band was crap too. Garage quality, if that. The second place had a bar but no band. The 3rd place had a bar and 3 bands....then they started playing. What the **** was that crap?! A mishmash of sounds totally incoherent in tone and key, vocals that were just plain strange, no rhythm, no beat and the wierdest, ugliest crowd of people that apparently that have never heard decent music in their life. No amount of weed or acid could make them sound better. We all agreed we should've went to the strip bars. But as college wasn't in session yet, it may have been those same ugly and wierd girls on stage and the waste of a cover charge as well.
Day 4, we went into Coronado National Forest and rode the hundred miles of double track. What a beautiful place! Who'd have thought that there would be lush praries with ranches on top of those mountains and greenery growing from those rocky ledges. Lots of dead end trails and a few loops. All real hard pack and rocky with rolling hills. Got some minor climbing in, spitting large rocks from my rear tire, but it was mostly high speed sweepers so I practiced some supermoto/flat track turns as they came up. I don't get to do that in TX. Also recommended but it is equally suited to dual sport machines.
We spent the wee hours in the casino playing blackjack again. The dealers were blackjacking us to death. Lost my 70 from the other night and 50 more fresh bills. Kind of a lame place, dead, no hot waitresses in skimpy clothes and Kenny G was playing in person. Gotta go to Vegas for the good stuff.
Day 5 in AZ, my friends go back to San Diego and I drive to Socorro, NM by way of scenic Gila National forest. I have to say that 152 between Silver City and I-25 rivals the best sport bike roads in the USA and I've been on a lot of those. And oh, the scenery! I stopped on a scenic viewpoint and chatted with a guy named Fred who had "chucked it all", took the money he made over the past few years as a truck driver and bought a '08 KLR650 with the goal of riding until he ran out of money. I had a bunch of AAA maps and he had none, so I gave them to him after pointing out a bunch of places to "must visit." I have about 280k road miles on bikes so I really don't need maps to get from point A to B. Made it to Socorro a couple hours later, ate at the brew pub and sampled the porter and stout. A real tiny town but that place made up for it. Watched some Olympics then showered at a $30 Motel 6 and crashed in anticipation of a really hard solo day of riding at Gordy's Pass.
I left work and headed towards San Antonio. Met with IvanCRF from TT on Saturday and rode some empty land near his mom's house. Came back, met the family and rode Red Sands Dunes for a while as his mom was making lunch. The sand got deep...it was all deep...but in places it was deep enough to swallow a bike if you didn't stay floating on top of it. Looked like there was a lot of miles of sandy trails behind the bowl. It was a fun afternoon and good to meet Ivan and family.
Upon leaving San Antonio, I drove straight out to Green Valley, AZ (25 miles S of Tucson) to meet my friends, CAP and Buck. Got in around 10:30, checked in and headed straight to the "Wet Spot." That'd be the bar attached to the bowling alley. They were already trashed by the time I got there and working on the local wimminz. We got kicked out around 1 am after CAP was just starting to get into a scrap with the husband of a rather pretty married woman. A good start to the week and hopefully telling of things to come!
We hit some wide open spaces in the morning and got up to speed on a utility line trail. Every power tower had a 2 ft rolling jump under it and you could easily sail 30-40 ft. Some places had washouts across the trail and CAP thought he could double the washouts. Front end made it over both but the rear hit the last one and jolted him over with no chance of recovery. Got some serious rash on the shoulder and arm and a bloody, ripped shirt. Good material for sympathy sex later if he doesn't get us kicked out again. After the warm up we found some singletrack with lots of sand whoops. Got into some dead end stuff and figured we'd cut our own trail to get back towards a trail that would take us where we wanted to go. Buck and I rode past some cactus that snagged us good. It took about 50 yards for the pain to set in and realize we had something stuck in us. Looked like baseball sized balls of cacti with 1.5" long needles stuck in our arms and thighs. We stopped to pry the prickly balls out of us and that took a while. We had to find some sticks to pry them out as they were embedded about an inch into us. Felt like someone superglued my skin to something then proceeded to rip my skin off! Looked like a bloody pincushion when all was done. Just a small injury to start the trip off. Chased some cows, rabbits and mule deer. Man the deer out there are huge...and probably tasty! The creeks were dry with silt and deep sand. Miles of it. The Desert IT on the rear was everywhere. I did my best to stay on top of it in 3rd gear but had to drop to 2nd occasionally. The knobs are starting to tear from getting sideways on the hard pack and rock and I couldn't get any traction on anything.
Well....it turns out that Green Valley is the Pensacola of Arizona. The place shuts down at 8 pm, except for the casinos and has it's fair share of retirees and those on the border of retiring.
The next day took us to Gunsight Pass. The trails were better and had more elevation. More turns and climbs. I was happier. I'm used to tight woodsy single track and the high speed featureless trails of the previous day bored me quickly. Had some dunes too to play on. Terra Firma was better everywhere. Recommended place to ride for desert stuff.
Spent the eve in the casino and made 70 bucks at the blackjack table.
Day 3 in AZ was spent off the bike. Buck had lawyer stuff to do so CAP and I went to Guitar Center to show everyone in Tucson how to play guitar. Apparently no one paid attention. We were looking for live music that rocked and the employees recommended a few places. OMG did those places suck! The first place didn't have a bar! And the band was crap too. Garage quality, if that. The second place had a bar but no band. The 3rd place had a bar and 3 bands....then they started playing. What the **** was that crap?! A mishmash of sounds totally incoherent in tone and key, vocals that were just plain strange, no rhythm, no beat and the wierdest, ugliest crowd of people that apparently that have never heard decent music in their life. No amount of weed or acid could make them sound better. We all agreed we should've went to the strip bars. But as college wasn't in session yet, it may have been those same ugly and wierd girls on stage and the waste of a cover charge as well.
Day 4, we went into Coronado National Forest and rode the hundred miles of double track. What a beautiful place! Who'd have thought that there would be lush praries with ranches on top of those mountains and greenery growing from those rocky ledges. Lots of dead end trails and a few loops. All real hard pack and rocky with rolling hills. Got some minor climbing in, spitting large rocks from my rear tire, but it was mostly high speed sweepers so I practiced some supermoto/flat track turns as they came up. I don't get to do that in TX. Also recommended but it is equally suited to dual sport machines.
We spent the wee hours in the casino playing blackjack again. The dealers were blackjacking us to death. Lost my 70 from the other night and 50 more fresh bills. Kind of a lame place, dead, no hot waitresses in skimpy clothes and Kenny G was playing in person. Gotta go to Vegas for the good stuff.
Day 5 in AZ, my friends go back to San Diego and I drive to Socorro, NM by way of scenic Gila National forest. I have to say that 152 between Silver City and I-25 rivals the best sport bike roads in the USA and I've been on a lot of those. And oh, the scenery! I stopped on a scenic viewpoint and chatted with a guy named Fred who had "chucked it all", took the money he made over the past few years as a truck driver and bought a '08 KLR650 with the goal of riding until he ran out of money. I had a bunch of AAA maps and he had none, so I gave them to him after pointing out a bunch of places to "must visit." I have about 280k road miles on bikes so I really don't need maps to get from point A to B. Made it to Socorro a couple hours later, ate at the brew pub and sampled the porter and stout. A real tiny town but that place made up for it. Watched some Olympics then showered at a $30 Motel 6 and crashed in anticipation of a really hard solo day of riding at Gordy's Pass.