April Fool's Ride

[PastaPilot 17]

Looking to do a full day of riding. This will generally be a re-ride of this ride I did in January with XR650lbum. Only this time there will be less dillying about and we'll make it to Santa Rosa Mt. before breaking for lunch at the Paradise Corner Cafe. This was truely an awesome ride and I've been itching to do it again.

Meeting place will be in Ramona at the Autozone on Main St. There are plenty gas stations nearby so be ready to go at 8AM.

This will be a spirited ride with a quick pace. Terrain will vary from smooth fire roads to gnarly single track. All of the difficult sections can easily be bypassed by easy stuff, but if this is your first time on the dirt or ride a slow pace this isn't for you. We'll need to keep moving to cover the terrain.

The route will be north from Ramona to Black Canyon, Mesa Grande around Lake Henshaw to Lost Valley Rd. Puerta La Cruz TT and into the outskirts of Anza. Then Table mountain TT to 371 to 74 and ending at the top of Santa Rosa Mt or Toro Pk. After that we can return for lunch and discuss options for the afternoon.

Mostly dirt roads ~30 miles of pavement but much of it is very fun, twisty pavement.

Afternoon possibilites include Thomas Mt area to Temecula, Palomar divide, and back. Or exploring some of the many trails we'll pass on the way out.

[SCHWINN 0]

this better not be a aprilsfool joke,count me in otherwise

[PastaPilot 17]

Good Point Schwinn, NO this is not a setup for an April fools joke.

It could be a good one though.

OK, Joke's over.

Jon

[Boston Mangler 0]

I am in Fo Sho!

Rock On!

[Vintage DR 0]

Awesome Jon!

Sounds like a sweet ride. Sign me up, I will be there for sure. I can't wait, I've never seen Thomas Mt..

Jerry

[Guest Numbskull]

I'l see you guys in Ramona!

[Wayne L 0]

I'm in on this one if you don't mind "the old guy" tagging along...

[Boston Mangler 0]

I'm in on this one if you don't mind "the old guy" tagging along...

Is this the same "Old Guy" that none of us could keep up with at Palomar?

[PastaPilot 17]

Yes it is. Glad to have you along Wayne.

I've never been to Thomas Mt either. It's supposed to be a good time. I'm looking forward to this ride.

Jon

[pyro 1]

' PING ! ' Count me in !

[Guest Cheif Gunner]

In like Flynn....

Gunner

[papaalex 5]

Beer , or no beer , I'm in for this ride..

papa

[PastaPilot 17]

What do you mean there's no beer? There's always beer, I carry an extra can on my gas tank just in case.

Just kidding,

Not really.

[Guest EX QB]

Was just informed that my little 50 is tuned and ready to go. Looking forward to riding with you guys again. See you on Sunday. Schwinn and I will be riding up to Ramona from his house in Esco.

[PastaPilot 17]

I received notice that not everyone is familiar with the Autozone in Ramona. Here is the address and a little map.

370 Pala Street

Ramona, CA 92065

It is right on the corner of Main and Pala. There is a Mobil gas station (with the most expensive gas in town)right across pala from the Autozone.

Google maps

Meet in the Southeast parking lot.

Jon

[Boston Mangler 0]

Hey Jon

Is this Mobil you speak of, the same one that we have met at several times to ride?

[PastaPilot 17]

It is the same one.

The last time I went through Ramona I stopped and filled up there. No more that a half mile down the street I noticed the gas was much less. The Mobil had the highest priced gas in town, by about .30/gal that day, and I made it a point not to stop there again.

When I met with XRbum he was unloading his truck at the Autozone. There is a nice open parking lot away from the road and traffic of other customers. He went to the wrong place but overall it was a better meeting area.

Just to recap...

-April 1st, 2007

-Meet at the Autozone

-8AM we ride

By latest headcount we should have 10 riders

HondaPilot

BostonMangler

Schwinn

Pyro

EX QB

Vintage DR

Numbskull

WayneL

ChiefGunner

papaalex

Please chime in if I missed you or are planning to join us so we'll know to wait for you.

Jon

[Crawdaddy 96]

Please chime in if I missed you or are planning to join us so we'll know to wait for you.

Jon

There's plenty of parking across the street from Autozone in the K-Mart shopping center.....I *may* ride over and say hello/ride with you guys for a short a bit on Sunday since you're starting the ride about ~10 minutes from my house......but I can't work the all day hall pass.....don't wait for me......

FYI for future rides: Good congregating spot for rides out of Ramona is Packards coffee shop at 7th and Main St. (that way you can warm your belly with some java and stuff down a muffin before you head out on your way - gas up next door at the Circle K). If you head straight across main street from Packards on 7th it turns into Elm St......hang a right on W. Haverford (which turns into Pamo) and another right on Pile.....Pile will run you over to Black Canyon to cut over to Mesa Grande or Sutherland Dam (if you stay straight on Pamo you'll come to the OHV area.....but that's really just a boring dirt road.....close/legal spot to take stickered bike/little kids riding to get them acquainted with their bikes/quads.....but that's about all it's good for)

Beyond the OHV area on Pamo Rd. there are a few fun dirt roads/trails to goof around on if you have a Dual Sport (plated) bike.....both of these roads (nf - 11504 & nf-12507) connect with Black Canyon Rd. but for whatever reason the access gates are usally locked at one end or the other I know the gate to 11504 from Black Canyon (just across the bridge and to the left) was locked the last time I came through several months ago

Likewise, forest service road nf - 11501 turns into Lasardi Truck Trail and eventually intersects with the Mesa Grande Truck Trail which will take you over to the 76.....but again, the last time I went onto 11501 off Pamo (which was a couple of years ago) the access gate was locked after a mile or so.....

Map quest link - zoom in to see forest service roads off Pamo

[PastaPilot 17]

Crawdaddy,

Kmart would be a great area to meet as it's a giant landmark with a huge parking lot. But I disagree with Packard's. The reason being there is two (2) Packard's on Main St in Ramona. We found this out the hard way on a previous ride when half the group met at one and the other half at the other.

To make things easy, there is only one Autozone in Ramona, it's next to the Mobil and across from the Kmart.

Get your coffee, muffins, egg mcmuffin, bagel, red bull, gas, etc. and be at the Autozone at 8AM.

See ya there,

I'll PM my number to all of you to call if you're running late.

Jon

[Crawdaddy 96]

Crawdaddy,

Kmart would be a great area to meet as it's a giant landmark with a huge parking lot. But I disagree with Packard's. The reason being there is two (2) Packard's on Main St in Ramona. We found this out the hard way on a previous ride when half the group met at one and the other half at the other.

True - that's why I noted the location of the original Packard's which is at 7th & Main (with gas next door at Circle K). It's is a good launching point since you're right at the 7th St stoplight which will lead you out 7th/Elm/Haverford/Pamo/Pile/Black Mountain....

But hey man, it's your party....no BFD to me either way. Have a blast on Sunday and maybe I'll see ya "in the zone" (the auto zone) at ~7:45am (can't commit as I haven't run the request for a morning hall pass by the gal pal yet.....if ya know what I mean.....and I think ya do .......but even if I get the green light it'll just be for a few hours in the morning....so I won't be able to accompany you guys over to Anza......I'll probably opt to explore some local terrain and see what the deal is with those locked gates that I mentioned above)

[Guest Cheif Gunner]

Hey guys; I met another rider on the ADV site ("Toejam") who lives here is SD county and might be along for the ride. He lives a good distance away and might throw his bike on his truck and make the meet up.

He has a good point .... Allot of us (myself included) do not like to do allot of extended miles on the freeway and chew up our tires doing it on rides and it is nice to drive a cage after a long day of dirt wallowing on a beast when you are dog ass tired and cramped up so 'nuff said on that.....

For those of you who do not want ride the light bike on allot of pavement (freeway) to get to the meet up you can park your truck at the county park just up the street from the meet up.

If you don't know where it is I'll show you where it is from the meet up (sorry forget the street name but know exactly where it is).

There should not be a problem parking there, plenty of space and frequently patrolled by the Sheriff Deputies !

Gunner

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

This looks like a great group to ride with ,as long as nobody teases me about riding Pee Wee tracks or makes fun of my bike. I will be in Ramona bright and early having breakfast and coffe. If anybody wants to meet and dine, say so weel make it a party. I gotta go get my Thomas guide to find where Ramona is.

[Crawdaddy 96]

For those of you who do not want ride the light bike on allot of pavement (freeway) to get to the meet up you can park your truck at the county park just up the street from the meet up.

I'd suggest you just park your trucks across the street in the K-Mart parking lot (or on the road in between the Autozone & the Mobil Gas station).....the K-Mart lot is huge......plenty of empty spaces on the outer reaches of the parking lot along Hwy67 and almost directly across the street from the Autozone....

Hammer - it's gonna take you ~45min to reach Ramona from your place in Encinitas....so if you're planning on having breakfast in Ramona at ~7am (to be ready to ride by 8am) you'll need to be rolling away from the homestead by 6am......which means it'll also be pretty darn chilly.....my suggestion - truck your bike up, chow down, and unload at K-Mart or on the street between the Autozone & the Mobil gas station.....

For anyone else considering breakfast, FYI - there's a Denny's about a ~quarter(?) mile short of the Autozone on 67 as you approach town from the west on 67.....

[Vintage DR 0]

access gates are usally locked at one end or the other I know the gate to 11504 from Black Canyon (just across the bridge and to the left) was locked the last time I came through several months ago

The gates are all open now, they close them when it rains to prevent ruts. Out there last weekend.

Likewise, forest service road nf - 11501 turns into Lasardi Truck Trail and eventually intersects with the Mesa Grande Truck Trail which will take you over to the 76.....but again, the last time I went onto 11501 off Pamo (which was a couple of years ago) the access gate was locked after a mile or so.....

The Lusardi Truck Trail goes for miles of nice riding, but doesn't go thru to Mesa Grande (without going thru some rancher's gates) or to 76 without having keys to the gate at the top where it hits ranch property.

Still alot of great riding out there, but Pamo area seems to be off the path that Jon set for the ride. He's the leader, so it's his call. I'm sure there will be plenty of great trails for us all to see with his lead, as he's been riding the area for quite some time. Maybe on the trip back into town if anyone has any energy left.

It will be a blast!

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

I am gona do this ride like pyro and ride from Carlsbad to Ramona. Leaving Carlsbad at 6, Cold weather is no problem. I dont realy want to drive because I want to ride to Thomas Mountain and ride home from there making a big loop, I will be at Dennys at 7 see you guys there. Thanks Crawdad.