Lost Coast BDR-X 2026

 

After baking in the Las Vegas heat all summer, the Lost Coast BDR-X looked particularly inviting. I put a ride plan together to ride this route, but in a different way. We stayed near the center of the official figure 8 route at the Bear River Casino near Fortuna, CA. My ride plan had 3 sections, mostly following the BDR-X route but using the Bear River Casino as our center hub. The routes in brown are my ride plan. 

We completed my first day ride plan as planned.

I got off course and headed towards Garberville for a bit before figuring it out and correcting course. It rained most of the time but mostly light rain. The route was full of curves and scenery.

It was wet.

We got great ocean views, and parts of it ride right along the ocean. Here is a video of highlights from the ride from Bear River Casino to Shelter Cove.: https://youtu.be/7eqj1sbR1cA .

We stopped for lunch and gas in Shelter Cove. The rain had mostly stopped so we ate lunch at the Surf Point Coffee House, right on the ocean. Video from King Peak Road to the Surf Point Coffee House: https://youtu.be/9ZuuL78G2_c

I would recommend the Surf Point. Good food and great views. After lunch we got gas at the store in Shelter Cover and headed South following our route. We finally got to Usal Road, the more challenging part of this BDR, especially in the rain. This would be easy if it was dry but the wet clay was a bit slick. It was not super wet so we were lucky.

The further South on Usal Road we went, the drier it got. We got some great views where it rides along the hills overlooking the ocean.

Yes, I know I need a haircut.

Usal road YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HqVxW8JvpFI. This starts North of Usal and continues to highway 1.

By the time we got to highway 1, the rain had mostly stopped and the sun was out at times (but still quite cloudy). We stayed the night at Fort Bragg as planned.

We had dinner along the Noyo River, just down the road from the hotel. We had planned to eat at the Noyo Fish Company but it was closed. We ended up at the Sea Pal Cove which is a fish and chips place.

Here is the Cardo Ride track from this day of riding: https://riserapp.com/t/nZeipwZBb18j and Rewind: https://img.riserapp.com/photos/videos/rewind/1918714-rewind.mp4 . It took us about 6.5 hours between Fortuna and Fort Bragg. If it were not raining, we may have investigated more of the spur trails. We rode to the Saddle Mountain Viewpoint but we were in the fog.

The next day we had breakfast at Denny's in Fort Bragg and looked at the weather forecasts.

The forecasts were not good. As we head North, the forecast called for increasing rain up to almost an inch with 10 to 10mph winds. That is no fun to ride in so we just took highway 1 to highway 101 back to the Bear River Casino where we were staying. We got lucky and only had very light occasional rain on the way back. We got back by 10:30am, loaded the bikes, and had lunch at Jack's Seafood Restaurant in Eureka. After lunch, we decided to check out the Avenue of the Giants.

YouTube of Avenue of the Giants: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD9A3UPa2gs8

Looking at the next day forecast was also looking dismal so we left the next morning. Our plan for a 3-day ride turned into a 1 day adventure ride, and a highway ride back to Fortuna the next day.

Here is the YouTube playlist for this ride: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX5Dr8FexgVw .

This was the complete opposite of Las Vegas weather so it was a nice break for us after cooking all summer. We got some great views and really enjoyed the first day. 

 1984 BMW 318i Story

1986 photo of the 318i

This is the story of one 1984 BMW 318i automatic. This story starts in 1986 when my father-in-law bought my mother-in-law (Joyce) this 1984 BMW 318i from a used car dealer in Kennewick Washington. They owned this car for many years. They moved to Las Vegas to retire and the car came with them. Several years after my father-in-law retired, they realized they never drove this car anymore. They did not want to hassle of selling it so they gave it to us instead. I flew out to Vegas and drove the car back to Peoria in the summer of 2000. 

In my garage in Chillicothe, IL

The late 70's and early 80's was dismal for the auto industry. Cars were really low on power, performance, reliability, well just about everything. This 318i was the most anemic version available in the US. It had a 1.8L 4 cylinder engine mated to a crude 3-speed automatic. The engine only made 100hp but it was confined to a rather narrow rpm range that started around 4,000rpm. Below that, the power was real weak. The automatic transmission made it hard to use that tight powerband too. 0-60mph came in 12 seconds at best. 

At this point I will refer to this writeup of all the modifications I made to this car: http://jimroal.com/cars/bmw.htm . When I sold it, I had turbocharged and intercooled it and converted it to a 5-speed manual transmission. It now accelerated to 60 in 6 seconds. 

I hit a deer one evening and the car was totaled according to the insurance company. At this point the value of the car was low so even the minor damage it had was enough to total it.

The car was drivable and I drove it home. The damage was sheet metal level but I decided to sell the car versus repairing it. I sold it to a coworker, Dan. Dan repaired the car and drove it for a few years. A head gasket blew while he owned it but I had included a spare engine when I sold him the car. He swapped the engine and returned it to stock (no turbo). He later sold the car to another coworker, Cort. Cort installed a Megasquirt EFI system with distributorless ignition. He later sold the car to another coworker, Ethan. Dan, Cort, Ethan, and I all worked in the same department and the same building. This car stayed "in the family" for many years. Ethan put the turbo back on. He found some leaks in the header I had made so I repaired them under warranty. This was around 2011 now.

Ethan eventually sold the car to Sam. Sam was into drift competition and he did a major rebuild on the car, installing a roll cage and an inline 6 engine. Here is a short article about Sam's car: https://s3mag.com/sam-holzmanns-e30-bmw/ 

You can see the latest on his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/samholzmann/ 

Riding the San Juan Mountains, Colorado

 

A friend and I rode the San Juan mountain passes for 3 days on our motorcycles. We stayed on the Prospector Motel in Silverton, Colorado. The hotel was very basic but clean and comfortable. I would stay there again.

Joe has a Triumph 1200 Scrambler and I have a Husqvarna 701 Enduro. Silverton is a nice town with neat history and a set of steam trains that go between Silverton and Durango.

 

I remember these trains from the last time I was in Silverton as a kid, sometime in the early 1970's. It was great to see them still operating. They also have an outdoor rail museum with many old types of rail cars.

Outdoor Rail Museum

I was impressed with the dining options in Silverton. I was expecting this town to have less good options. We ate the first 2 nights at the Eureka Station restaurant which had the best chicken noodle soup and bison meatloaf. I would recommend this place.

Breakfast options were few but they do have some good places. There are many taverns and bars in town as well. Here is a video riding down Greene Street (main street through town)

Silverton is at 9,300 feet altitude and the passes can be over 13,000 feet. Staying in Silverton gave us a chance to acclimate somewhat to the thin air. 

Note: The videos of the trails make everything look flatter than it is. You can watch the altitude (top left in the videos) and see how fast the altitude is changing to get an idea of how steep it is. Even that does not convey the steepness of these trails. You really have to be there to experience it. 

Husqvarna 701 Enduro 10k mile update

 

My Husqvarna 701 Enduro just crossed 10,000 miles. I bought it new in the fall of 2023 and ride it most weekends. Here in the Southwest we ride all year. I had to take a couple breaks from riding due to injuries. I really love this bike and it fits my riding desires well. I am between dual sport riding and adventure riding. Maybe a bit more towards adventure riding but not into long pavement rides or camping.

Beyond maintenance and upgrades, here is the list of repairs I had to make:

• Radiator. One day it just started leaking in the middle of the core. It was a small leak. No apparent physical damage. The bike had about 9,000 miles on it when this happened in December 2025.
  
  
  
• Fuel tank mounts. The top fuel tank bolts loosened and one was completely disengaged. Then one of the lower mount bolts broke. The fuel tank is the rear subframe. There is a subframe reinforcement kit for this but at a minimum check your bolts regularly.
• Sidestand sensor. This is a common issue with these bikes. It sits low and it exposed. It was flakey from new, intermittently preventing start and setting DTCs. They replaced it under warranty but the issues persisted but very intermittently. Luckily I bought a sidestand sensor dongle that simulates the sidestand always up solving this problem. If you have one of these bikes this device is a must. 
  
  
  
• The shifter rubber part disappeared one day so I upgraded to a Tusk all-metal one. 

  

  
  

We have some very rocky terrain around here so this bike has taken a beating. Not to mention my questionable riding skills and numerous times I have dropped the bike. The crash bars have some miles on them for sure. My camera has great smoothing making this look much smoother than it is but here is an example of the rough trails.

There are certainly trails with larger rocks that I have ridden but what made this one bad was that it is not really steep and it was straight so the speed was higher and it was long. The beating just never stopped. There are many more great examples on my YouTube channel such as Wheeler Pass North side and Kingston Powerline Road.

The longer I have the bike, the shorter the rear tire life. My original TKC 80 rear tire lasted almost 3,000 miles. Then I switched to Anakee Wild tires, the first rear lasting only 1700 miles. The last Anakee Wild lasted only 1200 miles. I replace them at about 4mm remaining. I now have a nearly worn out TKC 80 with about 1300 miles on it. I have a TKC 80 gen 2 ready for installation soon. The front tires outlast the rears but about 5:1. 

I average somewhere in the high 40's for miles-per-gallon. That is a mix of on and off road but mostly off road. I have done as good as low 60's if riding smooth sections where I am in 6th gear often but below 55mph. I have had as low as mid-30's when blasting down the highway with the windshield on into a headwind. I now have a truck to haul the bike so long highway rides are much less common. 

Here are some prior updates:

I bought a Husqvarna 701 Enduro .

1,000 mile review of the Husky.

T-Rex skid plate and crash bars

2,000 mile review

5,000 mile review

Veridian cruise install

Biktrix Brake Upgrade

The 2-piston brakes on the Biktrix were not meeting my expectations. They were also real load on very low speed braking, like walking the bike down a steep hill. I decided I needed an upgrade so I bought so I bought Zoom 4-piston brakes off Amazon. I ended up just using the calipers. The tube ends were a bit different so I had to do some work there to adapt them for my lines. My front brake line had been damaged, and it is all exposed so I did use the front brake line that came in the kit. The rear brake line goes through the frame and motor area and it would be a much bigger job to replace that so I retained the line and modified the caliper end to fit the new caliper. The rear brake line is also in very good condition. I did not use the handle/cylinder ends from the new kit, instead retaining the Biktrix units. The switch in the handles was not directly compatible with my bike and my original handle/cylinders are in good condition. I have a nice firm brake feel even though the calipers are larger volume. 

I bled them and went for a road test. After breaking them in, they improved stopping power significantly. 

Biktrix offers a Magura MT5e with Bafang HiGo 2-Pin Connector upgrade for $320 ($20 more with the electrical adapters that are needed). The Zoom HB876E kit I bought cost $85.

I also upgraded the rotors a week later. My original rotors with over 2,000 miles on them were glazed. These are 180mm rotors and I considered upgrading to 203mm rotors but I was not real comfortable with the adapters that are needed for this. Bike rotors are inexpensive (<$10/each). The photo below shows the original rotor still installed, and the new rotor for comparison.

Ranger Dual Camera Install

My 2019 Ranger does have a backup camera from the factory. I have the basic stereo with a tiny display but it works. Except when I haul bikes with the tailgate down. The rear camera is in the tailgate so when you drive with the tailgate down the camera points at the ground. I considered making some sort of adjustable camera mount so I could flip it out when driving with the tailgate down but I could not come up with a decent implementation of that concept. Of course I scoured the internet to see if there were any good solutions and found none. 

The other problem I have is seeing right in front of the truck when offroad. For instance, as you crest the top of a hill, you are totally blind in front of the truck. 

I decided I wanted 2 cameras, one in front and another in back. I wanted to keep the display small, yet visible. I needed a place to mount the display as well.

I chose this camera system.

I modified the mount to use a standard Ram 1" ball mount.

I also mounted to Ram mount 1" balls in the top dash tray to mount this display, and a phone or my Garmin Xumo XT2 navigation. This makes it easy to remove or reposition the display as desired.

I acquired a 7-way trailer adapter (which I wanted anyway) and use the power and ground circuits from that top power the rear camera. I wanted it on at all times the key is ON and this served that purpose. This way I could tap into this adapter harness and not modify the factory wiring. 

I power the front by adding a fuse tap to the USB charging fuse.

The system works good. Initially I had a terrible rattle in the display. I found the buttons on the back of the display were loose and rattled. I applies electrical tape over them to secure them and prevent the rattle.