RsvlFeej
RsvlFeej
Old Michael's itinerary was:
From Fairfield, CA - Gassed up and Rolling at 0540!
Wooden Valley Rd. to Hwy. 128
128 to the coast, just south of Mendocino
Up the coast through Ft. Bragg, and out to Leggett
Up 101 to Fortuna
Hwy. 36 back inland to Red Bluff.
Back to Sacramento/Fairfield
Just under 600 miles. About 12 hours riding time. (Semi-urgent pace.)
We should all be home by dark.
The players included:
Me
Bokerfork
Feeger
ScooterActivist
and, of course, the instigator: Old Michael
Short version RR is: All went pretty much as planned, group was well-matched, with very good peeps who are also very good riders, plenty fun was had, many twisty and scenic roads were traveled (semi-urgently), and last I heard everyone was safely en route to their respective domiciles.
Longer version is - Start at O'Dark Thirty to make it to the meet (at an hour later version of O'Dark Thirty). Awfully glad I pulled the Motoport liner out of the closet - Chilly start for August. Bokerfork (Mark) and Feeger (Al) were at the Starbucks when I pulled up, Old Michael (Cheese Dick
) made it shortly thereafter. Somehow ScooterActivies (Sean) on his Zook 650 ferreted us out a couple of hours later at the (undisclosed to him) breakfast location.
The world looked like coastal OR or WA or some other sodden locale for the first few hours of the ride :Snorkle: - misty stuff sheeting off visors; shiny, slippery roads with iridescent oil spots begging us to use just a bit more throttle so the contents of our crank cases could join their rainbow-hued ranks, fogbound cars refusing to let us by...
And then, almost instantly, the world went from PNW weather and road-hogging a-holes :angry03: we couldn't pass to something akin to Cali-in-the-spring. Except for protected areas, all the roads were dry. Ambient temps increased to the mid-60s. The cars that wouldn't get out of the way could be safely and expeditiously passed. Birds may have been singing, but we didn't care, because the world got right just in time for the absolutely phenomenal piece of Hwy 1 between Fort Bragg and Leggett. :rockwoot:
Next up was 101N (where the bike with the radar detector was put in front of the pack), through a buncha trees and pot plantations and a bunch more trees (some of them quite big), --- I don't think Humboldt County will be using my description on their travel brochures --- until we got to the sign warning "Tractor-Semis over 30 feet kingpin to rear axle not advised, next 140 miles" that tells bikers the Mother of All Roads, Hwy 36, awaits.
Hwy 36: WHEE!!! :hyper: and more WHEE :hyper: !!! and, boy, my legs are starting to get tired, but gotta shift weight for these twisties, too, to do them justice and just when you think you've bottomed out, the fun is over, your legs have had 4 or 5 miles to recover :twitchsmile: , and the long trudge home is about to begin, 36 throws another 5 miles or so of roller coaster in just for fun. Did I say, "WHEE!!! :hyper: ?"
Finally, everyone parted ways during the long slab ride home -- in temps approximating the high 70s -- WTF?, is this NorCal in AUGUST? Excellent weather!
Total time ~15.5 hours, total miles ~640 +/- Would I ride with these hooligans again? In a second.
THANKS OM - I hadn't been to 36 in a couple of years - Really appreciate you thunk to do this run.
From Fairfield, CA - Gassed up and Rolling at 0540!
Wooden Valley Rd. to Hwy. 128
128 to the coast, just south of Mendocino
Up the coast through Ft. Bragg, and out to Leggett
Up 101 to Fortuna
Hwy. 36 back inland to Red Bluff.
Back to Sacramento/Fairfield
Just under 600 miles. About 12 hours riding time. (Semi-urgent pace.)
We should all be home by dark.
The players included:
Me
Bokerfork
Feeger
ScooterActivist
and, of course, the instigator: Old Michael
Short version RR is: All went pretty much as planned, group was well-matched, with very good peeps who are also very good riders, plenty fun was had, many twisty and scenic roads were traveled (semi-urgently), and last I heard everyone was safely en route to their respective domiciles.
Longer version is - Start at O'Dark Thirty to make it to the meet (at an hour later version of O'Dark Thirty). Awfully glad I pulled the Motoport liner out of the closet - Chilly start for August. Bokerfork (Mark) and Feeger (Al) were at the Starbucks when I pulled up, Old Michael (Cheese Dick
) made it shortly thereafter. Somehow ScooterActivies (Sean) on his Zook 650 ferreted us out a couple of hours later at the (undisclosed to him) breakfast location.The world looked like coastal OR or WA or some other sodden locale for the first few hours of the ride :Snorkle: - misty stuff sheeting off visors; shiny, slippery roads with iridescent oil spots begging us to use just a bit more throttle so the contents of our crank cases could join their rainbow-hued ranks, fogbound cars refusing to let us by...
And then, almost instantly, the world went from PNW weather and road-hogging a-holes :angry03: we couldn't pass to something akin to Cali-in-the-spring. Except for protected areas, all the roads were dry. Ambient temps increased to the mid-60s. The cars that wouldn't get out of the way could be safely and expeditiously passed. Birds may have been singing, but we didn't care, because the world got right just in time for the absolutely phenomenal piece of Hwy 1 between Fort Bragg and Leggett. :rockwoot:
Next up was 101N (where the bike with the radar detector was put in front of the pack), through a buncha trees and pot plantations and a bunch more trees (some of them quite big), --- I don't think Humboldt County will be using my description on their travel brochures --- until we got to the sign warning "Tractor-Semis over 30 feet kingpin to rear axle not advised, next 140 miles" that tells bikers the Mother of All Roads, Hwy 36, awaits.
Hwy 36: WHEE!!! :hyper: and more WHEE :hyper: !!! and, boy, my legs are starting to get tired, but gotta shift weight for these twisties, too, to do them justice and just when you think you've bottomed out, the fun is over, your legs have had 4 or 5 miles to recover :twitchsmile: , and the long trudge home is about to begin, 36 throws another 5 miles or so of roller coaster in just for fun. Did I say, "WHEE!!! :hyper: ?"
Finally, everyone parted ways during the long slab ride home -- in temps approximating the high 70s -- WTF?, is this NorCal in AUGUST? Excellent weather!
Total time ~15.5 hours, total miles ~640 +/- Would I ride with these hooligans again? In a second.
THANKS OM - I hadn't been to 36 in a couple of years - Really appreciate you thunk to do this run.
