Local Rider Leads the Way

I regularly visit and post on a website for Honda CBR 500 riders.  I discovered that one of them lived not too far from Auburn and contacted him a couple of months ago.  He gave me his phone number and said to let him know when I get in the area.  I did that, and today he led Jenny and I on some of his favorite roads.  Since he was leading, and didn't have an intercom, I could not get him to stop for picture taking, so this post is going to be short on pics, but it was kind of relaxing to not have the navigating responsibilities.

Turns out this guy likes PMTs and one of them that he chose had several of the first ever 5mph turn advisory signs that I have seen.  I've seen lots of 10s, but never a 5.  He seemed pretty worried before we started on the road that Jenny would not be able to handle it, but she soon showed him that she is a very capable rider and had no problems keeping up.  He did include some faster, smoother roads and we all rode at pretty much the same pace.  It was a nice ride, but we had limited time, as Jenny needed to ride another 100+ miles to get home and also wanted to beat the Sunday traffic returning to San Francisco.

We did get this self picture of us at our lunch stop:

Rick actually has two CBR500s.......a 2015 "F" model and a new to him 2015 "R" model, which is what he rode today.  He is a bit younger than me at 65, but he has been riding for a long time and claims to  have done some track and road racing.  He is a good guy.

We got back to the motel about 1:30, and Jenny was underway shortly after:

She sent me a text that he got home safely around 4:30, so it was a successful ride.

One of my best ideas for this ride was to go to one location and stay in the same motel the whole time.  This meant we didn't have to pack and unpack our luggage every day, and we also didn't have to ride with it on the bikes.  For me, I notice the difference in the handling of the bike when it has the extra weight of the luggage, but it also allows me to get on and off in the normal "cowboy" way of swinging a leg over the seat.  This is much easier and more natural than the "Rocketts" high kick to get on with the side cases and tail pack mounted.

Tomorrow I start the slog back home.  I packed clothes for a three day trip, but I should be able to do it in two days.  It is actually a shorter distance than San Francisco, which I always did in two days.  There is also a forecast for rain at home on Wednesday, which would be nice to avoid.