Bay Area Adventure Riders Club

Damn, Rob...!! I'm glad you're at 90% instead of 0%. Sounds like a tough deal all the way around


SadButHappyAtTheSameTimeChick

....... Thanks, an event like that definitely puts things in perspective and if I hear one more non-riding type tell me I'm old enough to know better than to get on a dirt bike I might go Postal from my PTSD....

Anyway... headed here this weekend... come on out!!!

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/fuzzy-beaver-2017-9-28-10-1.1217209/

Had a chance to work in a quick get away to the Nevada desert last weekend. Once a year members of the Western Pyrotechnic Association get together where it is quiet, and no one cares much what they do, for an event called "DoIt". Members spend 5 days building what ever evil pyro concoctions they have been dreaming up over the previous year. I had business with the BoD and decided to load up the bike and try and complete the trip that was abruptly ended last year by some loose sand and gravel. Mammoth ER is very pretty this time of year.

Got a late start out of the Bay Area Friday, and my Google Maps were all lit up red-like....decided it was wise to bolt over Mt Hamilton and take the scenic route. Didnt stop to take any photos as I was running late and I dont like hustling through the hills at dusk when animals are up and about. By Patterson, it was dark. It was also unseasonably cold. I had planned to make my first stop up high above Kennedy Meadows. I wanted to be able to make good time early Saturday morning and stop at Bodie for lunch. By Sonora the temps were down in the low 40's and it was looking to be a long stretch into camp that night. Made it in at 11:30.....Snot-cicles, numb hands, and a sheet of ice over my front end and windscreen. Set up a quick camp and jump in the good ole North Face 0 deg down bag and tried to get my core temperature back. Really glad I took advantage of the North Face lifetime offer to refill your down bag when it loses loft. Just got it back and it was dreamy.



Was up early, waiting for a partner to arrive by 9 AM to join up and depart. Little bit of coffee and some Makers and I was ready to pack down



Did I say it was cold?

So cold it made your left turn signal go belly up.....

10 AM and still no Travis....Need to get moving if I am going to keep the schedule. Still very little sun and lots of miles before I crest the summit. Over a foot of snow fell late Thursday night, and from the looks of it, none had melted off. Temps were showing low 20's and I was ill prepared for the next 40 miles. So badly I wanted top take pics of the summit, but my hands wouldn't cooperate, and my mood had deteriorated dramatically by that time.






The good thing about the summit is it passed me over to the East slope where there actually was some sun...Not that it help a whole lot, the damage was done. I pulled over at the bottom of 108 where it joins 395 to use my portable hand warmer (exhaust pipe) and have a slug of luke warm coffee. At least the view was nice. A few more miles into Bridgeport and I could gas up, warm up and air down....

Took a short break at the Shell station in Bridgeport and chatted up some other adventure travelers. Looked at some fancy Big BMW's and some Blue collar XR grunt bikes. Dropped the front to 18 and the rear to 20 and hit the dirt
.

Had to stop and pay homage to the simple little S than ended last years trip. Looks so innocent.......



Quick lunch in Bodie, more adventure bikes, and it was time to hit it out to Hawthorne via Bodie/Lucky Boy Pass.




The long stretch into town

Final resting place in Hawthorne, WPA DoIt.... It really is like an Aspergers convention. An odd collection of financiers, tech-geeks, chemists, shut-ins, and rocket scientists....yes rocket scientists.... Building beautiful explosive art.





And who could ignore the BFR (Big F'n Rocket). Fully ATF and FAA approved.....

Oh man did I get Deja Vu reading your ride report lol I remember having that same thought running through my mind after wandering down off of Mt Fillmore on some very vague single track and being happy to finally pop out onto Poker Flat rd...... that happiness lasted 30 seconds before starting down the pinball machine rd!! I distinctly remember thinking uh oh then it started pouring rain thanks for the laughs and knowing I'm not the only sucker to lose a hand to the dealer

I was there maybe week before you doing very loose interpretation of the PCQ

Glad you enjoyed the report! I like the way you put that, made me laugh too

ASK ME ABOUT MY CALMOTO/LIVERMORE BMW Dealership experience... P/M me for all the gory details...

you should just post it here

it ain't purty.

Let’s see the BMW dealer experience

Didn’t you realize they all do that!
Ready for the PM

Arright I'll bite!

I'm driving up to Serramonte tomorrow to get a screaming deal on a new Outback!
I hope it turns out half as good as your deal.
Stay tuned and...

... got down to Williams Hill, Carrizo Plain
and the BLM campsites on Coalinga Road
in a four-day loop last weekend ...



sfcootz’ pic from Williams Hill ...



... our camp fire on
Williams Hill ... the lights
are Jolon ...





... views from the Temblor Range, north of Hurricane Road ...



... and here is a click-n-zoom map
of our route, more or less ...

... if you zoom in using satellite view on the three-way intersection
at Williams Hill you can see the dirt road north
that we took, and the kind of hill-top maze just
by the quarry cut where we camped the first night ...
only maybe a mile from Lockwood-San Ardo Road ...

... the Williams Hill watch tower/cell phone towers are
to the south of the three way intersection ...

... and you can see our satellite spot in Carrizo Plain ...

see you around
the campfire,
— SFMCjohn

Awesome ride John!
Thanks for sharing.
What percentage of this was dirt?
I have a new Husky 701 that needs to stretch it's legs :)

I'm guessing under 15% of this 650 mile loop is dirt ...
really just a winter-time dual-sport ride ...

... one way dirt between Lockwood and San Ardo ...
... in-and-out dirt along Elkhorn Road to Hurricane Road and back to Hwy 58 ...
... one-way dirt over Parkfield Grade ...
... maybe less than 100 miles of graded dirt road, and of that maybe 10 miles
of reasonably unmaintained dirt on Hurricane Ridge ...

... guess I try to do this loop or some variation every "winter" ...

... from Williams Hill you can get to the dirt on Coast Ridge and Old Coast Road
from Nacimiento-Fergusson Road
pretty easy, and Clear Creek is in that
part of the world if you can deal with getting the gate combination from the BLM ...
Hollister OHV Park, too ...

... I have an about 800 mile fireroad dirt loop I've been doing the
last couple of years in August (hot!) with the BARF Weaverville Rally
through the Mendo Ntnl Forest south to north and back ... think I
usually post up that I'll be on Anthony Peak on the Wednesday before ...

The 701 is an awesome bike and there's a fair amount of goaty-road
that we enjoyed this past weekend ... I'm sure other
people may think of some winter dirt I'm not familiar with ...
I imagine you know about most of this stuff already ...