I wraped up a 48 at the FD, and set into motion a plan that I had hatched a few weeks earlier. I cruised home, and loaded the 450 and all the schtuff I was going to need for the next couple of days into the truck. I rolled down to the Shop in Williams and loaded the bike into the trailer, and organized some stuff. Had a little challenge wiring the trailer lights and I was on my way.
I was rolling by myself, and had reserved myself to just getting there that day. So I kicked the seat back, listend to some music, and rolled west. My plan was to Pre rided the Parker 425 course from 07' on the 450. Stay the night at the Blue Water Casino. Drink a little, and eat some good food. Plan in motion, miles clicking by.
The sun came out some were along the way, and soon enough I was in downtown Parker, AZ. I thought to myself, screw it, I am going to get as many miles in as possible before the sun goes down. So I pull off on a little patch of dirt along Shea rd. and as fast as I humanly can put my gear on, and slam my head on the truck door in the process. As I pull my helment on I hear the roar of a V8 coming towards me. I look left to see a Ford Class 8 "Old School" race truck coming down the trail with a new Ford chasing and filming along Shea rd. Fun stuff. I dump the bike lock the truck, and twist a grip.
I let it rip down the sandy trail. Along side Shea rd. I bounce between 4th and 5th. My body is tight, I react slowly. The grabber monkeys almost get me a couple of times. I try to stretch out a bit, and roll down into a sand wash. (gravel mostly). I grab gears. Slow speeds don't work real well in soft sand. The bumps get big, and the terrain is crazy. I spend as much time in the air as I do on the ground. I gobble up 6 miles asap, and it is starting to get dark. I flip it arround and haul back towards the truck.
Coming out of the wash, I come up behind a dust clowd. I chase the dust and almost catch it as it pulls into a camp. It was another 8 truck. A little newer, and painted like the old Ford "Rough Riders". My arms are tired, my back aches. I cruise back to the truck, strip off gear, and pack it in for the day.
Check in to the Blue Water is uneventful. I quickly realize that this is the wrong time of year to be in Parker for entertainment. This place is kinda sleepy, and when it's cold, it kinda hibernates. I ditch the hotel for a Mexican food resturant that my dad and I went to quite a few year ago. There were chase trucks, and buggie haulers out front and back, so I figure it's a cool place. The food is good, the beer ok. I finish, and roll back to the hotel. Nothing is diggin, so I call it a night, and watch tv until a redicilus time at night. Couldn't sleep, adrenaline can be like crack.
Awake after the sun came up, I am in no hurry, I have plenty of miles ahead of me. Out to the dez, and find a good spot. Look at the map, look at the terrain, find a route. I haul up a sand wash, and then loop back towards town. The trail has been hit with a dozer, but is is still rougher than all hell. All I can think is how amazing the pro's are becaue they can flat haul ass through this stuf that I am suffering through. My body is sore, I ache, but I don't stop.
I bump and roll through the rocks, and eventually end up down closer to the river. I make a turn past a camp, and come up on some baby sand dunes. I can't resist the urge and I rip some big slash turns in them on the untrackd parts. I run up over the top of them and end up on another part of the course. I cruise down towards the Gauntlet. It's soft and sandy. Silt and mush. Nobody has been on the couse here for some time, and the sand has drifted into and across the turns two to four feet deep.
I rip back towards the truck. The miles fly by. I hit a sand wash, and flat haul balls. It is rough, but I am getting loose. I make quick work of fifteen miles and I am chillin back leaning against the back tire of my truck in the sun.
As I sit there, the Wilson Motorsports prerunner goes by on Shea rd. Fun stuff.
Round two. I head out going the other direction across the wash, and onto another trail. High speed, 5th gear stuff. The trail ends up wider, there are bumps. Stuff you can wheelie through in fifth. I bump in and out of sand washes. End up on a graded road for a few miles, and then jump back into the dez. Rough section, bumps and turns. I am along side the CAP, it's the canal system that runs from the Colorado to Phoenix. The trail is well worn, burms and bumps. I stop at a point overlooking the CAP and under the power lines and look arround. There is alot of dezert out here.
I light it back up, and rip down the trail. It ends abruptly at a CAP crossing. There is a road that continues, so I take that. I rip out that road. and eventually the road narrows into a slot canyon. It has not been graded out here, and it is a combination of sand wash, and clean slick rock. The walls are maybe fifty feet high, and it is a little wider than a pickup in the bottom. The canyon eventually opens up, and there are larger trees. Just about this time there is a closed gate. Damn it.
I loop arround, and pass a little red truck coming into the canyon, they wave like I am a baja racer. I wave back. I take a different trail out of the canyon trying to make a loop. I ride for ten miles or so in a sand wash through the mountains. It finaly spilles out into a straight road with rollers. I haul the mail and am airing out off the tops of some. I come to the pipeline that is a reference point. I chill for a second and collect my bearings. I rip off on a gravel road, and make a big loop and back track to were I started the loop. A few sand washes, and bumb trails later, I come to Shea rd. near my truck. At the same time, a group of :20 bikes, 10 rino's, 8 quads, 2 jeeps, and a couple of buggies makes the intersecion. Kids and grandparents. Zoo City. I duck back into a sand wash and bail away from the group. I am back at my truck in a few. I eat a power bar, and sit on my but for a while. I refill with fuel, and check the fluids. Everything is good. There has been hardly no dust, my air filter is hardly even dirty.
Round three: After a mild rest, I lay out again on a bumped out trail. Trophy trucks make some big holes, and I am lucky that it has been almost a year of them filling up. I hop onto the race course under the powerline, and the roller coaster begins. Super fun trail. Fast and mostly straight. Ups and downs, jumping from bump to bump. The turns are burmed up from years of use. The terrain is fast, rolly, and fun. I come out of the mountains and hit a sand wash for a while. I start to see flagging on the desert bushes. It makes it easy to follow the right trail. I cross the CAP, and run through some more rolling hills. I come out onto another road, and cross back across the CAP. On my left the trail rolls down off the road.
There are four arrows, and a bunch of flagging. Course Marking.
I blaze down down the trail. It is well worn. There is race course marking now, and mile markers. It is a mix of sand and dirt, and I am hauling ass. I come to an interseciton and a sign that says pit 2. I make a right, and blaze down the trail. There is a mix of sand and hard pack. Gravel sand washes, and cross washes. One almost claims my life, but a well placed panic rev, and a little chest into the bars action and I am ok. The trail runs along side a graded gravel road, I think to myself this would be a great place to film. Infact, there are alot of good places to film out here.
I end up on ten miles of graded road in high gear. Which ends abruptly with a left turn onto a powerline road mixed with sand and rock. A few miles later there is a farm in the distance and lots of green. Crazy. All this desert, and then there is this green farm. Crazy. I loop back after pit 3, and cut through a sand wash. I find a ford pickup with two people in it stuck as it gets in the sand wash. I stop and ask if they are ok, they say the are, and that the course markers were coming back to help them later. I bail and back track. My odometer is reading 44 miles, and I am a little nervous about running out of gas. Twenty miles later, I have to switch onto reserve. Nervous.
I light it up back onto the powerline and rail the bumps and corners. I hit the sand wash, and blaze some more graded road. High speed, super fun. A little more desert trail, and I am back at the truck.
Exhausted I strip my gear, and load my stuff. I check the gps, 155mi today. Fun stuff. I roll back through town and make my way home. I pull lunch in Havasu, and I guess it was weirdo day at IN n Out. I grab my food, and eat quick. Kill it, I pull the plug and bail home. Sweet weekned, and New Years Tomorrow.
tp
