The Chronicles of a Moe.ron

Rock on Chris. Looks fantastic man.

Thanks Garrett!! Will have some more stuff after tomorrow I hope

see you chris in ojai @ 8am. emporium cafe. look for 30 bikes or so.

bring brian along.

Lonestar said 0930? Looks like we are playing catch up

Go earlier if you want Chris.

Torx friggin suck!

Great pictures!! Between the dirt and ice, I'd say you've broken your offroadhymen. Well done and keep em coming!!!
-T

You ain't getting out of this ride that easy moe.ron!

Thanks for tuning in

Got me some of them there beefy ass crash bars in the mail last!!!!



Lets go test these fuckers!!!

I am going to leave the story telling and ride reporting to Chris, he is far better at it. He also has the better pics and videos. However, here are a few I took.

By my clock we did 368.2 miles, I am not sure how much of that was off the pavement, but I am going to guess somewhere between 75-100 miles, sure friggin felt like it anyway! That included 2 moving get offs, one pretty soft, the other not so much.

For me, yesterdays ride was epic, there were a lot of firsts, today I am a different person, and very sore!


















View My Video

<embed width="440" height="420" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://v6.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=65powz&s=6"><br><font size="1"><a href="http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=65powz&s=6">Original Video</a> - More videos at <a href="http://tinypic.com">TinyPic</a></font>

That was a fun little section

Will get some words and pics up in the mornin, we have guest from VA in now.

Part Three (Day of First)​

Moe.ron&#8217;s life was forever altered Saturday.



We were to ride Quatal Canyon Road to Cerro Noroeste Road down to Maricopa, on to Elkhorn Road through Carrizo Plain to 58 to Pozo and finally home via Hi-Mountain Road. A big, long dual sport loop with absolutely everything you could ask for.



Of course it all starts as many of our rides in this land do&#8230;fast, twisting tarmac of Route 33 from Ojai to Ventucopa.



We had to leave a little late that morning due to moe.ron&#8217;s commitments, but it was all good. I was confident we could catch up to the large group of Adventure Riders that were in the area for a ride and camp in Pozo. The flag man at a road work zone asked if we were with &#8220;the BMW club&#8221; of 30 or so bikes, we said &#8220; We are trying to be&#8221; He said we were 30 minutes behind them and there was no way we would catch em.



Well&#8230;we pushed it pretty hard through the ascents and descents of the Los Padres. My plan was to skip Quatal Canyon and head straight to Maricopa; sure I would find some bikes fueling up. Now, as we motored along the flat straight into Ventucopa I spotted a line of bikes making way down Quatal Canyon! We had found the pack.



Moe.ron&#8217;s life was about to change&#8230; both of us oblivious to this as we spun around to get on to Q-Canyon Rd&#8230;.His life will now be known in two distinctly different parts&#8230;Life Before Q-Canyon and Life After Q-Canyon&#8230;
We shut down, drained our bladders and prepared to get down this seemingly innocent stretch of dirt road&#8230;.the only advice I gave was about the drop outs I found the first time I came down it&#8230;the road drops away suddenly when traveling with excessive speed and in the bottom of these drop outs are 1-2&#8217; crevices that will tear your fucking heart out if you are not ready for em&#8230;so, be on your toes!



The first bits of road are roughed up pavement till you get past the quarry, then its NF dirt road going up the mountain. The dirt started easy enough, no big deals, nothing too crazy, I tried to remember which drop outs contained the soul sucking crevices and which I could launch a bit off of&#8230;.then we caught up&#8230;met some of the fellas, made a couple quick intros to guys I have seen and read for years on this site.







Great to finally meet y&#8217;all!!





Shortly before we met up with the fellas I noticed the road was beginning to change...it was getting wet and with the wet was the mud&#8230;slipping, sliding, mud&#8230;like owl shit on a brass door knob, this stuff was slick.



We had a lot of cold weather with snow during the nights out here over the last few weeks and now with some nice warm temps, we had a perfect recipe for a good ole fashion quagmire.

The farther we got up the mountain the more we ran into ice and snow mixed with mud. Not much different from my ride last weekend above SB, only this time I had 20-25 bikes in front of me and the temps were wonderful.

The trickiest or at least most intimidating portion was a solid ice climb that required some fancy throttle control and finesse. Some folks had problems, but for the most part it was smooth operations. Lots of guys dismounted and helped to catch folks if an issue arouse&#8230;.everyone in it together, I like that.



Moe.ron was doing fucking outstanding at this point, but I was a little nervous for him..we walked down to our bikes as our turn to try the climb approached... I think he wanted to discuss technique and gear selection theory for a bit&#8230;I figured it might be best to not think about and just go&#8230;just go&#8230;ride the bike up the fucking hill, don&#8217;t nuke it out&#8230;just go&#8230;.I told him I am going up in second and using the clutch to control my speed&#8230;.just go, don&#8217;t think, just go.


And go he did!! No problemoe.
.
​

Damn it, don't stop now......

Part Three.b

I was so proud of moe.ron when we finally made it to the top of Q-Canyon…I felt like a proud father….I had made a little dirty moe.ron baby …he had ridden well above what we both believed to his limit..mud, snow, ice on street tires.



I honestly had fears that he would quit or fall to exhaustion when we reached the summit, I assured him that was the hardest piece of terra not so firma we would tackle today…it wasn’t so… he just asked “Which way next?”


On to Cerro Noroeste Rd to 33 to Maricopa..very nice sweepers with some great vistas, this day however you had better have your eagle eyes in and spider senses tuned to ice…there was water seeping from the roadways and it was icing over everywhere there was shade.

Fueled in Maricopa and up on to Elkhorn Grade…this was a cake walk compared to what moe. had just been through and I think he was feeling great at this point. Confidence was beginning to soar and why shouldn’t it. He just traversed some sketchy roadways with no drop and relatively little trouble on his second ride off the pavement.






Ahhhhh….wide open Carrizo Plain…I love it out here…







F798 took a little dirt nap and the Alt-Rider bars worked great!










Memorable quote for the day:
"I can't believe I am riding 60mph on dirt, I am the guy that wouldn't ride across a gravel parking lot" moe.ron


On to POZO

​

Moe.ron decided to once again test his new crash bars going from 58 onto Pozo...pea gravel, same color as the road, can be as dangerous as the black ice. Again no damage other than scratches and a bent shift lever.

I'll let him elaborate on that tail if he wishes.


Beauty of a scene to take a break at though...glad you weren't hurt brother Moe. ​

FUCKIN' OW! I was really lucky, never saw it coming, bike slid right out from under me, I was doing 30 MPH or so.

I was mad as hell too, I was feeling pretty proud of myself at this point, like I just rode Dakar or something, only to be wiped out by a little gravel making a left off the highway, WTF!!

My whole body hurt, got a bit of bruising on my arm, leg, and my side is sore as hell but feeling much better. All I remember is my head bouncing off the pavement. Shoei rocks!

I dont know if this makes sense or not but I am not nearly as afraid of crashing as much as before. I would still prefer not to do it again for a while though.

Hosed the mud off the bike, my shifter is the right shape again. Lets go!!

Oh, a big thanks for the guys that helped pick me and my bike up off the road!

More to follow, please stand by...

"It's 40 miles of pavement or 20 miles of dirt" "We will just take the pavement"

"Fuck that! I'm no quitter, take the dirt" :huh

OK

I knew moe. was hurtin, but I will not ever deny someone of a growth experience

20 slow miles later, we arrived at hot chow






no food pics, it didn't last long

150 of hiway droning to home, we skipped hi-mountain due to time constraints and we don't even know if it was open

till next time...cheers

​

Nice to meet the both of you. Moe you are an animal!

Good knee guards and upper body armor help a lot when your confidence out runs your skill level, ask me how I know