EPIC Ride Report #14

The title says it all.This was an EPIC ride.

• 450+ miles
  
• 11 hours
• 9,600 feet of altitude change
• No crashes 0r tickets 
• A sore set of rears and a numb pair of hands

Route: Home –> Hwy 108 (Sonora Pass) –> Hwy 395 –> Hwy 89 (Monitor Pass) –> Hwy 4 (Ebbetts Pass) –> Home

I left home at about 7AM on a cool Sunday morning.

I rode out to Tracy where I met with Alvin (on a red Triumph Daytona 675) and Paul (on a blue Ninja 600). We gassed up and started the ride towards Hwy 120/108. The first stop was at Jamestown… a small little town at the foothills of the Sierra’s.

From there the traffic on Hwy 108 starts to thin out and the riding gets fun.

As the altitude increased, the air got cooler and the DR started slowing down. Over the Sonora Pass, the loss in power is really noticeable. The DR still does have plenty power, but the sport bikes were a lot faster than me.

We rode down 108Hwy towards Hwy 395 and then headed north for lunch at Walker, CA. The BBQ was OK, not much to write home about.

After lunch, we rode up the Monitor Pass (Hwy 89) which then connects to Hwy 4.

All in all we did four major passes. Monitor Pass is clearly the best of them all for riding. Super silky smooth tarmac, breathtaking views and practically no traffic. Made for fun times 🙂

Hwy 4 is more goaty and winding than Hwy 108. The initial 30 miles is single lane with some very sharp turns. A little before Bear Valley, we stopped at Lake Alpine for some rest.

From there on, the ride home was uneventful. We slabbed it across to the Bay Area, the afternoon wind beating against our tired bodies.

Here is a nice video from Alvin’s bike. The camera turns around and focuses on me at about 4:17