SWbySWesty
Fauxverland Extraodinaire
A few weeks ago I put together a trip to the Mojave Road. Adventure, wonder and shenanigans. :sombrero: We had a good sized group - just at the limit with 7 or 8 vehicles. As many know, I've had beef with The Road for the past two years after a little "encounter" with the Road...it was time to face it again. First things first. It was an accident free trip. :coffeedrink:
We drove out Friday to the Avi and my friend Alex and I were on site first. We picked suitably flat ground and set up camp which consisted of opening a few frosty brews and getting the BBQ ready. After some dinner, we fired up some wood and began relaxing. We were to have 3 full days on the trail and were quite excited about it! Others began showing up in the dark and the good times rolled on. On Saturday, we got word that the one guy we had been waiting on wouldn't be making it out so we got a quite late start (maybe 11am) to the day. We loaded up, myself on my brother's dirtbike, my brother driving my Jeep w Frankie and Alex on a moto as well. Cris and everyone else rolled behind the motos. Here's where it got fun - tyler's bike decided to be finicky from the get-go; you were either WOT or not...yea...interesting. Until you got to speed in which case keeping high revs kept the motor going, but otherwise it had a HUGE dead spot. You can imagine getting to an obstacle, opening the throttle and nothing happening...then all of sudden WHAM - WOT and hang on! :roost: (there was a lot of that).
We ran the road and stopped at Fort Piute for lunch. Let's just say that the rocky hill climb was difficult on the finicky moto. :Wow1: Ooooo, look, a big rock. Let's go around it; NOPE! WOT means just go over. :bike_rider: We continued the journey around the mountains and up the grade which was pretty gnar - I'm surprised I ever got my Westy up it!
Continuing on, we were VERY sad to see that the Mojave Road bus, a photo icon, was tipped over. It was decided as a group to right the bus. We attempted first with manpower, got the bus arocking, but nobody came knocking so we used a tow strap and Tacoma.
Continuing on, it was beginning to get late. Alex struggle puggled a bit in the Joshua Tree forest with all the sand and high walls. I admit that it was difficult, but let's just say that WOT in sand is helpful haha. :bike_rider: We came to the always fun, bypass! Going down first, I naturally ate it at the bottom as the front tire washed out. I fell sublimely into the dirt wall, foot pinned by the bike. As I attempted to free myself, I heard Alex's motor at the top. "oh no!" I thought. Good thing he looked down first to see me before coming down. I pushed the bike off me and down the rest of the hill (I hate kick starters for life now). Alex is of a shorter stature and when we attempted to put feet down on the downhill side, it didn't end well. POOF, a little dust cloud and not worse for the wear, but off the bike he went. I laughed - at least I made it further? Getting to the bottom, we watched the rest of the crew come down.
continued in next post...
We drove out Friday to the Avi and my friend Alex and I were on site first. We picked suitably flat ground and set up camp which consisted of opening a few frosty brews and getting the BBQ ready. After some dinner, we fired up some wood and began relaxing. We were to have 3 full days on the trail and were quite excited about it! Others began showing up in the dark and the good times rolled on. On Saturday, we got word that the one guy we had been waiting on wouldn't be making it out so we got a quite late start (maybe 11am) to the day. We loaded up, myself on my brother's dirtbike, my brother driving my Jeep w Frankie and Alex on a moto as well. Cris and everyone else rolled behind the motos. Here's where it got fun - tyler's bike decided to be finicky from the get-go; you were either WOT or not...yea...interesting. Until you got to speed in which case keeping high revs kept the motor going, but otherwise it had a HUGE dead spot. You can imagine getting to an obstacle, opening the throttle and nothing happening...then all of sudden WHAM - WOT and hang on! :roost: (there was a lot of that).
We ran the road and stopped at Fort Piute for lunch. Let's just say that the rocky hill climb was difficult on the finicky moto. :Wow1: Ooooo, look, a big rock. Let's go around it; NOPE! WOT means just go over. :bike_rider: We continued the journey around the mountains and up the grade which was pretty gnar - I'm surprised I ever got my Westy up it!
Continuing on, we were VERY sad to see that the Mojave Road bus, a photo icon, was tipped over. It was decided as a group to right the bus. We attempted first with manpower, got the bus arocking, but nobody came knocking so we used a tow strap and Tacoma.
Continuing on, it was beginning to get late. Alex struggle puggled a bit in the Joshua Tree forest with all the sand and high walls. I admit that it was difficult, but let's just say that WOT in sand is helpful haha. :bike_rider: We came to the always fun, bypass! Going down first, I naturally ate it at the bottom as the front tire washed out. I fell sublimely into the dirt wall, foot pinned by the bike. As I attempted to free myself, I heard Alex's motor at the top. "oh no!" I thought. Good thing he looked down first to see me before coming down. I pushed the bike off me and down the rest of the hill (I hate kick starters for life now). Alex is of a shorter stature and when we attempted to put feet down on the downhill side, it didn't end well. POOF, a little dust cloud and not worse for the wear, but off the bike he went. I laughed - at least I made it further? Getting to the bottom, we watched the rest of the crew come down.
continued in next post...
Everyone got their rocks ready and we hit the traveler's monument.
