Wow, oh wow. It was fantastic!
We left right on time and as I hinted in this blog, we went north to Hemet. Taking the back way, the traffic was really good (i.e very little for that time of day). Its a bit of a grind through the back blocks of Hemet with 4 way stops and lights impeding our progress. It also was a pretty hot, 36C (97F).
1 hour almost to the minute we broke free of Hemet and started up the mountain. Corners, lots and lots of corners. I missed my photo opportunity, the sign that says curves for the next 28 miles. Its actually 37, but I guess it differs depending on where you start and stop counting the miles of corners.
This road was built by bikers! The curves are perfect, nicely banked and just the right radius.
We have managed to grind the foot peg bolts down to nothing and started eating into the rubber. Will have to see about changing the bolts for something a little tougher soon.
Before long you hit the 25mph limit of Idyllwild. Thankfully its not too long before you are out the other side and start again.
No high speed stuff (from me anyway, I understand that it can get a bit crazy up there on the weekend with all the heroes on their crotch rockets), just smooth. This bike is just so smooth. Love the power and torque of the big flat six. Forget about changing gears, 4th or 5th is all thats required. There is no lugging in either, it just pulls a little less strong in top at those speeds. Leaving it in the one gear means that you are not up and down in speed all the time, and you a just less busy, it also means that you can leave your left foot on top of the peg and so can flip the bike from side to side very quickly and, here is that word again, smoothly.
Before long we were at Banning eating corn chips and having a little road side refresh.
10 minutes latter we were off again to do it all in reverse.
Its always a different road in reverse. You get to see all the things you missed the first time.
With the sun setting, both Amy and I oooo and aahhhh’ed the way back. The colors of the rocks, the pine trees, the corners, the temperature, it all was just about perfect.
We decided that neither of us wanted to spoil the ride with 4 way stops (have I mentioned how much I dislike those things?), so we went the back way, and what a fine choice.
The road opens up and you can put the cruise control on at 70mph (112kp/h), sit back and relax……. Well, a little, there were deer warning signs every few miles, so I was in kangaroo mode and keeping a very close eye out for things beside the road.
As the high beam went on, Amy requested some Armin Van Buuren from the CD player, I was only too happy to comply.
All the way up Amy and I had been chatting, its one of the things I love about taking the kids on the bike. They have nothing to do so they talk. I love listening to them chat away about all sorts of things.
Once Armin kicked in, the bike went quite. Very quite.
I patched him through the speakers and turned it up loud.
It was one of the best times on a bike. Ever.
The twilight colors in the sky, very little traffic, house lights dotted through the desert, a perfect temperature, the nearly full moon throwing our shadow onto the side of the road, we both slipped easily into a state of trance.
And so we rode the last miles home.
After Work Ride number two. (Photos here). Going to be hard to top it, but I am looking forward to trying.