Category: Ride Reports

RR51: 2019 Sierra Pass Ride

This was a repeat route of the annual Sierra Pass ride (2011, 2015, 2017, 2018) with the following notable exceptions:

  • First time doing this route on a SuperDuke. I really enjoyed how light and easy this bike is to ride in the twisties. It produces tremendous power when you need it to, it turns quickly when you steer it and it stops almost immediately when you ask it to. What a fun bike!
  • First time with some snow around us! The winter of 2018-2019 was a very wet one and there was a lot of snow on the ground in June. Lake Alpine was still a bit icy. The temps were cool and it made for a very pleasant ride.
  • First time on a weekday – so no traffic at all in the Sierras, but a lot of commute traffic on Patterson Pass Road. We actually started early, at about 6am before the sun rose, so it was doubly difficult to ride on Patterson Pass.
  • First time for a couple of new riders (Ayon on his Triumph Speed Triple and Anil on his Suzuki  V-Strom), but everything went smoothly. No close calls, no crashes, no tickets.

 

 

Ride Report #50: 2019 MC Trip

If you’ve seen the Coen brothers 2011 epic movie True Grit, you probably remember the finale: Jeff Bridges riding through the night on a horse with Mattie, who has been bitten by a venomous snake. As the night turns to day, the horse eventually collapses from exhaustion but Bridges continues on foot, even as it starts to snow. Bridges gets Mattie to the doctor in time, and Mattie survives, although she never sees Bridges again. That was an amazing movie and somehow reminded me of this years motorcycle trip.

May 18th 2019, Friday

We started the day, early as usual, meeting in the Niles area of Fremont. Shobhit flew in from Seattle the night before and he rode Akshay’s BMW S1000R, while Akshay rode his new Aprilia Tuono. I was riding my Suzuki Hayabusa with a simple tail bag at the back, enough to carry stuff for 3 days. After a very wet 2018-2019 winter, it had not rained for the entire months of April and May, but right around the time of this trip, the weather changed and a lot of rain was forecasted.
As we started off from Niles, it was raining lightly and we took the freeway down to San Jose where we met the rest of the group. Anil (Suzuki VStrom 650), Ayon (BMW R1200GS) and Sravan (KTM 1090 Adventure) were the new riders for this year. Ayon is a pro photographer and many of the beautiful pics below were shot by him. After a few pictures we started down Uvas Road, road over Hecker Pass and then to the coastal Hwy 1. After a short burst of fun on Laureles Grade, we made it to our first gas stop in Carmel Valley. Sravan and Ayon ate some breakfast, while the rest of us chatted. We then rode Carmel Valley Road (without getting lost this time) and it had stopped raining by then so I enjoyed the Busa on the twisty parts of CVR.
We stopped for pictures on the green bridge over the Arroyo Seco river. We parked all 6 bikes on the bridge mid-span, so we probably irked the dozen or so cars that went by. We then rode down to King City for lunch, where we ate at El Lugarcito Restaurant. The burrito was decent, but the beer was good!
I got onto Sravan’s KTM as we started down Jolon Road. The KTM surprised me with how easy it was to ride, and how comfortable it felt. The engine was great, full of torque at the low end and it was easy to ride into the triple digits. Riding Jolon was excellent, bright skies, mild temps and not much traffic. We switched bikes and then rode down Interlake Rd, Nacimiento Lake Dr and Godfrey Rd till we reached Chimney Rock Rd.

As we rode to the end of Chimney Rock, we stopped by the spot that Shobhit crashed last year and took a few pics. It was a great reminder to slow down and enjoy the road. We stopped for a short break at the end of Chimney Rock and turned right on to Adelaida Rd as we returned. We then road Vineyard Dr and Peachy Canyon Rd back towards Paso Robles. Peachy Canyon was probably my favorite road of the day – nice tight twisties and very little traffic. I was following Anil and a good clip, not too fast, not too slow, just right for the most amount of fun.

By the time we go to Paso Robles, it was getting to the end of the day by now, and we were all a bit tired. I did want to ride Hwy 229, Rossi’s driveway, but I didn’t feel like making the extra 20 mile detour. That road will have to wait for another time. It always seems like by the time we get down there, we are ready to call it a day and we don’t end up riding that road. Anyway, we then rode down to the KOA at Santa Margarita Lake where we camped for the night. The last few miles to the campground were fun. A completely open road with very wide turns, I opened up the Busa to about 150 and stayed there for more than a couple of seconds. It was fun. Sravan and Anil were kind enough to go back into town and get everyone dinner, again Mexican gurb from a Taco truck in town. We got a small campfire going and there was a lot of beer and whiskey flowing, among other things.

May 19th 2019, Saturday

We rose pretty early the next day and packed up our luggage and left. There is a small gas station at Santa Margarita Lake, but it sold 87 gas only, and that was not suitable for the Aprilia or BMW, so we rode back up in Paso to gas up.
Next up was Hwy 58 from Santa Margarita to McKittrick. This 75 mile stretch of road is superbly entertaining. The road offers a lot of variety – wide sweepers and tight downhill twisties initially, flat straight endless roads up ahead and finally a long winding downhill section of mountain road towards the end. The pavement was freshly tarred in many places and there was very little traffic. We enjoyed the road thoroughly and stopped at a vista point for a few pictures.
Just a few miles away we stopped for lunch at the McKittrick Hotel Penny Bar and Cafe . I was expecting a quaint, middle of nowhere roadhouse bar, but it was a pretty crummy. We ordered omlettes & beers, but the food was pretty bad. We pressed on – through the boring stretch of the central valley – to Bakersfield, where we stopped for gas and coffee. It was getting late in the afternoon and we had a lot of riding left for the day. I was planning out alternate routes in my mind, but nothing would prepare me for what would come eventually.
We took Hwy 178 out of Bakersfield towards Lake Isabella. This is a very scenic highway, it runs alongside the Kern river and after the very wet winter of 2018 the river was cascading down in full glory. The rapids were gorgeous and Ayon stopped to take a few pictures. The road was also very entertaining, but traffic was a little on the heavy side.
We took a short detour to Miracle Hot Springs off Hwy 178. In keeping with tradition, the dip in the hot, really hot, springs was a welcome break. A short hike from Hobo Campground the area offer three small soaking tubs: mild medium and hot! While the hot tub was really hot, most of us got comfortable in the medium pool. It was also the one right next to the flowing river. So we all took turns alternating between the cold water of the Kern river and the warm water of the hot spring. All in all, it was a great rejuvenating experience. As we started to gear up, we could see storm clouds gathering.
In spite of the clouds and light rain at that point, we decided to continue along the planned route. We passed through Kernville and took Mountain Hwy 99 north towards Sherman Pass. With all the snow from the winter, the road to Sherman Pass was closed, not at the Junction to Mnt Hwy 99, but a few miles in. So we continued on, towards the junction of M50 and Hwy 99. It had started to rain moderately by then. It all took a pee break and warmed our cold hands on the giant Busa muffler. The stock mufflers came in handy!
By the time we reach M90, The Great Western Divide Hwy, we were freezing. Anil was having doubts about hypothermia and I couldn’t see more than 20 feet from my fogged up visor. By the time we reached Ponderosa Lodge it had started to snow. The road was covered in a thin blanket of snow, and there was a moderate dusting on my windshield, bike and Aerostich. Things were getting crazy. Google Maps puts the elevation there at 7165 feet and the rains had turned into snow. While some of us were thinking about what to do, I was not really thinking at that point, Shobhit made the wise call to keep going. Things were not going to get any better unless we got off the mountain, so we pressed on.
We pulled over for a beautiful waterfall on Hwy 90, and a bunch of hands went straight to the Busa pipes for some warmth. The rain had abated a bit and the clouds were starting to clear. Sravan caught this beautiful picture that perfectly captured the moment. We did find some warm coffee eventually at Pierpoint Springs Resort in Springville. No cell reception there, but I texted Shruti over wifi that we’re going to be late to our final destination.
As we descended the mountain completely, the air warmed up, but the rain kept going off and on. The last 5 miles to Visalia were consummate True Grit. With a heavy downpour on the freeway, practically zero visibility, big cars and trucks passing us on the fast lane, I was holding on to the Busa for dear life. Somehow we made it to the hotel unhurt, but with a great sense of pride. Thankfully my Aerostich Roadcrafter kept me warm and dry. With 4+ hours of continuous rain the suit never leaked, even a bit and performed its duties to the fullest. I truly believe in that suit, it was well worth the high price tag.
We ordered some delivery pizza, while Ayon went for a foot massage. After a lot of scotch whiskey, we called it a night.

May 20th 2019, Sunday

On the last day we had a decent hotel breakfast, geared up and were on our way. The skies were clear initially, and we made the long flat boring ride across the central valley on Hwy 198. Just as we hit Coalinga, it started to rain, and it got very heavy at times. We gassed up in Coalinga and rode Hwy 198 and Hwy 25 up to Hollister. This was the last twisty bit of the ride, so everyone was trying to enjoy it. With all the rain, the roads were wet and I was not pushing it at all. We caught a nice break from the rain at the intersection of Hwys 198 and 25. We got some nice pictures there.

 

On Hwy 25, I stayed back with Ayon and Shobhit, riding cautiously on the wet tarmac. A few miles down the road, Sravan low sided his KTM Adventure on a lefthander. We all stopped, recovered his bike and thankfully he was OK. After reviewing the video of the crash, I was amazed at how little damage that did to the KTM. We took some pics and started back on our way.

 

Lunch was at La Villa De Jerez in Hollister, continuing the Mexican choice for cuisine. We said our goodbyes there and rode back home. It did rain some more but at this point I didn’t care much. With the Aerostich, my body was warm and dry.

The Busa odometer showed a total of 881.9 miles.

Ride Report #49: Sierra Foothills Ride

This was the second long ride I did in between jobs (Velodyne → Waymo)… a long day trip into the Sierra foothills. The 2019 winter was turning out to be a very wet winter, the snowpack was very tall (the fifth ever recorded since 1941) and hills very were green.

We started the day early from Fremont and took Tesla Rd through Livermore out of the Bay Area. We crossed the central valley a little north of Turlock, on Keyes Road. This road goes through the heart of farm country, there were all sorts of farms on both sides of the road and lots of heavy truck and farm equipment traffic. Keyes Rd joins Hwy 59 which soon turns into J16 and then it starts to get interesting. We turned right over a bridge over the Merced river and then followed Hornitos Road through the small town of Hornitos. It was my first time exploring this area and I loved the roads here. There was very little traffic. We split off J16/Hornitos towards Hwy 49 on Old Toll Road, which was a small goaty trail with a single lane and very rough pavement.

We got to the vista point at the top of the Hwy 49 grade (“little dragon”) at which point Akshay realized that he had lost his rear seat and some tools. We back tracked our way, down the bumpy old toll road and back on J16. A few miles later I spotted the seat on the side of the road and we resume our trip. We then took Bear Valley Road (also a fine road) to Hwy 49, down the little dragon and to lunch in Coulterville.

There is no gas in Coulterville, so we pressed on. We rode up Greeley Hill Road for a short distance and then took Priest Coulterville Road to the top of the Priest grade. This was easily my favorite road of the day. Short and sweet, not overly taxing on a Busa, still winding, goaty and fun. The scenery was great, the traffic was very less and we got to Priest grade easily.

We then rode down Old Priest Grade and enjoyed the very steep grade! We then continued to Hwy 120 to Chinese Camp and rode Red Hill Road and La Grange Road back to Hwy 132. At this point Akshay was running very low on fuel and there was no gas station in La Grange. We asked a store owner and she mentioned the nearest gas was towards Coulterville. When we arrived at the gas station, 15 miles later, Akshay’s bike was almost out of gas, showing an available range of zero miles.

We gassed up at Don Pedros Market on Hwy 132 and made the long and boring journey back home. We took the freeway all the way back as I had to get back on time and coach Anushka’s basketball team that evening. No laws were broken, but we did see triple digit speeds for a little bit on I5.

I really enjoyed this ride and I have a new appreciation for the roads in the Sierra foothills.

 

Ride Report #48: Hwy 36, 3 and 299

By an amazing stroke of luck, I found myself with 4 weeks of vacation between jobs. The first two weeks were a little busy wrapping up my old job and planning the start of the new job, so it was closer to 2 weeks than 4, but by any means a long stretch of time to myself. So what does one do with 4 weeks? If this was really 4 weeks in the summer, I would have made a solo trip to Alaska. Solo because it’s almost impossible to find someone else with that much free time. Yup, thanks Silicon Valley. So I ended up meeting lots of friends, hanging out with the wife and kids, going on a school field trip, traveling to the East Coast, and a couple of day long motorcycle rides. This was the first of them.

I left Fremont early one weekday morning and drove to Redding to Bill’s house. The drive was uneventful and easy as I listed to Dirty John. We had a big breakfast at Lumberjacks and started on our way after dressing warmly. The first part of the ride was I-5, straight down to Red Bluff. We took the exit to Hwy 36, gassed up and then stopped at the famous Hwy 36 sign for pictures.

I consider the initial part of Hwy 36 as truly the best of any road in California. It was cool but dry and I enjoyed the curves and whoops very much. The first 40 or so miles were easy and we kept a brisk pace. As we started the climb to the top, it started to get cold and wet and we saw remnants of snowfall on the edge of the road. We had slowed down, but by the time we summit-ed we were going at a slow crawl. The last 5 miles were a True Grit ride, white knuckles, death grip, shivers, the works 🙂 We made it across somehow and stopped in Hayfork for gas and some much needed hot coffee. Hwy 3 and 299 were also very good, as usual, and 172 mile ride came to an end at Bill’s house in Redding.

I very much enjoyed riding Bill’s ZX10R. I looked up the Motorcycle Consumer News spec sheet… A 2008 Gen-II Hayabusa weighs in at 577 lbs wet, while the 2004 Gen-I ZX10R weighs 432 lbs wet. That’s a whopping 145 lbs difference! No wonder the ZX10R feels like a bicycle with a rocket engine. The engine on that bike revs very quickly and builds constant linear power everywhere. While the bike is pretty docile, the front wheel has a tendency to come up. I remember on one of the many whoops on Hwy 36, I crested the top of the hump while gassing it just a tad more than necessary and front end came up by a lot. Great fun bike and I immediately saw the appeal of a light track liter bike.

Ride Report #47: Carmel Valley Road

 

October 7th, 2018

After a lot of route planning and watching the weather forecast, we decided to ride down to Paso Robles using mostly country roads and enjoy a long day-ride in this beautiful fall weather. The Sierra passes had started to get cold after the first snow there, so the plan was to explore the roads of the Central Coast. There were 5 riders in all – Akshay (BMW S1000RR), Shravan (Aprilia Tuono), Anil (Suzuki V-Strom 650), Gokul (BMW R1200GS Adventure) and me (Busa).

We first rode past Uvas reservoir till Hwy 152 and then took Hecker Pass towards the coast. It’s been a few years since I rode Hecker Pass. It was clear and traffic-free on a Sunday morning and we enjoyed pushing the bike through the twisties. We got to Hwy 1, rode it down to Monterey and took Hwy 68 to Salinas. We turned right on Laureles Grade, a fun short road with nice curves, but decent auto traffic, which got us to Carmel Valley Road (CVR).

The plan was to take the Chachagua Road detour off CVR and rejoin the route using Tassajara Rd. I had a sinus headache going on, so I decided to stay off the goaty Chachagua Road and meet the crew at the intersection of Tassajara & CVR. I got there, but they simply didn’t come, first for 15 minutes, then 30 minutes, now an hour. I rode up to the intersection of Tassajara & Chachagua waited a little more, still nothing. I then rode to the point where Tassajara turns to dirt. Didn’t see them, so I kept searching. I then rode out all the way to Hwy 101, where I finally got cell phone signal. For a brief moment I got a call through to Akshay and he told me everyone was OK; they had just gone way further ahead on the dirt part of Tassajara Rd.

Long story short, we regrouped back in Carmel Valley after they rode 40ish miles of dirt, while I did a couple of laps of CVR. I’m really starting to like that road, it reminds me a lot of Mines road. Too bad I couldn’t join the dirt adventure, but I did see some excellent pictures. And as long as everyone is safe, there is always the next time.

We had lunch at Kathy’s Little Kitchen (very mediocre) and made our way back home via the freeway.

 

Tassajara Rd runs to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Retreat  a meditation community run by the San Francisco Zen Center whose mission is to “to embody, express, and make accessible the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha.”

Here is video of the place –

I also found a video of Tassajara Rd on Youtube, made by the SF Zen Center –

Ride Report #46: Napa County

Labor Day 2018, September 3rd, Akshay & I rode some new roads in Napa county. We started early from Fremont, took I680 to Fairfield, which is actually in Solano county and then road towards Lake Berryessa.

While the first 65 miles of freeway were long and boring, the Hayabusa made it somewhat easier. There was no traffic whatsoever, and we were comfortably doing 90-100mph on the freeway. Those speeds are very natural to the Busa, one doesn’t feel the wind very much and the bike is very stable.

The first twisty road was Wooden Valley Road, connecting the freeway to Hwy 121. A nice rural stretch of wide sweepers, followed by Hwy 121 and then Hwy 128. We then turned right on to Berryessa Knoxville Road towards Lake Berryessa. It was a little bumpy going downhill from Hwy 128, but soon the road surface improved. Nice wide sweepers, great views of the lake and not a lot of traffic… we had a great ride. I didn’t know that Lake Berryessa was man-made: it’s actually formed by a hydro-electric dam, the Monticello Dam, at the south end of the lake.

We stopped at the bridge over the lake, where Pope Canyon Road meets Berryessa Knoxville. We took a few pictures and were on our way. Pope Canyon is also fun, just a little rougher though. It took us to the town of Pope Valley (population 583) at which point we branched off onto Howell Mountain Road.

Howell Mountain is a true gem, like Pescadero Creek Rd, with tight uphill (for us) turns, good quality tarmac and mostly full tree cover. We did encounter a couple of big rigs coming down the road which made it a little unnerving in the curves. We gassed up in Angwin (I didn’t even know this town existed – nice little charming place) and took our final twisty road of the day, Spring Mountain Road, towards Santa Rosa.

Spring Mountain was also fun, with little traffic, nice curves, but the pavement was quite rough. We stopped briefly on the road for a break, and then made it to our lunch spot, Russian River Brewing Co.

A couple of Pliny’s later we made the long slog home, all of it on the freeway (101-580-880). Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of traffic and we got home to Fremont in the late afternoon. A nice day ride to Napa and Sonoma!

 

Ride Report #45: Sierra Pass Ride

The most enjoyable ride of this summer was on July 29th 2018, riding the usual route through the Sierra passes. The route was identical to RR40, RR37 and RR14… seems like an annual tradition now. I posted a thread on BARF and surprisingly a large group of riders joined. In total we had 8 riders and a wide variety of bikes: BMW S1000R (Akshay), BMW R9T (Bobby), Suzuki Hayabusa (me), Yamaha XSR900, Triumph Tiger, another BMW S1000R,  and two Ducati Multistradas, one of them the Pikes Peak edition.

Group photo of all riders, on Hwy 4 near Alpine Lake:

One of the Multistrada riders compiled this video, I think it came out very well. It clearly shows the smoke in the central valley from the various forest fires.

450+ miles, not a bad day!

Ride Report #43: Napa, Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties

Saturday September 23rd, Shobhit was flying in from Seattle and the plan was to ride to the Sierras. But due to a freak weather event, there was heavy snow up there and all Sierra passes were closed. We decided to ride to the North Bay: in and around Napa, Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.

Akshay recently bought a 2014 BMW S1000R, so we decided to ride all three of his bikes (S1000R, S1000RR and FZ1). This have him a chance to ride his bikes back to back and compare their performance out on a long ride.

We started off in the morning at Niles, the 4th bike being Bobby’s GS BMW.

This was a long ride: we stopped in Napa for coffee, then took the Silverado trail to Calistoga, then Hwy 29 towards Clear Lake, Hwy 175 back towards 101 and finally Old River Road to Ukiah. We then crossed Hwy 101 and took Hwy 253 to Boonville where we had a decent but underwhelming lunch. We then took Mountain View Road to the coast and made our way South on the coastal highway.

While the roads were pretty good throughout this trip, I was not pushing it on any of these bikes. I got to ride all 4 bikes for a decent stretch and in my mind the RR was the clear winner.

The highlight of the trip was a short stop we made at The Zen House – a motorcycle repair shop named along the lines of Pirsig’s famous book. It was a cool place with a few old Ducatis parked up front. The lady behind the counter was friendly and chatted with us as we bought t-shirts.

The coast as fun as usual:

Akshay’s three bikes, gassing up at The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

At the Crystal Geyser Calistoga Beverage Company:

Ride Report #42: 2017 Summer Motorcycle Trip

All we ever do, is all we ever knew…

Among other things, Seattle has produced some amazing music, through the 90s, 2000s and even today. I don’t know when it went from grunge to indie folk, but every now and then I hear an interesting band, I Google the name, and they’re from Seattle. Coincidence?

Motorcycling, music and nature: there is some connection, I just don’t know yet, or maybe I do. Like Kurt Godel’s connection with Escher and Bach. Maybe the neurons in my brain treat these experiences in the same way. Or maybe I’ve developed a cognitive association, so my brain thinks that riding a motorcycle is a like hiking a trail in Yosemite.

We started Day-1 (July 2nd 2017) from Niles, customarily for the fifth year in a row. Akshay (FZ1), Shobhit (FZ1), Bobby (R1200GS), Bill (Ninja 1000) and me (Hayabusa) – five riders this time – one more than last year. Bill was the oldest of the group (pushing 70) but arguably the youngest and wildest at heart. I met Bill through the ZRXOA (“the OA”) and he’s been super fun to ride and hang out with.

Our first stop was at Boonville, CA along Hwy 128, which is a long ride from Fremont, most of which is on the freeway. It was getting hot by then so the mesh gear helped. The Hayabusa handled the freeway with ease, it’s just mostly putting along at speeds below 100 mph.

There is a little bit of fun on Hwy 128 before you hit Boonville – I played around with the Busa, throwing it bit by bit into the turns as I started getting comfortable. Lunch in Boonville was at the Buckhorn Pub – below average food with average beer. It was 100F by then. The problem with Boonville is that there’s this awesome brewery in town but they don’t serve any food. Food is a mile+ away, so you have to skip it, or bring it with you to the brewery which is not easy on a motorcycle. I also noticed that the restaurants are expensive in Boonville.

We continued on Hwy 128 and turned off on Flynn Creek road. Rode to the little town of Comptche and took Comptche – Ukiah to the coast. Both these roads we nice, with thick forest cover, low traffic, good tarmac and nice turns. On Hwy 1 we road up to Fort Bragg and stopped for coffee. It was in the low to mid 60s on the coast, much cooler than the inland, so some hot coffee felt good.

We continued along Hwy 1 – riding the incredible stretch between Westport and Leggett. I’ve ridden this part of Hwy 1 a few times now and it is by far my favorite part of the coastal highway. We gassed up at Leggett, at the same gas station where I bought my Ninja 1000. The kid manning the gas station was talking about how cannabis prices have fallen drastically since it’s become legal in CA. Hah, who would have known!

Our next stop was the Avenue of the Giants, CA Hwy 254. There was a little bit of twisty fun at the beginning and road is pretty scenic but the whole experience was a tad underwhelming. Maybe I’m just spoilt having been to Muir Woods and to Sequoia NP so many times. The “Giants” were magnificent, yes, and the shaded road in very scenic.

We switched bikes briefly while Shobhit rode the Hayabusa and I rode his FZ1. We rode 101 to our hotel in Fortuna (The Redwood Riverwalk hotel) and had dinner at the Eel River Brewing Co. The food and the beer were both great after which we retreated to our rooms. The drinking continued a little with some nice Battlehill Invergordon.

On day 2 we left early after having breakfast at the hotel. We took Hwy 36 to Hwy 3. Both roads were superb as expected, having ridden them back in 2014. There was a little bit of construction on the west side of Hwy 36 where the road narrowed to a single lane. We didn’t stop in Mad River or Hayfork, but continued on towards Weaverville where we had lunch at the Stagecoach Pizzeria and Cafe. At this point, Bill decided to leave the group and ride straight to Willow Creek, our final destination for the day.

We pressed on, Hwy 3, through Trinity Center, Coffee Creek, Callahan and Etna. These are all really small towns, like 5 houses and a store each. It was very hot again (105-110F) and the tar snakes were making it tricky to ride. I slowed down considerably, not keen on pushing the big bird on soft unstable tarmac. We stopped at a Trinity Lake vista point and took a much needed break from the heat.

We gassed up in Fort Jones and took Scott River Road towards Hwy 96. This is a nice goaty single lane road with steep drops and no barriers on either side. We stopped for a dip in the Scott river (now easily 110F).

Hwy 96 was a great discovery. It’s not a tight racetrack like Hwy 36, but it has wide open sweepers with a clear view of the road and amazing scenery to go along. The small towns along Hwy 96 are quirky filled with interesting people. We stopped for gas in Happy Camp. Here’s a picture with Bigfoot.

Shobhit and Akshay decided to ride on to the Oregon border from here. It’s only 20 miles or so, but being exhausted from the heat, Bobby and I decided to stay back in Happy Camp. We chatted with the locals in Happy Camp and their stories were truly amazing. One guy was a fire captain with 7 kids who talked about his daily work routine during the fire season. We also chatted with the lady who worked at the town store. Turns out her sister was married to the fire captain. Then there was this other lady who seemed paranoid about an impending nuclear disaster there. We met a few more – a Ukrainian programmer and a Nigerian girl wearing a Black Lives Matter hoodie … who spoke Hindi… really bizarre town.

The rest of Hwy 96 was excellent. This is a relaxing road, great for cruising along without worrying about blind corners. The road follows the Klamath River, gently meandering through the mountains. There was no traffic at all – we probably passed 4 or 5 cars on that entire highway. We rode through the Indian reservation and made it to our hotel (The Bigfoot Motel) in Willow Creek. Dinner was across the street at Pizza Factory after which we sat outside our hotel rooms for some more drinking. We ended up chatting and drinking till late at night with Bill entertaining us with many of his stories.

By the third day we were quite tired, so we decided to head straight back home. We rode Hwy 299 to Weaverville and had omelettes at the Nugget. It was the 4th of July and we were just in time for the parade. As we started to make our way out, Shobhit’s battery died. A local policeman tried to give him a jump, but the FZ1 battery was completely dead. Being the 4th of July, most stores were closed, but luckily a local mechanic spotted us and came to help. He went over to his shop and brought Shobhit a replacement battery and we were on our way.

From Redding we took I5 all the way home – the long, straight, boring freeway, but we were eager to get home soon. Bill left us at Redding as he went to see his mom. We made it back home, tired, but in a good way. The Bay Area had cooler weather (90s) and that was a big relief.

A thousand miles on this bike now and I’m starting to get to know her. The bike obviously has tremendous power, but the pull in the 5k-9k rpm range is downright scary. It corners well for being 575lbs. It’s not a nimble 600, but it is a mighty fast and comfortable touring bike.