I saw this one posted in the Rallies section on ADV a few years ago. It sounded like it might be some fun, the area is stunning, so I was sure the riding would be worth the trip. I just hadn’t been able to work it into my vacation time until this year.
I had been thinking about heading out a couple days early so I could swing by Moab on my way over to Zion. Work got into the way of that plan… Along with getting the new tires back on the trailer and getting it sorted out for the trip. I’ve gotten into the bad habit of leaving the trailer until the next time I want to use it, when I get back from a trip. Instead of cleaning it out right away. This kept me from leaving earlier for Zion. I didn’t have a great idea of where I heading so the route wasn’t very direct or quick. Not that any trip with that trailer is quick. It’s really quite heavy for it’s size.
I arrived at the resort in the dark, I don’t like trying to park in the dark, too easy to hit something. Note to self: get a new headlamp and leave it in the trailer for set ups. I also need to put that other battery on so I can use the heater and not have to use shore power. I’d have had more fun if I was dry camping closer to the activities. Power, right now is my limiting factor for camping off the grid.
I ended up with a spot that was just about as far from the activities as possible. It did mean that Sable and I got some great walks in. I found out that she LOVES playing in grass. The resort had a very large grassy field. She was one really happy dog running around it.
This group is one of the best I’ve seen for talking about the rides, finding ride leaders, describing the level of difficulty, and letting everyone know what is expected of them. I was really impressed how they handled the pre-ride meetings.
What I wasn’t impressed with was… The usual “you should do this easy ride mostly pavement with ____ today” lol. As a female riding a bike that isn’t a TW or CRF or some equally tiny/light dirt bike. They always assume I won’t be able to ride anything other than a smooth dirt rode. Esp, when no one knows you. I’m sure that might be true for some of the women out there, but it still happens to me and I’m surprised by it. Than again, it wasn’t the first time, I’m sure it won’t be the last time either. Yes, I ride an 800 Tiger or Yes, the 450 KTM is my bike. No, the bikes are not lowered. No, I can’t flat foot either one of them. Yes, I do ride Tiger on dirt, no not just smooth forest roads. Yes, I ride single track with the KTM. Yes, I can pick up the bikes by myself. No, they aren’t my husband/boyfriend’s bikes. Yes, I do know how to do maintenance on the bikes. Yes, I can change a tire. No, they are not my first bikes. I never hear them asking another guy these things. Alright, rant off.
I opted for the first day to do a moderate to easier off road ride with a larger group. I decided to ride the Tiger, even though there was a few smaller dirt bikes going on the ride. It was going to be a nice route from what I could tell from the maps. It turned out to have a nice mix of rocks, slit, up hill climbs, a water crossing and some nice dirt roads.
I decided to place myself mid pack and toward the front of the group. I’ve found that it’s the quickest way to get everyone past worrying if I can ride or not. Besides, the first section was pavement. I ride that very well. We than had some washboard dirt road for a bit. Until we got to some rocky hill climbs and of that powdery sand. There were a couple of guys who dropped their bikes in the silt, I was about to get off and help when I saw how he was lifting he bike. Another guy, beat me to it and waved me on, I was glad to see that he was showing the dude how to pick up the bike correctly.
We rode on for a bit to a rocky uphill section, where we all stopped waiting for others to catch back up. As it turns out, they didn’t show up. I guess that I didn’t quite understand what the ride leader was getting at when he let some of us head off to a look out. There was a couple riders coming down as I headed up with some others. One of the guys yelled something. I later learned he yelled turn around, I don’t know how I was supposed to understand that with two motors running, a helmet and ear plugs on. I followed another rider on up and around, until we came to a stop about 30 minutes down the road. There was 8 others with me waiting around about 20 minutes. After which time, we all started to look at our GPS units to figure out how to get to the lunch place they had talked about in the rider’s meeting. Turns out it wasn’t too far from where we all were to a main road that would take us there.
Once down to the a paved road, we discovered that there was a nasty collision on the road, we wouldn’t be able to go the way we wanted. So that meant coming up with a work around. We just worked our way around the wreck using trails in the woods. It was good fun. We got back on the road and headed toward lunch. One of the group managed to get the ride leader on the phone. They were supposed to be heading our way. After waiting around for a while and finishing lunch. I decided to head back to the camp so I could let Sable out of the trailer. Turns out the main group had a guy wreck his bike on the pavement so there didn’t meet up with the group for another 2 hours. I was glad I left when I did. I had one of the guys tell me that night that the ride leader was really worried about where I had gotten off to. He than told me he, had told the ride leader to not worry about me, as I was more than capable on the bike. More so than a number of others that were riding with the group. lol.
That night was the dinner with whole group at the Resort grounds.
There were a few vendors there and the door prizes where really good. I liked how they displayed them, they had you put your ticket into a cup for which ever two prizes you wanted. Cuts down on the winning something you have no use for. I picked up a new rear tire for the KTM.
Also the NoToil rep had a game for everyone to try in order to win an extra prize.
The next day I opted for the “hard route”. I did take the KTM for this one, as everyone was on the same type of bike. I wasn’t keen on trying to get the Tiger through the lava rock field. As it turned out, that was a smart call. I might have been okay on the Tiger, but I am pretty sure that I would have fallen at least once. There was also two hill climbs that would have been really interesting on a big bike. I almost didn’t make it up the last one on the KTM.
After some wandering around in the trees…
We reached the cave that I was hoping to make it to the day before. I did go check it out, but once it got to the point of needed to crawl to reach the other opening. I went back the way I came in. I’m not a fan of small spaces or crawling around in caves.
There is some video from the rally, taken by the group I was riding with on the second day. The youtube channel is Broken Endro. Pretty great story about how they ended up with that name. Basically, it’s that too many of them or the bikes are broken at any given time.
I’m happy to say I didn’t drop the bike at all. I had a great time at the dinner that night too. The next day I took my sweet time getting up, packing up the trailer so I could head off to my next stop. Salt Lake City to visit the one and only “The Micheal Carr”