dirt dame

The tip off for recognizing the Xtrainer is that you can see the perimeter frame sort of dissecting the gas tank diagonally. The frame is not visible on the RR models.

Bugz Beta got a new Midwestern Mountain Engineering clutch lever for Christmas, so I though that Friday would be a good day to try it out. The weather was superb, nobody else was out there, bought chocolates at Wisteria on my way home, and the clutch lever did everything that it was advertised to do, so it was a fun, relaxed day on the trail, and my clutch hand never got tired or cramped up.

Over 1000 miles on the Xtrainer, and I still haven't fallen off of it yet. This is due to the low saddle height and the electric start. Just sayin'.... I'm sure I'll tip over while riding it, sooner or later.

Are you talking about the RR 200? That is a nice bike. But the Xtrainer 300 is very nice also, with eye watering torque at low RPMs. Although I can't say what a stock one is like, since mine came with RR pipe and jetting. I see a lot of novice Xtrainer riders that crash in videos. They don't seem to have good clutch habits developed yet.

That map link shows the legal routes in the area, which is about 9 miles long. The construction of power lines and windmills has chopped a lot of those trails up with their access roads, so some of the trails don't have signage where they end up sort of zig zagging across access easements. There are also some limited access roads that extend beyond the OHV boundries.

I have ridden other people's bikes that have them. I wouldn't want the model that doesn't include the manual clutch feature...and then I would have to have the clutch on every single machine I own, because I like them to all perform about the same. Too costly, and not a good enough return for me.

Lark Canyon OHV , McCain Valley near Boulevard.

Those kind of injuries sure do suck, especially for us riders who are not spring chickens anymore. About eight years ago, I did a big endo, got knocked out, broke a bunch of ribs, and never really fully recovered....but I recovered enough to keep on riding. I hope and suspect that you will too.🤠

I was glad that the storms have left us for a little while. The sunshine was a welcome relief, and the dirt still held plenty of moisture, though there was no evidence of any snowfall anywhere, even on the mountain ranges that I drove past to get to McCain valley. Even though the sun was out, the high desert was still plenty chilly for the first day of the new year, 41 degrees. Another spin on the good ol' 501.

A taco quest is always a noble cause.

Winter had officially arrived finally, in the form of some ongoing storms. With nothing to do on cold, dreary Christmas Saturday, I decided to hit the trails at McCain. Nobody else was out there. I had the place to myself. The rain came down as fine, but heavy mist, with a few breaks from time to time. The high temperature was 41. I was dressed cozy and dry enough for about 3 hours of puddle jumping and traction. Mr. 501 was the perfect machine for the day, with his hot running KTM motor. I got out there sort of late, after noon, and left around 4.

We are thinking about middle of May.

Uh oh. I know who that is.😢

Excellent! I have a really rough draft of what I want the design to look like, to show to the prospective artist.

We need a graphic artist to create a tee shirt/sticker design for the Mountain Dash we plan to put on later this year. Contact me if you know of anybody. Thanks. I might check with this guy, and see what his fee is.

Please join Ed Stovin and me, for another supper at 6, at https://www.kaminskisbbq.com/ We will enjoy some BBQ and dive into further discussion of next year's event planning. Ed will update us on permit information and has some ideas he would like to discuss with the group. I hope to see you there.

Don't forget! Tonight is the night. See you there!😎

So....I guess it finally rained pretty good up in the high desert yesterday. Today was perfect for dirt riding at McCain. It was probably the coolest day of the season so far, with a daytime high of 46 degrees. Definitely a day for a jacket and glove liners. Partly cloudy all day, no dust, a couple of puddles here and there. Other riders wanted to experience the wet earth too, so there were about a half dozen vehicles in the staging area when I arrived. Lots of fun trails, some new, some were old trails that I somehow had quit riding a few years ago. The little Xtrainer made those old trails fun again.

Ed is the one who is not available on weekends. Also restaurants will be more crowded and less available for groups.

It sucks, getting old. Maybe time for reading glasses.😂 Fixed.

Another problem is when people post an upcoming ride, but don't put any relevant information in the post. From now on, posts like this will be deleted. This website has a certain standard that we wish to maintain, and we want people to feel informed and like we are community. A community where we can relax and have friendly banter, but without a village smartass.

The website doesn't have enough moderator coverage right now. Looks like only KTMrad and myself are taking care of things. A post report came up today while i was out riding in the middle of nowhere, but luckily Randy was able to get to it. There are some moderators listed, but they don't seem to visit the forum anymore, so if any long time members are interested in helping out, please PM me for details. Thanks

I usually ride twice a week, and often up at McCain (as everybody probably knows, by now). So, another spur of the moment ride idea popped into my head while I was having breakfast yesterday, and soon i was all loaded up and heading out to my favorite place in the dirt, Bugz The Beta in tow. I'm still waiting for the first good rain of the season to sweep in. Here we are, the first day of December, and not much has happened this year. It was so dry that all the little critters must have been suffering. I was washing my hands in the staging area, and a little bird was enviously watching the water running out of the spigot of the water jug. After I walked away, he hopped over and pecked at the wet sand. I felt bad for him and opened the spigot up again so that he could get a proper drink. The trails were just what you'd think they were, dry, dusty and full of soft sand. I did most of my usual route for the day, but wanted to have a look at a "new" trail. I have passed by it many times, and didn't really pay any attention to it until a couple of rides ago. It had lots of rock piles sprinkled throughout, so I was glad to have the little Xtrainer, with which saddle height wasn't an issue. When I got to the other end of the trail, it came out right near where I pass by on almost every single ride. The weather was great, breezy and high 60s temps. Still, can't wait for some wet dirt! On a completely different note, I need a timer that delays longer than 10 seconds on my camera. I can barely make it back to my bike and pose in time. Maybe I could have in my younger days.