Rainy Start

Woke up yesterday to rain, as expected. Sure glad I wasn't camping. One of the advantages of starting a rainy day from the motel is that I can put all the rain gear on before I leave the room, as opposed to having to do it alongside the road or under a tree or overpass. I was also lucky to find a parking spot for the bike that was under cover. Finding rain gear that works has taken me a long time and several failed attempts, and I'm still not 100% there. Early on I thought a full rain suit would be the way to go since you alway wear the pants if you need the jacket, so why not combine the two into one garment. The problem is that in order for these "onesies" to be able to be put on, they need to have a zipper that extends to at least below crotch level. Then when in the seated position, a pocket forms in the crotch that collects water. No zipper made can withstand that kind of puddle. I also had an anorak type jacket at one time but it was almost impossible to put on over my leather jacket. My boots are basic waterproof motorcyle boots and they work fine. Here is a pic of me in my current rain gear. I still have some problems; the pants need longer zippers in the legs so they would be easier to put on over boots, and the glove covers are also difficult to pull on over gloves. I don't have them on in the pic because I can't operate the camera with them on. My Tourmaster jacket is fantastic.

My original plan for yesterday was to ride down 101 to Leggett and then take the famous hwy 1 down to the coast to Ft Bragg. From there it would be 128 back up to 101 at Coverdale. However, since it was raining in Eureka, I was pretty sure it would be raining on hwy 1 on the coast so I decided to stay on 101 and get more inland and hopefully away from the rain. I also happened to read the latest issue of Rider magazine the night before that had an article about riding to the Geysers. Back in the 80's Carolyn and I were on a ride up 101 and took a side trip to some geothermal hot spring resort that was at the end of a fantastically curvy road. We have often wondered where that was, and the article in the magazine made it sound like that was the place. If I stayed on 101 I would be going right past the turnoff and the map in the magazine showed a loop down to the Geysers and back that looked really tempting. Once I got off 101 I stopped for lunch:

If you are wondering why my phone is in my lunch container it's because it was windy and the phone kept it from blowing away (I was having a light lunch, har har). The map from the magazine is underneath. The road to the Geysers turned out to be the very one that Carolyn and I had remembered. Unfortunately it probably has not been repaved since the 80's, and it was in terrible shape. It reminded me of the Lost Coast highway out of Ferndale, which is another road that we loved back then but which is only suitable for long travel suspension adventure bikes now. On top of that, the loop shown in the Rider article couldn't be done because the road back up from the Geysers was closed, probably due to a washout from the rainy year California had.

So the ride was sort of a bust. Here is a picture of part of the road to give an idea of just how curvy it is:

I also got some pictures of the countryside on the way. California wine country is sure beautiful this year.

I got to Jenny's house around 6pm after 338 miles. It was so windy in San Francisco that one of the coast roads on the way to her house was closed due to blowing sand. Today was predicted to be just as windy, so we plan to take our ride to Lick observatory tomorrow.

Long Ride For a Weekend

Lat Fall, when Orv, Mike and I rode rented bikes back on the east coast, Orv started talking about trucking the bikes down to Northern California and riding some of the spectacular roads around Weaverville that I have written about in this blog. It seemed like a good idea to me and I began to look forward to it. Unfortunately, Orv couldn't make it, and that is not where the suck stops, either. But I needed a good long ride. This has been a tough winter and spring. In January we had more snow and cold weather than at any time in the 22 years we have lived here. A nearby pond froze over thick enough that people were ice skating on it, and the schools had so many snow days that they had to request a break from the state requirement for a certain number of days in the school year. In February I was recovering from my knee surgery and the weather wasn't fit for riding anyway. Then came March and April. It rained 48 out of the 62 days. I had to have a ride to look forward to, so I proposed to Jenny that I ride down to San Francisco and we go for a ride over the weekend. The first weekend in May was chosen as one that she was available and the destination was to be the Lick observatory on top of Mt Hamilton. Jenny has done this ride before and the way she described the road going up to the observatory made me want to give it a go. I started out this morning with a plan to stay overnight in Crescent City, CA, which is my normal overnight for the two day ride to SF. The weather has done a complete flip flop and today was beautiful, verging on being too hot in the afternoon. I first took the liner out of my jacket and then took off my long sleeve shirt. I couldn't do anything more to get cool. About that time, though, I was approaching the coast and before too long I was putting everything back on. I decided not to stop in Crescent City because it was still pretty early and another rider I met advised me that hwy 101 was really messed up by the winter rains and would not be fun tomorrow in the expected rain. So I continued on to Eureka, and before long I put my heated vest on and plugged it in. Today was a long one. No stopping for lunch and dinner was at 8pm, but I covered 476 miles. Needless to say, I don't have many photos to share, which is a shame because all that rain has made the countryside a lush green and very beautiful. I did take one photo with my new camera. This was taken at a rest stop:

Tomorrow I should have more time to take photos.

Like Old Times

My son Brian and I used to ride and race dirt bikes together for quite a few years, starting when he was a child until just a few years ago when family obligations took precedence.  Just like when I taught him to ski, he ended up a far better rider than me, but we still had a lot of fun together.

Now he is approaching the "empty nest" phase of life, with more time and funds available, and he has decided to get back into motorcycling.  Not exactly dirt bikes this time, but the relatively new category of "adventure" bike.  These are like SUVs in the four-wheel world......capable of some off pavement travel, but basically a road vehicle.  I can accept the concept, but am a little turned off by the trendiness of it, just like SUVs are trendy, and for little old men like me they don't work......too tall and too heavy.  My KLX that I sold a couple of years ago was as close as I came to an adventure bike, but it was called a "dual sport" because it was more dirt oriented.

Anyway, Brian bought the bike last week, and we met up today midway between our houses so I could take a look at it and we could go for a little ride.  It turned out to be a bit colder and wetter than predicted, but it was great to be riding with my boy again.  Here is a picture of him and his new bike with his friend and co-worker Albert, who came along on his KTM adventure bike.  Brian is on the right on his Triumph Tiger 800 xcx.  Part of "adventure" cool is having the right gear, and they certainly tick that box:

I look forward to many more rides together.

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.