Spanglerfest

[kelsorat]

Had a great ride out at Spangler Hills last weekend.
Plans were to meet at the Mojave Denny's at 8am. I think Eel and Captain Jack must have been on the Chinese Calendar, as Thumbs and I waited and waited and waited for our punctual crew. Just Kidding.
Well after leaving Mojave 2 hours later we eventually made it out to Teagle Wash to meet up with TWMC's Tim Stoner. The plan was to scout out a route for the Ghost Rider Enduro in October. The weather was perfect and we suited up in a practically empty Spangler Area for the ride.
Man, is Spangler cool. I'm used to riding actual trails, but we carved our own, with each of us spread 20 ft apart to avoid the dust. Eat it Green Party.
Our leader Tim Stoner is the most "in-shape" 52 yr old I've met. And the funny thing is, he looks out of shape, no svelt character. And boy does he know Spangler like the back of his hand. Our first outing was marked by a couple of nice roosts put up by Thumbs on a continuous stalling Eel. I believe Eel needed the sandblast marks on his new "bass-boat speckle" KBC helmet to give it some character. Cpt Jack busted a toe or two on a nice protruding boulder, and I just tried to keep up. Eel,Thumbs, Cpt Jack - help me out here on the rest of our day!

 

[the Eel]

"Bass-boat speckle" KBC is it ? How was I to know the helmet had a glitter finish when I saw it in that small ad ? :think: Hey ... sorry we were so late ... on the way home we took the long way instead of my shortcut. Turns out the long way takes 45 minutes and my shortcut takes an hour and 30. Oh well, live and learn ..

But seriously thanks for helping out ... it was a productive weekend and the playride Tim led us on was the most fun. That guy is pretty amazing ... and freakin' hysterical as well. And the tour he gave us was just awesome.

Kelso wrestled his DRZ through some gnarly stuff and never blinked an eye ... I've never seen fishtails so entertaining ... no wonder I just saw him post about buying a KTM 300 ! Tim took us over to what he called the "sand hills". We had a good time hill climbing and trading bikes. Jack crashed into a rock and his toes turned purple, I broke a brake lever on a failed hill climb (on someone else's bike - Jack's .. I'll replace that for you), Tony roosted me several times, and my bike was finicky - first the throttle cable was sticking and overrevving the bike uncontrollably, and then a kinked fuel line had me running out of gas until I figured it out and unkinked it. As Jack said - we were running on one cylinder or less for most of the weekend ... classic TEAM KNUCKLEHEAD. Like 3 monkeys tryin' to $#%& a coconut .. as Kiwi once told us.

The night was windy and it was hard to sleep ... the next day we scouted more trail and have a pretty good grip on the route already. A great weekend ! Thanks man.

Make sure you get that KTM soon so you can have it for the next run ...

 

[CPT Jack]

God I hate that shortcut. Thumbsy borrowed my XR4 - "The Couch" so now he's hauling both my bikes. It's kinda cool to pull up to a truck w/ two dirt bikes in back & go "Hey those are mine!" Anyway, it was a beautiful day in the desert - perfect temp, light breeze. I smashed my right foot on a 3 ft boulder straight away (I didn't want to waste any time). It was hiding behind a bush & I wasn't paying close enough attention. I whacked it good in 2nd or 3rd gear. It pitched the back end out w/ a big BAM! Oooh, that's gonna leave a mark. Broken toe.

We were doing to much start & stop when Eric's bike started acting up. I traded Tony, letting him have a turn on the Magic Gasser while I mounted The Couch. I haven't ridden that thing in a year & it was killling me in the deep sand wash. The forks felt like spaghetti w/ an attitude problem. The next day Eelio upped the compression fr & back and the Couch was actually kicking some butt (still needs more though!) :aj:

We took a break & I ate cold spagettio's from the can. For some reason these guys thought that was funny. Nevermind that. I was ready for nappy-time when they decided to go for an afternoon ride. Ahh, now we get into the good stuff. Kelsorat is a real showoff. I guess he was trying to make a point about how cool he is, cause he's got the button, by stalling his bike like 6 or 7 time's on the first big hill. Fine, rub it in.

Next Tim Stoner (Mr. Chiliburger to you) took us through some great sand washes & goat hills. Up & down. Nothing too hairy, but great riding. We found one wall of sand hills where we kinda looked & said ..."uh....I don't think so." Well he blasted up & made it. Turned around & rode down. The Eel gave it a shot & didn't make it too far on the XR. Next time hit it faster. He grabbed his 300 and redeemed himself though. I kicked it back & forth a good while before I said "What the heck" & gave it a shot. Well, two shots ... and two misses. It wasn't as bad coming down as it looked. I'll get it next time.

It just wouldn't be a Team Knucklehead affair if we didn't get someone's bike stuck absolutely vertical in a 2 ft deep rain rut. It was obvious that no one else was gonna step up so after Tony stopped in the middle of a hillclimb long enough to give me face full of dirt, I decided to go ahead & make it happen myself. Kelsorat & The Eel helped me muscle the bike out but not before Mr. E snapped some happy photo's. Memories .....

Tim offered up some Hamburger patties for dinner. We added some Chilli & had us some Chiliburgers & Beer. It got pretty windy at night which in retrospect was probably a good thing considering the Chiliburgers & beer. :moon:

A big fire & bs session topped off the night. The beer & aspirin did the trick as the achey broken toe wasn't bothering me too much at all by the time we hit the hay.

The next morning's ride was almost a casual play ride. An easy 20 miles of route scouting. Easy & fun. It was a great weekend & I expected to be beat & sore but I feel just fine. Thanks guys.

 

[the Eel]

Seriously ... broken toe ?

 

[Pvt Joker]

Wow! Sounds like a great time out there. Great reports. :thumb:

 

[KiwiBird]

Great reports guys, I haven't been out there for a while but remember the sand hills and just a couple of rocks.....