SoloBiker.com

Archive for the ‘Ride Reports’ Category

What a difference a day of rest makes!

I left at 8:30am with quite a bit of concern about my balky body. The previous days had proven tough on my shoulders and back, to the point that the ride was no fun at all at certain points.

On my way out of Lodi, I decided to adjust my route on the fly, depending on how I was feeling.

I took Hwy 12 east to Interstate 80, through the endless traffic on that route through the Delta. I accidentally rode through a red stop light on the Rio Vista bridge. Talk about lucky – not only did I not have to wait 30 minutes for the bridge to open and close again, but more importantly, I was not stopped, and the bridge had not yet begun to open. So I’m here writing this instead of swimming in the Sacramento River right now.

Making great time to US 101 and feeling good, I made the decision to venture out to Hwy 1 via Hwy 128. I had done this once before in a car, and it was one of my favorite ways to get to the coast. The road starts with numerous tight-ish turns, straightens out for a good bit, then turns twisty again as it heads into the Navarro River State Park area.

Finally, 128 ends at one of my favorite junctions in all of California.

I don’t quite know what it is exactly about this junction that I love so much.

Perhaps it’s the fact that 128 becomes 1 without ever having to make a turn

Or maybe it’s the Navarro River here that flows just around the corner from the junction into the Pacific Ocean.

Maybe it’s just this simple bridge crossing the River, allowing Hwy 1 to continue it’s northward coastal journey.

Whatever it is, I could spend all day long at this one spot. But time’s a wastin’…

Within moments after taking off again, I see it. The culmination of a dream that has been countless years in the making – I’m riding my bike next to the Pacific Ocean.

The first moment I see a level, paved parking lot (hey, I’m still a newbie in some ways!) I stop to take it all in, and get some photographic evidence that I was there.

And yes, Stomper made it too!

By pure chance as I left the parking lot, I fell in at the tail end of an 8 bike convoy. I missed a few of the specific models, but there were at least two V-Stroms, a BMW, and a yellow Goldwing in the group.

I didn’t want to intrude on their ride, so I stayed in back as I followed them through Fort Bragg. Once we hit some of the twistier bits, one rider quickly dropped back from the group. I’m not sure if he was sweeping from that far back, or if he was just the least experienced rider in the group, but while the other 7 quickly disappeared, I found I was able to just about keep up with him. This made me feel quite a bit better about my riding skills.

Finally, as we turned inland toward 101, I found that comfort zone in the twisties that had been missing the entire trip. For the first time, I was hitting each corner properly, and was moving at a solid clip – faster then all of the cars on the road for the first time.

My reverie was eventually interrupted by a tow truck lifting a brand new, maroon, completely wadded up 2009 Kawasaki Concours 14. I couldn’t believe it. I slowed to make sure the rider was okay, and he gave a sheepish grin and wave. I slowed a bit after that, feeling better about my capabilities.

Working my way north and west up 101, I knew by the quickly cooling temps that I was almost to Fortuna. Despite venturing out to the coast, I was still about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. I stopped for a quick break.

Eureka! I found it! (Sorry.)

I quickly found my way to my accomodations for the night. Dr. Gil and Beck-Suki of Sport-Touring.net fame, had generously offered me a place to stay for the night at their B&B&B (Bed & Breakfast & Bikes).

What wonderful people! I’m a shy, introverted guy who has trouble meeting new people. (Whaddya expect from a blog called SoloBiker.com?) But they instantly made me feel right at home, despite my nervousness.

My quarters for the night…

The wall of riders who have come to stay with Gil & Becky during their travels. I’m proud to have my goofy-looking mug added to these boards.

Gil & Becky, it was great to meet you, and spend time talking with you. I’d be honored to return the favor somehow if I ever can, and I hope to come back in the future. Thank you again for putting up with me.

Today was spent resting my weary body, visiting with family, and installing a Vista Cruise throttle lock. Tomorrow is the longest day of the trip, and I want to be ready for it.

No pictures today I’m afraid.

I woke up unbelievably sore, and made the heartbreaking decision to hi-tail it up 101 to 152 to I-5 today, and get off the bike as soon as possible. I’m visiting with my parents for 2 nights, so I’m hoping that 36 hours off the bike will prove to be just what the doctor ordered for my achy-breaky body.

I did learn a few things on the ride today however…

1. It turns out that US 101 from Morro Bay to Salinas is a perfectly pleasant place to spend a day. Maybe it’s because I grew up in an agricultural area, but I found the rolling hillsides and acres of crops to be both attractive and comforting.

2. Crampbusters work. I bought one for my throttle hand, and had no pain in my hand, or the back of my right shoulder blade the whole day. The left one still hurt like hell though. Odd as it’s going to look, I’m buying a Crampbuster for the left grip too.

3. My bike feels faster then it is. I ran at 85 mph for a good chunk of the day, only to remember that my speedo is off almost exactly 10%. 77 mph isn’t nearly as impressive somehow.

I made good time (for me), covering the 300 miles in 5.5 hours. I arrived at my destination in much better shape then I had the two previous days, which was a great sign.

Stay tuned for Day 5 where I finally remember that I did indeed pack a camera on this trip, and actually start using it again!

“I suck.”

I lost track of how many times I said that in my head on this day.

When it takes 9.5 hours to travel just over 300 miles, you can figure out very quickly that I wasn’t going very fast.

Basically, Day 2 kicked my ass.

The route was full of twisty mountain roads, with lots of tight, technical turns, hairpins and switchbacks. You name it, I saw it today.

The morning started out pleasantly enough…an early morning cruise past Big Bear Lake.

After this, the road tightend up considerably….and so did I.

The frustration mounted as I continually had to pull over to let faster cars go by. I was tight and tense. If I leaned off the seat, I forgot to countersteer. If I countersteered, I was in the wrong gear. I just couldn’t get everything coordinated.

Thanks to being pre-occupied with frustration, I very nearly had my first major “stupid” while leaving this rest area on the Rim of the World Highway.

While turning left onto a steep incline, I overturned the bike. This combined with the sharp incline had me leaned over nearly to the point of dropping the bike. I hit the throttle – hard. Too hard. The bike stood straight up and nearly pitched me off the other side.

Had I not been going so slowly at the time, I would have endured a nasty little highside.

This woke me up, and frustration turned to pondering, as I tried to figure out why I was having so much trouble with the tight turns this morning.

The good news was that, with the frustration gone, I started making fewer technical mistakes.

The bad news is, that when I start pondering, I stop watching both the street signs and my maps.

Oops.

I missed my turn just past Wrightwood, and ended up on Hwy. 2, which has been closed for 3 years due to landslides.

Only a 10 mile backtrack, but now I tried to balance my pondering with paying attention to where I was going….

As I made my way down to Palmdale, I tried to figure it out.

What’s going on? I know what to do. I know the proper technique. I’ve done it in the past. Why can’t I do it now?

Of the handful of corners that you will find in the southern Nevada desert, most of them are higher speed sweepers.

Also, there isn’t anything in the Mojave Desert over four feet tall in any direction for 150 miles.

So I’m a completely different rider when I can…see!!

So why am I a much better rider when I can see what’s in front of me, as opposed to these mountain roads where most of the corners are blind to varying degrees, and there are trees everywhere that potentially block my view of what’s out in front of me?

Trust.

Plain and simple. I don’t trust what I can’t see. As long as I can see through the entire corner and what’s up ahead, I can attack a corner with the full extent of my current ability (such as it is).

When I can’t see what’s ahead, I worry. I tense up. I fight myself. I’m unwilling to trust and believe that everything around that corner is going to be just fine, even though I’m unable to see it in the present moment.

Who knew that riding a motorcycle could become a metaphor for one’s own life?

———-

Sorry, no pictures of Palmdale for the same reason that there were no pictures of Twentynine Palms.

Lake Elizabeth Road provided the one brief stretch of fun I had today. This was more in my comfort zone, and I picked up my speed (for the only time all day) and happily cruised along.

Finally though, all the early morning tenseness caught up to me, and the pain quickly increased. By the time I was 10 miles west of Pine Mountain Club, it was nearly unbearable.

I tried to take a break. Stomper was complaining about being couped up all day, so he hung out and gazed over the smoggy southern Central Valley.

Now, maybe this is just me, but every time I’ve been to Buttonwillow, CA I’ve been overrun by flies – dozens of them everywhere – trying to fly into my mouth, up my nose, or into my ears.

Apparently, being in the hills directly west of them didn’t seem to do anything to stop their assault. Within moments of removing my helmet, I was attacked.

They were driving me nuts. Even Stomper was wilting under their assault.

Finally, even though I was wincing in pain, I decided that I had to keep going. There certainly wasn’t any relief to be found here.

Back on the road I go. About 5 miles later, I had my first truly scary moment of the trip. A large, beautiful bird (I assumed it to be a hawk) swooped down across the road. I suddenly realized that the hawk was about at my eye level, and wasn’t going to make it past me in time.

Apparently the hawk realized it too, as he suddenly made a bee-line for the ground.

He landed on the pavement, only about a foot to the right of the bike. I had no time to make an adjustment, so I lifted my right leg as high as I could…

…and watched in amazement as my foot passed over him.

The blast of adrenaline from this experience kept me going for the next two hours.

Finally, I made it to Hwy 166, which was going to be my first straight, fast run of the day. I figured I’d make up for lost time here, and had visions of quickly reaching my evening’s destination.

It lasted all of 7 miles.

I hit a paving project, which slowed things to a crawl for well over 20 miles. We had to follow a Pilot Car at one point, and since I arrived just as the line was taking off, I really didn’t have the opportunity to get in front of the line. So the next 45 minutes were spent filtering through the slower traffic.

Finally, just as I thought I couldn’t continue, I reached San Luis Obispo. I detoured briefly to San Luis Motorsports to buy a Crampbuster and Throttle Lock, then headed out to Morro Bay, where I found my room, and tucked the bike in safely for the night

I tried to make up for lost pictures by taking several shots, including the view out my balcony, and several sunset shots, trying to get it just right. (I’m not sure I ever really did – but a lot of readers seem to like the last one.)

As sore as I was after this ride, I was really concerned about my ability to cover the distance that I needed to on Day 3. At least I know I’ll have a day off the bike after that.

I rolled out of the house a bit late – 9:15am.

There was a bit of apprehension present as I prepared for this trip. I’ve done a couple of 1,000 mile four day trips, and one 1,500 mile 6 day trip two years ago, but I really hadn’t attempted anything quite like this, and probably won’t again unless I make to Alaska someday.

It took longer then usual to get comfortable on the bike, as the desert heat had only allowed me to put 500 miles on this bike since I purchased it, and now I was adding 50 pounds of dead weight to it.

Man did it handle differently!

My first stop of the day was in Searchlight, NV for my initial gas fill up.

Also, allow me to introduce my sidekick and companion for this journey. Ladies and gentleman, meet Stomper!!

Turning away from the near Interstate of US 95, I headed west toward Nipton and Mojave National Preserve. I’ve been out this way many times on day trips, and always blew right by the sign, so I made it a point to stop and take of that…

You’ll have to forgive Stomper, he’s a bit of a camera hog. Which is a good thing I suppose, as the rider is a bit camera-shy (and doesn’t know how to work the timer on his camera!)!!

First extended break of the day was at Kelso. This is the site of a historic railroad depot that has been carefully restored in recent years, and just re-opened to the public last year I believe. It’s a beautiful facility, and gives a thoughtful glimpse into a simple, yet possibly more adventurous period of history.

After an uneventful (read: boring) ride out the other side of the preserve, I came across the little “town” of Amboy. Once an early stop in the desert on Route 66, it fell on hard times after it was bypassed by I-40.

The whole town was purchased a few years ago, on the condition that it be fully restored as money allowed. The process is a very slow on, but they have managed to get the gas station open on a fairly regular basis, and plans are in place to renovate and re-open the motel and cafe.

Exactly when that will happen is hard to know, as the site has been completely shut down for many years, and numerous regulations must be met at exhorbinant costs in order to get everything off the ground.

From there, it was on to Twentynine Palms. I have no photos, there is a reason for that. Also no food photos. I assume everyone has seen a McDonalds Double Quarter-Pounder with cheese before.

Next up, Joshua Tree National Park. I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but was pleasantly surprised by a very nice loop that was almost made for a motorcycle.

Not much to tell from here. This first day out of the desert included two stretches that just weren’t much fun, and this was the second one. I slogged 50 miles from Joshua Tree to Lucerne Valley, where I climbed the mountain to get to big Bear Lake.

For a flatlander with very little twisty road experience, this one really kept me on my toes throughout – especially with muscle soreness and fatigue setting in after 7 hours and 300 miles.

But I kept the bike in my own lane, everyone else stayed in theirs, and I kept a quick enough pace to keep any cars behind me well in the distance.

I rolled into Big Bear, unpacked, walked about 3/4 of a mile to dinner, came back to my hotel room, and wrote this. Good night.