Zubb

The dark sky at night, coyotes howling, stunning mountains, twisty roads, desert trails, rusty steel art, super low key and happy locals. . . it's so cool that someday, it will become like Julian. Then after that, Palm Springs. (.. sigh..)

I have rig-envy. Nice kit Tom. Show us what toys you brought to play with!

That is AWESOME!! you’ll probably have about 40 bikes with you next time. 😁

Some choose to go beyond the 2 day class and extend into Monday/Tuesday for on trail coaching. This is where I see the greatest change in people’s riding. We get to start ‘grooving in’ the skills with feedback on the trail. This is where people’s grin factor starts to skyrocket. I wasn’t able to stay for Mon/Tue this time but here’s a pic from backside of Palomar on Mondays ride. It turns out that my decision to abandon Mt. Laguna and divert to Ramona at Julian was the right call.

Yeh, I’ve never seen that before either. I clicked to choose files like usual and inserted into the report. I presume you can see full pics in the text like I do. I just clicked on the ‘heic’ file and it downloaded the pic to my iPhone. I dunno.

McGuyver'd it! Hey! Hand me that stick of chewing gum. . . . Nice work Tom.

Kato! If it seemed like I was staring a little too much, I was just remembering all the times my dad took me out to do exactly what you were doing! Very good memories, and I'm dam-proud of you for raising your kids out there squirting' dirt and skidding turns instead of them sitting behind a bedroom door on social media. Good job sir!

I have these hallelujah moments when I ride into certain places of grandeur. Borrego is one such place. I usually take Yaki pass. It's short but it's a nice set of twisties that dump you down into the Valley below. As I hit the valley floor, that familiar sight of magnificent mountains to your left behind Borrego, and the mountains to the north, well it takes my breath away every time. Maybe it's because I have great memories there. Maybe it's because Borrego is surrounded by Californias largest State Park Anza Borrego. It is grand and strangely this old Idaho/Colorado mountain boy desperately wants a crusty little broken down cabin out there with this view off his front porch. You could certainly do worse than spending winters in Borrego. Friday is everyones Get-There day, and that evening we walked next door for margaritas and some dinnertime fun. Loved having just six of us as it allowed us all to really connect and talk over dinner! Dusty and Cassie had been there all week filming with Mototrek for 2 new videos. They'd been baking in the sun for days and were thrilled to see cooler temps even if it did come with weather. Then to go sleep off some of those rice and beans. Saturday morning came early, and per usual I peeked out the motel door to see if ol' Trigger was still in his stall. And of course, there he sat. Blinking occasionally and wondering when we were gonna fire up. The gods took the time to point out where we should be eating breakfast. As we dismounted and walked toward it, we saw the gods real message. "Grow Today"! And so we did. We had a 1200, 1250 and a Mighty 1290 in the stables. Our Katoomer has a real nice set up, complete with Rekluse. And he came with strong credentials. The scratches silly, look at those battle scars! The stickers are nice. And the scratches are nice. But combined they make strong medicine. He is not here to mess around. He's serious about going next level with the big Austrian. All three students were there for Level 2 training which allowed us to all focus on the really really fun stuff. With one eye on skill building, and other eye on the weather, we lucked out and once again benefited from the magic of that valley. Can't tell you how many times I've seen heavy storms sitting on top of the mountains above Borrego only to park there and not dare come across. The following pic doesn't show heavy rain inbound, but that's about where it usually splits and goes around. Saturday the wind kicked up to the 40's, carrying rain drops from the mountain tops. so we took a long lunch break back at the motel. Everyone brought their gps units in and we had a workshop going through whatever challenges folks were having. Then back out for some work in the sand. Ol' Trigger spends a lot of time just sitting and waiting while I'm helping others. But he always get's his turn roosting, lofting and sliding. And once and a while he even bucks me off and we have a good laugh. Pro tip: When Dusty is teaching and a rainbow comes out of his mouth . . . . might want to remember what he just said. Hill work is always fun regardless of the direction. We warned Ryan of the Death Sand off the back side of the hills, but I guess he had to see for himself. And of course the others happily followed him. Sometimes it just gets so soft and deep that all forward motion stops and any motion is straight down. But even that's great because they get to teamwork a solution out. This particular spot was rated a Level 3... because it takes 3 people to get it out. We were glad it was a cool 60* and not 110* out. Sunday late afternoon I put the boxes back on and headed home. Montezuma was completely hidden in rain clouds so I took the usual route. Yaqui pass took me just around the edge of the downpour, but it didn't matter because as soon as I hit 78 all powers of hell unleashed. High winds driving sheets of rain across the road. The few cars encountered were crawling down the road, some with flashers on. With each foot of elevation gain the temps dropped dropped dropped. The face shield was trying to completely shut me in, to shut me off from anything beyond the steamed lens. Open it to the first indent? get a facial attack of stinging rain drops. Close it down and instantly 50% blind going to 100% quickly. Makes a guy wish he'd have put the OEM windscreen on for the weekend. I was dreading my favorite road not to far ahead. I was gortexed head to toe . . . except for gloves. I had forgotten to pack real gloves. My KLIM baja gloves are just peachy for 100* days of desert riding. Of course the grips were set to warp 9 but it didn't matter. Elevation on my gps screen increased and the temps dropped. 46. . . 44 . . . 42. . . .39 . . . still gaining elevation dammit. At 4,235' above sea level (Julian) and 36 rain and wind driven degree's I knew there was no way I would take the usual route over Mt. Laguna to the 8. The Laguna mountain lodge is at 6,000' and it didn't seem possible to NOT hit driving snow and sub freezing temps. Grant it, I was warm enough, but those damn gloves! Couldn't hardly feel the grips. So down to the Chairs (Santa Ysabel) for a pitstop at the outhouses and a quick lens wipe. Fortunately the weather eased as I went through Ramona and elevation dropped. By the time I hit La Mesa the sun was shining and it was close to 60*. Barb could see me coming on her iPhone so when I pulled in the driveway there she was with a nice pour of Pendleton in her outstretched hand. Charlie the Loan dog was dancing in circles at the sound of dads bike. Kickstand down, key off and Led Zeppelin faded to black as I powered off the Cardo. I left a trail of riding gear from the garage to the back yard and then whiskey in hand, jumped in the hot tub. Led Zeppelin resumed right where I'd left him while Charlie jumps up on his perch and the wife jumps into the co-pilots seat. With a toast to friends, adventures and each other I ask . . . "tell me about your weekend Honey!" fullsizeoutput_48f9.heic fullsizeoutput_48fd.heic fullsizeoutput_4904.heic fullsizeoutput_48fe.heic fullsizeoutput_48f9.heic fullsizeoutput_48f9.heic

I love motorcycles. They are the 'mechanical campfire' around which we gather. If I see a bunch of bikes at a gas station, a restaurant, a campsite. . . odds are I'm gonna wander over and check them out, and likely strike up a conversation or two. And people do that to all of us quite regularly right? I can't think of a single time that during our training weekends in Borrego, someone. . . or some group didn't mosey on over to see what all those big bikes where doing out in the sand. At West 38 Moto camps I meet people from all over the country. From New Jersey to Alaska to Mexico and all points in between ( and a surprising number from SoCal too). Everyone has a story, and a reason to be here at big bike school, and all those stories start coming out around the evening campfire. Nothing quite like toasting each other to a good day of skills drills and riding. Throw in some Idaho Moonshine, or Bourbon, beer or large gatorade . . . you have all the ingredients necessary for a perfect weekend! This last weekend was no exception. For starters we had a large number of cancellations. For some strange reason, a lot of people just don't like rain. So even though we moved it from our usual desert camping experience to a Borrego Motel, we only had 3 students. It's a kitchy... quaint little drive up motel. A little tired in spots with a lobby full of old movies in the DVD/VHS library that anyone can walk in anytime and borrow. Park your bike right in front of your door. It was perfect. Sidebar: Most of the locals I've met in Borrego are super nice, friendly, and happy to just drop what they are doing and chat about whatever you want. It sure makes the world feel like it just stopped spinning and that old clock on the wall stopped ticking, second hand frozen on the 2. So you can breathe, sit down, talk about anything that doesn't matter, or just absorb the quiet. That the world will just wait for you to recharge your mental batteries while you 'park it' for awhile. I've fallen in love with Borrego Springs. To be continued . . . fullsizeoutput_4901.heic fullsizeoutput_48fd.heic fullsizeoutput_4905.heic fullsizeoutput_48fe.heic fullsizeoutput_48f9.heic

It was a rainbow festival in Borrego this weekend too. We bailed on tent camping and motel'd it. Pro tip: always take the Kug along for laughs and luck.

Thanks for the intel! I always enjoy this stretch.

Would you agree that the counter clockwise loop would be notably easier than going clockwise?

Well call me sentimental, that video just wrecked me. Maybe it's because my father is aging out of even his CanAm. But it's a sad tender thing to watch your parents lose their grip on balance, reflexes and strength until they can only sit and watch, and wish, and remember.

So I’m sitting by the pool next to the wife and dog. Watching this video while wife is on her iPad doing her thing, and Barb eventually says ‘hey what station are you listening too?’ She loves the soundtrack. nice work on the vid.

Yep that’s the uphill. I’m dying to check it out.