2 Days 120 Miles, Wet Roads, Exhaustion (part 1)

So it all started on the night of Jan. 31st. I was hanging out at State St. with Andrew and Droid. We were drinking some beers and our next rally, Stinko De Mayo 2 came up. What are we gonna do? Where are we gonna ride to and where are we gonna camp this year?

Ok, the first question is a no brainer, duh, Santa Cruz. We gotta go to Santa Cruz this year! Big Basin; Are we gonna start planning early enough this year to be able to reserve a spot to accomadate 30+ mopeders? Will we be able to get everyone in without having to pay vehicle fees on every single moped? Should we even attempt to bring our mayhem there? Well, we were gonna have to go there and check it out. So that night we made reservations to camp the very next weekend. We thought we booked Feb 6-7. We didn't check the weather either. I think a lot of mopeders are masochists. We ride tiny bikes prone to braking down, take them up hills too steep for their little engines (which results in lots of pedaling or walking) and ride in the shitiest weather. I read the confirmation email about the camping reservations a couple of days later. It was forecast to rain on Saturday the 6th. However the storm would also be done by the end of the day. Well that's cool, but that doesn't help us right? Wrong, because our reservations were actually for Feb 7-8. Sweet!

The week leading up to the ride, I put a new pipe on my bike, tuned it up, fixed some issues that had been bugging me and shined it up. I didn't test ride it though cause the day that it wasn't rainning, I finished up late and the rest of the week it rained. On Sunday, we left feeling

good about our situation. Within 3 miles, my bike pretty much stopped running. We couldn't get a good steady spark. Droid got me a condensor at Kragens and we hooked it up, but still no go, amid a bunch of 4-stroker know it alls. How 'bout we start your bike with some gasoline and matches. Some people should just keep their mouth to themselves.. A nervous push and some heavy breathing, led us back to State St. to pick up Felix (pictured above, right). Sweet, Felix is a nice bike! 2-speed Maxi with a 70cc kit. No matter what state this bike has been it, it is always a pleasure to ride Felix. This the bike that started MopedHead SJ.

Over two hours later from when we were originally trying to leave, we were back on the road. Now it was almost 4pm and there was a slight of sense of urgency as well as excitment. We left State St and headed up Almaden/Old Almaden to connect with Curtner. Made one quick stop at the Chevron at the corner of Curtner and Lincoln. Quick fill up on gas and air for Felix. Before we knew it, we were in Saratoga, skipping the last gas station for a while and jammin on. I was carrying a gallon in spare gas, we should be fine, right..

When we originally left at 1:30pm, it was sunny and warm. I stilled dressed warm, I knew it would be pretty damn cold camping in the redwoods, in winter no less. Droid and Andrew were a little more prepared than me, however. They had rain pants, better quality jackets and good gloves. It didn't take long to ascend Hwy 9 and before we knew it, we were in fog country. By the time I met up with these guys, both my hands were pretty much unmovable. Andrew was the hand saver on this trip. He was wearing leather riding gloves with secondary gloves on underneath. Thanks to Andrew for letting me borrow those insesrts. I had gloves on, but mine have the fingers cut off. It has to be pretty cold before my hands start to bother me in the cut-offs. This was one of those times.

Before long we hit the juntion and turned onto Hwy 236. The roads were still pretty wet from the rain the day before. Wet enough that I was catching some spray from the front tire after it cleared the fender. It started to get to be a bit much and I realized it was raining. All I could think about was getting to the campsite and starting a fire.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. Some Caltrans trucks passed us haul'n ass up and down the one lane parts of Hwy 236. We passed a Highway Patrol who was puzzeled when we pulled over a couple of miles later. He comes through the loud speaker "Turn off your bikes". Uh ok. "Why did you guys stop?" he asks us, duh, to let the cars behind us pass... I guess he just wanted to follow us down to make sure we didn't get hurt on the wet roads, but we were going slow with an extra emphasis on being careful, so
he took off.

Mel and Karen had arrived at the campsite a couple of hours earlier and had texted us the campsite info and gone off in search of wood and us. Unfortunately I never did let her know of our earlier problems in San Jose. Luckily we all met up and we actually encounterd them while we were on the way to the campsite, so we had our own personal escorts. Cool.

Luckily Mel and Karen had found wood even though it had been freshly cut and chopped and still had some of it's original moisture in it. Droid brought his Harbor Freight Survival Knife and saved the night, by being able to use the knife to cut kindling out of some of the wood. It took a while, but we had fire before long.


I've been going camping for a pretty long time, and we always do it up food-wise. This trip was no exception. Since I'm pretty broke, Droid offered to spot my gas on this trip. Being the person I am, I will always find a way to pull my weight. Mel and I are chefs and can do a lot with a little. The night before burgers were mentioned, so I made a loaf of bread and some rolls to bring along. I also made a pasta salad and prepped potatoes, onions and garlic to later be wrapped in foil with butter and seasonings and be cooked near the fire. I ended up not ever doing the potato deal, but I did make burgers. Droid came through with the beef and once at the spot, I thawed it, added seasonings and eggs to make hand made patties. I also brought a couple of other secret ingriendients to make the burgers phenominal. Good eats and times were had by all.

These critters weren't far behind, either. It seems they made out pretty good too. At one point while the Pathfinder was open, two raccoons got inside and attempted to steal one of the six cinnamon buns Karen brought. They managed to get one, but Andrew caught them and scared them, so the one raccoon dropped the bun in favor of running away. Them raccoons don't give up easily though and were scrurring all over Karen's Pathfinder all night trying to get in.

Where Are They?

Good Times

The next morning we weren't able to revive the fire, but that didn't stop us from enjoying some fine coffee, cinnamon buns (now only 5, luckily the same number that we were) and bacon and eggs. Shortly after breakfast, Mel and Karen left, once again we were three. Andy made the mark of MopedHead on the bench and suggested we continue on to Santa Cruz. Sweet. Stay tuned for part 2.