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HadesOmega's BARF Baja 2016 Ride Report

Time to apply the patch! It is quite a heavy duty patch indeeed. Hopefully the rubber cement will weld the patch onto the tire. Also yes indeed that is a shitty place to have a gash near the sidewall =(
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Time to put the tire back on.
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SOOOOOOOO :x I'm just going to tell you what happens next. We've probably spent a good hour on this maybe more. We get the tire back on the wheel and with nearly my whole bottle of windex used for lube WE CAN'T GET THE BEAD TO SEAT with the little slime tire compressor. We try and we try. The plan was to get the tire back on and if the patch didn't hold we would slime the tire but we can't get it to seat now. Wattta bitch. :mad

Soooo for some reason everyone thought the GS has a 18" rear wheel when in fact it has a 17" rear wheel. And guess who has a 17" rear wheel? Yep the Cactus Puncher! So we initiate plan Bravo! We put a my spare tube into the GS wheel. Guess what it IT WORKED and didn't take that long to put in also! The tube pushed the sidewalls out and seated the bead. So time to continue on our journey! :thumbup
 
New Video: This video covers the section after Tom get's his flat and leads up to the park where Fran's skidplate gives up holding on his undercarriage.


More Complications More Adventure!
https://youtu.be/qHGGWqjWMgg
 
So back on track trying to finish these tracks off
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There's Fran getting the R1200GSA all buttoned up and back on the road.
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So the plan here is I was gonna partner up with Fran here and escort him to San Francisquito. Fran's original plan was to continue heading up to San Ignacio but we're burning through daylight fast especially after this last flat repair. He needs to take it easy because the tire has a gash in it so it's already weakened and hopefully not get a puncture in the new tube installed.
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Just takin it easy look at these cool roads.
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Back riding through cactus forests
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Turning my head to check out this road, wonder where this one goes.
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There are some interesting landmarks on this road
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Going around the mountain
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Going around this mountain and I can see my NEMESIS is coming up SAND!
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Ah ha so this is San Rafael. According to OaklandF4i if time permitted we would stop by here and practice riding on the sand dunes. But alas we don't have time to play anymore :( From the map I can also see they do camping here.
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Taking in the view
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Such a lovely view I decide I am going to snap a few
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There's Fran he's caught up yay! I also got a video of him riding by check it out when I release the vid k.
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So there is just more endless desert I can't loligag too much gotta step it back up to 40s.
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Right behind Fran just cruising right along
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Fran motions for me to pass him and I do.
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Cactus forest coming up ahead
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And we're in it and having a good time :thumbup
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So it's getting quite a bit sandier now
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Going around this corner and there's a BIG dip with a lotta sand in it so I slow down
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I go down it and well the bike bottoms out on this bigazz rock hiding in the sand and stops the bike.
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And I'm down. FIRST DOWN IN BAJA! :party
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So you can see that evil rock back there.
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This is a bad place to hang out someone could just go charging through and I'm down here. The rear wheel is hanging off the side of the road also so I gotta drag the Cactus Puncher back onto the road and get it back up.
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So back on our way Fran didn't plow over me so that's good. :ride
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Follow these straight roads for a while and probably the best climb of the day is coming up!
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So we got this gnarly little hill climb ahead of us.
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Here we go!
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Beginning to gradually climb
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Turn coming up
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Watch out for missing road this could ruin your day.
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Getting a little slideways in this picture
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Getting on those pegs. I commenting on still how harsh the front of my DR650's suspension feels. The truth is it is oversprung and making the rear shock work harder than it should.
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There's that first tight right hander hairpin, slow down and power through it.
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Of course the view is fantastic I gotta stop and take a picture. To add more difficultly to this task let's stop on the steepest section of this climb haha. :ride
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The cacti forest from wence we came.
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Yes that 21x zoom is spectacular
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There's the hairpin I just rode up
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And there's the steep uphill still left to be climbed, like I said I probably didn't stop in the safest spot haha. :rofl I realized after the climb that there was a much better safer place to stop for a picture :p
 
I take this opportunity to change out my gloves because I'm getting a little warm
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Fran catches up to me and tell him to head on because I'm changing my gloves. I'm having trouble finding places to put those Alpinstar SP2s.
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On he goes sorry Fran I made you go up the shittiest section of the road haha.
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At the top is another hairpin but a gentle on. This is the better place to stop for a picture.
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Uh oh what's this up ahead. I'm not sure what's going on but it looks like Fran might have dumped the GSA or slid it. I ask if he needs help but looks like he's got it undercontrol and I just wait for him to clear the way.
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Now its my turn, no remember the camera makes this looks like some tame shit but it actually pretty steep and the rocks are like twice as big. This is some rubicon shiet. At anyrate I comment that it is slippery and I could see how Fran was having trouble in that huge bike here.
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Continuing on more bad roads
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More bad roads
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Did I mention more bad roads?
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Getting a little slideways
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The Fran and HadesOmega expedition continues
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A dip and some big rocks
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Washed out piece of road
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Some little sand washes
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Some artwork on this here rocks
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So here we go turn the corner and what do I find?
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A steep off camber drop into a sand wash and a little climb. No problem right?
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WRONG!
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So here's how this scene plays out in words. Fran go down into the wash and as he's climbing the bike spins and he almost hits the side there. So I'm going downhill and I see this and I know I need to get some speed to get through this sand. Fran is stopped so I stop and down the Cactus Puncher goes.
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So this sucks I'm at the bottom of the drop and I gotta dig my way out of this sand. Once again the camera makes this look half as bad as it looks. See the next coming pictures look much steeper.
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Here we go!
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That wasn't so bad... That's down #2 for today! Remember I strive to drop my bike once a day on an adventure ride!
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Fun pics! :ride
We've stayed a couple of times
with Pancho, the guy who lives/used to live
where you all were going to ride
the dunes if you had time, San Rafael,
I guess ... nice place to camp on a bluff right
on the water ... :party
 
Are you and Fran going to make it to PSF before March? :laughing :twofinger

Kidding... love the photo's Merlin. Keep em up! I swear I dont see a 1/3 of what you do on any given route, so this is helping me remember. :thumbup
 
Yes when is a good question actually I'm ahead on the videos again so soon.

Sound interesting John would like to check San Rafael out sometime.
 
Sound interesting John would like to check San Rafael out sometime.

To give you some idea of the pace of our two-month Baja
trip a bunch of years ago, we took three days to get from
BoLA to Punta San Francisquito ... :laughing
Lots of time to hang out in San Rafael ... :ride
 
Not long after that last wash is another similar but not as steep. Fran is having trouble getting that beast through it straight as you can see. However this time I was able to stop without dumping the bike :p
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So I've gotta get through it now stopped from the other side. I have to remind myself to keep it going, but the DR gets through it with not much drama. Also noticed one of my offroad lights is crooked.
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On the road again still quite sandy in some places knowing this I let Fran get a good distance ahead of me because I'm going to blast through these sandy section.
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Decisions Decision, go through the ditch or go on the left where there is more sand...
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Here is the long sand road that has all the intersections at. So you see on the tracks we gotta hang a left here at the sign. Anytwowildo said they put that sign back up for us earlier, thanks! Supposedly from what I heard OaklandF4I left his backpack here earlier and Anytwowildo discovered it!
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Alright nearly there homestretch to PSF! I turn the corner and more cacti and more sandy roads!
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Fran stops and tells me I need to lead now because he doesn't really know where he's going.
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On we go so these are some long stretches of sand road coming up. Nothing super deep but enough to throw your bike around if you not careful.
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It does get pretty deep and choppy in some sections like right before this right hander.
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Motoring right along. I'm worried Fran might be having problem with the sand so I'm trying not to go to fast but he's doing pretty well.
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So there are starting to be a lot of forks in the road and I can't remember too well how to get to San Franciscquito so I enlist the aid of Ms. Garmin here. I load the tracks from last year, make sure the maps are setup to track up, zoom in to about 1mile, and just follow the purple line. Works like a charm. :thumbup
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Onward on the final sandy stretch for the day.
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Ok that was fast here we are at the driveway to Punta de San Francisquito
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Its narrow and packed full of loose sand, it's like a giant box of kitty liter is what some animal things in this picture has left some poop lying around.
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Moving right along, its tough but the DR is paddling through it.
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Hmm which way do I go? The easy way I suppose.
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So uh I went the right way at first. But it didn't look very familiar because I took a different route in last year. So I thought I went the wrong way and turn around. Fran is somewhere behind me.
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So back I go up the other way and it's like a sand pit
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And down the bike goes
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Pick it up
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Hmm this doesn't look familiar either.
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This goes to the beach I don't remember taking that way in last year so I look at my GPS, doesn't really help. So I think I should go back to where I was.
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And of course turning around in sand is a bitch and I lay the bike down again.
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Whew this is getting tiring picking this beast up.
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So I'm heading back to where I was and uh oh I see Fran up ahead and he's stuck calling for help.
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He look like he's in trouble so I pull over in the deepest section and I drop the bike again and said whatever and rush over to him.
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Fran's leg is pinned on his bike and can't get free. So I help him move the bike a little bit and he's able to get free.
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We get Fran's bike up and I tell him don't go the way I just came from it just leads you to the beach and you probably don't wanna ride that beast on the beach. And I decide it's time for a picture break.
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So this sux I'm looking at that choppy deep sand and thinking man this is gonna be hard it's like doing a U turn in the sand again. But I get through it without much drama.
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So the rest of the crew see's us where the huts are and waves at us to go that way. Then I realize yes I did go the right way last time and I could have saved myself the trouble of heading to the beach and dropping the Cactus Puncher 2 more times. So we find this little road that goes away from this little airfield and take us where we need to go.
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And we've made it GOAL!
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This is the section from after we fixed Fran's flat to the Driveway of Punta de San Franciscquito

BARF Baja 2016 Adventure Ride Day 1 Part 5 - To San Francisquito, This is PARADISE!
https://youtu.be/Dmt0u32W9wE

This is the sandy driveway section of Punta de San Francisquito, you can see I was having some trouble.
https://youtu.be/PC2p3XKYzfI
 
So here we are we've made it. I got to PSF around 1400 not too bad. Pictures at the beach. The ride down was totally worth it!
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Some beach selfies
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There were some small rooms to rent but I opted to camp in the tent. The pictures make it look like the weather is awesome but what you don't see is the wind though, it is superwindy and there would be a decent windchill that evening. It was so windy I had trouble keeping my tent from blowing away.
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The bikes and everyone else just chillin. This is most of everyone, the ones that haven't made it yet are greenhornet, lunchbox, and dmitry.
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More shots of paradise. Notice I have to use rocks to hold the tent down. I've never used my tent stakes so I never bring em. I could have used em today.
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Shots down at the beach
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Lots of Seagulls out
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This is the view from my tent AWESOME! :thumbup
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Time to feed the bikes for tomorrow ride. Get gas while you can! I think gas was like $7 a gallon but hey considering we're in the middle of nowhere and it's going to a good cause it's totally worth it. 1962siia88 getting the XR filled up in these pics.
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Dmitry finally here, the rest of the group made it around 1700.
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OaklandF4I filling up
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So it was starting to get dark and a a small search party went out to see where GreenHornet, Lunchbox, and Dmitry were at. They made it at 1700. Remember I took accidentally went the beach route earlier? Well Greenhornet here is stuck on the beach and having trouble getting his bike started. Eventually he gets the bike started and OaklandF4i rides it up the beach.
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It's a red moon tonight, took this should while we were eating dinner. This camera doesn't do too well with low light and red.
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Dinner time, Tacos de Pescado is on the menu.
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By the end of dinner the moon or el luna has turned white again and you can see its light shimmering on the Sea of Cortez.
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