The dualsport ride 10/25/08

[dirt dame 561]

Roostingu and I got out to the staging area a little before 9. SteveO was already there and others began to arrive. Besides the three of us, there was Christi20, who motored in from just up the highway a few miles, Bill, Edog, Hammerin Hammon, who rode his 650 out from Carlsbad and two non SDAR members, Dave from Hemet and his friend Gabriel. Shocknawe was supposed to meet us, but by 9:35 there was no sign of him, so we got underway, and started a crisp morning off with 9 riders.

I had started to get a migraine headache the night before the ride and felt exceedingly horrible, but would have felt horrible no matter what I was doing, be it laying about the house or trail riding. so I chose trail riding. Besides, it was my post and my ride, so I felt like I needed to be there.

The day quickly began to warm up as we headed out Lost Valley road. It was plenty toasty in Anza and up on Hixon trail. The two Honda riders from Hemet parted company with us just before we started down Hixon. We rode into Hemet and caught Bee Canyon off the highway. When we reached the trees, things got pleasantly cooler, and much better looking. I headed for the chip trail that a group of us rode a couple of summers ago. It was fun and scenic and had led to the amazing pine cone maze. But today, it was closed off at the upper end by a brand new shiny metal gate with a lock and a No Tresspassing sign on it. We turned around and headed into Idylwild another way, where we had lunch at the old standby; Jo Anns.

By now it had gotten quite late. I don't know what I had been thinking when I posted the original proposed route, but at 4:00, we weren't going to make it across Thomas Mountain and back across Lost Valley, at least not during the remaining daylight, so we rode pavement back to the vehicles, which took us just a little over an hour. Then it was homeward bound.

It was a good ride. I got to meet Edog, Bill and Christi20. Everybody seemed to have fun and no club members crashed or had any major mechanical issues. It was pretty mellow and nice, except for the headache.

Now for the pictures.

Staging area at the beginning of Palomar Divide road.

The morning warmed up and the clothing layers came off.

Here is Jeff parked next to this lovely statue.

The group on the move.

SteveO and Bill

At the only water we saw all day....

Jeff comes rolling up....

Nothing like taking pictures of people taking pictures.

Up on the chip trail.

Edog on the trail.

Christi20 in the foreground with Hammer, Bill and Edog.

Autumn splendor on the chip trail.

At Jo Anns in Idylwild.

Shock evidently showed up later and left his calling card

Man, I am tired tonight!

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

Thanks, Mimi for leading a good ride.

I had a lot of fun yesterday, I went to the beach early, in the morning. The parking lot was a ZOO, tide was high, and the waves were not looking that great. I headed home to strip my bike, of the panniers, top box, and surf rack. I had 30 minutes to do this, dress, pack my backpack, and lube my chain. 28 minutes later I was on the road (I could hear the song FREE BIRD) in my head as I left the beach, and headed to Palomar truck trail. I headed North on the 5, to 76 were the fun began,(70 or so miles of tarmack to carve up) I arived, a little frosty, at the meet spot, were Mimi was quick to tell me this would not be a technical ride. :boast: I tried to talk her into adding the steps of Alasandro, but no one would join me. we did get to ride Hixon which is border line technical and fun at a fast pace, (Thanks, Mimi for letting me go up front on this trail) :beach:

I was also testing the newest MODS, to my BIG ADVENTURE BIKE!

Front fender 5 minute mod, and bald rear tire. They all worked UNBELIEVABLY WELL!

Craig.

[roostingu 0]

Mimi,

excellent ride, good to see Dave again and his friend Gabriel, arrived to see Steve O gearing up last ride with Steve was a hot day on Otay. Good to meet E-Dog, Christi20,Bill,Hammer. 9 people in a group with mixed skills can be challenging to manage but the ride went very well with few delays, regrouped a few times and had a good lunch break, very scenic ride, I think the agenda was overstacked but we managed to complete most excepting Thomas Mtn saved for another day. Thanks to everyone for a great day in a beautiful country.

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos#

http://s303.photobucket.com/albums/nn133/r...rection=reverse

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=67...70004&hl=en

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9...78476&hl=en

Jeff

[dirt dame 561]

Fuel still costs an arm and a leg up in Idylwild. Evident in this photo. :beach:

The rider behind me has already lost his head. :boast:

[dirt dame 561]

9 people in a group with mixed skills can be challenging to manage but the ride went very well with few delays, regrouped a few times and had a good lunch break, very scenic ride, I think the agenda was overstacked but we managed to complete most excepting Thomas Mtn saved for another day.

We only did about 143 miles, mostly dirt until we had to go back to the staging area. I guess I'll post another ride for Thomas Mountain after it gets a little cooler and perhaps we get some rainfall. I might stage that in another area closer to Thomas Mountain, like just off of Carey road or something like that. For me, the mileage on the drive out to there is about the same as it was to Palomar divide trailhead.

[SteveO 0]

Mimi,

Thanks for leading the ride and showing me new trails. I can't believe you got a report and pictures up that same night. :boast: Just out of curiosity, why are your pictures .BMP instead of .JPG?

Jeff, thanks for riding sweep and for the photos and video. My wife finally has a feel for our rides after watching the video.

It was nice to meet Christi20 and everyone else. It was about half-way through the ride before I figured out who Craig and Eric were, ie. Hammerin Hammon and Edog.

Steve

[dirt dame 561]

Mimi,

Thanks for leading the ride and showing me new trails. I can't believe you got a report and pictures up that same night. :beach: Just out of curiosity, why are your pictures .BMP instead of .JPG?

What is the difference? They start out as JPG.....As a matter of fact I just clicked on properties on one of my photos and it said it was a JPG. :boast:

Whoops, I guess that it's JPEG, not JPG

I just upload them to Photobucket and then post them. I don't really know too much about the computer stuff.

I was really tired and busy doing laundry too, last night. But I always try my hardest to get a same day post on a ride.

[SteveO 0]

JPG and JPEG are the same. It is a compressed file format; the one most cameras use. BMP (bitmap) is an uncompressed file format, so it just uses more memory. It's not a problem.

Steve

PS: I just clicked on one also, and it is JPEG!! I guess the conversion to .BMP happened when I saved your photos to my computer.

What is the difference? They start out as JPG.....As a matter of fact I just clicked on properties on one of my photos and it said it was a JPG. :boast:

Whoops, I guess that it's JPEG, not JPG

I just upload them to Photobucket and then post them. I don't really know too much about the computer stuff.

[bikeslut 1]

I don't much about anything, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

I expect when she adds the "bubbles" of speech, she does that in bmp... that's how the computer worked in my hotel room

[dirt dame 561]

And speaking of computers and JPEGs and them uh....other little thingies, I don't think that we have gotten all the photos from all the riders just yet. Christi20 took some shots, so perhaps she'll have something to post.

[christi20 0]

My first ride with SDAR.

I am now an OFFICIAL member! I had a great time.

Thanks Mimi for leading. You did great!

Hixon is a blast! I wish that trail was longer. Thanks for the vid Jeff!

Everyone on the ride was very nice. Great group of people. The ride went very well except for one lost sweeper at one point. I would be happy to go on a ride again with any one of you!

I wish I could have said a better goodbye to all of you. But at least you all know where I live now. Feel free to use my house as base for rides nearby.

I will post some pictures in the next couple of days.

[roostingu 0]

Good to have you with us Christi, I think you might enjoy some of the more technical rides (Corral Canyon/Pine Valley) and the pinnacles up north were all fun, and encourage you to do so, you don't lack in bike skills, I know sometime we want to explore some of the trails in the lost valley area? not very technical but interesting at the on google earth.

normally I don't post so much video but I consolidated about 45 different video's into 4 to try to keep up under 10 mins, guess I don't really want to take the time to watch all them. Maybe its not a good idea, so next time I am doing it different maybe combine a half dozen from the whole ride? I also did put all four

onto a DVD this stuff takes up a lot of space on a hard drive?

[Guest Hammerin Hammon]

Good to have you with us Christi, I think you might enjoy some of the more technical rides (Corral Canyon/Pine Valley) and the pinnacles up north were all fun, and encourage you to do so, you don't lack in bike skills, I know sometime we want to explore some of the trails in the lost valley area? not very technical but interesting at the on google earth.

normally I don't post so much video but I consolidated about 45 different video's into 4 to try to keep up under 10 mins, guess I don't really want to take the time to watch all them. Maybe its not a good idea, so next time I am doing it different maybe combine a half dozen from the whole ride? I also did put all four

onto a DVD this stuff takes up a lot of space on a hard drive?

[/quote)

I have rode all the places you mentioned. Were we were has miles of technical, trails. We only rode, 1 of the more easy trails (Hixon) We need to do a (Hard Core) ALL KILLER NO FILLER ride! in this area.

I didn't realize what a fun ride it was to get to were we rode. It's my back yard.

I will skip a surf day for that. I have a friend-customer, that is an ex Baja 1000 racer, who I need to take on a good ride! I keep showing him pictures at SDAR and he just and says (That doesn't look very hard)

Who is in. Spough, Rex,

Carlsbad to Bowmont and back.

Craig.

[dirt dame 561]

Hixon is a blast! I wish that trail was longer.

Well, technically it is longer. There is some of it that we didn't ride, such as the north loop which has a really short but nasty hill in the middle of it that I didn't want to subject the group (or myself, for that matter) to. I figured that the stretch of Hixon we rode has just the right amount of technical terrain thrown in to satisfy most riders.

Wait till you ride Nutcracker trail! Or maybe you already have and we just don't know it yet.

Back in March on "Nutcracker".

[christi20 0]

Ok, finally I have some more photos....

David at our first stop on Lost Valley Rd

Some more of us at the same stop

Mimi, Craig and ???

Looking over Hemet from Bee Canyon Rd

Pow Wow on Bee Canyon rd. We had to regroup here.

Mimi at the water crossing taking my picture

One of us (???) going through the water

I think this is Craig

Random shots. Sorry I forgot your name.

Mimi and (forgot your name too, sorry)

My bike loves attention

So there you go. Sorry to those whose names I can't remember. I am getting old.

I wish I could have taken some pics of the Hixon trail but I really wasn't about to stop!

Looking forward to the next one!

[dirt dame 561]

Bill and Edog are the names you are looking for there. Thanks for posting the pix.

[Redrider 0]

Hey Everybody, Had fun on this ride. Now I know what Lost Valley is like. I've always wanted

to ride it, just not by myself. Thanks again Mimi, Jeff and it was nice meeting Christi, Craig, Steve-O

and the 2 other guys that were there. Here are a few of my Pix.

[christi20 0]

Nice photos!

[Redrider 0]

Mimi,

Thanks for leading the ride and showing me new trails. I can't believe you got a report and pictures up that same night. Just out of curiosity, why are your pictures .BMP instead of .JPG?

Jeff, thanks for riding sweep and for the photos and video. My wife finally has a feel for our rides after watching the video.

It was nice to meet Christi20 and everyone else. It was about half-way through the ride before I figured out who Craig and Eric were, ie. Hammerin Hammon and Edog.

Steve

Steve-O, thought you might like this pic.

[dirt dame 561]

Nice pictures of the ride there, Dave.

[SteveO 0]

Hey Dave,

Good to see your "call sign". Thanks for the pictures, especially this one. It is a rare picture of me riding my bike where it actually looks like I am moving.

Steve

Steve-O, thought you might like this pic.