Ride Training with RawHyde: Base Camp Alpha- Part 2 Day 5

Panoramic photo of BCA group at Trona Pinnicales

BCA
Day 5- Tuesday The fifth  and final day of motorcycle ride training in Nathan's preparation for Thrukon

Morning at Base Camp Alpha. Breakfast burritos. They were delicious and warmly welcomed after a wet night. The sky pissed all night, drops rattling against the rain fly. It was a legitimate challenge trying to sleep. Since our gloves didn't have a chance to dry overnight, a few of us had resorted to roasting them over an open fire. Some fell in and were promptly rescued by heroic observers with only minor burns.

 Makeshift glove dryer constructed from rocks, wood and an old leaf spring

I spent some time trying to shake the water out of the tent, a pointless exercise. In the end I packed it soaked.

 Video still of the author offering a prayer of dry nylon to the Mojave rain gods -Shot by Gonzalo Pascual

After every one packed up their gear. We were off. On the way to a martian landscape in the Mojave called Trona Pinnacles, our fearless leader Shawn was the victim of an unprovoked attack. He went ahead to scout the condition of the trail and was violently ambushed by a combination of recently felled rain that had mixed with ultra-fine powdery desert floor, creating a slippery mucosal layer of mud. There were a few quick flashes of white-red-white-red and finally white light as his 450 pound R1200GS spun around in the brown slime.

The event

The result

All hands on deck! Righting Shawn's 1200GS after a slippery slide through the Trona mud

The group arrives at Trona Pinnacles to find rock spires and  sloppy mud pits.We spend some time drifting around the muddy trails and inspecting the ancient towers up close.

Then on to the sand pits to really challenge our balance and low speed control.