zzkenoman
Well-known member
Pawtracks, GunMD and IB trainee (son), Santa Fe Dreaming, and FZ1-Guy took a nice ride today in SoCal. Even though we ran into logistical problems of hwy 74 Ortega closed in San Juan Capistrano until 8am for the weekend, we had to ride down hwy 5 to 76, then to temecula to pickup another rider.
It was perfect weather to ride in the 70's till we headed inland, then the voices in our head starting shouting "hey idiot, its not going to be cooler than yesterday". Our plan was breakfast in the Palm Spring area called the Morongo Casino, then ride up to 243 into idlewild, and back to the coast.
Did I say logistical problems? FIRE in temecula, had traffic backed up for miles..temp at 90 deg at 8:30am. We head up to Garner Valley, and pickup GunMD and his son traveling the opposite direction, he quickly joins us and we ride down 7 corners on hwy 74 into palm desert. Enjoyment level is rapidly falling, its now being over come by temp climbing over 102 deg, as we decend into the valley. We had to stop and discuss the logistics of getting into some cool air conditioning fast, because we can all hear each others engine fans kick in at the traffic signals. My engine still at midway, is doing well, with an occasional 1 over bar when the fan kicks in, but Santa Fe is worried that his bike is over heating on his 06. Is there a problem with your new bike, I ask?
Well, 104 and climbing, we stop at one place for breakfast in nearby Palm Desert, its 107 in the shade, and the restaurant is closed. We stop at another restaurant, and its also closed. We thought I had a great idea to stop at a local stomping ground, to have breakfast at a buffet at one of the local casinos, but Agua Calienta Casino does not allow children. Which is a first for me, since the other local indian casinos always allow children supervised to eat at the restaurants. So GunMD, choose to go home and the rest stayed (felt pretty bad for not finding a more suitable place for him his son to be with us) discussing how much the rooms cost if we stayed, knowing we didn't want to leave this air conditioned buffet.
After breakfast we head back, and my meter is reading 110 deg, and we are parked at the indoor garage. Know what that means? Its hotter than **** when we leave this building. Sure enough, the temp rise to 112 deg, as we head back up 74 to higher elevation. We abandon the plans to go further down hwy 10 to Morongo, and 243 into idlewild. We are all heading west to the coast, as fast as we can and hopefully find some cooler ocean relief. We got some relief with our Cool vests, dipped in water and Paw Tracks had his super duty military issue vest with color matching straps, but he had to ride another 30min before his vest was "charged" by ice to get it working.
We head west back thru Anza, and 79 towards temecula and the temps get higher now. At 114 deg, its just Hell and unbearable for the guys, fortunately I rigged up a "MicroMist" system on my bike with a presurized container to turn on, and my Joe Rocket Safari cool vest helped, but it feels like your sitting in front of the fireplace.
So my suggestion to hot weather riding? Don't ride if its going to be this hot, it just takes too big of a punch out of your real enjoyment riding, when your desperately looking for air conditioned buildings.
It was perfect weather to ride in the 70's till we headed inland, then the voices in our head starting shouting "hey idiot, its not going to be cooler than yesterday". Our plan was breakfast in the Palm Spring area called the Morongo Casino, then ride up to 243 into idlewild, and back to the coast.
Did I say logistical problems? FIRE in temecula, had traffic backed up for miles..temp at 90 deg at 8:30am. We head up to Garner Valley, and pickup GunMD and his son traveling the opposite direction, he quickly joins us and we ride down 7 corners on hwy 74 into palm desert. Enjoyment level is rapidly falling, its now being over come by temp climbing over 102 deg, as we decend into the valley. We had to stop and discuss the logistics of getting into some cool air conditioning fast, because we can all hear each others engine fans kick in at the traffic signals. My engine still at midway, is doing well, with an occasional 1 over bar when the fan kicks in, but Santa Fe is worried that his bike is over heating on his 06. Is there a problem with your new bike, I ask?
Well, 104 and climbing, we stop at one place for breakfast in nearby Palm Desert, its 107 in the shade, and the restaurant is closed. We stop at another restaurant, and its also closed. We thought I had a great idea to stop at a local stomping ground, to have breakfast at a buffet at one of the local casinos, but Agua Calienta Casino does not allow children. Which is a first for me, since the other local indian casinos always allow children supervised to eat at the restaurants. So GunMD, choose to go home and the rest stayed (felt pretty bad for not finding a more suitable place for him his son to be with us) discussing how much the rooms cost if we stayed, knowing we didn't want to leave this air conditioned buffet.
After breakfast we head back, and my meter is reading 110 deg, and we are parked at the indoor garage. Know what that means? Its hotter than **** when we leave this building. Sure enough, the temp rise to 112 deg, as we head back up 74 to higher elevation. We abandon the plans to go further down hwy 10 to Morongo, and 243 into idlewild. We are all heading west to the coast, as fast as we can and hopefully find some cooler ocean relief. We got some relief with our Cool vests, dipped in water and Paw Tracks had his super duty military issue vest with color matching straps, but he had to ride another 30min before his vest was "charged" by ice to get it working.
We head west back thru Anza, and 79 towards temecula and the temps get higher now. At 114 deg, its just Hell and unbearable for the guys, fortunately I rigged up a "MicroMist" system on my bike with a presurized container to turn on, and my Joe Rocket Safari cool vest helped, but it feels like your sitting in front of the fireplace.
So my suggestion to hot weather riding? Don't ride if its going to be this hot, it just takes too big of a punch out of your real enjoyment riding, when your desperately looking for air conditioned buildings.
