First and foremost let me start off by saying that I had a bad experience at the dunes back in the 90's and I had no desire to ever go to the sand dunes again!!
With that being said let me say that I love the dunes!!
My trip with Motorrad to the dunes this weekend was a blast. A few sterotypes about the dunes were both busted and confirmed. I would have to say that a dune trip could be a disaster or a great time depending on 2 MAJOR factors......
1. Going on a holiday weekend when the "dune goons" come out to play
2. Going to the dunes with the types of people I call "dune goons"
Going to the dunes on a weekend that everyone will be there is a recipe for disaster. Going to the dunes as an inexperienced dune rider with the wrong crowd to guide you will lead to disaster.............
Neither one of these two examples occured during my awsome weekend. Motorrad was an excellent tour guide and was very patient as I got my "sand dune" legs under me. We saw various landmarks such as the spot were they filmed the scenes from Star Wars and Stargate.......I also got to visit Patton's Valley were General Patton was conducting desert warfare training during WW2........I got to see reminants of the old plank road that the old Model T cars would use to get through the dunes back in the century......
I got 2.5 days of good hard riding in and other than my crashing on a hill
there was not a single close call. The whole weekend we ran into 1 group of people that were in a small buggy and on a bike.....thats it. We had the who place to ourselves and we could ride without the fear of getting slammed by some Metal Mulisha turds.
I took the wifes Warrior and Motorrad took his Honda 350X 3 wheeler.....by the way, Motorrad also disproved the theory that 3 wheelers are evil death traps that kill people. Maybe the problem with 3 wheelers are the people riding them
....
The wifes 2003 Warrior did awsome, yet another myth busted that the yamaha warriors are incapable machines.......With the modifications that I did to this Warrior it did great.....you can read about this Warrior by following this link....
http://www.kxriders.com/forums/index.php/topic,11384.0.htmlWe had some good food each night and slept under the stars. Campfire and good stories about past rides and past races made the time fly. The weather was a bit warm at 100 degrees but we had a few tricks up our sleeves for that. And as long as you were riding the hot weather was not even noticable.
I have a newfound respect for the dunes as they are not as easy to ride as I thought. between the large bowls and sharp transitions I found myself to be a bit hesitant at the beginning. It took about a half day for me to understand how to ride these things but the one thing that I could not figure out was how to lead. I still need more practice at being able to read the terrain and pick out smooth lines. I let Motorrad lead the whole time and he was able to pick out lines and paths that flowed perfectly.
There is this hill out there that Motorrad now calls "Oscars Crash Hill"....hahaha......This is a hill that I made a few attempts on day 1 to climb but I just could not get the thing over the top....on one attempt I ended up tipping over and the quad slowley and gently rolled a few times before it came to a stop. After a full weekend of riding thoughout the desert we arrived at the bottom of this hill again and with my seat time though the sand, I was able to make it up the hill with very little effort.....SUCCESS!! Then Motorrad "one up's" me by climbing the hill with the front wheel in the air......what a turd!!
So our weekend ended on a good note with us stopping at this hole in the wall place where they had the best burritos.....ate some chow and headed back to reality. A big thanks to Dave for being an awsome host at the dunes and for convincing me that the dunes are not an evil place. I can't wait to go again only this time it will be on the K5.
our arrival on Friday night
the old plank road....piece of history right were we camped
Motorrad on his vicious 3 wheeler death trap
Break time at the top of a hill
Taking a break by the canal......Motorrad ended up sitting in the cool water up to his chest
Those camps WAY in the background are the only people we saw and we never even saw them in the dunes riding
Nice photo down in a bowl....nice and cool in the shade
While I'm thinking about riding technique Motorrad thinks about a roll of UL listed electrical tape he found in the sand
I am the hopeless romantic who still writes his wifes name in the sand
Needless to say I broke off my whip a few times this weekend.......thanks for going back to find my flag Dave
All packed up and time to go home, be back soon
