We woke early on Saturday to birds chirping and had breakfast. I made eggs, potatoes, spam and sausage. A real rider's prep breakfast. We geared up the bikes and took off up highway 38. Supposedly went a bit quick and the 230cc Honda had a hard time keeping up so we backed off and met at 2N01's trailhead. Down the trail we went, warming up our bodies and we slipped, slid and roosted each other! Down to 2N02 and hooked a left down the mountain. A couple fast sections, a little bit of airtime and we landed in the desert. Just as we hit pavement, we regrouped and realized one of our group had a flat tire
Us motorcycles also need to be fully prepared for break downs and two guys had FULL tool kits. We found a perfect rock, removed the wheel and went to work removing the tire.
This is the only image I have from the "break"
After spending a lot of time in the hot sun, we finally got the tire tube changed, remounted and off we went to Pioneertown. It was Motorcycle Weekend in Palm Springs so the restaurant was PACKED of bikers in leather and clean chrome as we rolled in with a ball of dust. Snagged a table we weren't supposed to, but got served quick! On the way back up the canyon we went! The newest rider was following me and I was jamming down the dirt when I crested a hill. The backside had loose rocks, so I goosed it and went on down. The n00b unfortunately did not, grabbed a fistful of front brake and went down. HARD. We thought he dislocated his thumb, but the poor guy had to ride the rest of the trail suffering. Up 2N02 to the fork and 2N02 to Arrastre (sp?) Creek. I got soaked in my crossing because I enjoy doing that, but we then realized that our hurt member had dropped his bike at the crossing and had shoved the handguards into the brake lever, depressing it so the bike was locked. The forks were also twisted...bad. It was just not this poor guy's day. We took the handguards off and bent them, loosened the triple tree and rebent the forks. Then we hoofed it to the lookout at the top of 2N02 over the valley which is always nice.
This is why we missed the tshirt giveaway, but we rolled into camp just before the potluck competition. THANK YOU to everyone who cooked! I hadn't anticipated eating anything from the potluck, but with an invite and growling stomach, I gladly obliged. I think my favorite was the white chili! The raffle ensued and I had been talking about how I wanted a Hozuki lantern for the back of my trailer...waddya know I won a mini Hozuki Lantern from Snow Peak! Huzzah! My first piece of Snow Peak gear! It was put to good use that night as we smoked hookah and listened to reggae by the fire.
Saturday night, as I lay trying to sleep, I noticed a quick buzzing in my trailer. It sounded like crossing wires. Having a wood trailer and crossing wires didn't jive with me. I would sit up every time I heard it waiting to hear it again. It was almost methodical. I began losing my mind as the minutes and hours started passing and I couldn't trace it. Finally, I knew it was coming from my fan...must be bad wiring. Should I pull the wires from the battery? Should I just cut the fan wires? FUDGE. as the hours went by, and my brain scattered, I fell asleep for a bit. In the morning I awoke to the buzz. FUUUUUU! I got out of the trailer pissed. Chase greeted me and I told him my dire situation and that I was going to start tearing stuff apart. He gladly opened the trailer door, stood in the doorway and reached into the top of the fan <what happened from here is top secret business>...Watch out Desert Rendezvous!
Thanks everyone for a great time! See you in the desert! BRAAAAAP!
(Thanks again to the staff for that one)