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Thanks Tom, and to those who left the warm comfort of their couches to get out and ride, camp, and blow the dust off their gear and replace it with frost. I haven't had a lot of opportunity this year to ride with local friends on local trails, so I sure wasn't gonna let weather deter me. And since I had a new pony in the stable, thought I'd load it up with a "max load out" kit to see how it all fit and handled. By the time I packed the winter sleeping bag, a beer hydro flask, an extra layer of insulation and a chair ... she was starting to look like the Beverly Hillbillies. My normal BDR type touring load out is about 1/3 less "crap" than this. I cranked up the preload to Max minus a quarter turn, set the shock and forks to Max Load on the chart in the owners manual and thought it all a good starting place before the fiddling otherwise. Frankly, I wasn't sure anyone would show up outside of Tom and Udo. Which matters not, as "have motorcycle, will travel". but was very happy to see a turnout and got to meet a few new faces and see their machines. Standard photo stop at the ol' trading post... It started raining enough to soak a jersey, so I pulled off under a tree and began unpacking the jigsaw puzzle on my tail rack. Unpacking your kit, removing helmet and gloves, wriggling into an orange waterproof straight jacket is the equivalent of presenting a cross to a vampire... and the black clouds departed taking their nasty payload with them. In spite of my portly stature, and Kitchen Sink load out, the blue KTM was thrilling the heck out of me. Camping ensued. Boots were melting like marshmallows. Note the giant puff marshmallow sized blob that dripped off the sole on the fire ring. A not so subtle reminder that regardless of how cold my feet were ... pro'ly shouldn't put my new Gaerne's up on that fire ring. I made a cup full of Idaho Mashed Potatoes and then stabbed 3 each 1/3lb hot sausages onto the AdjustaFork and pulled some coals off to the side for cooking. Shared some of those around, and Alex brought a gallon zip lock full of Yellowfin steaks. Damn! As in, damn-tasty. Those things roasted up wonderfully over the fire. It gets dark so dang early, that most of us were played out by 9pm, so off to bed. I was jolted awake at some point early in my sleep by what I thought was a truck shining his headlights dead on at my tent. Then realized the moon was actually the culprit. It was only about "dusk dark" all night because of that dang moon. It was cold. And I got up just before sunrise next morning. A gently reminder, it could be worse. We could be in Montana, or North Dakota or something. Sunrise temp at Warner Springs was 32*. So using ChatGPT to calculate the Indian Flats Campground temp, it was right about 27* in camp. That was somewhere around 6:30 a.m.ish. A roaring breakfast fire always helps clear the cobwebs. Coffee was poured, breakfast was scrounged from various packs and eventually everyone fell into "disperse" mode. I wanted to scout the rest of the trail north to Anza as I haven't ridden it in a year or more. Tom (young Tom, not Old Tom) decided to ride with me and we had a great time of it. I was having a blast connecting with the blue beast. She wheelies easy as pie over rocks and ruts and such, and when it flies, it lands on a cloud compared to the BMW. I had a little too much fun and lost my center bag along the way. But it was found a quarter mile back or so and I repacked in earnest this time. No further failures to report. We stopped at a couple scenic points and talked motorcycle setup and other stuff. Chatted with some 2 strokers heading south, all in all a pretty perfect kind of day. Fueled up the bikes and our bellies in Anza and parted ways for home. This 901expedition is a treat to ride. Very playful. I did bottom out twice and will schedule a trip to see George for springs. Even though this suspension is top-of-the-foodchain, the proper spring weight for my beer soaked carcass should be done. Can't wait to drop the camping gear and give this a good ringing out in Borrego and Baja. Looking forward to the next Noob's Campout come springtime. Thanks Tom for making this happen.

5 days, 3 flat tires, 2 tectonic plates, 2 tow truck rides, 1 bent kickstand. Yeah, I was 'that guy' this time. It was San Andreas fault! The last week of March, @J5iveand I explored parts of central, coastal California. Leaving from Santa Barbara and spending 4 nights in Atascadero, we rode on, to, or through Hwy 33, Carrizo Plain, Pozo Saloon, Mission San Antonio, Nacimento-Fergenson Rd, Hwy 1, Parkfield Grade, Peechtee Rd, Morro Bay, Foxen Canyon Rd, Figeroa Mtn, and quite a bit more. Good times!

Went for a short ride from Santee to Ramona via Wildcat Canyon. Headed up Pamo Road to Pamo Valley. Saw the biggest flock (rafter) of turkey I've ever seen in San Diego County meandering across Pamo Rd west to east. Was somewhere in the high 20s of birds maybe more. I stopped to get a shot (only caught about a third). Wished I would have got them on the road. Continued on to the trailhead for Black Mountain/Santa Ysabel truck trails. Dirt was perfect after the rain we just got. Pamo Valley is awesome. Everytime I ride in Ramona/Alpine/Pine Valley, I always regret having not looked for houses there when I bought in Santee back in 2010. I've been, and probably will remain a Santee lifer. Santa Ysabel Truck Trail was in great shape. Maybe it was graded since the last time I rode it about a year or two ago? Still fun on my, new to me, 2018 Africa Twin DCT. Before getting this bike a few months ago, I'd ride these trails on my plated '96 XR600, which I still have. Obligatory Santa Ysabel Creek and Black Canyon Rd bridge pics. Finished the ride by heading to Lake Sutherland and on to Santa Ysabel for a quick snack before beating the sunset back home on the 78 to the 67. Solid little Saturday afternoon ride. The weather has just been too good for riding lately, the rainy days being the exception. Might have blown a fork seal. Maybe a seal cleaning/scraping and a top off of fork fluid(blasphemy!), or an excuse to get this AT sprung and valved for my weight? We'll see. We are too lucky as riders living here in San Diego County.

I went on Saturday to the Julian Stagecoach campground and checked out the " VINTAGE BIKE SHOW". 80% are British bikes, but some rare japan and German bikes where on display. ran into Randy and Tom who drove out for some small talks with the guys. I had to drive the Jeep, since I am not motorcycle ready yet.

Nice! Let me know if you want to ride. I mostly ride at McCain, Pine Valley and Otay. I converted a street legal KTM with the kit from Electro&Co. I get 45-60min of range on my 40ah battery, but I'm going to get a second battery to swap.

I decided to take out the oldest of the pack today. 01 DRZ400S, all stock bike w/ 5,379 on the clock when I picked her up recently. Still stock, aside the free power mod I did because the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Too bad I got a new battery before doing the mod... She runs flawless after the mod, & servicing the clutch/brake controls. Lights seem brighter. Put about 75 miles on the clock today. Left Poway, to Mesa Grande TT (bit muddy/slippery in some areas), to the Hideout, back down Mesa Grande to 79 & back to Ramona via asphalt. Was so beautiful out there today. All the colors and scents and the rain this morning. Man... Simple and satisfying 2 wheel, sometimes 1 wheel, therapy.

I had to make one before for an auto project. The factory tool was $800! Crude, but it worked. If all else fails, let me know and we'll get it sorted.

I’ve been back on a low carb/keto/ intermittent fasting lifestyle since January, and I’m down over 30lbs. My aches and pains have subsided considerably!

Was just taking to @DSM8 about friends we’ve ridden with. This photo was snapped a couple of years ago at Dave’s place and includes some real SD legends: Joe Hauler, Udo, Ted Zuidema The Kug (Ken Kugel) and Randy. Good times.

I rode McCain yesterday. Epic traction!!

Hey! I know this site!!! We (SOS) just had our first guided tour of the SoCal BDR and that was where we camped our first night

I jumped onto a quick ride with a few friends yesterday. From Otay Lakes up to Tecate Peak. The road has been graded and pretty smooth overall. It was actually gorgeous with all the burned brush on both sides of the trail. I wanted to stop and take a few moto-photos of the bike against the blackened earth and brush, but didn't want to hold up the group. Met this guy at the Tecate border. He was from Oregon, heading to Argentina on his '78 Yamaha 500XT if I remember correctly. Two 890's, my 901, an Africa Twin and a boxer. Sammich's at the top. In a pretty stiff wind. Enough to keep us mostly behind the shelter so we could talk easier. Earlier on the ride up we noted the Barret Jnctn gate was wide open, so thought on our return we'd scoot up over the hills and take the back way into/onto Otay mountain. But alas, on our return it was locked shut. If you didn't know, ... the work around the side of that gate has been blocked. It doesn't look real official to me so I'm wondering if the Farmer to the west just decided to block it off. I had an "interesting" encounter with him years ago and was not impressed with his social skills. So we popped in at Marron Valley Rd (to the gun club) and headed all the way to the border. I haven't ridden that road in at least a couple years now due to the extremely high illegal immigrant traffic. It was sad to see all the trash on the road. The gate that's usually closed but not locked was wide open. No marines posted there like there were a few years ago. No border patrol jeeps at all. Just small groups of migrants scattered here and there on the road. The TJ river valley back there is gorgeous. It would be idyllic for a farm or ranch if it weren't for all the foot traffic. If you continue west toward where the wall starts, you'll find there's now a locked gate right at the end of the wall. So this was an out and back. I do miss the days not too long ago when you could get "on the wall" near the prison and ride east pretty much to Jacumba. The most dramatic sites really were along that whole section from the gate at the end of the wall westward. All in, it was a fun day tooling around on the ADV bikes. Good times, good people, great weather!

I did some driving around today to check on some options out east for a potential future dualsport ride event. I think this location might work, it has everything we need....hopefully organize an event for early 2025.

cam chain rivet link was a pain in the butt. Didn’t want to buy the $100 special ktm tool, but was able to get the motion pro chain tool to work fine. Waiting on some oil filters before first start.

My wife said she was going to take my van out to the campground so I didn’t pack my gear up. At the last minute she bailed, so I was on a tight schedule. Loaded up my bike and drove to the campground, five minutes later I had unloaded the bike and got my gear on. Hustled back to Ramona and was there with 15 minutes or so to go time. Kelly (Zubb), Udo (Mr Jaja), Tom and Tony (maybe both from FB?) were already there and Alex (A2) and his wife Denise showed up a few minutes later. Udo and Denise drove to the campground, the remaining five rode out. The sky was looking a little dark, and soon after we got our tires on the dirt we got some rain. Not too much, just enough to get us cooled off more. The trail is in nice shape, but you can’t really go too fast with all the blind turns. We had a few vehicles come around the corner but no issues. Mesa Grande was wet with a lot of leaves on the surface, I was extra cautious. We stopped at the gas station for a minute but nobody needed anything so we continued on. The road to the campground is really fun but also narrow with blind corners. Be careful! We made it to camp and Pauly (PaulyPickles) was parked there but no bikes. He and his brother in law said they were going to stage there and do some practice riding for the LA/Barstow/Vegas ride. It wasn’t long before we had a campfire going. Cooked some tuna steaks thanks to Alex, had cold snacks and enjoyed the warmth of the fire. Pauly and John came back from their ride. Mike (SanRider) showed up too. Tony rode home for the night, Udo and Mike drove home and the rest of us tried to stay warm. It got below freezing overnight but everyone survived. Coffee around a campfire is always good. A few people decided to do more riding, I loaded up my KTM and drove home. A nice simple ride with an overnight camp out, still a lot of fun. I didn’t get many photos so if anyone did please post them here along with your words of wisdom.

I hope to bring back the Desert Dash like the old days. We started and finished at Stagecoach Trails also.

Part 4 photos...Sunday at the orphanage, then Laguna Hanson trailside lunch and Rancho Santa Veronica after the ride. Palapa Boy provided the coffee on Sunday morning too ! Kids singing and playing for us at the El Oasis orphanage. Doc sharing his love with some of the kids. Trailside lunch that Palapa Boy Racing provided, Dana and I set it up for the riders. Laguna Hanson That's Malcolm Smith's son on the left, Alexander Smith. He took the riders on a gnarly single track ride. Brian LaBelle, the one who came up with the idea of organizing this event. Quinn who won the autographed autobiography by Malcolm Smith, with Brian LaBelle.

A good Day ride. I just got of the phone with the owner who lend me his Bike for today's ride. I told him everything went well without a problem. Here the truths from my side. I only layed the bike down twice. At the first critical left turn, I crashed and bended the left handel bar up by 30 deg. Not bad for the first drop down. I got the bike up again and jumped back on, only to see that riding with this bend bar, is not comfortably. At one of the next right hand turns, I decided to lay the bike down and hope to get the right handle bar in the near same angle. It worked, with just a small problem. The throttle got stuck open and wille I was crowling out of the ditch, the engine revert on her upper limit. This only last a short time,(2-3 minutes). I don't think this will have any effect on the engine. After picking the bike up again, it sputtered and ran rough for a while, but I made it home. All in all a nice day on a bike with some fun. Thanks for the two guys, riding with me and not saying anything.

Moved up one week because apparently, we have a bunch of romantic types on this site. 😁 Its been a while since we had a proper tech day, with the big project now out of the shop have a proper space to do this if people are interested. Sat Feb 22th Its usual location in Escondido. Typical disclaimers apply. Responsible for disposing of tires if you do a swap - 8 Ball is right down the road and you can take them there oil changes - bring your own oil, disposal of old oil will be taken care of for you Work to be performed - typically we only have a few hours so keep that in mind when you decide on what you want done, not enough time to do a valve check on a KTM 950 for example I will have almost any tool needed to do general maint on most models of bikes, if something special or specific to you then bring that tool with. Also have a tig welder so minor repairs to skidplates etc are also available to those in need. I do not charge for any work performed, the recipient is asked to donate to the website as compensation commiserate with what they feel the work done is worth. The BBQ will be available and if enough people are interested we will do either dogs and burgers (donation collected to cover cost of food via the honesty jar, or @KTMrad pocket which ever one is gotten too first) Calendar Link @tntmo @KTMrad @tubebender @Zubb @Mr.JAJA @AdventureSmeghead @Wierdrider @SpaceCowboy @Goofy Footer @PaulyPickles @paulmbowers

Thats awesome. I live in Ramona and we have a flock come up our driveway, hang out in the street. We have to stop and wait for them to walk by. If you do a light honk, they all gobble.

Thanks for allowing me to join! We migrated with the geese from North Idaho and brought my Tenere 700 to discover what SoCal has to offer ADV wise. I tolerate the roadways in order to get to the dirt though the twisty 2-lane can be fun! I’m an ex hare scramble racer that thinks pushing the T7 on ATV and single track trails is fun! Even been seen strapping a chainsaw to it clearing our local trails. I’ll be lurking here and on the FB page to see if there’s a chance to join up! I did get to ride uh, Black Mtn last weekend, an out and back trip to the top near some radio towers….

EXCLUSIVE 15% DISCOUNT FOR SDAR MEMBERS - Ask me for code in Private It's a new year and we are back for more ADV training and fun. The next class is coming up fast. https://www.socaloffroadschool.com/book-your-event/p/adventure-bike-training-california

Our next ADV training is coming up. I've included the link below for reference. https://www.socaloffroadschool.com/adventure-bike-training

I just drove from Aqua Caliente to Ocotillo Wels with the Jeep. To my surprise, there have graded one track on Diablo Drop off. You can drive this now with a PRIUS. For the rest, all as usual.