Bp619 107 Posted May 2, 2016 I had been planning a trip for over a month, got a hall pass from wife and baby for 3 days 2 night and knew i needed to have a good adventure with long riding days before summer hit. After talking to a couple riding buddies and trying to setup a baja trip nothing was panning out and everyone was either busy or already had riding stuff planned, so 1 week before my dates i knew i was going solo and I was kinda excited for it. With a newborn and wife taken off the last 4 months I really just wanted to be alone and push myself. So the plan was to hitch a ride to barstow and do a big loop which in the middle was to visit the husky monument then find my way home for the next two days. Friday morning came and I had the bike loaded and was waiting for my dad to drop me off in barstow, we arrived at 9:30 grabbed some quick food and i was off by 10am. After a short street section I was on dirt following 5 year old tracks i found on gpsxchange the first part of the day was uneventful with long straight 2-5 mile sections then a 90degree turn and another 2-5 mile straight away so i was making good time. I had thought i brought the wrong bike with no technical riding and the long straight aways it was begging for my 950 to be out there, I was also having a problem with whoops I didn't know if it was cause of all of the weight. George just resprung it and I checked and adjust the rear sag for the luggage so that wasn't it but the bike was bucking me all over the place and it would be smooth riding at about 50 or so mph then a 10 whoop section would sneak up on you and bike was forcing me to come back to a crawl at 10 mph but onward i went. Got to the husky monument in little over an hour with 50 miles already done and hadn't seen a sole or even really fresh tracks. decided to go over suspension and see what was going on looks like I didnt reset the rear rebound on the shock. The day before I went threw suspension and checked the clickers and wrote down how far out everything was and I must have forgot to put rebound back so it was all the way out. Reset the rear rebound and a short break and I was onto my second set of tracks which was going to put me in Johannesburg for gas. Man was the bike feeling good after the shock reset I was hitting whoops almost too fast for a bike with luggage on it. This next picture shows the perfect straight away with about 1 miles of solid 1-3ft whoops before entering the big dry lake bed seen in the distance. Dry lake bed was little over 1 mile long but 3 miles wide, I really wanted to push it speed wise but still haven't seen a single person in 70 miles I decided to play it safe especially since I crashed 3 weeks earlier and if it happened again (if I was still alive) my wife would kill me when I got home. After the lake bed it was back to the straights with whoops then it got pretty rocky and finally some turns, my tracks started to go into closed off trails so I had to take some bypasses that put me into very tight creek beds with big rocks and almost sugar sand. The next 5 miles wore me out I couldn't get above 10 mph with all the rocks and only like 50-100 feet before a turn. finally out of that it was 1 big hill climb followed by a downhill that was no big deal on my small bike but would have had me second guessing on my 950. After the last 10 miles I was glad to be on the 570. Into town for gas then into the white horse saloon for a burger and fries. I tried to use my steering lock and inserted my key then put bike on kickstand then the steering wheel went to full lock and I looked down and saw this. Good thing the night before I left for trip I remembered to hide a key in my tool pouch. After a beer and burger I was onto next dirt section which hugged the freeway back to Barstow. Another big hill climb and it was back to the straight and finding my way around closed off trails. Found a spot to get some therapy in. Then onto a outlook I think was the highest elevation I saw all day, then was 20 miles back to Barstow following a pole line road finished the day with 180 miles and felt good. I camped 15 miles south of Barstow and hit bed early cause I had big plans for the next Day. Woke up at 5:30 to 30mph winds and still freezing cold so decided to sleep in. Rewoke at 6:30 I was supposed to meet a friend in apple valley for breakfast but was running late so started to pack my gear. 5 minutes later it started to sprinkle and hail so I called my friend and he said its worse further south so I bypassed him and just decided to put some miles on cause I heard advbum in corral canyon was offering free burgers to anyone who rode in so I couldn't pass that up.I was a little bummed cause I wanted to ride from apple valley into big bear dirt but with temps in the high 20's at 9am big bear was out of the question and I was already riding into the rain for an hour and I did not bring rain gear and had vented pants. Made it down the 247, to 62, to the 10 and then the 79 into Hemet to hit dirt. Boy was i glad i decided to use my dual sport wheel with a cush hub, 45t gearing and shinko tire. Smooth sailing at 70-75mph. Last 2 miles on the 62 before the 10 the cross wind was so bad I had to go down to 40mph just to keep it safe, Still crazy winds on the 10 on the climb up to billings I was full throttle into headwinds caped out at 60mph which is crazy cause this bike will easily do well over 80 uphill. No pictures taken for the rest of the day I was cold and wet and just wanted to put miles on.Finally dirt hit anza then warner springs, gas in santa ysabel to boudler creek rd and descanso. Made really good time and was in descanso by 2:30pm grabbed a slice of pizza a 12 pack of beer(they were out of zimas), bag of ice and bundle of firewood and onto corral canyon for my hamburger. 275 mile day and I was ready for a beer or 10 as well. Had a good night sharing stories with advbum and mctrails and was in bed little after 10. Woke up and waiting for randy and carguy to show up for some trail maintenance. hit the perimeter road to ranger and we hiked up and started cutting and clearing brush. We were done by 1030 and I was sweaty out of water and ready to take a shower and be home. Hit the 8 home and right before tavern road bike started tracking side to side about 2 feet and I knew I had a flat. Pulled into the chevron rear flat and was too lazy to fix it so called for a pickup to grab me and take me home. Home by 1pm was an awesome 3 days cant wait until the next one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wierdrider 189 Posted May 2, 2016 Nicely done Brian. Good write up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dan Diego 40 Posted May 2, 2016 Nice write up of a very fun ride! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildwood 11 Posted May 2, 2016 Nice little adventure ride Brian. Good write up, and the Reckless 40L looks GREAT on the bike. I have a Reckless 40L V2 on order (currently out of stock), can't wait to get it on my ride and do some of this too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Danmule 2 Posted May 2, 2016 Sounds fun. Good thing for that 2nd key Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 2, 2016 2 minutes ago, wildwood said: Nice little adventure ride Brian. Good write up, and the Reckless 40L looks GREAT on the bike. I have a Reckless 40L V2 on order (currently out of stock), can't wait to get it on my ride and do some of this too. Thanks and yeah 2nd ride with mosko gear and I'm loving it previous wolfman and giantloop and the mosko is way better. I just ordered the stinger 2 for the top bag replacement too for when I need more storage. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hodnettjj 0 Posted May 2, 2016 Nice report.. i live in Victorville... there are so many tracks to be had out there... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 2, 2016 1 hour ago, hodnettjj said: Nice report.. i live in Victorville... there are so many tracks to be had out there... Yeah it was insane trails everywhere. Pretty amazing the signs too seemed like every couple hundred yards was a trail sign and every intersection even for like a single track goat trail it had a trail number sign I was impressed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MacDuncan 133 Posted May 2, 2016 Dang Nice, you know I like those detailed reports for adventures!! That was a great wander about. Nice write up- Way to go! Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dress4Less 162 Posted May 2, 2016 MacD - Tell us about the "Elephant ear sized" hand guards... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christoph 1 Posted May 2, 2016 very nice! good one, now you just need a little single trail ride, let me know... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MacDuncan 133 Posted May 3, 2016 Hey Bp619, I am sure Dress 4 Less meant to ask you about the elephant ear handguards instead of me, but I would like to know too, can't imagine how much spooky that might be doing 70 mph in wind and rain on a road like hiway 40 when passing semi trucks.... spooky? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 3, 2016 The elephant ears worked great are giantloop brand, mounting seems little funky but work great. In the desert i constantly get whacked by pokey bushes and it kept everything off my arms and hands. I was running fox gloves semi vented and hands never got wet or cold with over 1 hour in a drizzle. The 62 freeway i just wanted to make time and was 70-85mph the whole time and probably passed 15 semis it was pretty scary with their spray up, one pulled about 4 ft into the left lane when i was passing him was about at his hitch point i reacted floored it and flipped him off as he swerved back into right lane when he saw me. Wasnt much traffic total probably passed 20 cars and the 15 semis on that stretch very low oncoming traffic Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
danrider 5 Posted May 3, 2016 Good Job! Haven't done a trip like that by myself, little bit brave bro and definitely adventurous. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dress4Less 162 Posted May 3, 2016 13 hours ago, Bp619 said: The elephant ears worked great are giantloop brand, mounting seems little funky but work great. In the desert i constantly get whacked by pokey bushes and it kept everything off my arms and hands. I was running fox gloves semi vented and hands never got wet or cold with over 1 hour in a drizzle. The 62 freeway i just wanted to make time and was 70-85mph the whole time and probably passed 15 semis it was pretty scary with their spray up, one pulled about 4 ft into the left lane when i was passing him was about at his hitch point i reacted floored it and flipped him off as he swerved back into right lane when he saw me. Wasnt much traffic total probably passed 20 cars and the 15 semis on that stretch very low oncoming traffic Thanks BP...those Giantloop "elephant ears" look like they would be great for "foul weather" conditions! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 3, 2016 Yeah they definitely were, it would have been brutal without them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
robertaccio 412 Posted May 3, 2016 glad the trip went well, did you wear your new gloves??elephant ears are the shite, sometimes you gotta have them. They work great for extreme and even less than extreme conditions. In use, MSR brand, I always have them in my kit box just in case....in this case it was a March blizzard in a WestChec Anza enduro. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 9, 2016 On Tuesday, May 03, 2016 at 11:46 AM, robertaccio said: glad the trip went well, did you wear your new gloves??elephant ears are the shite, sometimes you gotta have them. They work great for extreme and even less than extreme conditions. In use, MSR brand, I always have them in my kit box just in case....in this case it was a March blizzard in a WestChec Anza enduro. Trip went well thanks, didn't wear gloves only cause I made mistake on a 3 day trip before with new socks and the seam bugged the ---- out of me whole trip so don't use fresh untested gear on multi day trips anymore. Did a quick trip to otay yesterday and gloves worked great though thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bp619 107 Posted May 9, 2016 On Tuesday, May 03, 2016 at 7:16 PM, danrider said: Good Job! Haven't done a trip like that by myself, little bit brave bro and definitely adventurous. Yup little weird 50 miles away from anything solo and 180 miles total day I saw no one. BTW a spot gps tracker and loaded 40cal help calm the nerves Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
