900 Miles On a Borrowed KTM 950 ADV

[WoodsChick]

Still unable to ride due to a broken shoulder, we copped a ride on Slackmeyer's mighty KTM 950 for the New Years weekend. Our garage was kinda like the Motorcycle Lending Library for a few days. Thursday afternoon our buddy Mark picked up Eric's KTM LC4 640SM and took it home to Patterson. Thursday night my friend David dropped off Eric's TE610 and we reluctantly handed over his sparkly-clean Super Tenere after a week of blissful 2-up action. Friday night Zak dropped off his 950 for us and then rode away on my SM610, only to return at 6am Saturday morning to begin our long weekend together.

The plan was to leave Oakland at 6am and hook up with Mark on the LC4 down in Paso Robles. Eric was enjoying the 950 (except for the seat) and I was quite comfy and happy in the pillion spot. Things were humming along nicely...for about 30 minutes or so. Zak started getting small in the rearview mirror and soon he was pulled over on the side of the highway. Seems that my case saver had come off and was jammed in between the chain and the foot peg...

Ironically enough, my case saver broke my case...

No problem, we just threw the case saver in the tank bag and away we went.


Well, not so fast...a few minutes later Zak is on the side of the highway once again...

Dang...

What's missing in this photo?.

I'll give you a hint...

In the pre-dawn darkness we hadn't noticed that when the case saver came off it chewed up the chain pretty good. I think there were about 4 broken links on it. Again, no big deal. We got it off the highway and Eric rode back to the house to get the chain off his TE610. It didn't take them long to replace it...

We were on the road by 8:30 or so, only a few hours behind. Hard to believe I had almost 12,000 trouble-free miles on the 610...it has never let me down once...and we hadn't gotten 45 miles from home before Zak had to deal with two issues on the side of the road. Well, one issue, really, since one was the result of the other, and neither one attributable to any stock Husky part, but still...I felt bad for him. I would have felt worse had I known then that it wasn't going to be the last issue

We hooked up with Mark on the LC4 in Paso Robles, had a fine breakfast and gassed up the bikes...

We were behind schedule, but the promise of the long weekend stretched out before us. We headed south through the pea soup fog towards the Carrizo Plain to greet that promise head-on.


More on the way...




WoodsChick

 

[rodr]

Ooooh, Carrizo...

 

[WoodsChick]

Ooooh, Carrizo...

Well, don't get too excited...we weren't on the Plain long...and half the time we were there it was pitch dark




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

We had tentatively planned on stopping in Santa Margarita and dropping off all our stuff before hitting the Plain. Our friends Bill and Monica have a place there and had generously given us the keys for the weekend. They even went so far as to tell us where the good scotch and keys to the tractor were located
Because of the delays caused by the 610 we decided to eschew stopping and instead made a rather frisky bee-line towards the Plain on the hyper-fun Hwy 58. I think it's safe to say Mark and Zak were getting comfortable on their respective loaners.

Eric and I made 4 or 5 trips down to the Carrizo Plain earlier in the year, the first one being in early January. It was stunning. Verdant green, clear blue skies...just lovely. This time, it was as if she hadn't known we were coming and just shuffled to the door to greet us in her bathrobe and curlers, cigarette in one hand and beer in the other...

Don't get me wrong...it's still one of my favorite places in all of California, and I was ecstatic to be closing out the year on New Years Eve here...but the landscape is so much more aesthetically pleasing when there is color and depth and moisture. Still and all, we had fun blasting down Elkhorn Road, thereby avoiding the dense fog that was hanging out on the western edge of the plain...

Someone must have thought it a good idea to drive a bread truck through the plain. Someone else must have thought it a good idea to tow said bread truck off the plain. Apparently this is how that idea turned out...

Mark and Zak employing a successful dust management plan...

Unable to ride myself, I'd have to say that riding pillion on the big 950 was a great substitute...

Eric was certainly getting along well with the big KTM...

And I think Zak and Mark were digging the supermoto action. They switched bikes shortly after this was taken...

With the day dramatically shortened, we decided to continue heading south to Cerro Noroeste Road through the Los padres National Forest. There was a trail there that we had bypassed last time through and we wanted to hit it up before the sun went down. This road is usually closed in winter but it's been so mild and dry this year that if felt like a late spring day...

Normally on a ride I stop and take photos of whatever looks interesting to me. I was at the mercy of Eric on this ride and he stops for nothing. Consequently, most of my photos either have the front end of the KTM or my helmet and pigtail in it. Sorry about that. Trust me, dear reader, it's much more annoying to me than it is to you. Anyway, it was beautiful up on the ridge and I did manage to get Eric to slow down enough for me to actually get a photo of the scenery...

Zak getting ready to turn down Quatal Canyon Road...

It was a beautiful time of day to be headed down the canyon, although we'd pay dearly for that fancy bit of timing a little later on...

I'm pretty sure that trail crosses the road around the next bend...


More later




WoodsChick

 

[Cereal KLR]

Just as I was looking this over, my friend calls and says "Early May, three lower States!" I tell him I wanna go to Carrizo Plains along the way, done.

Thanks again WoodsFolks, you continue to educate and motivate the great unwashed. Will there be a hot springs report on this trip, a Woodschick trademark?

 

[Ironbutt]

Woodschick.. so awesome..900 miles pillon w/ a broken shoulder..

 

[rodr]

Nice! Which of those pics are Elkhorn Road?

 

[budman]

Woodschick for president!

Love this.stuff and props on not just staying. couchside.

 

[flying_hun]

3:08 AM?

 

[WoodsChick]

Just as I was looking this over, my friend calls and says "Early May, three lower States!" I tell him I wanna go to Carrizo Plains along the way, done.

Thanks again WoodsFolks, you continue to educate and motivate the great unwashed. Will there be a hot springs report on this trip, a Woodschick trademark?

Thanks, Killer. No, no hot springs action on this trip...although it wasn't for lack of trying on my part. I even told Slackmeyer to bring some swim trunks because it was in my plans all along. I might be going back down in March for my birthday, though, and I will not be denied again

Woodschick.. so awesome..900 miles pillon w/ a broken shoulder..

Well, it sure as hell beats the alternative, which is sitting home picking my nose while everyone else goes out and has fun I had way more fun than any passenger has a right to, that's for sure arty

Nice! Which of those pics are Elkhorn Road?

Hey, rodr! The first 6 photos in post #4 are Elkhorn Rd., but there's a lot more to it than what is pictured. You could spend days out there riding all the little roads and spurs and still not see it all. I know, because we've spent many days doing just that and I still haven't seen enough. This is what it looked like last January...

WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Woodschick for president!

Love this.stuff and props on not just staying. couchside.

You couldn't pay me enough to take that thankless job!

And, really...I'm telling you...this could be a long weekend for you. I'm waiting for the day I read your Carrizo Plain ride report!

3:08 AM?

Yeah, I know...kinda harsh, huh? Well, I had plans to ride into work this morning for the first time in, like...73 days, and I was way too excited to sleep I'd prepped the 610 the night before, had all my gear laid out...I felt like a little kid on Christmas morning! I wanted to leave a little earlier than usual, too, since I wanted my commute to be as traffic-free as possible. Anyway, with an hour to kill I figured I could use that time to knock out a photo-filled post, since that's usually about how long it takes me to put one together. I had a gloriously liberating morning and a gloriously rippin' afternoon. Damn, I love that bike...




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Eric and I had come across a trail on this road the last time we were out here, but for some reason we didn't take it, saying we'd catch it the next time around. That "next time" was now...

It was a little rockier than I'd have preferred since I had my camera in my good hand and wasn't really able to hold on that well with my other hand...

It eventually turned into a really nice little ribbon of single track...

We were holding up the supermotos so we had to let them by...

Uh-oh...ice. Good thing it's not on the trail...

Crap...

That wasn't bad at all...

What's weird is it was a really nice day yet there was no moisture on the edges of the ice. No mud or anything...it was frozen solid...

Here's a nice little slice of comedy Please forgive my language. Also, be kind: I was using my hand-held camera, mostly using both hands to keep it steady while trying my best to maintain some semblance of contact with the bike and Eric...
[youtube]-XyOYpp41Lg[/youtube]

The trail just kind of spilled out into a wash that went on for miles and miles...

More in a minute...




WoodsChick

 

[slackmeyer]

Now we're gettin to the good stuff. . . . . .

 

[WoodsChick]

The end of our ride in the wash...
[youtube]M-G4ev2FxE0[/youtube]

It was time to start heading north to the Carrizo Plain.
These clouds looked just like angel wings to me...

Adjusting the LC4 headlight for the long, dark and cold ride back to Santa Margarita through the Carrizo Plain...

It's 6:10pm in the waning hours of 2011 and the boys are ready to go...

We rode north on Hwy 33 and then went though the Plain.
It was pitch-dark and fuh-fuh-fuh-freezing through there! We stopped at the KCL campground to pee and thaw out a little. A few campers were cranking' out some serious campfire action and I longed to pull up a chair and the flask of scotch. It was not to be. We wanted to get back to town and find someplace to eat. It seemed like it took forever to get back to town, and Santa Margarita was buttoned up tight for the holiday when we got there. We headed down the grade...the incredibly gusty windy grade...into balmy San Luis Obispo and stopped to eat at the first place we came to, which was the Apple Farm. The food and drink was hot so I'm counting our dinner a success

We got back to our palatial digs and fired up the wood stove. I had a great time the rest of the evening, just sitting in front of the fire enjoying the company of friends and reliving the fine day we'd just experienced. We did some reminiscing about all the great times we had in 2011, and made plans to continue the trend in 2012 the next morning. Happy New Year, indeed arty



More to come...




WoodsChick

 

[WoodsChick]

Now we're gettin to the good stuff. . . . . .

Feel free to chime in with your comments and observations, Zak!
It's your ride report, too!




WoodsChick

 

[battlevision]

super cool video and pics. More GC for the Tenere? How much is stuff selling for in Santa Margarita?

 

[WoodsChick]

super cool video and pics. More GC for the Tenere? How much is stuff selling for in Santa Margarita?

Hey! Nice to see you here!


GC=ground clearance?

When Bill and Monica got their place in Santa Margarita it was attainable. It's pretty pricey now. I love that area, though. I'd probably live there if I could make the same amount of money that I make in SF.




WoodsChick

 

[flying_hun]

@ the video commentary!

 

[slackmeyer]

Feel free to chime in with your comments and observations, Zak!
It's your ride report, too!




WoodsChick

Hmmm, not sure if I have much to add. You seem to be doing just fine.

Well, except that- damn that husky looks like a small bike. Either that, or I must be huge. And I'm pretty sure that's not it.

Glad you liked the 950, I love it. I just got the shock back on it, waiting for a few other parts before I get out and flog it some more.

 

[mnb]

What road is that nifty trail off of?