Recent Ca Trip from Phx

Yes, Thread is no good without pics. That will be later.

Phx to Mission V. Dropped the gear and headed to Ortega Hwy out to Lake Elsinore.

#1 Side note: If you haven't talked to VfrChick (or maybe she changed it to Chick) about Vibranator for the buzzing in your hands...DO SO!!! Or, you could look them up at vibranator.com.

I was headed East and there was plenty of traffic at 3pm on a Friday. There were also plenty of po-po. Headed south to the Palomar Exit. Called Long. Long was in the OC at that time. Couldn't make it. Headed toward Palomor.

Stopped at the "I don't need no stinking new tire" lay down corner for Crust. I said a prayer, burned a small goat, lit a candle and did some yoga. I thought that would cover most of my 'god' bases. Then I smoked my rear tire on the spot he went down and left.

There was one other bike on the hill (on his way down) when I went up. Very fun and super quick. Reverse direction back to Mission V. Ortega was empty going West. The last 2 or 3 miles I was stuck behind some cars. Good thing... po-po was waiting by the light. Karma: sleep right, eat right, be nice to your neighbors and children. Oh, and small animals.



Saturday was socked in (and not 'monkey' socked in) early. Didn't leave 'til 11. Hit PCH and North from Laguna. Mostly fun. Rode next to a 600 FZR most of the way. Oh, don't stop in parts of Long Beach. And lock the doors on your bike. Scary. Somewhere near Redondo I took some pics and had to meet JTC at the bottom of Mt Baldy. By that time both Long AND Chuckman have declined to attend.

Mountain Ave (or Road) and Hwy210 is about where JTC shows up on his bitchen Duc. Up the hill we go. The trip up was ok, but the trip down was super cool and taxing. JTC can really ride that Duc. No matter how fast I am around the corners, that (200 lbs less weighing Duc) will just cruise along nicely.











I blasted back to Riverside and stop off at Chuck's for a quesadilla and some wine. Super fun. Then back to Mission V by midnight. The weather was great in Mission V early. Left after the first quarter of the Chicago game. Did the 'slab' thing back to Phx in 5 hours. 1400 miles. Yeah!

 

Glad it went safely!

I will soon take my deals gap trip and pass by (AGAIN) a corner where a friend of mine went down (he's fine). I'm not sure where I'm gonna find a goat...

 

Mountain Ave., Mt. Baldy Rd., Glendora Ridge (backwards, downhill, HARD, TECHNICAL WAY), Glendora Mtn Rd., East Fork, etc. were all sweet. (see: Mt. Baldy on Google Maps) A few small rocks here and there, but mostly clean and dry. I thought it was gonna get a lot cooler when we got to elevation late in the afternoon, but it never got below 68. TC must know some badass female riders 'cause Marrib was dragging knees left and right. (see thread: Marrib rides like a girl) I think he's gonna need some new pucks after that loop. Longest most aggressive ride that I've been on since getting out of the cast. I learned that it is a real PITA to pull with your right instead of pushing with your left on left hand corners. Had me feeling out of balance on every left all afternoon. Som-of-a-bitch, my left hand is still pretty much worthless. I'm sure the more I ride the better it'll get. It's quite sore today. Resting it with beer and ice as I type this report. All in all, not one cop, only a couple cars on the whole loop and maybe a half dozen motorcycles. I felt like I was cheating 'cause the 1198 was in 3rd the whole freaking time, pacing Marrib one handed while he was dragging knees, with hardly any braking and still able to roll on from 2800 rpms to 5200 in a heartbeat if I wanted to let him know that I was still there. Big Time, looking forward to Long's in a couple weeks...

*...377 dry. Ducati claims the wet weight is 412. So with me on it, we should weigh in at just about 600. That's pounds for you guys across the pond. Yeah, I've been meaning to order a Sargent seat for it as well. The vinyl covered piece of cardboard sucks after about 30 minutes.

 

I don't want to say annoying... But it was! Damn it! I'm breaking a sweat, using the new RaceTech springs, grinding down pucks on both sides AND JTC is back there... Not breathing hard, not off his bike, not braking, not changing gears. I'm, well, annoyed. At one point, I had to stop (to take a picture... was the excuse), but it was just a crap load of work. Maybe he was at the edge of his tires but I thought I could make him work (broken hand and all). Nope. Too much rider on too much bike. I want, want, want a bike that weighs 340lbs. But with a comfortable seat.

 

And more pics. Starting with up the coast.






Then some Baldy:







And another 'Baldy'

 

Sorry Chuck. Couldn't help myself. I'm headed that way soon enough.

 

Looks like a fun time. Reminds me that sometimes I miss riding around on the left coast. Hey- what's that bar over the back of your bike?

 

I made a rack that will keep the cortech bags from rubbing a hickey into the bike.

 

Long's BBQ is near

 

Ice cream!!!