today was a good day Sunday Team Tire Change with a Bonus dirt ride

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Jesse and Max, whom I both met just recently at the Mountain Dash came over this morning, and we put some nice new Desert HT's on Jesse's Honda Africa Twin DCT. Jesse had obviously done it before in the past so it was a refresher for him, and for Max I think this was his first time so it's always good to share the tools and the tricks! After this we mounted the bikes, Max on a really nice de-catted 850gs anniversary edition, Jesse on the decked out Africa twin DCT and me on my mtn dew powered Fatduro, my beloved 690. 

We had a gorgeous ride on the way out, weather was about as perfect as it could be - stopped at the chairs of some gas station snackery, and met a cool dude on a new Panamerica. Then we headed off down the 79 to just before the glider port where you turn for indian flats campground, and from there ran the 'lost valley' ride, which goes along the California riding and hiking trail, and exits outside of Anza. 

@Hawkins AKA Jesse, and Max, did really well on their steeds and we just had a nice scoot through some really pretty scrub, rolling hills etc. We exited the dirt, and headed in to Anza where we hit the mexican restaurant on the other side of the road, adjacent to dairy queen. The horchata is cold and the burrito vaporized almost immediately so it must have been ok On the ride home Hawkins and I had a nice chat on the senas, and we all just enjoyed the rip home on these backroads we are lucky to have as part of our back yard.

Good ride today, great way to spend a Sunday - thanks for coming Max and Hawkins, will ride again soon.

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Forgot to mention I also swapped Bikes with @Hawkins which means I got to try out the Africa Twin DCT, way way way way smoother than I dreamed it would be. We had the sena so he talked through modes, that's a pretty spiff bike, nice display and man i want a trailtech voyager.

[moto_rph 177]

Wish I could've made it gents, hopefully next time.  That's a beautiful trail!

[Hawkins 237]

On 5/22/2022 at 9:04 PM, shutterrev said:

I got to try out the Africa Twin DCT, way way way way smoother than I dreamed it would be

I'm a fan too. I can ride with a clutch no problem, but simply not having to do so is so... nice. I get to focus on one less thing while I learn to handle this large bike offroad. And on road, man, it is just a dream. Next time you're in stop & go traffic and your left arm is cramped from feathering the clutch, just think of me just twisting the throttle when I want to roll forward. It's superb. Not trying to sway anyone, you do you, but I'm totes happy with the DCT.

On 5/22/2022 at 8:55 PM, shutterrev said:

we put some nice new Desert HT's on Jesse's Honda Africa Twin DCT. Jesse had obviously done it before in the past so it was a refresher for him

I changed a tire or two twenty+ years ago, so I understood the basics. I really just wanted access to gear that made it easier, and man that Rabaconda works like a charm. Mine will be delivered next week, along with a balancing stand, valve stem cores, caps w/ core removers, that excellent tire lube you showed me, some tire prybars, etc. Once I used your tools and saw the number of tires stored at your place I knew that (1) the local community had enough demand to support two shops with tools and (2) I'd enjoy my bike more when I could match the tires to the task - especially with my wife learning to ride on and off-road. I picked up a cheap 3-bike trailer too! My new bike shop is off and running!

[Hawkins 237]

Here's the GPX file of our ride. I optimized it a little to reduce the number of track points and cut out a few rests we took during the ride. It is saved as a route and a track.

Lost Valley - 2022-05-23.gpx