2010 - CA - Mammoth New Years Bash

New Years Party at Mammoth Mountain, California.

Ahhhhh.....winter......

There is nothing quite like the drive up the eastern sierras. It is absolutely unbelievably undeniably indescribably awesome and beautiful.

We left LA at 5 am on new years eve and drove 4.5 hours north to Mammoth Lakes. We headed straight to the resort and got in a half day of skiing on the mountain. No pix of skiing unfortunately, but i will post some fun helmet camera video later.


Brianna J. wrangled us a cabin in the Snowcreek condo development that housed our motley crew comfortably. It was a New Years/Bri Bday party. Thanks Bri!!!!

The view from the deck on NYE.


It was a merry bunch of close friends.


To summarize the weekend I'd say -
20 bottles of Champagne - 13 people - 6 different illnesses - 4 days of fun in the snow.


Drink from 6 - 12.

Midnight - 2010 - the NEW DECADE. See ya 2009 and the last 10 years! WOOHOO!


(I must say, in my opinion, this was the worst NYE New York show I've ever seen.)
Just look at the excitement.


Make-out at 12:01.


Take some pix on the deck at 12:30.

Take pix inside at 12:35.

Laugh and have fun at 12:45.


Play games at 1am.

2am refuel with Jetfuel.


pass out at 2:30.


It actually didn't happen just like that, but I thought it'd be more interesting as a time-line.

Some of the party players...I'll add more later.





Erika is camera shy...why? I don't know


Beards are mandatory in the mountains. Doug would never let us down.


The ever presentable Kearney-meister.

Oh yeah...In case you were wondering....

All the world IS a beer cooler.

2009 - CA - White Elephant

This is what happens when the grand ole "WHITE ELEPHANT" gift exchanges goes horribly wrong...



I guess kids need to learn things sooner or later and somehow.

2009 - CA - Sean's XR250R

Editors note: Clearly, dirt bikes are the theme of the month.

First things first.

Sean O'brien is a good guy. We call him SOB, but it's just not true.

Last week, Sean bought this 1997 XR250.

(no chain? It's a long story.)

The guy he bought it from hadn't done anything for something like 7 years. It's a honda...what is there to do?

So we tore it up last night and tried to see what kind of lemon Sean brought home.




We cleaned up some crust and looked things over.
The wheels didn't spin well because the drive train was caked solid with glue-like mud.

The crusty chain needed to go.



Of course, we put in a new Spark plug.


That took the two of us about 4 hours. Must be a record of some sort.

Overall, with some more tweaking, I think this 250 will be a great little ride.

2009 - CA - MAKE IT STOP!!!

I know...

Charlie knows...


This guy knows...


Everybody knows that changing a carburetor is just plain fun.

I started upgrading the xr400 a couple nights ago.

First off, I swapped the stock Honda PIA carb for a pumper carb made by mikuni. It came pre-jetted from xrsonly.com for 3500ft.

Changing the carb on these bikes is a rather involved process. It took approximately 8 beers.


It probably should have taken 20 minutes...

In the end. I installed the Mikuni, flipped the gas, kicked twice and the old beast fired right up. Whew!



Oh...and one more thing.


You might have noticed there are now 4 in the garage.
Sean OB picked up a nice 97 XR250 last night.

Who wants to join my biker club? We ride this Sunday...
Maybe I'll shoot some vids.

2009 - CA - Additional Arrows for the Motorized Quiver

It's been said that "You can never have too much of a good thing." I agree. And when it comes to dirt bikes, I currently triple agree.



08 XR100, 97 XR400, 08 TE610.

I picked up this 1997 XR 400 R the other day...

Because it was registered before 2003, it's technically grandfathered in as a street legal bike in CA. A big plus - as just crossing a paved road on a dirt-only bike can get you cited.

What sold me was the condition of this 13 year old engine.

Pristine! It prrrrs. Very snappy throttle response. Runs smooth through all gears, sounds great.


The 97 Honda XR400 and the 08 Husqvarna TE610.

Now if i could just figure out how to ride them at the same time.

Nat's learning how to ride on this 08 XR100. It's THE best bike to learn how to ride on and is also just plain ole fun to mess around on.

This is Rowher Flats. This magical place just opened on November 7th after 2 years of closure due to a forest fire. This place is great! Lots of fun trails and large areas to putz around and explore.


Here's Sean and Charlie, holding down the fort. Good times.

2009 - Halloween 09

The Creepmore 2nd Annual Hellgate opening was a success.

Great times again. Thanks for playing everyone.



The night was full of friendly chatting, reggae music, black-lit atmospherics, heaps of food and a drinking game for the foolish.

It goes without saying that "Team Men" was the powerhouse team to beat.


Obviously, the art of slamming a cheap beer and flipping the cup onto it's top is gender biased.


What wasn't so obvious is why Doug would proceed to smash chairs after slamming and flipping the final Men's cup.





The party players in costumed anonymity -













Taking best costume -

Obviously...they're "2 buck chuck."


The night begins innocently for most. But there is always one that goes too far.



Coffee-mate kills.