Adventure riding short rides and BS thread

[WoodsChick]

No tent? No air mattress? No generator & big screen tv? How'd you manage?
Can't wait fer the rest.

I know That looks like the Slackmeyer Sheraton, alright

After almost stepping on a scorpion in the desert, I'm a tent kinda gal, for sure. That is, when I'm not slumbering in my Pleasure-Way in my king-size bed with 3" tempurpedic mattress topper, down comforter and LCD TV with SurroundSound and shower. It was chilly on Saturday morning...31 degrees out...I kinda shivered a little as I got up to turn the heater on and get the coffee brewing. It was rough...




WoodsChick

 

[slackmeyer]

Alright, Carrizo plain here we come:
Started out with a BARF ride to check out hwy 25:

Headed over Parkfield Grade to Parkfield, had a soda at the cafe and ate my sandwich before heading on.

I got down to hwy 41/46, and found that I was going to have to head over to 101 to get gas before I headed out to Carrizo plain. I made lemonade out of those lemons though, I took Hwy 41 to Atascadero, and then 229 to 58 out to Carrizo- fantastic roads:

The yellow flowers are out in Carrizo, it's still a bit early for oranges and purples. I think peak is still a week or two away.

 

[WoodsChick]

Yay!! More, please!

I've ridden 58 from Santa Margarita to the Plain and it was a huge ball o' fun!




WoodsChick

 

[slackmeyer]

By the way, sorry about the orange blotch on the right side of my pictures. I smacked a bug early on in the ride, and didn't notice until I got home. One of the hazards of taking photos while riding, I guess.

Anyway-
I had no desire to get a 500 lb bike stuck in a mud bog, while riding by myself. Been there, done that, etc, etc.
So I avoided this:

And turned around here, on caliente ridge:

I decided that I'd be better off exploring the east side of the valley, so after a couple false starts, I found a track across.

On Elkhorn road (the main road on the east side):

Totem to something near my campsite:

Camp, off of a little dirt road off of elkhorn:

 

[slackmeyer]

Next morning, after a light rain at night, I woke to find my tarp covered with ice. I thought southern california was supposed to be warm all the time?

It warmed up soon enough, I stuck around to catch some rays before I took off again.

Not sure what this is, some kind of aster, I guess:

Some kind of waterleaf: (I used to know this kind of stuff, but I'm from washington, and I don't know much about california yet)

Heading over Hurricane ridge to Taft, to get gas, and then loop around to the south end of Elkhorn:

One last photo from Carrizo- up a fun side road off of the south end of Elkhorn. Wish I had time to ride along the ridge from here, I think you must have taken some of your pics from up there Woodschick.

But my wife was doing a ride of her own this weekend, a 400 kilometer bicycle ride, and I wanted to get home to make her dinner. So I took some more good roads north to home.

Bitterwater road:

From there, I backtracked through parkfield, to coalinga, and los gatos/old coalinga up to 25, and then into the bay area. Fun weekend, I've still got lots of exploring to do in Carrizo though.

zak

 

[WoodsChick]

]

One last photo from Carrizo- up a fun side road off of the south end of Elkhorn. Wish I had time to ride along the ridge from here, I think you must have taken some of your pics from up there Woodschick.

zak

Yep, I recognize that road. We rode it from the very southern end of Elkhorn where your photo was taken all the way to Hurricane. Incredibly fun road, but I wouldn't want to do some of those loose uphills and downhills on anything bigger than what I was on. Maybe with knobbies, but still...

I've spent a grand total of 5 days riding the Plain itself and it hasn't been nearly enough. That whole area has a lot to offer, whether it's high-speed pavement, goaty roads, dirt roads, trails, mind-blowing scenery...it just never ends down there.

Oh, and sorry about the snow and rain. The weather was stellar in the MNF for us But I was right about Goat Mt...couldn't get near it due to snow. Good thing we didn't bet...you'd owe me about $24.38




WoodsChick

 

[slackmeyer]

Yep, I recognize that road. We rode it from the very southern end of Elkhorn where your photo was taken all the way to Hurricane. Incredibly fun road, but I wouldn't want to do some of those loose uphills and downhills on anything bigger than what I was on. Maybe with knobbies, but still...

I've spent a grand total of 5 days riding the Plain itself and it hasn't been nearly enough. That whole area has a lot to offer, whether it's high-speed pavement, goaty roads, dirt roads, trails, mind-blowing scenery...it just never ends down there.

Oh, and sorry about the snow and rain. The weather was stellar in the MNF for us But I was right about Goat Mt...couldn't get near it due to snow. Good thing we didn't bet...you'd owe me about $24.38




WoodsChick

Yeah, that's what I figured about Goat Mt. What a late year for the snow. I'm itching to get up in the mts., but what I should be doing is planning another trip down to Carrizo later this month.

I had a TKC on the front of the bike, which is kind of a knobby, but my rear tire is mostly a street tire. There was a lot of wheelspin involved in getting up to the place where I took the photo. There would be a lot more roads to check out on a smaller bike there. Right behind my campsite, there was one tricky hillclimb and then a bit more road up to the ridge road.

Well, maybe next time I'll be on something slightly smaller.

zak

 

[rockydog]

great pics and route gusto, slackmeister, and sorry i couldn't make lanesplitter. it was a hard call but went to the independent to see a 22 young belgian women sing. Scala and the Kolacny bros, check em out on utube. they do the Creep soundtrack behind the social networking trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4

woodschick , reserve me a spot for next time..

stephen

 

[WoodsChick]

great pics and route gusto, slackmeister, and sorry i couldn't make lanesplitter. it was a hard call but went to the independent to see a 22 young belgian women sing. Scala and the Kolacny bros, check em out on utube. they do the Creep soundtrack behind the social networking trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lB95KLmpLR4

woodschick , reserve me a spot for next time..

stephen

Will do!




WC

 

[flying_hun]

Great adventure and pics, Zak!

Is your wife in the process of qualifying for PBP?

Where in Washington? I spent most of my misspent yute there.

 

[slackmeyer]

Great adventure and pics, Zak!

Is your wife in the process of qualifying for PBP?

Where in Washington? I spent most of my misspent yute there.

Thanks! That ride down 25 gave me the final push to head south last weekend.

My wife isn't working on qualifying for the PBP this year, and she's not sure she's interested in something that long- she enjoys the 200 mile rides, but she's not that into the all nighters that it takes to do 400k+.

I'm from Cashmere, washington actually- right smack dab in the middle of the state. I get back up there a couple times a year, in the summer on the motorcycle. Here's a picture from a few miles behind my dad's house:

zak

 

[flying_hun]

Nice. Maybe we can ride up that way some time. I'm from over near Black Diamond in King County. I'm sure we can string together some sort of adventure ride up that way. Maybe a BARF adventure rally.

In the meantime, have you read "East of the Mountains" by David Guterson? Should be good reading for a Cashmere boy.

 

[slackmeyer]

Nice. Maybe we can ride up that way some time. I'm from over near Black Diamond in King County. I'm sure we can string together some sort of adventure ride up that way. Maybe a BARF adventure rally.

In the meantime, have you read "East of the Mountains" by David Guterson? Should be good reading for a Cashmere boy.

Oh, Cool. I went to school for a while in Olympia (evergreen), and when I went back and forth I'd drive right by Black Diamond. Right down the hill from Mt. Tigard, right?

It's a great ride from here to washington, lots of nice routes without many people on them. Not as twisty as bay area roads, unfortunately, but fun anyway.

Funny that you should mention "East of the Mountains" -- I have read it, and I've also had dinner with David Guterson- he came over to our house, and talked to my dad for a couple hours when he was writing that book. My dad was doing the agriculture beat for the local newspaper, and my parents were fruit pickers before that, so I guess that's why.

zak

 

[DukeD]

This tread rocks ! It makes me want to be an adventure rider too. I even went and ordered one of those map books that Woodschick recommended. I sit and gloss over that book for hours on end.

someday....... I'm going there, and there, and ...

 

[slackmeyer]

This tread rocks ! It makes me want to be an adventure rider too. I even went and ordered one of those map books that Woodschick recommended. I sit and gloss over that book for hours on end.

someday....... I'm going there, and there, and ...

I agree with her! That's part of the fun. So many times I'll be riding along on a route that I have figured out, when I see there's a twisty line on the map nearby, that I've never heard of. Or a dashed line between two tiny towns. Some of my best rides happened that way.

And there's nothing I love more than sitting around a campsite with my headlamp and a good map, taking note of all the good roads I can ride the next day.

 

[WoodsChick]

This tread rocks ! It makes me want to be an adventure rider too. I even went and ordered one of those map books that Woodschick recommended. I sit and gloss over that book for hours on end.

someday....... I'm going there, and there, and ...

"Someday" is now, dude! You only have so many heartbeats to work with in this great life; don't waste any of them waiting around for "someday" to arrive, because it never will if you wait too long. Every bike in your little avatar thingy (except for the track bike...but that's just an adventure of a different color) looks to be capable of providing an adventure. If you have a track bike you probably have a way of hauling it around, right? Throw one of those other bikes in it, head outta town and have an adventure of your own! I'll guarantee that after the first experience you'll never, ever be able to get enough

I agree with her! That's part of the fun. So many times I'll be riding along on a route that I have figured out, when I see there's a twisty line on the map nearby, that I've never heard of. Or a dashed line between two tiny towns. Some of my best rides happened that way.

And there's nothing I love more than sitting around a campsite with my headlamp and a good map, taking note of all the good roads I can ride the next day.

Yep, me too! That's usually an after-dinner activity for me, or sometimes it's a coffee-and-map session in the morning. Regardless of when it happens, the little tiny red squiggly lines and red dotty lines on the Benchmark maps never fail to stir my imagination and soul in wild and crazy ways. I love filling my 5gal tank and heading off with my "bible" in search of the holy trail




WoodsChick

 

[luckett]

I love filling my 5gal tank and heading off with my "bible" in search of the holy trail

Blasphemy!

Shame on you for denigrating The Benchmark like that.

 

[ScorpioVI]

zak

What's this rack for? GPS?

Trying to figure out how to mount my Zumo 550 on top of the cluster on my 990.

 

[Double-D]

And there's nothing I love more than sitting around a campsite with my headlamp and a good map, taking note of all the good roads I can ride the next day.

Ok, normally I agree with that statement, but during a Death Valley trip last year I got stuck in the Geoligists cabin for three days while a storm blew through the area. I only talked to four people, two groups of two that happened by in 4x4s, the entire time. I started going a bit crazy after awhile with all the solitude.

The camera's flash makes the cabin look nice and bright at night, but in reality the only light that was working was my little head lamp. It got knda spooky...

But this was my view during the day, at least when the fog was gone. (About half the time all of Butte Valley was socked in with fog.)

The cabin in the thick fog.

I was able to get out for a quick ride on day two when the snow and rain stopped for about two hours.

"Someday" is now, dude!

+1000! I'd much rather regret something I have done, than something I haven't.

 

[slackmeyer]

What's this rack for? GPS?

Trying to figure out how to mount my Zumo 550 on top of the cluster on my 990.

Yeah, it was for a GPS unit. But the gps was mostly a pain in the ass for me- for it to work well, I had to plan out my exact route ahead of time on the computer, and load it into the GPS. Otherwise, I spent all my time zooming in and out, looking for good roads, which don't show up at wider views. When the GPS broke, I gave up on it.

The gps mount worked well though- I'd definitely put something as high as you can, above the speedo preferably. It makes a big difference to not have to look down as far off the road.