The New Mexico Rider

2nd Annual Gila Rideout

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Comment by WildTurkey on October 31, 2009 at 9:38am

Day 2...

Sunday morning dragging our butts back out on the road none too late as we collected about 20 drops of rain as we raced away from Silver City towards Glenwood and Reserve with evil black clouds chasing us from behind. Near Glenwood, we took a detour up the very cool winding road up and then down into the Mogollon "Ghost Town".

Beautiful views, but not exactly the front yard I would want

My kind of road

...and Steve was enjoying it as well...

The Mogollon "Ghost Town" that wasn't exactly ghostly, but had some very cool old structures, mine shafts as well as friendly residents willing to take our pics and tell us their life story

We ran into these badasses who were about to paint the town RED

After out staying our welcome, we enjoyed some of the views on the way back to the main road

Hwy 180 between Glenwood and Reserve has some great sweeping twisties and flaming cottonwoods everywhere

Ella's Cafe in Reserve turned out to be a fine place for a late breakfast after a great morning ride

...Martin's mouth was watering in anticipation

...my old classic choice...and it was damn good...

...Steve seemed to still be on the Green and Yellow Low Carb Diet (book to be realeased later this fall)...

We jetted from Reserve to Datil and back onto Hwy 60...the thunderheads were forming ahead beyond the VLA

...past the VLA without a single antelope sighting...this was a first for me to pass through that area without seeing any of the bounding beasts...Magdalena awaited...

On to NF-354 at Magdalena and the apparent end of the twisties

...but there would be more twisties to come...just with a little more roosting than the slab ones...

Dean

Steve

Martin

Then...water crossing #1 to go see the dilapidated old church Dean claimed was on the other side

It seems Griselda, in her efforts to avoid dumping me in the sand, had left a nice trap for Martin to fall into

As I parked Griselda to assist Martin, it seems Steve had bogged down in 2nd gear and stalled it in the loose stuff...DOH!...Dean safely on the other side decided it was picture taking time...no assitance offered :lol: Of course, I didn't exactly offer to help Martin until I had captured his predicament... :wink:
Note the hard packed section to the left in this pic...that's where Griselda would later take me and get me out unscathed 8)

...me behind Martin helping and trying to stay out of his sand roost...

(photo by Dean)
...me following Griselda's excellent lead... 8)

(photo by Dean)

There was an old dilapidated church after all...as evidenced by the presence of these two badasses

The return trip across the river...without incident...

Dean

Steve

Martin (now nicknamed "Gunnit!"

Me...picking the wrong line and nearly dragging my case in one of the other guys ruts which now had water in it...counterbalancing like a mofo to save it...

(photo by Dean)
...and...the Money shot...this one deserved a 2nd post :wink:

(photo by Dean)

A short while later...lather, rinse, repeat...
Steve

Martin

As it turns out, these two water crossings were great practice for all of us. They presented a classic novice skill level water and sand crossing with minimal risk and a good opportunity to test skills and maybe even learn a thing or two for the future. Thanks Dean for the opportunity!

After that last water hole the next several miles turned out to be the funnest section of dirt road I have ever played on with Griselda...Hands Down! I upped the pre-load to the full extreme off-road settings and hung back for a couple minutes to give the guys a chance to clear the road. The dirt tracking twisties and clear sight hump opportunities were numerous. I was able to open it up and do some fun power sliding and jumping with my beast. Unfortunately, I turned out to be the official photographer for the trip and came out without any evidence of my playtime. I'm definitely going back with some friends to play around on this Forest Road again next spring...if not sooner. There will be photos of Griselda with her skirt up next time!

The last section of the road looked alot like this

...and there was a lot of this...

...and this...

...and more of this...

...did I mention this?...

A quick break to call a few loved ones in Bernardo area

...and we slabbed it back to base camp said goodbye to Martin @ I-40...I re-loaded my previously off-loaded camping gear

We said our final goodbye's and rode off into the sunset...I was greeted in Santa Fe with this gem at my back

Not a bad ad for BMW, Arai and Camelbak...if I do say so myself...

Great Ride! One for my books. Hopefully a precursor for more to come with more DS'ers to join in next time...

The route...day 1 green...day 2 blue...

Comment by WildTurkey on October 31, 2009 at 9:01am

Parallelling Dean's narrative of the route...we stepped off the pavement of NM6 and all began pushing ABS and ASC buttons until we had skidding and roosting capability. The sun had just risen and it was about 38 degrees. I believe Dean put his heated liner back on at this point seeing as how the temp did not seem to be rising much.
Right to Left, WildTurkey bike (Griselda), Martin, Steve, Dean, Tom

Dean's Beast

I did just manage to get the camera out before Martin hoisted his steed back upright. One of those classic stopping and turning around dumps

Dean rockin' on as we finished the first 32 miles of groomed, dusty L55 and hit the slab for a beautiful trek towards Magdalena
ROCK ON BRAAAA!

Martin

Tom & Steve

Wildlife was abundant...anyone can take a picture of Elk in flight...how many are skilled enough to capture the elusive roadside Canine?

During our brunch in Magdalena, Tom decided he had enjoyed enough of our miserable company and decided to make his way back home. He had enjoyed the mix of slab and dirt and decided to go work on his Honey Do list

Along NM52 (i believe) south of the VLA
Dean

Stevo

Martin

I rode a lot of sweep on this trip...and I have the windscreen to prove it. No, BMW does not make an opague windscreen for the GS

I got to see a lot of this on our way towards the dreaded Railroad Canyon where we were warned by nay sayers to stop and mount paddle tires to proceed

Martin was feeling a little fuzzy as I passed him to try to catch some cleaner air

A little while after this (over the shoulder shot) I'm pretty sure he turned his wave into a middle finger as I tested to make sure my traction control was off :wink: suckaaaaa!

Dean's finger would soon come out as I passed my final victim. I had ridden sweep long enough...I deserved to share a little

Steve spent a little longer in Dean's wake than I would have as evidenced by his once black jacket and once shiny bike

Take note of the appearance of 2 panniers and no top box on Steve's bike. This will become relevant with the passing of a future rut

This was a beautiful canyon with fabulous groomed dirt twisties with probably one small 40 foot section of 3 inch deep sand. I'm sure glad I didn't stop to put on my paddle tires before this section :lol:

A brief respite for Griselda while I watered a wilted chamisa

Just look at that deadly sand

Dean and Steve riding off into the sunset. Soon we would determine that somewhere between them and me was a lonely pannier resting beside the road.

"Nice top box Steve, you trade in your right side pannier for that beauty?"

Steve doing a great job of working out the new balance of his bike sans right side pannier

Martin appreciating that he had left his panniers at home and packed his
F650 light

Dean, seemingly bored, decided to test the traction on the shoulder of the road

Dean having a blast and still laughing secretly at Steve's mishap

There was plenty of this

...and this...

Riding sweep tends to deny you sightings of wildlife (besides their ass and a trail of dust), but as we departed Wall Lake, this hawk had landed on the ground 10ft from the road right in front of me, but then scattered to this tree as I tried to perform my quietest skid stop ever (unsuccessfully). He did give me this nice profile shot as a consolation prize for my form

Martin, Steve and WildTurkey Steed Griselda in Lower Black Canyon

Griselda appreciating that I had packed her light and left the panniers at home

Dean, Steve, Griselda, Martin...note the utter lack of dust on Dean's windscreen. I guess those tinted screens have some sort of anti-dust Teflon coating

The horses hitched up to the post while we enjoyed dinner across the street at Isaacs in Silver City. Martin's informal attire indicates that we had already checked into our campsite (aka Motel 6). After all, this was a "camping" trip, right?