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Burnt Clutches and Broken Parts at the BBBK

zrod

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Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
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Location
Lake Thunderbird, Norman, Oklahoma
Even though Big Bend is a great place to ride, as many have warned, if it rains, sleets and snows, you should prolly wait a few days.:trust:
Otherwise you're in for the BBBK. (Big Bend Butt Kickin);-)
We didn't want to wait till we got snowed in up here in Oklahoma and Kansas, and even though we knew the weather wasn't the greatest at Big Bend, we decided to meet the guys from Texas and New Mexico to scratch out as much ridin as we could.
After trailerin all night Thursday the 18th of January so as not to waste any ridin time, we met Oneshot and the gang at Big Bend Chisos Minin Company.
It was kinda late by the time we got settled in so just had a short time to get ready for a little ride.

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We did a bit of explorin and got just a hint of how nice an area this is to ride.

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Found a bit of mud to warn us what was in our future.:trust:

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Maybe a lil tipover but can't prove it, gotta be fast with the camera around here.:-P

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Then back to camp for dinner and preparation for tomorrow's Real Roost!:rider:
Rod
 
i can't wait to read the rest.....

btw, zrod. we found out from the local bike shop that the clay around there
on all the roads is called "bentonite" (sp?), and it's used for making concrete, adobe bricks, sealing leaky farm ponds, and a bunch of other stuff.

let's plan a ride around the clayton, ok. area where there ain't none of that stuff......
 
oneshot said:
i can't wait to read the rest.....

btw, zrod. we found out from the local bike shop that the clay around there
on all the roads is called "bentonite" (sp?), and it's used for making concrete, adobe bricks, sealing leaky farm ponds, and a bunch of other stuff.

let's plan a ride around the clayton, ok. area where there ain't none of that stuff......
BBBBK; an extra B for the bentonite. This is gonna be a good one. :popcorn:
 
Yup, I studied that stuff in a past life when I thought I was gonna live in a fancy earth sheltered home instead of becomin a box dweller.;-)
Pretty funny watchin David beatin on the adobe on his tire with a hammer back at camp.
You can buy bentonite sheets kinda like sheetrock, to install around the outside walls and after you back fill, it swells up with moisture to form a water proof barrier that seals itself from tree roots and shtuff.
Guess you missed the annual Clayton ride in October like me.
I'm thinkin it was our 5th or 6th year and had around 60 riders.
There's always someone Roostin Clayton, Cloudy or Broken Bow though, I'll watch out for a chance to join you this summer.:clap:
Rod




oneshot said:
i can't wait to read the rest.....

btw, zrod. we found out from the local bike shop that the clay around there
on all the roads is called "bentonite" (sp?), and it's used for making concrete, adobe bricks, sealing leaky farm ponds, and a bunch of other stuff.

let's plan a ride around the clayton, ok. area where there ain't none of that stuff......
 
Yes, you know it is going to be a muddy ride when you see all the mud on the trailer tires in the first picture......not a good sign!!:eek2:

Don
 
Lo siento mucho Sandy my friend, hate you're snowed in.
Cool, I habloed some espanol!:rofl:

Ok!
So next mornin two of us spring into action cuz we're stoked for a funfilled full dayz Roost into the Abyss.
I record the time. (I'm thinkin the clock says close to 7am if I remember)

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Dave and I horsewhip Gary and Bill to life and we head out for some grunts.
First we stop by Kevin's house but he says it's too muddy, but what does he know, right!:-P

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We burn down 170 to S. County road.
Look at this!:eek2:
Man this place is great, we're poopin in tall cotton!

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We see all kinds of cool shtuff.
Some male and some female cactusus!

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Some of it we run over.

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Wow, look at all this cool shtuff!:eek2:

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We keep up the pace and what!
More cool shtuff, man this is great, glad we came down here!:rider: :clap:

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We hit the skids just before this cliff, kinda exciting.:-P

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I'm thinkin, how much better can this place get and we outta save some for tomorrow.
Hey you guys!
It's gettin a bit late, are we followin our tracks back the way we came, when we decide to leave?
No Zrod, you remember those two big slippery muddy hills we went down to get out here?
Uh,,,,,Yup.
We can't make it out that way.
Oh, cool!:-P
We'll just go see some more cool shtuff and find another way out!:clap: :rider: :roll:
Rod
 
I hate that dirt... Locked up the front end on my GS good and tight! BMW in their infinite wisdom put the screws for removing the front fender UNDER the fender!! :brainsnap Yes, that is right. You cannot remove the fender without first removing the front wheel :doh: We spent a LOT of time looking for sticks strong enough to pry that nasty stuff out from between the wheel and fender. Not only is that stuff like concrete, I think it has a bit of super glue mixed in with it too!! :argh:

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Hard to steer when your tires are coated...
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At least the fender on a Strom comes off easier :thumb: Irondawg working on Wasabi's bike while I fret about the smoke coming off my clutch :nono:
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I love that area :dude:
 
Thanks for the pics and the story so far Zrod. :clap: :clap: :clap:

But I know there has to be more! MORE I TELL YA! :lol2: BB is a beaut!


PS...I've been given the word that I'm sentenced to at least another year out in the wilds of New Mexico. So that gives all you TWTs (and Okies) another spring, summer and fall to invite yerselfs out to ride the mountains with me n Scooter! It's a little too snowy fer two wheelers right now...but ATVs are a winter BLAST out here!


And now...back to your regularly scheduled ride report. :eat:
 
Man!
Sorry Scott, couldn't help my snicker at your description of stick technology.:lol2:
Sandy, Pam and I will watch hard for our next chance to Roost with you and Scott.:clap:

On with the adventure, where was I, Pam's spagett dinner last night slayed me!:eat:
Why is my back still so sore?:doh:

Ok!
So let's head out for some more photo ops!
Maybe we'll find another way outta here!
Hey!
Here's one!

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Well, that didn't work but for sure there's more roads outta here, right!:trust:
Bill says let's giver one more try at 50!:-P

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Nope!
Oh well,,,, Hey Cool!, another neat photo op!

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Let's get outta here, it's gettin late!
We'll just wash our bikes first.

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Come on guys, we gotta blow this joint!:rider:
Wait!
More cool shtuff!:twisted: :roll:

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Dude that lived there asked to be buried in a burlap bag next to his cabin, you can still do that here.:clap:
I'm thinkin TowDude Steve who was to be our friend in the immediate future, helped lower him in the ground if I remember, great guy, he does it all!;-)
Rod
 
It's startin to get late by now and we're gettin tired of our fight with the mud all day.

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Photos are beginning to be of less priority and escaping the clutches of Big Bend is what we're thinkin about.
We venture into some more terribly muddy terrain and I'm thinkin this is where Gary's KLR starts having clutch problems, it was all starting to become a tragic blur to me.
I can't remember why Gary is sittin all alone on this hill, but it's pretty close to where his journey ended.

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It was hard to go very far without a stick stop and wasn't that fun anymore.

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The big red KLR wasn't wantin to go very well and Gary was cussin his 16 toother a bunch.

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Man!
We gotta get outta this mud valley!:giveup:
It wasn't a pretty route we had to choose from, but no way we could get all the bikes out the way we got into this area.
Gary's clutch was diein but after cooling a bit, it would move the bike.
After performing some sort of exotic gymnastic moves in the mud on his KLR Gary thrashed his hip or leg or somethin.
Bill volunteered to ride the big red KLR up the steep loose embankment we had for an escape route.

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Don't know if it was fatigue, muddy feet, or what, cuz Bill can outride me blindfolded, but soon as he took off, down he went.
I hurried to put my camera away after this shot!;-)

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Dave got his bike up and out.
Bill did a great job with the big KLR slippery clutch and all.:thumb:

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Hoss was lookin pretty knarly with mud and I hadn't done any stickin, (I should have) but he got me out too.

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I was worried about my clutch cuz I felt such a drag from the mud.
When I got to the top of the hill I smelled somethin like burnin rubber, or burnin CLUTCH?
OH NO!:eek2:
I hopped off to smell Dave's KLX bein the optimist I am.
Nope, wasn't his.
Walked back around to the port side of the Hoss and OMG!

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No wonder I felt draggin, the mud had anchored some rocks between the swingarm and tire and smoked it!
Spare the stick, spoil the ride I'm thinkin.
Here's what I dug out.

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I looked the Hoss over a bit more to find the big 4.80 was windin my forkboots up tighter than dick's hatband!

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Funny thing, the lil front wheels were the ones lockin up from the mud, don't know why for sure.
Never seen anyone ride in the mud without the front wheel turnin, you da Mane Dave!
Anway, Gary's bike toasted the clutch for sure shortly after our descent from the hill and Bill stayed with him cuz he wouldn't leave his bike.
Dave and I were to be the heroes who fought our way out for help.
This was startin to look like a Bad Deal!:eek2:
I don't think we had two hours till dark.
I just wanna go back to the cabin and have a nice hot cup a java, darn it!
Can't we just change the station to a less suspense filled program?
How the heck we gettin outta here, I wanna follow my breadcrumbs the way we came.
Dave tells me to Pay Attention!,,,we can't make it out the way we came in!
Well Ok, you lead the way.:-P :roll:
We wandered around somewhere over by the Three Bar Ranch and stayed somewhat on high ground when Dave looks at his GPS and says it looks like that road down on the flats will lead us to a main road,,,,,,,he thinks.:eek2:
Zrod, you go first.
Well, allright.:giveup:
Man, I took off down the hill and out over the flat road of the nastiest deep rutted mud I've ever encountered.
Unbelievable how well this big front wheel does in this shtuff, I'm thinkin.
I roost about a quarter mile down this thing and glance in my mirror and Dave is back there Stickin!!!!!
Oh No, we're never makin it through all this as I look ahead and it goes on forever!
My nerves are goin fast and so am I,,,,,,Too Fast!
I don't know what my problem was, I kept lookin back to see if Dave was makin it, lost my Chi, started wanderin across the ruts and Wham!
I went down pretty hard, took off both my pretty tool tubes up front.
Tiretube, babypowder, tools, tiretool, propstick and shtuff everywhere in the mud.
Man this REALLY IS a Bad Deal!:miffed: :tears: :puke:
I instictively try to hoist the Hoss outta the mud, you know, before the cameras start flashin, no way!
He's stuck in the mud hard and that's why my back is still hurtin.
This was the first time in 34,000 miles and a dozen tipovers I couldn't lift Hoss back on the rubber.
I look up and Dave comes cruisin up and his front tire ain't even turnin!
This sucks mud big time, we ain't makin it are we!
Dave helps me lift my scooter and tells me we have another 4 miles of this to get to the road.
Cool, we leave nervous wrecks back the way we came to the safety of the high ground.
We know we are loosin daylight fast and if we're still gonna be the heroes, we'll have to find a way out fast.
As we're blastin across the highground we contemplate the locked gate at the Three Bar Ranch but decide against it, somethin about gettin shot or somethin.
Down the road Dave spots a road headin down to another long flat similar to the one that snatched me to the ground.
We stopped at the top of the hill and Dave told me to stay up here while he went down to check it out, a decision I had allready made soon as I saw where he was headed.
I turned off the motor and listened as his engine sound faded to nothin.
I waited for around what seemed to be a half hour.
This was a Drag!
I noticed the mountain next to me had a nice flat top and might be a good vantage point to see where the heck Dave had gone.
I climbed and then walked for sometime before seeing what I dreaded most.
Dave's stuck way out there.
Here's a couple photos at full 10X zoom of Dave takin off his gear and walkin his bike over to hide it in the bushes after quite a bit of stick work.
He had smoked his clutch.:giveup:
Did I mention this was a BAD DEAL!

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It took him a long time to walk back up to the top of the hill, huffin and puffin.

We hopped on Hoss with all Daves gear and started our search for a place to survive the cold, we weren't gonna be the heroes this night.
We found a cabin with no door or windows that had some chunks of lumber layin around and at least had a roof.
Dave hunted for some kindling to get the fire goin and almost went off a cliff in the dark.

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I had givin my flashlight to Bill and Gary along with a lighter and half my water before we left them and found out later they had two of everything.:roll:
We did ok cuz at least we had some lumber layin around.
We felt sorry for those guys with nothin but sticks and sleepin under the stars.
What a feeling as you watch the sun go down knowin it's gettin down in the 20s, and you're in wet cloths and boots.
Goodbye mr Sun, hello mr Moon.:tears:

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Dave started a lil fire to dry out some cloths and warm us up a bit.

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We found an ole pallet we elected to lay on the concrete floor instead of burning.
The concrete floor didn't work, it soaked the heat right out of us.
We found an ole nasty tarp outside on the ground later in the night, cuz we were freezin and couldn't sleep.

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We finally crashed out from exhaustion wondering if we were going to be able to escape this place the next day.
Man, that makes Ya sleep good!
I think we maybe got a couple hours sleep, more than I heard the other guys got.:doh:
We were up runnin in place and waitin to spin around in the rays when the sun finally came up.:sun:

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We didn't hang around long for the uncertainty of our future.
I beat the ice off the Hoss's seat and.....
Hey! Where's my cool tool tubes!!!!!??? :tears:
What's with all the mud on the port side!

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We hopped on board and off we went, the way I wanted to this time!:trust:
Hey! What a concept, the roads are somewhat frozen, we make it just fine, with David only walkin on the steep muddy hills.
We get back to start callin tow companys.
The lady at the Minin Company says Kevin (Oneshot) reported us missing before he left, thanks Bro.
I spent over an hour callin different tow companys, who all said not a chance they were gettin thier shtuff stuck out there, it'd be a day or two.
Sheesh!
I'm about to dial 911 cuz I'm wonderin if those guys could even survive without any real firewood.
No kiddin, I was askin for the phone in the office when Gary and Bill show up on Bill's lil KLX.
YEEHAAA!!!!!!
At least we all made it!:clap:
Next, The Recovery!
Rod
 
:tab An excellent lesson in how to NEVER take a days ride out there for granted!! :lol2: When riding in Colorado, I thought ahead about what I'd need to survive a cold night on a mountain side. Water, food, an emergency first aid kit, and something to start a fire with. A tarp and rope were also in my bag. Had all that on the Big Bend trip in our pics above as well. Once we hit mud like you guys experienced, we backtracked out and stuck to the pavement for the rest of our trip. Those big GS's don't play well in the serious mud :nono:
 
Welcome to the group Bro, lotta great folks here.
Don't get me started though, you're the one gave us the fever to make this trip and then you didn't come to babysit us!;-) :rofl:
Rod:sun:
 
zrod said:
Welcome to the group Bro, lotta great folks here.
Don't get me started though, you're the one gave us the fever to make this trip and then you didn't come to babysit us!;-) :rofl:
Rod:sun:

Looks like I should have come along just to clean the mud from your chain.......please don't tell me that any of you guys were running a 16 tooth on the KLR.......

David
http://myweb.cableone.net/ensey/klr_650_page.htm
 
This tale reminds me of the Terlingua enduro in the early 80's...the only time I rode it. First snow in twenty something years. I fortunantly broke a ring after the first check and after a couple of hours I got a tow back to the hotel. The unfortunate souls that rode another 40 miles or so almost all got stuck in the same area and had to walk out 6 or 7 miles leaving their bikes behind. Many had to be at work the next day and left their bikes there to be recovered later. My riding buddy walked back in the next day and got his Husky out and then we rode back in two up :eek2: to get another friends now clutchless IT125 out. We pulled it back to the highway put it on the trailer and headed home. I've yet to return to BB. Anyone else remember that disaster?
 
Feared so David, Gary do love his sixteen toother.
Maybe not so much now, but it shouldn't have been a problem had it not been so muddy.
Problem was like Paul's experience, the sixteen toother didn't fit well with the Hope for the best, Prepare for the worst analogy.:trust:
Pretty sure I'll stick with my 14.:sun:
Rod




Ensey said:
Looks like I should have come along just to clean the mud from your chain.......please don't tell me that any of you guys were running a 16 tooth on the KLR.......

David
http://myweb.cableone.net/ensey/klr_650_page.htm
 
On with the recovery phase of our adventure.
Once we all arrived safely back to our cabin, all we could do was arrange a recovery vehicle for the next morning and spent the rest of the day takin it easy.
GSDude Dean, showed up from New Mexico with a couple sweet scooters.

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We visited the Ghost Town and had a nice meal at the Starlight, cool place.

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Next day we got geared up for the recovery.
Dean graciously offered up the HP2 or the 525 for anyone to ride.
I couldn't, Hoss bristled up just parkin next to the big HP2 to do a last minute fine tunin on it's rear air suspension, with his onboard air compressor.

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We decided to do a pre-recovery ride to see if we thought Steve would have any trouble gettin to the stranded bikes and of course make sure they were still there.:eek2:

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We ran into one of the local jeep tour guys who of course already knew all about our adventure.

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All looked good for Steve to procede with the recovery.
When they arrived at Dave's bike, his clutch seemed to work and he ended up riding his KLX 400 back.
Gary's KLR didn't wanna play and had to be loaded up for the return trip from the Abyss.
It was great to get the bikes back to the cabin.:clap:

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Kindof a sad sight to see the Mighty KLR layin lifeless in the back of the van.:doh:

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Rod
 
Great stuff Rod.:thumb: Sounds like ya'll got more than you bargained for, glad everything turned out the way it did in the end.

We are headed there in 3 weeks. With all the rain the park is getting, if it clears by then, it may even be bursting with color in the lower regions. One thing for sure, if it is wet, your report serves as a good reminder that the back country might well be avoided by the weak.:giveup:

Tom
 
The discription of this ride is ADVENTURE RIDING , thats what its all about , go for a ride and deal with what your delt . SEYA
 
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