DefyInertia and Lefty do the Little Dragon

[Lefty]

DefyInertia (Nate) and I met for the first time yesterday and did a ride together to the Gold Country of the Sierra Foothills to take on the "Little Dragon". Nate's a super cool guy and a heck of a rider (more on that in a minute). Nate rode down from San Francisco and met me in San Carlos where we gassed up and exchanged greetings. We left under cool and ominous clouds with the expectations of a warm and beautiful day once we got out of the Bay Area. Taking the scenic route though Niles Canyon and Vallecitos Rd. to end up slabbing it to our first rest stop at Farmington, famous only four it's four way stop in the middle of farmland. Pic 1

We finally hit some curvy roads on the way to Angels Camp although blocked by a string of cars doing less than the speed limit. Gassed up again in Angel's Camp and headed down Hwy 49 to Coulterville which is the beginning on the "Little Dragon". Stretched our legs again next to the Hotel and school which are just about the only things in Coulterville before hitting the Little Dragon. Pic 2

The Little Dragon (Pic 3) it was cracked up to be. Technical, beautiful, free of any cars whatsoever, and on the edge of steep drop offs without the benefit of guardrails. DefyInertia, although loaded up with camping equipment and in need of new tires, smoked me though the Dragon which was quite a humbling lesson. =-) It made me realize how badly I needed to upgrade my front springs and fork oil which I'll be doing asap.

We had a nice lunch in Mariposa and Nate and I went our separate ways, he to go camping near Yosemite and I to take the back highways home (150 miles) by myself, 390 miles in total. Pic 4 is Nate gearing up after our lunch in Mariposa.

Thanks to Nate for the awesome ride and I can't wait to ride the Little Dragon again....:thumbup:

 

[mxgolf]

That looks like great fun! I'm sure hoping to get some sunny weather up north soon.
Thanks for the pictures. :thumbup:

 

[joe1971]

Next time you do that route you aughta divert up to Greeley Hill and over to Groveland, those roads up there are bad ass, tight and twisty, then if your feelin brave go down old priest grade if it's still open (it's a scary f@<ker).

I promise better (funner) roads then the one to Mariposa.
Or on 2nd thought go throught Waterford, and La Grange to Coulterville. Just be very careful on that road it's deadly, 3-4 life flight a day deadly.

 

[DefyInertia]

Thanks again for picking the route, Lefty.

I ended up rolling through Yosemite and then up to Cherry Lake via some out of the way but great roads. My trip read a little over 400 for Saturday. I camped at Cherry Lake which was pretty nice, and then headed back west today, with a run down Mines road and over Mt. Hamilton, before heading back north to SF. About 675 for the weekend.

I for once didn't take a single picture alll weekend until I got back to my driveway (took some pics of my bald tires).

 

[Motogiro]

Thank you for sharing! Looks like you guys had nice weather up there.
Westgoingzax and I rode down to Borrego Springs via Montezumaa Valley Rd. yesterday and the weather was the best!

 

[CHEMIKER]

Thanks again for picking the route, Lefty.

I ended up rolling through Yosemite and then up to Cherry Lake via some out of the way but great roads. My trip read a little over 400 for Saturday. I camped at Cherry Lake which was pretty nice, and then headed back west today, with a run down Mines road and over Mt. Hamilton, before heading back north to SF. About 675 for the weekend.

I for once didn't take a single picture alll weekend until I got back to my driveway (took some pics of my bald tires).

How did you like Mt. Hamilton and Mines? The South side of Mt. Hamilton is pretty technical, but the North side and Mines Road are fun. Sorry we missed you; we were dragging and actually skipped Mines and Mt. Hamilton in the end anyway

 

[DefyInertia]

Tires are shot...

Time for some BT-016s

How did you like Mt. Hamilton and Mines? The South side of Mt. Hamilton is pretty technical, but the North side and Mines Road are fun. Sorry we missed you; we were dragging and actually skipped Mines and Mt. Hamilton in the end anyway

Mines was great, especially the 1 lane section. A lot of the two lane section was bumpy but still good. Mt. Hamilton was ok but it'd be a ton of fun on a motard. Some really crappy drivers on Mt. Hamilton.

There is a restaurant on Mines that a ton of bikers were hanging out at...as I was passing by I noticed a red FZ6 in the parking lot so I pulled a U-turn and went and parked next to it thinking it was you....but no such luck...

 

[Wavex]

lol @ your rear tire Nate, that's pretty bad

 

[DefyInertia]

lol @ your rear tire Nate, that's pretty bad

The cords are not even showing yet! :BLAA:

The sides of the front were the only part that were starting to fail me. The rear was getting a little greasy too but I was really losing confidence in the front over rough pavement by the end of the day.

 

[Humperdinkel]

Looks like a great ride , glad you got to meet up & ride together :thumbup: Love the sign onthe General store , it looks like its straight out of the Wild Wild West

Ohh yeah & Nate , you are so lucky you are not living in Oz with that rear tyre the cops would throw the book at you for that , i does look cool though :thumbup:

 

[rsw81]

Holy crap, Nate, those tires are awesome! Talk about using the whole thing evenly... jeez

 

[Lefty]

Looks like a great ride , glad you got to meet up & ride together :thumbup: Love the sign onthe General store , it looks like its straight out of the Wild Wild West

Ohh yeah & Nate , you are so lucky you are not living in Oz with that rear tyre the cops would throw the book at you for that , i does look cool though :thumbup:

Nate's tires weren't really ever an issue with the cops..he never went slow enough for them to see the lack of tread on his tires..:spank: