My last day at ViaSat was 6/1.......I drove to to work that morning with the 300XCW loaded in the truck......I processed out by ~2pm and I was off on a week long trip. The journey began with a trip up 15/395 to the Indian Wells Brewing Company for a nice steak dinner/micro brew....... Then I cut across 178 and headed to Lake Isabella. Stayed at the Isabella Motel......classic 1 star accomodations but that's Ok, the views were nice and the local micros were cold: Campground along Lake Isabella at Sunset: Just outstanding..... I was up early as usual, grabbed some breakfast at the lake, and headed over the the meeting/training area by 7am. That gave me an hour or so to just ride around and explore the area......some fun trails: Jimmy Lewis showed up around 8ish and we got started around 9ish......I think there were 10 students.......we had each donated $150 or more to the Stewards of the Sierra and in return we rec'd a training class from Jimmy normally valued at $300.... The overall focus of the session was "balance"......we went over a few drills.......Jimmy would demonstrate.......make whatever drill look super easy......then we would head out and realize the difference in our balance skills vs. Jimmy's......a few pic's from class: Ridng rutted uphills: Lunch break: Find/feel the balance point: It was a good day.....some practical/fundamental refreshers and a few training tips/drills to work on. Jimmy and the other pro, Chris, were very attentive, open to questions, and helpful. I skipped the Stewards BBQ so I could get up to Oakhurst before 10pm......Michael opened up his home to me off and on over the course of the next week and I rode some favorite trails up in the Bass Lake area.......along with some new ones that Michael showed me.... Michael's 450X is currently torn apart in the garage so he rode his 640 adventure (that was fine with me......figured it would help me to handicap him on the big bike in the tight stuff......no dice.....this is his backyard and he's a wirey/skilled rider)... I think this was probably the first time he'd been back on the bike since the finished 7th as a privateer in the solo class of the Mexican 1000 rally earlier in May......a few pics from the Mex 1000 Rally below: Michael "I wanna go fast" Gaynor.....it's gets dusty following this guy around on trails......that 640 kicks up a cloud when he slides around turns: Post race with another racer you may be familiar with..... Anyway, back to THIS trip........we headed off Sunday morning to Shut Eye Peak via a mutually favorite single track trail....007 (as in secret agent of Dualsport).......what a blast.......I love that trail....a couple of pics along 007 Then we hammered along a few forest roads on our way to Shut Eye.......Mike wanted to open it up in this area so he say's, "I'll meet you at the big rock". Not knowing what that meant I simply nodded my head and sat there for a bit as he raced off in a cloud of dust.......~15 minutes later I pulled up to find Mike perpendicular in the road in front of a big slab of rock.......these are the moments/types of short cuts you won't necessarily experience/find on your own because you probably wouldn't think to make a hard left and charge up the rock face......what a blast! See rock... Climb up rock: There was a fun/rocky two track up top that ran us over to the road up to Shut Eye Peak.......some great views along the way and at the ~8,200' summit: Then we reversed course and dropped back down from Shut Eye/007 to the Lake for lunch/gas before heading over to Signal Peak via misc. Miami OHV singletrack and assorted fire roads........ A few of the trails in the OHV area are pretty steep/rutted......the fix employed? Cinderblocks.........this downhill is steeper than it looks: Up top at Signal Peak.......I think the elevation here was around ~6,500' After we left Signal Peak we headed over to Hite Cove.......a ~3,000' knarly/rocky fire road that dead ends at the Merced river I stopped about mid way down and snapped a pic of the Merced river below: End of the line: A few pics at the bottom: I guess there was a suspension bridge here MANY years ago (the other side of the Merced is Yosemite): I snapped this pic on the way back up......then banged the throttle in an attempt to out run Mike on the climb back up over steps, etc.........I was doing fine until I flatted.......I was kind of shocked he didn't snap a pic of me changing my rear tube ...... Once we got back to the house I changed the rear tube again because I wanted to get a heavy duty back in there......I'd be riding by myself on Monday and didn't want to take any chances......Shawnessy, Mike's wife, prepared us a nice tri tip dinner, we watched a bit of GP moto on the tube......and we were done for the night......Mike had to get up for work on Monday........I had to get up for a return to 007/Whiskey Falls..... I headed out early Monday morning and headed straight for 007 again......explored to find a shortcut between Shut Eye and Whiskey but there were too many downed trees and I only had a few hours to ride. So I back tracked to Central Camp Rd. and tied in with some single track trails I know of.......love that area....... I was back at Mike's by ~11am and then I zipped up to Sacramento to see my mother/brother/aunt for a few days... More on the return trip in part 2