CRAZY! 5 hour off road ride (at night!)

So at midnight I turned to Mike and said, "this is a crazy idea." He had this goofy look on his face and said, "I think so too." But there was no way we could go back up the hill.



A few years ago I had this idea to do a summer dual sport ride in the fire roads east of Clear Lake CA in the Mendocino National Forest. The trick would be to find a Saturday night with a full moon, and plot out a course that was about 2/3 daylight and 1/3 under the full moon.

Well we did that ride and it was really fun. We had a mix of bikes like a KLR 650 (going 2 up!) an XR400, me on "Nimrod" my XR650L, and more. It was really cool seeing the full moon come up a little over 1/2 way in the ride.

This year I picked Sept. 9th for the full moon ride. It wasn't a full moon but it was close enough. Lots of friends ended up not making it. We all must bow down to Cpt. Ron and his bro who came down from camping at Trinity National Forest to Clear Lake to do the ride. Mike Krynock, Dakar rider for Charlie Rauseo's team also came up to join us. So it was to be 4 of us. We all knew the roads we would take from Clearlake Oaks to Bartlett Springs road, then east then north again. Ron had a gps with the maps loaded, I had a paper map to double check things. The catch was I wanted to take an OHV trail that I like to end the dirt part of the ride. It would take us to the Penny Pines camping area, Ron said he would overnight there then head back to Trinity. Mike and I would head down the hill to Upper Lake, hy 20 and the city of Clearlake.

Ok. It was going to be a long ride, and it wasn't until we had all topped off at the gas station on the way out that I realized it would all be in the dark.

8pm and off we go.

Luckily it wasn't too hot. It was maybe in the 80's as we left. I wore a Joe Rocket vented and padded mesh jacket, perfect for the ride. The night had clear skies and by the time we hit the unpaved section of the roads the moon had risen. It is really cool to see this big moon in the sky as you wind around in the trees.

The run north after Bartlett Springs has lots of ruts and rocks. Some of the road was in good shape, some was pretty rutted up. At night you don't get much of a warning, and a shadow that crosses the road could be a short shallow rut or a pretty deep sharp gap. We hit lots of both.

A few times we would stop and regroup. Cpt. Ron would patiently wait as I opened and checked my map and said "ahh yes this is the way..."

So we get to the turnoff to the OHV trail. This is rated a medium difficulty trail. Here's where we were right at 37 and 17N16.



I knew this was a tight trail, in the day on a lighter off road bike it is really fun. There are a few water crossings, tight trails in and under trees and a few open sections. I remember it can get big ruts in it but honestly I hadn't been there since early this Spring. The first part was really tight. It was just a crawl to get around the rocks and under the trees. It was all tight switchbacks in the trees. You had to ride in first gear slipping the clutch with feet off the pegs just trying to steer around the trees. You could only see 1 or 2 feet in front of the bike. It kept winding around then finally went down a rocky rutted really nasty hill to a wide creek bed.

The creek still had water in it and we saw a few big piles of bear pooty on the way down. Putting the two facts together we agreed there was a big furry critter and probably more than one watching us. Hey didn't I once see a sticker that said Loud Pipes Save Lives?

So we went on this tight enduro trail, hitting a few trees and dragging footpegs in the ruts. You couldn't worry about much because you can't see much, you are just dealing with what you can see. Forget riding fast, it was all you could do to ride and make it up the climbs and out of the ruts.

Mike had a big off road light and probably could see the most. I had an Acerbis Cyclops on the Nimrod that worked ok, Cpt. Ron had some dual light flamethrower. All these bike mounted lights were fine except when you pointed the bike uphill. "Hmm nice tree" you'd think, "I wonder what the ground under my front tire is like?" you'd also think. This is when those helmet mounted lights are cool to have.

Honestly it was a brutal trail, especially for riding at night and for guys who had been riding all day. We finally got to the end of 37 where it hits trail 17, after taking off the helmets and taking a break we turned left on 17 to the fire road, then took 8 because I thought we should (but I was wrong.) Anyway it took us to the paved road that led us to Penny Pines and the ride for Ron and his brother was over.



Mike and I rode the pavement down the hill to Upper Lake then hy 20 to 53 to home. Mike decided to continue his Dakar sleep deprivation training and loaded up the bike and headed home around 1:30 am.

Night time riding is really fun. Adding in a tough off road trail at the very end is maybe a little crazy, but I think we are all glad we did it. Mike said the fire roads felt like the pre dawn starts in the Dakar Rally when your bike is heavy with fuel, there is a layer of dust in the air and you are doing your best to find a fast but sensible pace and rhythm. Mike is heading back to Dakar in 2007, and went in for some minor wrist surgery Monday. This was his last ride for a few weeks.

Over 100 miles about 5 hours and all in the dark. Crazy. Cpt. Ron and his brother rode close to 400 miles in 2 days. This night dual sport ride was just a small part of their weekend.

Next summer I hope to do it again. The Nimrod will have the front fender painted flat black (the glare off the white plastic sucks) and maybe a GPS. I also might get a helmet light. More is better.

Cpt Ron says:

Superhunk (my bro) and I rode our XR650's 234 miles from Trinity Lake to Clearlake to meet up with Big Rick. We had about a 4-hour layover to check out the bikes and eat a meal (thanks for the steaks, Rick!) before jumping back on the bikes. We were carrying camping gear and such for an overnight, thus making the single track that much more challenging. If I had known what the trail was like before we got there, I wouldn't have done it. I'm glad we did, however. The ruts were folding up the footpegs, the manzanita was trying to rip the Trailtech light off my helmet, and the sweat was steaming up my glasses and goggles. Oh, and it was tight and steep. Perfect for a desert bike with tall gearing. It was certainly a test of our resolve to get to the end of our planned ride. At the end, we got off of our bikes for the day at 12:01 am. What a day.

Even with Big Rick's weak headlight, he had no problems at leaving us in the dust, literally. After a while, even the dust disappeared, and I knew Rick and Mike were way out there, just waiting for us. I thank you for your patience.

Mike says:

Man it was an awesome ride! We really should do more night riding. It really keeps you on your toes. Any yeah I was cheating using a Baja designs headlight!!

Tonight just after posting this I played "Where The Streets Have No Name." That song always reminds me of trips like this. It could be roads I've driven in Baja, or trails like these. I am close to being addicted to places like this, trails, rivers, lakes. So much more so than a big city.