On the fish at Clear Lake April 2010!

So I planned to take a few days off and get in some Spring fishing. Spring can be the best time to go fishing. The water warms up a little, the fish get more active and start to eat more. Plus after a long winter of cold weather just a little time in the sun feels good.

But of course it can also be a time of wind and rain and you can have some of the toughest conditions to catch fish.

I booked a day with a guide friend of mine Bob Myskey of www.FishClearLake.com. Bob spends about 200 days a year on the lake in all kinds of conditions and I always learn something and always catch fish when I go with him. When I first called in early April he said "I'm booked for the entire month." Yikes! The big bass tournament that is shown on ESPN had once again made Clear Lake look good on national tv, and add that to Bob's "regulars" and I was outta luck. But my phone rang and he called me back saying he got a cancellation and I was able to get a day.

I easily talked my buddy Jesse into coming up from Tracy where he lives and fishes the south Delta. Jesse has been fishing a long time and competes in tournaments, and has won a few boats in his time. He can really fish and is really competitive.

My plan was to head up on a Friday after work, fish a few days, then Jesse would come up Monday and we would fish with Bob Tuesday and go out on my boat Wednesday. Well Saturday and Sunday a big storm came blowing in. It brought wind and lots of rain. Ack! I wasn't going out on the water in that, and I was only thankful that it didn't last much into Monday.

The forecast Tuesday was for a chance of showers, but partly cloudy and not much wind. As we we met Bob at Lakeport's public ramp we knew the bite would be tough the day after the storm. Bob asked if we wanted to use live bait, minnows, the best bet for these conditions, but we passed and felt that we could test our skills using artificials for some catch and release bass fishing.

Because Bob and Jesse fish at pretty high tournament levels, I've never done it, they chatted about various lakes, strategies, and tournaments. It was cool to overhear all the fish talk. It really made me want to give a competition a try. Bob slowly motored around and showed us where the winner of the ESPN tournament spent all his time. He showed us a few docks and walls where he likes to fish, and talked about how tough the bite had been with the storms. Unbelievably he had gone out in all that weather over the weekend. His boat got soaked, but using minnows a father and son were able to catch fish.

Now that is a guide working for his money!

Ok our turn. With all the rain that hit California this year Clear Lake was at the "full mark" and a little over. So the lake had spilled back into tules and trees that held 4 to 5 feet of water that hadn't had any for a long time. The bass love cover so we spent the day combat fishing in all of that. We went into cover, right next to trees, and into the mouth of creeks that have sand and gravel bars that usually wouldn't let you get back in these places.

Bob lives on Clear Lake and in low water years he has shot photos of the shoreline and the structure that is exposed at low water. That really helps now when the water is high. You can be in his boat and he will tell you about a big flat that runs from the mouth of this creek then drops off fast, or a point that extends out towards the deep water that you can fish. It is pretty amazing to hear him go on like that. It is tremendous knowledge to have and we used it as we fished creeks, flats and tules that in most years were too shallow to get at.

We ended up using Bob's "power drop shot" method deep in the cover. About half way into the day a fellow guide pulled up and said he had has 6 fish so far with minnows, we had 8 with the rigs Bob had us use. The day of combat fishing way back in the cover with his power drop shot method ended up with about 10 fish, I lost 2 and of course Jesse out fished me big time. Our best 5 ran into the upper teens, maybe 17 or 18 pounds. It was a great day on the water and even in pretty tough conditions we caught fish and got them all in places that most people would either wouldn't know about or wouldn't dare take their boats.



The weather held off until we had just hit the dock and Bob showed us some trick knots and rigs to use as Jesse was headed to a tournament the next weekend at Lake Shasta, and I was headed home to think about when I can get out on the water again.

Part 1: Hair Lip Dog Motorcycle 100 Mile Dual Sport Ride 2009

The annual HLDMC ride happened the last weekend of May 2009.

I hopped in on the Hair Lip Dog Motorcycle Club annual dual sport motorcycle ride last weekend. We covered over 120 miles, 100 of it on dirt roads. All of it was in Lake County California, and the 100 miles unpaved roads were in the Mendocino National Forest.

The rides is based out of the city of Clearlake. A nice place on the south end of Clear Lake, the largest natural lake in California and one of ESPN's picks as a top fishing lake in the world. It is a favorite place of mine as I like to spend time riding motorcycles and fishing. Lake County is about perfect for me.

After a breakfast meet up we headed out to get gas and then hop on High Valley Road behind Clearlake Oaks. This is paved at first and has some fun 90 degree turns followed by long straights. We wind along some beautiful countryside and past the impressive Brassfield winery.



After a few miles the pavement ends and you are on the dirt road. With a full tank of gas and the hard pack road with loose gravel you slide alot on the first few miles. The extra weight I ride with (ha ha) means not as much wheelspin exiting the corners on this low grip stuff, but I do have to spend a little more time slowing down into the loose stuff. It's pretty tricky especially when you are riding with a group that is all amped up and ready to go fast.

Other than low grip there is nothing too technical to ride there. High Valley Road does offer some awesome views. At first you notice the valley below, then after a few miles the lake comes into view.



Pretty quick you start to ride into the pine trees and the slightly lower temps feel great. That familiar California feeling of being on a dirt road in the pine trees is a good one no matter where I ride to find it. We are pretty spread out to keep from riding in the spring dust, and the traction is better now and after a few "catches" on the loose stuff I start to get the feel of riding a heavy Honda XR650L dirt bike off road.



I hooked up my Garmin GPSmap76CSx and thanks to Ride Captain Ron I had the GPS tracks for the day loaded up.



I do know this area fairly well but Ron knows it better and pre-runs it to get a good layout for the variety of skills and maybe as important fuel mileage for the different bikes on the ride. If I got off the main route for the day I could find my way to the various meet-up points, and if somebody wanted to bail out early I could help get them back to the highway. Ron also had printed out custom route maps and handed them out early in the day.

So we go from High Valley, along a ridge with great views, and then to Bartlett Springs road. There are 2 weird intersections there to make the transition. You have to turn left to get off High Valley Road, then right pretty quick to head east. I've blown it a few times in the past, but was more ready this time and Ron's brother Jason was waiting to point us the way at the second turn.



Now we were really in the trees. The dirt roads were about perfect. Lots of traction, lots of fun. We crawl around some tighter sections and are on the side of a mountain with a big drop below. Let's pay attention here! The trees fade away and we drop down some dirt switchbacks to the flats. These switchbacks will be on the way home for some of us, and they are really fun to ride going uphill at the end of a day.

The flat section is really fast. You can ride standing up and strike a "Dakar photo-op" pose. It also feels good to stretch out the legs a little and get some weight off the bum. There is a bridge and creek crossing at the bottom. The creek almost always has running water as it drains some pretty wet mountains that see snowfall and heavy rains all winter long.

In front of me is Mike on an older BMW GS1000. He's got close to 200,000 miles on it, and has ridden it on all kinds of roads and trails. He is fearless. He takes the right split to do the creek crossing, and I see he's hitting it pretty fast.

WOW water flies everywhere! I am about 100 feet behind him and decide to slow down a little. SPLASH I see the front fender holding back a wall of water and I stand up and make the crossing. I feel a little on my boots and ride it out. Then I see Mike sitting on his bike. It isn't running. He's trying to get it started, not much is happening. I think it is kind of funny, then I look over and see water coming out of the airbox/carb junction.

Uh-oh that's not good.

More in Part 2.

Crosscut Enduro and the results are now final...

Well the most important result is that I came back home, no hospital visit. I rode with my friend Neil and we both had that as a goal for the event. I mean come on we have a life to get back to!



The American Motorcycle Association has local chapters they call Districts. For the area in Northern California where I live that would be District 36. In the district are clubs, and members. You can be a member of District 36 and the AMA and not be in a club, but to ride these fun events you need to be an AMA and District 36 member.

The clubs put on the on and off road events, so without them not too much would happen. So thanks the the clubs. (Gee I should join one I guess!)

Among the off road events are Enduros, 50 mile or more races with times sections and checkpoints. You start say 4 bikes per minute. If the race starts at 9 am and you are on row 60 you would be on the 60 minute. At each checkpoint you try to ride at the average set by the race directions and if things go well you pull in right at 60. Show up late or early and you get a penalty. They record your time and write it on your scorecard and off you go.

Woo Hoo!

Yea but.

Unless you are pretty fast it is hard to nail your minute. You can't just putt around. I mean this is a race. The good news is that you can be late for the checkpoints (up to a point) and still ride the course and finish the day. Fast guys and no so fast guys have special computers they program with the limited course info they get from race officials. If you are fast it tells you to slow down you're above the course mph average for that section. If you aren't a fast guy the computer tells you to go you are running late for a checkpoint and need to pick up the pace.

Me? I don't need no computer telling me to go faster. I definitely don't need one to tell me to go slower either.

It might seem a little complicated, but for me I just was thinking of riding a closed area on a fun course, with people around to help if things go wrong. Hey that's worth the entry fee!

Sometimes there are 2 Enduros on the same weekend. The main event will be all day long on a tough course with a fast average speed. It is hard for even the "A" or Expert riders to make their minute all day long.

The other race is called a "Family Enduro." It is a little shorter, a little easier. True to its name families do ride, dads with kids, moms, friends, casual riders all sign up and give it a go. These aren't rides for beginners, but if you or your kid or friend can trail ride fairly well a Family Enduro might be for you.

In Early April 2009 I entered my 2nd enduro ever the Crosscut Family Enduro. The last one I tried to race was a disaster. It ended with a miserable DNF "Did Not Finish" as I ran out of gas from a leaking float in my carburetor and pushed my bike for far too long out of the Mendocino National Forest and back to my truck.

That was a little over 10 years ago.

Since that time I can ride a little better, and have a different bike. I've raced some off road events including the famous Elsinore GP, the Adelanto GP, and various events in District 36 Cross Country series. In the last few years I've been doing lots of exercise including some mountain biking, road biking and even Yoga For Regular Guys. So I thought this would be a good year to try an Enduro again.

The bike I rode is an older 380 KTM 2 stroke set up with an Acerbis aux gas tank mounted on the front. That worked great. It actually gave the front tire a little more bite in the loose dirt. I WAS NOT going to run out of gas and push my bike again! The bike has lots of power, and while not nimble in the tight trees, you can make up for that with some power from the motor. With me on the bike riding in the trees is a little like a freight train on a go kart track. The power comes in mighty handy hauling my big butt up the hillclimbs. I know the bike really well and have a nice suspension set up from Dick's Racing it really feels better than ever thanks to their work.

My buddy Neil went along to do the race with me and we spent Friday night in Clearlake. The alarm went off at 5:30 so we could leave around 6 and make it to the riding area just west of Lakeport by 7. We signed in and were on minute 66. So we would start at 10:06, the first riders went out at 9 am.

On our minute was a guy and his kid, about 12 years old. The kid was going to ride a Honda XR100. Those are just great bikes, and Honda has been making them for years. Even adults ride around on them. They looked like they knew all about the time and speed averages part of enduro riding. We didn't. We were just going to ride around.

We had some time to kill and were parked pretty close to the start. If was like watching a bike show go by. Enduro riders are mostly about function. Not a lot of bling bling on the bikes, and there were some pretty old bikes that were ready to ride the 50 mile course.

There was a big mix of Dads and kids, guys and their buddies, women, old guys, and young hot shots all ready to take off.

I had all my favorite riding gear for the day. My Klim jersey and over the boot pants come recommended by my buddy Charlie from San Francisco's Rally Pan Am Dakar team. I now always ride with an Alpinestars Bionic Neck Support. I consider it a must for riding off road. I also use an Alpinestar under the jersey protection vest. I really like that, and it fits so well that during the ride you don't really feel it there. My Oakley goggles, and Alpinestar boots are also favorites of mine. All this gear not only does the job giving me protection, but it works and fits well.

We got dressed and that minute 66 came up pretty quick. We started by crossing a shallow creek and started a big fast fire road hillclimb first thing.

We were flying! We went around a few corners and up a hill and some riders had stopped. I thought hey good idea maybe there is a checkpoint, we were going pretty fast and maybe we would arrive too early and get a penalty. So we stopped.



I saw riders with numbers 65 take off and they were on the minute before me so we took off too. Ha Ha on me. The course soon took a hard right into some of the tightest singletrack of the day. Uhh no worries there was going to be a problem going too fast here. We had to really fly. It was about as hard as I could ride going up, down, over big rocks, past tree branches swatting me in the face, thick brush slapping my arms and legs, and in deep ruts where my tires would drop down and I had to ride with my toes pointed in and feet right next to the engine.

Yea no way I was going to average 14 miles an hour in this, I was barely able to go fast enough to get into 2nd gear. And I knew they would have a check at the end of this time average killing section. Around a few corners and there it was. Check 1.

I got scored with a 71. 5 Minutes late. I could have done way better if I would have just ridden and not tried to be slick and wait out some time. Oh well.

We survived. Neil was right with me the whole time. We were pretty good riding partners as we had about the same speed.

At check 2 I had a time of 72. Wow if I was on minute 71 or 72 I'd be doing great! But I wasn't. I was still doing pretty good and most important we were both having fun.

The next section started out with some fast fire rods again. This time in the shade of some big pine trees. It looked and smelled like Tahoe a little as we were climbing some more.

Neil was ahead of me on this section. As we took came around a fast sweeping right hand turn there was a tree covering most of the left half of the trail. It wasn't blocking the trail, and you could easily get past it without slowing down.

Yea but somehow I didn't. I drifted a little too wide and the tree caught my front wheel. I was slowed down in a fairly quick manner. Ok I crashed. The front end of the bike stopped moving while me and the bike continued on for a little bit, and I wend down over the bars. It was a really good "Here's Your Sign" crash.

I was ok and got up pretty quick. The bike looked ok too. When I went to restart the throttle felt funny. It was sticking, staying open not returning to closed. Now a younger me might have thought I should ride on and fix it later. But that's a really bad idea. I definitely don't have the skills to ride as fast as I could with a throttle that was going to stick now and then. I'd crash for sure.

So I stopped and took out some tools and loosened the Acerbis handguard. Without that handguard my crash would have been much worse and the trees and brush would have really torn up my hands. So I cleaned out he throttle area a little and moved it around to let it find the place where it felt smooth and would snap back. When I did I tightened down the handguard and took off.

That really killed my time as I was checked in on minute 79. Yikes.

Neil was waiting for me. What a guy!

The next checks were 69 (not bad) 74 (bad) 67 (good) and 66 (really good!)

The last check was a slower time average and honestly I just lucked out, bit I'l take a little luck.

I thought it was a pretty hard day. Neil and I both rode as fast and as long as we wanted on a course that was about as hard as we wanted to ride. That's a pretty perfect equation for about 4 hours of off road motorcycling riding.

The dad and his kid on the XR100? I saw then really quickly at the gas stop and a little on the trail at the end. But they were fast, I didn't see them much.



So how did I do? Better than 10 years ago!

29 out of 48 in my class and 161 out of 243 overall.

That was big fun. Thanks to the North Bay Motorcycle Club for the course and the weekend. More Enduros in my future I hope. I can't do any this spring, but will be back for more in the Fall series.

Va-cay Spring '06: wind, rain, wind

Eh, so much for big long days on the water for my vacation at record setting Clear Lake.

Lots of wind from Tuesday to Friday, then rain. I went out Monday and Tuesday with my friend Jessie. Had fun but the weather picked up and I took the boat out and fished from shore the rest of the week. Did ok on the drop shot rig from shore, and got this one on the south end of the lake Tuesday morning.



Took a trip to Boggs Demo Forest on Cobb Mountain. Very cool place, and GREAT mountain bike trails (video). They race there, and you can camp free, and hike or go for a ride.

Had a nice lunch after the hike at the Cobb Deli. It has a deck overlooking Kelsey Creek.



Friday was the best day. Indeed it 'twas a beauty!



The heron on the lake are always fishing. Hey you gotta keep up the reputation and be ready for the big Heron festival




Had a good meal with some nice local Steele wine at the Blue Wing Saloon in the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake.

So big fish every day? No, not with the cold fronts and rain all week. (Wouldn't you know awesome Spring weather is headed to Nor. Cal. the week after I get back!)

But once again Lake County didn't let me down. 2007 Spring vacation goes in the books as 8 on a 10 scale. A beautiful place, and I didn't have to go to an airport! Yea!