Regarding trail gear, have some basic tools, maybe a tow strap, spare tire or two but just as Nv Guy stated, we shouldn't need much and this will be a great time to start figuring out what gear you'll need for future runs. One of the pieces of gear I am going to be looking to install before the weekend is a single Rigid amber D2 facing rear. After running with Nv Guy and eating his dust, you quickly lose sight of the Raptor in front of you. And after running around in the dust yesterday with my front facing LEDs on, Nv Guy and his wife said they couldn't miss me, that they just pierced through the dust. So I'm going to add the extra safety of the rear facing amber. Plus I think it looks cool, gets me closer to the Baja truck roots.
As for the prerunning yesterday and a couple weeks ago, both sets of trails will offer us pavement pounders some good experience and allow us to earn out off-roading stripes and lose the pavement pounder rookie badge...lol! The first trail will start about 10 minutes from our Reno meeting location and will begin with a rocky and bumpy, fairly slow section. Soon to follow will be some higher speed whoops and turns and a couple jumps opportunities. This trail will also offer 20% grade up-hill and down hills, which will allow us to full throttle it up and to use hill decent on the way day. I know with the couple of runs I have done with Nv Guy, it's been cool to actually USE the "buttons" in the truck and see how they work. This will be a great topic of discussion too, picking each other's brains regarding using off-road mode with or without traction control, when to lock the rear diff...blah, blah, blah. This trail can take about 1.5 to 2 hours, depending on who wants to go back and try a jump, photo ops or if there is a trail we want to explore.
The second trail near Fort Church Hill and the Pony Express is about a 30 minute on road drive away from where we end the first run, and we'll have another opportunity to fuel up if needed. We'll pull in to the Fort Church Hill area to park and eat lunch. From there we'll head down the road for a 1/2ish mile and start the second trail. This trail is high speed, I got up the balls to hit 70mph while Nv Guy got up to 80mph, but I felt comfortable at about 60 to 65mph. This trail doesn't have any whoops or jumps, just turns and bends; we'll run out as we did yesterday, stopping at the dry lake bed for a photo op, donuts, and drifting...basic shenanigans. ? We'll then head out some more and turn back around. This area had quite a few trails the sprawled off of the main run we ran so I'm thinking we go explore and see what we can get into. One the way out yesterday, I did just that and found a spot for another photo op and a possible jump. However, I was doing 65mph and only fully extended the suspension, so speeds of 70/75 are going to be needed to get some air. This shouldn't be an issue. But this trail that we just went and explored was what I called more "Baja style", 45mph but bumpy, and who knows where it went. So there are some planned trails and some unplanned trails. So just to set the expectations and to make sure everyone knows what we are doing, it's a loosely planned trip open for exploring but should offer a lot of fun.
And to add to the weekend's fun, I'm sure we could do a lot of ride swapping or giving rides in each other's trucks that have different set-ups. Such as, I am at the mid perch setting and no sway bar. So someone who is stock, or has the sway bar can give mine a whirl and see how they like it. Just throwing it out, and I'm not offering anyone else's truck up, and no one has to let someone drive their truck or give a ride but I know some of us have different set-ups and are curious about other set-ups.
Hope this helps and I hope everyone has fun. As the time line goes:
o 7:30am 76 gas station off of Antelope and 80
o Intros
o Top off fuel
o Depart 76 gas station no later than 8:00am
o 10:00am Arrive at Safeway gas station
o Top off
o Intro with Nv Guy
o Grab food/water
o 10:30/45am head out to the first trail
And from there, let's just go with it and have some fun and earn our Off Roading stripes (For us pavement pounders).
---------- Post added at 03:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:21 PM ----------
There are campsites at the second area we will be running, but it is about 30 to 45 minutes away from the hotels.
What area are you coming from? Will you meet us in Sacramento or in Reno?
---------- Post added at 04:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:22 PM ----------
Just booked my room at the Silver Legacy...
