USGP ride report

[isde97 30]

I am going to have to add to this in bits and pieces....

1850 miles in 8 days, and Saturday and Sunday was just going back and forth to the track. I started the trip with a brand new TKC 80, it has about 1mm of knobby left in the center. Weather could not have been better, it was really mild. As it happens, the toughest place to find dirt roads is North of Paso Robles, most of the land is in private hands. The best chance for next year will be Clear Creek, depending on its closure status.

The Big Bear - Paso Robles section was 400 miles, with a lot of dirt. When it wasn't dirt, it was typically Angeles Crest/ Cerro Noreste, some of the finest motorcycle roads you could ever expect. I rode across Carizzo Plain about 5 in the afternoon, it was an amazing ride.

A lot of the paved roads I took were roads that a dirt bike was really good on- narrow, potholed, and uneven. There was still a lot of roads that being able to cruise at 70-80 was very nice.

I dropped the big girl once, when I was sightseeing when I should have been paying attention to what I was doing. a 500 lb dirt bike is HEAVY.

I had just got a Contour camera prior to the trip. I still need some setup skills, and the goggle strap mount doesn't cut it for off road. I should still be able to sorta demo some of the ride. I actually had the camera on when I fell.

I had to sacrifice a bunch of the route close to home; I ended up leaving fairly late Tues, and a change in plans had me still in Buellton yesterday morning. I ended up exploring some of the Los Padres near Santa Barbara for much of the day yesterday, which was great. It would be even better if some of the roads weren't closed in a way so you could make a through route, instead of riding until you got to a locked gate. I resolved after last year to not end up in Malibu and need to ride slab for two+ hours to get home. So I ended up in Moorpark at 7pm and needed to slab for 2.5+ hours to get home. Never again (I bravely say).

If you got questions, ask away. I am glossing over a lot. I am working a Google Earth file, it should have my plans and what I actually did.

[kkug 147]

Going up to the races is one of my favorite rides.I did not get to go this year but maybe I can squeeze a trip up to Monterey in fall. Did you camp at the track?

Pictures?

[isde97 30]

I haven't camped at the track since it went from $15 for the weekend to $100/night. It is easier to just get a hotel for about the same price.

Attached is a G-earth file of the trip. You may have to move the time slider a bit to get the tracks to show up, I don't know why it does this. I have been through California Valley a bunch of times, I had never realized it is an unsuccessful planned community. I don't have a suitable camera (I may have to fix this), but the Panaromio pictures are better than what I could take anyway. I will post up some ride video later, but y'all need to keep your expectations low, as I am an obvious beginner and it shows.

Hmm, file is too big. I will have to figure out how to trim it to get down to size. Stay tuned.

EDIT: got it trimmed. This is actually a .kmz file, but the forum won't allow that. Change the extension to .kmz and you should be good to go.

2010 USGP trip.txt

[isde97 30]

One of my fist vids, I have a way to go before I don't completely suck.

<embed type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://contour.com/videoPlayer/VPlayerBasic.swf?customPlaylistURL=http://contour.com/xspf/node/101019/v3&autostart=false' allowfullscreen='true' allowscriptaccess='always' height='360' width='640'></embed>

If I fail at embedding (good chance), here is the link:

http://contour.com/video/elkhorn

[don johnson 0]

nice video

felt fast in my easy chair

[kellymac530 0]

very nice...long, high speed, and nicely rolling...way better than a freeway ehh.