I'm in San Jose and ride from the Southern Cal Desert (yearly enduro trip) to Shasta Area (last weekend) but mostly Hollister and Clear Creek.
Don't worry about gearing, just put a VForceII on. I was thinking I'd go up in the back until I did that, last weekend was the first ride on it and the bottom is now so strong I don't need to mess with gearing. I've got stock jetting but after the reeds I think it's a bit rich on top (175 stock, going one smaller to try) on my 02 300mxc. I don't want to mess with jetting, and Im not looking for perfection, it just dies a bit on top, especially when I was at 4200 feet. At 500 feet it ran unbelievable, but I want the best jetting at 2k or so.
hope it helps....