California D/S Two day epic Lost Coast/Redwoods ride.....epic fail is what it was,

[Babyarmholdingapple]

So I have had this one penned in for two months.

Lost Coast

Redwoods

Mendocino Forest

Room, beers, storys, this should be all good!

Wrong,,,,,

Problem 1, Hull Mountain through the Mendocino forest still snowed in

on all North sides, no big a small change in course.

So I am out the door at 0540 for a great switchback road to lead me

to Ukiah so I can meet up with everyone. 50 miles of pure twist and

elevation change. Damn, I have knobs on and the road is wet and foggy

in parts. Oh well I have 450 miles to go of bad ass D/S ridding. So I make

Ukiiah, note I really need a new front tire.

So after 90 minutes of dickin around the group hauls ass over Cow MT, wet clay

and I do manage to stay with the main group. This about 60% of us. I am hanging

on the fringe taking the picture because I really do not want to be standing in the middle

of 100 joints being smoked.

So we then cross over to the Middlecreek area via another paved twist section.

Dry and Sunny and I was able to really haul ass in that section, 10 miles or so.

Some great high speed stuff in wet red clay and with bald front tire it was actually still

fun! Big slides equal big grins...for a whille. I did feel the front end going and fell way off pace.

Senor takes my tire off while I check the new tube. We only lose 15 minutes tops.

So Senor is happy with his productivity, and a side note. Off to the right you see a blown up newer Husky.

Another that has major problems but "can make it back to the truck". The other two Huskys of this Husky

foursome failed to make it this far. Maybe 75 miles in to the ride.

So once again we are off and mixing some slippery wet forest trails, and roads.

Lots of deep mud and water crossings. Out of nowhere Senor"s bike starts having

drastic rear end troubles. We bail out of the forest and into the town of Willits to see

what's up. We had been in a few harsh rock gardens that already costed me a tube

change. A broken spoke and a trashed bearing was found. Senor is the king

of maintenance and handles all of my major work. Not sure why this happened.

So I have a bearing and a hand removing it in minutes from a shop down the street.

I spent 90 minutes un sticking the race only to find the do not have both sides. This was a auto

parts store and they lent me the entire back shop and tools to help out, Class Acts!!!

Side note, not easy to ride and carry a entire rear wheel down 101, avoid if possible.

One bearing short.👍

So now were stuck, broken bike and a quick call has another friend 5 miles away in his truck.

This is a good 75 miles from home, total score!!!!! He has a ride and transportation for his bike.

So being hours back I called it a weekend.

I did manage to back track and get some more riding in, well

over 200 for the day due to fast paced wet dirt roads and

twisty paved sections.

Took a picture of a barn I have been admiring.

Then had a Pepsi sitting on my bike around the corner from my house, warm

and breezy, certainly not a total loss.:thumb:

[notTobyG]

Looks like your ride had some potential. sorry it didn't work out. Now that I'm plated keep me posted on some DS rides.

[Babyarmholdingapple]

I have done this and both Supermoto and DS and dirt front trailey rear.

So many variations and so good. DRZ is great, I am sure a Beta is better.

I have seen BMW and KLX 650 as well.

You reading this crap Bob????

[hockdog]

Looks like you live in the Riviera with that view shot, I passed by your neighborhood yesterday on my way to Soda Bay. Bummer about the DS ride going to crap, but that's what good campfire stories are all about!

Has the creek on the Lakeport side of Cow dried up?

[Babyarmholdingapple]

I own a house in HVL and rent one in the Riviera, the creek is no real issue.

Less then a foot I would say at the entrance.

[brennan300]

It looks like that was going to be a really good lost coast ride like your last one you guys did. That sucks you had the rear wheel bearings go out. It's

a lot cheaper than a blown up husky to fix.

[senor]

Seems i was not the only one with bearing probs. My friends ktm lost rear bearing as well. He had to be trailered to garberville. Someone had extras and they were able to fix his that night. Only to have the new set go away the next day. Sat eat alot of us, as this was really a RACE to garberville. Everyone seemed to be going for broke. Several incidents as one ktm blew the motor, several new huskys gave up the ghost and one ktm broke the first mile down the road from ukiah. We had almost 50 riders. I have never condoned racing the fireroads ever,but we definetly made a few exceptions this time. Wish we could have completed our ride but some things are out of your control. A big Thanks to OSSI for dealing with my wheel as i was in no position to handle the task. BFB, you were the first person i tried calling for help but you were playing music.Sorry we couldn't hookup. Big thanks to my friend Burke for the ride in the truck. Next Year

[barefootbob]

I was home for the most part just taking it easy preparing for my evening. At about 3 or four I was setting up equipment, when I was done I saw black smoke rolling out in the valley, anyone know what caught on fire? Anyways what time did you call? shoulda left a message because out of the whole day I was out of my place for maybe 2 hrs other wise I was home relaxing until 8:30pm. Next time you guy's roll through Willits let me know, I live right in town, I'll show you where the secrete key is because you know your always welcome at my place.

Ya those Husky's, I think Husky needs to go back to the drawing board. The reason I got rid of my TE450 was the gear ratio in the transmission is just to close. The happy medium in the final drive, I could only get 63mph with out the motor sounding like it's going to come apart and on tight single track I needed to do a lot of clutching but it was manageable.

Still sounds like you guy's had a adventure, as locals we can do this anytime and still add better trails along the way.

[RB_Saint]

This was a auto

parts store and they lent me the entire back shop and tools to help out, Class Acts!!!

Maybe a Christmas card for these guys? Nice report, I'm dissappointed, and I was just sitting at work being jealous, lol.