BRADSHAW MTS. sunday 12/16 9:30

[cota315]

What would this rocky road be rated on the 10 scale?

[harjp1959]

Thanks for posting the pics, Tom, and for everything else you did today. Some of us were able to stay relaxed and rest up during the long waits because you took it upon yourself to make sure that whoever was having a problem made it through OK. That's a lot of responsibility to assume, and I certainly appreciate it.

Does anyone know the max elevation we hit today?

I'd say overall that was 2x the difficulty of the backroad to Crown King. Mostly because of the length of extremely rocky jeep road (25+ miles?), with major elevation changes, plus the water crossings.

[tomshell]

I am not the only one that helped out,all of you did. Here is the

profile...

[tomshell]

What would this rocky road be rated on the 10 scale?

Taken in sections,I would probably agree with Don,who initially said it was a 6. But there was a lot of it. If you have to pick your bike up 3,4,5 times or more,and kick it over and over,that 6 becomes an 8 or 9 really fast.....Did I mention how incredible the scenery was?

[cota315]

Taken in sections,I would probably agree with Don,who initially said it was a 6. But there was a lot of it. If you have to pick your bike up 3,4,5 times or more,and kick it over and over,that 6 becomes an 8 or 9 really fast.....Did I mention how incredible the scenery was?

Yeah. I hear ya. I bet the scenery was beautiful. How close to the mine towns did you get?

[hi_im_sean]

Okay,here is the low down. We had a few riders who were riding at the edge of their abilities. They quickly got real tired. In hindsight we probably should not have pressed on after we realized the situation. Exhaustion coupled with extremely rocky jeep trails with steep grades is a bad deal for all. We did not ride any singletrack. Don is a great rider and can really handle that KTM. Don did swap bikes with Josh which probably was THE reason Josh made it back to the truck. That being said, Don needs to work a little harder to get his leadership and people skills merit badge. As usual though we all pulled together and got all bikes and peoples back to the trucks, JUST before we lost daylight.We got real lucky today,things could have been much worse. Scenery was awesome, that is some unbelievable and remote feeling country,but yet so close to civilization. I'm done. No comments with the pictures this time, i just don't feel like it and they speak for themselves......Good ride today, thanks again Don....

Oh yeah, good to meet ya Kevin,Josh,Josh, and The Donald.

10 miles,the worst is behind us......

PIX

i always get the feeling i shouldt go on rides up in that area. im glad i skippped this one. ever see the thread about trail ratings?

glad everyones ok, was it any fun for anyone though?

[NavyNuke]

awesome pics, and nice new radiator shrouds tom

[harjp1959]

was it any fun for anyone though?

Oh totally.

The challenge of riding extremely rock jeep tracks over that kind of elevation change was itself fun. And the severity of the rockiness and length of the ride made it intense. And that was fun. And the drama and the beauty of the mountains was fun. And finding dry land on the other side of those water crossing was fun. And standing around talking all sorts of shit was tons of fun.

And making it back to the trucks was extremely fun. And sitting here at home thinking about it all, well it just seems like maybe more fun than it was.

I could have done without the last 10 miles of jeep track. By then, I had had my fill. It would have been nice if we could have opened the bikes up more. I made sure to do that when we crossed back over the Agua Fria even though my goggles were wet and it was dark out!

It's not a ride I'd want to do again next week, but I'm very glad I was there today.

[armourbl]

Woa,

I'm both glad and bummed that I didn't go. You guys started at 9:30 a.m. and didn't finish until almost dark?

Pics look cool. Gotta do that someday.

ben

[tomshell]

awesome pics, and nice new radiator shrouds tom

That is Harry's bike.However,I do have new blue shrouds that will arrive today.

[exmlb]

Woa,

I'm both glad and bummed that I didn't go. You guys started at 9:30 a.m. and didn't finish until almost dark?

Pics look cool. Gotta do that someday.

ben

I think Tom said we averaged 9 mph according to his GPS. More time was spent waiting than riding......great BS sessions happened then though...actually that was the best part of my day. In one stretch I think we went about 3 miles in 45 minutes.

[tomshell]

I think Tom said we averaged 9 mph according to his GPS. More time was spent waiting than riding......great BS sessions happened then though...actually that was the best part of my day. In one stretch I think we went about 3 miles in 45 minutes.

We averaged 5 mph overall.Our moving average was 10 mph.We rode 50% of the time.It was probably a little less,the gps calculates non moving time when you are stationary,and sometimes I was walking on a hill or helping with a bike so I was not truly stopped.

[scooby 450]

I had a blast! Would have liked to have been moving more but the people that were challenged did a great job of tuffing it out! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and this kind of riding does nothing but increase your skills! Some guys really had to reach down deep and work! Kudos all around! For me, this area is my backyard and what I experienced when I took up riding in AZ. So I am comfortable in this terrain. I can relate to everyone's feelings about the length but it was good times for me throughout. Challenging rock manuvering both as small rocks that bounce you all over the trail and big rocks that you have to lurch over or scale. The water crossings were a blast! Good meeting more riders. TT rides are always blast- I love the thrill of pushing the limits and succeeding! We came, we saw, we kicked some A$$!

[exmlb]

We averaged 5 mph overall.Our moving average was 10 mph.We rode 50% of the time.It was probably a little less,the gps calculates non moving time when you are stationary,and sometimes I was walking on a hill or helping with a bike so I was not truly stopped.

No matter how you slice it it was wayyyyyyyyyy to slowwwwwwwwwwwww

[tomshell]

I forgot to adequately give kudos to the two Josh's....(Frank the Tank and Meat Taco). Both are fairly new riders and did extremely well. Frank the Tank had to reach real far down to tough it out and get out of there in one piece. I thought more than once a few of us were going to have to spend the night out there around a big ass fire in my our gear! Fran the Tank, are you alive still to make some comments on your ride yesterday? Meat Taco?

[exmlb]

Since no one has brought up Reds (Carlos) mechanical failure........let me be the first. Ken what do you torque the front axle bolt to on a CRF 250X?

[tomshell]

Since no one has brought up Reds (Carlos) mechanical failure........let me be the first. Ken what do you torque the front axle bolt to on a CRF 250X?

Shit, I forgot all about that! Carlos's 19mm front axle nut came off,and got pulled into his brake disk, wedging itself nicely and locking up the wheel. Damn lucky he crashed in about the best spot on the entire ride,a 50 yard stretch of soft dirt/sand.....Very fortunate.

[harjp1959]

Ken what do you torque the front axle bolt to on a CRF 250X?

-4 ft-lbs from the look of it.

[tomshell]

-4 ft-lbs from the look of it.

[exmlb]

-4 ft-lbs from the look of it.

Good one Harry:thumbsup: