stoke

Lurking. Will be on a big bike for this ride, although an "adventurised" KTM 625sxc may be joining the stable soon . I've got a ham radio setup on the bike/helmet and can help with comms if needed.

Hi guys, I organized a big bike training day over at Motoventures, Gary Laplante's outfit, for Saturday, November 8th. I'm not getting paid for this or anything, just had a lot of people over on advrider.com that I met at the noob and warped rallies express interest and Shooby and I have gone to several of these training days and had great benefits afterwards. Downs from this forum may be going as well. Being a noob myself, I can say for certain that when I've gone on the SDAR rides, the Motoventures training has been invaluable for me. I know many of you on this forum rip, so this may be below your skill level, but for those of you on this forum with the bigger bikes, or if you're just looking to brush up on your skills, this is a great opportunity. Here's the details: LOCATION: - http://www.motoventures.com/our-location -50250 Hwy 371, Anza, CA 92539 -GPS 33 deg 32' 7.5" N, 116 deg 45' 47" W DATES: -Friday night, the 7th of November, free camping on site -Saturday day, the 8th of November, training from 9am-3pm -Saturday night, the 8th of November, free camping on site -Sunday morning, can leave or a group of us is likely riding around that area that morning/day. Uh, Shooby is likely to have the details on that...right!? I still use my cell phone for nav and my turtle like pace is not great for leading a group ride...I'm sure most of the local people will just do the day training, but so far we have quite a few folks coming from out of town who are planning on staying over. TRAINING CURRICULA: -Level 2 Skills builder with Dual Sport and ADV riders in mind -You can ride your own bike or rent one of his smaller, lighter dirtbikes for the day -http://www.motoventures.com/training-options-and-prices INVESTMENT: -$225 or 10% off that with military discount -Drinks and snacks provided, must bring own lunch CAMPING ON SITE: -Free -Porta potty and fire ring/ easy ups on site -I will be bringing some firewood but others are welcome too as well -Me, Shooby and hopefully Downs will be there Friday and Saturday night. Drinks, cooking out, campfire stories, more drinks encouraged. OTHER DETAILS: -There is a trials event happening that Sunday, the 9th. They will be camping out Saturday night as well. -Our bikes are bigger so we can push them out of the way if needed -Will be a great opportunity to get to know more about trials and meet some of those folks -Motoventures has trials bikes available for rent as well CONTACT INFO TO SIGN UP: -Call Gary directly at 951-767-0991 to reserve a spot for this date -Again, just call 951-767-0991 to get a spot

Nice! I'd love to take an SDAR class on a smaller bike sometime. Bummed we're missing you, but I'm sure we'll do another this winter.

Bump. We have a couple of signups from advrider and now my girlfriend is doing the level one course, so that should be fun to get her on two wheels again.

I went to the noob rally last year. Had a blast. There's tons of people around, but for me on a big bike not ripping around, that's part of the fun. Really enjoyed the ride out there on those empty roads through the desert as well.

Dan Diego, sorry you can't make it. I am planning on doing at least 2-3 trainings over the next several months now that the temp has dropped out there, so I'll post up again when there is another one and maybe you can attend. Afry - would be great to see you out there! Would love any ride planning assistance for Sunday. A few guys you know from advrider are lurking as well, I hope everyone can make it.

Once you go modular you never go back Shooby, you know you want one. Also, I'm surprised you didn't blame me or downs for stealing your helmet...we used to yell at you about the wind noise in our mics so much! (LOL the Bilt one was quieter!) Top cases are a must if you use your bike as a car replacement, adds so much utility and practical value

I've had so much stuff stolen in broad daylight in la jolla (I know, right!?) that I either bring the helmet in or lock it inside my Givi E55. Did use the helmetlok for awhile until I had to break it off with a vise grips in Pahrump...and there are more than a few areas of the city I go to where I would be concerned about a homeless guy taking a dump in it or something. Maybe time to cross over to the dark side and get a lockable big topcase Shooby!?

Lurking....just caught up on the whole thread, shooby brought it to my attention. I would be staying overnight and in Arnie's big bike group. I'll know by this weekend for sure if I'm 100% in or not.

Yeah, that's the thing-the honda is really, really well priced. Amazing that they were able to bring it to market at those prices. For me, the used market is more robust for the WRR and I will invest a lot more to be more comfortable with my height on a bike, but yeah, the honda is nice piece of kit for a great price.

Yep, that's what I was thinking as well. Thanks for the confirmation.

Ha, we got beat up on our stroms in death valley didn't we Downs!? Gosh man. I'm poking around the flea market and craigslist too after the noob rally. Have narrowed it down to the WR250R or the CRF250L. I'm 6' 4"-anybody on this thread know which one would be better for a tall guy?

I have to catch up on some work stuff this weekend too, otherwise would of been into this. Maybe we can hit it up another time.

I had a great time, this ride challenged me on a few of the uphill loose rock parts, but I stayed up on the pegs and 'Strom walked me out of it. Thanks guys for helping me with the gate part. I really liked the paved parts, again, a part of SD county I never would of seen without this group. Also, the paved mountain roads were awesome, as was watching Josh bang his skidplate hard enough to dent his exhaust on one. I have some pictures: Not sure what is going on with Paul and Josh here: I thought this one was pretty cool for a cellphone pic: Marines are a part of the Navy, right!? Josh enjoying San Diego Pensive Paul

Alrighty, the black 'Strom will be back in action tomorrow! Count me in. I shifted my workload around and surfed today instead. Tough life, we have here in SD, right? Surf one day and the next ride in some awesome undeveloped area in the hills out east?! Randy, sorry you can't make it. I have actually wanted to meet you since Alex at Kon Tiki made sure I joined this site when I first brought my bike into his shop.

Lurking...had a great time last Sunday, and a few laughs as my just-over-a-year-of-riding skill set wallowed the 500lb Vstrom around. Thanks again guys for helping me out and planning a ride where I had the option to get around the more challenging stuff if I wanted to. Ankle is still so-so, but worked out ok last noob ride. Will post up if I am making this one or not: only challenges are work and ahem, surf is supposed to be good that day!

It was our privilege, and thanks for the kind words. You certainly earned our admiration via radio- (yes, we were talking about you) and the brass you showed, especially on the plank crossing. Well done! Thanks again for all of your help (& bikeslut's) and setting this morning up, I had a great time and am looking forward to another ride in the future-after investing in some more training, of course! Ted P.S.-the plank crossing was pretty cool!

I just read through the whole thread; first of all, a huge thanks to the guys who laid out this ride, posted about it, organized sweeps, and most importantly, gave the guy on the 500lb black Vstrom with a temporarily bum ankle (me) positive reinforcement and a little help when he needed it! All that together is a lot of work and I just wanted to let you guys know that it is appreciated. After today, I feel more comfortable on the dirt, saw an area of SD that I have never seen before, got a great mental break from my insane work schedule and met some great people who volunteered their own time to set it up. Pretty awesome deal if you ask me. Second, sdmichael: Dude, no one is out to get you here. This was my second outing with the group. I did a noob ride a year ago and was terrible on the dirt. Between then and now I took four motoventures classes on my own accord that really helped me. Then I did this ride and had a lot more fun. These noob rides are just rides, not instruction, a chance to use skills you've previously practiced. At least that's how I look at it. For me, personally, my envelope was pushed just the right amount by this ride. The water crossing was a good time. I had no shame in caterpillaring my bike across, wet boots and all! A couple hills were quite steep for me, but the sweep helped me out and I realized later I needed...,well hell I needed to do a LOT of stuff better next time, but at least I know now! Thanks again for putting this ride on guys. I honestly really appreciate it.

Ok, I'm in on this ride. The ankle still feels bad from twisting it during an off three weeks ago (motoventures big bike training day), but I can't pass this opportunity up to ride a new place with some great folks. See you all down there!

Lurking. Been since forever since I posted, did a noob ride in 2012 a couple of months after I got my bike and it was a great experience with great people. Would of just posted up that I'm in, but still recovering from a severely twisted ankle from a recent off. Always wanted to check out this area of SD.

Sounds like a great idea. Training is the most valuable farkle you'll ever purchase. Yeah, I can't wait. I'm going to do their small bike and possibly trials bike trainings too over the next several months. Riding in dirt helps so much with street riding, especially in hairy situations, that I can't not do this when it's so close by.

Unfortunately, I have to miss this one. Bummed. I own my own business and there's too much work this friday/over the weekend for me to be off somewhere. On another note, I did sign up for a Motoventures big bike training day on may 5th, so by the time I finally do make it out to Death Valley, I'll be equipped with some better skills. Riding out there with someone from this forum actually, so that should be pretty fun.

Ha, probably not too much now that I have some barkbusters (great for lanesplitting so the mirrors don't hit your front brake) and good gear for myself. I just checked out those tires. They look pretty sweet. Once mine wear out, I might have to upgrade to those.

I'd love to see a ride report, or even just a few photos. My only concern would be I'm running the OEM spec tires on my Vstrom as I do the battle commute from Solana Beach to La Jolla everyday and use my bike for work (appts all over the city-no traffic or parking woes!). If we're talking fire roads, I can always air down to 22lbs and roam around. Some of the gnarlier stuff with a 5.8 gallon tank up high and those tires makes things...interesting. Just looks like a great place to stay with everything you need and good group of folks to ride with. I'm really thinking about this.

Thanks for the reply. This area definitely looks like a dual sport playground for a huge variety of bikes/riders. I feel really lucky to live in an area where you can surf and then go off on your motorcycle and explore desert areas with not a lot of people out.