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Zubb

Mtn Springs Station the hard way...

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But first, a little background about Mountain Springs Station Historical Landmark.

Except for an inconvenient accident of geography, the all-weather harbor of San Diego would have been a bustling hub of commerce in 1849-1861 linking the South- west to the booming gold fields of northern California. San Diego lay only 170 miles almost due west of Fort Yuma, located at the only practicable crossing of the Colorado River within 200 miles. During the US-Mexican War and the Gold Rush that soon followed, San Diego’s harbor should have been crowded with the flood of troops, gold-rushers, emigrants, and military supplies passing through Yuma, to connect with steamships from the East bound for San Francisco and the gold fields.

During this time, however, San Diego’s residents slumbered on beside an empty bay because of that one inconvenient geographic fact—about 80 miles to the east there was a then-impenetrable mountain barrier to wagon travel. That barrier made it much easier for horse or wagon travelers from the east to go to Los Angeles and its fair-weather San Pedro harbor than to San Diego.1 San Pedro, moreover, was 120 miles closer to San Francisco and the gold fields.

Today, Interstate 8 penetrates the barrier over the Mountain Springs Grade in the Jacumba Pass. The federal government built Interstate 8 grade in the 1970s at a cost of about one million dollars per mile. Its goal was to connect all major cities with high-speed freeways. But in the mid-1800s, there were no federal or state charters to build roads. If San Diego wanted a road, it had to build one out of its own resources.

The first stagecoach roads over the barrier were built past Mountain Springs in 1865-70. The residents of San Diego planned, financed by public subscription, and built the roads, as they were the only people vitally interested in San Diego’s commerce with the east. The first automobile road over the barrier was built in 1912-13, entirely financed by residents of San Diego. This is the story of the building of those roads, and the circumstances that led the people of San Diego to rise to the challenge presented to them.

. . . . but you old hairy dirt riders probably already knew all that.

Saturday a group of optimistic ADV riders converged on BMW MC of San Diego and conspired to 'explore' the Table Mountain area.  And so we did. It was an eclectic group of 1150's, 1200's, 850's, a DR, a spanky new T7 and an Africa Twin (did I miss anyone?).  We started with 14 bikes but had 3 turn back at  2 or 3 miles in.  The rest rolled forward and down down down with the dark knowledge that like it or not, they were fully committed.

I didn't take a lot of pictures as I was having so much fun picking lines and feathering the clutch, sliding the rear, etc etc.  But I got a few.  Wish I'd spent a few minutes to shoot 'the good stuff'.  But I imagine many of you skinny bikers here have ridden this old wagon trail and know the terrain.

I threw what clips I had in a folder and let the iPhone mash up a quick video.  Here's what I got . . .

There really wasn't much carnage for so many big bikes.  I think we lost one fog light in the whole group.  Oh, and the brand new T7 got a nice little whack on the tank.  It was and is a gorgeous looking bike though!!

I've been eyeballing this route on google maps for quite awhile.  Drooling over the potential but was always warned this is skinny bike territory.  It's always a matter of perspective though isn't it?

Good fun stuff in this area and I can't wait to do a repeat and string in some other goodies I have my eye on.  Winter is here my friends!  Time to go RIDE!

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Also interesting about that geography- all the Colorado River water is delivered to us in San Diego via Los Angeles. There's water in Imperial Valley- it also goes to LA first.

There's talk about bringing a water pipeline (desperately needed to diversify our sources) over the hill from Imperial Valley, but it's a HUGE project and the environmentalists are already putting up a fight. Understandable, as it will have a big effect on the immediate area around such a project.

Just about anything that can be done on a small bike can be done on a properly outfitted big bike with the right rider. But that don't mean it's fun. The bragging rights become less important over time.

 

PS- Where id you pull that historical information? Interesting...

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Nicely done Zubb! Great RR and viddy. Thanks for sharing.

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How dare you not mention the 1090r in the group....you're fired!

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Very cool....I'm jealous ! 

Just curious,  who organized it ?  Was it a shop ride ?

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1 hour ago, paulmbowers said:


Just about anything that can be done on a small bike can be done on a properly outfitted big bike with the right rider. But that don't mean it's fun. The bragging rights become less important over time.

 

PS- Where id you pull that historical information? Interesting...

Ahhhh mister Bowers you are once again quite correct.  It is the Indian and not the arrow.

But in every Ying there is a Yang.  The yang to your next statement implies that it may have been a test of brutality and thick skulled stubbornness by the Big Boys.  While there is plenty of that flowing in the 1290/1250 club, this jaunt turned out to be a shite-ton of fun.

I like Big Bikes, I can not lie.

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47 minutes ago, Oracle said:

How dare you not mention the 1090r in the group....you're fired!

Apologies to the Austrians.  The big Katoom took care of herself quite well.  She kept up with the Germans . . . . . this time.

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35 minutes ago, KTMrad said:

Very cool....I'm jealous ! 

Just curious,  who organized it ?  Was it a shop ride ?

Motorcyclists of San Diego Meetup group.  Pretty much just Charlie and me posting rides through  the Covid era.  Charlie led it, I swept.

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28 minutes ago, Zubb said:

Ahhhh mister Bowers you are once again quite correct.  It is the Indian and not the arrow.

But in every Ying there is a Yang.  The yang to your next statement implies that it may have been a test of brutality and thick skulled stubbornness by the Big Boys.  While there is plenty of that flowing in the 1290/1250 club, this jaunt turned out to be a shite-ton of fun.

I like Big Bikes, I can not lie.

Did you ride the ASCENT portion from the highway back up to the top?

 

And yes, I think my skull has thinned in my olde age.

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17 minutes ago, paulmbowers said:

Did you ride the ASCENT portion from the highway back up to the top?

That climb heading west from the bottom would be gnarly on a bike bike

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41 minutes ago, kato said:

That climb heading west from the bottom would be gnarly on a bike bike

Fact, was tough on a small bike. Looks like they went onto the 8.

 

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2 hours ago, paulmbowers said:

Did you ride the ASCENT portion from the highway back up to the top?

No way. I’m not crazy!

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We jumped on the eight and went back up top and tooled around on those dirt roads more towards table Mountain.

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It was a "old man wear out" ride for me. I have been down this way in the 90th with a Jeep and we have spend hours to build a road section, since turning around was impossible. I did it with the silver cow, but wont do it again . Next will be the TT600.

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35 minutes ago, Mr.JAJA said:

It was a "old man wear out" ride for me. I have been down this way in the 90th with a Jeep and we have spend hours to build a road section, since turning around was impossible. I did it with the silver cow, but wont do it again . Next will be the TT600.

Your huge cowbell was ringing all the way down that trail. 

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how many miles? did you all ride out or trailer and stage? thx

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29 minutes ago, robertaccio said:

how many miles? did you all ride out or trailer and stage? thx

ADV bikes. We rode out. 

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Where's this so called gnarly uphill mentioned above. Pin drop would be sweet.

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45 minutes ago, Oracle said:

Where's this so called gnarly uphill mentioned above. Pin drop would be sweet.

I wouldn’t call it knarly. Unless I was on a 1200GS or some other phenomenally heavy whale. 

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Don't dye, wile you check it out.

Go first for a hike down and up again, take some pictures on the way.

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