Big-D
Well-known member
I had wanted to ride the California coast since buying my FJR and I must say, this was a really good time. I had not ridden this area since way back in '95 & '96 when I owned a Goldwing. I want to thank Neil San Diego for organizing this ride and to Marcelo for allowing us to visit his winery and check out his collection of vintage motorcycles.
Thanks to Richard Fairlaner and John Dumke for the pointers on how to corner like they do, although I don’t think I’ll ever be that fast in the corners. Dan (Ynotride) and his radar detector definitely saved us at least one speeding ticket and Dan also set a good pace following behind the speed junkies. Bowling was fun, although the speed junkies beat everyone their also. If we had bowled a few more games, I think Dan would have cleaned house as he was finding his niche towards the end. Got to see BeemerDons old stomping grounds that lay right on the coast and lots of dominate male Seals fighting over females. I don’t think Bustanut has anything over on Californians with his sheep.
Then as we reached San Luis Obispo we all started splitting up and going different directions. I decided to start heading towards home (Lake Havasu) and took 166 towards Bakersfield. After my GPS kept telling me to turn north, I thought I had better check it out and pulled over for a closer look (I wish I had a map) and stopped along the interchange of Hwy 223 and Hwy 58 east of Bakersfield and placed my FJR on the side stand. As I was getting off the bike, it rolled forward just enough to come off the stand and fall over catching me underneath. Damn that bike is heavy. I was able to get it upright, only to discover I had scratched up the left mirror, left side case and the clutch cover. Looks like I’ll be needing advice from SkooterG as to where the best place is to get these painted parts repaired. I don’t know which is worse, the bike getting scratched or me lying in the no.1 lane of the highway with a 700 pound motorcycle on top of me.
All in all, the trip was loads of fun. The damage to the left side of my bike is just a casualty of riding and becoming too complacent and not making sure the bike is stationary before swinging your leg over to get off. I made it home without any more mishaps.
Thanks to everyone that made this three day ride a success.
I’ve attached a link to the pictures I took!
Big-D (Dan)
Pictures
Thanks to Richard Fairlaner and John Dumke for the pointers on how to corner like they do, although I don’t think I’ll ever be that fast in the corners. Dan (Ynotride) and his radar detector definitely saved us at least one speeding ticket and Dan also set a good pace following behind the speed junkies. Bowling was fun, although the speed junkies beat everyone their also. If we had bowled a few more games, I think Dan would have cleaned house as he was finding his niche towards the end. Got to see BeemerDons old stomping grounds that lay right on the coast and lots of dominate male Seals fighting over females. I don’t think Bustanut has anything over on Californians with his sheep.
Then as we reached San Luis Obispo we all started splitting up and going different directions. I decided to start heading towards home (Lake Havasu) and took 166 towards Bakersfield. After my GPS kept telling me to turn north, I thought I had better check it out and pulled over for a closer look (I wish I had a map) and stopped along the interchange of Hwy 223 and Hwy 58 east of Bakersfield and placed my FJR on the side stand. As I was getting off the bike, it rolled forward just enough to come off the stand and fall over catching me underneath. Damn that bike is heavy. I was able to get it upright, only to discover I had scratched up the left mirror, left side case and the clutch cover. Looks like I’ll be needing advice from SkooterG as to where the best place is to get these painted parts repaired. I don’t know which is worse, the bike getting scratched or me lying in the no.1 lane of the highway with a 700 pound motorcycle on top of me.
All in all, the trip was loads of fun. The damage to the left side of my bike is just a casualty of riding and becoming too complacent and not making sure the bike is stationary before swinging your leg over to get off. I made it home without any more mishaps.
Thanks to everyone that made this three day ride a success.
I’ve attached a link to the pictures I took!
Big-D (Dan)
Pictures
Just kidding, sorry we didn't get that chance to ride together.
