Administrators Eric Hall Posted March 17, 2015 Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Better late than never, right? I wanted to post this only because we are going to schedule it again and I thought it would be nice for people to see what this was all about the first time. I scheduled this ride thinking there may be 4-6 people tops, but the Franco Testa contacted me saying he'd volunteer his time and gourmet food preparation skills to use as a fundraising opportunity for Lost for a Reason charity. I didn't immediately think of how good the food would be but then I'm not as smart as most people because we ended up with close to 30 people! Count them yourself Troy Meadow campground (Troy overflow, to be specific) is a nice, cool place to escape in the summer when it's too hot to ride in the desert. How hot was it getting there? Let me show you... Yeah, it was that hot! I used a cooling vest and it made a huge difference. It got me from home to Kramer Junction before it was bone dry. I re-wetted it there and then stopped again at the Shell station in Pearsonville. I was going to re-wet it again but I was headed up the mountain right after that and didn't want to get too cold. Temps up on the mountain were pretty nice; highs in the low 80's and lows in the high 40's. This overflow campground isn't that bad. It does not require a reservation, so it's first come/first served. I got there Friday afternoon and found Franco and crew were already there, so we just kind of used that general area. Hopefully this first post gives you a feel for what the campground is like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted March 17, 2015 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Saturday was our day to ride and because I couldn't get anyone else to lead a group, we did the relatively easy jeep trail into Monache Meadow and then the more advanced riders split off on the way back to camp to do some more challenging single track. Such an amazing place Our advanced riders taking a break in the afternoon.. A highlight was our "river" crossing at the Kern river. The water was barely knee deep that day, which was probably a good thing but I've seen it higher. Like I said, the advanced riders took a different way back and it was a lot of fun. Basically it was a lot of soft single track with some rocky up and downs. There are a few water crossings when the creeks run but not on that day. I was glad the group wanted to go just a bit further because we found the single track became this really cool luge-like roller coaster ride along Albanita trail that I hadn't done before. So the ride turned out not to be that long in mileage, but had more joy/mile than most rides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted March 17, 2015 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I think the real star of this weekend had to be the food! You have this man to thank: Franco is a super nice guy and runs a successful plumbing business out of the San Diego area called My Plumber. He has done quite a bit for Lost for a Reason and just recently I got to go with him on a trip to the Navajo reservation to do some serious plumbing and general construction work on a womens' shelter there. Franco got his Italian buddies to chip in as well. Key was Stefano, who is a professional chef, who owns/runs Piazza 1909 in La Jolla. Also, Paul Costello, Erik, Salvatore, etc... Here's Paul. Looking at this makes my mouth water even now. Look at that lamb! LOOK AT IT! A total food-gasm Aside from the food, just watching a bunch of Italian guys bust on each other all day was thoroughly entertaining! Stephanie was there and gave me wood She was kind enough to haul it up there for us Our shorter ride time left us some great time to socialize and relax around the fire. Happy campers at breakfast the next morning as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Eric Hall Posted March 17, 2015 Author Administrators My Rides (3) Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 Videos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TOStester Posted March 23, 2015 My Ride Report Share Posted March 23, 2015 Nice! I was there the weekend before your trip. Looks like you had a bigger group though. Most of the group we rode with trailered their bikes up, my buddy and I may have been the only two that biked in with all our gear. It is a beautiful place to ride. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts