Name: Ojai, Los Padres & the Carrizo Plain
Start: 2021-08-01T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2021-08-06T00:00:00.000Z
Location: Ojai, CA 93023, USA

Ojai Motorcycle Club

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Aug 1 - 6, 2021

Group size: 4 - 10

Ojai, Los Padres & the Carrizo Plain

Ojai, CA 93023, USA

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Ojai Motorcycle Club

Email address verified

Aug 1 - 6, 2021

Group size: 4 - 10

Duration: 6 days; 6 nights; 5 riding days

Terrain: 50/50 paved/unpaved

Location: This tour will start and end in Ojai, California, USA. 75 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Reservations: 50% of Tour Price is required as non-refundable deposit.
Balance is due 45 days before tour start date.

Overview:

We will ride through the Ojai, Santa Lucia and Monterey Ranger Districts of the Los Padres National Forest.
Through the Cuyama Valley, the Carrizo Plain National Monument and then (depending on the the time of year) into the Southern Sierra mountains or along the Big Sur coastline, high above the Pacific ocean.
Each night will be spent at a different location, featuring comfort-camping or in a guesthouse, ranch or hotel.
The food is always fresh, organic and locally sourced.
Beverages include world-class wines, craft beers and cider from local vineyards, breweries and farms.

Day 1
Day 1
Arrival & Orientation – Los Angeles to Ojai, via Santa Paula
Ojai Motorcycle Club will arrange a shuttle ride for the guests, for the 60 to 90-minute drive from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or Bob Hope Airport (BUR) to the Clubhouse in the Upper Ojai Valley, halfway between the Ventura County towns of Santa Paula and Ojai.

The row of ADV motorcycles will stand ready and waiting for their riders to arrive.

That first evening, we will chill out by the fireside under the shadow of the Topa Topa Mountains. Dinner will be a foray into authentic South African style “braaivleis” (barbecue grilled meat) and “potjiekos” (outdoor-prepared stews), as well as local craft beers and award-winning wines from regional vineyards.

The new arrivals will spend the first night sleeping in comfort at an upscale hotel or ranchhouse/guesthouse.

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Day 2
Day 2
The Adventure Begins – Into the Cuyama
The morning’s coffee or tea and full breakfast will be just what you needed before hitting the road for your scenic California motorcycle adventure: cereals, fruit, fresh yogurt, milk, and free-range eggs from the ranch, bacon, grilled mushrooms, tomatoes – all expertly prepared and served outside on the patio.

Tour crew will throw the bulkier luggage into the support vehicle and you can keep personal essentials on the bikes, as you head west towards the Lower Ojai Valley. After a quick tour through the picturesque town of Ojai, it will be north into the Los Padres National Forest, along the famously curvy Highway 33, perfectly paved and cambered as it snakes through the Topa Topa Mountains towards the Cuyama Valley.

After about an hour’s ride through the breathtaking twisties, you will drop into the valley below and get to play in the dirt. We will guide the group to an extensive network of roads with much varied terrain. There will be something for everyone to explore and a chance to practice at whatever level of motorcycling skill feels right.

You will ride around the Cuyama Valley, exploring the top edges of mountains as well as deep into the valleys. It will be hard to shake that feeling of blissful solitude in an area where you can gaze around 360 degrees and not see another vehicle anywhere.

For lunch, we’ll choose a local watering hole filled with some very colorful characters. Then, it will be onto some of our favorite off-road and paved routes that make up the 50-50 split that we strive for each day of an adventure style motorcycle tour.

By late afternoon, you will get to the Songdog Ranch at the north end of the valley to get settled in. Some of the group will manage to snag queen beds in the two spacious rooms inside the main ranch house, while the rest of you will camp on the Mesa or sleep on comfortable camp cots in the Speakeasy Bunkhouse.

There should be enough daylight to leave the pavement for some more dirt road riding, when we can review some basics such as off-road body position, balance, braking, acceleration and importantly, how to safely lift a fallen bike.

Although it is no substitute for a full adventure motorcycle training course, Ojai Motorcycle Club always likes to insert this type of familiarization and a good deal of orientation throughout the guided motorcycle tours. It is great to see the fun-factor rise as participants improve their dirt-riding skills and their self-confidence.

There is nothing like that feeling of relaxing by campfire over the gourmet fare, savoring world-class beverages while reliving the day’s ride. The first full day of riding in the Cuyama Valley always seems to offer the California adventure tour groups just enough practice to prime you for the rest of the journey.

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Day 3
Day 3
The Magic of the Carrizo
You will enjoy another great breakfast to get you going before riding north into the Carrizo Plain National Monument, where you will spend another day of spectacular riding which is crisscrossing the plain and traversing the mountains.

You will find the campsite in time for lunch, where the support team will be preparing a base camp for the overnight adventure on the plain. The crew will set up deluxe tents with the comfortable camp cots where you get the bonus of an hour or so to relax after lunch.

That afternoon, you will venture into the cattle country of the Red Hills to the west and also into the flatlands of the Kern County oil fields. We plan the rides so the ride back to the campsite goes from west to east, so you could witness the fantastic color saturation as the sun is setting behind you. The landscape ahead will be bathed in the most gorgeous shades of gold.

Dinner on the Carrizo Plain will be another culinary delight, serves up as you relax under the stars and if you get lucky, you may even witness a full moon.

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Day 4
Day 4
The Ribbon of Highway – Above Big Sur and the Pacific Coast
After another scrumptious breakfast, you will say goodbye to the Carrizo, dip down into some beautiful sweeping turns and make your way to the Pacific Coast, cruising through the Central Coast Wine Country on the way to the famous Highway One.

It will be warm enough for you to lunch at a roadside cafe along Pacific Coast Highway. On the winter guided motorcycle tours, we usually favor lunch inland where temperatures can be 20 degrees higher.

You will make good enough time to hit the beach and perhaps spend a couple of hours in the mineral hot springs of a famous Big Sur wellness retreat (by very special arrangement). That night we camp high up on the Coast Range Ridge, feeling the Pacific breeze as you look down to the East over the vast expanse of Central California and to the West over the Pacific Ocean.

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Day 5
Day 5
Big Sur and then Onward to the Flying M
We’ll explore the dirt roads high above the Pacific Ocean, practicing skills we’ve learned along the way.

You may have good visibility, so once on the California coast, you will alternate between riding the asphalt on Highway One, along with the Big Sur coastline and then taking off onto the unpaved roads high along the ridge of the Coastal Range.

You will be simply awestruck as you look down on the Pacific Ocean to the west and then onto the inland rolling hills in the east. This will be ADVenture motorcycle riding at its best.

Afterwards, we make our way to the guesthouse at the Flying M Ranch in the Red Hills of San Luis Obispo County and get there just in time for a spectacular sunset with a view out towards the California coastal range, where we’ve spent most of the day.

You will enjoy another amazing meal, great company, conversation and some of the deepest sleeps anyone could remember.

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Day 6
Day 6
Taking the Long Way Home to Ojai
After breakfast at the Flying M, we’ll lead the group over narrow broken-asphalt farm roads and then back through the Carrizo, this time going southeast, along a different route than the one we took northward. After all the riding along dry desert roads, it will be amazing how good it feels to experience the speed and smoothness of the well-paved and nicely graded Highway 33 – this time going south.

By the time you get back to the Upper Ojai Valley for the final dinner and overnight stay, there will be a palpable sense of achievement and also a little bit of melancholy like that bittersweet feeling at the end of all good things.

The enjoyable camaraderie of a small group on a true adventure, together witnessing the incredible beauty of nature, while happily exercising body, mind and soul.

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Day 1

Arrival & Orientation – Los Angeles to Ojai, via Santa Paula

Ojai Motorcycle Club will arrange a shuttle ride for the guests, for the 60 to 90-minute drive from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) or Bob Hope Airport (BUR) to the Clubhouse in the Upper Ojai Valley, halfway between the Ventura County towns of Santa Paula and Ojai.
The row of ADV motorcycles will stand ready and waiting for their riders to arrive.
That first evening, we will chill out by the fireside under the shadow of the Topa Topa Mountains. Dinner will be a foray into authentic South African style “braaivleis” (barbecue grilled meat) and “potjiekos” (outdoor-prepared stews), as well as local craft beers and award-winning wines from regional vineyards.
The new arrivals will spend the first night sleeping in comfort at an upscale hotel or ranchhouse/guesthouse.

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Ojai, Los Padres & the Carrizo Plain

Ojai, Los Padres & the Carrizo Plain

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