The not so straight and narrow road to Zion

[eemsreno]

This is my ride report of the 2016 Zion Super Tenere Rally.
If you went to the rally and let a little rain dampen your ride, You need to be riding with me.
I just had a fantastic time.
I only spent three nights and two days at the rally but them two days of riding we had great weather and seen a lot of pretty country.
I think it pretty much rained all night at the camp but I was sleeping anyway.

This report starts when five of us met up in Des Moines and headed west.
Big Bob was only riding with us for a wile, he was nursing riding wounds from another trip.
That left Corbin, Ken, Russ and me. All on Super Tenere's.

The first day we rode to Colorado and found a mountain road to go up for a remote camp that night.

The next morning we would ride the Old Fall River Road up to the top of Rocky Mt. National Park.

While in Colorado I can't resist exploring under ground.

We was going to try riding over Mosquito Pass so we headed that way.

When we got to the first rocky up hill I went for it first.
Well if I'm going to show downed bikes in this report I have to start with mine since I was the first one to drop a bike.
This would be the only time I dropped mine on this trip, except when my side stand busted through the ground into a goffer hole and it fell over.

Russ was the only other one to try this hill, so he took off his load and he made it to the top and just had to come back down. [Great riding on stock tires ]

That night we just went up a remote trail and found a place to camp.

 

[Lollipop]

I'm in! I always enjoy your RR's ::022::

 

[Don in Lodi]

::008::

 

[eemsreno]

Thanks guys.

The next morning we would ride from Gateway, Colorado west through John Brown canyon, and into the Manti La Sal mountains.

Then west on the Bicentennial Highway.

 

[eemsreno]

After we got to the Colorado river bridge before the Dirty Devil River bridge we turned off onto the Flint Trail.
This trail is just super fun and scenic and easy for maybe five miles.

Colorado River bridge

Flint Trail

 

[eemsreno]

Then after a ways the trail gets more and more sandy.

If you make it to this sign, I would advise to turn around.
We would turn left and go over Sunset Pass which turns into Poison Spring Road.
I have heard that it is very rough going to the Doll House but the best place to camp in Utah.
I don't know how difficult it is to go straight but probably real tough.

It must have been getting tough because the guys started going down more and more.

Then Ken went down hard and twisted his knee really bad.

After that we looked for a place to camp.
We ended up camping by the Hudson.

Car that is.

 

[eemsreno]

The next morning I got the boys up nice and early.

Then as it gets hot out them guys would ride without their armored coats, Not a great idea.
Ken went down hard here and hurt his right arm and shoulder.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Fantastic stuff, Steve. Looking forward to the rest of your photos...and I know you have many more.

::017::

 

[racnruss]

Wow, great job with the ride report so far Steve. So glad you were taking great pictures. Spot on. ::017::

 

[limey]

Good job as usual Steve.

 

[eemsreno]

Wow, great job with the ride report so far Steve. So glad you were taking great pictures. Spot on. ::017::

Russ
Thanks and feel free to put up pictures if you like.

 

[eemsreno]

Thanks D.D. and Limey.

Once we came to this wash out and crossed it we only seen three bike tracks in the dirt. [not much traffic on this road anymore]

We had been really worried that one of these wash out would be impassable. There is more to this story than I have told you.
All morning we had been rationing our water. We didn't have near enough water to back track out of here.
We finally went through a bad wash out area and seen four wheeler tracks again.
I drank my last drop when I knew we could get out ahead. I think we all drank our last drop then.

You can see from this picture that the road is getting washed away, we think after a couple more rains there will never be another bike go through this road.

 

[True Grip]

Big adventure Steve! I'm surprised no one holed a sump in that much rock.

 

[WRW9751]

Steve Great Ride Report as usual! You do test the limits of this bike! I'm sure rest of the crew are amazed at your ability to put these S/10's in and out of Dirt Bike situations. Sorry we haven't met up this year, I've been recovering form some back surgery and the Dr. has just released me to get back on. Hope to see ya soon!

Wayne

 

[West]

::012::

Thanks for the images and description of events.....I love a good Ride About.

I noticed most of you guys pack the way I used too, everything stacked on the seat and rack. I does save weight and prevents you from over packing.

 

[AZ Dean]

Awesome report and love all the pics. Thank you for sharing them!

 

[WJBertrand]

Great report, you guys are way braver than me! With all those drops, on what looks like some pretty rocky terrain, how did the bikes hold up? Doesn't sound like there was any serious damage?

 

[racnruss]

I will chime in here.

This would have been impossible without a heavy duty skid plate. At some points the front and rear tires were weightless as the bike skidded over a big rock or outcropping on the skid plate.

Ken and I both have Altrider plates and crash bars. My plate is bent and scratched up but it did its job. Ken's is even worse and the crash bars are pushed over to the left from falling on the right side. But again, they did their job. For the stuff we were in, I was worried one of us would loose our water pump housing, but thankfully, all survived.

 

[WJBertrand]

Tough bikes!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[eemsreno]

Thanks guys.
It would be easy to do damage to the bike riding like this but these bikes are super tough!
After I got stuck in the sand a few times and spin the rear wheel with sand in everything, my rear end seals spit out a bunch of oil.
I dumped in more oil and by Thursday it pretty much looked like it fixed itself. I rode 2,000 miles home and never had to add any more oil. When I got home changed the oils and power washed it up it doesn't have any sign of ever leaking.
When I dropped my bike I broke off the lower fin on the final drive, but I've ground it smooth and painted it so my wife will never know.
Corbin just had the Yamaha plate with no problems.

I'm always looking for new guys to ride off road with so keep me in mind if your interested.
I go through riding buddies like water in the desert, My wife and son are the only ones still sticking with me.

Now back to the ride report.