Woo-hoo! The Ant is going riding in Baja!

[E-Ticket]

Yup...it's official..! Susan's finally getting to go ride down in Baja! :yeehaw:

Tim and Jennifer Morton, of Baja Bound Adventures
http://www.bajaboundmoto.com
have just set the ride dates for their "Hooters on Scooters" ride.
It will be May 12-16. Yee-haw!!

What is the HoS ride? Here's an excerpt from their web site:
http://www.bajaboundmoto.com/schedule/index.html
Five day adventure. SPECIAL EVENT! "Hooters On Scooters"! The only Baja ride designed just for women riders! Jennifer (Tim's wife) will be along on the ride on her KTM450 and like we say for every H.O.S. ride, couples and ladies solo are welcome, no guys solo. The ride will be led by Tim and we'll use our usual staff of workers so, Ladies, there's no need to worry about breaking down in the wilderness or having any trouble. As usual we have some really special stuff planned and this year we’ll be staying nights at 2 very unique places that NO OTHER commercial tour ride has ever stayed at! All riders need to be of novice off-road ability at the very least, no beginners. Cost - $2100 with fully prepped Baja Bound XR or DRZ or $1195 with your bike.
Here are some photos from a past HoS ride:
http://www.bajaboundmoto.com/photos/hoot.html

Make's you want go r-e-a-l bad.... don't it! <grin>

Not only does Tim know every freekin' trail on the Baja Peninsula (a couple of secret ones....<g>), but he is also an expert at gauging the skill/comfort/fatigue level of his riders to make sure that you have a great time without being stressed out all the time. And as long as you don't ride stupid or dangerous, Tim let's you "ride." So before you know it, you're completely comfortable and having the time of your life.

I mean, what could be better than riding dirt bikes *all day* all over Baja -- from zooming along dry lake beds, to awesome single-track up in the pines, to cutting doughnuts on an ocean beach, to riding down Main Street in small Mexican towns, to putsying down classic fire roads flanked by 25' cactuses -- and then ending up at your hotel, handing off your bike to the great support crew, grabbing your gear bag off the sag vehicle, and heading to your hotel room for a hot shower -- and then off to the bar for cold Margaritas before dinner! Absolute heaven..... *All* food/gas/bottled water is covered in the tour price - you just pay for your bar bill.

And speaking of *easy*... you just fly into San Diego airport on Wednesday afternoon with your riding gear and toothbrush. Tim and Jen will pick you up at the airport or your hotel and haul you off to Baja! After way too much fun riding - they drop you back off at the airport on Sunday to reluctantly fly home. No rental car, no border hassles, just easy.

hey, Hey, HEY..!!!!!! I just got a great idea! Why don't you all come ride with us! It will be a stone gas, way too much fun, and can you imagine the stories we're going to be able to tell? <r-e-a-l-l-y big grin> :thumb:

Hope you can make it! -- Randy B/Susan P.

 

[E-Ticket]

Shoot.... almost forgot the other good news!

Just placed a deposit on a new 2004 Honda CRF250x for The Ant!
http://powersports.honda.com/motorc...lName=CRF250X&ModelYear=2004&ModelId=CRF250X4

Going to have our local expert take 2" out of the suspension, shave the seat a bit, and .... ta-da! Susan has a great scoot for scootin' around Baja!

(not to mention next year's Elsinore Grand Prix.... <tee-hee>)

Hoping to get in Jan/Feb so we can bring it down to Reno for the MoonRocks ride!

Woo-hoo! :yeehaw: - RandyB

 

[CJ Rider]

I would totally love to go ride with ya'll in Baha. 'Gonna have to look into this. If ya'll DO get the Ant's new bike in time for Reno, can I try it out?

 

[E-Ticket]

Well. ....duh!... CJ. <grin> Absolutley! We're really-really trying hard to get it in time so we can bring it to Reno.

In fact, we would probably *force* all the lady riders there to try it. 'cause then they would have to have one as well! Which would mean they would sell their exisiting dirt bike to a brand-new lady rider..... which would mean more wimmen riders...! See? It's all par of my master plan! <grin>

Shoot, CJ, that would be so cool if you could come along. We met Heather Lewis at the Seattle Motorcycle Show and she told us what a great time she had on the HoS ride -- and that she is interested in going if their Off-Road Riding Class schedule will allow it. Wouldn't that be cool! - RandyB

 

[GETMETOCA]

I wanna ride Susan's CRF250!!! The hooters thing sounds fun guys! I'm currently trying to finagle a trip out to ride at Paragon with the Damn Yankee's the weekend prior to the Hooter's thingy, won't be able to do both unfortunately.

We'll want a ride report of course!

 

[The Ant]

Course you guys can try out the new bike! Cross your collective fingers it gets here by then! I'm really excited.....
-Susan
BBR230

 

[CJ Rider]

We're excited FOR YOU TOO!!! Hey Susan- I was looking at the HoS web site... 'Sounds like you both are trailering your own bikes? So, they have a place where you can safely keep your vehicle during the trip, or do you have something else worked out? I'm looking at the bikes they have available and wondering if that wouldn't be the way to go for us since it's quite a drive from CO, but alas the whole "short" thing is getting in the way again. Frontier just announced some really reasonable air fairs from DEN->LAX, so it'd be nice to take advantage of that, but I dunno if that's even close enough. Yeesh, luckily it's months away; there's a LOT of logistics to think about. It'd be so very cool to go with you and Randy, though, so that's an incentive for sure....

 

[E-Ticket]

At this point, our Master Plan is to get the Honda 250x for Susan, lower it, and then trailer it and my KTM 450 EXC down to San Diego for the ride. It's pretty much two days each way... but what the hey, we just grab a bunch of books on tape from the library and hit the road. We will drive to Tim/Jen's house but no sure on where we can leave the WRX/trailer at this point.

I've done the "fly in-pick me-hand me a bike to ride" thing twice. It was "wonderful" -- so easy, a real no-brainer. It's highly recommended to make everything totally easy.

As far as the short thing. We've been talking to Baja Bound and we're looking at putting a Kouba lowering link on a Suzuki DRZ250-E that they have access to. That would be quite a bit lower with electric start. As soon as were sure that the Honda will be in Susan's hands, we're freeing up that bike for someone else to use. So maybe you give Jennifer Morton a call and do some talking, eh? <grin>

So What else can I tell ya'....! - RandyB

 

[CJ Rider]

Oooo.... that DRZ250 idea sounds interesting (IF the CR250x comes through for Susan, of course)... OK, we'll do some talking as you say... I'm sure I'll think of another question in a minute... THIS WOULD TOTALLY BE COOL!!!

 

[E-Ticket]

Hey CJ! Just got off the phone with Jennifer Morton (BBA) and she just assured us that there will plenty of options on bike rentals. They might even be able to get some Honda CRF230s.

So were it and going! Just sent in our foms and did our deposit.
Woo-HOO!! Baja, here we come! - RandyB

 

[E-Ticket]

Almost forgot. Jennifer has talked with Heather Lewis (of JimmyLewis Off Road fame) and Heather said she was clearing her calendar and planning on coming. Woo-hoo! The big train is picking up speed! :yeehaw:

 

[CJ Rider]

E-Ticket- TOO COOL ON BOTH COUNTS!!! Having the option of riding one of the BBA bikes makes HoS SOO much easier logistically. Will and I took the Lewis' Adventure Riding class for big dualsports earlier this year; what an extremely helpful "nitty-gritty" class for ANY type of riding on ANY bike! Heather is an awesome rider, a TOTAL HOOT, and SO down-to-earth; this trip is sounding more awesome all the time!!!

 

[CJ Rider]

Hey Susan and Randy- I may have hit a little snag... Will has already planned to do the Canadian Iron Butt Coast-Coast-Coast ride then. That's Will's thing, but not something I'd want to do (to be honest). So we talked this morning about me doing HoS solo. Ya'll don't mind just me tagging along, do ya?

 

[E-Ticket]

um..... er......hmmmmm..... let's see..... well....

Absolutely NOT!!! We want you to come along -- with or without Boy-Toy Baggage!

In fact, I would be honored to be your designated "...oh Randy, would you mind very much, picking my bike up off of me, and parking it over there, please. Thank you very much." <grin>

When I talked to Jennifer yesterday I told her that I would be available to help with sweep duties, bike picker-upper, bike starting person, what ever I could do to help make the ride more fun and easy for the ladies.

So tell your hubby -- that one of your ridin' girl-friend's hubby -- will be helping you out as needed on the trail.

Now. Go call Baja Bound and get your name on the list! Susan will be so stoked that you might be coming! She'd reply right now but she is out on a 15 mile training run to make sure she's fit and ready to ride. no foolin'....! She's a nut, eh? <grin>

Now that you might be coming - who should we work on next? Mini and Buddy, Jennifer and Pierre, Natalie, Gina, Bratt, Janice, Sharla, BBoom and Karl, Ellen and Marshall .... shoot, I got a long list of peepuls to go hassle....!

Cheers! - RandyB

 

[firecracker22]

I have one question. I looked at the webpage, and they said that if you bring your own bike, it's subject to inspection and approval. Exactly what are they looking for? Just mechanical condition? Do they guage the appropriateness of the bike, as in no stock CR85s or something?

I can't afford it but I'd like to do it sometime in the future, and I'd be way more comfortable on my own bike than on a big heavy XR or DRZ, and I don't like the smaller bikes. Maybe that can be my future honeymoon (If I ever find a willing victim that is).

 

[The Ant]

Firecracker,
I would expect they'd check both - since they still basically take care of you and can't leave you if your bike breaks down, they'd want to be sure it isn't likely to happen. And the bike and gastank need to be big enough to survive long days.
-Susan
BBR230

 

[E-Ticket]

It's both, FC.

On their normal rides - they cover a lot of ground - quickly.
They will occassionally hop on to the Mexican highways (if you can call them that.... :scream: ) , bomb down the road 3-7 miles, and then hop off onto the next cool section of trails/backroads.

As such, they need a certain size of bike that can go pretty quick. Also, all of their rental bikes come with Baja-sized gas tanks. This gives them more options for more remote trail sections where it would tough to get the sag vehicle into for re-fueling.

That being said, they scale things down a bit for the HoS ride. They typically go shorter on distances and easier on the trail/difficulty selection. Because of this, they have more leeway on bike selection, range, etc. If I was to guess, I'd say your Katoom 200 is just fine.

The best people to ask what's appropriate/do-able is Tim/Jennifer themselves.

You can drop then an email at: bajaboundmoto@abac.com

They're real good at responding. If they don't reply right away - well, shoot! They might be just ridin' in Baja! <grin>

Cheers! - rb

 

[firecracker22]

The bike's pretty much stock, not too worried about its trustworthiness. Hell I take it on 40 mile trail rides WITHOUT catering and chase vehicles. Plus I have a 3.2 gal. gas tank. It's worth it to me to save $900 or so, plus I really like my bike. :D

Of course Baja is financially out of the question for a while. Unless I were to get married someday, then it would be my honeymoon.

I'd have to find a willing victim first though. :eek:

 

[E-Ticket]

Maybe next time, eh? :thumb:


Hey, CJ! Just got email from Heather Lewis and she's signed up and going.
Looks like the bus is starting to pick up some speed. :yeehaw:

- RandyB

 

[CJ Rider]

Randy and Susan- AWESOME STUFF ... and thanks "in advance" for picking me up on the trail; I've not totally figured out deep sand yet, so I'm sure another good fall in that stuff is in the future; LOL!

 

[E-Ticket]

Here's a link for some more info on the new Honda CRF250X ... sounds like a winner!

- RandyB

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/901695/page//view//sb/5/o//fpart/1/vc/1

 

[E-Ticket]

All right ....!!! :eek:

Phase I lowering is done on Susan' Honda CRF250x and we get to pick it up tomorrow!

Suspension by Design has put softer springs on front and rear, the Kouba lowering link, and raised the forks in the triple clamps. We're going to do some riding/testing this weekend to see if we need to lower more or adjust the suspension valving.

And then it's off to 4 Corners for two days of dirtybike riding in Bend, OR.....

woo-hoo! :yeehaw:

We also got our notice to send in the balance for the Baja trip so things are coming together. yah!

We'll be sure to post a ride report next week on the new 2fiddyx.

Have a great weekend! - RandyB

 

[jennifer]

Randy,

Take pictures. We want to see Susan riding it! ;)

Pierre

 

[E-Ticket]

Randy,

Take pictures. We want to see Susan riding it! ;)

Pierre

Will try to do Pierre.... but it's hard when I'm riding along side... or behind just trying to keep up! :)

I also still need to post some pics of her new Honda CBR600 F4i. :yeehaw:

Shoot. sounds like it's time to get a better digital camera (grin)

Cheers! - RandyB

 

[E-Ticket]

Just picked up Susan's 250X after the final lowering changes by Suspension by Design! It now rides "level" and plush. :eek:

Darryl (SBD Racing) installed .36 fork springs, cut off 1 1/2 coils and installed a Delrin/Delron/(sp?) spacer to make the front drop match the lowered rear suspension (Kouba lowering link and 4.3 spring.. I think). He also revalved both ends so the valving now matches Susan's riding weight and riding style/preference. Now we'll actually be able to use the clickers to adjust! We were only able to do some "curb" testing at Darryl's shop... but could already notice the difference in how softly/smoothly the suspension is moving.

We haven't had a chance to go riding yet as we're swamped getting ready for the Baja ride. We just put on a 50T rear sprocket and a new DID o-ring chain (the stocker is riveted and couldn't get a master link :| ) onto the Susan's 250x. This will raise the gearing so "Grendl" won't be revving out her little heart on the highway connector sections.

I went back to 14/52T gearing, and put on an MXC tank (3.2 gallons) and a softer/taller seat on my KTM 450-EXC so we're just about ready!

We leave Sunday morning to drive from Portland, OR to Escondido, CA. We hook up with Tim and Jennifer Morton and the Baja Bound Adventure crew and then it's Wed.-Sun riding in Baja! :yeehaw:

And yes, we'll take a lot of pictures. (grin)

Cheers! - RandyB