| May 16, 2023
Exit Tours MC Club shares highlights and photos from the annual San Andreas 300, a dual-sport and ADV ride along the San Andreas Fault, which took place April 28-May 1. Here is their story:
The fifth edition of the San Andreas 300 took place during a Superbloom in California after the recent heavy rains. Wildflowers blanketed the hillsides.
This dual-sport and adventure ride, organized by the Exit Tours MC Club, starts in Pozo, near the site of the Cal Poly Penguins old Hi-Mtn Enduro. The route traverses the Santa Lucia Mountains and the San Andreas Fault to Ballinger Canyon, site of the Old Red Garter and Leapin’ Lizard Enduros, ending at the Songdog Ranch near New Cuyama.
The Leapin’ Lizard was a District 36-37 Challenge Enduro back in the day. The San Andreas 300 is put on by some of the same guys who were instrumental in organizing the Leapin’ Lizard Enduro in the late ’80s to mid-’90s.
The SA 300 is a limited-entry Club Ride any competent rider can join. Club rides are non-commercial rides that stage and camp on private property, with fewer than 75 riders. No trail markings, and are navigated by phone-compatible GPS tracks. Riders join the club, and pay for the amenities with the ride, and not for the ride itself.
This year’s amenities included six outstanding meals, trail snacks, and an open bar Saturday night until 9 p.m. [Participants receveived a] T shirt, pin and a coffee cup, plus a swag drawing for a Pirelli Mousse. Gear and fuel portage [was] included. Private reserved campsites were available in Ballinger Canyon on Saturday night, or [Participants] had the option to sleep on a pad in the open area of the Strawbale Lodge.
Friday afternoon, the club served cheeseburgers—since the Pozo Saloon is currently closed—and free beers and Pozo Martinis, until the beer ran out. Friday evening, 25 like-minded enthusiasts went for a night ride on twisty pavement to the Black Mountain FAA tower, with almost 3000 feet in elevation gain. Night rides are a complete hoot with the headlights on current dual-sport and ADV bikes, and will put a smile on your face.
Saturday morning offered choices of four loops to Ballinger Canyon. [There was] an ‘A’ and B+ route that skirted the Carrizo Plains National Monument on a ridgetop Jeep Road for 35 miles. The ‘A’ loop included some challenging singletrack off the ridgetop two-track. All loops went around and past the wet Soda “dry” Lake.
Saturday afternoon, some of the riders on converted street-legal dirt bikes took to some challenging loops in Ballinger Canyon on the trails of the past Leapin’ Lizard and Red Garter enduros. Some of trails had taken some abuse from the recent rains, but were studded with wildflowers.
Sunday again dawned clear and sunny, and after pancakes and all the fixin’s that make our riders go faster, the dual-sport loop, again, took on the trails of Ballinger Canyon. The 35-mile loop for the A & B+ riders was very reminiscent of the past Leapin’ Lizard Enduro: Ridgetop trails, whoops and stutter-bumps, deep canyons and one scary Ridgetop singletrack trail.
The ‘B’ loop destination on Sunday was an Old WWII lookout-tower high on a peak, which took some self-navigating due to some unforeseen bridge construction over the Cuyama River. The Cuyama river on its journey west turns into the Santa Maria River, which contributed to the building of the Pismo Sand Dunes, eons ago.
After the morning trail rides, it was back to the ranch in Ballinger for fuel and a sack lunch with snacks for the trail, and the ride back to the oak tree-studded ranch in Pozo. The downhills were now uphills on the ridgetop two-track and single-track, and the views and flowers were reversed on the B loop. The ride crossed the valley on the the north end a different way on Sunday, which shortened the ride by 10 miles. And included the rain-damaged Pozo Road as the route over the Santa Lucia mountains, for the Adventure, B+ and B Dual Sport loops.
The ‘A’ loop tackled Pine Mountain and the infamous “Stair Steps” of Pozo. Then [they] took to the steep hills on Las Chiches and Powerline trail back to the finish on private property near Turkey Flats, the staging area for the old Hi-Mtn Enduro. After checking back in in Pozo, riders received a cool participant pin, and the club chefs prepped half chickens, and, after a beverage or two, most of the club members departed back to reality. Around 25 riders stayed Sunday night, with a few enjoying an Adventure loop to three iconic Central Coast Beaches—Morro Bay, Avila and Pismo Beaches—on Monday.
Look for the sixth annual edition of the San Andreas 300 on May 3-6 of 2024.
More Info on http://exittours.org
See more photos and videos on this link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/bkR2JbaH1HioUam56
