I rode up to Big Bear Friday evening with a buddy. The big plan is to ride the western half of the Transamerican Trail in the summer of 2011. So the 610 and the new Giantloopmoto tail and tank bags needed some testing. My buddy rode his "new" leftover Xchallange. Saturday started out beautiful. Mid 50's and a slight breeze. We headed towards Holcomb Valley on 3N16. Instead of being smart and riding into Green Valley Lake we headed down into Deep Creek. About halfway down my buddy dropped his bike when the front end (stock front tire) washed out. I got off my bike to help, and put the kickstand down. It didn't feel right so I put a handy piece of wood under the foot. Of course as soon as I got ten feet from the bike it fell over. Rats! I picked it up and noticed the the kick stand had broken at the weld. Rats again!. I parked it in a large rut (lots available), and helped pick up my buddies bike. He had tipped it down hill onto a rock. He broke his windscreen, and banged up his hand.
So we got everything cleaned up and kept going. After all if we're going to ride 2500 miles we can't just pack up and go home. We stopped at the Malt Shop in Cedar Glen for lunch. Good Stuff! After that we headed west towards Lake Arrowhead. Around the north side on hwy 173 and down the mountain. This hwy is cool in that the last several miles are dirt. You still have to have a plate (think California). Over to Lake Silverwood and up Cleghorn road. I hadn't been on this end of the mountain before and was suprised at how green it is. We paralleled hwy 138 to Cedarpines and the last 40 miles was paved back to Big Bear. Mexican food for dinner, and life is good. The plan for Sunday is to ride east towards Pioneer Town.
I woke up Sunday around 5:30 am. Went to the little boys room, got a drink, and what's that stuff on the roof over there? What's that stuff on the ground. Yup, snow. I went back to bed. Around 7:00 my buddy woke up in the other room and asked "is it raining"? Nope, I replied it's snowing. After the normal morning rituals we headed to breakfast. It was coming down a little harder. During breakfast the road got covered. After breakfast there was about 4 inches of white stuff on the ground. We wimped out, loaded up, and drove home. Not the normal weather for SoCal in May. Darn that means we need to do more testing! The 610 worked great. It's another keeper. The seat sucks! That's been covered before. My only complaint about the Giantloopmoto Coyote bag is that I'm to stinkin short and it's a pain to get off the bike. Later Mike
Thanks for sharing another global warming story. Seriously, it was a good read. How do you rate the 610 c/w your mates Beemer?
I miss going to big bear. The first time I went there I was not aware of the weather difference between Las Vegas and Big Bear. By 9pm I realized my grave mistake and spent the whole night shivering in a tent. We stayed at big pine campground....what a awesome place. I know they had a fire up there the following year....I hope that it didn't affect that campground. Another word to the wise for those not familiar with CA....it is not wise to just show up and think you will get a camping spot. It looks like you had a great trip and planned accordingly. Cabin camping definitely has its advantages. If you haven't made a trip to the Butler Fire Lookout, make sure you make that part of the trip next time you go.
That was such weird weather over the weekend. I had just been up there for some trail riding on the previous Wednesday and the whole day was sunny shirtsleeve weather.
GHTE, the XChallange is a seriously nice bike. It is more street biased and a bit heavier than the 610, but it rides nice. I didn't think it was possible but the seat is even worse than the 610's. Maybe the same angry guy designed them both, or maybe the Germans and Italians have no feeling in thier backsides (no offense). It has a 5 speed tranny and doesn't need any more gears. The motor is smoother than mine. The aftermarket support is phenominal (touratech). The air shock is interesting. When you come to a stop it causes the back end to rise up. You get used to it. It was on my short list before I bought the 610. The tighter and nastier the trails get the more the Husky shines. I could almost have it as my only bike, but I really like the 250 for the trails. Later Mike
I was slated to ride the 69 mile delight from Miller/Silverwood to Arrowhead then Back side of Big Bear on Sunday. Well we got to Miller and it was snowing on us. Three of us bailed out (no winter gear) and went to Stoddard for the day, one spilled his camel back all over his back and went home, and two headed up to Panicles for the other riders and some hot Coffee (not you Dean). They had a good cold ride but Good was the better part. Fun stuff when you have the right equipment.
