Recently in Rides Category

My trip report for CFR 2009 is posted on this TCFJR entry.

I'm off to CFR, an FJR rally in Nakusp, BC. See this TC FJR post for complete details.

My ride got truncated a little, but was still a blast. Full write-up is on the TCFJR site here.

I've been losing vacation time at work, which I hate - a lot - so I'm taking Friday off to go riding. I'd like to get in a good, long ride.

The current plan is to take the 101 to San Luis Obispo, then the 58, 229, 41, and 46 over to the 99. South on the 99 to the 58, east to Barstow and the 15, south to Escondido, west to Oceanside, then up the 5 back home. A little over 700 miles, and a good test run to see if the bike and I are ready for a BBG attempt.

I'll post more after the ride.

I took a ride on my motorcycle today.

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Toecutter organized a ride he called the Central Coast Romp for Saturday, April 22nd, and a bunch of riders on the FJR Forum joined in, including me.

I left at 7:24am, and made good time to the meeting point in Coalinga, at I-5 and SR-198. Head winds cut my gas mileage way down at the end, so I stopped for gas at SR-41, about 20 miles short of the 198. I got to the meeting point at 10:05am, in plenty of time for the scheduled 10:30am departure.

We left around 10:40am, heading west on the 198. I don't do much group riding, but knew the basics of staggered formation and "The Pace", and I think I did pretty well. We made a short stop to collect everyone.

At SR-25, we turned north. The 25 is one of my favorite motorcycling roads, but I've only ever done it north-to-south, which made it fun. After the fun twisties to the south, we synched up at the entrance to Pinnacles, and headed north into the higher speed sections.

Bob took off at FJR nominal speeds to scope out the conditions. About 10 minutes later, we caught up with him on the side of the road - he had hit a rock and had a flat front tire. Luckily, Mark from Visalia had a plug kit and plug-in compressor, and in less than 10 minutes we were all back on the road. We turned off the 25 onto SR-156 to bypass Hollister.

The plan was to stop at a Mexican restaurant in San Juan Bautista, but when we arrived we found the streets around the restaurant closed for a big street fair. We found a backup pizza place, and I grabbed a sandwich and enjoyed some conversation with Jerry and Lisa, Mark, Andrew and Sheri, and the others.

We headed west on the 156 to the 101, then southwest to Marina, Monterey and Carmel. We stopped at the Chevron at Rio Road, across the street from the shopping center I always stop in for coffee, then headed south on SR-1.

The group was more comfortable with double-yellow passes than I normally am, but everything was done safely so I joined in (although Andrew and Sheri made some moves that gave me pause). We made good time, with people moving up and back in line as their whims took them. We hit some really nasty gravel patches that made me really unfomfortable, but we all got through unscathed.

About half-way through, we had split into two groups: me, TWN, and Andrew and Sheri up front, with George, Bob and Barbera, and Rudy hanging back. Our group stopped at the motel just north of Hearst Castle to wait for the others. We used the porta-potties, took pictures, and still kept waiting. After about twenty-five minutes, George and Bob/Barbera pulled in - they had stopped for coffee, and left Rudy smoking back at the restaurant.

We proceeded smartly to Morro Bay, where Tim/TWN collected the heated vest he'd loaned to Barbara. After the unplanned stops it was getting late, and I still had 200 miles plus to ride, so Tim and I made our farewells and headed out.

We made good time to Santa Maria, and stopped for a last tank of gas. Shortly after we restarted, it started to rain, and we fought a light drizzly rain all the way to Santa Barbara. Tim pulled off to go home in Carpinteria, and I kept going. I stopped to make a quick check-in phone call home, then hit the road again.

Traffic on the 101 was weird - a bunch of cars weaving around at 10mph over the flow of traffic. It helped me make good time.

I hit the driveway at 10:45pm, tired but happy. I made a note to buy the same plug kit Mark had - it was great.