Baja 2012

Yes I witnessed multiple drug gangland shootouts, rode on nothing but whooped out fireroads, got food sickness four times a day, had my scooter stolen twice within an hour, got ripped off at every hotel and taco stand, got a bad case of clamato in Ensenada and had no fun at all....

Coyote Cals youth hostel $20/night breakfast included. View sucked though.
Mt Diablo at 10K feet from El Diablo dry lake bed 50 feet.
Laguna Hanson in the Parque Nacional de Constitucion de 1857. Dirtbikes welcome.
Sea of cortez. Bombing along at about sixty with the tires dipping the sea never gets old. Knocked out about 40 seaside miles before we headed back into the hills.

All BS aside, after about 15 trips the locals get nicer and the riding just keeps getting better. Its like 7000 square miles of Keyesville with better tacos and cheaper Modelo. (No offense to the cowboy or Douggie...) Get your passports now and pencil in 3rd weekend of Feb2012.

EduardoEspecial

Mammoth Qualifier Taft 2-27-11

Waynium dun good. 1st Vet Pro. Track was seriously bombed before the first motos were over. Saw the water truck once... Track always has nice fun jumps and it beat sitting at home. But sure could have used some more water. Wayne's front tires air went to his forearms on lap 2 of 6. But for those two laps he was on fire!

Sloppy would be a polite description of my riding. So I am apparently not sandbagging in 40+ Junior... Oh well. I had a great holeshot in moto 2 and was pulling away when it all went horribly wrong. Sweeper - tried taking a smooth outside line, rear end went waaay south and ended up eating shit. Picked er back up in fourth and made it to second by the checkers. Bottom line, beats sitting on the couch.

Special Ed

Keyesville Snow Ride - 02/20/11

Five Good men reasonably well equipped and prepared ascended the Kern River Valley to attack the snowy beast on President's weekend and they were not disappointed. The snow conditions were as epic as the legendary Mag 5 snow ride from many years ago. Mother Nature had done her part dropping 1 to 2 feet of the fluffy white stuff a day earlier now we had to conquer it.

The day started with a 2 hour delay on the grapevine while authorities removed the carnage of a fatal accident near Pyramid Lake. While Tigert and Waynium languished in traffic Potter, Art and Pooher took the scenic route on Lake Hughes road the long way around. Finally at 12:30 the Mag 5 launched their assault on Black Gulch from the Corral. Within minutes we had reached the snow not much past Frewway Ridge. We decided on the most direct rout up the mountain attacking the beast from a westerly direction. Suprisingly the snow only slowed our progress and quickly we were on the trail to piston hill with Waynium leading the charge on a 450R and Tigert in close tow. Soon critical decisions would need to be made to prevent a directional mistake as the road had become difficult to recognize under the deep snow.

After chasing down Wayne a few times the decision was made to forego piston hill and instead take the sidehill trail to Browns Mill 4WD road. Unfortunately Wayne had an internal navigational error and charged off towards Saw Mill road with Tigert in close tow. Wayne bogged down in deep snow and Tigert took the high line off a large boulder and passed Waynium in mid air only to pile into a 4 foot snow drift, spectacular is the best way to describe it. After corraling the misgudied superheros we proceeded down Browns Mill. There were many pauses as all of us questioned whether we could make it back up the deep snow drifts with the answer most likely no, we were commited to going deeper into the mountain. 4 miles of the most epic snow riding ensued with numerous get-offs culminated with Tigert's on video slow speed endo, video at 11.

After Browns Mill terminated into Saw Mill the snow suddenly lessened and some good old flat tracking was in order until we reached the Borderline 4WD road toward Dutch Flat. Some riders were worried about darkness but that is what lights are for if you have them. Dutch Flat treated us to some good "Black Dirt" until we reached a good sized washout that required all 5 of us to get the bikes thru one at a time. Down Dutch Flat to the Keyesville campground it was time to race back to the Corral via the Keyesville Classic and Kern River trails. Pooher is too old to hold the young guns back and after a few lowsides it was time to release the hounds. Controlled Chaos is the best description I can think of.

Back at the Corral it was time to relive the days events over a cold Newcastle and an Early Times cocktail. Darkness soon set in and did not allow us to explore the Delonegha Hot Springs although we did locate them just 300 feet from the highway, next time we soak.

Pooher

Keyesville Snow Ride - 02/20/11

Pretty good, but it's no "Colon Calls the Shots"

TC 41

Photo by Frank Hoppen

Potter & Pooher Ride Report

As told by Dave "Bottle Rocket" Potter - "Hey Poooher & I were at each other's throats on Sat. He must of fell 4+ times hard in the fire road snow grooves at speed. Think I've replaced the CowBoy in some strange way. We were approx 1/4 mile from the top of Breckenridge, then the ktm blew its coolant on the motor in anger.

We relocated to the corral and ripped the keyesville side with the GayTM's horn blaring at Poooher's rear fender. He contends that he doesn't like the horn feature in addition to the lean popcorn backfire of the orange pig, but I think he really does. The day finished off with early times in hand into the late night. "