doug5551
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
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Tcfjr and I both have some major rides planned for the rest of the year. So one morning a month or so ago, he sent me an email letting me know that if I was going to be taking any training rides, he would like to ride along with me. I thought about it for 15 minutes, and realized that while he had gotten a SS1K certificate some time ago, he did not have an in-state California Saddle Sore ride, which you achieve if you ride the entire saddle sore within the state of California. You can get a really cool pin if you complete this ride:
https://www.ibaestore.com/products.asp?Main...p;CategoryID=42
So I planned a ride for us, from a gas station near his home in San Gabriel up to Corning, California, 502 miles away. As I was circulating the ride plans among my friends, David S. immediately recognized Corning as being the home of the world famous Olive Pit, a specialty store based on Olives:
https://www.olivepit.com/
David had stopped there for free samples and told me that the area was known for Olive and Almond production. I checked the address, and just by chance, the gas station I had picked for our turn around point was located exactly next door to this store. This was wonderful news, as I had thought we would be just riding up there for a gas station receipt, but now we had a destination and a theme for our ride!
So with that, last Saturday I was up at 4:00 AM, out the door at 4:45 to arrive at tcfjr's place at 5:30, and then to the gas station to leave at 5:47 am. First gas stop was about 210 miles in to the ride near Hanford, California. Tcfjr reminisced about his first FJR group ride several years ago, which started at this particular gas station. The ride included Two Wheeled Nut and Orangevale FJR, and I had a moment of reflection for our fallen friends. Time and Rides must go on, but I still miss those guys.
The next gas stop was a Splash and Dash for tcfjr, as I have a fuel cell and did not need to stop. We made good time and arrived at our turn around point at about 1:00 pm, a little over 7 hours in to the ride. With that, we got gas, ate lunch, and toured and sampled and bought olives at the Olive Pit.
Here is a picture of tcfjr after 502 miles:
Here are the bikes, an 05 and an 06 getting along perfectly:
Here is the famous Sample Bar:
The store had every type of Olive imaginable:
After a nice hour-long break, we headed back south. Our first gas stop was 180 miles later in Lathrop, Ca. While planning the ride, jwhite518 volunteered that he was going to meet us and ride with us for a bit. He suggested meeting at the Lathrop Alien Crash site (exit 463)
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/170
However, family obligations got in the way and prevented him from meeting us, but we still wanted to stop in Lathrop and see the Alien Mart:
This is what it looks like inside the store:
Surprisingly, they don't sell any Alien-UFO souvenirs. For that, you still have to go to Rachel, Nevada to the Little A'Le'Inn.
I had bought Jerry a jar of olives, and since he could not be there, I decided to draw a picture of what it would have looked like if he had been able to make it, you know, kind of like those sketches you see on TV for court room scenes:
Our final gas stop was at dusk, maybe 50 miles north of Bakersfield.
We arrived back in San Gabriel at 9:14 PM, a little less than 15.5 hours to cover 1,007 miles by GPS:
Tcfjr's son Justin was kind enough to both witness for us, see us off, ride with us for a bit in the AM, and be there upon our arrival at night. Many thanks to him for his efforts and dedication to be there for us.
Riding with tcfjr was absolutely perfect, and it looks like our partnership is going to be continueing. By complete chance, we did this ride on the first day of Spring. Now the IBA has what they call a Four Seasons Saddle Sore, where you ride a SS1K on the exact day of the Solstice.
Tcfjr wrote:
If we do an SS1K on June 21, 2010, September 23, 2010, and December 21, 2010, we can get a Four Seasons cert from the IBA. Here's a link:
https://www.ironbutt.org/forum/forum_posts....;PN=1&TPN=1
We already have our route planned for June 21.
Thanks to tcfjr for suggesting that we do a training ride together. For us to ride another 3,000 miles together will be quite a testiment to our riding partnership. Special thanks to Kaitsdad for all the help with bike prep. It really means a lot to me.
https://www.ibaestore.com/products.asp?Main...p;CategoryID=42
So I planned a ride for us, from a gas station near his home in San Gabriel up to Corning, California, 502 miles away. As I was circulating the ride plans among my friends, David S. immediately recognized Corning as being the home of the world famous Olive Pit, a specialty store based on Olives:
https://www.olivepit.com/
David had stopped there for free samples and told me that the area was known for Olive and Almond production. I checked the address, and just by chance, the gas station I had picked for our turn around point was located exactly next door to this store. This was wonderful news, as I had thought we would be just riding up there for a gas station receipt, but now we had a destination and a theme for our ride!
So with that, last Saturday I was up at 4:00 AM, out the door at 4:45 to arrive at tcfjr's place at 5:30, and then to the gas station to leave at 5:47 am. First gas stop was about 210 miles in to the ride near Hanford, California. Tcfjr reminisced about his first FJR group ride several years ago, which started at this particular gas station. The ride included Two Wheeled Nut and Orangevale FJR, and I had a moment of reflection for our fallen friends. Time and Rides must go on, but I still miss those guys.
The next gas stop was a Splash and Dash for tcfjr, as I have a fuel cell and did not need to stop. We made good time and arrived at our turn around point at about 1:00 pm, a little over 7 hours in to the ride. With that, we got gas, ate lunch, and toured and sampled and bought olives at the Olive Pit.
Here is a picture of tcfjr after 502 miles:
Here are the bikes, an 05 and an 06 getting along perfectly:
Here is the famous Sample Bar:
The store had every type of Olive imaginable:
After a nice hour-long break, we headed back south. Our first gas stop was 180 miles later in Lathrop, Ca. While planning the ride, jwhite518 volunteered that he was going to meet us and ride with us for a bit. He suggested meeting at the Lathrop Alien Crash site (exit 463)
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/170
However, family obligations got in the way and prevented him from meeting us, but we still wanted to stop in Lathrop and see the Alien Mart:
This is what it looks like inside the store:
Surprisingly, they don't sell any Alien-UFO souvenirs. For that, you still have to go to Rachel, Nevada to the Little A'Le'Inn.
I had bought Jerry a jar of olives, and since he could not be there, I decided to draw a picture of what it would have looked like if he had been able to make it, you know, kind of like those sketches you see on TV for court room scenes:
Our final gas stop was at dusk, maybe 50 miles north of Bakersfield.
We arrived back in San Gabriel at 9:14 PM, a little less than 15.5 hours to cover 1,007 miles by GPS:
Tcfjr's son Justin was kind enough to both witness for us, see us off, ride with us for a bit in the AM, and be there upon our arrival at night. Many thanks to him for his efforts and dedication to be there for us.
Riding with tcfjr was absolutely perfect, and it looks like our partnership is going to be continueing. By complete chance, we did this ride on the first day of Spring. Now the IBA has what they call a Four Seasons Saddle Sore, where you ride a SS1K on the exact day of the Solstice.
Tcfjr wrote:
If we do an SS1K on June 21, 2010, September 23, 2010, and December 21, 2010, we can get a Four Seasons cert from the IBA. Here's a link:
https://www.ironbutt.org/forum/forum_posts....;PN=1&TPN=1
We already have our route planned for June 21.
Thanks to tcfjr for suggesting that we do a training ride together. For us to ride another 3,000 miles together will be quite a testiment to our riding partnership. Special thanks to Kaitsdad for all the help with bike prep. It really means a lot to me.
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