I just got back from a 4 day dirt biking/jet ski trip. 3 friends and I managed to stuff 3 bikes and gear in the back of my truck and then hooked up a trailer to haul 2 skis. We rode for a day in Carnegie in Livermore. That was ok, one of the bikes broke down and we were frantically trying to get it running when a ranger came by and threatened to fine us $500 for "failure to vacate."
We booked it out of Carnegie in a very bad mood and headed to Hollister Hills where we camped the night and rode the next day. We got the broken down bike to run again, I took my friend on my favorite single track trail. He was having a miserable time, the trail ended up being covered in poison oak, he dinged his new pipe, and then the bike quit running again. We had to drag the bike up the rest of the trail. He was so frustrated he threw the bike on the ground and started yelling about parting it out. The fuel valve was off by now, but I noticed very little gas spilled out of the carb. It turns out the float bowl wasn't filling (float stuck) and that is why the bike kept breaking down. I told him to turn the fuel on and tip the bike on the side until fuel started to pour out. Once the fuel started coming out, the bike started right up and ran great for the rest of the trip. The weather in Hollister was perfect, the trails great. We had forgotten about the dick ranger from Carngie and were finally having a good time. Then, the rear shock blew out on my other friends bike. The rear wheel would not stay on the ground, but he was a trooper and kept riding. That night we packed up and headed for Pismo Beach.
This was my first trip to the dunes. We arrived around midnight and just slept on the beach. I felt a little funny being surrounded by camps with a 1/4 of a million dollars worth of toy hauler and toy while we had only a beat up pick-up truck and not even a tent to sleep in. We went to town the next morning and bought a paddle tire for my bike and whips for everybody. After some tire changing frustrations, we finally got our bikes together and went riding. Riding in the sand is completely backwards from the usual dust on hardpack I usually ride. I quickly figured out to keep your weight far to the rear and the harder you're on the throttle, the better the bike turns. I really love the wet sand. It was low tide on the beach so there was plenty of room to play. I figured out how to drift on the wet sand pretty quickly and soon I was almost dragging the foot pegs on the ground while taking turns in 4th gear. It was about time for me to have my first part failure. I got a little carried away on one of my slides and started a low side crash. I over-corrected and went into a high side. I managed to save myself from a high side, but all of the jerking around cause the whip to suck into the tire and the shaft exploded. It broke in 5 places and was not salvageable. I did some jumping in the dunes, the 20 year old suspension seem to have no problems soaking up some big landings on flat ground, I was impressed. I started the next day with some jet skiing in the surf, not a good place for a first time on a stand-up ski. I was pretty worn out after just a couple of minutes. We continued to ride for most of the rest of the day. My friend and I were cruising in the dunes until I decided to turn behind him. My bike started handling kind of funny all of the sudden and wouldn't make the turn. I was in 3rd gear when I t-boned him and we both went flying. Nobody got hurt and no bikes were damaged so we all got a pretty good laugh out of that one. It turns out I had lost my axle nut and the wheel was moving around in the swingarm quite a bit. This ended my day and the trip.
We booked it out of Carnegie in a very bad mood and headed to Hollister Hills where we camped the night and rode the next day. We got the broken down bike to run again, I took my friend on my favorite single track trail. He was having a miserable time, the trail ended up being covered in poison oak, he dinged his new pipe, and then the bike quit running again. We had to drag the bike up the rest of the trail. He was so frustrated he threw the bike on the ground and started yelling about parting it out. The fuel valve was off by now, but I noticed very little gas spilled out of the carb. It turns out the float bowl wasn't filling (float stuck) and that is why the bike kept breaking down. I told him to turn the fuel on and tip the bike on the side until fuel started to pour out. Once the fuel started coming out, the bike started right up and ran great for the rest of the trip. The weather in Hollister was perfect, the trails great. We had forgotten about the dick ranger from Carngie and were finally having a good time. Then, the rear shock blew out on my other friends bike. The rear wheel would not stay on the ground, but he was a trooper and kept riding. That night we packed up and headed for Pismo Beach.
This was my first trip to the dunes. We arrived around midnight and just slept on the beach. I felt a little funny being surrounded by camps with a 1/4 of a million dollars worth of toy hauler and toy while we had only a beat up pick-up truck and not even a tent to sleep in. We went to town the next morning and bought a paddle tire for my bike and whips for everybody. After some tire changing frustrations, we finally got our bikes together and went riding. Riding in the sand is completely backwards from the usual dust on hardpack I usually ride. I quickly figured out to keep your weight far to the rear and the harder you're on the throttle, the better the bike turns. I really love the wet sand. It was low tide on the beach so there was plenty of room to play. I figured out how to drift on the wet sand pretty quickly and soon I was almost dragging the foot pegs on the ground while taking turns in 4th gear. It was about time for me to have my first part failure. I got a little carried away on one of my slides and started a low side crash. I over-corrected and went into a high side. I managed to save myself from a high side, but all of the jerking around cause the whip to suck into the tire and the shaft exploded. It broke in 5 places and was not salvageable. I did some jumping in the dunes, the 20 year old suspension seem to have no problems soaking up some big landings on flat ground, I was impressed. I started the next day with some jet skiing in the surf, not a good place for a first time on a stand-up ski. I was pretty worn out after just a couple of minutes. We continued to ride for most of the rest of the day. My friend and I were cruising in the dunes until I decided to turn behind him. My bike started handling kind of funny all of the sudden and wouldn't make the turn. I was in 3rd gear when I t-boned him and we both went flying. Nobody got hurt and no bikes were damaged so we all got a pretty good laugh out of that one. It turns out I had lost my axle nut and the wheel was moving around in the swingarm quite a bit. This ended my day and the trip.
