Wintyfresh

After loading up the bikes in light morning showers we headed up to the base of Palomar Mountain. I'm familiar with both East and South grades but had never been on Nate Harrison grade; it was my wife's second day riding her CRF230L outside of the MSF and I'd heard the road was beautiful and relatively easy. The trail started off warm and with few trees But as the elevation changed so did the flora Once at the top we hit banks of fog, and snow was piled up on the sides of the road. We were the only motorcycles at Mother's Kitchen, I wonder if the earlier rains had dissuaded the sport bikes? There are lots of gorgeous views along Nate Harrison grade. An easy ride with just a few sections of mud. I saw a ton of wildlife, including a rather fat and happy looking bobcat. A shame I couldn't get my phone out in time to get a pic. Special thanks to our photographer, sweep driver and provider of a place to set gear Daniel and his 4x4 Tundra.

Congrats, welcome to the club!

Someone consistently brings one of these out to the nearby 24 Hours of Lemons races, it looks like a real hoot!

I seriously doubt it, when I was out there in October their bigscreen was on its last legs and showing OTA broadcasts.

Thanks Deb, He's fixing up the bike tonight at Vespa Motorsports, then off to Lake Elsinore for a few days before he heads up to Canada.

Congrats! When are we going 'wheeling?

Will do! Thanks to matteo92065 for donating a GPS to help Pablo on his trip!

I headed out to Gold Rock Ranch for some riding this weekend and met Pablo, a genuine adventure rider. For the past 4 years he's been on this Chinese bike riding his way up from Argentina. He'll be spending the next few days in San Diego, then venturing northwards towards the trip's eventual goal of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Pablo's Blog

Yep, in '86 Toyota swapped over to IFS.

Just wanted to thank you all for the warm welcome tonight! Here's Pablo's website (translated via google translate), his email address is motopablo@gmail.com.

Seems a little high, but old toyotas always command a premium, and 85s are particularly desirable. If you can get 'em to knock a few hundred off the asking price and are looking for something that can crawl I'd pull the trigger on it.

4 hours on a TTR-125 over the Holiday weekend and my wife was hooked on the two-wheel crackpipe. She tried my buddy's DRZ400 with lowering links but it was too tall and too heavy, so after test riding a few we brought home her first bike last night, a 2008 CRF230L. It's low and light enough she can toss it around on trails without worry, and the 6th gear means riding to the trailhead is a possibility.

Sounds good, I'll be there.

A friend of mine just picked up his first bike ('07 DRZ400S) today, so we decided to do a shakedown run on what little dirt's available in our neck of the woods. Both bikes performed beautifully and I think he's got the hang of things. I realized my DRZ hadn't been washed since the poker run and made a last minute decision to give it a bath. Can't wait to head out to Gold Rock for the long Holiday weekend!

I do but am lucky enough to have a number of corny kegs.

I feel like I'm in good company.

I had a great time, thanks to everyone for the riding and hospitality! Three days of riding has left a mile-wide smile on my face and me seriously evaluating upgrading the seat on my DRZ. I couldn't spend much time snapping photos but here are the few I did take.

Reserved the last available spot, I'm in! I'll be riding in the slower group and am game to share site 49 with someone. One XL T-Shirt and dinner, please!

Picked up an '06 DRZ400S earlier this year for my second bike (first was a '72 XL250 about a decade ago) and have been exploring the fire roads and trails around Encinitas, Rancho Santa Fe, and Elfin Forest. Now that it's cooled off I'm looking forward to more riding out East; I took the bike to BorregoFest and hit up Arroyo Tapiado and Arroyo Secc Del Diablo which was a little sandy for the stock trailwings. New tires (XCMH front, K760 rear) are going on this week or early next and then it's off to Picacho SRA. I'm looking forward to learning some of the closer areas and meeting other dualsport riders.

Thanks for the warm welcome! Sneeker, I believe if you're plated you can ride Suerte Del Este as well, although they've just recently (within the past month) laid down some gravel on the western section. Canyon De Oro / SeaQuest aren't really anything to write home about, but they're only a few minutes from my house and let me get in some dirt practice between desert trips.