The Challenge to Reach "X" at Amago

[sandiegoland 0]

After failing to reach Amago on Saturday because of a closure on 76, Graham and I got together on Sunday to take the easterly approach (reported to have worked for some on Saturday). We rode to Ramona on Wildcat Canyon, then continued north and cut east to Black Canyon Road. The area was scorched. I was taking it easy, unsure of how my new Metzler Tourance EXP would fair in the mud. As expected, no better than the old Metzler Tourances. The worst mud in fact was on the old Black Canyon Road bridge. Yea, on it!!

[sandiegoland 0]

We saw ShaftEd on Black Canyon Road when we were stopped to take some pictures of the burned areas... we said howdy and told him where we were headed. He said he knew about the demo, but wasn't planning on riding out there. Well apparently the temptation was too much for him, as he was there when we arrived...

[sandiegoland 0]

This was my first time at Amago, or any motocross track for that matter. bikeslut had given me some pointers on jumping at Plaster City lat year, so I knew the basics (letting the bike do the work, etc.), and that helped... but jumping onto a muddy track with real jumps on a 650cc bike was let's just say... hard to compare to my normal riding!

It was nice that the track wasn't crowded. In fact you could ride just about any pace without worrying about getting in anybody's way. I played on some of the more straight forward jumps, figuring out the gearing, speed, and then working on my left foot position so I didn't keep knocking it into neutral coming down for a landing.

The limitations on jumping were definitely me (obviously I'm new to it). The suspension didn't have a problem evening out any kind of landing... and you can imagine I put that to a few tests. When I let the bike do the work, it launched evenly and landed smoothly.

I definitely enjoyed the demo. It has wet my appetite for a 650 enduro. I'll now be looking at my 400 with a more critical eye. Thanks to unclecameron for letting us know, and San Diego BMW and RawHyde Adventures for putting it on.

[husky4me 0]

Due to some circumstances beyon our control, our initial plan for Lark Canyon was cancelled. So, Stefano and myself decided to pay Amago and SD BMW friends a visit.

I have never been on an MX Track, nor do I know how to do jumps. Well, it was fun to jump on the Xchallenge, it was easy because of the track's design and the good suspension and power. One of the first good jumps I ended up eating mud on my landing, as the front wheel slided deep in the mud...

The Xchallenge did really well for being a 650, it was a lot of fun, and responded well! I enjoyed the track on my Husqvarna TE450 too.

Thanks SD BMW, Cameron, and all who organized this event! I was there briefly, but enjoyed it much!

[RGannon 0]

I headed out for Amago on Saturday by way of the 76 from the north (west) . Hearing it was closed I turned around and went home. So today My son and I came in from Santa Ysabel and the CHP / Cal trans let

us through.

had a great day and had fun with the 650 BMW (Many thanks to San Diego BMW for the event)

I brought the KTM625 for a comparison (thay are both Fun Bikes)

this was my first SDAR Ride

Thanks

Randall Gannon

[riceless950 0]

Thanks to all who helped make this happen. I had a blast!

NICE MOTORCYCLES...

UNCLECAMERON RODE THERE ON SATURDAY....HARDCORE!

Ok who's got Saturday's action shots?

[sandiegoland 0]

Ok who's got Sunday's action shots?

Uh, post #3...

Here's a few more...

[unclecameron 0]

Yeah, I had a lot of fun...just not with the CHP/Caltrans

We (Sean from SDBMW and I) drove the shop truck up Friday night to stage out the area, and were stopped by a roadblock by Rincon Casino, so then we turned around and went to Escondido, Ramona, Santa Ysabel and then up past Lake Henshaw where the road was closed AGAIN, we told them we were going to Amago, but got stopped anyway. so we pulled over to the side of the road, figuring it would be open shortly, and took a nap, starting at 1:00a.m., then went back at 3:30 and they said it was still closed, then when we went back around 6a.m. and told them we just wanted to go to Palomar, they said "oh, that's open, it's always been open, how long you been waiting there..." yeeeah. So we took the long way up Palomar and came down the tight side (covered with mud, but passable) then headed south toward Amago, and found that the mudslide was on the north end, and was cleared, and it was a straight clear shot to Amago from the South where we were originally trying to approach from. Big hugs to the highway department

Then we tried to notify the other trucks bringing the bikes up, but intermittent cell coverage had us standing saying a lot of "what, what?" but we eventually got through and got the bikes headed up from the south. Sorry we didn't have internet access to let the rest of you know, I know several of you got turned around from the north.

For those of you who made it, we had a mud bath divine! Sean took a shovel out and tuned up the tracks, emptied pools and generally made it nicer. I took the pig out on the track first to get a feel for where the mud pits may be, not necessarily a mud scout, that 1200, but it did the trick. Drowned a bit in a couple sections, but never a slouch on power, I just feathered the throttle and tried to stay ahead of the bike, with the skinny end forward...mostly. After 3 laps, totally imersed the pig in mud....niiiice Caught some air on the jumps, but not that much, mostly because the front end was highly squirrely on the approach to the jumps, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to herd an R1200GS down out of the air if it got there sideways...Sunday would've been much nicer for this, sans mud pits

Stayed around all day and had a blast with those brave enough to show up, hey, it's an adventure, right ? Managed to avoid dropping the pig all day, through a series of close calls. Anyway, decided to ride home Saturday night and get some new DRY clothes for Sunday, and made it all the way to Santa Ysabel gas station, and then...a flat! The front tire, for no good reason, just went flat, it didn't go flat riding all day, only after 15 miles on the street. No holes or anything, just broke the bead and went flat. Truly strange. Called wife unit and she drove the Toyota up and hauled my muddy carcass home, where it indeed was warm, dry and populated by warm wife...nice

Went to air up the tire the next a.m. and it held air fine....hmm, so I took off again and made all the way to Ramona, then it did the same thing again....wow. Rode into town and looked at the tire, nothing wrong with it. Found an air compressor and aired it up, then headed back home, didn't want to press my luck.

Haven't washed the bike yet, nice reminder of the fun we had on Saturday, glad to see all of you that made it. Next time we'll schedule it when there's no fires OR floods. Next locusts maybe

[sandiegoland 0]

Durn!! I could've gotten some sweet muddy pig action photos if I'd been there...

[sandiegoland 0]

I found a pic of the UberPig in the air:

Take a look... San Diego BMW posted their pics and vids at http://picasaweb.google.com/SDBMWMC/

[unclecameron 0]

flies like a lawndart Just too squirrelly on the approach to get set up right for better air, couldn't really grip too tight on the jump for fear the beast would attempt to set itself free and head to the bottom of a canyon. Would've loved to try it Sunday. Rememer, pigs CAN fly

[sandiegoland 0]

flies like a lawndart

Well I'm excuseless...

I'm just to novice to fly... too lazy to stand... too cool to care... PIC