Search the Community

It was a dark and stormy night. Adam "Gerty" kissed his family and strapped on his helmet to ride 1300 miles overnight from Seattle to San Diego. His goal was to ride sand sand sand. Something he doesn't get to practice in the Pacific Northwest. He rolled out into the rain. And it rained, and rained and rained. Then it got worse. Black of night, raining buckets, and wind driving it all sideways. Temps dipping into the 30's. Electrics on high. Lens cracked open just enough to try to see what he was hurling towards in the dark. Ugh! Personally I'd have said screw it and found a motel for at least the night time. Not Adam. Onward to the goal. 26 hours and 1300 miles later he pulled into my garage, so dam-happy to be here even if it was . . . . . still raining. We donned swim suites, uncorked my best Whiskey and jumped in the hot tub wearing lifeguard hats, 'cause, ... rain. The next morning I was almost done swapping out his Scorpions for a fresh set of Motoz RallZ tires before he got out of bed. A quick oil/filter change and we were ready to go. My bike went in the truck and he rode as we headed to Borrego. At least it only rained a little. Adams goal was to ride and understand sand as it will be a significant part of the GS Trophy Challenge when we both go to the qualifier next year. So we got to W38M camp, set the tents, and jumped across the road to the sand pit. I was very surprised actually as he took right to it. We spent an hour and a half just riding deep loose sand and then headed to the mud hills near Pegleg. There are a few areas there we call "death sand" as big bikes tend to just sink to the skid plate unless you're pretty accomplished. No worries for Adam with a little coaching and trial and error. I was extremely impressed. The mud hills are always fun to goof off on too. Tom Thompson rolled into camp around 5 and I asked him to take Adam out to Fonts Point for the view while I started the fire and prepped dinner. I had 3 each big New York strips that I shoved onto the Adjustafork and doused them heavily in Montreal Steak seasoning. I had prepped 6 ears of corn the night before by slathering them in Tajin butter and rolling them up in foil. I scraped a nice bed of coals to the side and cooked up 3 frightening large servings of Prime NY Strip steaks and tossed the corn in the coals. Bikes, campfires, cold beer, coyotes, brilliant stars, my Moto besties, . . . what could be better?! Sun set on another typically wonderful Borrego day. It's fair to mention that before leaving my house Adam and I fired up the trials bike for a few minutes of random stupidity in my yard. As luck would have it, the silly little bike spit me off the back of my best wheelie to date and I landed square on my tail bone. So I was sentenced to a week and a half of slow walking and lots of Aleve. Adam was sentance to picking up my 1250 for the next few days as there was no way I was able to lift. But fortunately you don't have to walk much when you ride. Sunrise, coffee and sharing tracks for the days adventure! Plan for the day is Breakfast burritos in town, then hot lap it over Yaqi Pass to Scissors, to Pinyon, the Squeeze, Heart Attack, Fish Creek and a quick lunch in O.W. Tom has competed in Trials since he was 10 years old. So it's pretty enlightening to walk a route and listen to how he sees 'the line'. Actually he always sees several lines, but I'm just looking for 'the best' line, especially since I'm favoring this stupid back injury. Good stuff, and we are all having a ton of fun. We walked Heart Attack Hill and noted quite a bit of sand and granite powder on the rock. I noticed a single track that goes around to the right though. It's a tight single track cut into a steep hillside, but it was fluffy enough that one could easily control downhill speed on it, as long as you stayed on it. Getting onto the single track work around, was a bit tricky on the boxers. The cylinder heads stuck out far enough that we had to lean the bikes out around the ROCK to get on the trail. We all spotted each other as we rolled the bikes, so they wouldn't tip into the abyss, then rode down to the bottom. Fish Creek!! MAN! is that FUN!! I had never been able to talk anyone on big bikes to ride this with me (and I do not ride off road alone). Plenty of scenery, awesome winding trail, plenty of options to go wide and explore spots and edges, or just haul ass down the straights. And just like that, we were out. And rolling into Ocotillo Wells looking for lunch. The store across from Iron Door was the only thing we open within reason, so we cooled off, drank up, and ate some frozen Snickers bars while pouring over a couple different maps I had along. We found our way to some more bottomless sand and mud hills. Playtime! We rolled into camp around 4, grabbed our towels and soap, then headed over to the Campground for showers. Then hit Carlee's for Pizza and a couple a well earned beers. Pretty much another perfect day, ending with a sip or two of whiskey by the campfire. Lights out. Next morning we decide Baileys cabin would be the call, so off we went. Up Montezuma, through Warner Springs and up that wonderfully fun Lost Valley road to Indian Flats. North still, taking the ridiculously fun dirt road to Anza (almost). This would be a very low picture count day as we really just wanted to ride ride ride. And so we did. The road down to Baileys Cabin was in REALLY rough shape, and as many of you know, the pitch is enough to make one think about what he's doing, and maybe even wether he can get back up. But fear not, no bikes were harmed in the making of that ride. The sand wash at the bottom was notably lighter, deeper than Fish Creek sand, and it's a pretty windy track, so speed isn't a plausible option. So there was quite a bit of what we call "trials riding" it at low speed, on the pegs, plowing through. Trying to anticipate where the bike is going to be, and getting my weight there early, so as not to lose balance. It's a ridiculously fun game to play, until about your third drop. Then fatigue starts to show and I start looking for terra firma. We snacked and watered up a bit, and made good use of the outhouse which came in pretty handy about then. We continued in a clockwise loop back to "the climb out" and strategized a bit on our battle plan. We talked a bit about what order to ride in and how close so that if I dropped the bike, there would be help within reasonable walking distance for either of them to pick the bike up. Because . . . . injured back (stupid trials bike!). But I let them know the easiest thing would be to just clean it. And so I did. Awesome burritos for lunch in Anza! We rode Lost Valley back south to Warner Springs, .. Ranchita, ... Old Wilson, down Grapevine a ways and circled back to Culp Valley, down Montezuma. We decided to head up Coyote Canyon and see how close we could get to Baileys cabin from the bottom. What a treat that road is! Plenty of roosts up to 60 or 70mph, and then chicany turns perfect for hero drifts. Water crossings for bonus points. We got quite a ways up and the upper gate was open so on we went. Eventually we yet again left the main track to ride up nearby creek beds / boulder fields and then I made a semi fatal error. I got bounced left off a nice bowling ball and my left cylinder head / crash bar hit a very large medicine ball sized granite ball and pulled it out of the wall. Hard stop! Left crash bar pushed back and dislodged the cylinder head cover. Oil started to drip. Hey guys! Rides over! And I lit a shuck for camp in the highest gear possible with the lowest RPMs, waiting for the dash to light up RED RED RED and the shut down the bike when the oil was low enough. To be continued . . .

Not too long ago we lost a dear friend, a true ADV rider, a staff member at West38Moto, and entrepreneur. Roamin' Joe. Joe left my house on a Friday after celebrating his fantastically good fortune landing a career dream job. The next morning he would head to to Salt Lake for the final drive to a new home and job. We were ecstatic and we all knew we'd miss him, just didn't know how much or how soon. That evening Joe checked into the VA hospital feeling off and then his aorta ruptured. He was about 55 years old I believe. Joe was a lesson in gratitude. He had suffered considerably (as many have and will) but never let on to the struggles he endured. He was always happy, encouraging, kind regardless of what challenge he was facing. I bought a baseball hat awhile ago thinking about Joe. It 'seemed' to be his motto. Gratitude. Kindness. An energetic problem solver and adventurer. Friday Afternoon: Joe received a burial with full military honors, and it was an incredibly solemn ceremony. The first like this I'd witnessed. We then went to Joes favorite cigar bar in Old Town and spent the afternoon and evening laughing and celebrating Joe's memory. Saturday Morning: There were six of us who decided to spend the weekend doing what Joe loved - - Riding! So we left La Mesa at 7 a.m. and headed for Pine Valley, and up Pine Creek road to Sunrise Highway. I love this broken up old lost road. It's such a fun roller coaster ride in so many places. We only met one Jeeper coming down and it was a safe and polite encounter. By the time we got into the pine trees most of us had swept the sleep out of our eyes and were getting throttle happy with some passing back and forth. At the top, helmets came off and of course, there were six huge grins and plenty of happy banter. We had really MISSED this trail while it was closed for much of Covid. Onto the highway and LEFT to Julian for breakfast! But first . . . . . The weather on the ride up so far was classic fog, heavy mist, coooooold, ... but as we topped out at the highway we broke into the most beautiful day! You know the days when there isn't a speck of pollution in the air and you can see farther then you ever thought possible. So I drug the group into Inspiration Point for a short look out over the desert, and the blue sky. It was unusually breathtaking. Then breakfast was had at the Miners Diner in Julian. Now I was really ready for my favorite stretch on pavement in SD county. Banner Grade. The bike was running like the well oiled german machine it is. The tires . . . I'm almost through my second set of RallZ's on this bike and absolutely love how they stick. There is no knobby drift when deep in the corners like so many others. Pick a line through the corners, throw in down all the way to the edge and stick your chin in the mirror. The thing rails, like it's on rails. At Banner we hit the skids and turned right on Rodriguez, flipped to Enduro Pro and rode up to the first gate. Oracle had tipped me off the gates were closed but unlocked as it was public roadway. He was right. He also warned me to make sure I didn't miss the hard left soon after that to take Rodriguez down and out Oriflamme. He emphasized that going straight down Mason might not be fun for everyone. In retrospect he was right. Even though the goal of the weekend was to ride hard, it did turn out to be 'more' than a couple riders anticipated. But alls well that ends well. We pre- walked a few spots, cleared a few rocks here and there, and one or two riders dead clutched down some baby head ruts here and there. The wash at the bottom of Oriflamme was spectacular! Very tight windy track winding through the brush with quite a bit of deeper loose sand, but it's kind of course so there's good traction (comparatively). I call it hero sand. All the fun of floating, slow drifting corners and hero roosting with just enough traction to let you get away with it on the 550lb'r. Turned left and explored Blair Valley, ate lunch and then blasted off for Grapevine. I think Roamin' Joe sent the grader in from the bottom ahead of us because the wash was in GREAT shape, and I'm guessing it was about as good as it gets. Braap Braap! We stayed left at the Y and kept going up toward Ranchita, making a late right turn to ride Culp Valley down and then into Borrego. We checked into the motel and walked next door for the usual Mex dinner. After dinner we rode out to Camp Dusty. Once or twice a year W38M collaborates with Bill Dragoo and he'll bring his class and tour to mesh with ours. Sat/Sun Adv bike training and then Monday off to Baja for 5 days. So we rode out to camp and told stories, drank a couple beers and toasted to Roamin' Joe. Good Times. Sunday Morning: Over breakfast at the Red Ocotillo we invoked the democratic process as each rider raised his sore arms to vote. . . . Baileys cabin fell to the axe... Lost Valley and High Point TT were in. The video below tells the rest of the story. Joe would have been pleased that we spent 'his weekend' this way. Life is Good. Embrace it, drink it in, go out and do whateverthehell makes you happy, and do it today. We did that weekend. And will continue to do as often as we possibly can.

Recently, I was able to take a few days off from work in San Diego. January is a perfect time to load up the adventure bikes and scooter for a three-day adventure to Anza Borrego State Park, the town of Borrego Springs, and a side-trip to witness the technicolor glory of Salvation Mountain. On Saturday, we loaded up a rental Uhaul trailer with our two BMW G650GS motos and a Honda Ruckus scooter. After two-hours of driving we unloaded the bikes for our first day of off-road fun on Grapevine Canyon and Jasper Trails located in Anza Borrego State Park. We covered about 30 miles of dirt before sunset where we camped just off Grapevine Canyon in a remote campsite area that we had all to ourselves. GoPro capture of some light trail riding: Elephant Tree: Desert G650GS: The next day we enjoyed the amazing metal sculptures of Ricardo Breceda: http://www.desertusa.com/borrego/Borrego-metal-sculptures.html Serpent: Light off-road riding through the sculptures: Desert Stalion: Eagles Nest: Head detail: Eagle Eye detail: Eagle Feathers detail: An out of place Saguaro Cactus for Southern California's Colorado Desert: Day three brought us to Fish Creek Canyon and the Wind Caves. It was here that we got to work on our sand riding skills. My biggest accomplishment was riding up Diablo Drop-Off. I honestly did not expect to be able to ride UP the drop-off and was pleasantly surprised when I was able to make it to the top despite the deep sandy sections. Wind Caves: The Honda Ruckus tearing through the desert: Mi Esposa rolling over rocks like a pro: Fish Creek Canyon: Desert Mountains: On our last day we took a side trip to Salvation Mountain: http://www.salvationmountain.us Welcome Sign: Happy Salvation Mountain Dog: Plaster and Paint: Artistic Fence: Unfortunately I was due back to work and our son had school so it was back to San Diego via the I-8. I really wish I could have just spent a month out in the deserts of Southern California. There really is a lot of trails and stuff to see out there. Until next time... Cheers, Travis BMW G650GS Sertao