Baja 4 Day run south of the border

[Riggerdan 147]

TwoWheelsGood AKA: Rich and I took a great 4 day adventure south of the border..

Riding from my place in Jamul crossing the Tecate border early the 27th on our way to Mikes Sky Rancho

It was a cold day

Here s a few pictures from along the way

The preperation of the mighty KTM 500

With bike as ready as she will ever be, all I could do now is get a good nights sleep..

Our first stop just to regroup, pee and make sure our fingers were not frost bitten

Met these 3 locals from Tijuana nice guys on their way to San Felipe, though we found them drinking a few beers at Mikes later that night

It was about here when things were getting a little wacky.

Came around a turn and was looking over my shoulder at an old wooden tower and considering setting a waypoint for it, my front tire hit a mound of sand and down I went just seemed strange

rolled my ankle pretty good, not what you want 100 miles into a 4 day trip

Rode a little further and then there was the nail sticking out of my back tire

With new HD tubes I didn't want to ride on it to long and found this stump to work on the change

It was apparent that my front right fork seal was shot as well...hhmmmm whats happening here...?

We decided to save the spare tube & patch it and move on

Respects to #66

Well needed tacos in Valle T

Day #2

we headed back down to the stream and made the hard right and took the back way out with San Quintin as our final destination

With a complementary "bike colored roll of gaff tape" Rich was putting it to good use...

A brief stop at El Coyote to say hello

Great place for a snack and a rest with amazing views

Few horses admiring our bikes as we soaked in the beauty as well

In front of us...

Behind us....

The mighty 500...

And the Berg......

Behind us....

In front of us.....

[Riggerdan 147]

Yee Haw - we made it....favorite pic of the trip

All the great riding to this point, the tire I had patched back in the hills had a slow leak

thanks to Rich and his handy compressor we filled it up about every 30 miles or so....I was being lazy and did not want to deal with it...

Wasn't paying attention and let it get a little to low, now I was getting about a mile or 2

Not much daylight left and the hotel sooooo close, decided to ride it out and deal with it at the bar the last 5-10 miles into SQ was a slow go

thats when I got the calm cool voice of Rich on radio saying Dan can you backtrack for a second......

With the radio acting up and unable to transmit

I never had the chance to warn him about that "little spot"

This was a sight for sore eyes - Not to mention their new / clean remodeled rooms for 25 USD

If you have to fix a flat make sure you do it before the 2nd margarita

Rich styling his Baja fashion and that lovely smell of San Quintin mud - after the king tide it was still really flooded around the bay

A work bench, tire changing planter, bucket for the bike and a very strong margarita - as good as it gets...

Still festive in SQ

[haywood 0]

Great pictures!

On the 500, is that a Giant Loop bag. If so, what model?

[REV5 0]

Great photos. Thank you for sharing

[Riggerdan 147]

Day #3 From San Quintin through Erendira / Cal's back to Mikes for the night..

Monday things were pretty quite food wise,

gave this guy a shot and all was well - 2nd stop sign returning from Cals on the left

On our way back into Valle Trinidad it was getting cold

My GPS was not staying powered up from the bike very frustrating, it was a simple route but theres the security of seeing that track in front of you now that it was getting dark.

Rich took the lead and we cruised into town little after sunset, very beautiful in the hills along the wine road.

Rolled in gassed up and Rich realized he had a nail in his back tire, another convenient place for a flat - not to mention the bike stand that was waiting for us

it was a bear to change his tire for some reason then we realized it was not holding air after remounted it... its dark and cold now but still not a bad place for this to happen, he began the removal process again

I thought it was a good time to inspect my GPS issues -

the cable that feeds into the fuse holder broke off so a quick fix and all was good

As we inspected Rich's tire we realized we damaged the bead to the point where the tire was useless and the very sharp wires sticking out were telling us we should spend the night in VT

Day #4 final day

local tire shop had a 18'' knobby waiting for him - patched the tube thew him some USD and off we went

The culprit.....

About 10 to 15 miles south of KC memorial is where we thought Rich had left some tools on the trail (helping me fill up my tire days before) so we put an honest effort into locating that position

With no luck we decided it was tme to push it a little and try to beat the storm that was moving in - the first few clouds surfaced in VT and we realized we did not have much time

Some more bike porn while Rich made the extended effort to look for his tools

Rolled in LH to fuel up and it was COLD and WINDY

A quick Tecate, 4 tacos and we were off and running again - heading north on a mission...

there was no time or room for error as any delay would be costly, cold and potentially a freezing night in the mountains

Giving a few friends some tacos and lots of loving

She wanted to know if I had room for her heading north

One last plea...

[Riggerdan 147]

Final run home

A few panoramic shots from the fire tower and you can see the storm was looking nasty

Last and final shot before we got crushed by weather

So long Baja - see you again soon.......

About 50 miles south of the border it was getting dark it was very cold and windy

That's when Rich said his bike felt funny

Hmm not too funny to find out his wheel bearings were hanging out of his back tire and reminded me of PMB in Utah... but this was Baja and its getting dark and starting to rain pretty good on us

I was mentally contemplating what our plan would be if it became unridable, to his credit it was a slow go and we crawled to the border shivering and quite the spectacle.

then theres the run up hwy 94 with very limited visibility, slippery road conditions on a hwy that scares me on a good day.

We rolled up my driveway with a sense of accomplishment

it was a true test of will and endurance, I'm glad Rich has the mindset for getting through situations such as these or it would have been a different story

ALL IN ALL A GREAT ADVENTUROUS BAJA TRIP...

As we all have our checklist I thought I'd share mine for this trip

BAJA CHECKLIST

Hope you enjoyed the ride report

[Riggerdan 147]

Great pictures!

On the 500, is that a Giant Loop bag. If so, what model?

Giant Loop Coyote

[TrophyHunter 15]

Looks like you could've kept a village supplied so even an overnight was possible - not preferable though. Thx for the RR!

Heated grips. When PMB and I did the Palm Springs trip, it was 37 degrees doing 70 from Santa Ysabel to Warner Springs. Heated grips were much appreciated that day.

Glad you both made it back safely.

[Dirtdiver 2]

Boy that looks like a great trip. Thanks for putting the RR together Dan!

[TwoWheelsGood 0]

Dan,

Thanks for starting the ride report and sharing the pics! I took about...4...for the whole trip .

Dan and I last did a multiday ride together in Utah in 2012, my best ride ever and my benchmark for massive miles and fun times with a great group of guys on the trail. I knew this trip, with Dan in the lead, would be another epic experience and I really appreciate the Baja knowledge and route information that he brought to organizing and leading the ride.

I came down to Baja with Arnie and Co over Thanksgiving on the 990, as my 3rd Baja trip. This would be my fourth so I'm beginning to know what to expect, but I continue to not bring a damn map with me so I'm still embarrassingly lacking in a perspective of where we are, where we're going, etc. I need to look more closely at the tracks, bounce that off the map and off the Arnie ride to put it all together in my head.

My notes:

Day 1: Jamul to Mike's Sky Ranch

I'm in the Pasadena area of LA, Dan is Jamul. When he said he wanted to be KSU by 0630 on Saturday, that meant a very, very early morning for me, with a 2+hr drive to start the ride. But cold and windy at Dan's place meant we were able to string out the start time a bit to let it warm up...but it was still a pretty damn cold day. Heated grips and glove liners helped. However, Dan's radio could receive but not transmit so we had to reset our comm plan right away. Not a huge deal.

We entered in Tecate with no issues and banged a left onto the dirt within just a few miles. All of it new-to-me stuff on the front end of the day and then familiar stuff into Mike's. Mike's is Mike's but I'm ready to do something different. Just hard to wrap my head around $70/person for what you get, I guess.

My screw up: as Dan mentioned, we fixed his flat, carried on, found he had a slow leak so we busted out my air compressor to top him off. As we figured this might be a recurring task, I rearrange my stuff to make the compressor more accessible...and in the process mistakenly left all. of. my. tools. on the side of the road. Everything, including a brand friggin' new MicroStart jumper battery.

Day 2: MSR to San Quetin

One of my best days on the bike, no doubt: challenging, but not super crazy mix of trails out of Mike's to El Coyote, then more awesome stuff to Vicente Guerero (aka, Vinny G). Then miles and miles of incredible riding on the beach with quick stops to refill Dan's rear tire now and then. Not a big deal at all. Everything going great until I endo'd in some crazy mud and found myself stuck under the bike. Crawled out and radio'd Dan to come back, as it was easily a 2-man job getting out of that mess.

As Dan said, we ended the ride in San Quetin, fixing his flat over margaritas with access to a light, an excellent fish dinner "trail side," a hose to rinse myself off, etc. Coulda been much worse, for sure!

Day 3: SQ to MSR (planned), but we stayed in Valle de Trinidad instead.

Hugely epic, with 100+ miles of on the beach or on the bluffs riding. As Dan said, we rolled into Valle T with plans to ride in the dark to MSR, but my tire was flat in the gas station. So...found a bike stand beside the garage, had good lighting and gas station air...but we still managed to dork up the tire enough to render it unusable. No worries, we found a very nice by Baja standards hotel for $30 with a taco shop right next door. Again, coulda been much, much worse

Day 4: In the morning I scored a Pirelli MT-18 in pretty good shape at a tire shop with access to massive tire levers, shop air, soapy water, etc, for $50. Again...coulda been worse. Another good day of riding, with us spending a bit of the morning retracing our Day 1 route to find my tools. No joy. So we carried on to Laguna Hansen, for $10/gal gas in Sunny D bottles, 8x burritos, and layering up before out final push to Tecate. Dan was really wicking it up but I was in dialed into "steady, no mistakes, don't screw up now" mode. About 25 miles out from Tecate, with the rain starting and more on the horizon, the bike started to roll very roughly. Yep, blown wheel bearing.

So...two guys on the trail with rain and cold coming in, about 90' of daylight left, 20-25 miles from the border, with things likely becoming more and more sketchy as we got closer to Tecate. I switched over to mission first, troop welfare second and decided a trashed rear wheel was a good price to pay for us getting out of there and ending the ride safely. So I'll be calling Woody's tomorrow for a new cush hub wheel in annodized blue...and maybe a new axle, we'll see.

Dan has a comprehensive packing list, for sure. I dig planning stuff like this and I'm tweaking my own gear list, breaking it down into:

• Wrenches, sockets, and "hard tools" group
• Flat repair group: tubes, levers, patch kit, multiple air sources.
• Fasteners, adhesives group: Quicksteel, fasteners, loctite, super glue, radiator repair stuff, tape. Dan brings lots and lots of tape.
• Lubrication group: ~500ml of oil
• Communication group: working radio (!), spare radio, spare PTT, spare shoulder mic, cig charger
• Navigation group: GPS, map
• Survival group: SOL bivy, head lamp, 2x fire starting methods, whistle, InReach, down jacket, goretex jacket
• First aid group: see tape above and lots of vicodan
• Riding attire group: one set, for a range of temps. I was filthy but fuggit.
• Civilian attire group: convertible pants, shirt, sandals, toothbrush, done.

What Dan and I did right was we were prepared to spend a night out on the trail. Would have absolutely sucked but we'd be fine.

Successful end to a great ride and I can confirm that Dan does not snore, which seems to be a rarity among SDAR guys I've bunked with in the past. . Dibs on Dan!

[EddieEarl 6]

Best RR I've ever read. What an epic adventure on a dirtbike. Major congrats guys.

[kkug 147]

I like Dan s list -- Mini Deodorant-- no wounder the Bitches ( dogs ) jump him !

How is that motel in VT is that the new one? or the only one ?

Looked like a great trip

[Avocado 0]

Very Nice report -- Your trail side stories along with the ups and downs makes for a great story/RR... Thanks for including!

[Afry 1]

Good stuff, I like that sol bivy.

[TwoWheelsGood 0]

I like Dan s list -- Mini Deodorant-- no wounder the Bitches ( dogs ) jump him !

How is that motel in VT is that the new one? or the only one ?

Looked like a great trip

Hey Ken,

We passed through VT on Day 1 but the taco stand in the center of town near the gas station was closed so we went to this one, a couple blocks away. Very good, staffed by a dad, his wife, and 2x 6-7yo daughters. Very cute.

The hotel is actually the parking lot on the right. You can see the white chairs in front of the rooms. The rooms very nice and very clean. However,

• No heat, at least for the Gringos, but the room had a stack of awesome blankets so we were good.
• No hot water, or at least we didn't really care enough to let the water run and heat up?

Not staying at Mikes that night easily paid for my tire so all good.

[Covered in Dust 163]

Looks like a great time. Sorry I couldn't get my act together. At my age I shouldn't pass up to many rides.

CiD

[rydethis 0]

Thanks for the RIde Report...looks like a awesome time !!! Some day I would love to ride down in Baja and it is my goal to go this year (have to get some extra gear before but plan to with someone who knows the area)...looking at your trip is just fueling the desire

[Jcolombotos 0]

Snoring???!!

You must be def talking about me lol

Funny to meet up with you two on the trail north of cals .... I know you are in great shape but could tell you were a tired camper ! Fast pace no doubt!

We had our own little adventures...next day trying to get to mikes from cals,

left cals around 11am heading to mikes, knew we were not going to get there in daylight , using Arnies gps route (the most diabolical evil single track possible to come and find out ) in pitch black darkness and freezing weather, one of the kids dropped his bike and blew out the radiator, attempted repairs, gave up as it was getting too cold, luckly mikes was only 3 miles out so we ended ditching bike in the woods and riding four balls on two wheels lol.

Retrived bike in the morning, McGievered one radiator to the bike for the remainer of the trip .

Rich if possible, can you share gps route as a friend and I will be heading down next week.

Regards,

Jim

[Afry 1]

using Arnies gps route (the most diabolical evil single track possible to come and find out ) in pitch black darkness and freezing weather,

Sounds like the rocky washed out trail from Camalu through El Coyote (the back way into Mikes)? Lots of fun on the big bikes! And oh there's worse - trust me

[Dress4Less 162]

Nice reports Dan & Rich! Thanks for sharing...

[Jcolombotos 0]

Sorry for the re-direct......Question regarding the giant loop bag , what keeps it from moving forward?

Thinking you added a pair of rear brackets on ther rear fender somewhere and ran the straps thru brackets ?

Ive been using Giant loops Mojavi which slides under the seat and prevents it from coming forward on the 500 but just is not big enough for a 3 or 4 day ride .

Thanks

Jim

[paulmbowers 236]

My GLs (I have 3) have a fender strap with two hooks- goes across the rear fender, then one tightens the strap the pull the two hooks tightly towards each other.

Works a treat.

On the 500, I notched the rear fender on each side to make the hooks even more solid.

On the 990, the strap goes just behind the seat, and would be difficult to have it move forward.

[Jcolombotos 0]

Thanks for the input due to time constrains we weren't able to notch out ...ended up sliding rear straps between rear fender and top of brake light ...everything stayed put

Also need to find a better mounting point on the exhaust side used high temp hide protector on exhaust side still lost one strap due to heat ... Met up with some Canadians at mikes they had washers attached to footpegs bolts and used bungie cords .

Thanks again !