A tire inflator is a small pump you can carry to add air to your motorcycle tires. If you get a flat or lose pressure, it helps you get back on the road safely.
Best Rest Products is a company that makes motorcycle tire-repair and tire-inflation gear. The point here is that riders trust their tools when they’re far from help.
The Land Rover Discovery is a big SUV designed for both regular driving and tougher roads. It’s built to help you travel farther and handle uneven terrain while still being comfortable for passengers. That’s why it can fit well with adventure route planning.
BDR routes are planned adventure riding paths made for motorcycle trips. “Discovery routes” means you’re following one of those curated route options instead of just winging it.
Term
luggage
Here “luggage” means the bags/cases you strap onto the motorcycle for a trip. Where and how you pack weight matters because it changes how the bike feels.
“Slab riding” just means riding on the big highway/interstate for long stretches. It’s different from twisty backroads because you’re going faster for longer, so loaded bikes can feel different.
Term
tent camping
Tent camping means sleeping in a tent instead of a hotel. On a motorcycle trip, it usually means you have to carry more gear, so packing matters.
Panniers are the hard or semi-hard cases mounted on the sides of a motorcycle. They’re used for carrying gear, and having them loaded changes how the bike handles.
Term
Overlander's shoes
They’re talking about a mounting setup that lets you attach extra water/fuel containers to the motorcycle. The goal is to keep the load stable and strapped down.
Rotopax is a type of rugged container for carrying extra fuel or water. It mounts to the bike so the liquid is strapped down instead of bouncing around.
Those labels mean the road/trail is rough enough that only more capable off-road vehicles should try it. High clearance and four-wheel drive help you get through ruts, rocks, and uneven ground.
Primitive camping is camping with fewer services and amenities. You usually have to be more self-reliant, and you may still need to check in or reserve a spot.
Term
BDR route
BDR is the name of a motorcycle route in Big Bend that riders follow. It’s useful because it sets expectations for what roads and camping options you’ll deal with.
Wagon Wheel Road is a specific road segment they planned to ride first. Named roads like this often have a reputation for how rough or technical they are.
They’re talking about a long loop ride called “River Road,” which they plan to do over a couple of nights. It’s basically a big planned route you ride in sections.
The Ford Explorer is a larger family SUV made for driving around town and taking longer trips. It has room for people and luggage, which makes it useful when you’re going to explore different roads. That’s why it can be mentioned when planning travel routes.
“Enduro trails” means rough off-road paths—usually dirt and rocks—where you need good grip and control. The rider is saying they set up the bike for that kind of terrain.
Car
R 1200 GS
The BMW R 1200 GS is a motorcycle made for adventure riding—meaning it can handle both regular roads and rough dirt trails. In this story, it’s the bike the rider chose because they expected gravel and off-road conditions.
Loose sand is sand that doesn’t hold the tire well, so the bike can slip. It usually takes smoother throttle and careful balance to keep moving without losing control.
Stream crossings are when you ride through a shallow creek or water crossing on a trail. It’s tricky because the ground can be slippery and the bike can lose grip.
“On the pegs” means you’re standing on the bike’s footrests instead of sitting. It helps you absorb bumps and keep better control on rough dirt.
Term
getting off the front end
This means changing your body position so the front wheel isn’t taking as much weight. It can help the bike feel steadier when the ground is rough or slippery.
Four-wheel drive sends power to all four wheels, which helps the vehicle not slip as easily on dirt, rocks, or mud. The sign is basically saying only those vehicles should go there.
Ground clearance is how much space your bike/vehicle has between the bottom and the ground. Higher clearance helps you drive over rough stuff without hitting the bottom.
Concept
under-carriage scraping
Undercarriage scraping is when the bottom of the bike or vehicle hits the ground. More clearance helps you avoid that when you’re crossing rocks or deep ruts.
A wash is like a dry creek channel. Even if it looks dry, the ground can be uneven and rough, and it may be deeper or softer than the surrounding area.
Erosion is how the ground gets worn down over time. In off-road areas, that can create rough, carved-out paths that are harder to ride than a normal road.
Deep sand is loose sand that your tires can sink into. When that happens, the bike loses traction—especially in the front—so steering and balance get much harder.
Adventure riding means you’re riding farther and often on mixed surfaces, not just smooth roads. Since weather and terrain can change fast, the clothing you wear under your jacket can make a big difference.
This is a natural fiber used in some warm clothing. The idea is that it helps keep you warm and comfortable even when you’re damp from weather or sweat.
Pearly’s hugger sweater is a piece of riding clothing the host recommends for staying warm and comfortable. They’re saying it’s made to work well under a motorcycle jacket, especially when conditions are wet or change.
Moto Camp Nerd is presented as a motorcycle camping store built specifically for riders who camp with their bikes. The host contrasts it with general outdoor stores that may not choose gear with motorcycle campers’ needs in mind (like packing and bike-specific use).
Overland travel is basically traveling far away on your own, carrying what you need. On a motorcycle, that usually means bringing gear and planning for rough roads and limited services.
“Side by side” here means you can compare gear in person instead of guessing from online photos. That helps you see what actually fits and how well it’s made.
Concept
camp on site
“Camp on site” means you stay where the event is, not just visit for the day. It usually means more time with other riders and more chances to learn and talk.
It means the ground isn’t smooth—it goes up and down. When you’re on sand, that kind of uneven surface can make the tires lose grip and make the bike harder to steer.
It means moving your body so the front wheel has less weight on it. That can help the front tire stop grabbing the sand and pulling the handlebars around.
The front tire is the part that steers the bike. In sand, if it doesn’t grip well, it can pull the bike off line and make it feel like you’re fighting the steering.
The throttle is how you tell the motorcycle to give it more or less power. In sand, power changes can make the bike grip differently, which can cause the front end to wander or straighten out.
The handlebar is the part you grip to steer the motorcycle. If it gets jerked sideways during a hit, the bike can suddenly change direction and you can lose control.
A high-side is a crash where the bike suddenly grabs traction again and kicks the rider up and off the bike. It can happen fast after the tires start sliding.
“Full gear” refers to wearing protective motorcycle riding equipment from head to toe. Here it includes items like a helmet and armor (shoulder, knee, hip, and a back protector), which can reduce injury severity even if a crash happens.
An ambulance is the vehicle that brings emergency medical help. They’re saying there wasn’t one close enough to reach them quickly.
Concept
checking everything all right
After a crash, people often do a quick self-check to see if anything is seriously wrong. They look for bleeding, pain, and whether they can move normally.
Term
gravity increases as we age
They’re basically saying that as you get older, falls and impacts can hurt more and be harder to recover from. Your body doesn’t “handle” the hit the same way it used to.
If the front tire hits something like a rock, it can get pushed sideways. That sudden change can make the bike turn unexpectedly and knock the rider off.
Topic
riding loaded
“Riding loaded” means you’re carrying extra weight on the bike, like luggage or gear. That extra weight can make the bike handle and stop differently, especially if something goes wrong.
A sudden stop is when you go from moving to stopping really fast, like in a crash. Your body keeps moving for a moment, and that quick stop can cause injuries even if the fall itself doesn’t look that bad.
They’re describing which way the hill is going. When a bike falls on the downhill side, it can slide and end up in a position that’s much harder to get back upright.
They mean the bike tipped so far that the wheels weren’t touching the ground anymore. Once that happens, it’s basically impossible to control or right the bike without help.
They’re describing sand that isn’t flat—it has bumps and dips. That kind of sand can grab or shift under the tires, so the bike loses grip and gets harder to control, especially on a downhill.
They’re saying this crash wasn’t just bad luck—it’s about how you plan your ride. Good planning means picking safer routes and thinking ahead for what you’ll do if you get stuck or fall.
Concept
broke ribs
They’re saying the rider got injured badly enough to break ribs. That kind of injury makes it much harder to move, lift the bike, or get yourself out of trouble.
A tank bag is a bag that sits on top of (or right by) the gas tank. It holds gear you want to reach easily, but too much weight can make the bike handle differently.
Concept
standing to control the bike
When the road gets rough, riders sometimes stand up on the pegs instead of sitting. It helps you stay balanced and absorb the bumps better.
Term
main road
They’re talking about moving from a smaller road to a bigger, more direct road. That kind of change can make the ride easier or smoother.
Concept
critters running around
They’re worried about animals being on the road, especially as it gets dark. Hitting an animal is dangerous, and it’s harder to see them at night.
They’re talking about how being far away from towns or roads changes what happens after an accident. If you can’t call for help right away, you need a backup plan to communicate and get assistance.
Garmin inReach is a satellite texting and emergency-sos device. It works even when you can’t get cell phone signal, which can be lifesaving if something goes wrong far from help.
A satellite communicator is how you message when your phone has no cell signal. It talks to satellites, but it usually needs the phone pointed/positioned correctly to work.
When satellite messaging starts, your phone may show a screen that tells you which direction to point it. Pointing it correctly helps it connect to the satellite.
This means the part is designed to flex a bit instead of taking a hit all at once. That can help protect the bike from getting damaged if you land hard or hit something.
A “low center of gravity” means the bike’s weight is lower to the ground. That usually makes it feel more stable and easier to control, especially on rough trails.
A tour pack is a storage box/bag mounted on the back of the bike for road trips. Putting heavy items like a gas can there can make the bike feel top-heavy and harder to handle.
This means getting the motorcycle upright again after it tips or leans over. If the ground is uneven, it’s harder to balance and lift the bike back safely.
When riding in sand, the goal usually isn’t to “go faster.” Instead, you try to keep the wheels turning smoothly so the bike keeps moving without bogging down or digging in.
This means getting the tires turning fast enough to keep the bike moving through the sand. But there’s a limit—too much speed can make things worse.
Concept
hindsight is always 2020
It means you can always think of the better choice after something happens. They’re saying the sand decision felt okay at the time, but looking back they’d do it differently.
They’re talking about how the rider’s head hit the ground really hard. Even if you think your body or back would be the worst part, head impacts can be the most serious.
A neck brace is gear that helps keep your head and neck from moving too much in a crash. It can help prevent the kind of jerking that can injure your neck.
An air vest is a special motorcycle jacket/vest that inflates like a cushion when you crash. It’s meant to protect your chest and ribs and reduce how much your body gets jolted.
“Head flopping” means your head moves around in a crash instead of staying stable. Neck braces are meant to stop that kind of sudden, uncontrolled movement.
When riding in a group, you should wait your turn at obstacles. If you start before the rider ahead is fully through, you can end up crashing too—especially on hills or rough terrain.
It means you don’t ride right on the tail of the rider in front. You leave extra room so if they hit a problem, you can react without crashing into them too.
It means the tires suddenly roll onto loose sand. The bike can start sliding and feel hard to steer, so you usually need to slow down and stabilize it.
When the front tire starts sliding, the bike may try to turn on its own. “Fighting the wheel” means you’re working to keep it pointed straight while you slow down.
Momentum just means the bike is already moving, so it’s easier to keep moving in a certain way than to stop and start. The idea is to use that motion to help you, not to rely on speed.
A boxer engine is a type of engine where the cylinders move opposite each other side-to-side. On many boxer motorcycles, the cylinder heads stick out, which can make it easier to grip or maneuver the bike when you’re trying to turn it around.
A crash bar is a metal guard that helps protect the bike if it tips over. Here, it’s also being used like a grip point so you can spin the motorcycle around more safely.
A rider skills program is training that teaches you what to do when things go wrong—like how to reposition and lift your bike safely. The point here is that there’s a technique you can practice so recovery is easier.
Traction means the tire isn’t slipping on the ground. If the front wheel grips, you can turn it and use that grip to rotate the bike into the right position before you stand it up.
Adrenaline is the body’s “fight-or-flight” chemical. When it kicks in, you can feel panicked or move too fast, so it helps to pause and think before acting.
“Loaded” just means the bike has extra stuff on it, like bags or gear. When a motorcycle is heavier, it can be harder to move around and harder to deal with problems safely.
“Emergency stuff” means the gear you might need right away if something goes wrong, like first-aid or tools. The big idea is to keep it easy to grab so you’re not digging through bags.
They’re saying: ride the bike once without your heavy gear first, so you know how it handles. Then add the load and see how much it changes before you head out.
“Margin for error” means how forgiving the situation is if something doesn’t go as planned. When you’re loaded and riding rough terrain, you have less room for mistakes.
Term
700 miles
They mention “700 miles” to show how far you are from help. If something goes wrong, you can’t easily turn back or fix it quickly.
A “shake down trip” is a short, lower-risk test ride with your full setup (gear, luggage, and riding plan) before a bigger adventure. It helps reveal problems like poor packing choices, handling changes from weight, or missing gear before you’re far from help.
A “big adventure bike” is a larger motorcycle meant for both highway travel and dirt trails. Because it’s heavier than a dirt bike, you have to ride it differently off pavement.
Going faster doesn’t just make riding harder—it also makes crashes worse. If something goes wrong, you have less time to react and the impact can hurt more.
When the road gets slippery (like sand), braking can help you slow down before you lose control. The key is doing it in a controlled way so the bike doesn’t skid.
“Deep Trouble” is the show’s recurring learning segment. It takes real rider stories and turns them into tips so you can avoid similar mistakes.
LIVE
Today we have another of our Deep Trouble series. Deep Trouble is an exclusive series
found only here on Adventure Rider Radio. It's stories from riders that have experienced
catastrophes, being lost, injuries, breakdowns, or other issues that have led them into Deep
Trouble. And of course no one wants to run into trouble, but if there was no threat to
dodge, no line in the sand to skirt, no precipitous edge to approach, there would of course be
no adventure. And because adventure lives in that gray zone between safety and danger,
it's all about riding the gray zone, your gray zone, whatever that is. And our Deep Trouble
series is about helping you ride the gray zone without having to cross into danger. We do
that by hearing stories from those who've fallen into trouble, struggled, and returned
with lessons for all of us on how to avoid it, or maybe how to deal with it should you
find yourself in Deep Trouble. On this episode, a well-planned, well-equipped father and son
ride ends before it really gets going. I'm Jim Martin. This is Adventure Rider Radio.
Stay with us. We've got a good one for you.
Experience riders choose the cycle pump tire inflator made by Best Rest Products for one
reason, because they can count on it when they pull that out of their pannier, no matter what.
They're so tough, they're warrantied for life. Best Rest has loads of other motor specific
products like the Hex Wrench, which is a combination tire iron slash wrench, and they're known for
their top quality tire plugs and patch kits. More at cyclepump.com.
Adventure Riding gives it tough, reliable gear. GreenChiliADV.com.
Hi, this is Cliff Holland from Eustace, Texas, and I haul mobile homes for a living.
Cliff, welcome to Adventure Rider Radio.
Thanks for having me, Jim.
When you contacted us, you said that you really enjoyed Deep Trouble. You just didn't expect to
be one of the ones on Deep Trouble.
Yes, I loved hearing the stories, because I always thought, I wouldn't do that.
I wouldn't do that. And then after it happened and on the long ride back from it,
yeah, I had a lot of time to think about it, and I thought, this is just Deep Trouble.
Well, so to begin with, you've been riding for what, since you were a kid?
Yeah, I've had motorcycles off and on most of my life.
I see. And what kind of bikes? You don't have to name the model or anything like that,
but I mean dirt bikes, street bikes?
Mainly street bikes. When I was younger, dirt bikes, I was in the Army in Colorado Springs,
and we had great trail riding up there. And I had a Bull Taco 250 trail bike that I would
take up there in the mountains and ride, but that was a long time ago.
And now your son is into riding?
Yes. In fact, much of the chagrin of my wife, my oldest,
he went and took the motorcycle safety course. And for his college graduation present last year,
we rode out to the National Rally in Lebanon, Tennessee. That was his first ride ever.
Just you and him?
Yes, just me and him.
Wow, that's really neat, but your wife is not keen on that.
She wasn't really excited by the whole deal, but I told her I bought a motorcycle for him to ride.
And my excuse was he'll come see us and then the motorcycle will be here,
and he won't be in Dallas riding and we could teach him how to ride.
And like sort of a little bit of a carrot there for him to come and visit mom and dad.
That's what I put it out and it worked because she let me buy it.
That's good. You're good. That's really good. So talk about this trip that you have planned
with them that we're going to talk about today. What was the plan with that? And what was it?
Where were you going?
Okay, so it started off. I've always wanted to go to Big Bend driving a truck. If you go down
I-10, you see the signs for Big Bend. I've heard about Big Bend and that area, the Davis Mountains
and all that area down there. Well, BDR came out, the back road discovery routes came out with their
Big Bend series, Big Bend and Hill Country. And my son is a assistant band director in a
high school up in the Dallas area. He's super busy, never has any time off. So we really
hadn't had the opportunity to ride. So I said, hey, what do you think about doing this Big Bend
trip? And he's like, at any time I mentioned going riding, he's like, yeah, let's go. So I started
prepping bikes, buying gear, prepping bikes, because that's why we do these things. So we can buy stuff
and it's an excuse to change tires. And I mean, I prepped the bikes. I bought a different
luggage. A lot of thought went into what we were going to do. And it's also, it's 700 miles from
us to there. So the logistics of riding down there and then actually riding it and then coming back.
But that was the premise of it was we saw it on the BDR discovery route. We watched the video on
YouTube and away we went. Your son is coming to your house. He's riding your bike, the second bike
you have. Yes. Okay. And you're both we were riding 700, 700 miles of basically slab riding
to get to the BDR, the Big Bend BDR that you're going to run. So what is the plan as far as you
said, you're packing the bikes and things. Are you camping? What are you taking with you?
So the game plan was yes, to camp once we got there. We got a hotel the first night and we
were going to get a hotel one night and then possibly on the way back. The rest was all going
to be tent camping, basically living off the bikes because it's pretty remote down there.
Are you packing his camping gear as well? We carry dry bags that he's got a dry bag,
I have a dry bag and we put all our camping stuff and yet tent sleeping bag, that kind of stuff.
And then we use the panniers for personal items and stuff that we need to get to,
maintenance stuff, things like that. Okay. So for the ride out, how did your bikes feel?
You know, your son must have given you some feedback on how his bike felt and your bike.
How do you feel when you ride the slab there? Okay. So one thing about it,
because we had done the Lebanon trip last year and we actually tent camped on it,
we had already had the bikes loaded and we've experienced that before. Oh, I see. So,
so slab riding with the gear on wasn't that big of a deal other than I had added a little more
weight to mine because of the remoteness of where we were going. I bought a two gallon water,
one of those like the Overlander's shoes that the water jug and gas can that you can
affix to the sides and it locks in. Like a Rotopax or something like that. Yeah, Rotopax,
exactly. That's what I couldn't think the name of them. So I bought a 1.75 gas can and a two
gallon water jug and had those affixed to my bike. And well, that's a pretty good bit added
weight right there. And it were all kind of high because of where I had to put them on the bike
and still get all my other gear on. And how do you know how much weight there was? Did you actually
weigh it? No, and I had thought about it and I wish I would have, but I did not.
So when you arrive, what's your impression of what the trail is and how does it start?
Well, you know, just because of having YouTube and a lot of people have already done the big
bend ride, you can actually go in and see the different trails. But a lot of it is roads,
but they're like, it's too late. There's no single track that I know of. But the roads are like,
some of them are designated Jeep only, high clearance, four wheel drive only. And, and they
go down from there to just regular gravel rock roads that aren't that intense. So when you look
at the BDR route, our plan was to get down because you can't reserve primitive camping ahead of time.
You have to actually go to the ranger station, check in, and then you can reserve
your spots on your primitive camping. So we left out Saturday morning, spent the night in,
in a hotel and arrived at a big bend Sunday, probably around noon.
Hmm. You have a, you have a destination then at that point, because if you picked all your
camping spots, you know, you have to cover a certain distance. How did you figure out how
much distance you're going to cover when you're planning that? Well, we were just guessing.
So we, like the first night we were going to be on wagon wheel road. And I'd already talked to a
guy that had drove his pickup down it and he said it wasn't that bad. So that was going to be our
first night. And really what we were going to do is camp, go explore, ride that road.
And then the next night we were going to be on river road, which is a big long loop that goes
along the real grand between Texas and Mexico. One night there on the south end of it in another
night on the North end. And then the game plan was to go up to the state park on our last night.
Do you find that because it's a BDR, because you'd, like you said, so many people have written
it before you, there's so much information out there. Do you find yourself researching it much
more than you would have like say many years ago when you're going to do something, you find
yourself getting much more details about the ride that you're going to do? Well, I'll be honest,
Jim, I'm not big on details. I'm more of a, hey, let's throw it on their wing it and we're just
going to figure it out as we go. And the BDR route is set up on camping at these certain spots and
you have to have reservations months in advance. The only thing we use the BDR for was we had a map
and we had a general idea of places we could ride. Everything else was, me and my son talked about it
because we had comms going down and we're like, yeah, we'll just wing it when we get there.
We'll figure it out. Well, that's adventure, isn't it really? You know, I remember you told me or
told me you told everybody on the show that adventure has to have a sense of danger involved
with it and a sense of spontaneity. I mean, it should be in order to be a true adventure.
So when we left the house, we knew where we were going, big bend, but big bend is massive.
And we figured that once we got down there, we would figure out where we were going to stay
in everything else. Well, just to be clear, that danger thing, I mean, you know, that has to be
weighed up for everybody, of course, you know, maybe a danger could be the danger of getting
your good boots wet. I don't know. But I mean, people have to figure that out for themselves.
They just want to make that little disclaimer there, Cliff, since you said that.
Yes. I felt like I was put on the spot. But okay, so let's dig in here. So this is your first day,
you get out there, you're on the BDR. What does the ride start out like? Is there anything that is
abnormal? Okay, well, we, so we go to the ranger station, we get our primitive camping
slots. And the first one is back on the north side of a big bend. And on the way down to the
ranger station, we had seen several roads that took off to the east. And they were gravel,
you know, just gravel roads that had different signs on them. And me and my son had talked
about it on the cons. We're like, why don't we get checked in, get everything, and we'll go do
some explorers on those roads on our way back up to the main road we were going to be on for our
camp site. Because it was early enough in the day, we didn't really want to just go to the
desert and start camping. It was pretty warm. And we were itching to ride to get out and experience
it, right? Right, you just rode 700 miles to get there. But you're talking ride like you want to
get the dirt. Yeah, we want to get dirty. I want to kick it. I had changed the tires on the bike,
enduro trails on the back, kind of big blocks on the front on both bikes. So I had set the bike
for that kind of riding. I mean, that's what we were going to do. What bikes are these that you're
riding? Mine is an 09 R 1200 GS. And my son's is a 650 GS, an 09 also. Okay, with some fairly weighty
bikes. Yes, right. Yes, 550 on mine, empty. And his was right at 400 pounds empty.
Talk about riding this first road. Okay, soon as we turn off the track, and we get in its gravel,
rock, some loose sand, loose, you know, loose dirt, and, and it's going up and down and underlates and
and we couple of little stream crossings. And it was like, man, we are doing it. I told my son,
I said, this is it. This is what I came for. I'm up on the pegs, you know, and it just felt great.
It really did. My son had backed off from the dirt and the dust that was flying. And we're riding
along 25 30 miles an hour. And then we saw a minivan coming at us. And I told my son, I said,
I guess we're really not that adventurous yet. That's always because you just described,
you were feeling so good. It was hilarious. So we're riding along the other minivan,
but there's other vehicles out there. And we'd come across some overlanders that had
broke a tire. So, so no, it was great. I mean, it felt great. And I was talking to my son about
it. And he was feeling good with it because he's he hasn't ridden a lot off road, like none. The
most we had done is up in Arkansas. Last year, we had ridden on some logging trails look going
out to a state park. And that had been it. And the game plan beforehand was we were going to get
together and do some local rides with the tires and all just to make sure everything was good.
But with his schedule in mind, it never worked out. So how do you what did you think of your
son's riding skills in the dirt? Did you feel like you had to be careful with them? You had to
watch what he was doing, give advice? See, and that's where I felt I was more worried about him
than I was me. I felt pretty confident in my own abilities. Yeah. I was worried about him because
have not having done it. But he I told him, I said, you're just my son. I said, you took
it like a duck to water. He has natural abilities. And we had talked about getting up on the pegs,
getting off the front end, if it got loose and just just going with the bike. And he does great.
I mean, he actually rides very well for somebody that hasn't ridden a whole lot.
So you're not stressed about him being behind you. You're not worried about that. You're just
enjoying the ride. Oh, no, I'm constantly checking mirrors and making sure especially if we like
we'd go through some of these crossings. And it was pretty rocky and big rocks. And you know,
just having the not technical, but it was still challenging a little describe that. What's that
like? Okay. So when I would go through and the first one I hit with my bike, I was nervous about
it because I was like, Oh, here we are. And and that was what I was most nervous about was falling
on the rocks because rocks don't give very much when you hit them. So and and the bike, I mean,
the bikes handle, I mean, the bikes will ride themselves. So they handled it great. But then
I'm looking back, trying to watch him go through making sure he's all right. And oh, he just plowed
through it. And I was like, Oh, okay. So the further along we got, because we were probably
that's six miles down this road. So we were on it a while. And we had been riding a while we stopped
and we're talking about different things and the how the bikes were feeling. Oh, and everything was
feeling good. I mean, it was all good. So what happens next? Well, we get to an area, a parking
area, and there's a trail off of it. So there's a lot of cars there. And past this parking area,
there's a big sign. And it says, let's see, high ground clearance, four wheel drive vehicles only
enter at your own risk. Four wheel. So it's saying high ground clearance, not just four wheel drive,
high ground clearance. Right. So they give you some indication there's big rocks or ruts or
something like that. It's it's probably pretty gnarly. We're thinking and you just said the
word that was popping in my brain gnarly is what we were looking at. We just looked at each other
and went, that's what we're here for. So the sign that was a warning was actually your sign. It was
an attraction for you. He said, Oh, there it is. That's where after and here we go. Yeah. And really
when we got to that parking area, before we saw the sign and I was because we were so far down
this road already six miles down and I thought, maybe this is a good spot. Just turn around and
go back and we'll go to camp and get set up and then we'll be ready for, you know, go riding tomorrow.
But then we didn't make it to the end of the road. And, you know, I always want to see the end of the
road. That must be a natural thing for all of us riders. There's a lure, even though it's a road
and tons of people have been down it already, but you feel like you're discovering something
because you are, you're discovering it for yourself. Right. And there was, I forget it's
enchanted mine or something at the end of this road. And I wanted to find out what was at the end
of it. So this parking area was up on top of a little higher elevation. And then it dropped down
to where the sign was down into a wash in the bottom and back up. And it looked pretty much
the same as the stuff we'd been riding on. So me and my son talked about it a minute. We're like,
Hey, yeah, let's go. Let's go find the end of the road. So how wide is this thing that you're
wide enough for a, maybe a truck and a half. I mean, you couldn't pass another vehicle on it,
but it's, it's pretty wide. I mean, the road is the erosion, the eroded area you're going to ride
through though. Like what sort of distance are you, are you covering before you come back up out of
it? Oh, it's not that deep. I mean, it's not that far. We're only talking about from where we were
to the bottom of it, maybe 30, 40 yards, and then it's back up. And then we can't see over the top
of that because it disappears over the next little hill. But this is desert area with a lot
of rock and scrub trees. It's a, you know, you can see for miles and miles. Right. And the dip
though is, is it like an area that washes out when you get rain or something? Well, I didn't
realize it at the time, but yes, that's exactly what it was. And you know, you think of, well,
how does it get there? Right? You see a groove in the ground and quite often, yeah, it's water.
The problem was, and I had thought about this before we ever took off,
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depression to watch for sand, because we're to sand gather in the bottom of them. And well,
we take off down this and it had to have been further than that because I was already up to
25 miles an hour. But soon as I get to the bottom and I feel the front end start to go, I realized
that this is sand and not just sand, it's deep sand. And that's where the deep treble started.
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How fast were you going when you hit the sand? 25. Your son's behind you? Yes, he's a good
ways behind me because we had spaced out for, because he couldn't see with the, it's real dry
down there, real dusty. And he was far enough back that, and there was a truck actually behind him
that had pulled in behind him that I didn't know about until afterwards. So they're up on top and
watching me go down basically. He hadn't taken, and then when I took off, he took off. So he was
coming down the hill and he was coming down at a pretty good clip too, because we were, we were
looking to go have some more adventure. So you're coming down the hill. So you're almost hitting
the sand as soon as you start to, as soon as it starts to flatten out then. Right. And, and it
wasn't just flat on the bottom. And that's, that's where the trouble started. It undulated. So there
was a shelf and then it dropped. And then there was another shelf and then it dropped. And that
was all sand. And it was like where the water maybe had pushed the sand up. So it wasn't flat
across the bottom. And I want to say it was probably 15, 20 yards across the bottom that was
sand. So what did that feel like when you started to get into it? Oh, as soon as the front tire,
I knew exactly what had happened. And I was already up on the pegs. And I went to get back to get the
weight off the front end, because if the bars were trying to turn on me, but my butt hit the dry bag,
and I couldn't get the weight off the front. So I just nailed the throttle to try to get the front
end up. Because the only thing I'm thinking is I got to get the front end up so I don't lose it.
That worked once. And then it did it again. I nailed it again. So hang on, it worked once. You,
you regained control of the motorcycle and then kept going. Right. It, it tried to turn. I throttled
it, got back off the front. It went straight. We were going. It tried to turn again. I throttled
again. And I hadn't let all the way out. I had just, you know, backed off to keep my momentum.
Yeah. And are you thinking, does it feel like you're, you're controlling it? Or does it feel like
you're sort of over your head? Maybe. Oh, I'm on the edge of my seat up. This is the edge of what
I can handle right now. Because it was, because I have ridden in sand before, but never this loaded
and never at this angle. Cause normally when you hit the sand, you're going flat. And so you can,
you can pop the, you know, throttle, get the weight off the front end and let it dance. But I
couldn't. The bike's going down. I can't get off the front end because of the gear on the back.
So throttle once starts to straighten out. It starts to go again. I throttle again. And even
my son told me, he said, I thought you had it. I thought you had made it because you got the
bike straight again. And then there's a stone probably the size of a dinner plate that's sitting
at a angle to the front tire. If you're looking at the stone, it would be off to the right and
coming towards you. And I never saw it. And when, when I straightened it out, the tire hit that stone
and it immediately just turn left turn and it was over. I knew you were down that fast. Yeah. Oh,
that, I mean, it was as soon as, as I throttled, got it straight, the, the tire hit that stone
because of the angle it was, it turned the handlebar, it whipped the handlebars to the
left. And next thing I know, I'm, yeah, I'm smacking the ground on the right. You're high
side, but because of the angle, the, the wash goes right to left and I go down the left side.
So it's actually catapulting me off the bike into the ground because of the angle and the way the
bike landed. The bike, when it landed was sitting at an angle with the tires up in the air. But it
threw me clear of the bike. But the thing I remember most was it was so fast that I didn't even
have time to react. And I remember hitting my head. That was the thing that amazed me the most was
how hard my head. Yeah. Well, talk about that. Talk about the, the, when it goes down, what,
what you remember from the moment it hits to you stopping. So I, I mean, I can remember try to save,
try to save, and then yanking the handlebar out of my hand. And next thing I know, it's like I never
even had a chance to even look. I mean, it was just, it happened so fast. So I'm going off the bike
and my head hits first and we have full gear on, you know, I mean, adventure clothing with the
shoulder pads, knee pads, hip pads, gloves, I've got a good helmet on. So we have all the gear
necessary. I think, you know, back protector, I landed the one spot between my, if you were to
just put your elbow at your side, right behind your elbow, I landed on that back part of my ribs
on the back of my shoulder and my head. That's what all impacted the ground
and then everything else. So as soon as I hit it, immediately knocked the wind out of me
and I knew I was in trouble. I mean, I felt it and then instantly knocked the wind out,
but I knew I had pain that wasn't supposed to be there in your ribs. Yeah. In my ribs,
in the front and back. So on your breastplate and in the back. And so I'm laying there and
immediately these, the guys in the truck and the guy was on the trail, they all came running down
there because they had turned to watch us go through there. So they all got to see me crash.
So my son's coming down behind me. He sees what's happening. He's trying to get on the brakes. He
ended up with his bike on top of my bike, but it was a slow motion deal because when he hit the
sand, he started to lose it and he said, I didn't want to end up on you. So he just kind of laid
it, it just laid down. He didn't get hurt, didn't hurt the bikes, but when I'm finally getting up,
I see his bike laying on top of mine and I thought, what has just happened? So the guys are, so the
guys come to me and I'm on the ground and they're like, and my son's like, are you okay? I said,
I don't know. Give me a minute because I'm trying to do a checklist in my brain. Am I okay?
So I just, I'm finally starting to get a little breath, but every time I try to breathe in deep,
it's like somebody sticking the ice pick in my back and in my chest, the front. So I was,
I told him, I said, just give me a minute. I said, just get my helmet off. So he gets my helmet off
and my son looks at me. He was 22, he just turned 23 and he said, do I need to call an ambulance?
And that was the moment of clarity. I said, son, there's no ambulance coming to get us out here.
We're a hundred miles from the nearest hospital. And so I said, just get my helmet off and give
me a minute. And I, but I couldn't roll over on my back room because I was on my side. And I said,
try to help me get up. I got to get off my side because it was really starting to hurt then.
And they grabbed me by the right arm and got me up. That's when I started assessing everything,
not bleeding anywhere. No, nothing like that. No pain in my lower extremities. I can move
my hands, fingers. I mean, I've done all that, just checking, make sure everything all right.
Back when I was young, I wrote, I did rodeo. So I've bruised ribs and fractured kneecaps,
separated shoulders and all that. So I've, I've hit the ground hard before, but man,
never like that. And I've been thrown off bulls and stomped on. I don't remember hitting the,
it may be cause now I'm 57. I was just thinking, as you're saying it, I'm thinking, I know exactly
what it is. There's probably like a 30 year difference there and that will make all the
difference. Gravity increases as we age. That's, that's a, what? Yeah, I don't bounce. That's for
sure. Exactly. You're more like thud to a dull stuff, right? Oh my goodness. And that's exactly
what it was. What did you land in? Did you land in sand and sand? That was, that was the other part
was considering where I landed, but it just, my body had turned just right at just the right angle.
If it would have rotated a little bit more, I'd have been on my back pad a little bit to the front,
you know, the elbow and the, uh, and the padding there would have, I thought maybe protected me.
I don't know though, with ribs, they compressed and that's where they break, right? But, uh,
so I'm laying there and, uh, and I finally am able to get up. It took a minute because it just,
it hurt. So I got up and stood up and, uh, my sons, they're all just looking at me and
I'm bewildered. I'm like, I don't know what just happened. So my son said, and the guy that was
with him, that was behind him in the truck, he said, we thought you had it. We thought you saved
it. And I said, I thought I did too. And that's when, uh, I walked over to where the bike was
and, uh, and I saw the stone. I didn't see it till after the fact and I saw where it had turned it.
You could see where the, uh, the front wheel had hit that stone and turned it.
And yeah, that was all she wrote.
How fast do you think you were going when you hit that stone?
You know, I, I know I was doing 25 at the bottom of the wash.
Well, let's just say, did it feel fast or slow?
No, it felt fast because I kept getting on the throttle, right?
Trying to save the bike, you know, if I would have,
hindsight being what it was, if maybe if I would have just slowed down,
but I knew if I did that though, that the bike was just going down.
So I kept trying to say the only thing I could think of to save it
was to keep getting on the throttle, getting the speed back up.
But I know it was fast enough to break ribs.
Well, as they say, it's not the fall. It's that sudden stop that is the problem.
Yes, definitely.
So okay, now you're assessing yourself.
Do you know at this point there or have a strong suspicion that you've broken ribs?
I have a very strong suspicion that I have broken ribs.
In fact, I could, I could tell you, I told my son, I said, yeah,
I'm pretty sure I got broke ribs.
And that's when he's like, what are we going to do?
Yeah. So what does that mean for the trip then?
Yeah, exactly. Right. This is the first day.
What did it mean for you though?
I mean, when you're, when you're standing there, what do you think?
Heart broke. Heart broke.
I was like, all this, because I have been looking forward to this trip for months,
you know, all the planning, all the, just buying and working on the bikes,
getting everything ready to go and just, just me and my son, no cell phones,
no service down there, just being able to enjoy doing what we love,
riding and enjoying each other's company.
And all I could think about was, man, I have missed this all up.
So it was, it was pretty, it was pretty tough.
I mean, I was emotional right then, just thinking that, yeah,
I don't see how this is going to work.
And then, you know, and then, then you're swept back to reality like, okay,
what are we going to do? Because here's my bikes.
I got two bikes laying on their sides, one on top of the other.
Thankfully, people were there because there was no way I was lifting that bike up.
They got Nate's bike off.
And it took, it took four of them to get mine back up just because of the angle it was.
Really?
Yeah. Well, if you, if you think of a slope that goes right to left in the handlebars,
the bikes down on the downhill side. So I'm telling you, the tires were up in the air.
Right. The handlebar was, was down. You're basically upside down on the hill is what you are.
Yes, that's what it was. Your wheels were pointing upward, right.
Right. And that's the other thing was instead of being a straight slope down,
it started veering off to the left, uh, falling right to left as we went down into the wash and
then hit the sand. So it wasn't just a flat, straight crossing. You know, I think I could
have handled that. It was the, the right to left with undulating sand that was really deep.
I know. Cause I had to ride back through it.
Yeah. It doesn't sound like a good place to crash. Why did you choose to crash there?
I mean, why not pick a better spot?
That's part of planning process.
But, you know, then I'm, then I'm thinking, okay, we crashed on a trail with lots of people around
us on a lot of these trails or these roads out there that aren't accessible, but by very few
people, we could have been a five miles down river road with nobody around for miles and this
could have happened. And it really, the enormity of the situation hit me that night when I was
thinking about those things, that you didn't think this out very thoroughly when you thought
about your adventure, other than it's better to be with somebody though. Cause if you have that
happened by yourself and I know that's happened on other, your deep trouble adventures that
you're really in a pickle. I mean, you've got a problem. You got broke ribs and you can't lift
your bike. Yeah. Just talk about getting the bike out though to begin with. So these guys got the
bike back up on its wheels, turned around, but you just mentioned something about you had to ride it
out. Okay. Well, they got the bike back up on its wheels, but the bike's facing the wrong direction
and there's not enough room down in this wash to turn it around. So we have to ride the bike
out of the wash on the other side, turn it around in the road and then come back through the very
wash I just crashed in. And I'm not comfortable with my son trying to handle my bike through that
wash. So after I had walked around a minute, I was like, okay, I said, I can ride. I mean,
I can move my arms. I can handle riding. I just, I got to have help getting on the bike. So once
I can get my leg up and over the seat, cause you know, you look like a taco on these GS's when you
load them down, cause you got the tank bag in the front, you got all your gear in the back and you
have this little taco space for you to sit in. So you're the inside of the taco. So I read
my leg over, get it over, get back on the bike, I get up and I get turned around and I'm like,
okay, how am I going to do this better than I did last time? And I picked a better line
and I'm going through the sand and I was just about getting out of it. And to be honest, I just,
the bike started to go and really if I would have throttled, I could have got out of it fine.
And I just kind of went to the side and let the bike slowly go over into a bush and I was like,
I'm done. It was slow motion. I got it through the wash and then my son jumped on it and wrote
it to the top of the hill. And so then he comes through, he has to get his bike through the wash
and he was coming through and he had almost made it and he went down, but he was going slow. So I
mean, it was really like a slow motion. He goes down, he gets it back up and takes off, he gets to
the top. So now we get to the top and the guys in the truck are like, Hey, we can take you to the
hospital. And I mean, these guys were such a blessing. Can you imagine that you're 100 miles
out in the middle of nowhere. And this guy's willing to wreck his vacation and take me to the
hospital. Yeah, that's pretty, pretty incredible. Yeah. And I was like, you know what, I said,
no, I said, I'm good. I said, I can ride out of here. I said, I'm going to, and my son looks at
me and he goes, are you serious? And I said, yeah, this only choice. It's only option we have. I said,
I can't leave the bikes here. I said, any way I go, it's going to hurt. I might as well just ride.
So we jump on. Actually, we sat there for about an hour. I took four ibuprofen. I'd bought,
I'd brought ibuprofen with me. And the guy had given me a coke. I drank it, had some ibuprofen.
And once the ibuprofen started to kick in, I said, let's go. I said, we can go up to a tear
lingua, which is the closest gas station. And it's probably 20 miles away, six miles down the road.
I've had 25 miles up to tear lingua, which is the closest place that is actually civilization.
I said, let's get to there. And then we're going to make a plan. He said, okay.
So he helps me get back on the bike. And that was, that was the longest six miles I've ever been
down. I'll tell you, because that road is fun as it was coming in. It was not so much fun going out.
Every little bump and dip that you went into that was fun going in becomes
a source of pain on the way back out. Yes. And you know, I'm trying to stand because to control
the bike going through these, uh, but standing hurts, uh, sitting's not bad, but you know,
you do what you have to do. And so I made my way through, then we get to the main road and then
out to, uh, to tear lingua to get gas. So I tell my son, I said, look, it's 80 miles to Alpine.
I said, uh, you know, it's 5 30. I said, if we're going to have to go, because I don't want to be
out here in dark, cause a lot of, a lot of critters running around. I mean, uh, and didn't want to have
anything else, uh, happen. And we tried to find lodging around there, but there was nothing
available at spring break week. So everything was booked up. I found one room in Alpine,
which is where the hospital was. And I said, let's just go there. And I said, uh, and then we'll,
we'll see about going to the hospital in the morning. Let me just reassess. Let's just make it
there. So that's what we did. We, uh, we rode a hundred miles and, uh, yeah.
And then in the morning you went to the hospital.
Well, I have a little funny story on that. My son, we're late. I'm trying to lay down.
And I don't know if you, have you ever broke ribs, Jim?
No, I haven't, but I bruised ribs just last fall. And I realized like, if that's bruising,
breaking, it's gotta be better. I don't know. I've had bruised ribs and they say bruised ribs
hurt as bad as a broke ribs. So you probably have experienced it, but if you, you can't lay down,
you can't sit up. I mean, everything hurts. So I'm laying, yeah, everything hurts. So I'm just
laying in bed and, uh, at 3 30 in the morning, I had been dozing off and on and I needed to go
to the restroom. Well, I can't get up for an hour. I tried to get up. I tried to ever,
it was like a turtle on his back. And I finally, I say, Nate, as soon as I said my son's name,
he jumps up and he said, what? And he hadn't slept. He said, all I've done is listen to you
groan all night. So he heads me up and I said, Hey, we're going to have to go to the hospital.
I said, I'm, I said, it's, this is for real. I just want to make sure, I know with broke ribs,
they can't do anything. I want to take a chance on a puncture lung or something like that,
that, that could happen. So he helps me get up and he packs the bikes and everything because
we can't stay in the hotel. We can only have it for one night. So we had to load everything.
He loaded everything on the bike. Cause it's like a four mile ride over to the hospital. And
yeah, that's what they say that, uh, your ribs are broke.
Well, let's go back as we do with deep trouble and look at this and see what lessons that we
can learn, all learn from your tragedy. So the bikes, the thing, first thing that I want to check,
cause you did mention one point you said about, if you were in a more remote place,
it would have been a completely different story, which is understandable from everything you've
described. As far as the gear that you carry with you, what would you've been able to do
if you were in a more of a remote place? Would you have a way to contact people?
Okay. So we talked about that and I looked into the Garmin in reach before we left,
because of your deep trouble series. I mean, Hey, Jim, this is your deep trouble series,
a real eye opener for people that want to do these kinds of things. And, uh, just from
listening to those, I knew that we had to have some way to communicate with the outside world
because some of the remote locations we are going to be in. And after reading reviews on Garmin
in reach and the different ones out there, we both carry, uh, new iPhones that have the, uh,
satellite. And, and I talked to my son and we both knew how to operate the satellite system
on the iPhone, where if we had trouble, we could text. So our game plan was if we had trouble out
there, whichever one was down, the other one was going to get on their phone and text.
Okay. So you've got two iPhones that you're counting on the, the satellite communicator
to work. And have you tried that? Yes, we had actually.
Okay. And what, so what does that do? Can you just send normal text through satellite to anyone
you want? Or is it only through emergency services? No, actually you can text anyone.
Oh, and you're sure it goes through satellite at that point?
Yes. Yeah. Because we've been in a remote location where you saw the, uh, in the satellite image
pops up on the phone and you have, and it tells you the direction you have to point the phone
in order to be able to get service. Oh, I see. And was it fairly reliable for you when you tried
that? It was where we were, but it wasn't under a stressful situation either. Well, that's always
the case, isn't it? Okay. So you've got some comms there. I'm assuming because you were camping,
you've, you've got food, you've got water with you, water in particular, although you did mention
somebody gave you a Coke. Is that because you didn't have water or just because they had the Coke?
They had the Coke and it was something caffeine, something to get me. I mean, we had, uh,
the two gallons of water in the Rotex can, 1.7 gallons of gas in the Rotex can,
and then I had more water in bags and so did Nate. We were wearing, uh, hydration packs
that had water in them. We're going to take just a quick break here, but stick around.
When we come back, we're going to walk back through this and see what lessons can be learned
piece by piece. Stay with us.
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So you did mention about right from the very start, you said about how much weight you were
carrying. You felt that that was a contributing factor. Where do you think you were overweight?
All of the above? I think for the riding that we were planning on doing, you know,
we had to pack enough stuff for a week because the idea was that we were going to be out here
for a week or five days. But all the food I had was dried food bag, but and it didn't weigh much,
coffee and all the other kind of things you carry with you, utensils, clothing.
I think more so the problem was where the weight, you know, the GS is a really a low center
gravity bike. That's why they handle so well off road. But where I had to put the gas can,
I mounted it on the tour pack and then the water can I made on flat on one of the panniers
and opposite side of each other, but that weight was still up. And it was a lot of weight. I mean,
when I stood the bike up, if I was on uneven ground, it was, it was a lift to get it back up to a
neutral position. So I was overloaded, just overloaded. You rode into the sand there.
You had trouble in the sand and then you said that you, you had sped up each time you give it
more throttle to try and pull yourself out. And when you went down, you, you thought you were,
you were going at speed. And, and the one thing I, it makes me think of like what sand instruction
is what they say about sand instruction is that we're, we're not supposed to be trying to gain
speed. We're supposed to be trying to spin the wheel up, you know, to, to keep ourselves moving.
But one of the dangers is we end up getting too much speed and it just makes me wonder if that
wasn't one of those times it's almost sounds like it. We know where you keep giving more throttle
to, to regain yourself and then end up going too fast. And when you go fast, of course,
you know, everything goes wrong so quickly. Yes, I would agree with that. I would, you know,
of course, if you had it to do over again, you know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have hit the sand
that fast. Well, exactly. I mean, hindsight is always 2020, right? I mean, that's the thing
you can look back and say, and this, and by the way, this is the type of thing that we've all done
before and came out of it okay. And you get away with it, you know, you get away these, oh, I made
it through that sort of thing. But had there been a rock for the, for the next person, you know,
it ends up being a different story. These, these sorts of things really change the outcome and
it's nothing that we can control. I'm wondering about when you said you went down, you said you
hit your head, you hit your head hard. Yeah, that was the part and it was right like above my ear,
toward the back a little bit. That's, that's the angle I was at that hit the, the side towards
the back of my head and my back. And that was the other strange part about it the way I went down.
But yeah, it, it hit the ground hard and that's, that joke was the man that was that hurt.
It's surprising, isn't it? Yeah, it really was. That's the part that shocked me the most was how
hard my head hit, not my back that knocked the wind out of me. It was my head. That's interesting
because our head is quite a weight. I mean, what is it 12 or 14 pounds or something like that and
more with our helmet on, it's quite a weight. And I found the same thing before that I'm,
I'm a little surprised at how unwieldy my head becomes, you know, when I go down on the ground.
And of course, this is the reason for air vests, right? And neck braces, which I'm assuming you
had neither. Neither. And you know, I've, I had thought about, I had looked into air vests before
we left on the trip and just didn't pull the trigger on it. And, and I had talked to some people
thinking that wonder if the air vest would have protected my ribs where we could have continued
on. And that would have been a lesson learned. Hey, maybe. Yeah. That's a thought, you know,
I don't know. I guess it would depend on how you land, but it's a good possibility, the air vest,
for sure. Um, the, the neck braces designed specifically for the reason of our head flopping
around. I know when we had Dr. Lee, it on here talking about the, the, what happens to the head,
your head will actually go down where your, your chin drives into your chest.
Our heads actually flop around incredibly when we go down to any sort of speed. It's,
it's quite a danger. And then like you, I've been surprised by how hard my head is sort of
flopped the ground. I thought, geez, I thought I would have a little bit more control than that,
but, but you just end up going down like a, like a rag doll sort of thing, flopping down hard on
the ground. Um, the thing that happened next was your son came down after, was coming down after
you as you were riding along and went down on your bike. And this is something you would see a lot
when you ride with groups is someone not waiting for another person to clear an obstacle before
they actually start to go at the obstacle. So you see this all the time. If it's a hill climb
that's tough, somebody will go up, they'll have a problem part way up. And next thing, you know,
one after another, like dominoes, the bikes keep coming up and crashing, coming up and crashing
because no one has waited long enough. And it's something I think is really important that we
should all need to remember is that we want to wait till the person in front of you clears the
obstacle. You know, they're done, right? They're, they're out of the way before you go into it,
because it takes, I mean, this turned out fine. The bike fell on the other bike. Okay, no big deal,
but it could have made things much worse and certainly would be compounded if you had a
bunch of people doing the same thing. Right. Oh, yes, definitely. And that's why,
yes, keeping the gap, keeping a distance that you can see. And also, yeah, I think that would
have helped a lot. If he, if he would have just waited for me to come up the other side, but
you know, six miles down this road, we hadn't hit sand. I don't think we were expecting that.
You know, we, we had kept just enough distance between us that he could see and not eat a lot
of dirt. So, but yeah, definitely. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, it
wasn't, we didn't look at that wash as a challenge. We just looked at it as that's part of the road
we've been doing and we're just going to fly right through it. And that's the thing that,
that struck me the most. There are real technical sections down there. And they're all marked on
the maps, you know, where this is where you're, this was not a real technical section. And that's
where it gets you though. And that's where the surprise was that, man, you didn't even make it
to the good stuff. Yeah. But, but if, if, if what hadn't been for speed, the bike would have went
over and this would not been a non-incident, you know, we wouldn't be talking right now.
You know, if they were going slower and the bike had fallen over, you know, you would have come off
ostensibly and then you would have got up and wrestled the bike up and tried to ride it out of it.
Oh, definitely. And that's the thing, speed kills. That's what they always say, right?
And because coming back through the wash, yeah, if I would have done it at that speed,
the bike would have fallen over and I mean, I've dropped my bike, everybody does.
If you ride them off road, you're going to drop them. Speed is what did it. And
you know what? I got a little confident, little cocky and I thought, oh, we got this and boom,
way we go. And yeah, hindsight being was the first time I hit the sand, what I probably
should have done is just got completely out of it, fought the wheel and let it get slow and then
assessed. But I don't know why that it just hit me. The soon as that tire started to go,
all I could think of was getting the weight off the front end and getting it straightened out.
Well, there is that saying, you know, when in doubt, gas it out. And that, you know,
there's certainly solid thought process with that saying, but it doesn't necessarily mean
speed. And this is one thing like momentum is something like momentum. You definitely want
to use momentum. You want to treat that as your friend. But speed is often the thing that makes
it a problem for us. The next thing that sort of jumped out at me was the bike was upside down
on the hill, tires facing uphill. And you had to get these four guys to lift the bike up.
One quick way is to turn the bike around on the ground before you try and pick it up,
if possible, with the boxer engines, of course, with the cylinders sticking out,
it makes it easier. If you've got a crash bar, you can literally spin the bike around,
then you're picking it up in the right direction. In your case, it would have been the right
direction and it would have been lifting it downhill rather than uphill. That's an easy
maneuver that Clinton Smout has walked through on a rider skills program before.
Wow, I didn't even, I didn't hear that series. Why didn't I hear that show?
It's an easy maneuver to do. You just turn the bike around. Basically,
you just grab in the front wheel. Clinton will say if the front wheel has traction,
use the front wheel to walk itself around. In other words, turn the front wheels if you're
driving that front wheel around to drag the motorcycle around in a circle and get yourself
in the best possible position. And so you have the best leverage. And in your case,
you would have been facing in the right direction and then you stand the bike up.
And that would have been much easier. Wow. From there, when you stood the bike up,
you wrote it out, you said you had to turn it around. So you wrote it out and you had to ride
it back. Taking the weight off your bike at that point probably would have really helped things,
especially with you having broken ribs. So, you know, if you take your panniers off,
take all the bags off, put them all aside. You had people there to help carry them out,
rather than putting yourself at risk for another injury, which could be worse the next time.
Now that wasn't the brightest of ideas. I'll be honest. I wasn't thinking real clearly. Remember,
I hit my head hard. Well, and it happens when adrenaline starts pumping, doesn't it? You know,
that's one of the things with all of us, when we have something go wrong, it's very easy to get
caught up. And it's almost inevitable that you get caught up in the moment. I got to solve this.
I got to get out of this right now. And you tend to do things quickly when really what we should
be doing is we should be stopping and saying, okay, you know, let's really take this all in. I know
you did say you spent a few minutes stopped and thinking, but time enough to let that adrenaline
run down. And so we can really assess things, say, what's the wisest thing? What are the
different options that we could do here? And, you know, and do that rather than risking something
else happening to ride the bike loaded, you know, is a lot more work than to ride it with no load
and have everyone just to hump the gear over. Yeah, that would have been a, well, two things you
said there was turn the bike around. And then it would have been facing back the way we needed
to go without having to go to the top turnaround and then go back through the wash. And actually,
it would have made you could have unloaded the bike there with us on its side. Yeah, definitely
before you made it a lot easier before you picked it up. I mean, you can get half of it off.
That's what I was going to say. Even if you couldn't get it all off, anything you remove
just makes a tremendous difference. Right. And you know, I just, we weren't,
the only thing I was thinking of was, okay, I got to get out of here. You know, we,
we have to get back to where help is. So yeah, that was a, that was the main thought in my head.
And I wasn't, yeah, I wasn't thinking that clearly. And that makes all the sense in the world to have
unloaded the bikes. Yeah, there was four guys standing around wanting to help. Yeah, exactly.
So you had your helpers right there. You did say you hit your head hard. That's always a scary
thing. I mean, any sort of get off like this is very scary because we don't know what injuries we
have. I just wanted to point out that when you were talking about, you know, when you went down,
you're trying to assess yourself, you had them help you take your helmet off,
which we understand the risks about this. And we've covered a lot of this in some previous
episodes of deep trouble about the medical aspects and some other episodes that we've done. So I won't
dig too far into that. But one thing about assessing yourself for injuries, for bleeding,
et cetera, you kind of have to get the jacket open. You have to get under the clothes and look.
It's one of the things that they teach you in first aid to use your hands and keep checking
your hands for wetness, looking at your hands to see if there's blood on them, to see if there's
any sort of injuries that you don't know of, because these types of things can mask a lot.
When you go down, you hurt yourself. You may feel one thing that's masking something else
that could even be more severe. But it does sound like you had a good handle on that,
but it's just a reminder for us. Yeah. And that's one thing I didn't do.
My son didn't do either. One was I didn't check, I didn't open the jacket up. I didn't check myself.
I just felt like, I mean, I did the, you know, the run through in your head, legs work, yeah,
hands work, everything seems to be working. I don't have any pain when I do this or that.
But yeah, the whole bleeding issue, it could have been a compound fracture
in my jacket where that rib was and it could have been bleeding right then. We did carry a,
I had bought a combat medic first aid kit that you can attach to the outside of your bike.
So you just rip it and it's got sutures. I mean, it's got everything in it.
And I had bought that specifically for this trip and told my son where it was,
just in case something happened that we had to have first aid, emergency first aid.
So I felt like I'd covered all the bases on getting ready for the trip.
You just mentioned about the first aid kits that you got and one thing you just said in there,
I think is so key. You said you told your son where it is. That is so important, isn't it?
You know, it's one thing to have this emergency stuff that we have on us,
but rarely do we think that we're going to be the victim in it. And if you are the victim,
will you be able to be conscious? First of all, will you be conscious enough to tell somebody
where it is, et cetera, et cetera, telling your riding partners where your emergency stuff is,
I think is just so important. And also having an accessible, I had,
I made sure I bought one I could attach to the outside, not having it on the inside of luggage,
but it was attached to the outside of the pannier. I mean, right there, you walk by,
you see the big red cross on it. You knew what that was. You know, everybody knows what that is.
And that was the reason I spent the extra money. I wanted something I could attach to the outside
of the bike that we could get to in an emergency and not have to be waiting for it.
So Cliff, what did you learn? What did you come out of this and say, okay,
I'm going to change this and this and this for the, for the next time.
So number one, unload the bike and go ride the bike and get a feel for it before you
load it and try to ride it. Now the, the riding we were planning on doing,
because we're moving from one camp spot to the next, we weren't going to be able to go
from one to the other without loading the bikes, right? But what we could have done was gone to
the campsite first, unloaded it, and then just rode around and got a feel for the terrain we
were going to be in. And that would have gave us, I think more confidence and more just more
knowledge of it. Yeah, margin for error in the areas we were going to be riding. The other thing
was not having taken a trip local. I mean, we have logging roads and stuff not that far from us.
If we could have gotten a weekend off and just done a weekend trip with our gear
and maybe done some practicing before we went down there, I mean, you know, 700 miles is a
long way to go to find out this didn't work. And now you're, you know, you've run your vacation
and everything else. Yeah, like, like too much weight, you're thinking, you know,
yes. Yeah, that's true. I mean, we've heard it before, haven't we? You know, a lot of people
today shake down trips. I'm a firm believer in it. I think it's one of the best things that you can
do is go out and try it on smaller cases where it's much easier and there's less at risk.
Yeah. And also a lot closer to help and home and everybody else. Yeah. That's a good point.
That and, you know, I told my wife afterwards, I told you the hardest phone call to make is that
phone call it, you know, when we get back to the hotel that night, and I haven't called my wife
yet because I'm like, I don't want to call her. And, but I know she has life 360 and I know she
sees I'm back in Alpine and I'm not where I'm supposed to be. So I had to make the call and
that was hard because she's worried to death and now she has reason to be worried. But that was
hard. The other thing goes when I got back and I probably shouldn't have told her, but I said,
hey, you know, there's this place down in Austin and they'll teach you how to ride your big adventure
bike off road. That's just so important, isn't it? I mean, I know you had this on your list of
that's what you would do again. You would go back and you would get the instruction beforehand for
you and your son. Yes. Oh, we, instead of doing this trip, we would have done that and then done
the trip next year. Right. Yeah. You know, spent the money instead of spending all the money on
this trip, spend the money on how to ride and then go do it. Yeah. But you know, I see them
everywhere. You meet people and in guys my age, I'm 57, I'm 58 now. They're retiring. I'm not,
but they're retiring. They're buying these big adventure bikes. They're throwing all the gear
on them and they're taking off and they're most of them will never get it off pavement.
But the ones that do, man, I want to reach out to them and say, get the training, stop and take
the time to learn how to ride these big bikes. I can handle a 350 or 450 in dirt rock. I mean,
I'm not scared to ride one anywhere. These are a whole different animal when it comes to offroading
with them. Oh, definitely. And the fact that we probably when we got to that section, I'm sure
that bells would have gone off. Okay, slow down. Think about what you have here and maybe walk to
the bottom of the wash and see what you have before you ride through. You know, that, I think
that's one of the takeaways from it was if you're not sure, which you're just looking at desert and
to me, it just looked like everything else we had ridden on. But I wasn't looking at it in detail.
I was looking in the distance and that was just something I was riding through. I didn't expect
that to be the place where I was going to wreck. That's a really good point. Yeah, it never hurts
to walk something that might be questionable. Walk it first. Right. Anything else?
No, that pretty much was it. And for me, what you've told me, I think it's important for all of us
to remember that speed, speed amplifies everything and it will certainly amplify injuries regardless
of the bike being light or heavy. I think we get caught up because, you know, on the internet,
and especially nowadays, there is so many people putting up videos, pictures of adventure motorcycles
being ridden to extreme. And I know I'm, you know, I'm using you as an example from my lofty
position of hindsight, you know, of your hindsight and my hearing the story. But speed, that speed
thing, that can really get us in trouble. And it's something to really keep in mind. Yes,
the bikes are great to run fast. They feel amazing. But when something goes wrong,
it happens faster and it hurts more than when we're going slower.
Definitely. If that was one thing I could take back, I would have gone down that hill a lot
slower. And as soon as I saw sand, I would have just hit the brakes and said, if we fall over,
we'll live to fight another day. Right. Cliff, that was great to get your story. Thank you so
much for sharing it because I'm sure we have a lot of points in here that's going to help other
riders. Thanks so much. Jim, thank you for all you do because the program that you have, and
especially the Deep Trouble series, and also the instructional sections you have with Clinton and
all the other people, it is really a learning experience. That's why I contacted you. I thought
if somebody could save themselves from doing what I did, that they could have that memorable
experience without the pain. To be able to do that and learn from my experience. And that's what
Deep Trouble is all about. We want to learn from that. But you actually have to go, okay,
this applies to me, not the next guy. Right. Thanks so much, Cliff. Thank you, Jim.
That was Cliff Holland from his home in Eustace, Texas. We've got some photos from Cliff's
adventures in the show notes for this episode at our website, adventureriderradio.com.
This episode was brought to you in part by Green Chili Adventure Gear at greenchillyadv.com,
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if you go to adventureriderradio.com and click on support. Well, that about wraps up another
episode of Adventure Rider Radio, and we sure hope you enjoyed listening to it as much as we did
making it. Special thanks to our producer, Elizabeth Martin. And of course, you thank you
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This is Alan Carl, World Rider, and you're listening to Adventure Rider Radio.
About this episode
A father and son set out for a Big Bend BDR ride with heavily loaded BMW GS bikes, extra fuel and water, and a loose plan built around camping and improvisation. What starts as fun gravel and stream crossings turns into deep sand in a wash, where weight, speed, and a hidden dinner-plate-sized rock combine to cause a hard crash. The aftermath becomes a remote recovery story and a practical debrief on load placement, emergency gear, shake-down rides, and slowing down in uncertain terrain.
Clif Holland shares a father-and-son motorcycle adventure that took an unexpected turn shortly after arriving at Big Bend National Park. After a 700-mile ride to reach the start of their backcountry route, the decision to explore before staging their gear set the tone for what followed. Riding a heavily loaded BMW R1200GS on remote backroads, Clif quickly found himself facing the challenges of sand, weight distribution, and the limited margin for error on big adventure bikes, which led to DEEP TROUBLE. We talk about backcountry riding and the importance of preparation, training, and testing your setup before tackling routes like the BDR.
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