For a solid 12 days I had about the absolute best weather and riding conditions that one could dream of. The camping was perfect and the bike ran great. As usual, riding alone in some of the most remote country in the U.S. Rode right beside the Rio Grande on numerous occasions and saw only the occasional Mexican cowboy instead of chainsaw wielding cartel members.

Usually this time of year, even out in the Texas deserts, you get a day or two of a cold norther to blow through to make for a day's less pleasant ride. This trip had chamber-of-commerce weather conditions for the whole time. Days were between 70-80 and nights were 40-50. Solar showers were downright pleasant in camp in the evening, and I only started one morning's ride in my light jacket for maybe an hour before shedding it. There was only a stray thin cloud once in awhile to remind me that clouds even existed on this trip. It was downright amazing.

 

Beautiful!

 

I started this trip by making a serious commitment to really riding all the areas in the Big Bend Ranch State Park. Let me tell ya...this ain't your grandma's state park. Ammenties?...water sources?...campgrounds?...paved roads?...forget it. This is a primitive park with little in the way of support for anything. You have to bring all your food, ice, water, and gas for your assault on this park which will take a minimum of 3 days of hard riding to cover 90% of the available riding. This place is awesome. It's an old, rugged ranch that was turned over to the state some years ago. It's a huge place. It rivals the national park to the east in acreage and size, and it has more miles of unmaintained ranch roads that have degraded into some rough and fun "barely" 2-tracks. I was glad to have a SPOT locater out there with me. For 3 days of riding on those trails, I saw no other human being. Even my camp was off the beaten path. Talk about solitary existence. I rode by the park HQ on two occasions and only saw someone there on one of those occasions. I wish I had some action shots, but it's hard to do by yourself.

There are rocks, ledges, steep climbs, and just a whole lot of fun.

 

ARGHHHH! It's a rain snow mix here today. As usual TNC is " Living the life of Riley ". I'm glad you had a safe trip, and hit the jackpot with the weather out there amigo. Looks beautiful. I think I would like the not seeing another human for 3 days , thing.

 

After The Ranch, I went to Terlingua for a couple of days and camped at a friend's property that's just across the highway from the Terlingua Ghost Town and famous Starlight Inn. I rode some of the Terlingua ranch property, but I mainly came to have a meal out at the Starlight, drink some margaritas, and listen to some good guitar pickin' and singing.

I went over to the Big Bend National Park next for several days and did all the usual suspects of the River Road, Black Gap, Old Ore, and others. There is surprisingly good riding here for a national park, and the scenery is stunning. On a couple of these rides, the Rio Grande river is almost always in sight.

 

Now to the equipment. This was my first trip with the 13T sprocket paired with my already present 47T rear sprocket. You'd think the desert wouldn't require this low a gear, but that's not the case here. There are plenty of places where you lose all your momentum right before a rock pile or erosion rut. Having the lower gearing was just the ticket. Plus, being able to use 2nd and 3rd gear more advantageously was a great option many times.

About the pumper carb...this was my first real outing with this carb. The TM36-68 pumper carb was flawless. The power, response, and fuel mileage were great. I had ridden with durielk in Colorado with his Bill Blue TM34, so I knew these carbs can produce equal or better fuel mileage than our OEM CV. On a couple of the roughest trails, I equaled the very good mileage I had gotten with my CV...in the 50-57 mpg range. However, I got 60-65 on a couple of rides that had some decently tough trails. This really surprised me. Jetted properly, you don't have to worry about mileage reduction with these carbs, and the power gains are tremendous.

The Kenda Parker Desert tires front and rear worked perfectly, so no complaints there. My Tubliss setup continues to be great after more than 3 years now. In fact my rear tire has a piece of wire stuck in the crown of the tire that I discovered with about 2 days of riding left. I just cut the wire down into the rubber surface with wire cutters and rode it. It's still in there, and the Stan's sealant in the tire kept it from leaking.

Basically the bike was flawless without any drama or surprises...as usual.

 

Wow. Those are summer days here. Trails look like fun - not too had and not to easy.

Enjoy your time there.

 

Nice trip

Don't want to hijack this thread, but I'd like to ask a question related to Tubliss. I installed it few days ago, works fine, no leaks. No sealant in it yet. If I use Stan's, how much is required for front and rear tyre?

I got the wheels balanced pretty good after installing tubliss (4x 1.5oz weights per wheel opposite the rimlock), but I'm afraid that the sealant could throw my balance out. I do a fair bit of commuting on pavement so balanced wheels are a must for me. Any issues there?

Thanks.

 

Fun riding in that area! Spent a weekend riding outside the park going from Marfa down to the border then over to Presidio about a month ago. Remote is an understatement hahaha

 

No balance issue with the sealant. It seems to spread out as the wheel spins faster...might even help with balance overall...maybe. On the amount, I put about 8oz. in each tire. You can check the level in the tire by setting the bike straight-up-and-down on a stand or such. Take the valve core out of the tire inflation schrader valve...not the inner liner. With the tire rotated with the schrader valve at the bottom, use a small zip tie as a dipstick. You must use the part/side of the zip tie that has the serrated teeth molded in. Stick the zip tie into the schrader valve hole and let it touch the bottom of the inside of the tire. Don't mash it into the tire, just insure it touches the inside of the tire. Pull it out, and you can read the level of the sealant inside on the serrated edge of your zip tie. If you maintain an approximate 25mm height on the zip tie, you have about 8oz. of sealant in the tire. This really works and makes it easy to maintain your sealant level. If you use something smooth as a dipstick, you won't really be able to tell the sealant level inside. The serration on the zip tie gives an amazingly accurate reading.

I've used tubeless Slime on one round of tires, but Stan's works great and is not as messy when changing to new tires.