Fish Run!

Today was the best day of riding for me so far this year.  My com padres and I decided to do a fish run to the Bowpicker in Astoria.  http://www.bowpicker.com/.  This funky little boat cast ashore next to a Coast Guard parking lot sells the best fish and chips in at least the Northwest, if not the world.  Unfortunately, we are not the only ones who think so.  We got there at a little past 1 pm and had to wait in line for almost an hour to get our orders.  They only serve one thing: Albacore Tuna fish and steak-cut fries.  Drinks are canned soda or bottled water out of a cooler next to the boat.  There are no tables except for two picnic tables and there are NO TOILETS.  You eat outdoors unless you have someplace to take your food.  You know the food has to be good to attract so many people in the face of such drawbacks.  Anyway, we scored a table and here is a pic of everybody except Big Mike who took the picture (no selfies with this group):

Left to right: Ross, the other Mike, Leo, and me.

As you can tell by the way we are dressed, the weather was not blazing hot.  But it was dry and generally sunny.  Big Mike found some new roads and led the party at a spirited pace.  Altogether, I rode about 260 miles and it was all good.  I'm looking forward to a long riding season.

Back on the Bike

It's been six weeks since the knee surgery and today was my first ride.  I could have and would have gone earlier, but the weather has been so crappy it wasn't worth it.  I think it has rained every day for the past two weeks, until today.

I just did about 45 miles around local back roads, but it sure felt good.  I am reminded again how much I like this bike.  It's so smooth and comfortable......good brakes, suspension and handling.  Not a lot of power, but plenty enough for me.  I am also reminded how much a ride is good for the attitude (but the sunshine didn't hurt, either).

Anyway, it's all good and I'm ready for the riding season.

A Bump In The Road

The only thing  good about this road is that it is the road to recovery.

The sad part is that this is a revision knee surgery......it was already done once about 13 years ago.  I thought it would last longer than that, and it wasn't bothering me, but a routine check showed the plastic parts were starting to wear out and could cause the metal parts to come loose.

So, no riding for awhile.  For sure, I hope, I will be ready to go when the weather gets better for riding.  I did manage to get one short one in on the day before the surgery.  That was a week ago.  Things are progressing, slower than I would like, but it's always the way I guess.

And if it looks painful?........yep.

My Ride Lately

We have been having a hell of a winter and the last time I rode my motorcycle was a couple of weeks ago.  So now I mostly ride my chained-up tractor.  Last night we had almost 6 inches of new snow over some left over from a storm last week.  I needed to get wood for the wood stove, so I drove up to the woodshed:

Then I hauled the wood to the outside door to our wood closet:

The lower, steepest part of the driveway needs to be cleared.  Before we got the tractor, I would be able to get down the driveway, but sometimes not back up.

It's times like this that I wish I had a real snow blade for the tractor.  The loader is not the best for snow removal, but it's far better than a shovel.  I bought the chains for the tractor a couple of years ago and never put them on until this year, so we don't often have this much snow.

I end up with a big pile of snow at the bottom of the driveway and it's going to be a long time before it is all melted.

I haven't been totally away from my bike.  The last couple of days I have been doing some preventative maintenance including a valve adjustment check and replacement of the brake fluid.  Used to be, in the days of the classic Triumph, that you could adjust the valves alongside the road with only a couple of tools (and sometimes you had to).  Now, this Honda is the most fiddley and complicated of any vehicle I've ever owned.  I can understand why dealers charge $600 to do it.

Riding the Tail of the Dragon.....Again.

Carolyn and I are making a grand tour of the US by automobile, but halfway through the trip I met with Orv and Mike, who flew to Atlanta, and we rented motorcycles.  They had never ridden the famous Tail of the Dragon like I did five years ago on my bucket list ride across the US (see the Oct 10 and 11, 2011 posts on this blog).  I knew there were other good roads in the area and so I plotted a route for us and we planned on a two-day ride from the Eaglerider rental shop up into the Smoky mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway.

You get to choose what motorcycle you want to rent, and I had trouble making the choice because none of the available bikes appealed to me much.  The problem is that the adventure-bike craze has become so pervasive that that was about the only choice other than some big sport touring bikes or cruisers.  At first I chose a Suzuki Vstrom, but I went to a local shop in Vancouver and saw that it was going to be too tall and heavy......typical of an adventure bike. So I called the rental shop back and asked to change to a BMW F650GS.  This is also an adventure type bike, but is a lighter single cylinder model with, I hoped, a lower seat height.

Came the morning when we went to pick up the bikes and I find they do not have a BMW F650GS available for me.  The only choice was back to the Vstrom, but with a low seat option. I was not a happy camper, because even with the low seat I was on tippy toes, and the bike felt top heavy.   Here is a picture of it with my tank bag and tail pack on it:

Here are some pics as we were about to leave the rental shop:

Once we got underway, the bike was not so bad.  It was very comfortable, with great wind protection, and a natural "sit up and beg" seating position.  It was fine for traveling straight roads, but as I suspected, the bars were too high and far back for aggressive riding in the twisties.  The brakes were nothing to brag about either.  The single front brake on my CBR 500R is much better than the twin rotors on the Suzuki.  But, whatever, that was the bike I had and that was the bike I was going to make work.  Power with the Suzuki was no problem, as it probably had another 20 HP over my CBR. Every time I came to a stop, though, I had to carefully plan the point at which I would have to put my feet down so as to not fall over.......a bit stressful.

We had a fairly straight slog up to the north from Atlanta to get to the mountains, and the first road we did that was a true motorcycle road was the Cherohala Skyway out of Tellico Plains, Tenn.  I had also ridden this road before and I knew it would get the guys excitement up a bit.  In general, the roads in this area of the country are ideal for motorcycling.......besides the curves and scenery, the pavement is unusually smooth and traffic is light.  This is no secret and we began to see more motorcycles than cars, which was generally the case for the rest of the two days until we started back toward Atlanta.

Eventually we got to the Deal's Gap motorcycle resort, which is the start of the Dragon.  We checked into the motel there and then went to ride the famous "318 curves in 11 miles".  Tight curves they are, too, and I had the Suzuki in second gear much of the time with the engine screaming.  All three of us had helmet intercoms and I heard lots of whooping and hollering in my helmet. We rode to the end and then back at a more sedate pace, because it is hard to maintain that level of concentration and excitement for too long.  (might be an age related problem, though).  Here are a couple of pictures from the resort:

The rooms were pretty plain, but clean.  Our three person room had a double bed and a bunk bed.  Guess who got the top bunk?  Yep, the little agile(?) guy.

The shower curtain even carried out the theme:

We just had to get pictures of the famous "Tree Of Shame" that is made of crashed motorcycle parts collected along the road and even some rashed clothing:

I expected there would be a big biker party the night we stayed there and was looking forward to it, but it was actually dead quiet and dull.  The restaurant even closed at 6pm and we had to go down the road to get something to eat.  Maybe they have had problems in the past with too much rowdiness.

The next day we had about a 340 mile day and had to get the bikes back by 6pm, so we had to keep moving.  Normally it would not be hard to make that distance in the given time, but I was worried about the infamous Atlanta traffic at rush hour.  We got up on the Blue Ridge Parkway and I took a couple of pictures at viewpoints:

Notice the road below and the beginning of Autumn colors.  This was at about 5,000 feet.

At 3pm Mike's GPS had an estimated arrival time at the rental place of 5pm, so it looked like we were in good shape.  But then we hit the traffic and the ETA began to get later and later.  We ended up getting there about seven minutes late, but Mike had called ahead and got his wife to tell them to wait for us.

It was a great ride on good roads with good friends.  My only regret is that I couldn't do it on my own bike, or at least one that fit me better, but in the end I DIDN'T DROP IT!

My Baby is Gone

I reluctantly decided to sell the Triumph.  I just wasn't enjoying riding it, mainly because of my inability to get used to the reverse foot controls, but also because there was no future in kick starting it.  My right knee has been replaced, and it it going to need a "revision" next winter, so it might be a long time, if ever, before I can kick start the beast.

My Craigslist add was answered by Jim, who came by for a look yesterday, and came back today to pick it up.  Here he is on his new bike.  Interestingly, he used to own a 1968 Bonneville like this one back in 1974.

Loaded up and ready to go:

One last good by hug and a (fake) tear:

And down the road it goes:

What a beauty.  I owned it for 20 years, but it's time for it to go to a new caretaker.

We Did It!

After a half year of planning and preparation, Jenny and I completed the Grand Tour of the Good Roads of the Pacific Northwest.  She rode 3138.5 miles in nine days of riding and I rode 4738.6 miles in 13 days.  My mileage is greater because I rode down to San Francisco to meet her and then rode back home after we arrived back there.

Almost all the route consisted of roads I had already ridden in 20 years of exploring the area, and I think they are the best the Northwest has to offer.  It was fun to show them to someone who had not ridden any of them.  I think Jenny got her fair share of twisty bits and by the end of the ride her comfort level in negotiating tight curves was obviously greater.  I was amazed and impressed by her stamina, safe riding practices, and positive attitude.  She really jumped into the deep end with this ride, because prior to it I don't think she had ridden a single day with over 300 miles, and on this ride every day was more than that.  Most people need to get used to long hours in the saddle, but she seemed to adapt to it right off.

We had some really hot weather in the first five days, which added some stress.....check out the cell phone reading below:

We had actually seen 105 degrees on a building thermometer shortly before this.  Those are darn hot temps to be riding with boots, helmets, gloves, jackets and long pants.  It seemed like the mornings were fine, and we would usually start out with vents closed and jacket liners in but start shedding stuff until by mid afternoon the heat really set in, and made a cold shower and a cold beer the topmost thoughts in our minds.

 One of the ways we found worked for helping to cool down was to wet our shirts to get some evaporative cooling.  This was not a wet t-shirt contest:

A faucet in a campground was another opportunity to cool off:

I have a bunch of pictures, so rather than describe the ride in a day-by-day format, let me just show some pictures and a bit of narrative.

This is a selfie Jenny took as we were leaving her house.  We both had jackets with lots of ventilation, but also with liners that could be worn underneath to block cold air when necessary......such as riding in San Francisco.  We wore nylon rain over-pants when it was cold to block the air going through our vented riding pants.

We came upon this logging museum on the way from Susanville to Bend.  I always find logging museums interesting.  It was another type of Wild West that was just as exciting as cattle drives and gunslingers.  The interesting thing about this photo is that Jenny gets to hug a tree and a logger at the same time.

We spent one night in Baker City, Oregon, and then rode a beautiful road called Rattlesnake Grade that ran along the top of Hell's Canyon.

Then we took a break in Joseph, Oregon by this beautiful lake.  Carolyn and I took a look at this town when we were scouting places to live in the Northwest, but it was too remote from any major airports which we needed as Carolyn was still working and was going to sky commute.

At the top of my list of favorite roads is the Old Spiral Highway out of Lewiston, Idaho.  I have written about it at other times in this blog.  It was built when cars were just becoming useful means of transportation, and was designed as a way to go north out of the Snake River canyon.  It has been superseded by a modern four lane highway, so has very little traffic.  What really makes this road great, besides the curves and good pavement, is that you can see around many of the right hand corners and know that there is no car coming the other way.  That greatly increases my confidence in leaning over even further than normal, because a slide that puts you into oncoming traffic would lead to a real bad day. Here are a couple of pics of just parts of the road:

After an over night in Walla Walla where we got the biggest portions of Chinese food I ever saw (we could have split my order of Kung Pao chicken and still not been able to eat it all), we got back into territory that I can ride on a day ride from home.  This includes an overlook of the Columbia River Gorge above the town of Hood River.  I just had to show Jenny this sight;

 Looking another direction is Mt Hood:

Then we took the Wind River Highway, with a bunch of fantastic curves, to an overlook of Mt St Helens:

We arrived at my house on Friday in time to take Carolyn out to dinner for her birthday, and the next day Carolyn and Jenny picked up her kids at the airport.  The next couple of days were "Camp Grandma" time for Jonas and Adina, while I did bike clean-up and maintenance.  I spent a day doing an oil and filter change on my bike and a valve clearance inspection on Jenny's bike.  It takes a lot of effort just to get to the point of checking clearances and fortunately I didn't have to go the next step and change any shims.

There were still some good roads in the area that were not included in the original plan, so Jenny and I took a day ride to catch some more of them.  Big Mike came with us and led us on a route over to the coast.

We stopped to get gas at this fun little place.  Notice the sign on the building "Team Glock".  There are a bunch of firearms for sale in there, and Big Mike loves it.

Soon enough it was time to start on the second part of the PNW Grand Tour.  By this time the heat wave was over, and we had some company on part of the first day heading back towards San Francisco.  We met Orv, Ross and Leo at the traditional Krispy Kreeme meeting place.

We all rode together over some twisty local roads near Mt Hood until near noon, when they peeled off to start heading back.

After lunch in Detroit, Oregon, Jenny and I headed for the Mackenzie highway.  This is another curvy road, but it also passes through some interesting lava fields where an observatory has been built.  We stopped for a look:

Our over night that day was in Oakridge, Oregon, and we stayed in a little motel that is one of my favorites because 1) it's cheap and 2) it has this little picnic area which comes compete with a friendly cat.  It's a great place to have a beer and snack at the end of the day, but this is a picture of Jen having coffee the next morning:

The next day was a ride from Oakridge to Weaverville, CA.  We passed through little burgs with names like Happy Camp and Hoopa, where the women tended to have a single tooth in front and customer service in stores and gas stations was pathetic.  There was some great scenery, though.

That was our longest day at 418 miles, but the next day to San Francisco was over 400 miles also.  We rode the famous highway 1 from Leggit to Ft Bragg, and then took a road I don't remember ever being on before.......hwy 128 from just south of Ft Bragg to Cloverdale on highway 101.  It was also a good road, but this was a Saturday during peak summer vacation and there was some slow camper/motor home traffic tending to ruin the curvy parts.  Jen and I sometimes adopted the biker "stop and go" method where you come to a stop and wait until a vehicle comes up from behind.  Then you can take off and ride the curves until you catch back up to the roadblock.

On Sunday I spent a large part of the day cleaning the bikes, doing an oil change on Jen's bike and solving the sticking throttle problem that both our bikes developed on the previous day.

Monday Jenny went back to work.  As if she hadn't had enough riding, she took her bike:

After she went to work, I headed for home.  Just north of San Francisco on hwy 101 there was a massive traffic jam with stop and slow going, so I lane split for several miles and saved a whole bunch of time.  Since I used to live in California, I had no problem with lane splitting except that this time I was concerned that my bike was too wide because of the hard cases I had on it.  I took it slow and had no problems.

I had planned to stay on 101 to Crescent City, but the four lane stuff got too boring, so I cut down hwy 20 to Ft Bragg and rode the best part of hwy 1 again.  I finished the ride the next day in the rain.......typical motorcycle trip; heat, cold and rain, sometimes all in the same day.  But that's what makes it special.

I don't know how many of these long rides I have left in me, but I'm going to enjoy them while I can.