CM09 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Mar 27, 2003
Threads
58
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12,519
Location
Somewhere in the foothills...
Yes, there is a movie with this name and there is an obstacle on Steel Bender with the same name but this is a slightly different topic.

The Good:
=========
* Rising Sun. Those guys at Rising Sun really have got this event down to a science. They improve the experience every year while keeping all the things that make the week an anticipated event for me and hundreds of other Cruiserheads. (More later)

* Saturday night. Onur organized a dinner event for Dan on Saturday evening. Everything worked perfectly and it was a big surprise for Dan thanks to Sara being able to keep it a secret. I cannot remember all those that attended but there was a good showing from High Desert Cruisers, Rising Sun, personal friends of Dan's, business friends, and 'Mud friends. Onur was able coordinate the whole thing and get a busy guy like Greg Miller to attend. Greg said a few words in recognition of Dan's long service to the company and to American Toyota. The evening went off without a hitch and we all had a great time. Thanks Onur!

The Bad:
=======
* Carnage. We all did some gnarly trails this year and many of the HDC group came away with some battle scars; mostly minor.
* Unlicensed 2M operators. We had a couple of people that were illegally using 2M radios during CM09. Nothing that cannot be rectified with shifting of priorities to taking the test instead of doing other things. License = good. No License = Not good. 'nuff said.

The Ugly:
========
* Rudeness. For the first time in a long time, we were subjected to a rash of really bad behavior by a driver at CM. Unfortunately this came from someone that I had been chatting with during breaks on the trail. The guy was also from New Mexico which made me feel like others might have associated this guy with HDC. There were at least 9 vehicles with NM tags on this particular trail and it is quite likely that the others thought we were all together because 7 of the 9 were HDC. I won't go into all the gory details but on one obstacle the guy nearly ran down his spotter (Hants, our trail leader) who was frantically leaping from boulder to boulder to avoid getting flattened by this guy and his bizarre driving style. The guy made an extremely crude comment to Hants immediately after this episode which we didn't find out about until the end of the day.

I sincerely hope that nobody in our club would ever act like this guy. Several of us made sure that Hants knew the guy had no association with HDC and we would never condone such behavior. I'm not sure what we could do about it if one of our club members ever made an ass of himself like this but we would probably come up with something.

/off soap box/

-Mike-
 
Well, I admit I am the "bad" that Mike speaks of--as usual.

Too bad the next test is not till July in Los Alamos.
 
The Ugly:
========
* Rudeness. For the first time in a long time, we were subjected to a rash of really bad behavior by a driver at CM. Unfortunately this came from someone that I had been chatting with during breaks on the trail. The guy was also from New Mexico which made me feel like others might have associated this guy with HDC.


/off soap box/

-Mike-

Hmm, this sounds like Jack from Socorro. Sort of a know it all, been there done that kinda fella who drives a FJC?
 
Last edited:
Hmm, this sounds like Jack from Socorro.

ding, ding, ding ....

I must admit this was one of my best CMs ever. Last year I didn't have a good time on Cliffhanger. That trail really messed with my head. This year, I went back and was lucky enough to have Bill Morgan (Red Chile) as the trail leader again. This year I was grinin' ear to ear on the trail. It wasn't a cakewalk, but I didn't take a strap this year.

As far as carnage goes, I hate to admit I'm on the list. As Mike said, it was minor. They did bring out the on-board welder to fix me up. Here is a pic of the hole in my axle housing.

Other carnage witnessed included a broken Birfield on Kane Creek, and Jack bent a steering arm on his FJC on Steel Bender. There was also the usual fender flare losses on the 80's and 100's, but there was no time lost on the trail to those.
axlecrack.JPG
 
Pic of a Hundy owner taking it all in stride. Notice the fender flare, or at least it's current location. The guy was from Florida, and rumor had it he trailered the 100 to CM.

3498761423_723767ac99.jpg
 
Pic of a Hundy owner taking it all in stride. Notice the fender flare, or at least it's current location. The guy was from Florida, and rumor had it he trailered the 100 to CM.

3498761423_723767ac99.jpg

Yeah, he's Travis351 here on Mud. The Florida crew came out in a Chevy Kodiak towing a trailer with several vehicles (at least this 100, and an 80 that I know of).
 
Thank you for the kind words & support. It was great having HDC represent in such a big way on the Steel Bender run. Except for that driver, it was a GREAT run.

Onur - you did a great thing pulling off the surprise dinner for Dan. :beer:

We're looking forward to an even better CM next year!
 
Travis was cool but his Dad, Kevin, was even cooler. This was the first time off-road for both of them and by the time they did the Cliff Hanger trail Kevin was spotting like a pro. I spent a good bit of the day behind their rig and Kevin spotted me many times. Very nice guys and they had a great attitude on a very tough trail.

That was my first time on Cliff Hanger and I felt the trail was every bit as technical as BTR with virtually no by passes. You either drove over the obstacles or you turned around and went home. I loved it! :D

-Mike-
 
Not trying to apploigize for Jack. The stick shift model FJC are a bit*h to drive. A-Trac does not stay engaged if the foot is on the brake or clutch and 1 gear in low is not low enough. IMHO, all manual tranny FJC's need a crawler box as standard equipment. So some of Jack erratic style is trying to keep the truck in motion and keep the tracking control systems in play(even with a rear locker on). I have seen him drive a bunch over the last couple of years(even on Wed when I lead a run for bunch of FJC's on Hell's Revenge). His style of driving has been almost the same for as long as I can remember.
I do not think I was around to see Jacks display of rudeness. Bummer to see this happen, As I have wheeled with Jack at many events and Have not seen him display this behavior before. He has always been approachable for me to talk to.
Bummer this happened
 
Not trying to apploigize for Jack. The stick shift model FJC are a bit*h to drive. A-Trac does not stay engaged if the foot is on the brake or clutch and 1 gear in low is not low enough. IMHO, all manual tranny FJC's need a crawler box as standard equipment. So some of Jack erratic style is trying to keep the truck in motion and keep the tracking control systems in play(even with a rear locker on). I have seen him drive a bunch over the last couple of years(even on Wed when I lead a run for bunch of FJC's on Hell's Revenge). His style of driving has been almost the same for as long as I can remember.
I do not think I was around to see Jacks display of rudeness. Bummer to see this happen, As I have wheeled with Jack at many events and Have not seen him display this behavior before. He has always been approachable for me to talk to.
Bummer this happened
Thanks for the positive comments, not sure what Mike is talking about. Never did I put the spotter in danger, Josh(while driving my FJ) did come up on him and he fell climbing a small incline but we were on a flat muddy road. He was never in danger. Again one person's perspective of what happended, and a pretty lame one at that.
 
Way to go Onur! Sounds like a very good shindig for the Shaman.

Just think: when you all were out having fun in Moab, I was in nameless flat places with too much rain. Lame. Next year.....

BTW--driving home today in Tijeras Canyon I saw a black 80 with an exo cage and NM plates. Who was it? They were westbound on Rt.66

What part of the axle housing is that Jon? I don't recognize that tube in the picture.

Dan
 
Again one person's perspective of what happended, and a pretty lame one at that.

The guy made an extremely crude comment to Hants immediately after this episode which we didn't find out about until the end of the day.

Jack,
My issue was what you said to the trail leader and I gave my perspective on the circumstances that led up to what you said. If you wanted nobody to spot you then that is your prerogative. If you wanted another spotter then you should have made that clear. Telling your spotter to shut up and get the F out of your way is rude in my opinion.

Since I am hearing some of this second hand, maybe it would be best if you cleared things up and explained what you said and why.

-Mike-
 
What part of the axle housing is that Jon? I don't recognize that tube in the picture.

Dan

Passenger side, forward. You can see the u-bolt and the spring perch on top of the axle. The crack starts at the edge of the spring perch weld. The crack then went over the axle tube to the seam on the axle housing. The crack then followed the seam on the back side.
 
This thread has potential. The sheriff is watching.
 
BTW--driving home today in Tijeras Canyon I saw a black 80 with an exo cage and NM plates. Who was it? They were westbound on Rt.66

that was a buddy that i work with. actually he owns the orange unimog w/ dual transmissions. when you saw him, he was leaving from showing me his new exocage here at work. it's fully removable too. i'm trying to get him to the next meeting.
 
that was a buddy that i work with. actually he owns the orange unimog w/ dual transmissions. when you saw him, he was leaving from showing me his new exocage here at work. it's fully removable too. i'm trying to get him to the next meeting.

That's why the exocage was so bare-metal looking.

Tell him it looked good passing by at 60 mph the opposite direction! ;)

Dan
 
Jack,
My issue was what you said to the trail leader and I gave my perspective on the circumstances that led up to what you said. If you wanted nobody to spot you then that is your prerogative. If you wanted another spotter then you should have made that clear. Telling your spotter to shut up and get the F out of your way is rude in my opinion.

Since I am hearing some of this second hand, maybe it would be best if you cleared things up and explained what you said and why.

-Mike-
Happy to do so, I was not driving when this conversation happened. I did not hear Josh say get the **** out of the way. What Josh did say was that he didn't like the "spot" given by the spotter and that he would pick his own line. What started this was while Josh was being spotted, Ian (who was riding shotgun) was talking to Josh. The spotter stopped us and came down to the vehicle and told Ian (In a rude tone of voice) that there could only be one spotter and if Ian wanted to spot he needed to say so. Personalities clashed and tension was felt throught out the rest of the trail. I can say that at no time was the spotter put in danger, I always tell them (including this one) that I drive a standard and that I have to keep the vehicle moving for numerous reasons, not just issues with stalling. Josh was doing the same thing. In fact the first obsticle we went down, the spotter told me I should drive slower and at that point I informed him that I was driving a standard and I let the engine "brake" for me unless it is very steep. And again the path was clear, I was not riding some one's tail. Again I think from the beginning personalities clashed, and that was unfortunate. I always appreciate the time individuals "donate" to events like these, NO ONE should have to put up with rudeness.
 

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