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Travis Gill

Last Day of Winter Riding Dual Dual Sport - 19Mar16

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Pavement: 135 miles (32 miles of freeway)

Dirt/gravel roads: 25 miles

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Total: 160 miles

My wife, Chantil, and I left our home at around 8:20 AM and headed south along foggy and overcast skies to Imperial Beach. Traffic was light on the I-5 South, 905 East, and 805 North as we headed into East County for breakfast. We enjoyed a liquid breakfast at Jamba Juice before gassing up the mules and heading east along Proctor Valley Road. Here is where we experience the first dirt of the day. I continue to gain confidence in the gravel, even shifting to 4th gear on the longer straightaways. Moving faster seems to make the wash-boarded roads less punishing.

Pine Creek View:

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The Two Mules, both G650GSs:

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We motored along the 94 South to Honey Springs Road before joining Lyons Valley Road and continuing northeast to Japatul Valley Road. After crossing under the I-8 we continued along Highway 79 looking for the entrance to Pine Creek Road but there was a detour that took us through the town of Pine Creek first.

Bicyclists Enjoying the Climb:

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Apache, the Red Sertao:

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Chantil on Pine Creek Road:

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Chantil particularly enjoyed the narrow pavement and occasional dirt as we climbed Pine Creek Road all the way to Sunset Highway. We continued south down Sunset Highway to the Entrance of Thing Valley Road. This is where the challenge began with moderately rutted sections with increasingly steep hills and descents.

Thing Valley Road:

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At about another five miles into the trail we came across two happy gentlemen on dirt bikes. They informed us that the worst was behind us and the trail was wide-open gravel from here on out. They seemed to be having a great tim, on this wonderful last day of winter, as they motored north up the trail.

We made good time back to Old Highway 80. We joined the I-8 at Laguna Junction where the 70 MPH cooled us off before returning to Japatul Valley Road.

La Posta Road:

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Cheers!:

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We enjoyed 35 miles of quiet and picturesque two-lane roads to include Japatul, Dehesa Road, Harbison Canyon, Mountain View Road, and Willow Glen Drive. Finally, we headed back to the fast-paced Highway 94 to return safely home just before 3PM.

Although we didnt get a lot of super challenging dirt in, we did increase our confidence and had a great time. Until the next adventure!

Cheers,

Travis and Chantil

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Nice pics and RR! Thanks for sharing.

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Always great pictures and nice report super jealous your wife is into riding also.

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Another great recap. Nicely done to you and your wife.

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Nice ride and report. Did you have to do the ride-around on Thing? (I have never seen the south gate open.) And did you continue down to La Posta TT, or go Fred Canyon to Kitchen Creek to 80?

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Always great pictures and nice report super jealous your wife is into riding also.

Thanks! She is pretty awesome :) She rode on her own to a Horizon's Unlimited event a few months back and was surprised at all the female riders. She joked she was going to leave me to join a group on a RTW trip :)

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Nice ride and report. Did you have to do the ride-around on Thing? (I have never seen the south gate open.) And did you continue down to La Posta TT, or go Fred Canyon to Kitchen Creek to 80?

Thanks! PMed with details on our route.

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Second to last pic...looks like your caliper slide pin is sticking. Ha, JK! Nice photo composition.

Were you moving when you got that shot?

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Nice photo composition. Were you moving when you got that shot?

Thanks! I was moving; I have four mounts for filming using a GoPro Hero 4 Session: Helmet chin mount, handlebar looking up to my helmet, left tank mount looking forward, and a swingarm mount looking rearward. The GoPro App allows for photo captures of video taken.

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