Month: January 2017

Ride Report #41: Santa Cruz Mountains

December 3rd 2016. This was a ride organized by Bill from ZRXOA. Akshay (FZ1) and I joined Bill (Ninja 1000), Arash (ZRX1200) and Vijay (R1200RT) for an excellent ride through the Santa Cruz mountains. We met up at the intersection of Skyline and Hwy 92. After a few greetings, the usual “ZRX shop talk” and admiring each others bikes, we rode down at a brisk pace to Alice’s restaurant. I was surprised by how fast Arash and Bill were riding. Bill is 67 years old, with probably over 4 decades of riding experience, but he rides like he is 27. Arash too, as I learnt over the course of the day, is a very skilled rider.

We stopped by the STP area, admired the bike entourage and then continued down Hwy 84, Pescadero, Cloverdale, Gazos Creek to Hwy 1. We had lunch at Whale City Bakery Bar & Grill in Davenport, which serves the typical touristy fare. A quick sandwich and beer later we were on our way. Vijay decided to return to San Ramon and did not continue along with us.

Next up were Boony Doon and Empire Grade – both favorites of mine. We then rode down Jamison Creek Road to Hwy 236, which was my first time. Arash rode this entire stretch of 3 odd miles with the engine off! It was actually quite incredible – with no throttle, no engine braking and just downhill momentum, he was pretty fast through the corners, making it look very easy.

We gassed up in Boulder Creek, rode up Hwy 9 and took a short break at Skyline. From there Akshay and I parted ways with Bill and Arash and took the long freeway ride back home.

It was great meeting new ZRXOA riders and I had an awesome fun day of riding. I hope to ride with these guys again in the new year.

Ride Report #40: Sierra passes

I love riding the Sierra passes, so I try to make it over there every year and last year was no exception. On a similar route to RR 37 and RR 14, Shobhit, Akshay and I rode the usual loop of 450 miles in one day (October 9th 2016). The weather was clear and the roads were superb.

A few memorable moments from the ride:

Instead of the usual I-580, we used Patterson Pass to get out of the Bay Area. A nice twisty road to warm you up for action in the Sierras.

We had breakfast at Alicia’s Sugar Shack in Twain Harte and the breakfast burrito there was awesome! Great food and quick service.

Sonora pass was cold, but sunny. The ride up there was superb – as always – the tarmac is in great condition.

We couldn’t ride Hwy 89 over Monitor pass because of a big rig diesel spill, so we had to ride up all the way to Gardnerville (Nevada) and then come back down to Hwy 89 and Hwy 4. Added about 30 miles of riding to an already daunting 420 mile day.

We had lunch at Wolf Creek Restaurant & Bar in Markleeville – the place was just average.

I clearly remember on the eastern slope of Hwy 4 where the road is all twisty and goaty, I gunned the throttle on a bump and accidentally caught air – massive air – probably more than a foot. It was scary to jump a 500+ lb motorcycle and control the landing.

Along the way, at the turn towards Hwy 89, I accidentally knocked off a pod filter off my carb. I could put it back on using a ziptie, but I realized that those filters are fragile and come off easily.

All in all the ZRX did wonderful. I was not very tired after a full day of riding and that speaks to the comfort of the ZRX. As usual, it always draws a few looks and people tend to ask me “What year is that?”.