Festival of Beers and Bluesapalooza

[Crawdaddy 96]

The Bluesapalooza weekend was a blast as always……

Roger and I headed up Thursday afternoon and stayed with a friend of his in Ridgecrest……..that worked out well because it put us in Mammoth around 1pm on Friday……..it was too early to check into the motel so we geared up for a little pre-run of a portion of Sat’s tracks (I wanted to familiarize myself with the tracks since I’d be leading the ride on Sat and I was unfamiliar with these tracks as laid out by Jerry Counts)…….it’s a good thing we did pre-run the initial section because there were a couple of single track sections that were easy to miss…..The Regulator (Duane) and his buddy (Victor) pulled up just as we were rolling out…….we exchanged greetings and they headed off on their own ride Friday afternoon up to Laural Lake and a few other/local trails…….it sprinkled a bit as we geared up which made for PERFECT conditions…….Roger/Duane/Victor may have a few pictures from Friday on their cameras that they’ll post up later……

By the time Roger and I returned from our ~40 mile afternoon loop on Friday, Samir and family had arrived as well as Samir’s buddy (Dave) and his wife Kathy…… Friday night we headed over for the BBQ/Blues Fest…….some good bands in a natural ampitheater…….Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers were the Friday night headliners and they ripped it up…….Rod plays the harmonica and his wife, “Honey”, absolutely tears it up on the keyboards…….they put on a really good show…….

The band's website: http://www.themightyflyers.com/

We all gathered Sat morning to head out at 7am as planned…….great weather/friends/mountains……n-i-c-e!

The players:

SXP (Samir):

Strega (Roger) and Dave:

Victor (who gave a thumbs up EVERY time the camera pointed his way):

Rohan and The Regulator (Duane):

Yours Truly:

On Sat we rode a series of tracks created by Jerry Counts and available to all on GPSXchange (THANKS JERRY!)……..they took us around the scenic Mammoth Loop and up to June Lake Junction for gas/brunch……after that we swung out east of 395 and made our way south on a series of trails before crossing 395 again at Mammoth Scenic Drive…….we quickly exited the Scenic Drive in favor of some really fun dirt that lead us back to Sawmill Cut-off Rd./Mammoth Lakes……..fun ~80 mile loop………well, it was fun for a about ~65 miles for me……my clutch flamed out so I had to cut off the final portion of the ride and limp back to town……..that probably made Samir and the rest of gang pretty happy since "Crawdad Racing" travels at a snails pace.

The pictures above are from Samir's camera........Roger, Duane, Victor may have a few more photos along Sat’s path that they’ll post…….as always, the pictures DO NOT do the ride any justice…..hard to stop and snap a quick photo when you’re in the middle of a sweet single track section!

Soooooo....... I was out with a smoked clutch …….and bummed out ……..no Sunday ride for me :cray: ……..then I ran into Dave at the Festival of Beers late Sat afternoon……..I’m pretty sure he said, “I’m not riding tomorrow, why don’t you ride my 525” before he even said “hi”…….SWEET! :clapping: .........I was back “in” again for the ride up to Bodie on Sunday…….VERY nice gesture from a guy I’d met less than 24 hours before…….THANKS DAVE!

The Festival of Beers was fun on Sat afternoon (no pics)……..70 Micro breweries featuring 1-3 beers per brewery………do the math…….impossible to taste’em all……..Rohan (Samir’s son) and I made a gallant effort for an hour or so in search of the best “stout” ……..we settled on Angel Brewery out of Torrance CA………not sure what their stout was called but it was STOUT – 10% ABV…….second best stout was from Organic Brewery (can’t remember where they’re located)……their Stout was called “Devout Stout” (guess it was a religious experience for some)…….we also tried a few with funny names…….Triple X, Lobotomy Bock, etc., etc…..good/fun times…….VERY crowded this year but still very fun…….the Sat evening headliner this year was Kenny Wayne Sheppard…….I saw him at 4th & B about 10 years ago and he’s only gotten better in the meantime……..wow, what a guitar talent………the kid can really rip it up……..great show……

Buy this CD/DVD combo: http://www.amazon.com/Days-Out-Blues-Backr...D/dp/B000IFQLSW

Duane and Victor opted to pass on Sunday’s ride since they knew it would be a longer day and they wanted to get rolling in the early afternoon……pretty sure they were going to ride the track down to Tom’s Place on Sunday…….I’ll be interested to hear/see how their ride panned out…….that left Samir, Rohan, Strega and I to saddle up for the ride towards Bodie…….another glorious/sunny day in the Sierra’s with good friends………NICE……pretty easy riding for the most part as we headed up east of 395/Mono Lake…….I inserted one short ~2 mile loop I’d seen on Google Earth which turned out to be really scenic……I was patting myself on the back for a while on that one…….its so geeky-cool (to me) to see stuff on Google Earth and then go ride it……..sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t…….this particular time it worked out in Spades…….some awesome views from high up on a plateau and a pretty cool trail with some ruts/climbs…….kind of broke things up a bit…..….

Rohan out on the loop mentioned above…..pretty faint two track which is essentially a single track at this point……..great views……awesome….

We took Jerry’s advice and blew off his Hard Way section near Mono Lake…….miles of deep sand/whoops – who needs that on a hot/summer day??? (Thanks for that tip Jerry)………Jerry’s alternate path took us on some really nice fire roads for miles and miles…….lightly traveled/pretty sandy in spots……..beautiful/open country……then we reached a turn off for some new “stuff” Jerry laid out……..that track took us over to the std Hard Way track above the sandy Mono Lake section……..we bumped our way up a rocky path for a while before reaching a turn off that led over to an old Bodie train trestle on a double track (turned cool single track) trail…….very impressive stacks of rocks…….I can only imagine the back breaking labor that went into creating that railroad……..

Crawdaddy swinging around the now dry Larkin Lake:

Fun single track leading to/from the Train Trestle:

Then we cut over on another old two track (which is now a single track) through a cut in the rocks.....thanks for the recon Jerry!

……now it was decision time…….head up to Bodie or continue on with the track…….we were a bit concerned about fuel range so we opted to skip Bodie in favor of the cut-off track that would lead us back over to Cottonwood Canyon Rd./395/Lee Vinning…….once again, VERY scenic…….

Bodie Silver Mine in the distance:

Dropping down towards Cottonwood Canyon Rd. just south of Bodie (that's Mono Lake in the distance):

A few views of Mono Lake as we made our way back towards Lee Vinning:

We refueled the bikes and grabbed a bite to eat at the Mobil station near the entrance to Yosemite………we were astounded how LITTLE gas we’d consumed (we all carried an extra quart which we poured in after about ~30 miles but we were still concerned about range since we were spinning the tires a bit in the sandy sections)……false alarm........I squeaked out ~110 miles on only 2.3 gallons of gas riding Dave’s 525 (probably because I was riding like the old man that I am……..I led the ride on Sat. so I opted to ride sweep on Sunday and chug along happily in the back in 6th gear )………Rohan and Strega were the gas hogs…..their WR450s burned ~3 gallons each…….Samir was somewhere in the middle riding his WR400……

We left the Mobil and headed up Hwy 120 for a short stretch before cutting left on a fire road that took us up high above, and to the west, of 395…….

Very scenic journey towards June Lake……..we checked out some roads leading to a couple of Lakes on the way (Walker and Parker)……..but both roads ended at “hiking” trails so we simply did a U-Turn and headed back to the main track……..we did ride down right next to Grant Lake…….breath taking views…….

Strega and Samir with Grant Lake in the background:

Rohan and Strega down by the edge of Grant Lake:

Crawdaddy and Samir at the edge of Grant Lake:

Then we stopped by Oh Ridge campground at June Lake to say hi to a friend of mine………after a short visit we headed back to Mammoth Lakes on another series of fun trails……

~170 mile day on Sunday……let the good times…….ROLL….

The only downside of the trip, aside from my clutch issues, was the fact that Strega’s health got progressively worse throughout the weekend……by Sunday afternoon he was tossing cookies periodically on the side of the trail ……he was a real trooper and finished out the ride but it was obvious that he felt pretty lousy…….so we changed our plans and opted to stay Sunday night so he could rest/recuperate then drove home Monday morning…….great trip……MANY trails yet to explore in the Tom’s Place/Mammoth Lakes/June Lake area…….can’t wait to go back…….

So many trails….so little time…….

[SXP 1]

Great job with the report, Chris :clapping: and thanks for organizing and leading the rides

Next year I would like to take the GPz up along with the WR. That way the street bike ride day can include the women - they were kinda left out this trip.

[Crawdaddy 96]

Great job with the report, Chris :clapping: and thanks for organizing and leading the rides

Next year I would like to take the GPz up along with the WR. That way the street bike ride day can include the women - they were kinda left out this trip.

Sounds more like the GPZ, the WR, AND the TW for Rekha......you need a bigger trailer

[Strega 0]

I can't say anything more than what Chris already said. Trip was great as always, company was awesome, and I felt like absolute dog sh!t all weekend long. But hey, being sick only stops me from doing stuff I do NOT want to do. :clapping:

However, I will add:

883 miles on the truck

18hrs 27min of driving

17.1 mpg

12,800mg of Ibuprofen (800mg/ea)

1/2 bag of Halls cough drops

1 bottle of Aloe Vera Gel - Sweet Tan

It's too bad that while I was outside loading my truck on Thursday morning, that THIS happened...crappy start to the weekend

Girl across the street came home for lunch while I was loading up my NEW truck. She parked in her garage and failed to set the e-brake and put it in gear. I was loading the truck on the driver side aft door; truck was perpendicular to my driveway out front because the trailer was attached. I shut the door after loading my gear, walked into the garage and heard a HUGE loud bang. I turned around and there was her Jeep Wrangler in the middle of the street. It had rolled out of her garage, down her driveway, across the street and t-boned my truck.....backwards. Damage estimate is $3200 to fix it all. Glad it didn't ruin my weekend.

[tlking6 0]

Nice report an Pics C-Diddy,,, looks like a great time! I got stuck at home running pipe through my attic replumbing a slab leak. Apalooza sounds like way more fun!

[Regulator 0]

After getting to Mammoth at about 1:30pm on Friday. Victor and I just had to do a little local recon with so much daylight still left so after meeting Chris and Roger we suited up.

Not knowing which way to go a good scenic ride hit the spot. We took the long and wet way up to Laurel Lakes which is a great way to start the trip. On the way up it started to rain and the shale road got a little sketchy but all tured out well.

On Saturday we met up with Chris (our fearless leader), Roger, Samir, Rohan, Dave, Victor and I... Duane.

Chris (Crawdaddy)

On Sunday myself and Victor decided we would do a shorter loop towards Tom's Place since we had to head out. It tured out to be a great little ride. Did about 100 miles of beautiful scenery behind the airport.

Explored down by Lake Crowley and found that several of the roads on the GPS no longer exsisted.

After fueling up in Crowley we headed toward the Mcgee scenic loop. Up...up ...up!

We actually considered turning back because it was such a rough trail/road in spots but those aren't the section where you stop for a photo op. :-P

What a sweet trip! Wish I could have stayed a little longer but there is always next time. Thanks guys for letting us tag along. Hope to ride with you guys again. Duane aka "Regulator"

[Erick 0]

Great pics. Beautiful country up there. You all have been on some great rides lately!

Hopefully I'll start showing up in a few of those ride report posts in the near future.... :clapping:

[hobiee 28]

i notice all the trials tires?? was it mandatory or is it just catching on that much? how do they work in the dry sandy stuff?

Crawdaddy this time you were the one calling yourself "old" by the way lol

roger hope you feel better and your truck as well

beautiful place hope to get up there sometime

[Strega 0]

Out of 7 riders, 6 had the MT43...Took me forever to put a trials tire on the WR, I'd seen everyone else do it and I was skeptical. I hadn't yet been drinking that Kool-Aid.

Now that I have one, I won't do any mtn riding without it. May-Sept, I'll have an MT43 on my bike. For desert season, I'll put the Maxxis Desert IT back on. I ran the MT43 with a Bridgestone UHD 4mm Tube at about 9psi. It was AWESOME. Some guys run them as low as 6, but with the amount of fire roads we were gonna do, I wanted a bit more pressure. If you wanna ride the mtns, get one, you won't regret it. I'm running a Bridgestone 603 up front on the recommendation by Steve at C&D, and I was very happy with it.

[BC330 0]

GREAT report, even better pics. I wish I had joined all of you. Next year for sure. Sorry to about your clutch Chris.

Roger- just think now it's possible to paint your truck black! Do you think her insurance company would even know? :clapping:

I am glad to hear everyone made it home safe and sound.

See you all on the trail

BC

[Regulator 0]

When is the next one! Haha...

[Strega 0]

When is the next one! Haha...

The next two:

Oct 3-4: Bass Lake, CA

Oct 16-18: Bishop, CA

[J-Bonez 0]

man, that looks like it was a blast! worst part is i coulda gone cuz i didnt know when i was gonna start work but i ended up starting yesterday.. theres a serious trend there.. looked like everyone had the trials tire.. ne pteradactyls this time?

[zracing 0]

:clapping: Good work gentlemen!! Thanks for the pics/report.

[Crawdaddy 96]

man, that looks like it was a blast! worst part is i coulda gone cuz i didnt know when i was gonna start work but i ended up starting yesterday.. theres a serious trend there.. looked like everyone had the trials tire.. ne pteradactyls this time? :clapping:

That's right Jarrett - Roger managed to avoid any collisions with prehistoric/flying creatures on this trip.......though he did manage to ding his foot on a rock to stay consistent with past rides ......hopefully we'll be able to take you on another ride this fall depending on your work schedule......

[sdmxr 0]

man, that looks like it was a blast! worst part is i coulda gone cuz i didnt know when i was gonna start work but i ended up starting yesterday.. theres a serious trend there.. looked like everyone had the trials tire.. ne pteradactyls this time? :clapping:

That's right Jarrett - Roger managed to avoid any collisions with prehistoric/flying creatures on this trip.......though he did manage to ding his foot on a rock to stay consistent with past rides ......hopefully we'll be able to take you on another ride this fall depending on your work schedule......

Thanks for the writeup and pics - we're nearly able to enjoy the ride without being there. Next time.

sdmxr

[Strega 0]

...no pteradactyls this time? [/b]

Next time I ride with you, I'm pushing you off a cliff.

[pyro 1]

So many trails….so little time…….

Awesome trip guys!

[Crawdaddy 96]

So many trails….so little time…….

Awesome trip guys!

You were sooo close down in Bishop........wish you would've joined us......next time.....

[J-Bonez 0]

aw roger.. hey at least im not throwing myself off any cliffs. but knowing our problems with shear ledges like that... i think wed both be too afraid of falling off 4 one of us to throw the other. remember the grand canyon experience?

no need 4 violence dune princess

[Strega 0]

aw roger.. hey at least im not throwing myself off any cliffs. but knowing our problems with shear ledges like that... i think wed both be too afraid of falling off 4 one of us to throw the other. remember the grand canyon experience?

no need 4 violence dune princess

Yeah, we should go jump some more cattle guards.

[J-Bonez 0]

yeah or not... idk how many times i can get away with crashing at 60mph and walking away without a scratch... haha that was really lucky.

man i tell u what... this new job is kickin my butt... i dodnt know that itd b this hard...

but... it is kinda cool that im getting such a severe workout. that just means itll b easier 4 me 2 pick the 620 up off the ground with a full tank. haha

[DustyRock 0]

Finally got approved to join the site & post a reply. Just wanted to say I had a great "ThumbsUp" time ! I have been to Mammoth lots of times & have always wanted to take my dirtbike. Finally was able to do that thanks to Duane & fellow riders for showing me some great trails. Looking forward to riding with you guys again. Thanks Dusty (Victor)

[Crawdaddy 96]

Finally got approved to join the site & post a reply. Just wanted to say I had a great "ThumbsUp" time ! I have been to Mammoth lots of times & have always wanted to take my dirtbike. Finally was able to do that thanks to Duane & fellow riders for showing me some great trails. Looking forward to riding with you guys again. Thanks Dusty (Victor)

Nice to meet ya Victor....may or may not see you at Bass Lake......I have some schedule issues....

Dropped a Barnett clutch in the 520 this morning.....all better now.....

[Crawdaddy 96]

....Next year for sure....

Time's up.....we leave tomorrow......quit your job, pack/load your sh*t - time to ride......