beemerdons
Certifiable Old Fart
Outstanding Ride Report on Rawhyde Adventures Training Camp, Back Road Bob: You are all ready for Copper Canyon this November, we'll let you lead! You accomplished an incredible M/C riding trek!
Earlier this year I decided to sign up for a trip to Copper Canyon with BeemerDon and MotoDiscovery. My experience off road was very limited. My first trip was Apache Trail to Apache Lake. Second trip was back road from Florence to Oracle and then up the backside of Mt Lemmon and the third was out to Montana Mountain. Each trip was an adventure and I realized how little I knew about “how to ride offroad.” I had already spent three months in a custom fit, very stylish plastic body cast from a plane crash in 06 – broken back, leg, ankle, , rods and pins, blood clots, needles in my stomach twice a day. I did not want to repeat this scenario again on a motorcycle. At 62, my body just does not bounce up or back as fast as it used to.I talked to Skip at MotoDiscovery and he felt comfortable that I could make the trip. He said they could provide “on the road” training as we went. I had the nagging feeling that if I went I would be way over my head. I really didn’t want to crash in Mexico and I didn’t want to be a burden to fellow riders and their trip to Copper Canyon.
I called Jim Hyde of Rawhyde Adventures in Castiac, Ca. They are a certified BMW training camp. When I told Jim of my experience and my desire to ride to Copper Canyon, his reply was “no way”. I had done some research on Rawhyde and Jim comes highly recommended by just about everyone. We talked for awhile about his basic training program and then he got all excited about his new CV Expedition that he had been working on for some time. This would be their “beta” run and he would be leading it along with all of his trainers. I thought about for a couple of days, called him up and signed up. He is the kind of guy that even though you have never met, you have known him for a long time. Training and expedition ran from Friday 5/14 to Saturday 5/22
Rawhyde started at 5 pm on Friday. I decided to leave Thursday morning and visit Joshua Tree National Park which I had never been to. I balked at the $15.00 entrance fee and the $10.00 per night camping, but it was the best $25.00 I had spent in a long time. The rock formations and the Joshua tree forests were spectacular. I was short on time to explore the back roads of the park, but will return late fall or early spring to do so.
I got to Rawhyde at 5 on Friday afternoon. The driveway is about ¾ mile of gravel and pot holed tarmac complete with wandering cows as you approach Jim’s place. The training camp takes up quite a bit of the 120 acres that his dad bought in the late 1940’s.
There two bunkhouses, a shaded area for motorcycles and one large building that is 1/3 bar, 1/3 dining, 1/3 kitchen. The bar is open and really well stocked and their two chefs put out quite a meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Jim, his wife Steph and their daughter pour wine throughout dinner and the trainers are the waiters. It is a family oriented meal with a lot of laughter and conversation.
Jim and Del
The group consisted of business owners, lawyer, neurologist, a couple of dermatologist, concrete finisher, world traveler, professor, woman prison guard and a couple of retired folks. It was a mixed group ranging from 24 to 75.
Training started at 9 am on Saturday morning, with an hour break for lunch
and continued until 5 pm. I did not get to take any pictures while training, just
concentrated on the maneuvers. This is a list of the drills we worked on
Saturday and Sunday.
Body position for effective off-road riding
Throttle, brake and clutch techniques
Weight-shift techniques for steering
Balance techniques
Turning technique using counterbalancing
Obstacle avoidance
How to control front and rear wheel skids
Hard Acceleration technique on dirt and gravel
Hill Climbing
Descending steep hills in a controlled manner
How to ride in Sand and Gravel
How to recover from a stall on a steep hill.
How to turn around, fully loaded on a steep hill.
Here is a shot of me in the sand. Can’t say much for the next attempt.
Monday.
I felt a lot more confident and comfortable than I had two days earlier and ready for a 5 day trip to Base Camp and Death Valley. Since this was the first CV Expedition all five trainers came along with Jim. Rounding out the group were four from the introduction class and two from the advanced class. We also had a support truck for gear, food and our great chef. Meals on wheels in the backcountry. We left after breakfast and after a short freeway ride, took a 45 mile dirt road along a covered aquaduct across Antelope Valley to Mohave, then to Red Rock Canyon State Park for lunch. I was slow and still hesitant about going fast along dirt roads, but managed. After lunch, we took a long, rocky, sandy, gravel, sometime single track to Burro Schmidt’s tunnel and then took a similar road to get back on the pave road to Trona.
Shawn. Trip leader after Jim, Rawhyde photographer and all around great guy..
Base Camp is just north of Trona where Jim has about 10 acres. The camp sits on the side of a hill with a trailer for kitchen and shower and a large army tent for dining and talks. After dinner, we had a paramedic spend a couple of hours going thru first aid. We had pitched tents earlier and gazed at the Milky Way as we got up in the middle of the night as duty called. Not much out there. It had been a really long day…
Tuesday.
We all took it easy in the morning. After breakfast, we talked about tools and repairs offroad and replaced the valve gasket on one of the bikes. Afterward, we spent a couple of hours going over GPS use and editing tracks. After lunch, we headed out to Minetta Mine. Road was a little more difficult than the day before. Bigger rocks, more washouts, deeper gravel and sand, tighter single tracks.
After the mine, we were given the choice of heading back to Base Camp for ice cold beer or spending another hour or so, crossing Panamint Valley and heading to Ballarat. Unanimous that beer can wait. The dirt road was in fairly good condition and I thought I had greatly improved as I was doing 50-60 mph, until we arrived in Ballarat for some cold sodas and found out a couple were doing about 110. Of course they are some 20+ years younger!
Sign at Ballarat.
Proprietor, about 90 years old with a lot of stories
Sign above door
Wednesday
Everyone up early, packing, getting reading for what will be the hardest day of the trip. It will be a strenuous day and warm with temps around 90. We head up to the dirt road that overlooks Panamint Valley and begin
to descend to the valley floor.
Jim giving pep talk and safety issues.
Overlooking Panamint Valley and descent to valley floor.
It is single track and we are all loaded down with panniers and gear. Within the first 300 yards, I decide to move away the sheer cliff to the right, over correct and fall to the right. I am only doing about 5 mph, I clear the bike, but my left shin and calf catch the crash bars as I come down. No bid deal. No harm, no foul. I get help to right the bike and continue. I only fell once during training and now I fall with five minutes of starting Death Valley. (side note for falling during training was 26 times by one of the advanced riders).
An hour later, we pull into Ballarat again for a short break and I roll up my riding pants to check out my left shin. From my knee to my boot, my leg is swollen to twice normal size. I don’t attempt to take my boot off. One of the trainers remarks this is a good time to take out our extra large complementary first aid kits and perform first aid. He removes an ace bandage, wraps my leg, gives me 4 ibuprofen and says “ time to mount up”. The hardest part is just down the road. If nothing else, adrenaline will take me a long long way.
I don’t have any photos of the road to Goler Wash. It was about 18 miles of sand, serious sand and more serious sand. I only wiped out once when I plowed into a sand bank, but I guess I provided a lot of amusement for the riders behind me. My body was flying one way while the bike went the other way. My saves bordered on miraculous and some wanted to know if I did bull riding in my spare time. I am definitely getting better in sand and as Rawhyde says “ You got to love sand to ride in it” I’m not at the love stage yet.
Completely wiped out by the sand, it was time to take Goler Wash. It wasn’t too bad until we got to this.
We spent some time figuring out the best line. There really wasn’t one. A couple of trainers went up and made it.
The rest of us preferred the human come along method.
Here is a photo of Lance, just attacking the rocks.
The last trainer to go up is Keith, a motorcycle cop. He almost made it until the bike turned sharply right into a rock face 10’ high. He bounced off, motorcycle and rider tumbled over backwards. It took 6 people to right the bike and Jim asked Keith if a push for the last 4’ would be OK. He say “no way”, turned around, motored down, turned around, and with the largest set of cajones I’ve ever seen, blasted up and over the rocks. Killed the engine, kneeled down, and starting humping the biggest boulder in front of him!! Gotta love Mother Nature!
After that, Mengel Pass and the Rock Garden.
That is an offroad smile, believe it or not.
Support truck coming thru the rock garden. Here I learned to shut the engine down and just use clutch for braking. Very effective.
.
We stopped at another desert camp with running water to rest and cool down and left for our campsite for the night. I don’t remember the name, but there was no
one around for at least 20 miles that we knew of. The wild burros, across the road, talked to us all night Had one of the best meals I can remember by our super chef. Talked around the campfire of the day’s high’s and lo’s and slept like the dead. Went to sleep thinking about how far I’ve come in five days. Riding trails that were beyond my capabilities a week ago.
[ttp://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/gw47222/Rawhyde%20Adventure/IMGP0254.jpg[/img]
[iG]https://i905.photobucket.com/albums/ac255/gw47222/Rawhyde%20Adventure/IMGP0261.jpg[/img]
Thursday.
Leisurely breakfast. Road down to Death Valley has been in the past a horrible washboard, sandy, gravelly nightmare. We expected the worst and left right after eating. Single track for miles. Then sand and gravel, but much better than expected. We rode for several hours and I was really in the grove. At one point, Shawn was on the left taking photos and Jim was on the right, directing everyone to pull off for lunch. I blew straight thru with a wild grin on my face. Sand and gravel were my friends and I was cruising! About five minutes I hear a horn and stay to the right to let him pass. I hear a horn again and this time pull to the right to let him pass and nearly run Jim off the road. He hollers” where the hell you going!!??xx@@%%”. I stop and he tells me “ didn’t you see us back there??” I replied “ yes, but I didn’t think we were supposed to stop!!” As it turns out, one of the trainers blew right by them, and continued down the road for almost an hour before he figured out no one was behind him.
We spent an hour or so waiting for the support truck at an old, old motel in the middle of nowhere with a spring, swimming pool, full kitchen, guest quarters. After that it was a beeline for Death Valley about 20 miles away. I was really comfortable doing 30-35 mph, but Del, an advanced trainer pulled up next to me after everyone stopped for a flat tire and said “follow me”. He picked it up to 40, 45, 50, 55, 60. We did this for a good 10 miles and when we stopped at the paved road to Badwater, he said “ that’s how you ride good dirt roads.” My confidence was at an all time high and I really appreciated Del taking me aside to do that.
After Badwater, we headed to Furnace Creek Resort for drinks, pool ( I won’t even begin to describe the antics grown men play in the pool), drinks, shower, drinks, and an awesome dinner. The photos are at the bar before dinner. Needless to say, dinner was a little rowdy, but we tried to behave ourselves. We all crashed about the same time.
Friday
Next morning for breakfast, Shawn hitched a ride with Jim
After a buffet breakfast, we packed up for the ride back to Rawhyde. We rode thru Wild Rose Canyon and then made a detour to Agueberry Point, which overlooks Death Valley. The dirt rode up was nothing I would have attempted previously, but today it felt like a walk in the park. My balance was good, my look ahead was good, my speed on the flats was good, my confidence was great. I was comfortable and could have ridden forever.
The view at the top was forever. We must have spent an hour up there, fooling around, taking photos, taking more photos, checking out the flowers and rattlesnake and enjoying the last few hours together.
The ride back to Trona was extremely windy, gusty. As a road rider, it didn’t bother me much. We stopped at Trona for burgers and to change a tire. We arrived back at Rawhyde in time for showers, packing, see some off, dinner, and a conversation with Jim and a few others. He asked for our feed back and we gave it to him. A couple of suggestions, but all in all a well laid out, intensive and challenging CV Expedition.
A final word. It is rare that a man opens up his home and family to a group of strangers, much less motorcyclists. It is even more rare that this man is passionate about motorcycles. It is even more rare that this man wants to share his passion with others.
Jim and Steph are one of a kind in the motorcycle community as are the folks that surround them.
The trip may be over, but the journey is just beginning…..
Safe riding,
Bob
Medical update. When I got home on Saturday, my wife looked at my calf, shin and ankle and called my daughter over take a look. She is an emergency room nurse at Scottsdale Osborn. She suggested, after looking at all the swelling and purple bruising, an ultra sound for blood clots and x-rays for possible broken bone in my ankle. Good new, no blood clots or breaks. Bad news, I could hardly walk for three weeks and it was almost a month before I could ride agin.
Last edited by a moderator:
