California - The Adventure Republic

January 19-20, 2013 Adventure RIding.

For the OC and SD boys, it started a day early. Who would think there will be riding in the middle of winter.....there are many places, and California is one of them. Let's be grateful that we are very fortunate to ride 365 days in a year, best of all, sharing it with a lot of good people.

This is our 5th year and we did it again! Everyone had fun and made it home. Congratulation everyone.

The plan (same as previous years)


It started in Santa Paula. Bikes and pic of the mandatory gas price.



Saturday morning outside the cafe



Inside. The man on the left (Weekend Warrior) rode all the way from Reno; the other 2 PPs are from San Diego....damn!





Watch out Jo, someone wants your food.



Group 2


Sorry Dave, 1 more time.



The guy (Marcelo) on the far right came from Florida and on his way to Brazil.



For me, I had the chorrizo for Carrizo

after a most excellent breakfast at cafe emporium, we head up north on hw33. i think there were 28 riders? i lost count since riders are bailing out and more joining in all the way to maricopa. we split into 4 groups to make it easier for the cat herders.

group 2


still some snow at the higher elevation especially in the shade


here are some of the boys getting ready for quatal canyon


it started easy, but deceiving



we caught up with the fast group 3 which was led by todd



hard to see here, but bt bent his tracking arm when one of the big dips caught him by surprise



dannyG was sayin to himself that if this is a sailboat, i could fix this...huh



good thing about bmw riders, they tend to help each other



meanwhile, johnnyG took a break from fixing his bent pannier



sorry, johnny your number was called but the good thing all 4 spills that day are slow speed. btw, he likes to take home soil samples


nothing much group 2 could do but leave them and find help in maricopa









yikes.........ice



now you can see why they stopped



as my bike lays on the ground, here comes big todd picking the right line


more later

Niiiice

This was one of my favorite rides. As a matter of fact it was my fist group ride where I met Joel, Rugger, John, Tom, Cathy, and many others. I couldn't make it this year and I heard I missed the coldest Southern California camping.

I've yet had the privilege to ride this beautiful area. Hopefully this spring for the flower power blooming season...or Baja...or...

It is beautiful and was cold
, f'ing cold Truth be told I spent $350 at REI as soon as I got back so that doesn't happen again!

john....i'm surprised you haven't suspected that i work for REI.....

more riding
snow, mud and ice on quatal...we did it all






good aram always there to help



not aram's favorite angle



this one is the uphill icy climb. dannyG and a tiger rider ?



teamwork - you guys rock



just like all ktm rider, we are good



the advantage of having bent torsion bar, traction gets better



browneye shuttling another rider's bike



this time, sampling the snow






this rider made it look easy...feet on the pegs. no further comment...hehe.



we all made it and thanks to everyone



i think this is one of the best and fun sections of the ride. at the beginning, i was thinking of getting group 2 to turnaround, but after looking at my gps, we only had 2 miles left. then, having all the support there, we went for it.

after quatal, next stop was maricopa to fuel up, regroup and take a break










others take this time to fix their bikes



todd is such a tease



good he brought along the german made tools that came with the behemoth bike...hahaha


more later.

carrizo here we are








damn bob, you make this bike looks small



twist that throttle






first victim



next



perro no problemo



dipping and dabbing

Checking in from Baja, looks like fun Joel. More please.

It claimed Moe.ron as well that day

haha....and so happens your camera was ready like mine.....hehe.

chris, also at the same corner 4 years ago - history repeats itself

luckily dan and brian both were unhurt

same stuff that got moe

dan, we'll be down there again this april for the mex1K. hope to see you there.

got some more of your backyard pics here.

a short reunion between group 2a and 2b... :lol:



they're building a solar plant on the right side






2b dust in the distance



pozo rd



long shadows



support trucks waiting till the last rider






the tiger group



someone will need a new rear soon



on to pozo



doxie



craig



made it to pozo and we saw a city being built.....hahaha

I rode right past your group at Pozo and thought to myself "Hey, I know that bike from ADV " several times. I was Staged at the Turkey Flats area with my blue GasGas and a black dodge dakota. I found it humorous watching a sportbike and an older standard both taking burmshots in the dirt, looked like something I'd do. Kinda funny, I rode most of the northern part of your loop the week prior (255 miles) and Quatal Canyon had 1' of snow for the last couple miles before Cerro Noroeste and I had probably my most unnerving experience on a motorcycle yet, riding on a layer of ice on the paved road all the way to the grapevine from there... looks like your timing was better! I also rode a lot of the southern portion of your loop the following weekend (298 miles) and struck out again with weather with yet more snow and ice!

I always seem to find out about these ~local rides after they happen when I see a group of dual sports out and about and I check ADV once I'm home! I'm going to have to start digging deeper and watching these threads more closely

Subscribe to this thread: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=318376
They will at least get mentioned here if they are being planned elsewhere.

next time stop, say hi and we'll buy you a drink.

beautiful place you have there and good riding. there are some trails that i've never got on, the black diamonds...:eek1

if i remember, i'll PM you if we will be out there again. for sure in spring when the flowers bloom and carrizo becomes a painted desert.

soon pozo's population doubled in a matter of one afternoon....






johngil and some from lior = thank you, you saved our bacon



can you see male bonding going on?












we are all glad and thankful to pozo for hosting us. bed, fire, drinks and soon food.

food and lots of smiles



buster approves the chili






jo be quick jo be nimble..you're fast dood....hahaha



danny was so hungry, emptied his plate and has to order a second one...huh. what's the face you PPs?..hahaha

I would love to join the group sometime, I can certainly show any of the more daring offroaders in the group where the good trails are throughout Pozo, the BLM open area between Maricopa and Carrizo, Ballinger Canyon, Garcia Ridge (from Hi mountain rd), and many other places along your route. In the spring/ summertime there are lots of nice forest roads that bisect your loop running ~parallel to hwy166 with and even a couple OHV areas along the way as well as 3 double black diamond single track routes and some of the most secluded campspots around. It's very hit-or-miss during the rainy season as far as the gates to these areas being open, they are closed today, open 2 weeks ago, closed 3 weeks ago, open 4 weeks ago, and the forest service is very vague as far as what their wet weather policies are. If they are closed, at least you can stop by the Burger Barn



Can you spot the 2 riders contemplating the singletrack climb? Elkhorn Grade Rd and Maricopa shown in the backround



Your route down Pozo Rd takes you fairly close to "the stairsteps" and if you guys haven't been to them yet, it can be kind of humbling the first time. You can get a big adventure bike to the bottom of the stairsteps fairly easily from Pozo rd (the trail that the Toyota was blocking in a picture on the last page) on a well groomed 4x4 trail but this would be your turnaround point. I've ridden up them (only twice) and down them countless times, but one time really stood out:



If you look very closely you will see a KTM950 parked at the bottom, I rode with these guys for the better part of the day and he sure wasn't afraid to ride that mofo like a dirtbike! There was actually still snow (only on the north face of the highest ridge) along this trail when your group passed through.

There is another very scenic dead end ride (depending who you talk to) along TV Tower rd at the top of the Cuesta grade (101 between Santa Margarita and SLO) that might be worth including in future rides.

Will this thread be the one to keep an eye on or the LA area one?