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?”.