On Sunday May 17th 2026 I rode my ST1300 from Fremont to Downieville. This was the weekend of the Sheetiron 300 organized by the Oakland motorcycle club and a bunch of my friends were doing that ride. I was not able to make that dual sport ride, so I wanted to make a street ride of that weekend, at least a day ride. It was a lazy Sunday and I had a late start, left Fremont at about 12 noon.
On the way to Downieville, I stopped by Bullard’s Bar Reservoir. Cool little place.
I rode the bike on Marysville Road, which was a new one for me, nice flowing road with very good tarmac. Then I hit Highway 49 towards Downieville, which is always an excellent road for motorcycles. It was a lot of fun, and as I got into Downieville, there wasn’t much going on in town. There were just a couple of other visitors, I had a couple of tacos and beer and the only open Mexican place in town – “La Cocina de Oro Taquería“.
I then got gas at the local gas station in Downieville, and then made my way back to Fremont, but this time using a slightly different route. I rode on Highway 49 in all glory. It was a windy day so there were lots of fallen leaves and a couple of branches but nothing major. From Nevada city I then cut across to interstate 80 at Colfax on Highway 174. That was a pretty nice road also. From Colfax it was a straight shot home.
This is a 400+ mile route route that is really possible only because of the ST 1300. It’s quite casual to get up onto the touring bike ride a few hundred miles in the later part of the day and not feel anything at all. Supremely comfortable and capable in the twisties, I really like this bike.