NorCal Tour 5/2022

You know that feeling when you think you've screwed up and you want to quit but you keep telling yourself (and others) "just go a little further and it'll get better" so you keep going and each minute of second guessing you get further away from home and further into the deep? Yeah. That was the first two hours of riding.

The plan had been simple enough. A good friend is leaving the state in June and we wanted to have a going away ride for her birthday. OK no problemo, we'll just ride down into Northern California where it's warmer. Naturally the weather decided to punish us for our hubris and instead of the normally balmy early May weather on the west coast we got a freakin' winter storm. For weeks before the step off it was looking bad, with snow hitting a lot of the higher elevation areas. Then the days before I got to agonize over forecasts along our route.

That's where we get back to "just got a little further". It was torrentially raining and fairly cool. When I met the other riders there was a feeling of, "let's scrub the trip, this sucks". But we stepped off on the insist that the weather would get better once we got south of the Willamette valley. It did truly suck. Torrential rain, wind, truckers trying to kill us. We had a late lunch break near Roseburg and laughed about how our gear was soaked. Good thing I have heated gear! The shell of the Alpinestars "Drystar" gear I have soaked through and the outer pockets aren't waterproof but at least the sewn in rain liner mostly kept me dry and the heated gear kept me warm.

One problem though was visibility. I couldn't see. My pinlock was mostly fog free but the visor seemed to have some awful distortion that made the rain and spray worse. More on that later.

Usually having an attitude of "just go a little further and it'll improve" just means riding in the suck for further but this time it paid off. South of Roseburg the weather cleared and all we had to contend with was the heavy traffic and truckers trying to kill us. By the time we rolled into Yreka we were all pretty well mentally shot from the ride, but when you ask nicely many motels will let you park your bikes under the overhang. Taking apart my visor in the motel room I realized my vision problems were because I'd missed removing one of the protective membranes they ship visors with. Dummy.

The Mexican joint we had dinner at wasn't bad, too expensive, too much food. They had a cool chandelier made of Tequila bottles.

Day one was just getting into the area. Day two is where the fun began. With full fuel tanks we made our way through the canyon of highway 263 up to highway 96. At 96 I checked out. "See you in Happy Camp" I said. Not a lot of traffic this time of year and I made great time, lots of in helmet smiles besides the one construction stop with a flagger. Happy Camp only has regular so I brought a bottle of 92 with me to dilute it with. Not that it'd kill my bike to run on a half tank of 87, but why risk it. Naturally we had to stop for big foot pictures.

Also naturally we ran into the obligatory local crackhead that wanted to talk to us about how cool our bikes were and how he used to ride. Uh yeah, sorry bro, can't hear you with my helmet on. Ah crud, I can't hear anyways, but no point in telling a crackhead I'm half deaf, he'll just yell louder!

By the way, Pectah Mart in Weitchpec, California on highway 96 has premium, which is where I waited for my group.

Driving into Hoopa I got stuck behind a minivan that was slow as hell and kept crossing into oncoming traffic. Lazy, malicious, incompetent, drunk? Dunno. Couldn't get past the gonk safely though because of their weaving. Once into Hoopa my opinion of the place as absolutely awful was reinforced as we got stuck behind every tribal emergency vehicle in the Hoopa district plodding along at five miles an hour for most of a mile because they were escorting two firefighters taking a jog on the highway.

Then pizza and gas in Willow Creek which is marginally less awful than Hoopa. But premium there costs $6.84/gallon which is awful. Past Willow Creek on 299 eastbound we had moments of "this is awesome" and more than a few construction zones and slow people. I was able to get by the slowness enough to open her up and the only times I spotted highway pirates they were already busy defrauding other drivers.

From 299 we went south on highway 3 towards Hayfork. Light traffic, good twisties. Gas in Hayfork then back on 3 to 36. California 36 is pretty damn cool. You could say it's the cherry on the sundae of doing a tour like this. But we were getting kind of tired by this point so it was slightly less cool. Also slightly less cool when we hit rain and torn up road 50 miles from Fortuna. After a break to get my heated gear back on I bolted ahead to get to the motel. I'm crazy or stupid or skilled because I was able to keep up a higher pace in the rain and bad pavement than others, but whatever.

As the "tour director" I'd chosen the spot we stayed at in Fortuna for two reasons: they have a hot tub, and they are across the parking lot from the Eel River Brewery which has excellent food. We dined and embarrassed the birthday girl then went back to the hot tub for a good soak. No pictures of the post-dinner activities including birthday spankings for obvious reasons relating to terms of service on blogger and that what happens on the road stays on the road.

One of our riders had to split early so the rest of us had a leisurely breakfast then departed on highway 36. At multiple points on either end of highway 36 there are signs indicating it is not advisable for trucks, but what did we see? A couple of big rigs heading out there. Dangerous. We made it past them finally and got to enjoy 36 in the dry with fresh brains. The weather had improved a lot and it was good fun.

The weather started improving so much I stripped off the layers I could and opened my vents. It got warmer as we headed east. Around one corner high in the mountains we spotted a Multistrada parked with the rider sitting in a lawn chair enjoying the view! Down into Red Bluff and it got really warm. The Drystar gear doesn't have a removeable rain liner which makes it suck above 77 degrees. It was mid eighties in the valley.

Initially our route was supposed to go through Lassen but the road wasn't going to open up until June so we hopped on slab up into Redding to get back on 299 east. In Redding I got us lost again on the way to lunch, then we got lost trying to find a Cycle Gear to get oil for the thirsty Triumph. At Cycle Gear I had a moment of thinking "maybe I should buy some mesh gear?". Fortunately I didn't because 40 miles out of Redding the temperature dropped into the 70s again and since we were moving I was comfortable.

299 has some amazing views going up the hill which we didn't stop for. Once I broke free of traffic along with the birthday girl on her Triumph we positively hauled balls up into the mountains. You can't see much of a person's face but when we rolled into Burney and stopped at a light, I could see her eyes smiling through her helmet. Yep, me too. Nothing quite like what we're doing. At Four Corners we waited for the slower riders for the last highway of the day.

Highway 89 must have just had a major hatching because we got plastered in bugs in just a few miles. Regardless the European bikes jack rabbited ahead and hauled more balls at big-ticket speed out 89, occasionally admiring the views of Mt Shasta, through the hills on in to the city of Mount Shasta for our final night on the road. Once again we had a hot tub and the staff let us park under the overhang.

bugs!

Someone left their key in their bike overnight...

Although it didn't absolutely ruin our motel experience but the Best Western's coffee is just weak and yucky. I drank three cups and it didn't hit me at all. Mediocre. Their "grab and go" breakfast was pretty lame too; just a couple granola bars, an apple, and a bottle of water. I guess they don't want their "complimentary" breakfast getting the way of the actual restaurant they have on site. More or less we broke up at this point, the FJR and SV heading to visit one group of friends in Medford and the Ducati and Triumph heading to another group in Medford. From Yreka to the border we managed a 90mph average, which surprisingly still gets me 43mpg on the Ducati in sixth gear!

After a good lunch with friends we hit the slab home and somehow managed not to get speeding tickets!

Doorstep to doorstep for me: 1193 miles.

Now time to clean the dirty Duc, change the oil, and decide where to go next.

Winter Recap 21/22

I realize I haven't bothered writing (on this blog anyways) since I bought my new Ducati in November. But let's be reasonable, I wasn't doing much riding and I was dealing with bad winter depression. I mean I'm still depressed but at least it's warming up outside and I can ride a little more, so that helps. I clocked off the "run in" mileage on my new bike and got it serviced before winter officially started, and got to break the triple digits before I plugged it into the tender and didn't ride for a month.

In December I spent a couple days at an AirBnB with friends. We did a little snowboarding but the weather was viciously cold and the powder so deep that snowboarding wasn't much fun. But being with friends and doing a little drinking was great.

By January I was not having a good time at all. Career burnout, feelings of aimlessness, being trapped, all of that on top of the usual seasonal depression. Working from home has it's benefits, but because of the cultural shifts that happened during pandemic, there's no point to going in to the office at least socially speaking. The damage is done, my co-workers don't want anything to do with other humans. I miss my old company where at least we went to lunch once in a while or talked about Star Wars taking a walk.

I had some ideas bouncing around my head for a while and I started writing. I'll be frank that it's "fanfic" set in the Cyberpunk world, but beyond the world building it was all my own characters and story. It is a noir-detective story. Greed and corruption are the driving factors in the story. The main characters are pawns in the games played by the string-pullers of the world. Just last night I "finished" it, at least I wrapped up the story arcs for the main characters. What started out as an episodic collection of shorts ended as a novel. My girlfriend read it and she liked it, but she's probably biased right? Exercising my creative side helped me get through things although it became a compulsive thing of it's own. Will it see the light of day? No. I did it for me.

It can't rain all the time and a few rides did happen. After the vicious December we had a mild January and February with a few riding days. Some of our favorite roads were remarkably clear although the pavement has degraded a lot over the winter.

Pictured: what happens when you ride near the limit on a road you haven't seen in four months that fell apart over the winter on a bike you've hardly ridden. The rider lived but has some new hardware installed in his body and has become an "I used to ride" person.

Now that it's spring the weather in the Willamette Valley is bipolar: rain, thunder, hail, then sunshine, then repeat. As soon as you get geared up for a ride or decide to go for a walk because the rain stopped, it'll start again. This weekend though it looks like it'll be nice! Everyone is coming out of hibernation at once and I have to pick and choose which fun thing or motorcycle ride to go on. Go cheer on my friends at OMRRA or go riding? Winter-depressed-me is jealous of spring-depressed-but-busy me.

Usually this time of year I'd be figuring out which trackdays to go to and other fun stuff but not this year. I'm going to MotoAmerica at the Ridge in June and going on a long weekend ride into NorCal in May but beyond that no plans. Given the pay cut I took to get employed again and some unexpected expenses, I'm barely in the black, and the track might have to take a back burner. I'll get a few days in, but right now I don't have them planned or paid for.

Giving it thought I realized I really wanted to take some trips and venture further. It feels like my life has been on hold for two years. My cabin fever and valley fever are awful but the amount of fear and momentum keeping me in place is tremendous. Not fear of getting sick mind you, fear of things turning out like my Southwest trip or Washington trip, getting turned away, having to walk through drive throughs, people being afraid of me, bullshit like that. I was talking with my girlfriend about going to Mexico next winter but in the middle of that discussion I found out some acquaintances of mine were stuck there. They went down for their honeymoon and had to stay an additional two weeks because of positive tests, isolating in an AirBnB shack (spoiler alert: they never even felt sick). 

Here's a silver lining in the storm cloud. With gas prices going nuts, maybe that'll mean fewer RVs and tourists in my way when I travel? Yeah, not likely. Guessing everyone that has a functioning credit card will be traveling this summer because they feel the same as me.

All that said, at least we're on the upswing of the year. Weather is getting warmer, I'm determined to get out. Life has an expiration date, don't wait to live it.

New Bike!

The worst kept secret because I told everyone about it. Last Saturday I traded in my 2017 Supersport 939 for a 2022 Supersport 950 S. Its scary how uneventful the trade in process was. On Friday I talked to a sales lady there (no other than #1C plate holder Hannah Johnson of OMRRA) who made sure they had a 950 S, then Saturday I trailered the '17 up. They had the new bike right there for me and after signing my name a few times and writing a check I loaded up the 950 S and went home.

Of course its the off season and quite wet, so I'm getting the run-in miles done slowly. Looking forward to lots of Canyon Carving and track days on my new bike!

In my office at work I've started white boarding my 2022 Motorcycle season. Basically a wish list of things I want to do, to keep me hopeful during the dark and dreary autumn and winter.

In no particular order:

March - Superbike School at Willow Springs

April - Trackday at Thunderhill

May - Memorial Day weekend at The Ridge

June - Eastern Oregon Run, MotoAmerica at The Ridge

July - Independence Day weekend at the Ridge

August - Trackday somewhere

Sept - Labor Day at RMP

Oct - Thunderhill

Nov - SoCal Sport Tour

I usually have a fantasy in the autumn about taking my bike down south where its warm, and by next year I should have a good amount of vacation days accrued. One of my fantasies is to trailer down to Thunderhill and spend a day on HWY 36 right after or before. Another idea is to go even further and ride around the San Bernardino's and Palm Springs area. I have a year to figure out the details.

Amazing how good trip-planning can be an escapist fantasy in of itself. Look at a map, say: "oooh look at those curvy roads", look at the weather and see that its 75 and sunny there and 55 and raining here, look at AirBnBs in the area... Rinse and repeat.

Fall '21

Seems like this summer flew by way too quickly. That happens when you're having lots and lots of fun.

By the numbers:

Trackdays at the Ridge: 5

Trackdays at PIR: 2

Overnight moto-trips: 2 (not enough)

Crashes: 0

Tickets: 0

Last night I sold the VFR800. Bittersweet moment, but it was time to go. All things are temporary, possessions, friends, careers. We're only borrowing those things from the universe. I've been thinking about how some things are connected and how life moves in cycles.

Shortly after buying the VFR in 2016 I started riding with Seth. I thought he was a jackass but since he attracted all the fast riders, I kept riding with him and became friends. For years we put together epic group rides and introduced dozens of people to the track. But now Seth's gone, and the VFR is gone; that cycle in my life is ended.

I've been planning to trade in my 2017 Ducati for a 21 or 22. That plan can now proceed because the Honda is sold. Good/bad timing I suppose since yesterday on a ride the 2017 started running badly! Bad gas I hope, but I know things are never that simple.

I'll keep this short. Honestly my muse is somewhat lacking for writing and I don't know why.

A Rant Regarding Motorcycle Shops

 I tend to agonize about things. Its one of my most irritating personality flaws. My inner monologue is something like 99% arguing with myself and or reliving all my various mistakes in life no matter how minor. To that end I usually have plenty of hindsight related minor and major mistakes to relive 24/7. Since I'm a motorcycle enthusiast and don't do all my own tech work I often have lots of things to agonize about with regards to my bikes. Now the weird thing is that because of my line of work I tend to have some short term memory problems; tell me your name and I'll forget it before I even finish introducing myself. But I can tell you all the transgressions imagined or otherwise that I've befallen in relation to getting work done on my bikes by other people!

Lets set the way back machine for 2011. I had this absolutely POS R6 I'd just gotten as my second bike after starting on a Ninja 250. It had an oil leak from the stator cover. I take it to (names have been changed to keep me from getting sued over slander if any of the guilty parties were to read this blog, yeah right) Crapley Motorsports in Grants Pass. He checks it in, tells me he'll call in a week, then forgets about it for a month. I bug him, he says more important jobs (his subie bros with blown turbo engines) were taking his time. I go pick it up and fix it myself, which took two tries because I suck.

The next bike I own is a very nice 2006 CBR600RR. Being that I'm trying to keep it nice, I take it to Frank's Honda in Corvallis, Oregon for the recommended valve inspection service. A week or two later I get a call to pick it up and I show up after work. Its their closing time, their tech has already left, and the man working the desk takes my money, gives me the key, and promptly leaves. I go into the parking lot (its dark, its winter, its cold) and try to start my bike. It starts. Then it dies. Crap. I hit the starter again, it starts then dies. Double Crap. I try a few more times then give it the ol' hold the throttle partly open when starting and it runs! As soon as I close the throttle it dies. Turns out that in pulling it apart they messed up the idle, but I was able to fix that in the cold dark parking lot and get it running again. Oh and the valve inspection? Years later when I had it apart after a crash I notice that the screws on the valve cover looked like they'd never been touched.

So in 2016 I sell the CBR600RR and buy a 2014 VFR800FD. Great fun, comfortable. My stupid ass believes Bert Lambert's Honda in Beaverton when they say they'll key the panniers as part of the horrific cost of buying them, when I come in for the first service. Well obviously that didn't work out. At the first service they told me it was going to be another $250 to key the panniers. I asked them to ship it all to my house and I'd figure that out. Anyways on the way home from the first service (in the middle of nowhere) the lower fairings start flopping in the breeze because they didn't fasten them. When I go to change the oil next I have to use an extension to break loose the oil drain bolt and filter. Come on, who the hell uses an impact gun on a drain bolt? Bert's Honda in Beaverton, that's who.

Since I swore I wasn't going back to Bert's again for service and because I'm dumb I take my VFR to Salem Motorcycle Country for the 16k mile service (which stupidly involves a valve inspection). When I pick it up and look at the invoice I see they had just "inspected" cables and stuff and changed the oil. Well wait, what about changing brake fluid, coolant, and inspecting the valves? To paraphrase the jackass working there "nobody every does the valves they just trade it in". For a roughly $500 service charge I got an oil change. Oh and they used an impact gun on the drain bolt.

Then there's this used car dealership in South Albany that has a motorsports place on campus. They sell used bikes and new Suzukis. Well at one point I need new fork seals on my ZX6R and since Independent repairman Johan won't do forks anymore I call up South Atlantic Powersports and see if they can squeeze me in. They say they can and I drop off my forks, parts, and a bottle of fork oil. I wrote the oil capacity down and put it with the stuff I dropped off. A week later I get the forks back and put em on my ZX6R and go race. If you already read my race blog you know what happened. They emptied half of the fork oil bottle into each fork and hydrolocked them. I raced on forks that had maybe 5mm of travel and zero bump absorption. 

There's an Independent Motorcycle Repair guy in the mid valley I use occasionally. Unfortunately he's a sole proprietor and got a good reputation so he's picky. I used him a number of times over the years and he's always done good work. Problem is since he has a line out the door he can pick and choose what he wants to do. I asked him at bike night "Hey Johan, I have a VFR 800 that's due for a valve check at 36k miles, can you do it?" "No, I don't work on V4s".

Since the Honda dealers in my area had left me with a bad taste I go looking. There's a shop near Portland (Let's call them... CycleMusic) that's run by a guy that used to crew for the Honda Superbike team and they say they can do the high mileage service on a VFR. Great! They even offer a small discount for OMRRA members (which I was at the time). Now I should mention, at the time that I was looking for this service the VFR was already experiencing an intermittent power loss issue. I attributed this to the mileage and figured it would be resolved by doing the high mileage service which included spark plugs.

Well anyways I get the bike back and it runs good. I had them do the suspension and steering head bearing and it feels almost like a new bike. I go ride it out to eastern Oregon the next week and guess what, the power loss issue is still a thing. So anyways it goes back to CycleMusic multiple times while we guess at what the issue is. Power commander tune? No. Fuel pump? Well we couldn't get an OEM one because of the pandemic so we use an aftermarket which doesn't supply enough go-juice and makes the problem worse. Cam chain tensioner? No. Finally get ahold of an OEM fuel pump, that isn't the fix. A tank of fuel after I get back from my southwest trip the VFR outright dies (good thing that didn't happen on the trip) because of an electrical short involving the rear brake and rear brake light, which for some insane reason Honda decided to run the power for the fuel pump THROUGH the rear brake light. They fix that and ... still have an intermittent power loss issue.

So at this point I'm ready to ride it off a cliff and claim the insurance but I get a recommendation for a shop in Medford that has a good reputation for electrical problems. So I drop it off with MRP Motorsports at the beginning of April. I tell them all about the problem and what we've done and even a theory that it might be the TPS going out. Then I don't hear back. I pretty much have to hound them to get an update. They took the bike apart then pretty much forgot about it.

Oh and the TPS? Turns out Honda doesn't sell just the TPS because its riveted into the throttle body, which to buy is over $1000! MRP got ahold of a used one, finally got to work and installed it and... that didn't fix the issue. They're continuing to troubleshoot, maybe. Suppose I'll have to hound them more. Since its summer they have a myriad of people wanting last minute stuff and the guy with the old VFR isn't a priority. Probably would have been better just to get rid of the VFR last year when the problem surfaced instead of blowing time and money on trying to make it my forever bike. Which is a real shame because none of the sport touring options on the market these days really appeal to me in a visual sort of way.

"Well Tim just do all your own work". No. I suck at this. I do a lot of my own work and then call in the pros when its something beyond me. Its just so much of the time the pros don't get it right, or in the case of dealerships outright do it wrong! Why is it so hard to find competent help? Dealerships pay their techs shit for wages so nobody sticks around. Independent places can't pay enough to keep good people around, the good ones leave and go start their own shops and then go out of business because they suck at business.

In the vein of "do all your own work" this week I installed new suspension on the Ninja 400. Part of why I don't usually "do all my own work" is because I don't have all the tools and the facility to do it properly. Maybe that's why I'm a tool abuser. I used ratchet straps to suspend the bike while I swapped out the rear shock. On the '400 its actually pretty straight forward to get to the shock, you don't have to take anything off or strip the whole bike down!

Funny thing about the front of the '400. Kawasaki in their infinite wisdom made the front fairings in a way that you can't use a pin/head lift stand on it without impacting the fairings. Supposedly only two major (high price) brands work in this regard and one is out of stock in all stores. The other thing is that the pin size is something wonky like 21 or 22 mm. So to get the '400 up on the head lift stand I made a pin adapter (wrapped duck tape around a smaller pin) and used ratchet straps to lift the front end, then stick the head lift stand in (this doesn't impact the fairings).

For the forks the proper way to install the kit involves taking the forks off the bike. Nah. Too much work and possibly not enough clearance with the fairings. Instead I took the stock internals out and used my hand vacuum pump and a couple feet of hose to suck out all the OEM oil. Then I dropped the new Matris internals in. Easy peasy. Probably missed a few CCs of OEM oil but no big deal since it was low miles anyways.

The new suspension is a lot smoother feeling, at least in the twenty miles I rode it last night after finishing the work.

Fossil Run July 2021

 I know I've talked about "The Fossil Run" before, after all what motorcyclist in the Northwest hasn't? The thing about this sport, especially going longer distance, is that its generally more fun and safer if you go with a group. The thing about group travel though is the difficulty lining everyone's schedules and preferences up. It always amazes me how much pulling teeth it is for some people to get Saturday-Sunday off from their "life" and "family" to go do something that they've said over and over that they want to do.

With that in mind eventually you say to yourself: "self, (because that's what I call myself) stop worrying about including everyone and just pick a date and go", and so I did. I invited twenty people and four (including me) showed up. Good enough, a small group is easier to fit into restaurants, gas stations, and motels.

Cast of Characters:

Double D - Street Triple 675 

Flamin' Beans - Africa Twin (which he rides like its a big supermoto)

SalemCBR - CBR1000RR (good to have a famous YouTuber with us to record this momentous occasion)

LazyEye - SuperSport 939 (yours truly)

With our bags packed and tanks full we set out over the Santiam pass towards Central Oregon. We got a somewhat early start hoping to beat some of the heat and the traffic jam at Sisters, Oregon. We didn't beat the traffic and it turned into a passing/leap frog game pretty quick. Any head start dissolved near Suttle Lake when we came upon a wreck of a truck and learned there was a second wreck (of a motorcyclist) up ahead.

While waiting and chatting with ODOT first response and local SAR members, I learned that Life Flight was inbound for the motorcyclist. Oddly enough after circling once the 'copter didn't land and left the area. Later we found that he had died, another casualty of someone turning onto a major highway without looking.

The highway past Sisters is slow, congested, and hot. Especially with a cylinder between my legs. After the time we'd lost because of the wrecks we stopped in Madras for lunch. Apparently all the fast food places still had their dining rooms closed due to lack of employees. Drive throughs and motorcycles don't get along, so we had a real sit down lunch at Black Bear. Probably better than eating Taco Bell anyways.

North of Madras we finally turn onto a more interesting road and start some genuine canyon carving. To my dismay we got stuck behind a tour bus for several miles, which seemed like an eternity, and left me questioning what jackoff psycho decided to bring a friggin' tour bus out into the twisties.

The ironic thing about "The Fossil Run" is that Fossil highway from Antelope to Fossil is only 36 miles long. Its 36 miles that's pretty great, but only 36 miles. We travel hours and hundreds of miles to get to this 36 mile long highway. But I must digress, there were more tour busses out there. What. The. Heck. Editor's note: there's a church camp, ironically near the old Rajneesh Cult grounds, out there that imports people for indoctrination by the bus load. Back on topic. Not that going on "The Fossil Run" is detracted by this simply semantic problem, because just past Fossil is literally hundreds of miles of fantastic canyon carving.

After a rehydration and gas stop in Fossil we continued on to carve the canyons east and north. Past Spray we picked up Highway 207 which goes through the mountains and past an OHV area. Excellent twisties and on the downhill side (going north) there is probably ten miles of undulating curves following a river which of course I forgot to turn on my Go Pro for. Coming around one corner we got to test our brakes and stop on road to admire some cows that were hanging out on the tarmac.

On a side note I think its Murphy's Law of Go Pros that you never have it on when something really cool happens.

More canyon carving on 207 and onto 206 followed. By the time we rolled in to Condon for a fuel stop I was feeling the mental fatigue common to riding in 100 degree heat all day. With mesh gear your sweat is evaporating as fast as your body can make it and its amazing how dehydrated you can get. Fortunately the gas station there had air conditioned restrooms and Gatorade.

West of Condon is open prairie with constant wind and Windmills. Its the kind of terrain where you test the phrase "if a curve is boring, go faster until it isn't".

The open terrain gives way to Cottonwood Canyon which has some excellent flowing curves and then back up into the open, and then back down into another canyon and on into Wasco. Trips like this are canyon carving in a very literal sense, as opposed to carving roads that follow a river but don't have a real canyon. Again, a semantic difference.

On we went into The Dalles and checked in to our motel and hit the pool!

Pictured: LazyEye and Double D jumping in. Not pictured: SalemCBR who hadn't made reservations soon enough and was staying over at the sketchiest Super 8 ever.

Some of the local riders from The Dalles joined us for dinner. It took the restaurant quite a while to serve so we had plenty of time to catch up and plot future shenanigans.

The next day we had a late start after bike maintenance and another restaurant that served slowly (short staffed). Mostly we back tracked the way we'd come but a little bit more direct. While on Fossil highway we decided to stop to cool off in the John Day river, only to find that it was only knee deep!

Pictured, me near the middle of the river. I picked up a bit of scum in the river and felt itchy/sticky afterwards.

The rest of the ride after the Fossil/Antelope highway sections was boring and stuck in traffic. All in all a great weekend. No tickets, no breakdowns, no crashes. The hard part is going back to work on Monday and trying to not think about where/when to head out again! But first I need new tires and or my VFR back (but that's another post).

Pictured: SalemCBR, Double D, and LazyEye at the Mountain Identifier on Hwy 206.

Not quite post script: My short video I made about the trip!

https://youtu.be/jLkmUm9KUSY

Time Flies When you're having fun

 I love summer (duh!). Which is problematic because it's so short. Also because time flies when you're having fun and I try to cram as much fun into summer as possible so... it flies. June flew by in the snap of a finger. So many fun and un-fun things happened so quick that before I've even gone swimming its over.

I kicked off summer right with a group ride to the lake and then to get ice cream! Only a few of us made it since it was mid-week but quality over quantity! Riding fast and then back slapping and eating ice cream is one of those "emotional highs" that are hard to replicate anywhere else.

Instead of going to MotoAmerica at The Ridge I rode to an outdoor biker wedding where my special lady nearly died of heat exhaustion in the unusually hot June heat wave we had. But on the bright side that week I found a deal on an un-molested 2020 Ninja 400. Its a ton of fun to rip around on it. Like they say its more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow.

It came with a god-awful loud Werkes exhaust. I've put a baffle in it, but I might just swap back to the stock boat anchor eventually. I'm taking it to PIR in July to rip around in the small displacement group. That should be interesting, totally stock bike, no mods yet, even OEM GPR-300 tires. I'll start throwing mod-money at it after that so I have a baseline. The stock suspension is ... adequate for street riding. I've ordered a Matris (Italy) shock and fork spring/valve kit to give me proper springing, dampening, and ride height. Funny that in 10 years of track riding this will be the first bike I've bothered to have sprung for my weight. Now I'm eyeing a Thunderhill-West weekend to properly test the new suspension at the end of September on a technical track.

My wanderlust is kicking in. I want to go out east but I have three things blocking me. 1. I seem to have something crammed in every weekend already. 2. My VFR is still in the shop (don't friggin get me started on how much this situation pisses me off) and 3. With my new job I don't have a lot of time off yet so I'm limited to just a Saturday/Sunday. No matter, I'm going to make it happen one way or another. The SS is perfectly capable to an overnight ride as long as I don't take a lot of stuff.

July 4th weekend when most people were busy doing non motorcycle stuff I was at the happiest place on earth: the racetrack. Saturday I did the OPRT intermediate class, which academically was a waste of time for me, but coaching wise was worth it. Sunday was just normal riding and I had a great time. There was a lot less traffic Sunday and my lines and times improved (even though I look terrible on camera and can't drag a knee).

Onward into the weekend!