Mission to Fort Bragg

By Rafter

Troy Pre Ride Nap

Nate had been planning to ride nearly 225 miles to Fort Bragg from Sacramento for a couple years now. We originally thought it would be 5 or 6 Landsquids on 80cc kits. I thought it would take two days when we first discussed it but Nate was certain 8 hrs would be as long as it could possibly take.
Nate, Steve, Troy, Anup and I were the final participants to be ready in time to ride to Fort Bragg. Nate’s family had an awesome vacation house up there near the beach for us to take over for a couple days. We would be meeting Nates wife Rosa and her pal Kristin up there later in the day.

The four of us met up at Nate’s house at 8:00 am. It was chilly out but the sun was already full blast. We rolled out to gas up at 8:30 am. We made a quick emergency bathroom visit on our way outta town at Troys house.

On the road by aprox 9:15 am. We rode through West Sacramento and took the bike trail that follows the freeway to Davis for 3 miles. We were a lil bit sketched out by taking the bike route as it is not quite legal, but it did knock about 15 miles off our alternate route through Woodland. No bikes or Cops on the trail so we were all good. When we reached the end of the causeway Nate and Steve’s China CDI units were over heating already and not performing well. We spent 10:00 am – 12 noon figuring all this out as we worked our way through Davis. We lost so much time on this section of the mission and started out the trip stressing right away.

Working on Ignitions in Davis

CDI pretty much sucks as far as I can tell these days.

We got going outta Davis and started really pulling throttles wide open for miles at a time. All the rodes out in this zone are flat straight and no stop lights. 55mph speed limits posted. We got to Winters in no time at all, gassed up once again and headed into the hills to Lake Beryessa. We came up on the lake really quickly hitting up some really fast rolling hills with wide lanes. Steve and I were side by side for some time and it was rad to see his new bike ripping.

Steve has the cheap three shoe clutch all hacked up with stock springs and it is a terrific set up for low end. And when he needs more power on a hill he gets it to slip again just by nailing the throttle. It totally sounds like it down shifts.

Tearing it up around Lake Berryessa

Glamour shots

Nate, Troy, and Steve were steady crushing the many miles of up hill on the way to Napa. Anup and I were a bit slower on the long mellow hills and fell behind a few clicks. I got a mile ahead of Anup and saw some rad looking twistys. I pulled over to take his picture as he rode by but instead of him all I got was a White Lexus full of wine country ladies telling me he had broken down a ways back. Bummer for him. Fun for me. I got to blast down hill back trough the twists I fought my way up to find him.

Anup was on the side of the road near a big black gate with a flat rear tire on his Peugeot 103. Bummertime. I happened to bring a pump for some reason but no patch kit or tube. I got the tire off and we waited hopefully for an avid cyclist to pedal by so we could jack them for a patch kit. No luck was to be found in that but a big friendly guy popped outta that big black gate and scrounged us up a nice BMX tube from what he called “The Bone Yard up the hill”. Lots more time lost, extra dirty hands and having a really good time none the less.

We got to St Helena and rode in the gutter to pass tons of rich Winos stuck in traffic, stopped for gas and Anups bike started to quit on us. Another hour or so on the side of the road tinkering.

Anup and his bike. Over jetted and points failing.

Troys own words "Maxin and Relaxin"

Please come back to life 103

After a buncha attempts at getting this thing to idle or run right Nate made an executive decision to make Anup ride the Bumblebee Magnum and Nate would force the 103 to perform whether it liked it or not. Nate kicked the 103 to life and forced it to travel 60mph. He was all over it, killing the roads and really really hard to keep up with. We never new the lil green monster was capable of those speeds. Anup had a bad luck streak and I backtracked just a tad to find him on the roadside with a loose ground. Fixed up and played catch up for a bit.

Passing cars uphill in the twisty’s is my favorite unsafe activity. We were split up for quite some time and met up in a mini town called Geyserville I think at 7:00 pm. We grouped up and rode to Cloverdale for gas stop and Cop Stop. Explained mopeds for the tenth or so time for the day. From Cloverdale to Booneville we were kinda split up a bit again. Nate was struggling to keep Anup’s 103 running but when it would go, it would reeeally go. We were in Booneville to stretch our legs and regroup when our good buddy Patrick appeared outta nowhere and made us all stoked. Patrick is from Yuba area like nate, Steve and Anup. I think they all went to High School together. We were in such a nowhereville it was awesome to run into this guy and brighten our mood.

Yay! Homies from home!

Look at the smile on that guy!

Anups bike was refusing to start again. It was getting close to nightfall so I headed out solo for some slow riding. I think I did 20-30 miles alone. It was rad watching the sun setting over the distant coastal clouds riding on rolling hills of grape vines. Anup was left back at a bar in Booneville to fend for himself till we could make arrangements later.

I entered a redwood forest on my own and stopped for a pee break. When I killed the motor I was so struck by the quiet of the forest. No cars around, no birds, nothing. I could see the coastal fog high in the air and it was moving fast and silent.

Deep breath and solitude.

So much for the silence. I could hear Troy for almost a full minute before he appeared on his Super Scrapper. He is rocking a very very used Biturbo pipe and he wont be sneaking up on anyone anytime soon. I was ever so happy to see him none the less. It was really getting dark and misty as we tore up the last bit of forest on our own. No using visors at this point. Cant see shit. Troy was so terribly fast through the end of the redwoods I couldn’t keep with his lines. My bike is rigid and unforgiving on wet and rough turns.

Troy and I reached HWY 1 and did some jumping jacks and play fighting to warm up. Steve and Nate came up on us in no time. They were many miles behind us but charged full throttle to catch up quick. Nate had to ride with no glasses due to mist and led us up to Mendicino 10 miles from our destination. Steve lost all power and we stopped together to check out the senerio. Nate and Troy went on to finish the trip without us and Nate had to go get Anup with Rosas Car 60 miles back so they were rushing. After much tinkering with Steves bike, we flagged a guy in a pickup truck and Steve got a ride to Fort Bragg. I followed the truck for a bit and passed it in the rain for a last bit of hype before my journey was over.

We all ended up safe at the Fort Bragg house. I had some hot Chocolate and fell asleep quickly on a wonderful puffy couch.

Two more Fort Bragg posts to come.Check back soon.