Palomar Mountain Ride 11/9

Palomar Mtn ride Nov 9th. Lunch in Julian, then off to Borrego Springs (Montezuma Grade)

MEETUP LOCATION: Park-n-ride just west of I-15 on Pala Rd

WEATHER PERMITTING OF COURSE

Ride Roster

shaynej
wheatie
Spike
VFR Capt Bob
JBAXX
L8asusul
DizzyDave
Rogue Biker
Bandit
redneck7769
itwrx
derstuka
V4Sam
Steve.ski
shakey654
NVR2L8
2fast2young
Buell guest


MEETUP TIME 8:00am
START TIME 8:30AM
LUNCH 10:30AM
DEPART 1:30PM

TOTAL MILES: 105
TOTAL RIDE TIME: 3:26

Please PM with two (2) emergency contact info.

 

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Due to the various areas that the riders will be coming from, we will end this ride at Montezuma Valley road and San Felipe road. This is a short distance from both the 79 and 76 and will also lead back to I15. Maps will be provided at starting point to assist anyone unfamiliar with these ending roads, also plenty of people will be there to lead back as well.

 

Damn, looks like a fun one, something to look forward to next year, maybe.

 

I'd go, but I don't want to show you guys up on my FZ.... I kid I kid.

Hmmmm

 

Not a problem, currently in the lineup is a Bandit1200s and potentially a Buell XB12R. You're more than welcome to join.

 

Not in the scheduled route. Would you know the time difference on taking Mesa Grande to Julian vs. staying on 79? If it's within 15 minutes I'm sure it can be arranged.
I do appreciate letting me know that you'll split off. We'll be stopping at Miner's Diner in Julian for lunch, then some will split off for home while the rest tackle Borrego Springs and Montezuma Grade. Perhaps splitting off after lunch would be best, your call. Looking forward to meeting you, have read your trip reports...

 

One of these days I am just going to say screw it and come all the way from South Dakota.

 

you only live once, and if you live right, once is enough...

pay the neighbor to feed the dog, let the grass die, and saddle up!

see ya on Nov 9th!

 

If I had the money, but by the time nov rolls around I don't want to try riding through snow. But someday I will go west to a meet just to be the crazy guy that rode that far.

 

All you need is

Gas money, Sleeping bag, Cell phone, Camera.......................You ready to roll.:cheersaf::unsure::ncb:

 

According to the weather forecast, the Palomar ride temperatures will range from 48F to 80F. Please dress accordingly and bring water. We will be stopping at Miner's Diner in Julian at about 10:30-11:00.

I will be leaving Hesperia for a Lake Tahoe ride on Wednesday morning. I will be returning Friday afternoon, so if anyone else wants to join us, leave me a PM and I'll add you when I get back.

If you haven't already, please PM with two emergency contacts.

Thanks

shaynej

 

There may be snow at Tahoe right now. At least there is above 7000 ft up here right now. I was in Reno this am and there was snow in the high country there too.

 

Thanks, got the heads up from my parents already. By wednesday most of the road salt and slush should be cleared. Headed straight to Reno then planning on lapping Tahoe Thursday morning, plenty of ice on Mt. Rose hwy but once I'm in Incline it should be mellow all the way around. Worse case scenario I take the 50 up to South Lake and turn around. Kinda my last big run of the winter, then keeping it local till April. Either that or I could stay home and finish the landscaping...

 

Ok, crunch time, compiling my lists and checking them twice. Still have quite a few of you that haven't sent me Emergency Contacts yet. If you are uncomfortable with sending me personal information, that is fine. Just make sure you have the info on your person. Also a quick note to let me know this would be appreciated...

Weather is holding out fine, looks like a GREAT ride is in store...

For those of you not familiar with this group, I will ask the newbies to hang back with the 2nd group until you get to see the pace of the group. The first pack will be the more experienced/faster group and unless you are familiar with this road, I don't think it's best for a first-timer to run with these guys. We'll be decided the riding order on location but please make sure to RIDE YOUR OWN PACE, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PUSH YOUR LIMITS, THIS IS A FUN EXPEDITION!

thanks, and looking forward to riding with you all...

 

Well it started just like every other ride I've planned this year. Nice list of interested parties, weather forecast looked promising, route and food destinations were checked and confirmed, all we needed was for the day to arrive. As some of you may have already read in other posts, I had destroyed my front rim and was desperately trying to get my replacement front rim finished in time for this ride. Saturday came, all the parts were ready, jumped on and took off for a great day of canyon riding with clear skies and 70-75 degree temps. Perfect. Sunday should be just the same...
Saturday afternoon I spent updating my rider list, called the restaurant again just to make sure, and rested. But just in case... let me check the weather forecast... No problem, slight chance of rain (20%) and looks like cooler temps for Sunday. No biggie, I'll just put the liner in my jacket and all set to go...
Sunday morning, 5:45am. Gearing up, open the garage door. Uh... Even without the sun I can still see dark grey billowing clouds on the horizon. This doesn't look right. The forecasted rain was for Palomar, not San Bernardino/Victorville. Quick check of the forecast. Nice green spots on the weather radar screen... No biggie. Just a minor glitch. I wasn't thinking minor glitch when 10 miles later it was 34 degrees and light snow flurries were dotting my visor... There's the exit, no one will mind if I just turn around and go home...
So I show up at the meetup spot right at 8:00am and see redneck7769 (Greg) waving me in... Quick glance. Only one red VFR. Not looking promising. I pull into the gas station on the corner and see 3 more VFRs and a Buell. Cool. Little by little the rest trickled in, everyone was there by 8:15am. Among the attendees today:
shaynej (of course)
Wheatie
VFR Capt Bob
Redneck7769
JBAXX
DizzyDave
NVR2L8
2fast2young + guest on a buell
shakey654 (on a SUPERB looking 25th Anniversary!)
L8asusul (on time)

A special thank you to all who either called, texted, or emailed me that they weren't coming. We held out a couple extra minutes just in case, but with the weather looking gloomy I kinda figured we'd have some no-shows.





With the weather gloomy and the roads slick, we decided to take the sport out of sport-touring and just call this a leisurely tour day... Thank you to DizzyDave for leading the pack, I choose him after he told me of his snow-bound adventures up Palomar with ihilker and kr0nus. Hearing this story I felt it prudent that someone who can ride Palomar in the snow could surely lead us up this dark clouded mountain WITHOUT SNOW... Started off rough, everyone pulled out okay, then as I pulled out in the sweeper position I hit two red lights. Then got stuck behind a cadillac that seemed to be running on 1 cylinder. 20 MILES LATER... I saw the next bike in front of me ahead, THANK YOU SHAKEY654 for sticking behind... it made for a fun time chasing the twisties to catch up to the group. No sooner did we catch up then we hit the first section of 25MPH turns on Palomar. Here comes the fun... Or at least... This used to be fun... I think just about everyone hit the cattle-guard and slid to some extent, I slid far enough to put my left foot down expecting to dirt-track it into the shoulder... Ok, no biggie, just a little slick... Redneck7769 commented later that he thought his tinted visor was playing tricks on him, he kept seeing rainbows on the road. Flipped up the tinted visor, oh hey, that's not a tinted-visor-induced-hallucination, there really are rainbows all over the road. We managed to hit Palomar Mountain just after a nice downpour, and now a summer's worth of oil was oozing back up onto the road surface. Which would explain why a couple turns later I felt the rear slide out again. And again. Finally I look downward and SWORE my back tire was flat. Only thing I could think of. Quick pull-off the road, TIRE IS FINE... So I go flying back up the ...... what the heck???? IS THAT FOG??? No biggie. 100 foot visibilty, slippy rear tire, water falling off of trees, BUT IT SURE BEATS YARDWORK!
We get to the top of the South Grade, quick reassembly, then it's time to go down the East Grade. 100 foot visibility... now 75. now 50... put the hazards on so no one behind us runs into me. Now 25... Now I can just make out shakey in front me... No wait, there's some clearing... Back up to 30 feet visibility for 20 MILES!! WILL THIS DAY EVER END? A quick pull over by 2fast2young and I manage to see that he's wearing a 'mesh' jacket of sorts. I suddenly don't feel as bad about my teeth chattering...
Original plan called for lunch in Julian, we were just as content to pull over and eat at Lake Henshaw Resort, basically the mood of the group was to get the heck off the road and EAT. So up we go, Wheatie starts eyeing the waitress and chasing her around trying to explain his NFR status... Jerry is checking his BlackBerry to see if the weather is any better in Borrego Springs... I smoke. And take a video of Wheatie doing a 180 in the parking lot. Bob is wishing he was doing yardwork... the list goes on... We order (10:00am) run outside to grab our tankbags/helmets just as it downpours... 45 minutes to an hour later we're eating... The first time I've ever been thankful our food took so long... the rain started to stop, and the sun came out.



nah, it should clear up in a minute or two...
Food stop is over, the consensus is to call it a day and skip Borrego Springs and the infamous Montezuma Valley Road. I know some of you really looked forward to it, and I promise to schedule a Palomar/Borrego Springs ride again... JUST NOT IN THIS LIFETIME... Nah, probably sometime in Spring '09.
So we head out, taking 76 back towards I15, chasing a couple spirited curves, but mostly just staring at bumper stickers for the 47 mile trip back to the freeway... No biggie...
Entering the town of Temecula, we pull off for a last gas stop, and snap a couple pictures in front of the physical therapy building.


Then of course, true to fashion, as we are leaving... here comes Greg with his classic wheelie down the street...
​

Till next time,

shaynej​

 

Nice, love to read what other folks do.. sorry to see you got some of our weather, whats this snow you mention? thanks for sharing..

 

Thanks for sharing, shaynej. Looks likes fun :smile: