sognaaradventures - Tumblr blog

sognaaradventures · 4 years ago

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Well my friend and I decided after our failed BDR debacle it was time we redeem ourselves. We set out from Riverside popped on to Hwy 38 after slabbin it on the freeway for a bit...Im buzzin along on my wee lil 450 well my buddy is cruising along on his 701 We make our way up hwy 38 for a bit and then turn off the slab to make our way through the unknown conditions of the jeep trail.. We start meandering our way up the trail through deep puddles and wet trail conditions.

We come across a group of offroaders in their brand new RAM trucks powered by the Almighty cummins engine. I have the same truck but I wouldn't be drivin it like they did offroad unless it was a dedicated expo rig. Their efforts were stopped when they reached a boulder almost in the middle of the trail so let us pass. We pass them and pull over to see if we all as a group can move the boulder over. Boulder 1 Guys 0... who knew boulders were so heavy but it worked out they were able to squeeze through

We make our way up the trail and all is well until we hit the snow..... But who are we to let some snow stop us... I mean we are adventure riders after all aren't we?

My bike doesn't have a nice easy throttle you can feather, its either nothing or a whole lot of something The snow starts to get more and more deep and Im constantly spinning my way through it sliding all over the place trying to crab walk the bike through 20 miles of this stuff I keep spinning out and getting stuck my buddy and I are constantly trying to get the bike out of the hole I keep digging myself.

When you've dropped your bike 1 too many times throughout the day just take a seat and enjoy the views

Just shortly after we got the bike up and got going again I loose traction and drop the bike it was starting to get a bit ridiculous

Well at least the bikes look cool in the snow you can see my friend in the background lowering his tire psi as did I. It did help with traction but it still was very icy.

After 8 hours of riding in the snow falling down and having the bike land on me several times. I got the point where I needed a break and couldn't ride in the snow anymore. After all the times the bike had fallen the last time was the kicker. I was beat , the battery was dead (from the trailtech fan running when the bike was off) and the carb was flooded. I couldnt continue to kick start the bike so we were towing it with the other bike well I walked next to it. After a minutes of this trudging through the snow two trucks pull up behind us.... Alas a miracle... the guy asked if we needed help and offered to throw the bike in the back of his truck. I immediately starting removing all the bags off the bike. I didnt want him to grow impatient and leave us lol. with 5 people made easy work of loading the bike up in the truck. I hoped inside and was immediately relieved I didn't have to fall another time on the icy trail... who knew Ice hurts so much ..... It was also getting dark and much colder. We make our way down the trail descending towards Angelus Oaks we come around a sharp bend and meet 2 tacomas working their way up. My new friend tries to move over but the snow is too deep off to the side and on the other side is a cliff so thats not gonna work out too well for us Since the tacomas were better equipped then us they back down the hill a little bit to a turn out and we proceed to pass them.

We talked to them for a few mins it was the same guys I saw earlier in the day. They thought we were brave for riding bikes in the snow. That was a nice way of putting it lol...jk I wouldn't have anything less then adventure on my rides. We keep working our way down to Angelus Oaks finally made it to some pavement. Alas what do I see............its a general store I hadn't had the chance to eat all day and hadn't had enough water. I pop in there and buy $20 worth of snacks and start refueling myself. The guys unload the bike while I try to warm up a bit inside the truck. I had been sitting all day in freezing temps... Not a good combination.. The guy who had the truck that the bike was loaded in got the bike fired up immediately and did a little rip in the parking lot. He grew up riding and hadn't been a few years. So rippin around in the parking put a big grin on his face. He joked that was his payment for hauling the bike downt he mountain... We talked for a few minutes and thanked him many times as I would not have not been able to get down that mountain if it wasn't for him. I offered to buy him dinner but he refused saying he was just happy to help plus they had plans to go to the casino and do the buffet. How can I argue with that... It was great meeting Tom and his wife they were very nice people. We exchanged contact info so we could ride in the future.

We parted ways heading down hwy 38 towards Yucaipa to hit interstate 10... Oh great this again on my lil 450 lol... We cruise for a bit its been a long day Im sore and my muscles are cramping. We ride for a a bit and pull off into a starbucks to get something warm and unwind for a few minutes.... Don had been helping me all day get my bike through the snow so the least I could do was buy him a coffee.... We look at our GPS and we still have a 1.5 hour ahead of us to get to our hotel in 29 palms... It has been a long day

We depart the warmth of starbucks and head east on I10 its coooold and its windy but wait once we pop on Hwy 62 to head to 29 palms it gets colder and windier lol Its about 10 pm and we finally pull into the hotel... It seems like the last 10 miles took hours to ride. A hot meal and a warm bed sound so nice but when you ride its not that quick to go to bed. We had to pull our saddle and tank bags off....finally all our gear is inside and I can kick my boots off and eat some pizza. Don and I remissness about our adventures we went through to get here.

I slept very well and woke up the next day semi refreshed but very sore lol.... We head out to Joshua Tree to a little breakfast place I have been to several times... Crossroads Cafe....they have really high quality food with big portions. I ordered "Mike's Mess" a scrambled egg dish with bacon potatoes topped with Cheddar cheese and sour cream... That was a great way to start the day

I pulled up my Caltopo map for the National Parks and it showed a dirt trail that goes through the park and hits I10... After charging up our electronics, body and soul we head out to Joshua Tree NP... Once we get there park ranger had some sad news for us..... The dirt road is closed due to all the rain..... So we just rode through the main road on the Park. We enjoyed the sights and make our way towards interstate 10... Once we hit the 10 I told down Don there is a road we can take that heads towards Mecca but looks like there is a dirt trail off of that road. So we start making our way to the trail head... shortly after we start Don honks his horn at me so I pull over and pulls up next to me. I wondered what happen and he says that he lost the bolt that holds his clutch perch in.... luckily he carries some spare bolts while he getting his tools and bolts out.... Don says watch your 6 and so I subtly turn around and a man appeared out of nowhere. This guy is just standing there with his arms crossed maybe 100-200 ft away from us.... The guy stands in 1 spot for several minutes and my hair is raising up on my arms I dont really like this situation... the guy starts working his way towards us slowly very slowly in a roundabout way.... finally hes very close to his and says we were like ninjas and just rolled up on him... I had a weird feeling about this guy we got geared up and go the hell outta there lol... The sad news was the road to Mecca was closed most likely it got washed out with all the rain they have been having..

Since we hadn't had an opportunity to hit any dirt today we planned to go ride on the bradshaw trail. ... We get going again on I10 and the winds are just relentless blowing up to 65+ mph and I am getting blown all over the place and have to heavily compensate with my riding posture to stay in a straight line.. We pull off the freeway to hop in the 111 to get down to the sultan see where the bradshaw trail starts...... We pull up to the light and I hear squeaking, the light turns green and I try to get going and the bike stalls.... thats weird.... we pull up to another light I hear squeaking again... I yell to Don I think my brake is locked up.... we pull off the road and guess what...my brake is locked up... we cant seem to get a break.... So its time to do some Macgyvering we try to free up the brake but no such luck... So we end up removing the brake pad and tie up the caliper against the swingarm so it doesn't hit the disc Its getting late and Don and I have responsibilities to attend to so we hit the freeway again.... The wind had gotten even worse. I rode for maybe 30 miles but I was getting blown around more and more and it was starting rain ice cold rain. So I deiced to pullover at a rest stop and that I would get the bike towed and ride with the driver because at the end of the day its not worth dying over to ride home in bad conditions. I had a great time and wanted to thank Don for helping me with getting the bike back vertical all day playing in the snow. I cant wait for the next trip. Also they are not on here but I wanted to thank Tom and the other strangers for helping us and loading the bike in his truck there was no way i could have made it off the mountain that night without them.

#ktm #dualsport #dual sport #husqvarna #nature #dirtbikes #photography #joshuatree #bigbear #advrider

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