Spring Road Ride

Another stretch of great weather and Joe, Mike, Ross and I took advantage of it and did a little jaunt to the Oregon coast.  We all meet at a Krispy Kreame in Vancouver, but nobody eats the donuts anymore:

We have done this ride several times and the first 50 miles or so are not a lot of fun because it is through the western Portland suburbs with a lot of traffic.  Mike thought he had a way to avoid some of this, so he led us, and his Garmin GPS led him........around and around.  It seemed we were going in circles or zig zags, with a lot of neighborhood streets.  Eventually we got thorough it all, though, and got to the good stuff.  Since Mike was leading, he gets in the go mode and doesn't stop much for pictures.  Here is one I took, only because there was a log truck in front of us that was impossible to pass, so the motorcyclist solution is to stop and let the slow vehicle get ahead a ways and then gas it up until you catch up. 



We were riding through some beautiful coastal forest in its springtime glory, but I have no proof.  I do have proof that not all of the route was paved:

We stopped for lunch in Tillamook at this funky roadside taco stand that had outdoor seating.  The food was actually quite good.  Here Ross is inspecting the wear on Mike's rear tire that only had 1600 miles on it, but was getting closer to the wear bars than one would expect. 

The rest of the ride was a brisk run over some of our favorite roads leading back to Washington via the Longview bridge and then a short stint of Interstate 5 to Woodland (for Joe and I) and on to Vancouver for Mike and Ross. 

Joe stopped in at my house and we had a refreshing end of ride PBR:

The next day I made a purchase that I wish I had made a long time ago.  Harbor Freight Tools had a sale on their motorcycle lift, and I bought one along with a wheel chock that will allow me to load the bike on the lift by myself.  No more kneeling or laying down on the concrete floor.  It is going to make oil changes, chain maintenance, rear wheel removal, and detail cleaning a snap.  I also expect to use it as a parts/tool tray when working on the Mustang, and as an assembly table when doing woodworking.