Koi's Adventure Journal

[1962siia]

Have fun! Its gonna be hot in the valley tomorrow! Hope you get an early start and beat the heat!

 

[Rumbo Sur]

Did someone put Acid in the Koi pond again?
I'd get on KLR.net and read a few threads on brake jobs and maybe other basic maintenance threads too. Lots of steps and little things to do when doing Brake service to make sure it's all correct and safe.

Best of luck, hope we don't find you floating in the pond in a few days!

I never, ever do major work on a bike right before a big ride. Best just leave things be until later ... or at least do a big test ride before the "Big" ride.

You're in a hurry, skipping over things, guessing when not knowing. Lots of tutorials on U Tube to follow.

But too late now ... so hope you've left Mr. Murphy at the curb cursing!
Ignorance is BLISS!

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 6

Totally not bear poop

Totally epic day

Current situation does not suck.

Cliff notes:

Smooth 80
Dine-N-dash
174-4
Secret bridge
Construction
Wrong turn
Shangri-La
Waterfall
Smuggler's run
Soft dirt
Rocky Rocky gravel
Reservoir
Shooting
Drinking
Riding
Rain
Dog valley
Verdi drop
Cabela's
Reno
Mai Tai
Zone bar
Buffet
To be continued

 

[1962siia]

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 7

Still didn't become bear poop.

563 miles in two days.

Cliff notes:

77 degrees at 6am
50,000
Virginia city
Mt Rose
Rosie's bloody
West shore
Waterfalls
50
Ice house
Mountain queers
Loon lake
Wentworth
Devastation
Missing bolt
Cool
American river
Sac
Traffic
Rain clouds
Closest to a drop
Almost killed
Home
Victory beer

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 6 Actual:

Route: https://goo.gl/maps/ux5jvKL5Egs

Packed up and ready to go, the night took forever. Like being a kid who knows they leave for Disneyland the next morning, I couldn't sleep. I tossed, watched bad Netflix, tried to sleep a dozen times, and finally, it was time to go. Pops had the same issue so despite our desire to leave at 6 am, he was still snoring hard and I let him sleep...

6:01: All right dad, time to get up!!!!

He snapped too, we both got our bikes ready to go and hit the road by 6:30.
DaKoi-


6:32: As we get on the Highway and get up to speed we both are getting comfortable for our first 100 mile leg of the day. 3 Miles later I see something fly off his bike, and immediately after see his side bag's lid fly off. I get on the intercom to let him know and slam on the brakes. Before I could get to the lid a semi drives over it, not crushing it but knocked it around a bit. Traffic was light so I jumped out and picked it up, also foudn the other item that came off which was his hat. Put them both on the bike and rolled down to where he stopped so he could reattach them and make sure they were closed.

I should have woke him up earlier so he could have been more awake...
DaKoi--2


Our first stop was in Colfax to get off 80 and onto the 174. We both wanted breakfast however so the night before a google search for anything in the area turned up the Dine n Dash Grill.
DaKoi--3


Known for it's breakfast, lunch, dinner, concerts, picnics, and.... bloody marys.

DaKoi--4


Awesome breakfast, steak and eggs and eggs and steak, and bloody marys. Full bellies we got on the road, 174 was cool, but we didn't get any open roads really so just kind of putted through traffic. It met the 20 which met the 49 and soon we were hitting more enjoyable roads. One of the places I saw on the maps was an old 49 bridge parking spot which I didn't know what to expect but mental noted it as something to look for. As we approached I recognized it and so we pulled over to look. Well, it is the old bridge, not meant for cars really, but, if you're tricksy....
DaKoi-2431


DaKoi-2433



First dirt of the day, instead of going back out the road, we went up the hiking trail that led back to the road out the other side of the bridge.
DaKoi-2434


It started to get warm now that we were up in the hills so we stopped and soaked our selves down at a nice swimming hole on the Yuba river.
DaKoi--5

As we got up into the road, we hit a couple construction zones. Pretty good delays actually, enough to get off the bike and drink some water, stretch the legs, and look around.
DaKoi-2436

DaKoi-2442


A spot I found last year when I rolled through this area was Shangri-La outside of Downieville. Nothing more than a fishing resort, the road to it is an excellent spot to take a break, and a dip, at a pristine location.
DaKoi-2448
DaKoi-2455
DaKoi-2457


Saw a cool waterfall as we continued on, the Frank Lavezzola Dedicated waterfall spot, the guy who basically built 49 I found out later.
DaKoi-2459


we finished 49 and got on 89 heading towards Hennes Pass. It was quick going and we got off of the paved, civilized environment and returned to the roots of being an American. Dirt roads, rocks, gravel, sand, if we had a team of 6 white horses, it'd be perfect.
DaKoi-2467

The road went from your basic gravel fire road, to something more rather quickly. big rocks and no easy path, it was slow going for us both. Partly because neither have experience, partly because neither of us wanted to break anything before we even got going. The road got super soft and sandy for a bit and really tested us. Dad almost went down at one point when he got crossed up. However we both kept it up and survived to take a picture.
DaKoi-2474

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Knowing we were going inland, and in the summer, I had planned to stop by the lake/reservoir up there, Stampede Reservoir. We chose the right unmarked road that went in the general direction we wanted to go, and pulled up to a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere. The whole time we both kept commenting on how few people probably have ever seen these views, and this lake was no different. Just isolated and remote, it was awesome.
DaKoi-2480

I immediately went for a swim.
DaKoi--8


Dad stayed on shore
DaKoi--20


We took a long break and as we felt like smugglers, popped off some shots to let any banditos know we weren't to be messed with.
DaKoi--9


Pew Pew
DaKoi--10


Eventually we got loaded back up, took one last dip, and got back on the road. About the time we returned to the main road, we both noticed what felt like sprinkles. Sprinkles turned into drops and drops turned into rain....
DaKoi-2484

Seriously? We weren't prepared for rain, we both were wearing light gear, and hell, were still wet from just swimming...

wait, we just went swimming, we're already wet, what does it matter? WOOOOOO!!!!

Kept the dust down too which was nice.


We kept going, through Dog valley, up and down ranges, through the smuggler's run we had started.
DaKoi--11

We entered a christmas tree clearing area... never heard of one of those, and dropped into the town of Verdi.
DaKoi-2488


During our ride we talked many things, but one of them was Rum drinks, which made me want rum drinks, so when we got to Reno, the first thing I wanted?
DaKoi--7

That night we walked around town.
DaKoi--13

Drank more Rum
DaKoi--14


Walked around some more...
DaKoi--15


I even met up with our BARFer, ScotInExile and had a beer... totally not Rum but it was a Stout, and free. Good seeing you mang!
(((No Picture)))


Day 1 was complete, and after a long long day, it wasn't hard to go to the room and fall asleep with Day 2 just a few hours away. This time I totally was going to wake dad up on time, and make sure he closed his side bags all the way.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 7:

Route https://goo.gl/maps/hTVcJEHsHy32

Plan for the day was to head home on some new roads. For this, I used my BARF Shirt with the voted "Best roads of CA" on the back... Ice house Road/Wentworth....

Never heard of it, never been through it, never camped it, and everyone I knew seemed to know it and grew up there together.

So, having got some sleep after a night full of Rum, we loaded up and got on the road early. We were on the bikes by 6am this time, unfortunately it was in Reno and it was still almost 80 degrees when we left.

This is going to be a long day.

Leaving Reno, we skipped the AM shot under the Reno sign like I normally take and just hit 80-580 and down to Mt Rose.

Future ride note thanks again to ScotinExile, instead of taking 431 to Tahoe, next time I need to take 341 to Virginia City and back to 50, go down and do Kingsbury Grade into Tahoe... It's a must.

Anywho, 431 is awesome IMO and just a fun road. At 6 in the morning though it is very similar to Highway 29 over Mt St Helena because it is a fricken local's racetrack. Vans and work trucks jockying for position and our little KLRs were just in the way. It went from the warm 80 degree morning in Reno to a chilly 50 something Mt Rose summit. We stopped and put on a layer of gear and continued on over the summit. We eventually saw snow at the very top in some crevices but nothing able to get close to and try to ride on... I know, stupid is as stupid does but still though, we got really high.
DaKoi--16


Dropped down into Tahoe to a beautiful day. The biggest change was that instead of being cool it was somewhere in the middle. We were both getting hungry having not stuck around Reno so we looked for the first breakfasty looking place. Happened to be Rosie's in Tahoe City, so we stopped right out front and noticed a crowd out front. One lady shook her head and said that it was supposed to open at 7:30, which by our clocks, it was 7:29... We degeared and just as we pulled our earplugs out, they opened the doors.

Despite being the second table seated, we were the fifth table served, eventually. We would have had a quick breakfast if the place had been quick but we didn't get out of there til almost 9. Ok breakfast, ok bloody mary, nothing memorable, but it was there and we were hungry.
DaKoi--17


West shore > East shore IMO, but that's only if you get lucky on traffic. Early and off season are key, if that happens, you can get some amazing twisty road riding in on a beautiful lake. If not, you're cursing life. We got lucky more then not so it was awesome. Particularly the section after Crystal Bay up to Eagle Point along the ridge. There were waterfalls all over too, more then I had ever noticed on previous trips and it was almost dangerous trying to soak in the view and ride a motorcycle at the same time.
DaKoi-2492

50 wasn't anything special though it flowed quickly and we had a good pace with a sweet old bronco. When we turned on Ice House we pulled off to take some gear off as it was definitely warming up quickly.
DaKoi-2499

Ice House up to Loon lake was pretty awesome. I expected the worse when as we pulled over, a bunch of other people had gone by us with boats and trailers and car loads of kids. However they all either were figments of my imagination, or they just disappeared into other parts of the area because I never saw any of them again. A lot of roots came through the road which was surprising but the KLR kept us going and eventually we pulled up to the lake and soaked in the view.
DaKoi-2501
DaKoi--18

I never heard the Loon though...
DaKoi-2506


Something I love about riding is that you notice so much more. And doing a road one direction can be completely different than doing it the other. Coming down Ice House and back to Wentworth we came around a canyon view I hadn't t noticed going up... it was stunning.
DaKoi-2509


WentWorth was a perfect Concours Road, it was a pretty perfect road overall actually and I can see why it made the BARF list. KLRs were fun on it but it wasn't a KLR road I thought it was going to be, no bumps, no dirt, nothing. Lots of damage from a fire up that way and they had obviously been cutting trees for lumber from the burned down stuff. Eventually we needed a break so we found some dirt so that we could say we did it.
DaKoi-2520


When we got out of the wilderness and back to civilization, we also found the heat.... lots of it.


Holy cow it got hot, I was amazed. After two days of riding in what I thought would be hot weather, we returned the satan's butthole.

I had kind of expected this and had routed us on some backroads towards Folsom lake. Before we actually got to the lake, we found a little park with access to water. We were dying and we stopped. I took off my boots, my helmet, my gloves, put on my swimshoes, and walked straight to the water. There were a couple of Russians fishing off the shore as I walked by and they all stared at me as I just walked straight into the water. It was glorious. I went up to my neck and just floated. I put on my cool vest and neck wrap and soaked them, while they were on my body. Dad came down and did the same. He told me afterwards they said something like, "Oh good, here comes another one."

Whatever, it was 102 degrees.
DaKoi--19



A small breeze kicked up and it almost felt like we could survive the rest of the ride so we loaded up and got on the bikes...

First fail, I didn't put my camelbak on for water.

We both looked at our mileage and mentally figured out our miles... I was at 180. We were 97 miles from home, that's 280 miles basically... I ran onto reserve last time at 200.... I'm going to need gas. Dad was almost exactly the same but we both also wondered as to who's bike would last longer and hit reserve first.

Salmon creek took us straight to 50 and we skipped Folsom lake having just stopped. 50 was incredibly easy compared to what I remember when I lived in Sac... it was 1:30 on a Friday.... this could go either way. 87 Miles to go.

The usual traffic at the merge with 80, and again at the end of the causeway. It was hot. Dry. I was dying. Dad was dying. We wanted to stop and drink water, but we also just wanted to get through the traffic. Every slow down we would both stand up on the pegs and stretch our legs, my butt needed air, my back needed a chinese girl to walk on it, but we were getting closer to home. 60 to go and still not on reserve.

We got through Davis and I was started to try to come up with reasons to stop. I was listening for a hiccup so that I could throw up my hand and tap out.

I dreamed of gas station bathrooms.

I yearned for a drop of liquid, from a tasty gatorade, coke, water, lick the bottom of the spill tray on the coffee, is that extra water in the toilet?

With 40 miles to go we were in Dixon and I was firmly concerned about my health. my throat was dry and I needed to cough but I was afraid the lack of water would put me over that edge of dehydration. I was starting to finger my pack behind me to see if I could get the camelbak out of the bungee net. I was mentally figuring how exactly I needed to stand on my motorcycle so I could look behind me and undo my bungees to get the bag out. I had decided that the ice chest would be saveable but the shoes were probably going to fly off so an acceptable lost for some water.

We got into Vacaville and the traffic let up a bit. We got to a flow and in the horizon was something we didn't expect... Rain clouds.

Like, dark, ugly, yarrr me matey we're about to enter a maelstrom, clouds.

Clouds meant rain.

Rain meant water.

30 miles to go and still haven't hit reserve, the KLRs sensed the moist air too and were evidently pulling it straight from the air as fuel.

I too was feeling the moist air. My lips were no longer sand paper. My eyes in their desperation had evolved similar to the lizards of the Sarangheti that pulled air out of the air. My tongue couldn't reach but I swear it too was pulling moisture out the air. i could swallow again.

We got through 12 and onto 29. It was now cool. If I hadn't been riding all day I would have thought about putting my sweater back on. The clouds didn't let out any rain but they wanted too. It was glorious once again.

10 Miles to go, there is no stopping us now. There is still traffic but we're gonna make it. We pull up to a light and I stand up to stretch once again. My ass has given up and does not want to do this anymore. The light turns green and I am doing my best slow contest attempt to not have to sit down and put my foot down. I time it wrong by 6 inches... giggity... and the car in front pulled forward just as I had to put a foot down. I dropped down and put my foot out, but since I literally, dropped, my suspension kind of bounced and I missed my footing, barely.

I didn't go down, I barely leaned, but it was the only time on the entire trip, I thought I was going to be bear poop.

Dad laughed at me.

We continued into town and exited the freeway. We are literally down to 3 turns until we're home and some jackass pulls across the road to get into a hotel right in front of my dad without looking. Dad's brakes however did work so nothing happened except some explitives across the intercom.


Three turns later however, we were home. We both cowboy walked into the house and degeared. It was over. It was worth it. It was Epic!

Got to go through and make a list of things I would bring differently next time and things I didn't need, but overall, it was a amazing experience. i saw things that 99% of people have never seen. I took a road I would have never taken in my life, and only took because of one thing....





A KLR

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Guess I didn't need those extra ones afterall

Saving this one for when I finish my gear list on what I need to change.

 

[Grissom]

Thanks for the RR, it must nice to do something with your Dad

 

[SFMCjohn]

... We chose the right unmarked road that went in the general direction we wanted to go, and pulled up to a beautiful lake in the middle of nowhere. The whole time we both kept commenting on how few people probably have ever seen these views, and this lake was no different. Just isolated and remote, it was awesome.

" ... just isolated and remote ..."

... the awesome KLR kredo ...

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Thanks for the RR, it must nice to do something with your Dad

It really is.

When my grandfather passed away, we both commented how we needed to do a yearly trip together.

This year I started a different job so we weren't able to do a week plus ride so we're going a couple smaller overnights. Next year's goal is to go to Oregon on dirt roads primarily, and then circumnavigate Mt Shasta. Lost Coast is up there too.

Year 1: http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=481985
Year 2: http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=500731

" ... just isolated and remote ..."

... the awesome KLR kredo ...

Pretty much, if it is both of those, then it is perfect for a KLR.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 8's Route tomorrow....

Just in case I don't return.

https://goo.gl/maps/vkgQ2fLavHm

 

[GB500guy]

If you want to add more dirt on Ida Clayton, about half way through watch for the turn off for the trout farm. It's a nice forest loop that rejoins Ida Clayton after a mile or so.

-Bill

 

[Maddevill]

Great trip report Koi. Very entertaining to read. I hope to join the dual sport ranks soon. Just need to scour the couch cushions for money...

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Wow

Been so busy I haven't had time to do anything, let alone write up my ride report from Day 8:


Dad wanted to do some of the roads I had explored solo so I planned a route that I shared above based on some stuff I had done and some new stuff I had seen on maps.
https://goo.gl/maps/vkgQ2fLavHm


First part was Skaggs, an awful road that no one should ever do. The sweeps are what they are, the road surface is similar to the my pizza delivery boy's face, and the locals, well.......

Anyways, we prepared for the gauntlet at the overlook...

It was awful.
20689641_1702435376447538_2786071999052101376_o


The road itself was no better to the coast and where I usually turned off and took to the safety of Annapolis, I stuck to Skaggs and braved the locals at the end.

I also did my first wheelie, which sucked.

I had seen a road called Miller Ridge on a couple different maps and it looks like it might be open to the public...

Wrong, it sucked.
20690062_1702433316447744_932067334938589520_o


Instead of the super cool dirt road way, we wound up going to the coast and up to the second part of the really cool roads I had found on maps. We were both hungry and stopped at the Sea Ranch lodge restaurant, a little snooty but clam chowder and beverages were plenty to get us by.
20690441_1702538879770521_7064050103917761556_o


We got back on Annapolis and took the turn on Noce, dirty adventure part 2....

It was pretty awesome, a little trail that followed the powerlines and I just kept thinking of Glen Campbell's passing and the Wichita Lineman. Eventually though we wound up running out of road and encountered someone's home built directly in the path. Either we missed the turn or the road no longer was public but either way we turned around. Dad wasn't having the adventure and didn't want to encounter mountain queers so we skipped the adventure and continued on to Fish Rock for known dirty adventure.
20728939_1702547146436361_8723323945528940693_o


Fish Rock is awesome and for my second time, doing it inland was much easier than it was going to the coast for my first real dirt last time up on Day 2. No traffic, easy dirt, up and down, nothing hard but easy to do and as we got inland, it got hotter and hotter.
20689829_1702561086434967_2335966865852761800_o


20689782_1702573826433693_3996371926677255751_o


Eventually we got to 128 and both decided that instead of going towards Healdsburg on 128, we went towards Boonville to soak our vest. Wound up running into the annual Boontfling event so we hung out a bit.
20689891_1702577463099996_6132390009387996291_o


Wound up hitting construction on 128 and were glad we had soaked our vest because it was hot.

BARF Salute hot
20689841_1702640406427035_6043160609691976210_o


My dad had asked to keep the ride under 250 miles, and if we added Ida Clayton, it was exactly 250 miles to home so I took him on another new road. It was neat to get along the back side of Mt St Helena because it's a look at the mountain that not many see considering how many commute over it every day.
20645560_1702640626427013_601696634606247829_o


We stopped again to soak the vest about halfway through and right before the dirt to get into lake county. It was another great day on the road and we had seen nobody.
20689880_1702675209756888_6952353933316432842_o


From lake county is was through Butt's Canyon and home, an awesome day of adventure and some new roads for Dad to check off his list.

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Day 9:

Changed my tires out.

Bought a set of Shinkos for $138 with tubes and rim liners. Took them down to Carlo at Cross Town Cycles in Napa and he swapped them both for me with no wait or delay. I really like taking my stuff there and he always treats me right on price.

Wanted to take them out and test them to see the difference compared to the old more dirt tires that were on it so I geared up and dragged my dad along for a quick loop of Berryessa. Definitely smoother at slow speeds and felt more grippy on the roads.

It's a KLR however so I can't just stick to the paved roads can I?

21016032_1716370218387387_2426583740087266624_o

East Road is an awesome little side of Berryessa that doesn't go anywhere, you can't get to the lake at all, but it's dirt and a quick loop for me.

On the way back we snuck into one of the little parks and then snuck even farther down a authorized vehicle only road to a little park and took a swim.
21055023_1716370038387405_2391026234312513386_o


While swimming in the lake a shadow suddenly flew over me.

I looked up and saw immediately the black and white of a bald eagle.



A FUCKING BALD EAGLE!?!?!?!?

I couldn't believe it. It dropped out of the sky and grabbed a fish, just like any nature documentary I've watched my entire life. Something I had always been mesmerized by because it was something I never imagined I'd see in my area due to the endangered status of the bird.


It dropped the fish and circled back around. I ran to my phone and grabbed it out hoping to catch video of the bird. Knowing I didn't bring my actual camera I didn't figure I'd get it as it flew off but it kept circling as I fumbled with the phone. It took another pass as I finally got the camera out. No, not selfie mode, video mode and GO!

No it's not an iPhone, no it's not a real camera.

But it's a mother

Fucking

BALD


EAGLE at Lake Berryessa!
[youtube]5m2uSgZ_xqo[/youtube]



Thank you KLR for giving me the ability to sneak out a dirt road to a illegal spot to swim in a lake without paying a day use fee, and experience this dose of America.

 

[CDONA]

I've been kayaking @ Low Water bridge = Lake Solano and had these birds snatching fish about 12 feet off my bow that I was herding along.

This pix, currently out my window @ Hot Lake, resident breeding pair with two fledglings.

Osprey, aka Fish hawk, Seahawk, fish better than the Bald ones, but get their lunch stolen by the bigger bird.

 

[ThumperX]

Subscribed

 

[i_am_the_koi]

Well, I wish this was a better adventure entry...

Day 10.

Day fucking 10.

My car's starter failed so I took the KLR down to get parts. I've found I like taking it around town vs the Concours because it's lighter and easier to sneak into places to park.

I considered parking on the sidewalk but as the parking lot was empty I just took a spot out front. I went inside and exchanged parts, came back out to the bike and loaded up to continue running errands.

I was doing my last checks, bags, keys, dick, wallet, and as I went to throw my leg over the bike I was suddenly pushed forward.

I tried to turn around only to realize I was being pushed by a box truck that was backing up.

And so was my bike!

Nothing major, couple scratches on top of the scratches that were already there. Bent my shift lever but I have a new one from the Barfer I bought it from.

Had to ride home in first gear but no biggie.

20 year old kid with sleep city, had insurance, but was a sleazeball about the whole thing so I'm going to file a claim for the scratched rear fairing and pelican case scratches, and the event shift lever and scratched brush guard.

They've already accepted liability.


Still, my bike's first nap and I didn't even lay it down.