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Death Valley Ride 23-26 February


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What a heck of a ride! First off I have to admit this was all pavement (with exception of Ballarat ghost town which I will get to shortly). We were the odd couple. Me on a 2012 Beta 520RS, my buddy on a 2003 Indian Gilroy.

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The ride started out ok except I was freezing the whole way to Olancha. Trying to run 65-70mph on the pavement on a dual sport bike is pretty rough in freezing temps if you are not prepared.

Olancha RV park was really nice! You would not know from the outside. The room was very clean and comfortable. They even opened up the cafe for us so we could have dinner. I cannot recommend a better place to stay just outside the park.

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Our first mishap was my buddies indian. His battery was not secured in the tray. All the bouncing around loosened the terminals and the negative post melted into a blob of lead when he tried to start his bike. I used some Quick Steel and zip ties to hold it together. All is good time to hit the road!

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Here we are having fun. Dante's view was awesome as usual. I'm the bonehead on the left. This was the first day in the park and we had to cut the miles short due the the late start. 

 

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The rooms in Beatty were nasty! We stayed at the Death Valley Inn. The shower went from scolding hot to freezing cold in just a hair of a turn!

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On our last day in the Valley it went from fun to miserable at the blink of an eye! After all the fun sights we were headed toward Ridgecrest. We decided to check out the overlook of Ballarat. My buddy wanted to take the 3.5 mile dirt road to the ghost town. I tried to talk him out of it since it was already 1530 in the afternoon. He insisted and we went for it.

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He has zero offroad experience. I told him to follow my line and stay away from the sides of the road. He decided to take a "smooth line" on the side of the road. NOT GOOD!! He buried his 750lb Indian to the floorboards in the mud and dropped it on it's side. Sorry I dont have pics. I was too busy getting the bike out of the mud. After lifting it I did not ask but told him I will ride it out. I started it, put it in 1st gear and dumped the clutch/feathered the throttle and paddled while he pushed. I just barely made it out! 

By this time it was getting dark. The Indian was making driveline noise. I had to lay in the dirt and pick mud and rocks out of each of the 62 recessed teeth of the rear "sprocket". The front "sprocket" is buried underneath 2 primary covers. so I was unable to clean it out.I was behind him and smelled rubber burning. By the time we got to Trona rubber was no longer burning but the damage was done. The belt was split in 2. We rode it to Ridgecrest and home like this.

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My Beta had two "issues" during the ride. A small bolt fell off the exhaust shield (replaced it at Dante's view), and had to do 1 Free Play Gain adjustment to my Rekluse. Good news is we made it home safe and still had a good time in the park.

After this ride I really have come to the conclusion I need a real adventure bike and some heated gear to make these long rides more pleasant.

 

Edited by Ballisticexchris
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2 hours ago, 556baller said:

Sounds like a good trip, I just got back to Ridgecrest myself. I was actually in Beatty Saturday and Sunday night. Man did it get cold! I wasn't ready for it at all, the other 2 riders had heated gear. Good trip report!

You can't even realize what your comment means to me! The weather reports were way off. I did not have a thermometer but I know damn well it was under 30 degrees in the mornings and less than 40 in late afternoon. It's good to know we were not the only ones getting cold. I'm seriously going to look into some heated gear for next year. 

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