NorCal trip 2014

Once again I had the opportunity to take a last hurrah trip with my dad. The plan followed a similar format as last year but with some different roads.
Friday I slept in and hit the road late. The weather was gloomy and cold, but my heated gear worked perfectly. Territorial HWY has a lot of tree debris right now so I elected to burn slab down to Grants Pass. At Canyonville I cut off the slab and ran Tiller HWY. I had heard that the torn up section up top had been fixed. Tiller was clear, the pavement at the top was new, and only a few corners had wet leaves. More or less a win. I took a break in Shady Cove after giving myself a scare at Tiller/62, proof that highway hypnosis can happen even on twisty roads. From Shady Cove I burned up Sams Valley/Gold Hill hwy, then I-5 on into Grants Pass. Nothing terribly of note for the day. I dragged my sister in law out for coffee, then we all had dinner, drinks, and passed out for the night.

Saturday I burned slab Grants Pass to Ashland to meet my dad. We fueled up and said bye to Mom who had come out to see us off.

Dad and I ran down I-5 to HWY 96. Just like last year I ran ahead at that point. HWY 96 has some new patch work but otherwise is slowly degrading. Also like last year we had pizza in Happy Camp. Nothing really to note, although Happy Camp is one of those cities where people like us feel really out of place.

Hwy 96 south of Happy Camp is lots of fun. The section just north of Hoopa is recently re-paved, which is awesome because its nicely twisty.

We fueled up at Willow Creek. Willow Creek seems to be the stopping point for all the hitch hiking Rastafarian-looking youths traveling out to Eureka and Humbolt.

Hwy 299 is a lot of fun. There is a LEO presence though so I had to keep my speed in check. After Weaverville light was fading fast and I made as much ground as I could. Unfortunately I was coming down Buckhorn grade in the dark, with lots of traffic coming towards me. Going through twisties in the dark, downhill, with oncoming lights isn't fun.

After checking into a Motel 6 (slightly better than the one in Eureka, still smelled bad) in the ghetto and putting all my luggage inside we went and ate In N Out, the only reason one could ever have for visiting Redding.

Rather than take our chances with staying in Redding any longer than absolutely necessary we elected to blast up to Weaverville for breakfast. Diners in small tourist towns always have the best breakfast right?

Out of Redding the weather was beautiful and sunny. I ran up Buckhorn grade at a very respectable clip and ran right into a cloud. Right on the other side of the summit the entire valley was socked in a thick cold cloud. I came down the other side of the grade thankful for my D616 tires, my heated gear, and that my Icon gloves have a visor wiper built into the left glove.

At Weaverville we stopped at a little restaurant called The Nugget. Both of us ordered something that included Biscuits and Gravy. One thing almost nobody in the restaurant business screws up is good ol' B&G. When our meals arrived the B&G was cold. Like just out of the fridge cold.

We complained to the waitress who microwaved it then stuck her finger in it to test the temperature.

Out of Weaverville on HWY 3 we were still in the cloud for twenty minutes then climbed out of it into the Trinity mountains. This section of 3 has a lot of tar snakes, but thanks to the cool weather it wasn't an issue. The road is nice and curvy, I had a lot of fun. Its depressing riding by what the signs refer to as lakes and seeing nothing but a hole in the ground with rock piles. I guess the drought is worse than I thought. I blame the Prius drivers.

Eventually I got to Scott Mt. Everyone I'd talked to about HWY 3 always mentioned a section where you're in first gear in switchbacks up a mountain. This was that section. Its steep with switchbacks. It also has a very nice view.

If you do HWY 3, do yourself a favor and go South to North. Going uphill through this is more fun than going downhill would be.

On the other side of Scott Mt I dropped down into Scott valley and it got cold again. Just past Callahan it got colder and foggy. This part of the ride wasn't fun. The roads weren't twisty, it was cold, and there was a bit of farming traffic. I made hast to get through it.

Refueled in Yreka, observed the local druggy transients, and druggy HD riders, hit I-5 back to GP.

Turkey dinner with family, then food coma.

Monday morning, sleep in, then depart with dad up I-5. We narrowly missed getting tickets in Douglas county by the OSP. Breakfast at Canonyville. Dad departed south, I burned up North.

Just past Roseburg the cold northern wind hit me. You know the one, it smells like snow. I turned up my heated gear and tucked behind my CBR's diminutive windscreen.

My last stop before home was to get some ethanol free gas. I probably won't get to ride much for the next couple months and I don't want e10 gumming up my fuel system.

All in all a good ride. Northern California has a lot of great roads to offer and November is past the tourist season.

I think I finally found the right winter gear. The  two exceptions are my helmet and my jacket. My helmet fits perfectly, which doesn't leave any room for my balaclava, which means my head is cold when its cold out. The other is my new Fly winter jacket. It came with some seams open, and other seams opened up during the trip, They weren't catastrophic failures, but it sucks that they have QC issues like that.

Tomorrow once more into the breach.

The second most depressing part of the year

For a sport bike rider like me, autumn is the second most depressing part of the year. During the work week I wake up and leave for work before the sun is even up, then its usually drizzling when I get off work. Combine that with small amounts of evening light and tons of tree debris on my favorite roads and it feels like a part of me has been ripped away. My whole weekly routine gets thrown into upset with sudden gaps where I realize that maybe my girlfriend was right when she said all I do is motorcycle stuff.

Coming into autumn I realized that I needed a last hurrah before the Willamette valley slipped into darkness for two months. My ticket, some medical bills, new glasses, and paying for motorcycle insurance basically tapped me out for the next few months, and I couldn't really take the time off during our last busy month at work  (darn work ethic) I elected to take a four day weekend early in November to go on a trip. Gas for a bike and meals is a bit cheaper than a trackday, gas for my car down to California, and a motel or at least its cheaper by the day.

Lets see, since last year's beer run to Northern California I have gotten the custom seat, real heated gear, waterproof textile pants and jacket, and aggressive Dunlop D616 tires. All I needed to do was swap the Dunlops for the Michelin Pilot Power tires I ran all summer and I'd be good to go. The wheel dismount and re-mount took a bit less time than it used it, I must be getting better with practice. My local bike shop didn't give me any guff about mounting my used tires, and had them back to me the same day. The local shops around here give exceedingly better service than the dealerships.

My dad wants to meet halfway for lunch tomorrow. Tomorrow the weather forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain all day. I suppose these tires and my textile gear is going to get a good shakedown test.

Last trackday of the season and a run in with State Police.

I never got around to talking about my 2-Fast TD in September. Life has been pretty busy.
For all the reasons the PSSR day at the Ridge was bad, this day was good. The day had probably half the normal riders. Joining me were Tyler and Marv (his first TD). Only one bike went off and it wasn't a bad crash.
In the morning session after warming up I found that the rider I'd been racing at ORP in June with the Superduke 1290 was there, and in my group. I chased him for a few laps, never quite able to get past him (I had better corner speed but I'm a wuss about passing), then he let me by and he tried to keep up.
Its always fun at the track out cornering the 1000s, and getting passed by the sv-650s and ninja 250s in turn 1. This day was no different, but by mid day I was only getting passed by racers on race prepped bikes.
The Jackal showed up and provided some impromptu timing for us. My best time was 1:26.8. Tyler beat me at 1:26.2. I'll chalk that up to timing error because I can't bare the thought of getting beaten by him on his SV-650.
Unfortunately I forgot to charge my Contour, so I have no footage.
Not the greatest pics, but they were free:

Fast forward a couple weeks into October. One of my first rides on the CBR since the track was out highway 34. I was having a great time and had already turned back. Somewhere near the Lincoln/Benton county line I came upon an old farm truck loaded with firewood and towing a trailer full of firewood. I tailed him into one of the sweet sweepers and he pulled towards the shoulder and waved me by. I took that as a good omen (the corner is a double yellow but has good visibility) and twisted the throttle.
Naturally I'd been having far too good of a time to look behind me. A few moments after passing the truck I saw a police cruiser behind me with his lights on. Being the good citizen I am I signaled and looked for a good place to pull over. Hwy 32 lacks shoulders so I was signaling for a while before I found a good place to pull over. Just enough room for me, not the police car.
I produced the documents for the State Police officer and we had a discussion about how I needed to slow down. He noted that my rear tire was worn all the way to the edges, and we chatted about the different engine displacements Honda makes for sport bikes.
He ran my information and printed out my citation. Because I'm a responsible and skilled rider, and because I have a clean record, good citizen card, and because I didn't run, he lowered my ticket into the somewhat reasonable range ($260) from what he observed and didn't cite me for passing on the double yellow. I suppose I got off easy. Damnit, $260 could have been a trackday.

North/Central Oregon trip

One of the first trips I had on the books this summer was to meet up with riders from all over Oregon and Washington and ride around the Columbia Gorge. Unfortunately as we got closer to the date people dropped and everything around the Gorge caught on fire. I already had my bags packed, route planned, and time off, so I was going to go somewhere either way.
My backup plan was to go through the not burning part of the state to get to The Dalles and choose a route from there, maybe hitting Mt St Helens. I made arrangements to share that part of the route with another rider who was going to Camas, WA for a reunion.

Friday morning I got on my bike and headed out to the meetup in Scio. From there we took the interesting route through Mill City, then up to Detroit Lake and onto Breitenbush rd.

http://youtu.be/2-GKDsFDuAA

Breitenbush is a fun road in decent shape. The summer traffic can be a drag at times, but its nice anyways.

Clackamas hwy is OK, but it has some traffic, campers, police, and gravel in the corners.
Lunch at Fearless Brewery in Estacada, OR. Their Philly Cheesesteak is quite good, and Scottish Ale is good as well.

From Estacada we cut over to HWY 26 up to Mt Hood. The highway was crowded and there were several speed traps, lots of cops. The ride up Timberline rd to the lodge was uneventful, more SUVs and minivans to harsh our buzz.

After hood we took 35 and 281 into Hood River. I nearly splattered myself on a bad blind left hand turn at 281/35 just outside of HR, then decided to scrap hitting 30 from HR into the Dalles and just go 84 to get to my hotel and pool quicker. Turns out that section of 30 was closed due to the Rowena fire mop up anyway.
I saw a helicopter outside of Rowena dumping water on a hotspot:
http://youtu.be/4yWPdgCsQUw

Finally I got checked in and hit the pool. At dinner I met a gentleman on an F800GS who was touring the discovery trailers of Washington. We talked about where the fires were and how to avoid them as well as BMW QC issues and custom seats.

That night I relaxed with a beverage and watched cartoons.

In the morning I rode over to a little French restaurant in The Dalles called "Le Petite Province" where the local riders have a standing breakfast and ride tradition.

During breakfast we talked routes. The threat of summer RV traffic made me shy away from my Mt St Helens plan. One of the riders, Mike, suggested a Fossil run. I'd heard of Fossil runs on the internet spoken about as if they were the be-all end-all of PNW sport bike riding, so I voted for Fossil.

We (a Tiger 800, Monster 1200, Daytona 675, Sportster bobber 1200, and me) fueled up and departed. Twenty minutes later we climbed through the first canyon away from the Gorge. Mike on the Tiger 800 lead. The pace was interesting; the highway would duck or climb into a canyon for a few minutes then head over the prairie for a while, then into another canyon.
One stop was at a mountain viewpoint. Unfortunately due to the smoke we could only see two.

From there into Condon, top off fuel, then out 206 to Ruggs. From Ruggs on 207 to Hardman and through the canyons of Morrow county. Good riding there, not a lot of traffic and nice predictable cornering. I could have gone faster, but I kept to the pace Mike was setting since I didn't know the roads. Then onto some single lane ranch road the back way into Spray, OR. Single lane roads always freak me out, but this one was nice and fun although a bit dirty. From Spray up 19 to Fossil. We took it easy on this section due to police presence, which gave me an opportunity to enjoy the scenery along the John Day river. There had been fires in this area and I could see where fire crews had stopped grass fires just a few yards from someone's house.

At Fossil we fueled up again. They don't have premium there anymore, but do sell octane booster. Good thing my CBR600RR runs on regular just fine. We ate at a place called RJs, good food.

Mike insisted that the next section (hwy 218) was Sport bike heaven, and that I'd have to lead the next section. He wasn't kidding. It was like a 30 mile long race track. Nice pavement, good corners, and not much traffic. Some cars even pulled over for me. I'd love to go back and do the canyon dance there again.

http://youtu.be/5X7uqI7O7tk

From Antelope we ran up to 97 (booooring) to Liberty Lane near Grass Valley. Eventually it dumps onto HWY 216. 216 descends a bitchin canyon (would be more fun to ascend) then crosses over the Deschutes and through the Warm Springs reservation.

From there up 197 and off onto a couple of side roads near Dufur that I can't remember because I was getting pretty spent. Back in The Dalles I thanked everyone for a good time, refueled, guzzled some gatorade, popped some tylenol and hopped onto the slab.

Riding west in the evening next to a wide river sucks. I wore my sunglasses under my tinted visor and still was uncomfortable. I stopped in Troutdale for dinner with a moto-buddy, then continued out to Beaverton for a party.

Thats pretty much where the story ends. The next day I rode home by mostly slab.

Crashtastic Track day

I always tell people that the track is a much safer place to ride than the street. No minivans, gravel in the corners, and no unexpected corners...

The weekend started with the company golf tournament and picnic at the Evergreen air museum. I golfed horribly.

Fast things...

Then I hit the road north. Coming out of a terryaki joint in Shelton I spotted a rider getting coffee at a stand. I asked how he was going to hold it, and he indicated that the woman on the back was his cup holder.

I got to the track at sunset and unpacked as much as I could. While wandering the paddock I met a man from Victoria, BC that had ridden his Ninja 1000 down to camp and ride the track. Here I thought I was ruffin' it by sleeping in my car at the track.

You might be badass, but are you Honda Grom in A Group badass?

Now I get to the crashtastic part. No, I didn't crash, but a lot of  other people did. Out of 9 sessions (they ran a bonus session at noon and at 5 to make up for lost time) 7 sessions of B group resulted in a red flag ending the session early. B group is a special place that intersects Intermediate riders, with A Group riders and racers that couldn't get into a full A-group, and riders with more money than experience that have a brand new liter bike and don't know how to use it. There were sometimes 2-3 low side crashes in a session before the red flag came out.

The Ambulance was called out several times for injuries, but fortunately nobody had to go to the hospital. The worst part of it was that the PSSR staff blew off my concerns when I pointed out a rider that was riding dangerously. Fortunately the last session was incident free and I finished my day on a high note.

This is a case where the TD provider should have either sold fewer spots, or broken the day up into 4 groups with 15 minute run sessions. The track was crowded until late afternoon when people got tired. The other issue was the corner workers throwing  a red flag for a lowside crash that neither resulted in debris on track or required an ambulance.

Coast run July 18-20

For our Coast run my Southern family chose to take the scenic route through Bend before heading to Albany, instead of slabbing it up.Thursday night Dad and Erik arrived in good ol' Albany. Burgers were grilled, ice cream was eaten, and the stories of their first days adventure were told. Apparently they discovered the maximum range on a Sportster's tiny tank, and learned that riding up 14 miles of gravel road sucks.

Friday morning I grilled up some breakfast egg/bacon/muffins and brewed some strong coffee. Then we pulled the bikes out and pre-flighted them. Erik's Sportster had taken to marking its territory after a recent service at the Hardley dealer (oil leak). We gassed up and took off. The ride up past McMinville was uneventful. We were delayed by farm equipment several times, and road construction on Hwy 26. The ride got really interesting on HWY 47 though, which is nice and curvy.

We had lunch at the Black Iron Grill in Vernonia, surrounded by bicyclists and other motorcyclists. We talked with a group of women who were touring the US. One had a Goldwing with a trailer, obviously a well prepared bunch. HWY 47 from Vernonia to Clatskanie would be a hella cool road if it wasn't in shit shape. Seriously the road surface is falling apart and the patch jobs make it worse. If the pavement was in better shape though it would be somewhere I'd love to bring my CBR.

HWY 30 from Clatskanie to Astoria is crowded and somewhat slow. Its one of those highways where once you get to a passing lane you can't make any progress because a truck is passing another truck, or a Prius is passing a truck at truck speed +1mph. We did make some progress and I found out that my Bolt will do a very respectable speed up a hill in 4th gear with the throttle pinned, and make a hella cool V-Twin sound doing it!

We got to Astoria and took a picture near the trolley route of that famous bridge.

Then we visited the Astoria Phallus. Erik and I humped to the top to take pics.

In order to say that they'd done the whole of HWY 101 in Oregon we had to cross the bridge into Washington first. They're doing road work on the bridge, so we waited. Then we got across, turned around and went down into Seaside.

On the way into Seaside I followed a Squidette on a Ninja 250r who was texting on her phone in traffic. Seriously. I'm a skilled rider, but I can't do that.

That night we went down into the Tourist area and ate at the worlds worst seafood restaurant, the Crabby Oyster. The speakers were blasting some horrible music, the service was slow, and the food was bad.

The next day we went somewhere for breakfast we knew would be bad, but since we knew it is bad it was OK. McDonalds. A man in a Lobos MC supporter T-Shirt complimented my Bolt. I wonder if he knew it was a Jap bike. Near the end of breakfast an old woman who was probably one of the original Hells Angels "mammas" regaled us with tales of run ins between bikers and truckers. When she asked if we were a club I blurted out that we are a very exclusive club.

Once again on the HWY we got our first real taste of HWY 101. By that I mean we were stuck behind slow as fuck cars between Seaside and Tillamook. One state owned car was going 30mph (in a 55 zone) for almost 20 miles. When they finally pulled over to ask for directions I yelled "find your gas pedal" at them as I passed and pinned the throttle (more v-twin noise!).

At Tillamook we visited the air museum.

Mini-guppy.

F-14 cockpit. This one is flyable supposedly, not gutted like the one at Evergreen.

A-7 Corsair

Kill Markers from the first Gulf War

Mig 17

A-4 cockpit trainer. I barely fit.

Our next stop was McMinnamins in Lincoln City, then The bridge in Newport Oregon.

The Bolt about to roll over to 1000miles.

Below Florence traffic cleared up somewhat. Traffic traded RVs for toyhaulers (which go a helluva lot faster than regular RVs. People drive those things like they're quads!). Once we broke free of the last of the slow cars we hauled ass in a matter that only motorcycles can down to Coos Bay. We met Erik's wife there and dined at a nice Italian restaurant, then had drinks at a local dive.
The next morning we went to a restaurant that The Internet said was good. Unfortunately everyone else in Coos County had read the same review and was there. It delayed my departure somewhat. Finally I loaded up and headed back north, while Erik and Dad continued South to complete the rest of 101.
At Reedsport I caught HWY 38 and blasted back towards the valley. With the exception of some trailers traffic allowed for some spirited riding. I ran across a rider on a Daytona 675 who had a similar appreciation for spirited riding, which made it more interesting. I would have stopped at the tourist view points to take pictures of the domestic Elk, except that I've seen domestic Elk before and just didn't care that much.
I hopped I-5 for a little while until I got bored and cut onto side highways home.
All in all a good weekend. The Bolt is a great bike, but would use a better seat. I'll have to see what the long term reviews on the Mustang seat are and maybe I'll get one.