Riding Around L.A.

Don't Fence Me In

November 23, 2008: Foot pegs matter when you're spending a lot of time standing on them, like you do when off the paved road. I had bought a pair from Amotostuff in Nevada which turned out great, except putting them on (nothing is easy to put on a bike I've found out). Getting the old ones off was easy, it was the springs that made the new pegs just about impossible to install. I did what anyone else would have done in my position, I gave up. Or more specifically I installed them without the springs, which worked just fine. With those on and the sun already high in the sky I took off for Rowher Flat, an offroad park operated by the great Forest Service (you are the greatest!), just off Sierra Highway close to Aqua Dulce. There great disappointment awaited me. It was closed due to the fires. It seems like every trail and service road in Southern California has been closed, fenced off, and padlock shut. I didn't have Hungry Valley in my GPS (future ride alert!), which should take care of my need to ride on dirt, but for now I settled on riding the canyons north of Santa Clarita and perhaps finding some gravel roads to try out.

I rode down a couple of miles to Vasques Canyon and then over to Bouquet Canyon. At the t-intersection I spottet a gravel road and went for it. It was rather short and ended in what appeared to be slated for new home construction. Not sure how that will work out with the current housing market, but I got a few pictures lookout out over the mountains and canyons. Back onto Bouquet, which is a great ride on a bike with narrow twists, overhanging vegetation, and a smooth slab of the black stuff under your tires, I headed towards Lake Hughes. Like Ojai, these small towns are so different than the multi-million city I call home. Even riding through them you get a completely different feeling and sense of life there.

Trudging on I took Lake Hughes Road towards Castaic, which rewarded me with the best part of the ride. Climbing over the mountains it was a really fun and enjoyable stretch of roadway with some very nice views, which I snapped some pictures off. Then Lake Castaic greeted me, the speed limit dropped, and the great 5 freeway appeared to carry me back home.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/DontFenceMeIn112308/

Rancho Palos Verdes

October 26, 2008: At the very south-western tip of Los Angeles is Palos Verdes, a somewhat rocky area with steep cliffs down to the Pacific Ocean just a stone's throw away from Los Angeles and Long Beach harbors. I've driven through there before, but that was a long time before the start of my biking career. I jumped on the 110 freeway and made my way through San Pedro with its cruise ship terminals and hilly streets reminiscent of San Francisco. I stopped by Angels Gate Park with its Korean bell, a gift for the U.S. effort during the "forgotten" war, and 270-degree view of the ocean, but found it a bit too crowded for my taste. I went through some residential streets and found a nice view of Terminal Island where all the Chinese imports go through.

I headed straight east on Paseo del Mar, then up to 25th street, and further east on Palos Verdes Drive, which curves through what is almost a peninsula all the way around to Redondo Beach. Through all of this I continued to have a great view of blue water shrouded in thin fog with Asia far beyond the horizon. The main distraction from all of this was the never-ending tracts of multi-million dollar houses, some of which newly built waiting for someone to move in. With the current housing market that may take a while.

Almost at the very western point I took one of the smaller streets, Calle Entradero, down towards the cliffs and found a parking spot to snap some more pictures. Just like in Santa Monica I'm amazed the sandy cliffs don't collapse, especially with houses and roads built so close to the edge.

After getting a bit lost in Redondo Beach, as I always do, I found the freeway and headed back home. Although a short ride, with freeway riding it came out just over 100 miles, this is a neat little excursion definitely worth spending a few hours on, perhaps not so much if you have to deal with heavy freeway traffic, but most Sundays this is an easy spot to get to from anywhere in L.A.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/RanchoPalosVerdes102608/

Mount Baldy

August 24, 2008: As I had other commitments, today only allowed for a short ride, so I headed out to Azusa and took highway 31 San Gabriel Canyon Road north into the mountains. There are two lakes up there right next to each other, Morris Reservoir and San Gabriel Reservoir. The former was a naval weapons test facility between World War II and sometime in the 1990s. Access to the lake is currently closed off but is scheduled for reopening and restoration to its natural state sometime in the future. The very steep hills surrounding the lakes made for a nice ride and great views, especially with little traffic. Further north I found the road lines with cars and RVs. For some reason this is a popular getaway area to spend a Sunday afternoon with a picnic and for some even overnight camping. It looked a bit crowed to me and there was no escape from the heat, still in the 90s so not my cup of tea. A few miles north of the lakes I found Highway 39 closed off, providing no access to Highway 2. It looks to me like this is one of many roads in Angeles Forest that will stay closed for the forseeable future, which is a shame and limits the fun you can have.

Using East Fork Road I climbed up to the 3000 foot level and connected to Glendora Ridge Road towards Mount Baldy. A popular biker road, just like Angels Crest Highway, it stays narrow and twisty for a good 12 miles until reaching Mount Baldy Village, a rather alpine-looking picturesque small town high up in the mountains. Continuing north I finally made it to the bottom of the downhill ski area, some 6000 feet above sea level. Stopping for a well deserved break and pictures I enjoyed the view of Spruce Canyon, carving a twisted path down the mountain towards the San Gabriel valley and the rest of Los Angeles.

This view continued on the way down Mt. Baldy Road only disturbed by annoying car drivers insisting on holding up traffic. I eventually found the 210 onramp and headed back. This was a nice little 100-mile ride that I may do again, perhaps with company.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/MtBaldy082408/

Carrizo Plain

August 10, 2008: Apparently central Californians don't use gas. For over a hundred miles I didn't see a single gas station while riding around in Kern and San Luis Obispo counties north of L.A. More on that in just a little bit. I had a (again) lazy Saturday morning and didn't start riding until almost noon. Heading straight north I stayed on the 5 freeway until Frazier Park, at the very northern tip of Los Angeles county and last outpost until officially reaching Central California. Knowing I'd be outside of civilization for a while I topped off the gas tank and had a small lunch at Jack in the Box. It's funny how people just start talking to you while on a bike. As I got off the bike some guy started talking to me about him getting a V-Strom, the same as mine.

I headed straight east on Cuddy Valley Road, wanting to take the scenic route to Carrizo Plain National Monument, the goal for today. Unfortunately I missed a turn and went straight, unbeknownst to me, onto Mount Pinos Road, which dead ends on top of, you guessed it, Mount Pinos. If you ever want a nice pine Christmas tree the cheap and not quite legit way, this is the place to get it. Then to add insult to injury I discovered the battery in my camera was dead, so no pictures this time.

I backtracked down to Lockwood Valley Road and connected to highway 33 going north, which parallels a dry river bed leading up to the southern tip of Carrizo Plain allowing for some relaxed riding with great scenery of cliffs and steep shorelines rising up from the sandy river bottom eventually opening up to expanses of farm land.

I found Soda Lake Road and headed straight into the largest single native grassland left in California, the 250,000-acre Carrizo Plain. After a mile or so of riding, paved road yielded to compacted dirt and gravel. I got off my bike and adjusted tire pressure down from about 40 to 22 psi. This really made a noticeable difference when riding the ruts and sandy surfaces for the next 25 miles. I found myself cruising at about 45 mph while standing on my pegs, keeping a close eye on the surface conditions and practicing my off-road skills. Reading up on how to ride off the paved road is easy; committing it to your muscle memory is something different, which I experienced earlier when I fell flat on my face.

At the end of my Carrizo Plain ride I came across Soda Lake, an alkali, dry lake (most of the year anyhow) painted bright white by the salt crust. I took out my $13 foot pump and got my tire pressure up to highway standards and got on the 58 leading me across the mountains, into the Kern County oil fields, into Central Valley, and towards the freeway to go home. At this point I hadn't seen a gas station since Frazier Park, which is understandable since just about no one lives around here. Continuing east through small towns such as McKittrick I couldn't help noticing absolutely no fuel stations, at least not the ones who had functional pumps and without badly faded "closed" signs. Maybe people there have figured out a way to become oil independent, I don't know. It wasn't until I hit the humid acres of fruits and vegetables of America's most productive agricultural area, the Central Valley, and the 5 freeway I finally got to fill up. I should note that the freeway is what connects gasoline-dependent Northern and Southern California. Perhaps there's a cover-up or conspiracy somehow, you never know about those rural dwellers. A quick 120 miles on the freeway took me back home just in time for dusk and some needed chain lube before the last of the daylight disappeared. A grand total of 384 miles make this for one of my longest day trips, about the distance from L.A. to San Francisco.

New Farkles

August 3, 2008: After my tumble last ride I ordered new engine guards from Amotostuff.com. For added protection I also bought a solid skid plate to protect the engine, exhaust, and oil cooler from rocks and what not. Like usual an hour's worth of work turned into five or so. Taking off the old bars went well and it was a bit weird to see the bike "naked." A small scratch was discovered on the right fairing but that's what you get when you use the bike for what is was designed for, right?

The new guards went on without too much trouble, though I needed some help loosening some of the bolts that were on so solid it broke the Allen wrench I used. The big problem was the skid plate, more specifically the two bolts connecting the side stand to the bike which needed to come off to attach an important part. As if spending an hour removing them was not bad enough, getting them back on was the big problem. Normally hex bolts are easy to deal with; however, there was almost no place to get any wrench in there to make them turn. After much gnashing of teeth I finally managed to get a socket with a flex joint in there to get one bolt done. Then taking the bike off the center stand and having two friendly guys lean the bike a bit (thanks Steve and Hunter!) I managed to move a regular 19mm wrench just enough to very slowly turn the bolt. All of this was critical to getting the rear of the skid plate connected, not to mention putting the ride stand back on the bike.

As you can see from the pictures, apart from certain others a bit too preoccupied with cleaning their bike, we started out during the mid-day sun only to finally get done as dusk. On a side note I discovered I need new tires. Once I figure out what I want there'll likely be a similar posting on changing tires.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/Farkles080308/

Solvang with Friends

July 19, 2008: Wow, what a day. I've known about the Ventura County Adventure Ride Series before, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to ride with them. This was one of their "intro" rides, suitable for beginners to offroad riding like me. That didn't stop me from plowing my head into the ground, but more on that later.

I got up at 5:45 AM and rode to Newbury Park in Ventura where I met up with Laine, Rachel, Neil, Sohn, and Gary. Laine is the one organizing these rides, usually sponsored by BMW of Ventura, purveyors of fine bikes such as the R1200GS (currently a bit out of my price range). After some coffee and doughnuts we headed out for Pete's Coffee in Santa Barbara, where we picked up Paul. After some more caffeine we rode out. On the way out of the parking lot a police cruiser pulls up to us and the cop says "You can't ride those here!" I must admit I was worried there for a second but shortly thereafter he copped (pun alert!) and admitted he was only jealous he couldn't ride too. He wished us a safe ride and we headed north up Gibraltar Road into the mountains. The first pictures are from that area and shows the fire crew still working on the cleanup after the Gap Fire. Unfortunately we had to turn around to avoid interfering with their work and instead went down to the 101, rode north, and then used Refugio to cut across up to Santa Ynes. After starting off as a nice paved backroad, Refugio disintegrated into an unmaintained dirt trail. I did my very best, but a spot of silk sand, the type of powdery sand that feels like cool water in your hand, got me. Going downhill I was gently applying my front break to avoid going too fast. Well, I learned the hard way that you can't do any of that sort when encountering silk sand. My front wheel locked up and my bike fell onto its right side with me tumbling afterwards. I wasn't hurt and I knew this type of incident was something I just had to expect being a newbie on dirt. Rachel helped me pick up my bike (it does weigh in at over 450 pounds) and I continued on, a bit more experienced on unpaved road (if you can call what I rode on that!).

We finally ended up on the Solvang side of the mountains and after a short ride on paved road we ended up at the main destination for the trip, the motorcycle museum. There Rachel made the rather observant comment of "No wonder people think motorcycles are dangerous, there were!" The gears and leavers of old bikes are nothing like the ones today. Looking at the Brough Superior that killed T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Laurence of Arabia), you can't help but think no wonder he got killed, he couldn't find the brakes on that thing. It's hard to see all of this from the pictures but look closely. The rest of the day was spent rummaging around farm land, vineyards, and mountainous gravel roads around Solvang and Santa Ynes. Eventually we ended up at the Cold Spring Tavern, off highway 154 on Stagecoach Road, just over a mile from Lake Cachuma. By then it was already 5 o'clock and after a short break I headed home.

On a post scriptum I should add that after I went to bed, albeit a bit late, I didn't get up until twelve and a half hours later. Apparently riding dirt trails is strenuous exercise, something my body hasn't done in quite a while. Still, I had a fabulous time, especially meeting a bunch of great people who all share the same passion. I'll be sure to ride with them again in the future.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/VCARS071908/

Bear Divide Engine no. 19 & Magic Mountain

July 6, 2008: Having ridden around Angeles Forest National Park before on the maintained road, I decided to try out the back roads a little bit, those stretches of poorly maintained and bumpy carvings in the dirt that are barely suitable for vehicular transport. Honestly, I didn't get to do that much, but I did get a taste of what's there, and that was perhaps my true goal for today's ride.

First, finding the entrances to these roads isn't that easy, as I discovered. I originally planned on getting onto Kagel Truck Trail by taking Lopez Canyon up to Glen Haven Memorial Park. For the life of me I just couldn't find the dirt road that would take me there. Afterwards, using Google Maps, it turns out I was almost there, so this is perhaps a repeat ride in the near future. After taking trusty old Osbourne exit from the 210 and using Little Tujunga Canyon Road I got to Santa Clara Truck Trail, which I rode uphill all the way to the top of an unnamed peak with great view of San Fernando and Antelope Valleys. This is one of the roads that are only open during daytime hours and promptly close at 6 PM. Almost at the top it turned out to be the home of a fire station, specifically Bear Divide Engine no. 19. I have to say, seeing the fire station high up in the mountains with a helicopter and all was rather cool, thus the multitude of pictures.

After heading down I continued on Santa Clarita Divide Road, which is one of those rather unmaintained roads, very overgrown and barely suitable for a truck, i.e., a great bike road. I originally planned on taking this route deep into the park, but instead ended up at a peak apparently named Magic Mountain by following the more paved choice when encountering a fork in the road (note to self: next time take the road less traveled).

About two weeks ago I bought the "Dual Sport Riding Techniques" DVD from the good people of DualSportRiding.com. I can't recommend this resource enough. In the brief span of thirty-some minutes they go over all the know-how you need to ride in the dirt and on bumpy roads (and whatever passes as such). This came in tremendously handy while on the trails today and truly made a huge difference. I am by no means an off-roader (at least not yet) and have until today only done a couple of miles on dirt track but this DVD gave me a big boost in my skills in handling my 450-pound bike on rather unfriendly surface.

All in all, a short ride, and a small taste of what's to come in the future. I have a feeling I'll venture out here again rather soon.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/BearDivideEngine19MagicMountain070608/

Joshua Tree National Park

June 22, 2008: What do you do when you're at the tail end of a heat wave? Go to the desert of course! That was exactly what I did on Sunday, specifically Joshua Tree National Park about 100 miles due east. Joshua Tree has been on my todo list for quite some time but I never got around to it. It's also not a short drive with several hours spent gunning it on the freeway just to get there.

Whenever I plan on getting an early start I have a nasty habit of getting delayed but I managed to get on my bike by 10 AM which really isn't that bad. This was also the first real test of the new helmet speakers for my GPS. I came across someone who sells these little $16 speakers an inch and a half across that are designed to go inside your helmet, one on each side, and connect to whatever audio source you have with you. On my previous trips I've used ear buds to listen to instructions from my GPS, the only way to use these marvelous devices on a bike. Well, the ear buds only made my ears hurt so this seemed like a great idea, which I still think. However, I experienced two problems: one, a confused GPS who got me lost and, two, severe wind noise due to an inadequate wind screen. So, I've resolved to get to know my GPS a bit better and to download good maps and test navigation before heading out. That and getting a better wind screen.

Getting to Joshua Tree was fairly easy, GPS or not. After an hour and a half riding the freeway I got to highway 62. It was there I spend almost an hour getting lost, backtracking, cursing, snapping a picture of a weird palm tree, and finally getting to Joshua Tree (the city) for lunch. Though you would have thought I'd realized this sooner as I've been on longer trips before, it became painfully clear the buffeting of my helmet from the wind, not to mention the noise, needs to be resolved. I haven't picked out what replacement windscreen I will buy but I definitely plan on doing so soon.

Fueled up on gas and food I stopped by the western entrance to the park and spoke to a very helpful and friendly park ranger, who promptly took $5 from me and gave me an entrance ticket. He tried talking me into an $80 season pass but it quickly became obvious the math just didn't work out. Initially I had planned to go straight through the park and connect to the 10 freeway at the south end of the park. Strong hints of "120-degree down there" and "nothing really to see in that area" changed my plans to only the northern, more scenic part where I would exit using the eastern entrance.

The part I rode through contained these incredible big rocks and boulders. If you've ever seen the movie Galaxy Quest you know exactly what I'm talking about (think about the alien mine and rock monster). The pictures I took simply do not do justice to the amazing landscape. On that note I do want to mention this was the first trip with my new toy, a pre-owned Nikon D70 DSLR camera, which I'm very happy with. I kept on until Keys View at 5,185 feet which greeted me with an awesome view of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, San Jacinto Mountains, and Coachella Valley in between. Regretfully this is where the smog from Los Angeles blows to most of the time; I could only picture (pun intended) the view on those few clear days. Perhaps a revisit during the winter months is in order.

Exiting the park took me to Twentynine Palms, which seemed like a furnace. You'd think that the wind will always keep you cool on a bike, but there's a certain temperature when the wind only makes it worse. It was definitely above that threshold. Heading west I returned to Joshua Tree (again, the city) and the temperature felt significantly lower. Looking at one of those electric signs I saw it was 98 degrees. Never thought that would ever feel cool.

Riding alone it's always difficult to get pictures of yourself, unless you have a friendly tourist like at Keys View to help you. If there's one picture I wish I had it was on highway 62 near the 10 freeway. Side wind was so bad I was leaning over quite a bit while still going straight. Luckily the wind was rather constant, unlike the Vegas trip last year when it was hard to stay in one lane and on the road.

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful, aside from somewhat crowded roads closer to L.A. Total miles turned out to be 343, one of my longer trips.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/JoshuaTree062208/

Lynx Gulch Road and Mulholland Highway

May 17, 2008: Last couple of rides I've gone alone. I think I'll try to contact Rob again as I'm leaning more and more towards a bit of offroading. That was exactly my goal on Saturday, to go a bit off the paved track. I knew it was going to be hot, pushing 100 degrees, so I suited up in my summer gear with newly bought "underarmor" underwear, specifically designed to keep you dry. That part worked rather well.

My initial plan was to go all the way up to Newcomb ranch in the middle of Angeles Forest and have lunch there. However, on the way up I saw that the dirt road I was planning on taking down to Azusa was still closed. I really didn't do much planning beforehand, so this was mostly a ride wherever I feel like day. I ended up taking Upper Big Tujunga Road down towards the 14. I haven't been on all the roads in Angeles so it seemed like a good idea. Looking out for dirt roads, I came across Lynx Gulch Road later on, which was clearly marked as a hiking/biking/motorcycling road by the friendly Forest Service (34°18.652'N 118°5.040'W). I went up Lynx Gulch what seemed to me a couple of miles, but really was no more than 1.2 miles according to Google Maps. Although it looked not too bad to start off with, it quickly became clear that it was a bit too offroad to me. Oh well, I got to do a little bit, ran across a couple of streams, and most importantly of all, I got my bike dirty (yeah!). The next day I searched a bit on advrider.com and found that, yes, Lynx Gulch Road is a bit technical and not really for beginners. The postings pointed to other easier roads, including several at Frazier Park, that I will try later.

I tried taking Soledad Canyon going back, which turned out to be a great ride with beautiful scenery; I snapped a few nice pictures of big boulders perched at the top of some mountains. Then Soledad Canyon unfortunately enters the suburbian jungle of Santa Clarita and I jumped on the freeway heading south. It was around lunch time and although I didn't feel hungry, I knew I needed something to eat. What better place than the Rock Store on Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica mountains? The Rock Store doesn't sell rocks, just slightly overpriced, average burgers to go along with lots of motorcycles parked out front (34°6.580'N 118°47.302'W). I used Topanga Canyon all the way from the 118. Nothing like sitting in traffic and experience San Fernando Valley heat amplified by all the concrete and asphalt around you, not to mention the even hotter air blasted from the air conditioned cars around you. I got on Mulholland Highway and did my lunch. Not having taken the rest of the road to the Pacific, I simply continued on and was rewarded with what was definitely the experience of the day. It's without a doubt the best bike road in the L.A. area that I've ridden on so far. The Santa Monica mountains make for a great backdrop and the roads are great, with that perfect blend of fun, sharp curves (I managed to drag one of my pegs during a particularly sharp turn), and relaxing slopes. As all good things must come to an end, it emptied out on PCH just north of Malibu. Immediately the temperature dropped 25 degrees and I thoroughly enjoyed the, what seemed to me, cool breeze.

Then the usual happened, horrible traffic. Apparently everyone goes to the beach on scorcher days. When will I ever learn?

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/LynxGulchMulhollandHwy051708/

Los Padres

May 11, 2008: What has supposed to be a half-day ride took a few hours more than I anticipated, but that is what you get when you explore new areas. Today I headed out towards Los Padres National Forest. My starting point was Moorpark in Simi Valley, an area I've been through before, but this time I used different route heading straight north using Grimes Canyon Road (hwy 23). This is a rather short stretch but it has some interesting twisties at the very crest of the mountain. Regretfully I failed to take pictures, heading instead through Santa Paula and up towards Ojai on hwy 150, my real starting point.

I rather like Ojai. It's a small, friendly town away from the big city. And more importantly, there are lots of nice, uncrowded, two-lane roads nearby. After pizza for lunch I headed out on the Jacinto Reyes Scenic Byway (hwy 33) into the southern tip of Los Padres National Park, the real aim for today.s trip. Riding was quite nice and relaxed and I knew it would take a few hours to get through to Frazier Park. This was exactly what I needed, just hours of motoring without a big freeway suddenly showing up all too early to take me home to my busy life. A colleague of mine claims it was either buying a motorcycle or start taking blood pressure medication. I believe him.

The first pictures were taken next to Pine Mountain (access road unfortunately closed) at 5000 feet looking north towards Carrizo Plain National Monument. Heading towards Lockwood Valley Road I noticed big swaths of charred forest. As far as I can tell this burned about six months ago, but California burns every year so it can be difficult to get accurate information on previous fires. If you look closely at the pictures you can easily see the damage done, something you rarely see on the evening news. Flames are easier to capture on camera I guess.

Heading up towards Frazier Park and the 5 freeway the road got curvier again and I snapped some nice pictures. It wasn't all like that but it certainly made for an enjoyable ride. Eventually the road ended and the crowded Golden State freeway swept me south and home for a late dinner.

More pictures at http://www.counter-attack.com/pix/LosPadres051108/