JonBeckMoto

Maine to California ... via Florida

2007-10-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

This trip came about somewhat on a whim ... I was headed out to North Carolina to shoot some production stills for the Hearing Everett film (some of the shots are on the H.E. blog). Seemed like a good idea to retrace the original route the Everett's took from N.C. to Baja, filming & shooting stills along the way.

Only time ... and the next 4000-or-so miles will tell if it was indeed a good idea :)

Step one was to find a used bike to make the trek with. Craigslist came to the rescue and I found an '06 BMW GS Adventure with well under 3000 miles on it! The service interval on these things is 6k miles ... this thing is barely broken in. The fact that it had no modifications to it other than the addition of the exact luggage I'd need for the trip sealed the deal. When I showed up, it was everything the owner made it out to be, PLUS I found a nice set of gloves in one of the boxes that he gave me! Very nice extra as I didn't know I'd encounter 200 miles of North East rain in just a few hours...

At the previous owner's place - moments before rolling out.

Less than a mile from the house, the pavement ended and I rode into the twilight along the picturesque Vermont backroads ... completely forgetting the directions I was told just a few minutes ago. God Bless GPS...

The first night I would stay in Springfield, VT (hometown of the Simpsons). Not quite what I expected - no nuclear plant, it was quite nice in fact. Took care of the DMV paperwork here ... never been in a DMV before where I could count everyone in the office, employees and customers both, on one hand.

The next day I didn't shoot too many photos. The ride from the owners house to Springfield was AMAZING. Vermont is hands-down among the most beautiful places I've visited. So it was a little surprising to wake the following morning to POURING rain (the gloves included with the bike turned out to be fantastic for rain!). I was headed to New Hampshire to stay with a friend off the adventure rider website. Along the way I had to stop once or twice to get my bearings. Lot more turns in the roads around here than the freeways I'm used to back west...

I arrive at Nate's place - great guy, great family. We stay up looking at potential routes on the computer:

Next morning I head out through a bit of the New England forest:

Then back to the highway and toward the shop where I'd pick up some tires to last me the rest of the trip.

The shop HIGHLY recommends Nancy's diner just down the road. I haven't eaten yet this day, so figure it's a good option - their recommendation turned out to be spot on :)

That's Nancy herself on the right:

While sitting in the BMW shop, there was another customer also waiting for their bike and he gave me all sort of routes to check out. Also informed me that I was only about 20 minutes from Maine. Had no idea. Being so close, I headed north for 20 minutes, entered Maine, then headed east to the coast to make my way south.

Arriving at the Atlantic:

Met another couple there who have been married & riding motorcycles together for 35 years! They gave me all sorts of insights into various roads in the area.

This road provided a good opportunity to do a bit of filming, so on went the camera rig. This will see much more use from North Carolina, south and all the way west, but this area is so scenic it makes for a perfect spot to work out the camera techniques with this bike.

Weather might not be cooperating tomorrow, so the plan is to get as far south as is reasonable & hopefully get out of any potential weather systems ... from there it's onward to Florida, hang a right, then back home to California!

The Colorado Clinic!

2007-09-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

This one was a long time coming. I first met my Colorado compatriot, Jim, in Baja nearly four years ago. The next few years would see various adventures on both of our parts, and eventually Jim purchased a new KTM 950. I've owned a 950 since 2005 and put it through it's paces over the past few years. Jim was looking to get some insight into his new ride, and get a good moto-trip in at the same time ... frequent flier miles to the rescue - I was on a plane just a few weeks later...

My KTM would stay home for this trip - instead I would be on a borrowed BMW f650 Dakar:

The terrain was for the most part, very mellow and incredibly scenic. Tin Cup pass however ... was a different story.

I was down in Mexico's Copper Canyon region a couple times earlier this year. Amazing how much Colorado reminded me of that place. Dirt roads are in many cases the main thoroughfares between towns, though they are almost invariably of much better quality...

The other Jim's BMW-esque high fender - lo fender setup:

An excited KLR rider passed opposite us, jumping up & down on the pegs. Either had some real special coffee that morning, or was very excited to see other dualsporters out & about...

Watch oncoming traffic!!

Things got a little interesting here. As we neared this town, there was a "T" intersection. The first instinct is to stop & wait at the T, but it was decided that the last rider in the group clearly knew the way, living here. I was the only out-of-stater, so had really no say in the matter :)

We rolled into the gas station & waited for the rider.

And waited....

Uh oh.

After FAR too long, we decided to backtrack to the intersection, looking carefully the whole time. Nobody in town, no one at the intersection.

We started asking drivers at gas stations if they had seen a disabled motorcyclist further back down the road. Nothing.

Finally, just before deciding to call CHP & check if there had been any accidents reported, in rolls the rider...

Turns out, they had turned the wrong way at the T & just gone a slight distance down the road. Just enough that we couldn't spot them in our backtracking.

Now we were already very late rolling into town. This running around just pushed us that much further back in our planned schedule of making Crested Butte for the evening. We decided to look for a nearby hotel ...

everything sold out.

Beyond that, it was getting to the point that our chances of finding food were pretty slim. We managed to sneak into a Subway just before it closed & make a plan.

Really, there wasn't much choice.

Sleep on the ground here, or soldier on to Crested Butte.

We elected to keep moving. Around midnight, we finished up our fortunate Subway feast, fired up the bikes, and prepared to leave the pavement for the midnight & early AM run over the pass:

This was one of two times on this trip we got this high (altitude ... c'mon man...), but this was by far the ... darkest.

Finally, we rolled into Crested Butte ... as one Jim banged on the door of the office to retrieve our key (mind you it was around 3am at this point ... the other Jim decided his 950 in the parking lot was as good as any hotel room at this point...

Next morning, we make a quick jaunt around Crested Butte before hitting the trail:

Jim & I did a little exploring ... it got gnarly in spots, but not half as gnarly as the next day's ride would be.

Rolling into Tincup started with views like this:

Then turned into this...

Spots along this trail were taking out more than bikes...

However, pain & perseverance was rewarded in full...

This spot in the trail was interesting ... middle of July and this section of trail had just been cut through this same week! We were among the first to cross this pass (without riding over the snow) this year!

Some of the rocky descents kept you on your toes ... literally!

Riding through the largest living organism in the world:

Bedraggled riders checking maps & such...

Crossing the alpine tundra:

Photo gallery from this trip.

The Walker Sky Ranch Ride

2007-08-24T00:04:00.000-07:00

Been a while since the last update - past few weeks has seen a good deal of riding in multiple states. After the 2000 miles of terror ride a few weeks back the 950 took a break while I ordered some needed parts. The break was merited as the next ride would be anything but mellow...

The actual repairs involved replacing the waterpump. While not rocket science, it's no trivial task either. Dedicate at least a solid 1/2 day or full day for this.

Fortunately, the repairs went without a hitch & just then a ride opportunity came up with several local riders (mostly 950s, plus a few other makes thrown in for good measure). The ride would prove to be a perfect, 950-type ride (long pavement ride to the trailhead, some fireroad, and some genuinely gnarly trail thrown in! Along the way there I noticed some crazy sap coming off many of the trees - there's been a pretty severe drought in the area - not sure if this is a symptom of this or somehow the exact opposite ... (?)

950 was running beautifully...

The group met up at a small cafe in Idyllwild - don't remember the count at the beginning but it started out with around 20 riders.

1st flat happened within about 5 miles of the start of the dirt...

Our fearless leader...

A relatively short distance later, the group split up into the "easy way/hard way" options. A handful of us went the "hard way". Myself & another rider on 950s, one DRZ 650, Honda 650, KTM 450, and a KTM 525 if I remember right.

The trail started out just plain fun ... but did indeed become difficult.

Tim & Jennifer Morton of BajaBound joined in on the fun ... Jennifer hitting the ledge on the 450...

Here's my go on the 950...

And another 950 ... with the one errant rock...

Textbook form through 99% of the run, that last 1% is a doozy...

After that, the cries of "why are we here again!?" begin :)

Ended the day by checking out some old mines before the rains began.

That's it for this one ... brief ride repot this time. A few short weeks following this ride would see me heading to Colorado for some ... unexpected exploration.

Up next ... the Colorado clinic & ride!

Nine Days & 2111 Miles - A Western States Adventure Ride

2007-07-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

:: CLICK PHOTOS FOR LARGER VIEW ::

From the midst of the adventure ... the report started from a laptop.

Little did I know what the next few days had in store...

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

It begins...

If there's one constant in adventure touring, it would probably be to expect the unexpected. This most recent excursion was an object lesson in this. Routes were planned, flights were scheduled, bikes were trailered...

... and then we pretty much undid everything & started from scratch each day. That's what puts the adventure in adventure touring I suppose...

I got a call from the east coast contingent that a small group would be trailering some bikes out west for a week or so worth of riding. The KTM Rally was happening in Mammoth around the same time, so that was a perfect place to meet up. The group (SST, Smoothy, & Daniel) would start out from Santa Barbera area & I would leave from Orange County & ride up. Originally planning on using stock Scorpions for the trip, I had a brand-new set of TKC's and a wheel balancer sitting in the garage … decided to throw the knobbies on – it was a good decision

Mammoth is only around 400 miles from my place which allowed plenty of time to check out a few spots along the way.

First off was Vasquez Rocks just outside of LA. An extremely convenient way to get somewhat off the beaten path, if only for a moment:

From there I continued along the desolate 14 freeway through Mojave & out to the 395. Interesting architecture is still scattered along the highway ... a testament to unfulfilled ambition perhaps...?

The Owens River Valley is an amazing place. Barreling down the highway at freeway speeds with the radiator fan still desperately trying to cool the engine, signs reading “Death Valley” poking out of the parched ground, then as you approach Lone Pine the valley turns green and Diaz Lake Recreation area appears on the horizon… Part of what makes rides like this so enjoyable is the sheer contrast you can pass through in the space of only a few hours.

From there the only other stop was Manzanar. I’d passed by here a few times, but never drove through. Very sobering to think this place was just closed in 1945.

Origami, coins, and other remembrances are throuout the Manzanar graveyard.

Signs note where the various buildings once stood. Many foundations, rock gardens, and other evidence of the camp still exists.

Rolling past the gate and on to the pavement of the 395, you’re not only leaving behind the dusty roads of Manzanar, but hopefully leaving an ugly chapter of history in the past.

For the moment, I just really needed to get moving ‘cuz there’s a speed limit in the park & the 950 was getting pretty warm…

Speaking of warm, stopping in Bishop for a quick lunch, the bike decided to start spraying fuel out of several different hoses … a pinched vent tube I would later discover… Wasn’t a huge issue at the time as I was headed for higher, cooler elevations…

Next up … a group ride gone awry…

It was truly a beautiful place … to lose a group of riders in the mountains.

Work constraints prevented me from arriving at the KTM event in Mammoth until Friday night – nonetheless I was able to join up for a group ride on Saturday … or at least what started out as a group ride ...

Here’s the group when it first rolled out (count the riders & make a mental note of that number for later):

It was quite a diverse group, everything from knobbies to street tires, dirt gear to full leathers, but all large-displacement dualsport bikes.

Mike Lafferty was “leading” :) this group & we briefly stopped at the start of the dirt portion to ask if everyone was comfortable with continuing on. We’d only been riding pavement up to that point, so the consensus was “sure thing!” Mike said he had just completed a special test here a few days prior and it got “a little sandy” in parts.

So off into the dirt we dove … detailed directions, such as they were, taped to the leader’s bike:

I stopped at the beginning of the trail to let the group go by & see how everyone fared at the start of the trail. Right off, it was apparent this would be an interesting day

It was a bit dusty:

If you’re gonna practice getting pitched in sand, might as well do it within a stone’s throw of the pavement

A 950 skiing:

A short distance from where the above photo was taken the group stopped for the first time. Seemed about 1/2 of the 950s were spouting fuel from pinched vent lies, sheer heat, or a combination of both by this time.

There was a 30-minute-plus gap between riders which got us a bit concerned (Lost? Crashed?) Sure enough, most of the group soldiered through the sandy roads & washes to this point. I don’t recall everyone at that point, but I burned up ahead a bit to get some photos of the group going by.

Didn’t realize this would be the last time the group would be a group for the day.

Just after the break point, we continued on over a valley just a short distance away. Beautiful meadow with picturesque mountain vistas surrounding it.

Perfect spot to park up & get a few photos…

Just beyond this spot was a loose hillclimb. Coming around the corner at the bottom revealed two bikes down at various points heading up the hill. Both were turning around to head down for another go, so I went to the top and waited for them on the next attempt.

Sure enough, a few minutes later up came the first rider. After a mid-hill stall, they managed to get the 950 to the top, on street tires no less! As they were going to wait for the next rider, I continued on. Sure enough, these hills became more loose/technical as the ride went on. I would later meet up with a guy in a jeep that said the previous hill was a “2” and the subsequent ones were rated “3” in whatever guidebook he had – but I’m getting ahead of myself, jeep-guy will come up as a very important part of the story later on.

Back to the trail … after heading up the trail for another 1/2 mile or so I came across two other riders – one was waiting as another was 1/2 way up this next hill, buried in pretty good. We hung around & chatted at the base for a while until it became apparent that the rider up ahead was going nowhere fast. I rode up to check out the scene & indeed, the 950 was dug in pretty good, on a steep/loose hill, on a 90-degree mid-hill turn. I’ve still got stock pipes on my 950 & this stuck bike had a pretty cool set of something on there so I “got” to try it out by riding it up the hill the rest of the way

So I run down to fetch my bike, next rider comes up, & we’re off… for a little while at least.

Less than two miles ahead I come across SST looking like he’d just crashed! Turns out he was just taking a nap as the gap was getting pretty long due to the stuck bikes on the hills. We decided to hang around & wait for the other riders to catch up & sent the two riders I was with on to meet up with the rest of the group.

I got in a decent nap as well and we still had enough time to work on solving the problems of man, but didn’t have a notepad so the effort was in vain . Finally we started assuming something was amiss so SST decided to ride back & see what the group was up to – I’d stay at this corner just in case someone returned.

So I parked …

And waited …

Eventually SST returned & he didn’t see anybody! After some discussion about where he’d ridden to, turns out he didn’t go quite far enough to the last spot I had seen the other riders … so now it was my turn to go back … mind you, this meant riding down & back up all those hills I’d already done (in some cases) twice…

Heading back reveals only a rocky, sandy, and quite empty, trail.

Fortunately, just before reaching the last major hill (previous photo with the fencepost), I encountered the aforementioned Jeeper. Turns out he’d seen the group.

Inte: ”You see some guys back there on bikes like this?”
Jeep guy: ”About 5 or 6 of them?”
Inte: ”Yep, that sounds about right.
Jeep guy: ”They all turned around.”

Relief of knowing that the group was headed back quickly faded as concern over weather or not they knew how to get back set in…

In any case, nothing left to do but head back & let SST know what was happening. Just about the time I roll back to the spot where he was waiting, the rider in front, came rolling back to see what had happened. Everyone being accounted for (sort of), we three continued on. Shortly up ahead here comes Mike Lafferty heading back to … you guessed it … see what was happening.

Funny thing is we all happened to meet up right near a group of guys who at first were stoked to see I was using “Mechanix” gloves from an auto parts store as riding gloves (one of the guys was a distributor for them or something like that …), then they were even more stoked/surprised when they realized that was indeed Mike Lafferty who’d ridden back to check on us.

We chatted for a while, were offered some pretty questionable “chocolate” chip cookies/brownies (this day was already loopy enough … we declined). Then continued on, with a couple guys on singles following us up the road … wearing shorts & t-shirts.

At the junction Mike pointed & asked me the way to hwy 120:

From that point on, the ride was as smooth as could be. Stopped for gas before heading back.

So this portion of the report is an object lesson that a 35-mile trailride can turn a group like this:

Into this:

Next up … the MX track, and the group continues to shrink…

The fray of the KTM Rally was winding down, the morning after the official event was over several legends encompassing a wide range of 2-wheel motorsports headed over to the Mammoth MX track for a private session – this was not to be missed.

From the event proper …

To the brisk morning at the track where those in attendance included:

Fabio Fasola:

A rallypanam bike:

Ridden by none other than Dakar finisher Casey McCoy:

Chris Blais:

Scot Harden, Mike Lafferty, and Barry Higgins:

Rick Johnson:

In keeping with the adventure-rider theme … it was pretty cool seeing a rally bike on the MX track:

The MX stuff was over pretty early, so the 3-person east coast group & myself headed out to do a local loop before the departure tomorrow. First stopped off to check out the earthquake fault – just a huge crack in the ground running all the way under the highway! This area is very seismically active.

Then it was off for a local loop through the pine forests of Mammoth:

Following lunch, Smoothy & Daniel took a different way back, leaving SST & myself to ride part of a route I had done back in September. Fun trail as it completely bypasses the highway & Mammoth, taking you through a tunnel under the 395 and dropping you off just a few miles from the resort.

The next morning it was time to leave Mammoth & on to stranger territory…

So the next morning, the band of four gathered in front of the giant Mammoth for a final photo …

Then a quick jaunt up the hill to check out the viewpoint…

Then it was time to leave the picturesque country side of Mammoth…

To head over the Tioga pass into the Yosemite Valley:

Seriously, this wasn’t planned…

Smoothy was equal parts adventure rider / storm trooper.

You’d think this would be a fitting spot for an adventure bike…

…and to be sure, it probably is. BUT our quick jaunt through the valley proved to be some of the most dangerous riding of the trip. Granted, no guns in anybody’s faces (more on that later), and no crashes (more on that later as well…), but both SST & I had close calls that had us ready to get to more remote country.

Not 1 mile after I entered the valley and white Tracker was crusing along a couple car lengths in front of me – maybe 30 mph or so – not really sure what happened, but they decided to slam on their brakes. There was a cyclist up the road a ways, so I can only figure they were looking around at the scenery and then noticed the cyclist but failed to judge the (huge) distance between them & the bike, so they stopped. In the middle of the road. I went into a full-lock skid … one-handed because I was holding the camera with the other hand (not wise I know but whaddyagonnado…). Ended up coming to a stop less than a foot from their bumper. I saw the brakelights click off & the little truck pull away, having stopped for nothing more than a shadow in the road, completely oblivious to the chaos behind. I was happy enough that the vehicles behind me also stopped prior to shortening my swingarm. Our little group had been warned of this sort of thing just before entering the park … like I said, adventure is often defined by revisiting the unexpected.

The road at the scene:

Not 30 minutes later it was SST’s turn. Something about a guy eating a sandwich trying to wedge him into a parked car, but I’ll let him chime in on that… it was right near this spot:

Not 30 minutes later it was SST’s turn. Something about a guy eating a sandwich trying to wedge him into a parked car, but I’ll let him chime in on that… it was right near this spot:

Not a moment too soon, it was time for us to make our escape …

Take a few last looks around …

Then grab the throttle & hang on!

Fortunately, even when riding from some of the most tourist-rich areas out here, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel…

…& fortunately for us we weren’t moving toward this light from a hospital bed…

Self portrait during the escape from paradise:

BUT … there was one more serious, potentially expensive obstacle before we would fully escape the park…

"Bright lights & inverted bikes."

Prior to making out escape from the VORD (“Valley of Random Driving”), we fueled up among the evergreens…

Daniel was raring to go…

…and in short order was out of sight.

But not for long.

This guy has got skills however. Scratch that, skillz. Mad skillz, mind you. He gets off with a warning & some horror stories about nutty drivers-meet-bikers from earlier in the week. Good thing he knows how to handle himself, this will become very important in a day or so…

After the encounter we’re off, albeit at a somewhat reduced pace.

Note the rock climbers in the distance:

We continued on beautiful country roads like this for a while.

The 2-tracks abounded in every direction, eventually the pull was too great & we simply hopped the curb & headed off into the hills:

Turns out this particular road didn’t go much of anyplace & we ended up back on the pavement to Bridgeport, a short distance away.

The pool beckoned Smoothy & Daniel, while SST & myself opted to head out for a bit more riding in the waning daylight. Turns out the decisions of both groups were less than perfect. While backstroking across the smallish but refreshing hotel pool, Smoothy happened to open his eyes just in time to see a squadron of mosquitos shadowing him, waiting to plunge like a bunch of mildly poisonous Stuka dive bombers. Meanwhile, SST & I headed over to check out Bodie in the evening light, but upon entering the park, noticed the sign that said it would close in less than 30 minutes. We stopped to discuss options, decided to keep going and started heading down the road. About a mile or so up the road something occurred to me so I looked back to see where SST was & then pulled over to mention something … or tried to pull over at least. The “shoulder” of the road wasn’t much of a shoulder at all. Looked like hard pack gravel, narrow but solid enough. Not so. I pull off the road & start immediately to slide & sink. Not a huge deal, but as it was on the edge of a very steep drop down to the river, potentially very consequential. Swerved around a bit & came to a complete stop, and put the sidestand down just in time to have the front wheel sink in & slide down the hill with the exact amount of force to tip the bike to the (very) wrong side. It’s amazing how far a bike, event with zero forward momentum, can throw you when it highsides. The fact that I was on the edge of a minor cliff didn’t help either. I was tossed into the trees below, while the bike proceed to flip completely upside down and slide (upside down mind you) down the hill about four feet or so.

SST apparently saw the whole thing & later confessed his 1st thought was ”We’re never going to get that thing out of there.” The footing was incredibly loose and any time we tried to move the bike it would slide further down the hill toward the creek! Quickly shutting off all the fuel petcocks we discussed options & eventually decided to simply drag it up the slope. I’m still blown away we were able to do this – the thing was just topped off seven miles ago! We would drag, brace, drag brace, etc… until a fortuitous tree root offered some sort of footing – then the two of us flipped the bike over to the other side. From having the top of the seat point directly down – 180 degrees to having the thing upright! It was still on the mini-cliff face so once upright the bars just leaned into the hill & it stood on its own. From there we did the same drag, brace, drag, brace routing until it was on level ground.

Unbelievable. Nothing broken, not even that many new scratches! No fluids leaked out, push the button & it fired right up! Apparently these things do pretty well inverted.

The whole process took about 20 minutes & we were back on the road. In the back of my mind I was thinking that would probably be the most dramatic event for the trip.

Could NOT have been more wrong…

"Bodie or bust."

Now SST had been on a pretty serious Bodie quest since this trip started. It had already been thwarted twice so far, but this day we were sure to make it …

Right after leaving the hotel something came up with the GPSs however & we realized some route modifications would have to be made … par for the course with adventure touring, the world is your office …

Gas station route planning:

And then, just a mere 15 miles away or so … Bodie.

The route planning never stops … in the midst of all this history, the topo map showing the area was yet another planning tool guiding us through the adventure:

The shopkeeper was a route planning assistant as well…

In addition to looking for roads, the search for fuel was paramount…

Leaving Bodie we followed a route recommended the shopkeeper – great ride! Deep canyons, river valleys, later opened up into fast wide dirt roads … fantastic portion of countryside.

An oasis in the desert:

Some of the roads were quite dusty … not that Daniel was bothered by that at all.

An intersection means more route planning.

All too soon the dirt gave way to pavement & we were heading towards (we hoped) fuel.

I shot a few photos of the riders on the road – as I was accelerating the camera 1st caught this:

Probably for the best, but the camera strap obscured the next few shots … I’ve got a 16T CS sprocket on the 950 … does just fine at freeway speeds…

Next up … the most beautiful & fun trail I never want to go near again.

"No injuns, just cowboys..."

As we started the climb up into the hills towards Tahoe, the plan was to run some backcountry roads that SST knew (sort of). The south lake fire was causing some serious visibility issues in the valley below.

Continuing along the trail the scenery & topography changed dramatically from the valley. The population changed as well, from Carson City traffic, to wild horses in the hills!

The trail beckoned.

We would periodically stop to regroup along the way to recheck out route & taken in the scenery.

Note the road in the valley (upper-left) where we’re headed:

Now here’s where things got really sketchy … keep this photo in mind for later:

We had been tooling along these trails for hours – SST & I were commenting over & over how pristine this landscape was – the trail was great as well. Signs of use, but obviously seldom ridden – quite off the beaten path.

Hours from the nearest anything we found out why.

There was a clear go-around, but still we were a bit concerned about the private property, keep out, and danger signs. So we stopped to figure out what could be done.

The GPS is great, but it sure doesn’t tell you which little black lines are private property & which aren’t. We’d apparently stumbled into this area & by the time it was realized this was private land there was no “good” way to go. Every direction was private! We didn’t have enough fuel or daylight to retrace the route backward. Options were limited & it seemed the only choice was to continue on.

As SST & I waited the gap got a little long & we started to get a bit concerned. Sure enough, along comes Smoothy…

”Daniel got held up.”

We’re thinking delayed.

No.

Held up, as in gunpoint. By cowboys on horseback no less!

This is truly the wild west.

Soon enough he rolled in & recounted the story to us:

"Talk your way out of a ticket … talk your way out of getting shot …"

So remember that photo?

That was the last “leapfrog” spot I’d stopped to grab a photo before the nuttiness happened.

Oh … and almost forgot the “death by SuperEnduro” event that nearly took place when SST came back on the trail to hit a jump again … two LC8s heading toward each other, a blind crest, and 3” of clearance … good times.

Any rate, that’s Smoothy coming up the hill, he would stop at the corner where I was taking the photo from & wait for Daniel. Apparently the delay getting to that corner was a bit long as while Daniel was crossing the valley in the distance … two guys on horseback came out of nowhere & in a single motion, one of them was in front of Daniel, off his horse, with rifle in hand, aimed. The other rider was behind, positioned in like manner.

I’ll let Daniel chime in on this as he was there, but after being asked what the f*** we were doing on private land, and explaining we were simply lost & trying to get back to a road, the jist of the conversation went something like this:

”We could just leave your body here and no one would ever find it.”

We also learned that if you’re well connected enough, apparently murder investigations don’t go anywhere. Apparently one of the two guys was a hothead while the other was a bit more collected, that contrast was just what Daniel needed to successfully diffuse the situation & ride on – I’ll let him fill in the details.

Now the terrain on this portion of the ride was pretty tough to begin with – very rocky, some steep grades. Combine that with staring down a rifle barrel leaves one’s nerves pretty rattled – thus the crashes. Apparenetly Daniel took off to catch up with us after the encounter & in one of the nastier sections of trail, went clear over the bars. The fact that the Hepco-Becker crashbars were relocated about 3” back from their original mounting points & had an entirely new bend to them evidenced that something had been hit pretty hard.

In the end the whole group was reunited, and we continued on – turns out we were only about 10-15 miles from the exit of the private land and near a paved road.

Stopping for gas we met a couple locals while filling up. They were interested in the bikes and we got to talking while filling up. The encounter was described and these two knew the area. While surprised by the whole gunpoint thing, they had some far more serious concurs about the area we were in.

That area was once used for military storage/disposal.

There’s unexploded C4 all over the place that’s tough to differentiate from rocks.

All in a day’s ride.

After all the guns, explosives, and crashing was done, it was a nice ride up to lake Tahoe.

The next morning we all met up for a late start at a coffee shop in King’s Beach. Daniel was pretty rattled from yesterday’s craziness and decided to cut his trip short at this point & head back to Santa Barbera. Moreover, I happened to notice his brake lever was bent down & locked on! Amazing they didn’t boil over the previous day!

It was time to figure out how to bend the thing back!

Success!

And then there were three…

The rest of that day proved to be pretty mellow – Smoothy, SST, & I rode down to Reno to check out the BMW & KTM shops, grab lunch & head back.

The next day we took pavement from Tahoe up through Truckee and would again get back on the dirt just afterward.

This would prove to be some of the most scenic terrain of the trip IMO…

SST point out the trail of the Donner party, visible from the road:

Some fantastic fishing spots back in here…

Very active logging area – merits caution as these trucks are MOVING along the narrow unpaved mountain paths. Smoothy found this out

We stopped in Nevada City for lunch.

Then proceeded to Auburn where we would stay that night. No GPS necessary, Auburn is easy to get around:

At the KTM Rally a few days back we had met a rider who lives in Auburn – great guy who knew the area extremely well. Being an ex-pro motocrosser meant he could serious ride as well. There was no hesitation when he offered to show us around the area!

This is gold mining country – massive pits remain where giant water cannons carved away at the hillsides to get at the ore beneath. The land falling away is evidenced in some of the unusual root structures on the trees.

Some very intriguing towns are tucked away in the hills of the area. Only access to many of these places are 1-lane unpaved mountain roads.

This photo is from the Malakoff Diggings – millions in gold were removed from this area! Some of the water cannons are still in use – purely for educational/demonstration purposes. Area school kids will take field trips out here to learn the history of the area.

This valley was created by water cannon!

Not this one …

This marked the end of the ride proper … SST & Smoothy had flights to catch in San Francisco, and with many hours of daylight left, it made more sense for me to start heading south as I still had a long way to get home.

We snapped a quick photo of the final 3:

Then hit the superslab:

I had several hundred miles of pavement to make it back, so off came the helmet peak (Smoothy in the background):

I grabbed a hotel in Salinas that night & the editing of the photos began:

Next morning I had breakfast in San Luis Obispo at a combination coffee shop/bike shop – good food, interesting vehicles:

Back on the 101, the drive remained nice & scenic until reaching the fray of LA traffic.

Then, nine days and 2111.3 miles later, I rolled back to where I’d started from.

Click for online photo gallery of this trip.

Stay tuned ... next adventure is already in the planning stages ...

Adventures in chronology presents…

2007-06-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

The 2007 Baja 500 pre run posted post the Baja 500 post run.

The backwards reporting ain’t gonna end here … will be posting another report with photos pre-pre run photos. But that’s later … back to the present, um… past.

Prepping for Baja requires spending some time in the garage. Dustjunkie's lair:

This particular trip saw quite the spectrum of KTMs … I took the minibike (450 XC-W :thumb (!), Flyingo on the 625 race machine, & Dustjunkie trying out the 950 beast (pretty sure there will be a new addition to the stable over there soon :D).

We spent something like six hours in Ensenada riding around Canyon Dona Petra & getting stuck in new housing developments back there. DJ was running the GPS, so he probably has a better idea of what was going on … regardless, it was taco time when we finally rolled into Ojos…

Rolling on from there it was straight down Uruapan …

and over to the coast…

[Note the rider in this photo … upper left quadrant-ish…]

No place I’d rather be.

From there we hit the coastal dunes…

Flyingo:

Dustjunkie:

Me:

Flyingo getting the 950 unstuck:

This whole area is a pretty unique place to ride – not too many … scratch that, not any places in CA like this I can think of…

We made “camp” of sorts renting a house in Erendira.

This is “Bolo”. He pees brake fluid.
I’ll let the others chime in on that…

Next day more coastal playing with the crew:

Dustjunkie:

Flyingo:

And yours truly:

Dave eyeing the exit:

…and riding it out:

my go, different line:

Dustjunkie, yet another line:

Up the coast we were headed back up Uruapan, first the shortcut:

…then another shortcut:

Flyingo taking it all in…

Then it was up & over Uruapan … literally.

Dustjunkie:

Flyingo:

and the minibike:

And … the painting …

...eh?

Up next … the previous week’s ride …

Anytime you learn something new, it’s a good trip.

2007-06-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

[ Click any photo to see full-size version ]

Well, this was a really great trip in any case … aside from that sinking, disastrous feeling of impending doom.

Not sure where to begin – the past few weeks have seen several endeavours south of the border … the previous post on the Baja 500 offers some insight...

From this...

…to this…

…to this!

I was back down in Baja the week following the race to do the camera bike thing, and G.Kennedy + LKN4DRT were looking to do some training for upcoming race(s) … no better training opportunity than to run the 500 course the week after the race went through … plans do change, but that was the idea.

After packing up the 950, the next morning out came the 450.

I started the day with a quick 35-mile run into Ensenada to meet up with Glen & Russ for breakfast at San Nic. I was already noticing a relatively significant oil leak from the anerobic gasket material I tried out on the HT Cooler (fit isn’t perfect to the case – gap is too much for the anaerobic stuff to cure … more on that later).

We sat around at breakfast & discussed route selection, what trails we wanted to do. We knew there would be silt … but C’MON!. However-many-hundred Baja 500 entries plowing through this canyon did not improve things by any means…

We were 3 for 3 as far as going down in the stuff :D

LKN4DRT found silt & described it later.

A cattleguard for naught.

It was in this silt bed I realized two things – 1st I was leaking oil like crazy. 2nd the 450 was running horribly. I would later realize that sealing one’s airbox with silt does no good for a motor’s power.

After riding over the beginning portion of the course that ends up in Ojos Negros earlier, we made a quick stop at a parts store there in town & I picked up a bottle of oil to have handy, just in case, plus a roll of gasket materials & sealant – there was a project in mind for later in the day. Now that we had been through the nasty wash & fueled up in Trinidad, it was time to hit the road up toward Mike’s.

Glen had a sticker sent from out of state & specifically to bring down here…

More trails up near Mike’s:

Motors don’t run well like this (thank goodness for lithium grease & filter skins … the seal wasn’t broken & no silt on the inside of the filter…)

Now at this point it was only around 2-3pm. I had a project to get to work on, so the other two went out to get a bit more of the Mike’s loop in – I’ll let them chime in on that. I was busy with other things at the time…

The gasket came out great – shot a pic of the initial fitting before fine-tuning …

Building gaskets by the pool, everything was going swimmingly, until…

Really, really diffictult to attach oil lines without … bolts.

AND…

I learned that the longer of the two oil lines for the cooler is just shy of being able to connect the sump to the top end in an emergency like this.

Um…

Crap.

At least it all happened in a nice spot.

So I start scouring around for my options. Maybe there’s an old motor carcass with a banjo bolt that would fit a 2007 KTM ….

… or not.

Oil line won’t reach – that’s out.

About that time Russ & Glen rolled in & Russ was rummaging through my bolt pack & found the solution!

A bolt of just slightly smaller diameter than the inner diameter of the oil line ends … use the washers off the original banjo bolts, a little Teflon tape for the nut … and attach the two oil lines. On Glen's suggestion, we turned the motor over a few times with the new setup and the top oil jet removed … sure enough, good flow!

Oil cooler bypassed, bike was essentially back to stock! Given the extra amount held by the cooler, I didn’t even have to add any oil in spite of the leak!

Next morning we take off … I’d been shooting all the photos because Glen forgot his camera. Something about many of his cameras ending up like this after rides :D

I’d heard it was relatively hot up north of the border past few days … weather was perfect in Baja!

All the better when you have to remove stuff like this from your wheel…

Was a fun, educational trip. Next one coming soon!

From one event to the next...

2007-06-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

From last week...

To this morning...

PLUS...

For those of you that were in town last week for the 500 ... a new obstacle fell into place on highway 1 just outside of town the other day ...

... literally.

AND ...

no pics, but on the way back out of town, there was an MX event happening just outside of Guadelupe! This place has it all ...

2007 Baja 500

2007-06-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

This might prove to be a chronologically interesting post. First will come some info about the race that just took place last weekend ... then will most likely come a post-race training run over the course (a few days from now), following that will be the "prequels" of the 3-4 weeks of pre-running/prep leading up to the 500. So here goes...

The machines...

The men...

The madness...

The meeting...

My transportation...

First off – for those of you that think your bike stable is relatively complete, start saving up… :)

You might want to set aside something for a new tool roll too…

These guys had meetings discussing … well, going really really fast I suppose.

Probably no better way to run a new bike than with top mechanics & the bike’s designer there.

The team needed some welding & a couple small parts fabbed up – called a friend of mine in town & he came over with an employee who knew some local guys that could to TIG work – that’s Hans Trunkenpolz talking with Eddie & one of his employees about what needs to be done.

That name should be very familiar to most… here’s a hint just in case:
Kronreif, Trunkenpolz, Mattighofen

Eddie is a huge racing fan. For any long-time Baja people out there – his dad had a team way back that raced Edsels in the Baja 1000!

Don’t think this is him, but a cool photo of an Edsel in Baja nonetheless…

So … parts welded/made, the bike was ready to race.

Meanwhile, just across town …

Another team was prepping their gear. Flyingo!!! Setting up the comm. System in his helmet.

A few blocks away, Cyril Depres was doing the same.

I was out with these guys:

The Austrians were relaxing:

And 304x was getting bedded down:

Tomorrow was going to be an early start.

Actually, earlier than anyone expected…

Everyone probably got to bed a little later than would be considered wise – moot point. About 3 AM there was a huge crash just outside our window.

The noise of course woke us up … after a few moments of processing, Dave’s first words … “that’s not good!” summed up the situation. Based on the closeness of the sound there was a good chance someone had blown a corner & plowed through the parking lot, taking out vehicles & motos along the way…

Turns out is was a wrong turn, right in front of the hotel, just not into the parking lot.

Police were on scene really quick – EMT’s a bit later, fortunately it seemed all the occupants were relatively ok as far as we could tell. Between the crash, sirens, & general commotion that followed, there wasn’t much more sleep to be had.

Next morning Dave & chase crew headed out to their spot & I went to the start with Jake. This guy was already in place waiting:

Then 304x got set up.

Surfphoto wasn’t there just yet…

I went back to the start as the bikes got lined up.

After 304x took off, walking back the line & found Antonio with 421x:

And then they were off … I spent the rest of the day meeting with a few other teams around town, so no pics of the course … in fact next time the camera came out was for the relatively brutal border wait…

Just got back & already looking forwarded to going down again (leaving Friday… :)

A quick Baja run before ... a Baja run.

2007-04-05T10:56:00.000-07:00

Northern Baja pine forest.

Was planning on heading down to Baja for a week or so & working out of an office south of the border ... opportunity came up to do a quick overnighter with a buddy of mine.

Jason's an excellent rider ... good thing as the loosely planned route involved some decently challenging terrain.

This ride began with a very loose plan ... essentially we knew we wanted to head south.

Worked out great - ended up meeting people here & there on the trail and traded routes. Jason & I got separated at one point & he was pretty sure another group of riders had taken a turn we didn't - a trail I hadn't ridden in the past - so we went exploring. Later we met a group of guys that didn't know of the fuel stop in the forest, so we guided at that point.

Impromptu tour group getting fuel.

From there we followed the route down the "goat path" directly into Valle de Trinidad and up to Mike's Sky Ranch. Had a few mechanicals to take care of ... nothing major. I lost another blinker to the shaking of the trail and we both were in dire need of some air filter cleaning.

Next morning it was out the back way & over toward the racecourse...

View from the trail out - Mike's visible in the background.

...and straight to flat #1.

Which was right by a big tree & a water crossing...

Flat taken care of ... we were off.

...that is, until flat #2 happened a short time later (I also had a bit of a mechanical ... involving a cliff - but no photos of that :)

Jason's always smiling...

...even when his engine bolts are falling out :)

As we were making sure the motor would stay ... installed ... these guys came rolling in on another form of Baja transportation...

Mexican beer sticker on a Russian motorcycle...

Rolled out of there & made a quick stop at a friend of mine's office.

Then proceeded to make a quicker repair of flat #3.

Changing it was not really the best option as daylight was waning, we still had at least 50 or 60 miles to go, and both realized neither of our headlights were working... CO2 limped us to the border where the fix-a-flat goop was pumped into the tube for the last blast back to the truck.

One of the many rules of Baja ... a "little" trip is almost never a "little" adventure.

Crazy couple of weeks...

2007-04-04T12:43:00.000-07:00

Well this most recent trip went great. Last time was a beautiful trip to be sure, but it was nice on this most recent trip to not get snowed in for a couple days.

This time the weather couldn't have been better. About 16 days or so of riding through the hills of Copper Canyon & surrounding area...

Leaving today...

2007-03-05T06:41:00.000-08:00

Headed to Copper Canyon in a few hours. Should be a great ride with a TON of photographic opportunities. Not entire sure of the exact route yet other than the plan is to cross at Agua Prieta, go through CC, down to the Sea of Cortez, & back to Agua Prieta. What comes in between I'll try & post here as internet access allows...

"This seems like a good road..."

2007-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

The "Harry Wade Exit Route" is basically an unpaved freeway. Major thoroughfare. Countless trails heading off the sides of it. Some can be a bit confusing as there are signs on the Wade road to the effect of "driving permitted on roads only" - but no specification of which roads are permitted.

I came to what seemed like the correct turn - the first part of it was a little sketchy ... just a 2-track, but it then turned into a well-established path.

The path to destruction is paved with good intentions...

The the trail just stopped. Not faded ... stopped.

It sort of opened up into a wash area for a bit & I followed what seemed to be really old 2-tracks. Some seemed to start heading somewhere, others just turned out to be just the natural grain of the desert mountains - in any case, my track log started to look like a toddler's etch-a-sketch drawing...

"Jon to base, ?!?**?!! - over"

Continuing on I encountered remnants of these two-track paths & it seemed they were all chunks of what was once a road that went all the way through. Cool. This must be the way.

Or ... not.

Alright. Someone probably doesn't want me here. I can take a hint.

Lessse, I've got a cellphone with hires camera in it, digital camera, a couple notebooks, printed maps from the computer, and a GPS. Pretty much covered all the offenses listed I think. Next time I'll bring an easel & do some oil paintings.

Like I said ... I can take a hint ... but I'll take it later.

I'm sooooo close to the intended route, fuel is potentially an issue at this point, and I have little more than a vague idea where I am because I realize at this point my GPS is freaking out. Never seen it do anything like this. Regardless of what I set the map resolution & zoom to, the "local roads" won't display (!?) In fact, I notice nothing is displaying other than the 15 and airport names. Major cities, nothing. The "local roads" & placenames will appear for a split second when I zoom in & out, but then disappear & I'm left with a blank screen showing my tracklog & that's it.

The way points are still there & I'm only a couple miles from the next waypoint which should put me on "Irvine Road" or something like that. This is just a sign & didn't indicate in what direction the restricted area lay - I had to get out of there somehow & figured if there was SERIOUS danger there would be something more significant that words stuck to a post in the ground.

Sure enough ... there was something more...

This was killing me (no pun intended) - at this point I was just over a mile from the next waypoint & there was an easy go around on a bank to the the left of the barbed wire...

Let's think about this ...

I walked around the area for about 15 minutes debating the options & trying in vain to pull something useful off the GPS... I finally realized that sans, GPS I was essentially flying blind & even though I could get around this obstacle, I have no idea what lay ahead. Plus the signs all indicated there was live, unexploded ordinance all over the place...

Having never actually been blown up before, I don't have much insight as to the dangers of these places. I think the tipping point of the decision to turn around was a message I got from a friend yesterday who actually works as a specialist on a military bombing range ... some funny/scary stuff ...

Here's what he had to say...

So ... I turn around, & backtrack to the shoe tree instead...

A desert shoe tree:

Even though the intended route didn't work out - there was still plenty of opportunity for dirt riding ... just roll off the freeway & pick a direction...

Eventually I hit Baker & my GPS was still acting funny - frustrating as I didn't want to go exploring dirt roads in the waining light with no GPS...I've heard the powerline road connects Baker to just before Barstow but hadn't been on it before - given how the "exploring" of this area had gone so far I wasn't really confident to use the remaining daylight up hitting dead ends or fences ... reluctantly, I jumped on the 15 south...

But that didn't last long.

This is stupid. In the middle of the desert & I'm sitting in traffic? I could see powerlines in the distance ... lots of them. Anywhere with that many powerlines HAS to have a service road of some sort ... Unfortunately the 15 has barbed wire lining nearly the entire length between Baker & Barstow it seems & cutting it would be an offense of some sort I'm sure. BUT it doesn't line the entire length! There are breaks! The first break I came to become an offramp & headed across the desert toward powerlines & freedom.

All was not lost.

Eventually this road ended here - SUPER easy to find - it just deposits you right here a few miles from Barstow.

You can see the powerline (& road underneath them) heading over the hills in the distance.

Back on the freeway for the slab ride home. Being on the bike was the ONLY way to travel for this last leg ... something big happened on the northbound 15 & they had to land a helicopter on the freeway & park a fleet of emergency vehicles. The line of headlights from spectator slowing & backed up traffic could probably be seen from space...

...then things started to get interesting...

2007-02-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Left the "China Ranch" & continued on to Shoshone to fuel up. The pavement, while nice wasn't as appealing as the offroad scene out here...

Even the paved roads are nice...

But getting offroad is far better & there's plenty of opportunity to do that out here!

Now here is where things stated to get a little weird. After fueling up, the plan was to leave Shoshone & check out a route from there to Barstow. It would be possible to connect dirt nearly the entire distance by heading back out past Tecopa & hooking up with one of the washes that heads over to Dumont, but fuel was a concern as I didn't know how the route to Barstow would work out ... decided to simply shortcourse, by burning the first 15-20 miles of pavement over to Dumont before hooking up with the route.

Turns out this was the wise course of action...

The majestic Dumont Dunes in the distance...

Pulling off the highway is easy. Wide turn, there's even a stop sign & marker there. Can't miss it - just down the road from "Little Dumont". Pretty cool knowing this route saved a guy's family ... this crew was truly into hardcore trail exploration:

A short distance down this road is where things got weird...

Eventually...

2007-02-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

This trail dead-ended into a paved backroad.

The road continued on & climbed up over some mountains with a ton of mining activity going on.

Lunch stop on a Tuesday afternoon.

Just follow the powerlines to civilization...

...and then the pavement stopped...

2007-02-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

... but not quite where I expected.

The first turn off the pavement was fairly clear - relatively major intersection it seemed & a well-graded dirt road. The next turn however was a different story. The dirt road made a sharp right & the GPS indicated you should continue straight. Two deep wheel ruts when off in that direction, so I figured it must be the way. There were traces of a long-since abandoned road, but a road nonetheless. Eventually I saw a ranch in the distance & figured this much have been the old access road to the place.

After passing the ranch the road turned into a rocky/sandy path that showed signs of much use. The scenery just got better & better...

The scars of old mining activity are all over this landscape:

The ride started out good & went to amazing...

2007-02-22T12:32:00.000-08:00

The sunny & clear conditions outside the hotel were like a red cape to a bull ... just begging one to charge at the mountains beyond the city. Looking out from a high-rise makes the distant trails seem just that much closer. In short order, the 950 was loaded up & on the road. For this trip the only dirt planned was all west of the 15. However riding from Vegas toward Jean I stayed off the 15 & took the frontage road instead - there's a LOT of opportunity for trail riding out there!!! Next time, for sure.

At Jean the road cuts under the freeway & heads west toward Sandy Vally - again all paved, but nice pavement in any case. Dirt options do exist, but I had one day to complete this ride & the unknown up ahead let me to stick to the pavement for this portion of the ride ... found out later it was a good call...

Looking down toward Sandy Valley:

Just pick your trail & pull off the road:

...or pull off into the MX park:

Update to the "bomb" post... this one from an expert.

2007-02-20T22:24:00.000-08:00

I ... um, got a message.

It's from a friend of mine who is a specialist at a military bombing range.

He happened to see the photo of the "bombjumping" in the post below ("a new link is coming").

I may think twice before riding over these things again.

Here are his thoughts:

"Just because it didn't blow up when it hit the ground, doesn't mean it's not still loaded with explosives! I don't touch anything out here unless I know for certain it is not live. I watched a guy take his knife and pry a .50 calibur bullet from the unexpended case, and dump the gunpowder on the ground. Then went home and tapped the shell to set off the primer, and hurt one of his fingers in the process! And the bullet was 50 years old! Lethal radius for a bomb like that is around 100 ft. Anyone closer than that could likely die if it decided to blow!... Consider yourself fortunate!.. ;-) "

I'll have to share this info with my buddy Dave ... he was on the heavy bike that day :)

I mentioned I thought they were filled with concrete...

"Concrete is the usual filler material. You are right, probably safe, but you never know for sure unless you work with it all the time. Someone on one of our ranges needed to dispose of a couple hundred artillery rounds. He couldn't get permission to transport them, so he buried them with concrete. Made a patio outside his office by a fish pond. Everyone thought it was pretty cool. One day, something happened with the fish pond, and they needed to dig the patio up to fix the problem. Once the hoe operator saw there was ordinance buried there, he wouldn't work on it anymore. They had to excavate the area extra carefully, and found several live rounds buried with the dummies. "

Much improved...

2007-02-20T22:04:00.000-08:00

Rain was gone today - replaced by a hyper-sunny day. Sunny, but cold. Desert cold. The main reason for coming here on this particular date was that software presentation. 300 miles one way for a 3-hour meeting.

I'd been experiencing a bit of an oil leak on the bike. Nothing serious - the tank cap/dipstick thing was weeping. The rubber o-ring was still there, but perhaps worn from 17000+ miles of use. Following the conference I took some time to get a few errands done, one of which was finding a new rubber o-ring.

The guy at "Checkers" auto parts was awesome - showed up & explained what I was looking for. He brought out a large assortment of packaged o-rings - I carried in the dipstick on the bike for comparison & found one that fit perfectly. He gave it to me - no charge. Nice!

After replacing the thing in the parking lot, I took the bike for a quick spin to make sure the oil leak was indeed fixed & there wasn't anything else I might want to address before tomorrow's ride.

No more oil leak. Looks like everything is set for the great unknown tomorrow.

RAIN ... is gone :)

2007-02-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

The weather has improved dramatically. Today will be spent in meetings & working on the computer for the most part - maybe some local urban exploration as time allows. Planning on an early start tomorrow to scout the originally intended route. I'll be interesting to see what the weather did to the terrain.

Awoke to a view of the hills in the distance...

Beyond the bustle of the city, the trails await...

950 serving as commuter today ... trailblazer tomorrow...

RAIN!!

2007-02-19T15:43:00.000-08:00

Clouds may have silver linings, but deserts have ... something else.

Having a (very) short software meeting in Henderson, NV afforded me to scout a trail I've been meaning to check for sometime. Ironic traveling well over 600 miles for a 3-hour meeting, but if it serves a purpose why not? However ... if (at least) the first half of that ride is in blinding rain, that may provide a reason to ... not. The weather report said it was going to be raining on Monday, but living in southern California causes one to be generally skeptical about such predictions. "Dangerous driving conditions" read: overcast - that sort of thing. Sure enough, loading the bike up in the dark of the pre-dawn seemed to validate that theory - not a star out (cloudy) and very windy, but no rain. To be safe, I wrapped everything up in plastic bags before packing (laptop, clothes, notebooks...), but wasn't expecting much weather.

Bike warming up & ready to go:

The first 20 minutes of the ride were pretty nice ... until I reached the freeway. Then the rain started. "Every cloud has a silver lining" ... well maybe. But silver or not, the lining on these clouds was made of water. The Red Bull enduro-type jacket is NOT a rain jacket. I wasn't 30 minutes from home when the rain was coming down is sheets. Thick sheets. More like blocks. Visibility got to near zero, traffic was relatively light at that hour but slowed to a crawl. When I could feel the drops penetrating through my jacket, sweatshirt, riding jersey, t-shirt, and tanktop, I figured it was time to pull over & do something. Not a moment too soon, traffic was moving extremely slow at that point & another 50 yards up I could see why ... there was a small (but dedicated based on the amount of debris) group playing bumpercars on the 91 just up ahead.

After pulling off, I pulled out the rain gear from the backpack. Most effective raingear I've ever purchased - 55-gallon trash bags. Completely water/windproof, highly customizable fit, extremely easy to pack, and very inexpensive. I carved one up into a jersey & placed it under all the wet gear & over the dryest...ish layer I had on. Back on the road. Scratch that, back into the river. The whole time I had been pulled off the rain just came down harder & harder ... cloudburst. Pulling onto the freeway (diving into the freeway?) forced you to make quick assessments of weather or not the water in the slow lane would go over the hubs or not...

Raingear prep station:

Back on the road the visibility was really gnarly for a while, then improved noticeably. Still raining, but just rain. By the time Barstow came around however, I was a rolling sponge. Good time to find a truck stop, grab some breakfast & return a few calls while clothes & gloves spent some time in a dryer. Heck, I was tempted to crawl in the thing.

The JBM Barstow Field office:

The title mentioned cloud/desert linings ... despite the rain, after getting everything dried out, once back on the road it was really nice for a while. Still raining, but not very cold - downright nice with dry clothes again - and the desert really lets you know you're in the desert when it gets like this - 300 miles of intensely dramatic cloud cover over a vast open landscape perfumed with desert sage - think of riding to Mordor minus the Nazgul & with potpourri instead of burning sulfur...

The intended route took a detour here ... the original plan was to hit the dirt in the high desert & follow trails over to the destination in Nevada. The rain being what it was, I opted to avoid tackling the flash-floods on my own. Water could be seen flowing just off the freeway in spots! Just in case I pulled off the freeway to check the intended route & there was two clear paths set before me ... to the left was a black, streaked, foreboding sky with a strip of mud leading to a solo flight through an unknown path over the rain-soaked mountains ... and to the right, a rainy freeway.

Call it what you will ... I went right.

But hey ... I learned something new because of it. Crows know how to write in Nevada. They even tag gas station-rest stops.

The last 50-70 miles was great - black sky, but little rain. It eased up to the point that the outer jacket layer dried out a bit, & offered some wind protection for the inner layers once dry ... funny that you can actually feel things warming up in spite of the fact you're just riding longer. Finding the place was a snap - and they even had covered motorcycle parking! Pulled the bike in, and just after I snapped this pic, the sky opened up again...

The weather out here isn't showing any signs of letting up just yet, but the report shows sunny for tomorrow & partly cloudy for Wednesday. Given the schedule of the meetings, I'll probably give the trail a shot, in reverse, on Wednesday & hopefully have some brighter photos...

New link coming soon!

2007-02-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

Will be adding photos of "Bomb Riding Along the Bradshaw Trail" before long ... taking off on a solo ride towards Henderson, Nevada in the morning & will probably be posting the previous ride while on this new ride... Weather is looking a little sketchy - should make for an interesting, interstate ride tomorrow :) ...

Here's a quick preview of the Bradshaw bomb-post:

Lucerne Riding Clinic!

2007-02-18T18:55:00.000-08:00

Absolutely perfect weather, uncrowded conditions, and a wide range of adventure bikes made for a great day!

A more extensive photo gallery is online here: Lucerne Riding Clinic 1-20-07

Launch of JonBeckMoto!

2007-02-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

It's live!

This corner of the web is intended to promote adventure motorcycle touring!