• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

ADV/DS ride Lake Berryessa/Knoxville OHV/Rayhouse Rd.

Unfortunately I'm still a maybe, my bike is still in pieces on the floor. If I get it together I'll head up.

Is crossroads at the abandoned gas station? If so I may try to meet there, much nicer riding up through Napa than 80 to Fairfield.

If you guys leave Fairfield at 9, is Crossroads at 9:30?
 
Working... Otherwise I'd be there. Have fun!
 
Wow that was a blast!!!! Thanks y'all...awesome riding with ya! Need lots and lots more practice! :-D
 
Got home just in time to take my kid for a bicycle ride...ugh.

Great ride, nice meetin you all.
 
Great day. Glad we were not cited for skidding. Hope to ride again with everyone. I'm learning a lot from riding with everyone.
 
Nice to meet you all!

Got one salvageable pic of some of y'all coming over the 0-ton bridge...
 

Attachments

  • kb1.jpg
    kb1.jpg
    101.2 KB · Views: 118
Tell me you have the gopro footage of the skid maneuver and review by one of CHP's finest...
:laughing
 
For those of you that did not make today's ride, I'm sorry to say you missed a good one.

There were only 5 of us, cabin cruiser, palada, sharky, NowDatsLiving and I.

The "cliff notes" portion follows:

Ride started easily enough with everyone asking "Is this all of us". Once we determined that it was, in fact, all of us we began...well enough only to run into a Bicycle event around the north side of Berryessa with somewhat clueless cyclists and, of course, totally clueless cage drivers freaking out about cyclists on "their" road.

Once we manage to shed ourselves of the push-bike guys we ran right into (almost literally, ask cabin cruiser) a CHP car parked right across the road (about 50 ft after a blind right hand corner I might add) for a "running event". Now why you'd want to have a bunch of runners on a busy county road with boat trailers and motorcyclists is beyond me and almost as baffling as why some of the runners chose to run right down the MIDDLE of the road while listening to their iPod and not hearing anything come up behind them.

Cabin cruiser gets 100 bonus points for talking nice to the CHP ("Yes officer, thank you for your advice, officer.....etc) In short he passed the attitude test with flying colors and saved the rest of us a trip to the Lake Count Courthouse, wherevethehell THAT might be. The Chippy was pissed because we were riding too fast. It was obvious, he said, because we were all locking up our brakes so as not to hit his car. The fact that it was blocking the road around the end of a blind corner did not seem to matter.....we wisely did NOT point that out to him since he seemed....uhmmmm..less than receptive at that particular moment. I think cabin cruiser is still wiping bits of chewing tobacco off his face shield.

Once rid of the bouncing humans we had a nice ride through only 3 water crossings, more puddles really, and zipped through the first off-road section without mishap. Road up to Reiff to find the gate....CLOSED - AND - LOCKED - crap!. This was starting to be one of "those" rides.

After a few minuets futzing about with the lock and trying different combinations and a few of Gandalf's spells (that didn't work any better for us than it did for him), we took a look at the lower work-around trail and decided to give it a go. Got all 5 bikes and riders around the gate and it finally became a "Really Good Ride".

Spring colors at their finest. That really nice fresh light green that the Oaks get when the leaves are young, wildflowers in huge patches, cows grazing on green hillsides. Very very nice.

Coupled with a reasonable pace and a great attitude from all involved (NowDatsLiving was riding a new [to her] DR650 that was too tall for her, was not experience in the dirt, had pretty much used up Deathwing tires but took it all in stride, kept smiling and did an amazing ride....Well Done, NDL)

At the crossroads at the top just before the decent down to Cache Creek, we decided we'd do a bit of exploring so we headed off on the south off-shoot with an attempt to go down to the old raft launching point.

Some of you may remember that I recommended this ride to the bigger bikes because it was less rocky than the east end of Reiff Rd.......WAS I WRONG. There are some serious ruts and washouts as the road descends down into the canyon. The part of the road along the ridge is awesome with great views and few rocks or ruts but once the road begins to descend down to the creek it gets pretty serious. At a rest stop about half-way down, the concensus was to cut our losses, turn around and go back up. A good choice since we were all getting a bit tired and didn't really know what lay in store further ahead. At least we now know it's not a good ride for the bigger bikes.

All in all, I think everyone had a great time and I'm happy to see the Bay Area contingent fought off the gale force winds and actually made it home without an unplanned detour downwind to San Jose. Paul, how fast can that WR go in third gear ??

I stopped at the grocery store just before getting home to pick up a few things for dinner, the clerk told me to "Have a Good Day" as I was leaving. Told her, I already had one........ thanks to everyone involved today.....
 
Last edited:
Great write up. A big :thumbsup to NDL, that was surely a challenging ride from an endurance standpoint, and there were some hairy sections indeed. For me, the largest pucker factor was the way around the gate, but it was much easier than it looked. The rest was just a matter of building te confidence with my bike on that loose terrain. All props to Cabin Cruise and Ray for leading and sweeping this noob adventure rider around some new to me awesome roads.
I know I'm not the only one that ticked off better than 275 miles today.
 
I bet NDL does pretty well on that DR650. I'll have to dig up some video of her offroading her poor little hornet at Hawthorne last year. Good times. Wish I could have made it today. I haven't had any dirt bike seat time since about October, and it's driving me crazy (especially with the Sheetiron just around the corner).
 
Lunch Box said:
I bet NDL does pretty well on that DR650. I'll have to dig up some video of her offroading her poor little hornet at Hawthorne last year. Good times. Wish I could have made it today. I haven't had any dirt bike seat time since about October, and it's driving me crazy (especially with the Sheetiron just around the corner).
Click to expand...

She kicked some a$$ with a smile the whole time.
 
Sharky said:
She kicked some a$$ with a smile the whole time.
Click to expand...

She has a lot of spirit. I have ridden with her a few times. :cool

my first time and the last time I road that ride it was my first time out there in the dirt and riding my Tiger. I was scared shit less. I was lost and alone. All I could do was look for knobby tracks in the dirt and do my best. I made it and never came close to a problem.

Still I need to build up my confidence before I do that again. :thumbup to NDL taking the step. Maybe next time if she is going I will ride.
 
Last edited:
I think the Tiger would have been quite challenging on the route we took today. My pig was certainly more than I am used to handle. Had my moments wishing I had my much lighter and more powerful dirtbike, but since I'm going to take make prehistoric BRP to SI, I better get better at doing it.
 
Lets not forget Palada. He led a bunch of the off road sections and did a great job.
 
Maintenance Reminder

Just a quick reminder for the new folks that rode yesterday.

Today (or sometime in the very near future) should be air filter and chain maintenance day.

Pull off that big piece of foamy filter, clean and re-oil. Your valves will thank you.

Wash off the gritty dust and re-lube the chain/clean the sprockets.

Then you'll be set for next time.
 
ladder106 said:
...Cabin cruiser gets 100 bonus points for talking nice to the CHP ("Yes officer, thank you for your advice, officer.....etc) In short he passed the attitude test with flying colors and saved the rest of us a trip to the Lake Count Courthouse, wherevethehell THAT might be. The Chippy was pissed because we were riding too fast. It was obvious, he said, because we were all locking up our brakes so as not to hit his car. The fact that it was blocking the road around the end of a blind corner did not seem to matter.....we wisely did NOT point that out to him since he seemed....uhmmmm..less than receptive at that particular moment. I think cabin cruiser is still wiping bits of chewing tobacco off his face shield.
Click to expand...
:rofl:rofl...seriously though, while I have tremendous respect for all LEOs, I've also come across the very poorly located cruiser in the middle of the road around a blind corner - dangerous for all oncoming vehicles, moto or car. If they must stop there, need to be putting out cones/triangles up the road before the corner as they taught us in Drivers Ed. This is true for everyone - don't stop behind a blind corner :thumbdown:wtf. Glad everyone was able to stop in time and no further problems ensued.


ladder106 said:
...Road up to Reiff to find the gate....CLOSED - AND - LOCKED - crap!. This was starting to be one of "those" rides.

After a few minuets futzing about with the lock and trying different combinations and a few of Gandalf's spells (that didn't work any better for us than it did for him), we took a look at the lower work-around trail and decided to give it a go. Got all 5 bikes and riders around the gate and it finally became a "Really Good Ride".
Click to expand...
Kudos for makiing it around the gate...yeah a little hairy, even on a DR, nice little drop off if you don't get around :p

ladder106 said:
...Coupled with a reasonable pace and a great attitude from all involved (NowDatsLiving was riding a new [to her] DR650 that was too tall for her, was not experience in the dirt, had pretty much used up Deathwing tires but took it all in stride, kept smiling and did an amazing ride....Well Done, NDL)
Click to expand...
way to go Nicki :teeth:thumbup Put some Shinko 705s on that baby and chuck the deathwings...and Suzuki has lower seat/links? for the DR...they actually ship a lower model from the factory...you should check it out.

ladder106 said:
...At the crossroads at the top just before the decent down to Cache Creek, we decided we'd do a bit of exploring so we headed off on the south off-shoot with an attempt to go down to the old raft launching point.

Some of you may remember that I recommended this ride to the bigger bikes because it was less rocky than the east end of Reiff Rd.......WAS I WRONG. There are some serious ruts and washouts as the road descends down into the canyon. The part of the road along the ridge is awesome with great views and few rocks or ruts but once the road begins to descend down to the creek it gets pretty serious. At a rest stop about half-way down, the concensus was to cut our losses, turn around and go back up. A good choice since we were all getting a bit tired and didn't really know what lay in store further ahead. At least we now know it's not a good ride for the bigger bikes.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a smart call re the turn around :thumbup...and I will take note: DO NOT take vstrom down that way :twofinger

ladder106 said:
I stopped at the grocery store just before getting home to pick up a few things for dinner, the clerk told me to "Have a Good Day" as I was leaving. Told her, I already had one........ thanks to everyone involved today.....
Click to expand...
:thumbup

ladder106 said:
Just a quick reminder for the new folks that rode yesterday.

Today (or sometime in the very near future) should be air filter and chain maintenance day.

Pull off that big piece of foamy filter, clean and re-oil. Your valves will thank you.

Wash off the gritty dust and re-lube the chain/clean the sprockets.

Then you'll be set for next time.
Click to expand...
This. Particularly the air filter. I didn't know about this when I started riding dirt last year...finally pulled it off and :wow:wtf unbelievably clogged...was amazing any air was getting through there.

Great ride report :teeth Sounds like an awesome ride you guys (& gal) :thumbup:thumbup ...sorry I missed it...I am craving me some dirt....hope to be out there next month before the Sheet Iron :thumbup


T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top