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Beyond Epic 2014 - The Circle of Wisdom

Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
4,465
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1,222
Location
Buda, TX
First Name
Rich
Last Name
Gibbens
Riders,

Please post your ride reports and pictures from the 2014 edition of Beyond Epic.

I'll get things started with these photos. Story to follow.

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Taking off..Click image for larger version

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Views: 40
Size: 67.5 KB
ID: 31751

May not post over correctly, but I believe I saw this rig rolling east towards Katy on I-10 about an hour ago... 5:30 - 6ish PM today???

Dat you CDC?



Was trying to copy the pic of the side-car rig (Ural?) up ON the pick-up bed towing the Beemer... Reckon board rules won't allow the copy and the other thread is now locked.........
 
Taking off..Click image for larger version



Name:ImageUploadedByTapatalk1409241145.039982.jpg

Views:40

Size:67.5 KB

ID:31751



May not post over correctly, but I believe I saw this rig rolling east towards Katy on I-10 about an hour ago... 5:30 - 6ish PM today???



Dat you CDC?







Was trying to copy the pic of the side-car rig (Ural?) up ON the pick-up bed towing the Beemer... Reckon board rules won't allow the copy and the other thread is now locked.........





That was us... This is on our way to Clarksville.

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I had a fantastic time, had an overdoses of curves on carpeted pavement, did almost 900 miles over the weekend.

Thanks Richard for arranging this Epic event, had 3 days of riding and a chance to ride some of the 'routes' I had not seen in the past, particularly the south area visiting mountain parks.

NotDave, RedBrown, Neal and Jerry are great companions, we certainly missed the Adventure Riders from Austin. Good ice chest visit at night...

Nadeem and I had a good drive back and his GPS took us on a very scenic road Hwy 9 for over 50 miles, narrow and super curved.
 
The fair weather riding crew ready for another day

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Top of Mt. Magazine

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Camilo with a reflective Touratech sign fastened to the bike

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Another view from Mt. Magazine

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Well, if we were trailering up, we might have made it. But since the plan was to ride, we had to make a call on what was forecast for Friday in SW Arkansas. Watching the weather there, we probably made a good call. It really sucked seeing all your pictures of the good riding further north though. I will admit that I sat and watched the Baylor football game on Sunday night with a Fat Tire beer in a mug from Around the Bend 2011, wearing a Beyond Epic 2011 (the canceled one) t-shirt and thinking of you guys.

Glad you had a good time and hope to see some more pictures here. Specially from the dirt riders.
 
Here are some random pictures....

Ferry in Missouri - Jerry, Fred and Neil
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The Power Ranger in Red is Not Dave
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On our way to Mt Magazine
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The required stop to get the Pig Trail sticker . .
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Getting ready to continue on 123 . . .
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This is on 123 - Fred in the back
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Next to the hotel there was an abandoned business with an interesting sign:

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The stats: The weather service forecasted rain on all 3 days of the rally so most riders cancelled and went elsewhere, leaving a total of 8 dirt riders, 1 Ural rider, and 5 street riders attending the last Beyond Epic rally. I completely understand the cancellations but, luckily, those that did attend were able to enjoy fine weather. The dirt riders got rained on for a total of about 2 hours over 4 days of riding and the street riders encountered 15-30 minutes of rain. Not bad considering the forecasted 80%/70%/60% chance of rain.


JT, Mrs Trail Boss (Connie), and I trailered to Clarksville Wednesday, arriving at 3am on Thursday morning. We were going to be there for four days and my plan was to ride two days (Fri and Sun) and sightsee with Connie for two days (Thu and Sat). JT's plan was to ride 4 days on the narliest stuff he could find.

I took Connie to Eureka Springs for some sightseeing and window shopping. It was a beautiful sunny day, with the highs in the 90s. As she was checking out all the wonderful nik-naks I was taking pictures of stuff that I thought was funny or interesting. For example, this sign
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What is a working bunny? The only context that comes to mind is a Playboy Bunny but something tells me that here in the middle of the Bible Belt that is not what this sign means. I didn't go in the store and ask so we are left to wonder.

Then there was this
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Most fun downtown? I'm not sure what this sign means either. Does Eureka Springs have the most fun downtown in Arkansas? That would be a pretty bold claim so I'm guessing no. Perhaps it means you will have the most fun when in downtown Eureka Springs versus somewhere else in Eureka Springs. Or since it was a shuttle vehicle maybe they are saying it is the most fun way to go downtown. I guess it too will remain a mystery to be puzzled over in the Circle of Wisdom.

Luckily there is no mystery about the meaning of this message. A sentiment I would guess many of you share. :)
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Eureka Springs provides a few maps here and there to help visitors navigate the shops downtown. But which ever shop you are looking for, this isn't the way to get there. Of that you can be certain
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As a matter of fact, there have been times when I have asked for a sign. As the good book says, "Ask and Ye Shall Receive."
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And, finally, there was this. No clothes. Does that mean we aren't allowed to wear clothes beyond this point?
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I wasn't sure so to be safe I took all my clothes off and then immediately discovered by the reactions of every person who could see me that, no, that's not what that sign meant. I quickly got dressed and left the area before the local constabulary could be summoned.
 
This is a ride report so I guess I should include some motorcycle pictures (though to be fair, one of the pictures above does include reference to motorcycling). On Friday morning I spotted these questionable looking characters hanging out in the parking lot looking for trouble.
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After breakfast it was time to get serious about the final plans for the day's ride.
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The street riders headed north for Missouri while the dirt riders and Nadem on his Ural elected to all ride together. We set out on ride 5 from the Ozark ride guide - one of my favorite routes - with JT in the lead. However, JT wanted to deviate off the planned course to visit a beautiful waterfall that he knew about. "Sure, let's do it" we all agreed.

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There had been rain in the week prior to our arrival so there were a few water puddles along the roads. The bikes were mostly able to go around them but Nadem on the Ural was forced to ride through them since the road was too narrow for him to bypass. The design of the Ural forces a geyser of water between the bike and sidecar, soaking the rider's legs. Nadem demonstrates the after-effects.
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Anyone who knows JT is aware that he is going to drag you down the most God-forsaken path he can find. Today was no exception, as several riders who had never ridden with JT learned.


The further we rode toward the waterfall the more difficult the "road' became.
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As the riding became more difficult fatigue set in and bikes started to go down. I crashed when I hit a log hidden in the grass. Here's the aftermath.
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Eventually we made our way back to the main route and easier riding.
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Day 2... The ride report will be very long. There were interesting characters involved from tobacco chewing women to ATV riders who drink beer to rehydrate themselves!
Oh and yep towards the end the Ural did get stuck and I was ready to hike out but the ATV riders came to the rescue. I did post the full report on G+ and Facebook :rider:

 
Don,

It's the last one I will be organizing, at least on any sort of regular basis. I'm stepping back from rally organization for the foreseeable future. I've enjoyed running the rallies but attendance has waned so I think its time to do something else.

There haven't been any registrations for the Texas Adventure Challenge in Nov so I'm considering cancelling it but haven't made the decision yet.

Still haven't decided if I'm going to go ahead with Uncle's rally in Big Bend next March. Uncle and I discussed it and he is okay if we do or don't have it.
 
Don,

It's the last one I will be organizing, at least on any sort of regular basis. I'm stepping back from rally organization for the foreseeable future. I've enjoyed running the rallies but attendance has waned so I think its time to do something else.

There haven't been any registrations for the Texas Adventure Challenge in Nov so I'm considering cancelling it but haven't made the decision yet.

Still haven't decided if I'm going to go ahead with Uncle's rally in Big Bend next March. Uncle and I discussed it and he is okay if we do or don't have it.

That's kinda the way I read it. We've all had some great times at your rallies,
at least I have.

Something else will come up. You and Connie do an excellent job.
 
"Anyone who knows JT is aware that he is going to drag you down the most God-forsaken path he can find. Today was no exception, as several riders who had never ridden with JT learned."

Great Ride report! And, Great Pics!! :clap:

Yes, JT is always searching for what Trailboss calls, "The Road to Certain Death". Not a very enticing marketing term, but that's what TrailBoss calls it. JT calls it, "just another day at the office".

Besides, it's not Certain Death for JT. He can handle anything. It may be the end of the road for the less experienced rider(s). :lol2:

But -- did he find it? Did you lose anyone? :nono:
 
Once we had returned to the main route, things proceeded smoothly. This part was beautiful and fun class 2 riding. Luckily, even though the sky was completed clouded over we hadn't had any rain.

Near the top of a fine climb we halted for a short break
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and Marcus discovered that his zip ties weren't doing the job of keeping his boot together.
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This job called for something a bit more substantial so out came the duct tape. In short order Marcus was ready to ride again.
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A bit later we diverted off course for lunch at this little convenience store.
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I was unable to resist the pulled pork sandwich for $2.75.
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Not exactly a balanced meal but I enjoyed it.
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Once lunch was complete Nadem discovered that he had a flat. A decision was reached that he would change tires and head back to Clarksville while the rest of us continued on our designated route.

Then the rain showed up. At first it was mild, making the red clay a bit slick but nothing we couldn't handle.
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We stopped to admire the view at Little Piney Creek. Arkansas hasn't had much rain lately and all the creeks and rivers are running low.
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Five minutes after arriving at Little Piney the skies opened up with a torrential rain. I can't recall ever having been rained on this hard while riding. At first we were going to wait out the worst of the storm but about the time the road started flooding we decided it best to leave now before Little Piney flooded. Unfortunately, my camera isn't waterproof so I didn't get any photos.

An hour later we were back at the motel as the last of the rain showers fell.
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Once everyone had cleaned up and had dinner it was time to watch Nadem repair his flat tire.
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We spontaneously brought chairs from our motel rooms and arranged them into a circle so we could watch and advise - thus forming the first Circle of Wisdom.
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It takes a lot of beer to keep the Circle of Wisdom intact.
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Many hours and empty bottles later we adjourned for the evening, thus ending our adventures for the day.
 
The weatherman was predicting rain on Saturday. And he was 100% correct. It rained for 15 minutes. Total.

I decided to spend the day with Connie enjoying the vistas of Magazine Mountain, the tallest mountain in Arkansas. If you haven't been I highly recommend visiting.
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Upon our return to the motel we discovered that the dirt riders and Nadem had "enjoyed" quite the adventure that day. I will let one of them tell the story while I contribute this picture of the damage sustained by the Ural.
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We finished Sat evening with another Circle of Wisdom. Life is good in Clarksville.
 
After a couple of days of fine riding the majority of riders elected to go home on Sunday, ahead of the anticipated Labor Day traffic.

The remaining dirt riders got together and decided Route 3 from the ride guide would be a good choice for today. North of Horsehead Lake we came upon this poor goat stuck in the fence. He had attempted to jump over the fence and everything made it except one hoof.
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Unable to free his foot with brute strength JT fetched some pliers to get the job done and in short order the goat was free.
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As you can see, the goat is free but is on the wrong side of the fence. At first we thought we could lead him back into the correct fence but there were too many obstacles in the way. So, we decided just to throw him back over the fence. It wasn't pretty but that did the trick.

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This is typical of the county roads in the area.
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After a mid-morning break at the Oark Cafe we headed north on some fine forest service roads. Not long afterwards we reached a bypass that JT wanted to ride.
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After a hot hour or so of fighting to make forward progress, we finally arrived back on the main track, swearing to stick to it for the remainder of the day.

Others vehicles were enjoying the day. These Jeeps were stuck on a downed tree. We watched for a few minutes and took an alternate path around the obstacle.
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There were numerous mud puddles on the road, most of which we were able to easily ride around. A few were a bit more challenging to bypass.
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I really like riding the forest service roads in AR.
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JT dropped the bike in one of the puddles and bent his Dirt Bagz frame, allowing the rear tire to tear a hole into the bottom of his Dirt Bags. The flopping buckle alerted him that he had a problem. We repacked the bag and managed to make it back to the motel without further incident.
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And with that we were finished. The next morning we loaded up and made the long trek back to Austin.
 
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I hope not:(

I second that. Being fairly new to rally's I had the most fun in Big Bend for off road and the Ozarks for on road.

If I had the time off in November (working and can't get vacation) I'd do the adventure challenge. I'm surprised no one has signed up for it. Having done a ride with Red Brown out near Junction I'm sure I could complete this one. Oh well.

This small gathering we had in Clarksville was fun. I'm glad we were able to go and hang out, ride together and share stories and a few beers. For the 4 days I was either driving there and back or riding I didn't turn on a TV or hear about anything that happened anywhere else in the world and it was magical. Just getting away and riding in a beautiful part of the United States. Thanks for putting it on Richard, I'm glad I got to attend even if it is the last one. Good memories.
 
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