OK folks, time to get your ducks lined up for Terlingua. As mentioned, I'm happy to lead a moderate, no-stress ride on Friday where scenery will be more important than pure speed. All are welcome.
That being said, if you're a BBNP/SP noob here's some things you'll need to know & do;
1) Make sure your bike is in full working order. If there's an intermittent problem that you've not got around to fixing, now's the time to do it because I personally guarantee that it will cease to be intermittent somewhere along Black Gap Road.
2) Oil, brake, radiator & clutch fluids. Make sure you're topped off all around, the gas stations in the park have limited supplies of anything automotive related.
3) Water - this is critical. You'll take weeks to die from hunger & in Big Bend only hours to die from dehydration. You need to have a Camelback or similar hydration system with enough water to get you through a night if need be. I carry 32 ounces, anything less than 24 is risking your safety & well being.
4) Food - it's a good idea to pack some munchies, Cliff bars, trail mix or similar. In Ulybrad's case, recycled breakfast food suffices too. Opportunities for fine dining are slim in the park (aside from the Chisos Basin) and it's gas station fare everywhere else.
5) Tires, tubes and the kit to fix them. Don't be THAT guy! You will need a spare tube (21" works for front & rear) a working patch kit, tire irons and some way of inflating the repaired wheel. If you're running tubeless or Tubliss, a suitable patch kit as well. Remember, if you flat you will need to get the wheels off the bike so be sure you have the appropriate tools and knowledge. If you're a Mousse guy fugetaboutit.
5) Talking of tires; you'll need some with decent tread. Nothing we're doing would be classed beyond a 1 by Richard but the surface is loose & rocky so come prepared.
6) Protection...not the "looks like a nice park you have here, would be a shame if something happened to it" type of protection, I'm talking the personal kind and Big Bend has sneaky rocks that love to get between you and the ground at every opportunity. You will need sturdy boots with ankle protection and I'm a huge believer in upper body armor at minimum (I also wear knee & shin protection). Soft tissue damage and internal injuries are no joke and those aforementioned rocks are capable of supplying both even with a simple tip over. As I've mentioned before, I know of 2 accidnets that became serious purely because the riders were not well protected. If you think some armor is expensive, price a Medi-Vac ride to Alpine or El Paso.
7) SPOT or similar satellite beacon. If you have one make sure it has good batteries and is programmed correctly. I'll have mine with me so it's not completely necessary but good to have if you plan on doing this kind of stuff often. You should expect to have zero phone coverage in the park.
8) GPS & maps; GPS is great & I'll build some tracks and distribute but a paper map should always be carried as a back up. The park has them & I also carry the highly detailed Nat Geo for the area. As above, it's almost certain you will have no phone signal in the park but some phone GPS apps (including Google maps) allow offline use, just be sure you've downloaded the correct sections for the area.
That pretty much wraps it up. Big Bend is a fantastic place to ride & with sensible precautions, very safe. This will be fun.
Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!
