The Chronicles of a Moe.ron

[UpST8]

Chronicles of a Moe.ron

Background-
Transplanted to SOCAL via Uncle Sam‘s orders a little over a year ago, I packed up the family, motos, trucks, dogs and all our worldly possessions, rented our house and dragged everything across the country.
It’s been good, real good…sure we have had our issues here and there, but overall we are freaking blessed and super stoked (learned that word here in SOCAL)





The riding and weather are world class, the terrain is as varied and interesting as I have seen. This time of year you could surf all morning, eat a fish taco and ride 100 miles of twisty to go skiing in the afternoon…make it back by dusk and you can watch the sun burn out into the ocean…









Shortly, like next day after we arrived in SOCAL we met up with the avatar formally known as Serge A. Storms, but after something happened or didn’t happen or we don’t know or it doesn’t really matter …he is now moe.ron…we immediately clicked. We share a lot of same interest, same insanity, same inflictions and same solutions. He is my opposite in a lot of ways…but I can admire that. He goes through bikes, cars, trucks, guns and jeeps like I go through underwear…one change every month whether they need it or not.

Since I have been out here moe.ron has gone through a Tiger 1050, VolksVagen, Jeep, F800R (told you then you should have bought the F8GS!) and is now on a K13F700GS (a proper ADV bike, as he puts it)….thing is…moe.ron has never ridden any dirt…minus the 1 mile of gravel to get into a campsite once in Ocotillo Wells…his dirt experience is zilch!
Now…he has tasked me or I just took on the responsibility of teaching this moe.ron to ride off road…easy dirt…gravel, dirt, unimproved surfaces…we ain’t talking Erzberg …just a bit off the beaten path, …if it’s off the pavement we will say off road.

What are my qualifications? Not much…owned a dirt bike when I was young, but everyone has owned a dirt bike when young…wasn’t any good on it either…never raced….never even road consistently off road, nothing like decades in a row…hell, I’ve only been back to riding on the street with an occasional dirt foray for the last 6 years, but compared to moe.ron….. I am fucking Graham Jarvis

Is it 20/100 vision leading the blind? Well, yeah…

Maybe that’s where you can help out? We are open to suggestions, advice and some good ole lessons learned, maybe meet up with some of the Dual Sporters of SOCAL…I know you fuckers know how to ride. to be continued soon...

[AKjeff]

[moe.ron]

Aw man this is gonna be good! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

I received a bash plate from a generous member here at ADV, it sat in my garage for a month. I finally bolted it on yesterday, good thing too, came in real handy this afternoon! We went out and got the tires dirty for the first time today...

[UpST8]

Part 1

So, moe.ron is riding the 2013 F700GS and me…not about to be outdone…went out and bought a 2013 F800GS…both highly capable with some farkeling of multi-surface travel…way more capable than we (at this moment)



The ride today begins where every ride begins that involve big poser dirt bikes…Starfucks!




From there it is right up my most favorite paved road in all the land…RT33 from Ojai to Ventucopa. I think this road has been in the last 3 or 4 day trippin reports I put together..it still gives me that warm, fussy feeling when I ride it.

Beautiful sunny day, temps were mild, glad we waited a bit for the sun to heat the roads, sure the early bird gets the worm, but I don’t eat worms and I don’t like ice while riding a motorbike


Mid Screen, you can see a dirt line transversing the slope...that's the Ortega Trail

Stop for some happy snaps and bladder relief…Starfux runs right through ya….$3 to piss it away 20 miles later…












Yes!!! We found dirt already…no crawl, walk, run here….right into the squishy, sticky, peanut butter mudbog….this stuff will suck the life blood from the strongest of riders



OK, not really that bad…but it was slightly entertaining and a quick lesson in throttle control was had.


Don't know what happen with sound?! but moe.ron's bike does not sound like that!

These tires suck for the dirt.



Here is crazy thinkin...riding on shitty tires off road will make you all that much better when you get some decent knobs

If I survive long enough to buy em


create an animated gif

Apache Canyon Road…training session number 1

[mike]

[noshoes]

[Dyno]

That Touratech "bash plate" was outgunned the moment you pulled out of Starbucks.........

[RedRocker]

[oldmanb777]

Nice pix

[UpST8]

Originally Posted by AKjeff

Originally Posted by mike

Originally Posted by noshoes

Oh great?! The usual suspects are here

[UpST8]

Originally Posted by Dyno

That Touratech "bash plate" was outgunned the moment you pulled out of Starbucks.........

Better than what he had....oh well, guess you get what you pay for from TT

Originally Posted by oldmanb777

Nice pix

Thanks, glad you enjoy em. Stay tuned Next installment coming soon.

[NCJ]

[UpST8]

Originally Posted by NCJ

[moe.ron]

I am off to see the wizard...

[UpST8]

Part One Continued

Santa Clause brought moe.ron this video for X-mas…it is great! Good Job Ned

Between watching the DVD, watching some YouTube and reading a bunch on the interwebs I was ready to teach. Was moe.ron ready to receive? :Eek That’s hard to be determined at this time. Now again, I am not Jimmy Lewis or Rawhyde or Cornerspin. I barely get down the trail without destroying myself, but I am an instructor by trade and like I said before I am fucking David Knight compared to this moe.ron right now.


So, we shut down at the beginning of the road to talk about couple things to practice as we get on down the dirt road….
•Eyes up
•Don’t look at what you don’t want to hit, look where you want to go instead
•Position on bike
•Position on pegs
•Hand Grip strength, don’t white knuckle
•2 fingers on clutch
•2 fingers on brake
•Be aware that front brake may lock every now and again
•Elbows up, elbows up
•Squeeze bike with legs
•Let bike move around underneath you
•Stand up…get use to it…sit when terrain permits, but train to stand a lot
•Blah
•Bla
•Blah
•Bla
•Oh and don’t forget to turn off all your whiz bang ASC / ABS


A couple things turned into lots of things…my bad…. This moe.ron was over loaded.
“Tell ya what, you just go down the road. I will take off at my pace sitting down. If you turn off main road, wait for me” he says...sounds like a plan

Fair enough, let him get the feel on his own.

So awaaaaayyy we go!!! I am so amped!! I love to watch folks doing things that I love for their first time….I wonder if he’ll love it like I do?












Apache Canyon is rolling hills in the beginning, to flat, gentle turns, few water crossings that are dry 9 months out of the year, no real tough stuff, a good place for a leisurely ride.



This is my first time with the F8 off pavement and I have to say, I like it a whole lot!! Coming off a Wee-Strom (which I fucking love till death) to this is night and day in the dirt. I love the Wee, but it can’t touch a F8 off pavement.

At the end of Apache Canyon is Nettle Springs CG, but the local target shooters have turned it into a 360’ fire at will range …a place to bring the shit around your house you don’t want, shoot it and leave the garbage…it’s gotten a lot better from the last time I was here…it was TVs, Toilets, Bowling Pins, Bottles everywhere…. I like to shoot things just like the next guy, but fuck! Come on!! Clean your shit up son!!


Moe.ron leads the way for a bit…anyone want to chime in or PM what he is doing right and what needs improvement based on his technique here? Wise ass comments accepted as well, don’t be shy.



..guess i should have told him it was a deadend

Tell ya what I saw…good slow comfortable speed, not riding over his head (like me), good line selections, good eyes up…needs improvement on relaxing..get to your happy place moe.ron and breathe…relax…it’s hard to tell in video, but in real time you looked like a dog shitting broken glass…that’s why you were so wore out after only 20 miles of easy dirt roads….and elbows up