GOTC 2016 or Snowmen and Peacocks - A Ride Report

[Fontanaman]

Day 5

This was a great day of riding to be warned it is a bad picture day for you! Ha! Naturally this means these are road you must ride, especially the Oroville-Quincy Road, a personal favorite.

The route is again on Google Maps.

Today --G and are are on our own as Doug has business take care of. Our route is clockwise as it is best to ride the Oroville-Quincy Road from west to east to take advantage of the increasing grade. And what grade it is. The pavement is asphalt, it is smooth, without gravel in the turns, the site line are awesome, the arcs are perfect and it inspires confidence. Hey Redfish put this road on your bucket list!

Of course we didn't stop to take a damn picture for you viewing pleasure! I can't imagine why. Of note we hit a bit of frost near the summit and the rear tire slipped slight for both of us. --G's Super Ten didn't help out here!

We stop in a baker upon arriving in Quincy for a treat and a coffee drink. Then on the way to the La Porte Road where we manage to stop and take a few photos.

A dirty FJR

Looking the other way. The pavement isn't as good as the Orville Quincy Road.

There is an occasional view of where you have been are where you are going.

Or summiting a hill with --G in the lead.

After the La Porte Road we take the Oregon Hill Road Goat Trail. We should have went around. This is no shortcut for FJRs.

We arrive a Doug and Gayle's for a homecooked meal of excellent Chilli. Yummie.

It was a grand day of motorcycling.

to be continued.

 

[gregory]

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[rogdeb]

Looking forward to the rest!

+ one

I remember the Lost Coast Hwy being worse than your pics show !!

 

[Fontanaman]

Day 6

Northern Ca has some the highest concentration of great roads in the Western USA. Stay off the freeways and 101 and it is hard to go wrong. Ya hearing me Redfish? The canyon roads are just stunning. Nothing like it anywhere.

Here is the route for today. I left off the part from and too Grass Valley. The objectives from Auburn CA are the Mosquito Ridge Road and Wentworth Springs Road. The connector road between them, Eleven Springs Road, is a goat trail, but to make the loop it must be done otherwise it is two down and outs.

Today Doug was able to join us and he lead the ride. Doug has a KTM 990 SE. --G a S10 and I am on my FJR. I am the odd man out on goat trails as --G and Doug have much more suspension travel. No comment on what a KTM will do on a goat trail.

Here are some photos's of our day.

Mosquito Ridge Road - check out the quartz rock wall.

Here is --G

Here is Doug - I forgot how the hell I got in front of him!

Mountain view.

Did I stop to take this photo? Hell no.

French Meadows Reservoir

Doug and --G

After the photo's above we ended up on the Wentworth Springs road. This was the highlight of the day for moi because it offered excellent asphalt pavement ( I hate chip seal) with good sight lines on a consistent pitch. I had such a grand time nary a photo was taken. Put it this way; when I return I will be on Wentworth Spring Road but not Mosquito Ridge road.

We road back to Dou and Gayle's and dinner was on --G and I at Willo's a favorite local restaurant.

to be continued

 

[Bugnatr]

Nope not me or the SMT. That's George on the S10 but we did have a fun day in the back country of Placer county. Gayle and I sure enjoyed you boys staying at our home.

George and I did switch bikes for a bit and he really has that Tenere suspension dialed in, nice bike.

 

[puppychow]

Great stuff. It's these fantastic roads which makes the cost of living in Kalifornia tolerable. Looking forward to more of your RR.

 

[Fontanaman]

Day 7

It is Friday and we will be travelling from Grass Valley to Gathering of the Clans site in Redding California. Today Sam (Puppy Chow) and Tom will join us (Doug, George and I) for a group of five.

Our route is Hwy 49, Hwy 70, Hwy 36, backroads, then Hwy 44 in to Redding.

We get all sorted out in heading down the the road. Hwy 49 is very enjoyable with the right amount of smooth pavement and twist as is follows the North Yuba River. This time of year the river was running low but it must look great in the spring when full of snow melt. It was still morning as we heading up 49 and the shadows and high contrast prevent photos opportunities worth taking. We were moving along at a good clip and I didn't have much time for photo rubbernecking either.

In Quincy we stop for lunch where service was a bit on the slow side but finally we got our grub.

Here are some photos of our morning ride.

Sierra Buttes

After lunch in Quincy our next stop was Chester where we get gas. After gas I left before everybody to spot the next turn up the road in about 35 miles because I was riding slow then the rest of the group and was the only one to have the route on a GPS.

It was a nice ride west on Hwy 36.

We regroup at Lane's Valley Road and Hwy 36 for a short break.

Lane's Valley Road

Lane's Valley Road leads to the Wilson Hill Road and we enjoyed the twisty road climbing up the hill then join Hwy 44 to complete the day.

to be continued.

 

[Fontanaman]

Day 8

Before we get into the meat of today's segment check this out. I was standing in the parking lot and thought --G's rear wheel was the perfect subject for a photograph.

Tell me what is unusual and what you are likely to never see again. Post up if you think you have the answer.

For you this will be a good day for we slowed down a bit, at least to start with, so there are more photos!

The participants in today's ride are --G, Ms. Tyler, Gregory, Michelle and Moi. Gregory with Michele riding pillion was leading the first half of the day and where we shot some photos along the Platina Road. It was a relaxed pace allowing a lot of rubbernecking. Very nice and thank you Gregory for sharing such a nice road.

Hi Tyler!

Another over the shoulder shot.

Great scenery.

This tree was full of shoes. There must have been 100 shoes in this tree. I don't know why. Rather than taking a photo of the tree I thought it would be better to take a photo of Ms. Tyler, photo master, taking a photo of the tree.

We join with Hwy 36 and the juices start flowing cause we are on a very twisty portion of Hwy 36. At a rest point I decide to go back and take this photo because the sign is just all wrong. Seems to me the pavement ended here!

This section of Hwy 36 was so nice I did it twice.

After this the leisurely pace went out the window and the number of photo when south.

Tyler in Hayfork where we detoured to Hyampom a down and out. The pavement on this 44 mile detour was mostly down and out too.

We had a lunch in Hayfork and then road back to Redding to end the riding day.

to be continued.

 

[MCRIDER007]

The rear hub on George's S10 is pretty dirty....actually I have seen that before when we went to Bella Coola and Hyder, AK.

 

[Fontanaman]

The rear hub on George's S10 is pretty dirty....actually I have seen that before when we went to Bella Coola and Hyder, AK.

Ding ding ding ding! We have a winner!

 

[escapefjrtist]

You two just think you're phunny...

--G

 

[Niehart]

 

[Bugnatr]

I watched George clean his bike in my driveway but he left the swing arm dirty. I'm sure his therapist will have some words for him, that's just not like George to leave any part dirty.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Shoot...that one was too easy. Ask us something hard!

 

[Fontanaman]

Day 9 and Day 10

After the GOTC dinner on Saturday I decided to turn in early to get a good night's sleep to be well rested for the 500 mile ride on Sunday.

Long story short I ended up with a stomach flu Saturday night. Didn't sleep a wink. At 4:00am I was convinced Sunday would find my stuck in Redding. By 8:30am I was riding. It was simply make the best of a bad situation, be sick in the Redding on or go for a ride. --G and I changed up plans to stay in Madras Oregon at 300+ miles it was a halfway point between Redding and Seattle. North of Madras it was raining so stopping there made sense weather wise as well.

Our route was I-5 to Hwy 97 to Madras. Real simple.

I managed to take a few photos along the way.

Mt. Shasta

Upper Klamath Lake

I was operating on very little nourishment and no sleep. After Bend I hit a wall and managed to make it to Madras where we took the first hotel coming into town.

Day 10

After sleeping the entire late afternoon and all night I was feeling better. We stopped at McDonald's where I splurged by having two Egg McMuffins which didn't upset my apple cart.

And the rain had passed so this was looking like a good day. Here are a few photos from the day.

Mt. Hood taken on the go.

Crossing the Columbia River along Hwy 97.

We pickup the Yakima River Canyon, on to I-90 and home.

It was a great trip. It was nice to make new friends and reconnect with others. I'd like to thank Tyler for setting up the GOTC and to --G for changing up the ride home plans.

Then End

 

[Mount Rainier]

Sure happy for ya Jim, glad the flu was short-lived and you guys had a good trip in all.

Great time of the year to be on the road in the PNW. Aren't we lucky to have this grand river in our geographically diverse region!

Very nice pic for sure.

Thanks for the report.

Keep Going!

 

[escapefjrtist]

Nice ride Jim...we carved up a few roads and hit a couple interesting

goat-trails on this trip.

Glad I rode the Tenere, perfect bike for this adventure. Looking forward to the next one!!

--G

 

[Niehart]

Now --G about your pictures .....

 

[Mihalis fjr]

Great ride report and pictures as always Fontanaman!!

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[FJRBandit]

Why did you have to end it Fontanaman? I was loving it! Encore, encore!