Leaving PHX and riding with W38M

We arrived in Santa Fe after a little CDR action to meet @D-Train (Dusty) he and his partner Paul (not me, but what a great name ) started a new training and touring company called West38moto. We had arranged for El to do a little training and me to take some photos and then join them on a short tour from SF to OX.

If you do any training you know the first thing they always want you to do is to be able to pick up your bike, a DR is too easy, what you really need to pick up is a fully loaded GSA!!!

Dusty is a fun guy and motivates all the students really well, always smiling and laughing but teaching fundamentals at the same time.

I won’t go into detail about what the training entails, you can contact them to find out, just need to say a good coach to student ratio and at the end, some riders who struggled at every challenge became very accomplished in unique off-road situations

If Alpha Basecamp is not your thing, then this might be…and waaayyyyyy cheaper

The cool thing about the training location in Santa Fe, it was in an abandoned gold mine, an amazing location for sure

see the riders over the far side?

leaving the gold mine to find some sand to play in a few miles away Dusty showed the way on street tires

…and someone liked riding sand and mastered it with ease

and that kinda looks like this…

other riders not so much…

training done, we headed out, destination OX, there were just a few of us going. I have a certain dislike of riding in groups, my last two group rides include a leg busted into about 50 pieces and a kidnapping, so needless to say I kept my distance and just shot photos of the group

We covered a few sections of the NMBDR on graded roads and in the woods

and the first few days out with the group were great with the highlight being a massive fire wild camping at around 6000′