BigJon01

Oh man! I wish my schedule permitted. I love riding Big Bear! Have fun and be safe.

I found one gate over the weekend on a side trail but it was private and held closed with a bungee. Haven't ridden Nate Harrison Grade in a while but yes you can use that to get closer to the Warner Springs side of Lost Valley. Last I heard the Palomar observatory gate is closed to the dirt side of the mountain. You may have to pound a little pavement from there.

From Warner Springs you can take Lost Valley out through Anza. Very fun trail. I rode this over the weekend, it was dry and rougher than normal but still one of my favorites.

Around 5 years ago I began practicing Keto... lost over 80 lbs and most of my daily body pain went away. This type of diet cuts out sugar and most carbs. In order to properly manage, you also cut out all processed food (as much as you can), these foods are inflammatory. A lot of fruits go away that we all thought to be good for us but are actually full of natural sugars that still trigger an insulin response. A lot to learn about but it does help with weight and pain management. Thomas Delauer on youtube has alot of great videos explaining how to work on improving your health with diet and if desired, excercise.

Section 1 was fairly easy. Like Mr.Jaja said, it's more like gravel. We took our time and picked this section off on KTM 1090R's. Section 2 had a long stretch of sand through Skeleton pass but wasn't difficult, just tiring. Section 3 had deep sand uphill leaving the mine toward Primm. Then several miles of riding through softball to bowling ball size rocks uphill leaving Primm.

I'm in 92065 and have room for a few bikes. I can assist in shuttling the non plated bike to the US side of the border too. What are the exact dates and let me know if I can help.

Tell us more about Santa Rosa... Map?

Thomas Mountain has it all. It's close, temps will be lower, it's wooded and has dispersed camping.

It is an auto clutch. You do have to shift but very simple action. The wife who had never ridden (or driven) manual, picked it up in under an hour.

The wife and I have a pair of Honda Ruckus' (Ruckai, IDK) that we "dual sport". We have done day trips only but are planning this weekend to venture out further on an overnight. Hoping Thomas Mtn. will be free of snow... probably not though. I camp up there often on the ADV bike to test gear and hoping to show her one of my favorite campsites. We'll see how far we get, I'll report back. Thought you guys might enjoy seeing the lightest version of Dual Sport I can think of, lol.

The CT125 has 17" front wheel... but at least it doesn't have a hand clutch. Also, she can maintain 55+ most the time on highways.

DSM8, yes the wife rides the CT125 and is also approximately 5' tall. I did add a lower seat and a front brake lever that is closer to the bars. Other than that, all stock. This is her first bike moving up form the scooter and it is working out very well!

Got out Sunday 7.21.24 for a 115mi+ ride. Started in Ramona (at home) 5:45am. Rode down Highland Valley rd to Bandy Canyon through San Pasqual and into Escondido. We headed out past Lake Wohlford and into Valley Center for some gas. Wife was having fun and wanted to continue on to Lake Henshaw for some breakfast so we rode out through RIncon and La Jolla reservations. Had a great breakfast and met some other riders there. She wasn't ready to call it a day yet so we rode out Lost Valley rd. to Indian Flats campground, now it was getting hot. After a short break we headed back to Ramona. We love the morning adventures... RIDE 7.21 5.MOV

That is a good place to ride and practice. Also Santa Ysabel Truck trail in the same area.

I hope you do a write up on this adventure!!

What do you guys want to know about the Van?

Mrs. Bigjon01 got an upgrade this weekend... Thank you Mike @cmbthumper for the killer deal!! Picked it up Saturday with 63mi on the odometer and put 40ish mi on it Sunday. Our adventure range has been extended.

I'd love to pick these up for my nephew.

We're having a ton of fun with it. Hoping to get Mrs on a CT125 soon so we can get a little more adventurous...

We took the scooters up to Big Bear over the Memorial Day weekend. Had a great time riding some dirt roads (mostly 2n08 & 2n10). Still a little snow up there. Camped in the van, weather got down in the mid 30's overnight.

Got the opportunity to head into NV for 3 days of riding. We were on the NVBDR on the way up starting in Beatty, NV and ending in Diamond Valley. Day 1: Leaving with only 5 hours sleep from the long night before getting to Beatty from San Diego. Weather was perfect riding from Beatty. We made quick work of the section through to Gold Point. We had planned to get fuel in Gold Point (and even called a day ahead to be sure fuel was available), only to find no one there. Be aware of this issue. Pressed on into the mountains near Tule Summit where we found some deep nasty mud. Got lucky that we got out of the mud pretty easily (save this location for later in the story). Dropped down into Goldfield and visited the car museum. Pretty neat, I suppose. Arrived in Tonopah for lunch at Tonopah Brewing Company, good food and nice atmosphere. We pressed on, arriving in Belmont we were tired but the day was still early so we decided to keep moving. Above the Northumberland Mine We found snow covering the entire road from far above the road and off the edge. Decided to find a spot to camp nearby, we camped on the driveway to the mine from the valley floor (locked gate so no traffic). Asleep by 7:30pm... so tired. Day 2: Woke up at 5:30am; coffee breakfast and planning how to avoid the snow covering the road. We opted to backtrack and try a couple different trails that didn't work out. One ended in the mine with no escape. After 13 miles enduro riding loaded bikes through the mountains into the mine (a lot of weeds packing into the skidplate on the T7 caused some smoldering, scary, we put out with water) we decided to traverse the snow. This turned out to be a 15min process, stomp down the snow, pull the bags and ride across, lol. Now dangerously low on fuel on the 690 we decided not to chance the potential snow and reroute on Kingston pass. We took the highway to Austin. Dropped the T7 skidplate to clean out thoroughly and also made a fork seal hook to clean out the leaking seal. On the BDR map it shows 220mi from Austin to Elko, the 690 with the aux tank range is closer to 200mi. We decided to ride into Diamond valley and divert from there to Eureka NV. Hit a bit of strong wind and decided to hotel instead of camping (great choice you'll see why in a second). Day3: We woke up to snow and 25 degrees outside. Over breakfast we mapped our day south toward Tonopah. Decided on a route through Antelope Valley and Little Fish Lake Valley. Leaving Eureka, 25 degrees and windy. Stayed windy the entire 25 miles to Antelope Valley Rd. COLD. All through the valley we never crested 35 degrees but the ride was worth it. Amazing graded road that outdoes most San Diego paved roads. Heading West on 6, the wind was hideous all the way to Tonopah. Lunch buffet at Hometown Pizza was good. We lamented over the map trying not to reverse this section of the BDR back to Beatty... No luck. We rode the BDR north to south from Tonopah. Saw a few badgers in the desert between Goldfield and Tule Summit... who knew there were badgers in NV??? Pulling up on the mud stretch near Tule Summit, we had already planned our sick route around the mud on the hillside. T7 caught a heavy branch which pushed it back and to the ground, 690 made it around nicely. We decided to take a break just on the other side and help Baker Jim from Vermont get his 890 unburied from the abyss of the mud trap. He had been there for a few hours and managed to get in up to just below his seat. With some makeshift wood levers and a lot of hard work we got Jim out. He was very thankful and called off his SOS! Just as we finished another solo rider pulled up riding South to North, he was lucky to be able to stay clean a little while longer. We followed Jim for a little while on our way to Gold Point to make sure he wouldn't have any mud related issues with his 890. After a short stop again in vacant Gold Point we pressed on to Beatty finishing our ride at 788 miles. Loaded up and headed for home (rescuing Jim one more time with the makeshift fork seal tool to stop his leaky seals). Followed the maps through Death Valley and down 395, WTH, arriving in Temecula by midnight. Great weekend!

Had to convert my pic files...

Some pics... 2024-05-05_15-34-23_792.heic 2024-05-03_09-53-10_178.heic 2024-05-04_08-04-51_640.heic 2024-05-03_17-56-54_859.heic 2024-05-04_08-53-49_403.heic 2024-05-05_08-57-39_173.heic 2024-05-04_09-29-33_195.heic

How was the ride?