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- Aug 13, 1999
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Didn't want to hijack the other threads but I finally have time to write up a report for our Moab trip! We made the 15 hour drive from Spokane to Moab leaving at dark thirty Thursday morning. It was a big group with 4 trucks heading down from Spokane, one of which was pulling an enclosed trailer with 11 bikes, gear, gas, tools, etc. in it. The others just carried riders and some of their gear. Plus there were a couple trucks with a trailer of 9 bikes heading over from Cali. We had 25 riders all total
The first day we hit some nice sandwash areas where we could work on our sand riding skills then headed into a rocky canyon with some pretty good waterholes, creek crossings, a narrow canyon with a few challenging sections then onto an area of slick rock that we played on for a bit before heading back to the trucks as it started to rain.
Beautiful scenery and good riding, nothing too challenging but we were having fun. The next morning we headed out to Devil’s Racetrack & Top of the World (I think that’s what they were called). Great scenery, good fast trails with a few rocky sections thrown in for a little challenge. The last bit of one section was a fun flowing trail with twists & turns, bumps & berms.
Sunday we headed out to 5 Miles of Hell. Some of the crew had already left to head back to Cali but we had 16 riders left. 8 of us decided to tackle 5 MOH while the rest of the crew did a 50 mile loop that contained a couple miles of rocky riding similar to 5 MOH. We took a group photo at the entrance of 5 MOH, just in case one of us didn’t return.
I wasn’t too sure about my sanity at this point. The organizer of the group had informed me that I should really go on the other ride,but the main reason I came to Moab was to experience 5 Miles of Hell. I asked the other 5 MOH riders if they had any problem with me going and they assured me that it was fine by them. Karl and Pat (my son) were doing 5 MOH too and they wanted me to come along so it was decided.
Unfortunately, we had geared my bike up a tooth in the front for the harescramble and expected desert speeds but opted not to bring my smaller countersprocket for this trip. So I was a bit apprehensive about the higher gearing but figured I’d just have to use the clutch more. Then Karl informed me that the gas was mixed a bit rich because he’d put enough oil in for 5 gallons of mix but could only get 4.5 gallons in since there had been a bit left over from the last fillup. The weather was pretty warm and with the higher els, I figured I’d be getting my plug changing down to an art.
So, with a wave goodbye to the rest of the group, we headed off into 5 MOH. I was really nervous once we dropped over the first few big rocks and I adjusted my mindset to scanning the rocks for white paint. My bike stalled & died within the first 100 yards, fouled plug. Woohooo this is gonna be a LONG 5 (actually 7.9) miles! We got the plug changed in a record 20 minutes (my oversized tank makes it a total PITA to change plugs and with my nerves, knowing that I was already holding the group up it was even more difficult). I told Karl that maybe I should go back & just go with the other group. He reassured me that I would be fine. One of the other guys came back to see what was wrong about the time I was ready to fire my bike up. It fired & died. Checked the cap again, kicked & kicked & kicked. Finally tried the old starting drill and it came to life. Got going and stalled again shortly after. Karl suggested I turn my idle up which helped.
Here I am coming across the flats - pic taken by the guys up on top of the first rock face:
All was fine until we got to the first real rock face. The crew was hanging out on various levels of the rocks with cameras ready. Karl and I pulled up and looked for the white paint. “You gotta be kidding!!”
The guys instructed us to line up with the white paint, climb the first face, back up for a reset then climb the 2nd face. My arms were already exhausted from hanging onto my bars so tight due to the nervous energy and dread. So Karl expertly climbed the first face, reset and climbed the 2nd one looking like an expert trials rider (on a CR500). Next was my turn! I climbed the first face easily, Pat told me to let him reset my bike (he’s such a good kid) then I rode up the 2nd face with ease. I was almost shaking by the time I stopped at the top but I felt much better since it really was pretty easy!
Me going up the 2nd section:
Things were looking better and I was feeling pretty good until I popped around a corner and saw/heard the YZ125 screaming to try & make it up a rocky step. I arrived at the bottom as the kid rode away and saw the guys standing there waiting to help – “oh goody another tough section.” I looked it over and figured it wasn’t that bad. The guys gave me some tips and I said it didn’t look too bad, then they informed me that this was NOT bad at all compared to the next section.
I made it up the rock shelf with some help and arrived at the bottom of the next section in time to see one of the guys literally jump his bike up the vertical rock face landing on top. “Uh – OH!” I wandered around the area as the other riders attempted one by one to figure out a way up & over the section and I couldn’t find anything that really attracted me. A couple tried to go up the face the way the one guy did but that didn’t work too well. Finally the majority of us decided that the best bet was to ride up to the left of the face, take a reset then ride up a narrow little less steep section of the ugly rock face. Karl made it clean, Pat, myself and a couple others needed help as we couldn’t carry enough speed to climb the rock clean.
We followed the white twisty paint lines over rocks, up shelves and on & on. I was actually starting to relax a little bit, then I dropped over a small shelf, saw that the paint took a hard left just as my bike lurched forward due to the clutch being totally heated up and the idle being set so high. I pulled the bike to a stop and peered over a CLIFF! Adrenaline kicked in again (did I mention that I’m afraid of heights)! I rolled the bike back a bit, fired it up and continued on arms starting to hit full pump. I made it up the next small rock face where we waited a bit because Pat was behind due to fouling a plug on his YZ125. It really made me nervous watching him ride the section we’d just come from. Darn kid has no fear and goes way too fast for my comfort of watching!
My bike was having some issues and would stall for no apparent reason, clutch pulled in and all. I finally unplugged the kill switch at Karl’s suggestion and that cured it (we’ve dealt with faulty kill switches on my bike in the past). After a nice little rocky section I noticed that my bike was steaming. Not any surprise since the 5hunny does overheat at times but it seemed that it was steaming out of the waterpump instead of the overflow. Hmmmm. I continued on hoping to catch up to the group and pick up enough speed somewhere to cool the bike down a bit, Karl was behind me. We finally got to a spot that was fairly flat and I stopped. I needed food & water. Karl and one of the other riders (also on a CR500) stopped with me and we looked closer at the steaming bike. Sure enough, the weephole in the waterpump was leaking – not good especially since we weren’t even quite half way and it would be very hard to get a dead CR500 out of 5 MOH! We discussed repair options, Karl poured some water into the radiator and it promptly ran out the bottom. So he decided to plug the weephole with his handy dandy liquid steel stuff. We figured the worst thing that could happen is some water may get into the tranny oil but at least the bike would continue running.
It seemed to work so we filled the radiator back up and headed out. With every rocky climb and every spooky descent into the rocky abyss I had to wonder “how much further?” We came across another group of riders coming from the other end and the expressed their surprise at seeing a woman on 5 MOH and on a 500. They were also quite surprised that Pat was up there on a YZ125. We got a giggle out of that conversation
So we hit the sandy washes, climbed the rock faces & shelves and just continued on. I was finally getting pretty comfortable on the rock but was getting really tired When we broke out of the rocks and onto the end of the trail I was tempted to hop off the bike and kiss the ground but I had to get moving instead cause we needed to get back to the truck.
I was sooo happy to get out of the rocks but on the way back on the 4x4 road I began to think about planning a return trip to 5 MOH. It was tough but I think it would be fun to try again since I know now what to expect and I don’t think I would be half as nervous the next time.
It took us about 5 hours to make it through the 7.9 miles and that included one 20 minute plug change, a 15 minute or so water repair and a few rest stops. The guys we rode with said their best trip through was 3.5 hours with 4 of them so I didn’t feel too bad.
The first day we hit some nice sandwash areas where we could work on our sand riding skills then headed into a rocky canyon with some pretty good waterholes, creek crossings, a narrow canyon with a few challenging sections then onto an area of slick rock that we played on for a bit before heading back to the trucks as it started to rain.
Beautiful scenery and good riding, nothing too challenging but we were having fun. The next morning we headed out to Devil’s Racetrack & Top of the World (I think that’s what they were called). Great scenery, good fast trails with a few rocky sections thrown in for a little challenge. The last bit of one section was a fun flowing trail with twists & turns, bumps & berms.
Sunday we headed out to 5 Miles of Hell. Some of the crew had already left to head back to Cali but we had 16 riders left. 8 of us decided to tackle 5 MOH while the rest of the crew did a 50 mile loop that contained a couple miles of rocky riding similar to 5 MOH. We took a group photo at the entrance of 5 MOH, just in case one of us didn’t return.
I wasn’t too sure about my sanity at this point. The organizer of the group had informed me that I should really go on the other ride,but the main reason I came to Moab was to experience 5 Miles of Hell. I asked the other 5 MOH riders if they had any problem with me going and they assured me that it was fine by them. Karl and Pat (my son) were doing 5 MOH too and they wanted me to come along so it was decided.
Unfortunately, we had geared my bike up a tooth in the front for the harescramble and expected desert speeds but opted not to bring my smaller countersprocket for this trip. So I was a bit apprehensive about the higher gearing but figured I’d just have to use the clutch more. Then Karl informed me that the gas was mixed a bit rich because he’d put enough oil in for 5 gallons of mix but could only get 4.5 gallons in since there had been a bit left over from the last fillup. The weather was pretty warm and with the higher els, I figured I’d be getting my plug changing down to an art.
So, with a wave goodbye to the rest of the group, we headed off into 5 MOH. I was really nervous once we dropped over the first few big rocks and I adjusted my mindset to scanning the rocks for white paint. My bike stalled & died within the first 100 yards, fouled plug. Woohooo this is gonna be a LONG 5 (actually 7.9) miles! We got the plug changed in a record 20 minutes (my oversized tank makes it a total PITA to change plugs and with my nerves, knowing that I was already holding the group up it was even more difficult). I told Karl that maybe I should go back & just go with the other group. He reassured me that I would be fine. One of the other guys came back to see what was wrong about the time I was ready to fire my bike up. It fired & died. Checked the cap again, kicked & kicked & kicked. Finally tried the old starting drill and it came to life. Got going and stalled again shortly after. Karl suggested I turn my idle up which helped.
Here I am coming across the flats - pic taken by the guys up on top of the first rock face:
All was fine until we got to the first real rock face. The crew was hanging out on various levels of the rocks with cameras ready. Karl and I pulled up and looked for the white paint. “You gotta be kidding!!”
The guys instructed us to line up with the white paint, climb the first face, back up for a reset then climb the 2nd face. My arms were already exhausted from hanging onto my bars so tight due to the nervous energy and dread. So Karl expertly climbed the first face, reset and climbed the 2nd one looking like an expert trials rider (on a CR500). Next was my turn! I climbed the first face easily, Pat told me to let him reset my bike (he’s such a good kid) then I rode up the 2nd face with ease. I was almost shaking by the time I stopped at the top but I felt much better since it really was pretty easy!
Me going up the 2nd section:
Things were looking better and I was feeling pretty good until I popped around a corner and saw/heard the YZ125 screaming to try & make it up a rocky step. I arrived at the bottom as the kid rode away and saw the guys standing there waiting to help – “oh goody another tough section.” I looked it over and figured it wasn’t that bad. The guys gave me some tips and I said it didn’t look too bad, then they informed me that this was NOT bad at all compared to the next section.
I made it up the rock shelf with some help and arrived at the bottom of the next section in time to see one of the guys literally jump his bike up the vertical rock face landing on top. “Uh – OH!” I wandered around the area as the other riders attempted one by one to figure out a way up & over the section and I couldn’t find anything that really attracted me. A couple tried to go up the face the way the one guy did but that didn’t work too well. Finally the majority of us decided that the best bet was to ride up to the left of the face, take a reset then ride up a narrow little less steep section of the ugly rock face. Karl made it clean, Pat, myself and a couple others needed help as we couldn’t carry enough speed to climb the rock clean.
We followed the white twisty paint lines over rocks, up shelves and on & on. I was actually starting to relax a little bit, then I dropped over a small shelf, saw that the paint took a hard left just as my bike lurched forward due to the clutch being totally heated up and the idle being set so high. I pulled the bike to a stop and peered over a CLIFF! Adrenaline kicked in again (did I mention that I’m afraid of heights)! I rolled the bike back a bit, fired it up and continued on arms starting to hit full pump. I made it up the next small rock face where we waited a bit because Pat was behind due to fouling a plug on his YZ125. It really made me nervous watching him ride the section we’d just come from. Darn kid has no fear and goes way too fast for my comfort of watching!
My bike was having some issues and would stall for no apparent reason, clutch pulled in and all. I finally unplugged the kill switch at Karl’s suggestion and that cured it (we’ve dealt with faulty kill switches on my bike in the past). After a nice little rocky section I noticed that my bike was steaming. Not any surprise since the 5hunny does overheat at times but it seemed that it was steaming out of the waterpump instead of the overflow. Hmmmm. I continued on hoping to catch up to the group and pick up enough speed somewhere to cool the bike down a bit, Karl was behind me. We finally got to a spot that was fairly flat and I stopped. I needed food & water. Karl and one of the other riders (also on a CR500) stopped with me and we looked closer at the steaming bike. Sure enough, the weephole in the waterpump was leaking – not good especially since we weren’t even quite half way and it would be very hard to get a dead CR500 out of 5 MOH! We discussed repair options, Karl poured some water into the radiator and it promptly ran out the bottom. So he decided to plug the weephole with his handy dandy liquid steel stuff. We figured the worst thing that could happen is some water may get into the tranny oil but at least the bike would continue running.
It seemed to work so we filled the radiator back up and headed out. With every rocky climb and every spooky descent into the rocky abyss I had to wonder “how much further?” We came across another group of riders coming from the other end and the expressed their surprise at seeing a woman on 5 MOH and on a 500. They were also quite surprised that Pat was up there on a YZ125. We got a giggle out of that conversation
So we hit the sandy washes, climbed the rock faces & shelves and just continued on. I was finally getting pretty comfortable on the rock but was getting really tired When we broke out of the rocks and onto the end of the trail I was tempted to hop off the bike and kiss the ground but I had to get moving instead cause we needed to get back to the truck.
I was sooo happy to get out of the rocks but on the way back on the 4x4 road I began to think about planning a return trip to 5 MOH. It was tough but I think it would be fun to try again since I know now what to expect and I don’t think I would be half as nervous the next time.
It took us about 5 hours to make it through the 7.9 miles and that included one 20 minute plug change, a 15 minute or so water repair and a few rest stops. The guys we rode with said their best trip through was 3.5 hours with 4 of them so I didn’t feel too bad.
