Potential Sierra Nevada Spine Raid - October 2025

[Scud]

Yesterday, I rode Ebbetts Pass for the first time and it might just be my new favorite road. I was on the Stelvio going from Sacramento airport to Mammoth Lakes and it got me wanting to back and ride it on a V11. Then I started thinking about the Sierra Spine Raid idea that I've been incubating for too long.

So... I am testing interest in gathering in Mammoth Lakes, CA in early October, when the high-altitude roads are still open and the aspens are putting on a color show. Tentatively October 9-13, with flexible arrival/departure dates.

There is a hotel in town with covered parking (not garage). The hotel I'm thinking of is walking distance to my house, which has a two-car garage and can accommodate several bikes.

Potential routes include:

• Ebbets Pass:  https://scenic4.org/the-route/the-driving-experience/. << required reading
• Yosemite Valley via Tioga Pass
• Short loops around Mammoth and June Lake area
• Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
• Lake Tahoe
• Sonora Pass
• Mono Lake and Benton Hot Springs (and search for wild mustangs on route 120)

There are plenty of dirt bike trails here too in case anybody wants to trailer two bikes.

What say you? Interested enough for me to inquire regarding a small block of rooms?

Edited May 21 by Scud

[PJPR01]

Wow....Ebbets pass looks fantastic, the video on the site was excellent.  

[Pressureangle]

Ah geez... I will probably have the BMW in El Paso by then, and have family in Reno... OTW.

[Scud]

We went to dinner at Skadi last night, which is attached to the Empiera High Sierra Hotel. And look at all these Harleys. Surely we could make this parking structure look better than this. The mountains in the background are part of the Sherwin Range in the Sierra Nevada.

[Scud]

Last week I rode Carson Pass (think Kit Carson) and Sonora Pass (the second-highest in CA at 9,624 feet elevation).

All the passes over the Sierra Nevada between Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe are close to 100 miles each, with hardly any stop signs or cross traffic.

Here is an interesting sign at the Westbound entrance of Sonora Pass from Hwy 395. Steep 26%... that seems redundant... but I can attest that there are some steep sections. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever seen a sign with a higher percent grade.

Wouldn't you like to hear your V11 at about 5,000 RPM working hard on a grade that steep? Accelerating up something like that would make you happy you installed a Roper Sloppage Tray.