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ADVrider Death Valley nOObs rally 2015

Chestnut

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For the past ten years, ADV rider has held a rally in Death Valley National Park geared towards riders new to dirt. I stumbled across the thread in fall of 2013 and signed up for last year's rally. Then I had to cancel, as I was pregnant and on strict bed rest in March, and I've been haunting their annual rally forum since, waiting for this year's sign ups. I originally planned on a whole winter to prepare, spending time out in Anza Borrego and the Cleveland National Forest, take an off road course, all that good stuff. It's hard to get away from a nursing baby, and we've moved to a different area with much longer distances between us and any suitable dirt. I did take a course at MotoVentures down in Anza on March 8th - or rather, half a course, as I fell hard shortly before lunch and couldn't finish. (I've still got a dent in my thigh from hitting the bars, plus bruising there and on my knee where the bike landed on it) We also got word two weeks ago that a transfer my husband put in for is going through, and we're moving to Pennsylvania in a little over a week. I spent a lot of time arguing with myself over whether I should be out in the desert risking injury when I've got a baby to take care of and a house full of packing to do. The adventurer in me won.

We rented a truck for the weekend and loaded up Wednesday afternoon. Ken was tying down the motorcycles and summoned me with "we might have a problem." Just what I wanted to hear. The line for my rear shock's preload adjustment had been chewed up, and we couldn't tell at the time whether it was leaking or if the oil on it had come from somewhere else. But the bikes were already loaded, so on we went - I could always ride his motorcycle if I had to. We spent Wednesday night in Ridgecrest and drove the rest of the way Thursday morning.

We check in, unload, borrow some supplies, and patch my definitely leaking line. I had planned to ride with a group headed for Titus Canyon, but missed them by a couple minutes due to repairs. I headed out anyway, hoping maybe they'd stop at Stovepipe Wells for park passes and I could catch up. No luck there, but at least it gave me a chance to feel the bike out a bit. All seemed well with Chupacabra. Back at Panamint Springs Resort, we find out there's an empty room in the hotel and soon we've broken camp and moved in.

Friday morning Ken was off for a ride of his own, and I was headed for Furnace Creek to do some laundry (babies - they're a mess). Since I was headed that direction, I figured I might as well go through Titus Canyon in the truck. In Death Valley terms, they're practically right next to each other anyway, right?
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Coming out of the canyon I have to stop for a minivan blocking the road. They get the thing turned around and out of the way, and as soon as I start moving I can feel that the truck's handling has gone completely to pot. Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease don't be what I think that is...I get out and sure enough, there's a 4 inch gash in the sidewall of the front left tire. F*&#. Luckily I'm only a few minutes in front of some friendly motorcyclists (err...Uralists?), and two fine gentlemen are kind enough to swap the spare on for me. Laundry is pushed off to another day, and Tiny Human and I make our way back to camp.

Saturday was my turn to ride again. Left the gas station about 9AM, headed west.
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Our goal was the Reward Mine, an "easy ride, noob and big bike friendly". This sounded like a perfect ride for someone with no idea what they're doing and a bike that isn't exactly meant for this kind of foolishness. And the idea of riding around inside a mine sounded pretty cool. But conditions change quickly in the desert, and it had rained since the ride leader scouted this road.
This isn't exactly what I picture when I hear "noob ride".
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I barely remember my own name most days so I won't attempt theirs, but these are the guys I had a bike-picking-up festival with.
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We had a beautiful view
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And look! I can ride!
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Or not
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I swear I had more pictures of bikes taking naps. In my head the ride plays kind of like a blooper reel, drop here, drop there, drop again, oops - drop on both sides without making any progress at all. I'm sure the footage is somewhere. I've got video of my falls, but I don't know anything about video editing, so it may never see the light of day. But imagine this: five hours, twelve miles of dirt (Am I remembering that correctly? Or did the sun bake my brain?)
Our fearless leader - I think we broke him.
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We never did make it to the mine, but none of us seriously damaged ourselves or our bikes, so I'm putting it in the "good ride" column. I definitely learned some things, mostly boiling down to my needing to think less and trust my bike more. I'll even call it fun, now that I'm out of the heat and the sweat's washed off.
Afterwards we had lunch and liquids in Lone Pine, fueled up some bikes and headed back towards the park. Some of the group stopped at Father Crowley overlook, but I was feeling the pressure to get back to Tiny Human so I rode on to PSR.

Ken and I did well at the raffle Saturday night, including a 1/2 price Jimmy Lewis class for me - which we passed along to another noob, since Pahrump is a looooong way from PA (damn, I could definitely use the training). We also scored an ADVMOTO subscription and a 20% off coupon for Scott's performance (good on Klim :D) plus some smaller swag. I didn't make it through the whole raffle, going back up to the room with Cranky Human to pack up what I could. Ken brought me a shiny new machete, which I promptly christened Mama Bear before falling into what may very well have been the best night's sleep I've had since motherhood.

Sunday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunrise (that my camera didn't do justice to), loaded up and made our way home.
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Gratuitous cute, because I can't help myself. (She wore her Honda pride Thursday)
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Hopefully I'll make it back this way for another n00bs...
The ride report thread is located here - handles I remember from my ride are GSequoia, Indio, garfey, Motopsychoman, skvirdi, and sarathmenon (okay, I cheated and looked at the ride list) I'm TheQuietOne, since Chestnut was already taken.
 

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