RobATK94

Nice!!! Still have the WR? if you do, its probably going to collect a whole lot of dust now. going to be running people down and honking at any of the D38 races this year with this?

Congrats on retirement. Going to Florida to be the KLR King of the east coast?

Stepping up my game from a tent for the family.

I'll play.

Whats everyone take on Alpinestars these days? I have a pair of 5-6 year old tech 7 boots that need to be replaced. Im seeing a lot of negative feed back on Alpinestars quality of the latest generation of boots. Anyone have a current pair and notice obvious issues with their quality? Was thinking about another pair of tech 7 or maybe tech 8, but if the boots cant hold up or look like they have have been made with cheaper materials, I will move on to some other brand in the 300-400 dollar price range.

did you make it out? I went out there a few weeks ago and had to turn around because the gate was still closed. Want to make it back out there one of these days. Is there any way to get from the cabin side to Borrego Springs, other than the closed road? On the maps I have I didnt see anything, but I know my stuff doesnt cover what "really" out there. I would love to find a connector. If i remember correctly I think the only other way is to go back and around and slab it to S-2 and go from there.

Im getting more into bike camping and want to keep going on. Ive been under the stars mostly and I bring a tarp, just in case. Ive been looking at tent options, and eye balling REI. they have some nice tents that pack up nice and small but are a small fortune. Any budget deals or ebay gems out there for small pack tents? Id like it to fit in a small/medium size saddle bag if possible. Any recommendations? Smallest packed size is what Im looking at.

hijack away! I know what room I lose to accommodate a tent will then push over into sleeping bag space. To about 50 degrees I have the old green bag and bivy sack from the last gen USMC sleeping system. the green bag can be condensed pretty well, the bivy I have to fold and roll separate. It works ok, and can probably gain a couple degrees with a liner. again, more space. Far from the smallest option, but its affordable.

Man, I was cringing at some of the 250 dollar tents, you guys really crushed my dreams with some 500 dollar tent I can stuff in my pocket. Cosmo - what tent is in your picture? i usually have a tarp with me that takes up very little room. I could sacrifice a vestibule and extra space and if it rains I can store gear under that tarp. Could also use the tarp to cover a single wall or minimalist tent if I needed to to shield from rain. I think the couple things that would drive me to a tent is wind, keep the blowing dirt off me at night. Cold temps, you can get a few degrees warmer even with a thin wall tent. And maybe rain, but again, already have a tarp and I don't tend to be out riding/camping many rainy nights. Last thing would be bugs. Otherwise, I've been on/under a tarp for years of camping when it came to minimalist camping/backpacking. Guess I'm going to have to pay for compact size. Saddle bag space disappears real fast with bags, ground pad, and tent.

Me and 556Baller have been planning a trip for the past few months. His place in ridgecrest thru Death Valley, into Bishop, then up to Mono Lake, around the lake back to Bishop and back to Ridgecrest. 90% of the route was unknown. I recon'd and planned for an XR650R and his KTM 990 as best as I could with California Trail maps and just some trail and road names to google and guess conditions based on google maps....half of an adventure ride is the unknown right? Day 1, Ridgecrest to Bishop. Pretty much putted up to Panamint Springs resort for the last fuel stop for an estimated 190 miles. From there we jumped on Hadue road/trail. This "looks" like a nice straight road cut into the desert for miles. We quickly found out it had numerous washed out sections, and some came up on you fast. Came across previous riders attempts at bypasses, dig outs, and rock stacks. Ballers 990 was able to get threw all but one fairly easy. This one he chose a soft line off to the side and sank the tire. Quick dig out and push and we were back in business. Got onto Saline Valley road and headed towards Darwin. From Darwin, back on to Saline Valley road. I routed a quick bypass off Saline that was only a few miles and picked up Saline a few miles down the road. It was legend and displayed on the map as a "road", not marked black diamond or difficult, but it was FAR from a road. Littered with sharp rocks and gnarly boulder fields. It looked like shale in cement. It was smoother on the side of the "road" then it was on the road. Slow going and brutal on the bikes. Came across a downhill, about the half way point, that was a point of know return. The next half mile or so we could see, looked like it smoothed out. We were wrong. It was more of the same. Ate up a lot of time. Back on to Saline Valley road and onto Racetrack Playa via Limpincott road. Talk about beat up. Baller was running panniers and his choices of lines were bad or worse. I think the trail tossed the panniers into the wall a few too many time, and we said F it, its getting late and will be cold fast. Plan B, get back onto Saline, merge onto Death Valley rd and hit the 168, ride that to the 395 and into Bishop to the hotel. Sunset is coming fast and the headlight on my XR takes a crap. Stopped to mess with it a bit, enough to realize its something deep in the harness and its totally intermittent. Plan C, get to the hotel as fast as possible. Had about 40 miles until we hit the 168 and sunset was in an hour. Temps dropped fast and we were up in the 7000 elevation range. We prepped for the cold, but not a bike with no headlight. Ended up hitting the 168 right at sunset. I messed with the light a little more, but I knew I would have to dig back into the harness more then I wanted to on the side of the road in the dark. We opted to go down slowly and I would follow behind offset to one side fairly close and just use his headlight. Did this down the 168 and on the 395 into Bishop. Butt pucker factor 1,000,000. Pics from Day 1. Trona Pinnacles Hadue road Just after we dug out the 990 on Hadue. Reattaching the Panniers. Lots of cool stuff on Saline Valley Rd. I'll be hitting up the Darwin Dance club next time Im in the area. Imagine ladies night, this is the place to be. Unknown name road, that was the Saline Bypass. Started nice enough. The trail is there, I swear. I was an old truck trail of some kind. You had to squint to see the trail and the last vehicle on this road was probably a model T. Just behind us you can see where the trail goes from dirt to rock. Color changes darker. This hill is much MUCH worse then it looks in the picture. It was cement with cinder blocks sticking out of it, or at least that what it felt like trying to ride it. There was no going back up it. About 2 miles to pick up Saline again. From this point the rest of the trail we could see looked like what we are parked on. It got worse though. This beat us up good. If anyone is interested I can point it out on a map or get a screen shot. This should be labeled as a black diamond or a difficult trail. The view looking down Limpincott road. Up and over these mountains is Racetrack Playa and Teakettle Junction. We didnt make it this time. The trail going up is BEAT UP, and it was throwing the 990 around pretty good. Made it 3/4 of the way up and decided it was getting late and we didnt want to come down this as it was getting dark. If your going to racetrak on a big bike, this is not the way to go. I assume Hidden Valley road is a maintained road. I think at this point we noticed my headlight no longer worked, Ballers Panniers have been thrashed and used as bumpers, and his skid plate has been "used" several times this day. We decided to cut our losses and get into town as fast as we could. Oh, if you havent noticed yet, Baller was doing all this 2 up!!!! He was an animal and Tiff was awesome about the roller coaster ride in the back seat. Day 2 report to come a bit later.

Day 3, Bishop back to Ridgecrest. All packed up and fed and heading south along the east side of the 395. Jumped on Eastside road and rode to Owens Valley Radio Observatory. This was a HUGE radio telescope array with probably 50 dishes of all shapes and sizes. Was actually pretty impressive. Would love to get in there for a closer look. Went around and picked up Aberdeen Station road. Mostly pole line roads at this point. Good pace, sections of lots of dust and sections of not so much, and sections of remains of paved road. I think at Mazourka Canyon rd, east of Independence this eventually turned into Owenyo Lone Pine Road. Made it maybe a mile until I hit the deepest silt bed Ive ever seen. It was all white hardback and there was a lot of dried mud with ruts and trenches through them. This just looked like a really deep rut. It at my bike, I dropped in, had a foot come off the peg and feld the skid plate just plowing! Ended up shifting down and just ran it hard for 50-60 yards until I got out of the run onto high ground, which was just more silt just not as deep. I immediately turned around hoping to catch Baller before he made the same mistake. I saw him coming down the same line I was on and hooked left thinking the burm right there was a railroad grade. Nope, more silt. I think just getting up it Im pretty sure I trenched a 2 foot wide gap all the way up. I guess Baller got the hit because he stopped just in time. I had piles of silt sitting on top of my motor behind the cylinder, in the radiator guards, skid plate full of it, all over the carb, and everything that oil has ever touched. We back tracked to Mazourka and checked out a pole line road that looked promising heading in the same direction. Also came across a plaque and remains of Keeler train station, and a creepy pet cemetery right beside it. Pole line road ended up being hard pack but it was the remnants of an asphalt road that looked like a tracked vehicle just ripped it up. Lots of deep hard square edges and big pot holes. Rode this into Lone Pine. Ate lunch at Lone pine and jumped on Sub Station road. 500 feet into it found the trail to be totally submerged in water and mostly mud. Back east, they would say it was slicker then gopher guts. Found a pole line bypass that got us on Dolomite Loop rd to go out and around Owens Lake. Baller tells me this is a man made lake, or water collection area to keep the dust down because a town nearby was getting sick of breathing all the dust and contaminants of this dry lake bed. Jumped on the road on the 136 rode onto the 140 until we dropped into Olancha. On the 395 for a mile or so and turned back into the dirt at Cactus flats rd. I have no idea what OHV are this was, and there were plenty of stakes and signs saying it was OHV, but this place was awesome! Nice flowing trails, incredible scenery, and it went on forever. At this point we cut the dirt route short so we could get back to Ballers house, I could shower, make the 3 hour drive back home, and be ready for work 4am monday morning. Jumped on the 395 first chance we could and scooted back home. It was an incredible trip. We saw EVERY kind of terrain available to see out there.Cant wait to plan for the next one!!! Radio Telescope Array. I didnt hear crap! Remains of a mining operation in the base of the hill. Scenery you just cant find anywhere else!! Some tall grass fields running along side a good size river or aqueduct. I think it was natural...it wasnt concrete? I dont know how this massive slab of granite came to end up here, but it was HUGE! There were a dozen or so other smaller squarish, quarred rocks, but this was by far twice the size of the others. There is some writing scratched into the center. No idea the story of this, or how much you can trust it. "This rock was split by EZucco 1931" I couldnt find anything in google. Unknown OHV area. I will be back.

Thanks guys. We didnt hit every stop we wanted, but it was still a blast!! Kato, bags worked great! Day 2. Spent the morning tracking down the electrical issues. Broken solder joint, buried in heat shrink, buried in bundled wires, buried in electrical tape. Back in Business. The day the goal was to get up to mono lake, go around it and back into Bishop. One thing we didnt expect in this area was the amount of silt and sand we saw. Gray sand all over the mountains. Started up Fish Slough rd, to Chidago canyon rd, Deer Springs rd, then drop into Owens River road. Some of the most incredible scenery I have ever rode. Again up at 7500 ft, it was awesome seeing the mountain ranges and basins from up here. Pretty much sold me on doing the Bishop ride next year and going back every chance I get to do more exploring. Went up toward Mono Lake up and over bald mountain and on Mono Crater trail, that dropped us on the south end of the lake. Mono Crater trail was nothing but sand and pine cones. New combo I have never ridden before. The plan was to take East Shore rd around the lake. Be advise, this is miles, and miles of deep beach sand. we did a couple miles and it was wiping us out. the trail is cut through good size bushes and small trees and lots of twists and turns. No real good lengths were you could get any speed or get up on the sand. So we quickly turned this around. Only took Baller sliding out of a turn and head on into a bush to realize we dont need another long day like yesterday. Visited the Mono Lake visitor center and asked how sandy it was on the east/north side of the lake. The ranger laughed at us, said it gets so much worse then the south side. Showed us a picture on a binder from under the desk, big dunes. Said thats what you would have eventually gotten into skirting the lake. Guess we made a good call. Jumped back on the main road and into Lee Vining for lunch at Nicely's. From there we jumped onto the 395 then off on West Portal rd and headed to Pumice Mine rd. Not knowing this was a route done a week or two before at the High Sierra Rally, that included a whooped out silt/sand hill climb. My understanding is none of the big bikes made it up the hill at that rally. We saw plenty of chewed up spots where it looked like people buried tires and bikes. Had to get a good run at it. Baller found the one giant rock buried right in the center of the road and it just about tossed him. Second go, some speed, and knowing where that rock was made it much easier. Because of the late start and it getting late again, we opted to avoid the planned route home. Remembering all the silt and sand we saw coming up, we decided to play it safe and go the way we came since we knew it was doable and avoid the unknown and anymore deep sandy climbs or any situations that would keep us out in the dark. Good day, made it back in one piece. Stayin classy at Motel 6. Fish Slough Canyon More Fish Slough Coming out of Chidago Canyon Somewhere along Deer Springs rd Owens River rd I believe. Looking over part of Lake Crowley. South Mono Lake shore. 990 vs well rooted bush. That dark spot, used to be a bush. Not real sure who really won this fight. Turned around shorty after. Light fading somewhere along Owens River rd. We survived. Time for a beer. No failures, no injuries, minor "you gotta be kidding me" moments. Day 2 was a blast! Day 3 report soon to come.

Seems like a lot of guys are going to make a run at it in the 2 stroke class. Should be fun to watch and see what comes out there. Chad Reed is even on a steel frame YZ! Hopefully Pastrana comes back on the RMZilla!

Another Maxxis Desert IT rear tire fan here. I get them pretty cheap out here. For the price and performance, I don't mind that I only get 1000-1200 miles out of it. And it's pretty beat up at that point, squeeze every penny it out of it. I never had problems with a D606, but I get the magical new tire feel twice as often with the maxxis for close to the same price. I just swapped the rear tonight. Kind of early for me. This is about 850 miles, but I have an 800 mile trip next week. This is on an XR650R Fronts....prefer non DOTs here too, but I jumped on the goldentyre GT216AA wagon this time.

Haha. At 50% get anything you might need for the next 5 years. I got a deal on some left over XC gear, in the pic, and it is really nice stuff. I'm a fan. I figured if the quality of the vest was just as good as the riding gear, I won't have any complaints.

OH yeah. It has a holster. Not packing a desert eagle, but a co pact would sure fit nice. What the hell is in the Oracles vest? SAPIs and a Kevlar dual sport helmet?

I see in the first pic you got to ride with Barbara. I rode with her a few weeks ago out in my neck of the woods. She mentioned she was going on this ride and was just racking up seat time on our ride a few weeks ago. Small world. Fast lady too!

Calling any lobster vets! Me and a friend got the urge to snorkel for lobster this year. Any good places that are relatively shallow I should check out in north county? Outside of what I've read on the CA regulations website and some YouTube videos, I am a total newb. Just look for rocky terrain? Any words of wisdom for a lobster grabbing rookie?

Getting ready for a bike camping trip next month and did a shake down out in Anza and Thomas Mountain area. Found a big ol tank and Kato hooked it up with saddle bags. Wanted to see how it all held up beating on it and how the fuel consumption situation went. Started off at High point truck trail/Palomar divide, up Indian hills, went to check out Baileys cabin but the gate is still closed until sept 30, ate lunch at paradise valley cafe, came back into Anza via Thomas mountain trail. Good ride and it all held together.

Donation made. Didn't see this u til after the fact. Didn't include mailing address, just my user name on the PayPal notes.

Got an old boat that I inherited, 1968 sears runabout. needs floors. has a solid mercury inline 6, 2 stroke. the tower 'O power. Im guessing all the value is in the motor and trailer. has anyone donated a boat to any of these car/boat/trailer donation centers? Some seem more like scams then anything, give us you boat, we sell it and get back to you with what it auctioned for, and then value it. Not sure its worth much, but I will take the tax write off.

I recently got back into searching for local geocaches now that my son is 4 and old enough to get excited about "finding treasure!" Now im looking for them on any of my local dual sport loops. Anyone else I to this, or am I the only geocache nerd. Something interesting to do during our upcoming family camping trips.

This is such as sad story. except for the hamburger bike at the end, that is totally awesome!!!! It does suck though when you are looking for some older projects. My first bike with a plate was a 71 CL350 scrambler. Got it for free for tearing down a rotted out barn. It was a blast and I would kill to find another one. The cafe crowds have put some put some artificial value on these things and the prices are insane. You talk to them and they tell you what it could be, that these are the best bikes to start with, and when you totally hack it up it will be worth so much more. Im like...damn dude, I just want to pay for what it is now. slap some knobbies on it and cruise the hills. damn kids, and their crazy jalopys....and get off my lawn.

Tires seem to be a crazy industry. I used to work at one of the motor"cycle gear" shops in north county a few years ago, and saw what they paid and charged for tires. It was hard to believe what the online guys were charging and still somehow making money. Even with a deep employee discount, I bought my tires online and always came quite a bit ahead. A few years ago not many shops would compete with internet prices and would only price match local shops. Im seeing more signs in local shops that now say they will match internet prices. Wonder if things are getting better in the tire world or this explains why mounting/balancing prices have sky rocketed. Knock off 20-30 bucks a tire and get it back on the mounting service fees?? I lucked out when I moved to temecula. The big shop in town has some of the cheapest prices on tires I have ever seen, online and in store. At least on the dirt/dual sport tires I shop for. Been supporting them ever since.

Anyone race these? Its late in the game, last race sept 2. Looks like a good local turnout. Last race of the series, but looks like fun. From the videos I see on youtube, it doesnt look like a huge circus. Looks like Im going to be in town for the next 2-3 weeks and can actually plan ahead for something!! And its in the afternoon.