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Edit: Tsorfas' journey to IOMTT prompted me to re-live my own "big" organized ride event. Upon review, the "ride report" was nothing short of dis-satisfactory. So this edit re-visits an attempt at re-telling my story.
April, 21 2015
Browsing the ADV rider forums, a thread pops up about this:
I remember owning a whole 1 issue of dirt rider at 12 years old, and seeing pictures and reading a mind-blowing ride report about LAB2V. It sounded like heaven to me; all those miles of trails, trekked on what I considered the most capable, most (relatively) inexpensive modern day version of the lone rogue cowboy's steed.
~500 miles
~Easy and hard ways
~epic
Was it possible? I had half the battle covered - my bike was street legal. But the rest of the battle was answered in the hours of forum threads and ride reports of years past.
May 2, 2015: My headlight sucks. It was a baja designs incandescent 40w bulb running on what felt like a 30W stator. After a full charge in the garage, the headlight would drain the battery in less than 7 minutes; so I needed to keep the engine pinned, just to be seen. I had good luck with a 20" light bar on my F-150, so I decided to test an LED "fog light" as my headlight. I also don't like a lot of weight slung over my back...but I needed to carry some dead weight because the 2-stroke had such a limited range. So I googled some advrider options and found a drz400 thread about luggage racks.
so I was thinking:
-kolpin system + tank over the rear tail (try not to overload weight in the rear or it affects the bike's handling)
-inexpensive saddle bags hanging over the sides (maybe even cycle gear) for spare tools, food, water, spare air filter
-some sort of tank panniers for my spare 2-stroke oil
-small front fender pack - tubes, tools, fasteners, zip ties
also trying to piece together what sort of items I'd need...I'd like to travel as light as possible, but at the same time I'd have to carry a couple quarts of 2-stroke oil and gas which will take up a good amount of room and weight
good to bring a pre-oiled 2nd air filter to swap between first and second day
FUEL:rider instructions on the district 37 AMA website from 2012 here says there will be a sweep truck and an optional gas stop that makes the longest range 92 miles = my 3.4 gallon desert tank + 1.75 gallons of gas in a rotopack with maybe a single MSR fuel bottle in a backpack attached to my rear fender will be sufficient gas for my thirsty 2-smoke (total gas 5.15 gallons - estimated range 110-128 miles depending on jetting and throttle position). The tricky part is estimating gas mileage during 17 mile WOT sand washes...I will be getting an endurance II and heading out to the desert in advance; this will be a good chance to see what the real world mileage becomes
need a roll chart for navigation - it's tried and true - sold @ day of event
This is so rad!!
Finished day 1 yesterday and just woke up for day 2! Sore!
240 miles to go...next stop VEGAS!