CDT Trail ride

[SneakyDingo]

Sneaky’s report:
After we ditched @bryanchurch06 I looked at the long, straight, flat, easy route to Deming, NM and thought, “this would be too easy. The others have had something, I’m getting jealous. Hey @imacbo, how do you feel about some dirt?”

In my defense at no point did we cross any no-trespassing signs, but we discovered what is effectively my worst enemy when it comes to routing: trails that were Peter Pan dreams and barely a line that could be picked through bushes, and several gates with locks attached at the very end of a somewhat difficult and tricky bush bashing adventure with Bo in hot pursuit. It was fun, but both Bo and I decided that we were pretty done with that, and when we got to one locked gate too many, something magical happened!! Some bolts had mysteriously fallen off the hinges of a gate and we were able to roll the bikes through and I’m not adding anything to that statement. Being the good sheep we are, we made sure to restore the bolts just in case an errant cow decided to try its luck, was just lucky we had the exact right tools I guess, make sure you leave the place better than you found it folks.

Aside from a short detour for a virgin Bloody Mary because Sneaky’s electrolytes were getting a bit wonky, the rest of the trip was uneventful and we pulled in right around check in time. Church, expecting us to do the sane thing, had bought pizza and was surprised it took the Dr. and the Donkey so long to arrive, but it was entirely… uh… maybe Sneaky shouldn’t navigate statements.

Tomorrow’s plan: to Antelope Wells, hopefully they don’t worry too much about Dingos and fences like they do in Australia, and then on to Silver City.

 

[bryanchurch06]

I should have taken a pic of them, showed up like 2 whipped pups, I mean 70 Miles of sand, cactus and sagebrush and they were acting like they had actually done something , I swear this younger generation is kinda soft.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Key is out for delivery, bike is overpacked, 280 miles to go today, when I get to silver city gotta lose some of this gear

 

[Backwoods]

I should have taken a pic of them, showed up like 2 whipped pups, I mean 70 Miles of sand, cactus and sagebrush and they were acting like they had actually done something , I swear this younger generation is kinda soft.

That sagebrush, cactus and sand sounds like fun to me. Some people try and ruin the fun by locking a gate in the middle of nowhere. Good thing y’all could improvise and continue forward.

 

[Tchap]

That sagebrush, cactus and sand sounds like fun to me. Some people try and ruin the fun by locking a gate in the middle of nowhere. Good thing y’all could improvise and continue forward.

That sounds pretty intense! I took my ct up and down a class 4 (unmaintained) road here in Vermont last week. It was pretty difficult because of the many large rocks. I felt like I was wrestling the whole time, and at the end of about 3 miles I was beat. So, well done to you guys for taking a pretty big bite out of riding the rough route! It must have been exhausting. Now you know you can do that, though. Honestly for me on the donkey, I think that I have more fun on less technical terrain. Oh, and it sounds like bryanchurch has paid those dues enough to appreciate y’all’s bedraggled look. You’re right, a pic would have been wonderful. This is all super entertaining for your faithful readers! Thank you. Please do be safe and have all the fun you can find!

 

[bryanchurch06]

Just got to my motel, this was my day, went back to Las cruces uhual to pick up my key at 10am, got a message from ups my package missed a flight and would be delayed the key finally arrived at 12 and I took off for Deming, Sneakydingo and macbo got tired of waiting for me so they left with the plan to meet tonight in silver city so when I got to Deming I realized I was ridiculous over packed so I went to usps and mail two large boxes home, the I left for Antelope Wells border Station. Winds were gusting 25 to 35mph with headwind all the way so I averaged 25 to 30 mph, passed Sneakydingo on the way back from the border and asked him to text me a road report on separ rd section as I would be riding at night on some of it. I reached the border at 630pm am immediately left for silver city, now with a tailwind so av speed 45 to 55mph, it's dusk and sun is setting when I get to separ exit on I10 so i call Sneakydingo and they just finished the section and claimed it's to dangerous in the dark, well hell nothing to do but ride frontage rds back to Deming to spend the night again. So basically I rode the 125 almost 300 miles today and wound up right back where I started. You can't make this stuff up its to insane. Only pic I took today was border sign tomorrow I'm going to try escaping Deming but I don't have high hopes as I sure their due for a Natural disaster of some sort which will prevent it if I'm successful ill be in grants tomorrow night, if I'm back in Deming I'm taking hostages.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Just to point out the insanity Sneakydingo rode over 200 miles today and he is only 50 miles due north of where I'm seated

 

[SneakyDingo]

Sneaky’s report:
Well, the piper must be paid. @imacbo made a comment that we had lots of thorns in the tires and I proceeded to check if any of them punctured the tube. HISSSSSS… ok. Front flat. Remove thorns from rear… tire goes down. Ok, so rear flat as well. Thanks. I’m glad I’m not on a tricycle.

I get to work on it and although I’ve changed tires before, this is HARD. I didn’t realize Deming is at altitude, I thought it was much lower in elevation. I’m almost ready to take a zero day and get another night in Deming, but Bo lends a hand and I get everything mounted. My hands are solidly pain after doing the changes and I eventually get all the luggage mounted back on the bike. By now @bryanchurch06 has messaged us and said he’s got the bike, he’s on the way, so I run some quick numbers and figure out the latest time in my head we can leave and still make it. After a while we get a second report: Church has made an unspecified detour and ended up on some road we don’t expect him to be on.

Unfortunately at that point, we are at our go time. We can’t delay otherwise we won’t make it to Silver City, where they have a spare inner tube waiting for me. So we start riding having no idea of when we will catch Church.

Deming to Hachita, boring.
Hachita to Antelope Wells, boring.
Photo opportunity: … worth it.
Antelope wells back to Hachita, we finally catch Church. He’s a solid 2.25h behind us on the route, and I’m not entirely sure we will make it to Silver City before sundown. He mentions 3 options, Separ Rd (desired route), detouring to Lordsburg and going from there which seems like a big detour but a reliable paved option, and going back to Deming, which neither Bo nor I wanted to go back there. We elect for the off road but shorter Separ route, and promise to give a road update once we get there.

Bo and I roll on, and I’m getting concerned about the sun getting low. We turn on to Separ and for the most part, it’s hard pack with the occasional sandpit that Church has warned us about the previous day. I chat with Bo and send the message, loose, hardpack, seems very rideable for a cautious rider. Which is true, but 40 mi. is still 40 mi, and a cautious rider would take a solid 3-4h to clear that.

It is at this point that you, dear reader, should know that I was not being cautious. I was bombing down these roads at speed, trying to make sure we cleared the dirt section before the sun went down. And I was legitimately worried because the only thing that was making it reasonable to ride there was the fact I wasn’t relying on the Trail’s mediocre headlight. To put this another way we were flying through these dirt, sandpit sections only marginally slower than we were riding on the paved roadways - 38-40 mph on the roadways, 32-35 mph on the dirt sections with way less traction.

It was a worthy ride, but I’m glad no one could hear my swearing when we came across a gate given the previous day’s events.

Eventually we left Separ Rd. and rejoined the highway. By now it was cool and definitely twilight. Church calls right as we enter Silver City, saying he’s about to start Separ, and both Bo and I discourage it. Not gonna lie, if I had been trapped at Separ after nightfall, I would have seriously considered pitching a tent and waiting for the next day to ride it. And knowing what I do now if I had been with Church, I think I would have done exactly what he did - go back to Deming. You couldn’t pay me to do that at night.

Tomorrow morning I’ll walk down to the motorcycle shop and pick up my spare for the front tube, already paid for. Then I’ll go back to the hotel, figure out what to do for the day, but honestly I think it would be a good idea to aim for a short day. We’ll see what everyone thinks in the morning after a rest.

 

[Kritou]

Hows about picking up a can of tyre sealant along with the tube?

 

[Backwoods]

Just got to my motel, this was my day, went back to Las cruces uhual to pick up my key at 10am, got a message from ups my package missed a flight and would be delayed the key finally arrived at 12 and I took off for Deming, Sneakydingo and macbo got tired of waiting for me so they left with the plan to meet tonight in silver city so when I got to Deming I realized I was ridiculous over packed so I went to usps and mail two large boxes home, the I left for Antelope Wells border Station. Winds were gusting 25 to 35mph with headwind all the way so I averaged 25 to 30 mph, passed Sneakydingo on the way back from the border and asked him to text me a road report on separ rd section as I would be riding at night on some of it. I reached the border at 630pm am immediately left for silver city, now with a tailwind so av speed 45 to 55mph, it's dusk and sun is setting when I get to separ exit on I10 so i call Sneakydingo and they just finished the section and claimed it's to dangerous in the dark, well hell nothing to do but ride frontage rds back to Deming to spend the night again. So basically I rode the 125 almost 300 miles today and wound up right back where I started. You can't make this stuff up its to insane. Only pic I took today was border sign tomorrow I'm going to try escaping Deming but I don't have high hopes as I sure their due for a Natural disaster of some sort which will prevent it if I'm successful ill be in grants tomorrow night, if I'm back in Deming I'm taking hostages.

Need to name this adventure the “ Iron Butt Challenge “, as 300 miles on a ct125 in one day is brutal. Hope things get better quicker and you hook up with those guys, because they having fun.

 

[mcmd]

Today's the day, in a little while I'll be driving to Las cruces, this is real now, money's spent and time to see if I've got anything left in the adventure tank? The preparations haven't gone as I expected, been fighting a cold or allergies all week, uhaul threw me a curve ball and I didn't lose 100pds, oh well time to suck it up and drive on. I can't help thinking about the 1st couple chapters of the hobbit my favorite book since childhood, like bilbo I probably wouldn't have the courage to go if I knew everything that's going to happen to me, but like him I going to trust my luck and hope to survive my personal dragon. Well my friends the roads goes ever onward and I must see where this one leads. Bryan

Angry turtles rule!

 

[mcmd]

Btw, are you guys taking GoPro's?

 

[SneakyDingo]

Hows about picking up a can of tyre sealant along with the tube?

Honestly not a terrible idea but it does make a huge sticky Sneaky problem later. I’ll ask if they have some.

 

[SneakyDingo]

Btw, are you guys taking GoPro's?

@imacbo has an Insta360 or equivalent and at least one GoPro. He’s gotta be getting some good footage of slip-n-slide Dingo at least.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Left Deming 8am heading to grants, stopped in silver city at a welding shop, nice guy welded a plate on and didn't charge me, I gave him 40 dollars for his troubles, I'm 200 miles from grants rolling along, have no idea where the other guys are.

 

[CTExplorer]

Sneaky’s report:
Well, the piper must be paid. @imacbo made a comment that we had lots of thorns in the tires and I proceeded to check if any of them punctured the tube. HISSSSSS… ok. Front flat. Remove thorns from rear… tire goes down. Ok, so rear flat as well. Thanks. I’m glad I’m not on a tricycle.

I get to work on it and although I’ve changed tires before, this is HARD. I didn’t realize Deming is at altitude, I thought it was much lower in elevation. I’m almost ready to take a zero day and get another night in Deming, but Bo lends a hand and I get everything mounted. My hands are solidly pain after doing the changes and I eventually get all the luggage mounted back on the bike. By now @bryanchurch06 has messaged us and said he’s got the bike, he’s on the way, so I run some quick numbers and figure out the latest time in my head we can leave and still make it. After a while we get a second report: Church has made an unspecified detour and ended up on some road we don’t expect him to be on.

Unfortunately at that point, we are at our go time. We can’t delay otherwise we won’t make it to Silver City, where they have a spare inner tube waiting for me. So we start riding having no idea of when we will catch Church.

Deming to Hachita, boring.
Hachita to Antelope Wells, boring.
Photo opportunity: … worth it.
Antelope wells back to Hachita, we finally catch Church. He’s a solid 2.25h behind us on the route, and I’m not entirely sure we will make it to Silver City before sundown. He mentions 3 options, Separ Rd (desired route), detouring to Lordsburg and going from there which seems like a big detour but a reliable paved option, and going back to Deming, which neither Bo nor I wanted to go back there. We elect for the off road but shorter Separ route, and promise to give a road update once we get there.

Bo and I roll on, and I’m getting concerned about the sun getting low. We turn on to Separ and for the most part, it’s hard pack with the occasional sandpit that Church has warned us about the previous day. I chat with Bo and send the message, loose, hardpack, seems very rideable for a cautious rider. Which is true, but 40 mi. is still 40 mi, and a cautious rider would take a solid 3-4h to clear that.

It is at this point that you, dear reader, should know that I was not being cautious. I was bombing down these roads at speed, trying to make sure we cleared the dirt section before the sun went down. And I was legitimately worried because the only thing that was making it reasonable to ride there was the fact I wasn’t relying on the Trail’s mediocre headlight. To put this another way we were flying through these dirt, sandpit sections only marginally slower than we were riding on the paved roadways - 38-40 mph on the roadways, 32-35 mph on the dirt sections with way less traction.

It was a worthy ride, but I’m glad no one could hear my swearing when we came across a gate given the previous day’s events.

Eventually we left Separ Rd. and rejoined the highway. By now it was cool and definitely twilight. Church calls right as we enter Silver City, saying he’s about to start Separ, and both Bo and I discourage it. Not gonna lie, if I had been trapped at Separ after nightfall, I would have seriously considered pitching a tent and waiting for the next day to ride it. And knowing what I do now if I had been with Church, I think I would have done exactly what he did - go back to Deming. You couldn’t pay me to do that at night.

Tomorrow morning I’ll walk down to the motorcycle shop and pick up my spare for the front tube, already paid for. Then I’ll go back to the hotel, figure out what to do for the day, but honestly I think it would be a good idea to aim for a short day. We’ll see what everyone thinks in the morning after a rest.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Arrived in grants, nm another 300 mile day, when I finish this trip I'm getting a tattoo on my ass that says Honda was here!

 

[Kritou]

Arrived in grants, nm another 300 mile day, when I finish this trip I'm getting a tattoo on my ass that says Honda was here!

I think you are going to need a transplant rather than a tat …

 

[Backwoods]

I think you are going to need a transplant rather than a tat …

Nickname for the OEM seat “ the assassin “, aka buttkiller!

 

[bryanchurch06]

Lefts grants 9am to Cuba, got Cuba no motels or camping available, had to ride to Chama for lodging, mileage on bike when I left Las Cruces was 262, mileage today in Chama is 1054 for a total of 792 miles ridden in 3 days.