Romero Canyon (Ventura, CA)

After leaving Ojai, I drove over to Mike and Galen's place in Ventura. They live halfway up a mountain with a balcony view over the ocean.





Mike took me to one of his favorite rides in Santa Barbara called Romero Canyon. It starts with a four mile climb up a fire road, followed by a blistering downhill through some rocky technical sections. Both of our bikes suffered minor punctures, but we just aired the tires up a couple of times and made it to the bottom of the trail. For the last mile or so the trail dumps back onto the original fire road which allowed us to gain some real speed (somewhere around 35mph I guess).

Christmas in Ojai

I lucked out BIG TIME when Tony and Eva came to visit. They let me come along for Eva's Christmas celebration. We spent a night at her parents' house in Carlsbad and then headed to Ojai the next morning to see her Aunt and Uncle, Laura and Rocky.



Their place was magnificent and the two of them were some of the best hosts ever! The place was set on the top of a mountain, surrounded by five acres of avacado trees and some of the most beautiful sights imaginable. They have seven dogs and the entire property is fenced in, so I was able to let Dignon and Andy's two dogs run around all five acres. Rocky (Eva's Uncle) fabricates custom motorcycle saddles (Bill Mayer Saddles) and served as an encyclopedia on great drives for me to check out on my way back to Richmond. The feast was great and the company - even better! I was served a piece of steak larger than my head (it was delicious). They even gave me a Christmas gift.

Elfin Forest

Drove to Carlsbad today to hang out with Tony and Eva for Christmas and whatnot. I brought along Andy's Rocky Mountain Slayer SXC and went riding at Elfin Forest with Tony. It was an out-and-back ride up a rocky doubletrack. The climb was short but brutal so we walked a fair amount of it.





The ride down was great! I let one of the dogs come along, but she was starting to slow on the descent and we had to stop and wait every hundred yards or so. We walked back up some sections and sessioned the rock gardens while waiting for Gracie (the dog).



A few minutes later we reached the bottom and loaded up the bus with dogs and bikes. Now we're at Eva's folks house and tomorrow we'll be driving to Ventura, where I look forward to riding with Mike King. Oh yeah, I drove the bus on vegetable oil today...and it worked great!

Balboa Park

Just over a mile away from Andy's house is Balboa Park. We visited the park on Sunday and caught a glimpse of the trails beside the park in the Florida Canyon. Today I rode back to the park to check out the trails.



The trails aren't very long, but they do wind down the canyon on either side, which allows you to climb up to the top and make several laps in a short time. I even found a small gap jump at the top of the canyon and played on it for a bit.



Later today Tony and Eva came into town to visit, so I took them back to Balboa. I figured there was plenty to see there and it was doubtful that I'd seen it all. I was right...we had a blast just riding bikes through the park and taking in the sights.

Fiesta Island & Morley Field

On Saturday we took the dogs to a leash-free island called Fiesta Island. It's basically a huge dog park. It's located near Ocean Beach. The dogs had a blast and we got a chance to partially test out the veggie oil system on the drive there.





Today we went to Balboa Park. We played a few holes of disc golf at Morley Field and then walked around Balboa Park to check out the botanical garden, street performers, and Timken Museum of Art.







We saw a Unimog on the way out of the disc golf course.

Hurricane Diego

It rained ALL day today. Apparently it's the most rain Andy has seen since he got here in July.

Vnecks Forever

Yesterday I was changing out of a white Vneck and into a tan one when I realized...I'm back in Vneck Summer!

I guess it's time to dye some more Vnecks for another great season!