Adventures By Guy

A day like any other day this was not! It started out great and ended great and that’s what is important.
Up at 5 am. Packed and bike loaded by 0605. Ate breakfast and was on the road shortly before 7 am. No wind and 68°F. No traffic. I headed down I-5 for 4 miles then turned west on state route 36. What a wonderful morning. Winding my way across the countryside heading toward the mountains in the distance. Around 70°F sun behind me and no traffic. Just me and my bike on a road that just kept twisting around. Going 60 mph was fun. Then it started climbing so the temps stayed around 70 to 72. Up we went and it really started to wind around. Up near the top no guard rails and you’d come around a corner and a big wide open Vista would emerge. I’d look for a pull off then stop and look for a bit then keep going. Last night I didn’t want to take 36 all the way to hwy 101 but now I was thinking that maybe I should. I got to my first turn off and went there. You could tell I was getting into some back country and off the main travel roads. This road also wound around and through dark woods then into bright valleys and along the shoulders of hills. I finally started climbing up again and was getting into bigger mountains. Come out on top of one and you would look down at rolling golden hills with trees clumped around the tops for miles. Beautiful, but soooo dry! I took video of my entire ride and will post it up.
Remember that my front brakes are compromised due to my seals leaking? It finally bit me!
I came over a rise and immediately into a very steep and short down grade into a hard left turn. I couldn’t slow down enough even though I was geared down hard and got on the rear brake. The rear wheel locked and started going sideways. I let loose of that brake and I knew that I was going to hit the ditch. The ditch was steep rock and dirt for 2 or 3 feet down. Then it V’d at the bottom and went up at a very sharp angle. I tried to steer into the V hoping to ride along it and keep it in the bottom of the V but I had to much energy and speed and didn’t quite get myself aligned but I was somewhat parallel to the steep embankment. I had no choice but to try and ride it out while controlling it the best that I could. The bike started out of the V and I started climbing the embankment until I was 5 or 6’ feet above the V. I was now able to steer parallel to the road along the dirt embankment scrubbing off speed. This embankment was all dirt and big rocks some the size of my head and my best guess it was about a 70°angle and I was worried my right saddle bag was going to come into contact with it and throw me outwards and then crash. I was bouncing or bounding along and had it stabilized and now hoping I continued to miss those rocks. Speed scrubbed off as I am bouncing hard along this crazy steep embankment so I work my way down to the bottom and then climb up the two or three feet to the road and get back on the pavement. Whew, and I keep going. Just a bit more cautious now! Later I get by Zenia bluff rd. It was even more back country and it was rough, going to gravel and back to pavement and the potholes were big. So that was navigated at about 20 to 25 mph. In fact my Google time line said 16 miles took 39 minutes. Now I was about 30 miles from 101 and one of my way points was at a fire station in the middle of nowhere. I stopped to finally check out the bike to see if any damage had occurred. It was quiet and I am in the shade. A young fireman comes out and is maybe 50’ from me. I thought he saw me and I said “Hi” from the reaction he did not see me and wasn’t expecting anyone outside! A couple more come out and we talk. Said I was welcome to stay a bit but they were going on a run. I’m fine, you guys go have fun on your run! Now we aren’t talking flat Illinois here. Everywhere from where we were standing was down and steeply down. I’d be puffing just walking up 100 yds! They leave and I head to Leggett. I came around a corner of a mountain and see Leggett way down in the valley and I used engine braking to wind my way down and down and down. I pull into town, gas up and get to the PCH. That goes out of Leggett and does a lot of winding around until it gets to the coast. If I hadn’t known it would be relatively straight on the coast compared to where I was at the moment I might have turned around as I did want to get to Loraine by the evening. I eventually got to the coast and the mist was in the trees and in the air. It soon cleared away and I had a nice ride down the coast. Being extra careful on any curves heading down hill! Which means any river or stream coming into the ocean. Temperature was around 66°F most of the day. I got down to Gualala by 3 pm and I hadn’t stopped to eat… and I wasn’t planning on stopping to eat until I am halfway through Gualala and I roll through a cloud of smoke coming off a big grill. I spun my head to the right and saw a smoking grill loaded with with baby back ribs. I think my bike turned on its own but I was not about to argue! I pulled up and asked what’s going on? Just cooking. We got ribs, and chowder, and… You had me at ribs! Ok, come and get some. So if you are ever in Gualala they cook every Friday and Saturday unless it is raining. It’s yummy! I was full and I left and got into Petaluma about 90 minutes and there was Loraine!

I got to get these front brakes fixed. So I am looking for shops. By the end of this 330 miles I was tired. Mostly mentally. There are nice sweeping high speed corners and yes you have to do that right but they are easy… then there are tight corners and in Northern California they come at you for 110 miles at a time. Tight corners close together is called technical riding as you have to be focused all the time and have the bike positioned correctly and in the right gear and yourself positioned on the bike correctly. (Very technical) It is great fun but taxing. Especially if you are a newer rider and I would never take one of my kids on these roads. Now add to that front brakes at 50% it was even more taxing. I was ready for the last 30 miles of straight road when I left the coast!