Back to dirt

[T Legg]

It's been a heavy winter this year. The Sierra's have been and are still buried in deep snow . Even the roads through the Virginia range to the east  have been snow covered most of the winter.
    We've were able to ride in the valley between storms and up Geiger grade a few times but it hasn't been a good winter for street bikes.

[T Legg]

My son Ian decided it was time to get another dirt bike to replace his old XR 600 that he blew the motor on seven years ago. He picked up a Yamaha WR 400 that needed carburetor work for $ 1,800.00 . A week later Ian had it running great. I dug out my bultaco 370 that has been sitting under a tarp for 15 years. Unfortunately the fork seals are blown and the tires are shot and the seat needs to be recovered. Its going to take a little work to get it back on the road.

[T Legg]

My brother had an old Yamaha XT 550 In his garage that hadn't run in five years and told me I should take it. I couldn't refuse. I brought it home and cleaned the carburetor and air filter ,fixed the kickstand , put in a new front inner tube and battery and it was ready to go. Only 7,400 miles on it.
      I've forgotten how much fun the dirt bikes are. I rode them from 8 years old until my thirties then I road the bultaco for a couple years when my kids got dirt bikes then parked it under the tarp .
My son and I have been riding in the mountains above my house and it been a blast.

[T Legg]

We've had to share the dirt road at times.
  It took about a quarter mile but we finally got past the horses with out stampeding them down the side of the hill.
    There were more waiting for me on my hill when I got home.

[T Legg]

Some more pictures of the canyon.

[T Legg]

We plan on doing some extended off road trips this summer.

[Waiex191]

Great pics!

[Old Rider]

Thanks for sharing nice pictures i love dirtbikes i think the old ones looks coolest.i have not ridden dirt bikes much, but had some fun on a RM250 and
huqvarna 390 or what it was  and a maico .I think you can get a very good price if you are selling that bultaco.That XT550 must be great fun riding on those mountain gravel roads.
im planning to buy a XT500 the ones that came before 550 with twin rear schocks.Im a little pissed off because still can not
ride my fj. The winter has been long here this year and it is still ice and snow where i got the fj winter parked so not possible to get it on the road.The roads are snowfree
but yesterday it was snowing again .Normaly the riding season starts in beginning of March here so missed a month of riding already.
I have a few old dirtbikes, but they are not ridable   

[T Legg]

I remember when the Elsinore first came out. I was riding a Yamaha CT1 175 at the time and these 125 cc Hondas were leaving me in the dust.
    Then came the RM monoshock bikes. Those two bikes revolutionized  motocross.

[T Legg]

My son and I took a ride up to Lagomarsino canyon east of Reno. We rode up Geiger grade to the  Highlands and out Lousetown road.

[T Legg]

The road follows a creek  from the Virginia range down all the way to the I-80 corridor. The mountains are mostly volcanic rock.

[T Legg]

Sheep herders used to graze their flocks along the creek. Their rock walls are still here. When I was a kid in the sixty's the Basque herders still grazed sheep all around Reno and much of northern Nevada.Wild horses graze the grass around the creek now.

[T Legg]

More creek pictures.

[T Legg]

We arrived at Lagomarsino canyon . Native American Indians made thousands of petroglyphs on the rocks walls of the canyon over a period stretching back at least ten thousand years.

[T Legg]

At the top of the canyon there are several perches where Indians then sheep herders and now us have sat to watch the canyon below. We also found a little guy guarding the canyon. I didn't notice him until I was about two feet away.