Hawkins

I requested a spot as will my wife. Thanks, Randy!

I'd love to do this! Sounds like a good excuse to get my lighting setup dialed in. I was looking for an excuse to go to Amazon. I'll also bring a Skydio 2 to capture us enjoying the view. I'd like to politely suggest you use the calendar for this event. I'll gladly feature it on the top page of the forum if you do! The conversation can still live here, however, the additional event on the calendar might draw more eyes. You can find it here: Click the highlighted link and start filling in the data best you can. I can come in and edit/help if needed.

I like I too.

Interesting, as this is much more obvious on a large-screen computer. They are member types on the forum. I’m red because I’m an admin, whereas purple is for moderator. It’s not very clear on mobile. Thoughts?

Probably not. But don’t let that keep you from attending! Once you get to the end of the trail… just keep going. Link up with another more experienced rider at the ride and find more challenging routes. Part of being a newbie is gaining the community. Come ride with folks who still have the injection marks on their tires. They’ll be ready for bigger stuff soon.

I didn't think of taking more or better pics, so my quick snaps will have to do. Feel free to add more context to any photo. @DSM8 has a very well-equipped shop. Focused mainly on machining, it easily handled all the work we needed to do. @PerigrinoRobbino, aka Max, brought in his F 850 GS Edition 40 Years GS. @DSM8 and I fixed up his turn signals (well, I fixed one and broke the other, which @DSM8 then fixed!), secured a wobbly headlight, relocated his GPS mount, and added a tank bag. The tank bag addition required some customer fabrication which @DSM8 did a killer job on. Hey Max, upload an image of his handiwork! The KTM got an oil change. Man, that is a sweet bike. "Ok, now turn over the engine and cough." This dude's bike was covered end to end with custom everything. Even the seat is fancy - ostrich leather! And yes, that is a tablet mount on the front fairing so it doesn't swivel with the handlebars. Really sweet bike. @PerigrinoRobbino and I anchored the average age of the group. The dude looks 11, but he's tough as nails. These lights came recommended by @DSM8. Super tough and easy to mount damn near anywhere. Bolt right through the center and then run 12v to them - done.

All good man. I'll send over a summary of the before -> after values of every change I made.

Found and fixed the issue. For reasons I can't fathom, the various groups that are used to categorize users (members, supporting members, guests, admins, etc.) had different settings related to messaging, with your group (moderators) being unable to send any messages at all. The rabbit hole went quite deep on this one with discrepancies in almost every possible setting across the multiple groups. Getting them in sync required 101 (!) changes to group permissions. In addition to being able to send messages, your group name has a color (under your name when you post on the forum), and you can have a single image in your signature (instead of unlimited, other groups had 0, now all have 1), your signature can have 5 lines of text (instead of unlimited, other groups had different values, now all have 5), you can react to posts (some groups could, others could not, now all can), etc. Just a chaotic environment that is overdue for sanitization.

Not familiar with this issue. Tell me what steps you are taking (where your clicking) before running into the error.

Right?! I think the engineers were betting each other how deeply they could bury the guts. Good advice - I'll save this project for a time/place where I can strip it down and leave parts laid out.

Dude, that is my favorite brand!

I am always down to do a newbie ride.

Hey @Angela, this would be a good time to bolt on some crash bars, a USB port, and some storage (extra points if it is a milk crate!).

Hey @Angela, want to go on this ride with me?

I will be there, and I might be able to talk my wife into coming with me. I'll have drinks, snacks, and tools. I want to add a front and rear-facing camera setup to my 21' AT AS ES DCT. I have the gear just haven't say down to zip tie the 200' of wires that thing comes with. If my wife attends she'll likely want to add a USB port and phone mount to her new bike (I'll let her introduce herself when she joins). @shutterrev you'll be missed!

I'd be down to do this. I am not a newbie, but I really enjoy helping people learn, supporting new riders, and just enjoying the view. I'll have a good tool bag, first aid, and lots of water. For those on the fence about going on this ride, I would classify it as a good first-time-on-dirt ride provided you are comfortable steering where you intended to go. The road is wide and flat, but there is no guardrail to keep you from falling. As with anything new, go slow, be intentional, ride within your skill level, and give yourself breaks from time to time. I'll be there to help out anyone that needs it. I'll be on the big black Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sport ES DCT. I might get my wife to come with me!

There was a database issue on 7/11 that required a restore from backup from 7/10. Message/posts/PMs sent during that ~24-hour window were lost. The data is still available, but it isn't a simple, "drop-in" restore. Sorry for the inconvenience. We've learned a lot about our infrastructure and its limitations. Ultimately we'll be making some changes to ease the management load on the admins as well as secure the site.

@amgems There was a database issue on 7/11 that required a restore from backup from 7/10. Message/posts/PMs sent during that ~24-hour window were lost. The data is still available, but it isn't a simple, "drop-in" restore. Sorry for the inconvenience.

What a great way to start off a new volunteer gig - I took the site down for a few hours today. @IanT are you good with SQL? Ended up having to restore from a backup and the running version is missing about a day's worth of content. I have that content, files and database, backed up. I hope to merge the two.

If you want to up your solder game, add a flux pen to your trail kit. Often the wire that needs to be soldered will be dirty with oil/grease or oxidized. Solder tends to not stick well in these situation. Simply wipe the exposed metal surfaces with a flux pen before forming the mechanical bond that will then be soldered. Once you give it a try you'll be hooked.

Looks like a pretty good place for dark sky shooting: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=10.32&lat=32.6159&lon=-116.7320&layers=0BTFFFFFFFFFFFFTTFFFF&state=eyJtYXJrZXJzIjp7Im1hcmtlcjEiOlstMTI5ODk3NjYsMzgzOTYwNl19fQ==

I'd love to be part of this! I can bring a tire truing stand w/ weights, new valve stem cores and caps, and and good assortment of electrical gear: wire, waterproof crimp connectors, heat gun, various fittings/connectors, and small fuses. If any of these items are already available onsite, let me know and I'll leave them behind. If we need a Rabaconda, I have that too along with irons and tire lube. Come September-October-ish, I'll have one of these: YesWelder Firstess CT2050: Powerful 7-in-1 Welder & Cutter My end goal is to have my own shop to support my family's adventure, dirt, and trial bikes as well as household projects. I had a shop back in Seattle that catered largely to wood and household maintenance, which I am thankfully no longer on the hook for since selling that home. Now I'll pay contractors to do the "work" while I play. Once things are up and usable I'll open my shop & services to the community so that those of us in/around San Marcos have a place to wrench and weld.

I am not familiar with this location. The spot looks great for astrophotography, which is another hobby I dabble in. Where can I find the start of this trail?

Thanks!

Today was a great ride indeed! Thanks to our perennial navigator, @shutterrev, we didn’t get lost nor did we have to backtrack. How does he remember so many trails‽ Maybe each new trail he learns makes him taller. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ @moto_rph is lightning fast, especially when he’s on a perfect-for-arid-trails KTM 500EXC-F with brand new Motoz Tractionator Desert H/T - same tires I ride on! Amazing in dirt but _loud_ on the road. My first time in desert-esque sand and I must say, the Africa Twin’s size & weight combined with my own lack of experience made for a challenging ride. I came off the bike three times though only one of those was anything serious. I’ll likely hold off on more sand rides until I have a dedicated dirt bike. Bikes: can’t have just 3! Max ran into the same big-bike problems that I did, and took a few tumbles as a result. Dude is a machine and kept getting back in the saddle. Looking forward to seeing the video and pics from @shutterrev!