Oh yeah, the Rim Trail in Cloudcroft had me thinking a few times that I HAD to have a flat after hitting a few of those rocks, especially that last few miles on the far South end
Somewhere South of Cloudcroft in the Lincoln NF (Willie White T113 I think)
Jbay on the North end of the Rim Trail on his KTM 350EXC
Roots and rocks everywhere
One of MANY rocky climbs on the South end of the trail
And a STEEP rocky descent... NO stopping once you commit!
I had not planned on stopping in the middle of this climb, but I figured Roger would not appreciate me using him and his bike for better traction...
Follow the white rock road...
Some of the stuff we did out in Arizona with Gotdurt a few years ago was even worse. At one point, the "road" was nothing more than a worn path along the rough surface of a MASSIVE rock face.
This is a relatively small section like that
The view from the bottom
The "road" ahead...
Doesn't look so steep and bad from here...
Until you walk down a SHORT bit and look back up
This drops down into a sandy valley out of sight below in the middle of the shot and then immediately starts that climb in the distance, which is just more solid rock with LOTS of hard ledges and steps all the way to the top
This is the downside beyond the climb in the shot above, solid rock ledges all the way down
This is further North, up past Globe and into the mountains, LOTS of embedded rocks sticking out of the ground that are easy to WHACK if you are not paying attention!
This isn't so bad because none of us are David Knight and we went SLOW
This is somewhere between Sedona and Flagstaff. The road was nothing more than rocks. It would lull me into a sense of smooth for a short section then get REAL rough all of a sudden!
LLLLOOOOTTTSSSS of rocks...
Then there is this fun stuff, steep with big rocks just waiting to rob you of your momentum. I had a couple HARSH impacts here. I almost wished I'd have been wearing a tooth guard at the time
Riding in Eastern Utah around Moab is also fun rocky terrain!
LOTS of fun steps ranging from a few inches to a few feet!
Quite a few BIG steps in here!
VERY steep with TIGHT switchbacks... LOTS of big sharp rocks on the way down, but we had to abort and go back up because of fuel concerns for a few of the bikes
About the third or fourth switchback from the top
The next one down...
Despite the rockiness of these rides, I don't recall anyone getting a pinch flat, or any flat for that matter. I think most of us were running at least 20 psi. For general DS riding, I find that pressure to be a good compromise for doing both paved and off road stuff, even when there is DEEP sand and gravel involved. It also seems to work pretty well at preventing pinch flats given that we are not riding at break neck speeds when the going starts to get really rough. Most of the time, if I am paying attention, I can avoid the really harsh hits. Sometimes though... I just lean back and yank on the bars as I give it a bit of gas and that seems to help. Traveling with a heavy luggage load makes you REALLY feel it on the rear. Getting that weight off the back of the bike makes a huge difference.
I'll probably end up cursing myself because of this next comment. In the years that I've been riding DS, I've only gotten a flat twice, in Mexico while riding my KLR because of a thorn that was the size of a freaking home framing nail out in the middle of the desert!! The second was on pavement in Arkansas and it was another nail
I'm pretty sure I've never gotten a pinch flat, other than when I have pinched a tube putting it in the tire. I don't think I've ever seen anyone in any of the riding groups I've ridden with ever get a pinch flat either
I can see it being a big issue if you race though.