--- In
DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Jud Jones" wrote:
>
> This thread is worthless without pictures. ;-{>
Yeah, Ok, sob (=tears), if you insist--
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George
You will notice that this trip was so epic, they were pre-writing
about it in wikipedia. Ignore the words, just look at the picture.
NOTICE: they did not draw the 'beast' nearly big enough.
Hopefully other fantazy piks to follow in Adventure Rider--
revmaaatin.
It
> > > sounds like a interesting adventure. Any problems near
Boulder,
> > > CO...let me know.
> > >
> > > As for the fractured ankle/hard bags...I'm not a big fan of the
> > hard
> > > luggage. Even my soft luggage when loaded can work an ankle.
> > Still
> > > my soft luggage will give vs. the aluminum boxes I just bought
> > > don't. Aluminum boxes are good if you're a commuter and/or
worry
> > > about theft. I'm mostly off-road and working in the shadows,
so
> > > doubt I'll keep mine.
> > >
> > Brian,
> > I must admit, I had some fascination with AL hard bags until I
saw
> > them in action, and now I doubt I would walk across the street
for a
> > set if they were free. Jeff Saline and I had had some
conversations
> > about them and concluded that if the bike fell on you, you could
be
> > badly hurt by them.
> >
> > As a sidebar comment, it is amazing how one item in your 'pack-
out'
> > can make or break the events. A set of Al metal bags added a
full 6
> > days to the trip; two for medical, two for Kawi maint, and two at
the
> > end of my trip to fix the damage done while riding with someone
with
> > metal bags.
> >
> > The hard bags were on John S.'s bike (I have Ortliebs) and they
were,
> > as feared, absolutely brutal to the rider if when you fell down,
and
> > your leg was trapped under the bag. John first fell down in a
huge,
> > muddy puddle in central MT, no problem. Later that same day, as
we
> > proceeded down a trail near Lava MT (Helena, MT) and the hard bag
> > pinned him underneath the bike against a rock. He described his
> > foot as being turned 180 degrees the wrong direction while
trapped
> > under the hard bag while attempting to pass down jeep trail
strewn
> > with baby-head boulders. After his second hard spill, and one
for me
> > on my bike, in between his two falls. After John's second fall,
I
> > began to ride his bike down the Mt, as well as my own; It was
doubly
> > exciting for me to ride the same brutal stretch twice. Soon we
> > elected to spend the night on the trail as there was increasing
> > darkness and increasing rain, and increasing pain.
> >
> > This little jaunt/incursion with the metal panniers would cost us
> > some 42 hours of medical processing and evaluation before being
> > released to 'keep the leg elevated, etc."
> >
> > Days later, while attempting to cross the Great Basin of Central
WY,
> > we left Atlantic City with firm ground, unknowing that the
prairie
> > thunderstorms had dumped rain on the minimally graveled prairie
trail
> > further down our projected path. In the low spots, it was dicey,
and
> > finally, nearly impassable as we continued further into the Great
> > Basin. The bike's loaded up the front wheel, binding the fork
brace
> > to the wheel with sticky, gumbo mud--making the bike impossible
to
> > steer--and down it went with John, once again under the bike. I
had
> > traversed this section of mud (almost) when I went down, only to
look
> > back and discover that John was down as well. a 100 yd jaunt
back to
> > him to get the bike off of him. Without help, he was not getting
out
> > from under the bike. HINT: not a good place to be riding solo.
> >
> > We had continued down this 'road' because we could see that
someone
> > on two different bikes Mr D606 and Mr K270 did not seem to be
having
> > much trouble. At least their tracks indicated progress.
> >
> > After picking up John's bike, I cleaned the front tire, and
attempted
> > to ride John's bike the rest of the way through the mess. His
bike
> > did not have MX foot pegs, and with all the mud on the boots,
nearly
> > impossible to stand on the pegs. I managed to get up some
forward
> > speed, the front tire loaded up again, and down I went--trapped
under
> > the left AL pannier--just as John had been trapped two time
before.
> > I lay face down in the mud while my foot no longer formed a
90degree
> > angle but was a straight line from my knee to the tip of my toe.
I
> > thought I had been electrocuted as the nerves in my ankle shot
pain
> > to the top of my head. With all the force I could muster I
wrenched
> > at the handle bar and pulled my foot free. John, some 50 yards
away
> > was completely helpless to do anything--except watch in
disbelief.
> >
> > Well, we got through that mess, falling down several more times,
> > lifting the bikes and pushing forward; but now there are two
injured
> > riders and it is starting to get dark--but, finally, we get back
into
> > some graveled parts and continued on until we found some signage
that
> > did not make sense, and followed the signage instead of the
compass.
> > It turned out that the road was the S. link of a N. bound road
that
> > was offset by three miles of E/W road. Our bad day, was about to
get
> > worse.
> >
> > We followed this road ~1.5 miles and it turned into the mother of
all
> > quagmires and we decided to abort. Except the mud vetoed our
logic--
> > filling the bikes with gumbo that was 4" deep inside the wheel,
> > packing the spokes full of mud, because it could no longer find
any
> > space between the wheel and the fenders or swing arms. John's
clutch
> > then 'blew-up' just as I escaped to high ground, just barely--
knowing
> > that my clutch was now not the same as it had been the hour
before.
> >
> > In the dark, we set up camp, ate some noodles and hunkered down
for
> > the night--knowing that ALEVE was our friend. About that time,
the
> > wind began to blow--which is a good thing--as it dries out the
mud.
> > The wind blew all night, giving us some hope of escape if we
could
> > get some of the mud off of my bike.
> >
> > It was a night of fit less sleep on huge lumps of sage and muscle
> > cramps that would make the mummy come back to life.
> >
> > Just after dawn, I pulled out my tire repair kit and found the
tire
> > patch stitch-er and the tire irons to be the best tools for
removing
> > the mud. I, and John must have worked for over an hour to get
the
> > mud off the bike before it dried and got to hard to remove. Even
> > with a blown clutch, we would still have to push it some to get
it
> > loaded!
> >
> > We ate some more Ramen noodles and formulated a plan. I was able
to
> > accurately determine our exact position with GPS, and locate our
> > selves (through deduction) our approximate position +/- 1/4 mile
> > using the GDR strip map. We had seen one vehicle pass some 1.5
mile
> > away earlier in the morning, but not coming our direction, so we
had
> > some hope that we would be able to get help--sometime in the next
24
> > hours if we could get back to the main road.
> >
> > We sat down for a few moments and formulated an escape plan:
> >
> > I wrote John S's name, the current lat/long, time of day on my
arm
> > with a sharpie so that if I were hurt and incapicitated while
trying
> > to ride out, some one would find the message on my arm. It
seems
> > almost comical now that we should go to such extremes, but we
were
> > really hurting and had not seen anything other than tire tracks--
save
> > one vehicle in the distance--for nearly 24 hours. One dead bike,
two
> > injured riders, one partial bike, yeah, it was looking a little
> > extreme.
> >
> > We split up the food, divided the water (each had a full two qts
of
> > water) and worked on a final solution. John had a Personal
locator's
> > device that would summon the cavalry, but not yet--the following
day
> > at noon if we did not get it figured out, or self extract.
> >
> > Now, put it into action:
> >
> > We decided John would walk to the next intersection and wait for
> > help; I would ride out based on the road conditions we
experienced
> > the night before. Remember that wind that blew all night long,
yes,
> > Mr. Wind was our friend, and there was only one dicey gumbo spot
all
> > the way to the top of the hill. I rode back, got John and
ferried
> > him to the intersection at the top of the hill, and left him
there.
> > The rest of the road was going to be very soft, and a hand-full,
as
> > it turned out. I only had one/two throat choking moment as the
road
> > tried to take the bike away from me...but I gave it throttle and
the
> > KLR gave me a break.
> >
> > Some 23 miles more, I got to the black top, in time to see an oil
> > driller going in the direction I had just come, "Tell my friend
John
> > I made it to the road alive." I must have been a sight, black
> > ballistic nylon riding suit, mostly brown with gumbo. It was
hard
> > for me to believe that these trucks were driving those gravel
roads
> > as soft as they were. The trailer was nothing but tires and more
> > tires. He hardly left a footprint. This same trucker would
later
> > pick John up some 3 hours later and bring him to the hi way.
> >
> > I went N, a mile, found a cowboy--the mayor, county commissioner,
> > fire chief and bar-tender of Sweet Water Junction, WY who would
be
> > willing to rescue John and his bike--if I could be patient--as he
was
> > in the middle of a major tire change on a stock trailer. When he
> > discovered where we were at, he said, "No wrecker would come out
> > there under those conditions--and he was/appeared reluctant to
try,
> > but would come and take a look, maybe. If he had time.
> > "Would $3 a mile be enough?"
> > OK! That would be about right.
> > He told me of the shop to call, I placed an order for a KLR
clutch,
> > etc that would be overnighted to the Riverton, WY Kawi dealer.
They
> > said they would install it on a Saturday and get us back on the
> > road.
> >
> > Things were looking up.
> >
> > The wind continued to blow, and the retrieval was only partially
> > dicey! but doable, with a 4x4 pickup, and we did it. We got
John's
> > KLR loaded and out of there--for some 60+ loaded miles to
Riverton,
> > WY. Hard to believe what 20-25 mph winds for some 18 hours would
do
> > to a gooey road.
> >
> > John, at this point, realized that if he ever escaped this
nonsense,
> > he was jettisoning his hard bags--which we did in Riverton,
> > substituting them for some $8 gym bags that worked just fine.
After
> > having your leg trapped under those AL panniers, it makes you a
> > believer that you don't want that to happen again. It happened
to
> > John twice, and me once.
> >
> > After our Kawi sponsered repair, we continued our GDR from
Riverton
> > to Rawlings, WY, via the highway, re-entering the GDR south of
> > Rawlings on the gravel roads. We elected to skip any of the
water
> > crossings, and circumnavigated the 6 miles of jeep trails NW of
> > Steamboat Springs Lake. We still had fun, and soaked our ankles
at
> > night with ice.
> >
> > After that last fall down series John and I experienced in the
Great
> > Basin, we counted the days that we did NOT fall down, and did not
> > fall down again until after I completed the entire ride--dropping
my
> > bike in a rest area S of Albuquerque, NM during the egress home.
> > Fortunately for me, two nice men helped me pick up the bike
without
> > having to strip off the gear.
> >
> > That was the long way around to say again, I would not walk
across
> > the street to get a free set of AL panniers. They are a
leg/ankle
> > breaker just waiting to happen.
> >
> > As a sidebar comment, the leading, lower edge of John's boxes
> > were 'square' and I have seen some that had a tapered,
trapezoidal
> > shape that might be better. But for sure, those square-edged
boxes
> > are a death trap--at least in our experience. John said he would
not
> > trust them for use as hard bags for his local San Diego, commuter
> > bike anymore.
> >
> > OF course, YMMV. But for two of us, we are convinced--NO THANKS
if
> > ever offered metal panniers.
> >
> > revmaaatin.
> >
>