Sunday 31st of August. Freddy’s friend arrived from LA and after lunch together no matter what I offered I could not entice the kids on going for a ride with me….. So I left on my own.
Wow, oh wow. Did they ever miss out!!!!
As much as I miss riding in Australia, I am getting hooked on riding in California. Its an amazing state. You can see so much variety in so little time…… Once again this was a mountain and desert run in a lot of ways.
Heading off, I did the usual run up to Mt Palomar. On the way up the mountain there was a guy taking photos of the bikes. I did not stop, and I wish I had, because I would have liked to found out where to get my photo, but also I was thinking of doing the same thing, and it would have been good to see what his deal was.
Anyway, up and over the mount, nothing unusual there.
Picked up a little side track that my friend Bryce at work told me about. It was nice and technical, some good views.
I have found a web site, sunday morning rides. Its pretty neat, rides all over the world in it….. One was on the way, so I took it. Wow. I have no idea how some one found that road! Talk about back county!
It was switchback city and cliff edge, single lane motoring. Some of the craziest road I have ever ridden. Sure was nice to experience.
Back on the main highway then and kept heading south. Beautiful. It was just like you would imagine ‘wild America’ to look like. Tall trees, rocky out crops, mountain top meadows, the whole shebang.
The yanks know how to make and maintain a road (up to a point).
East for a little way, then turn north to go through Mt Laguna and back to Julian. This was the road. Wow, amazing views, no guard rail, howling winds, the views, did I mention the views? Sweeping corners and little traffic.
Put half a tank of gas in (that’s me practicing being American there, we all know my bike does not run on gas) at Julian. I was going to stop and buy a pie, but all the parked bikes made me nervous (sure, a lot of them were pretty bikes, but why oh why buy one, live within riding distance of all these amazing roads and then park it out the front of a pie shop for 1/2 a day???!!!!).
The road south of Julian is one of my favorites, it has wide open sweepers that tighten up alarmingly. I found lean limits once again on the bike. These are some what firmer than the pegs. When the bottom of the bike or the center stand hits, the bike aint going no further. So it lifts the tires and slides sideways a few feet. VERY alarming the first three times. After that, its the same old drill, stand her up, hit the brakes super hard and put her down again to finish the corner. Takes longer to read it than to do it.
Across the desert floor, same road as my first after work ride. Keep going straight till the Borrego Springs turn off. Nice tight twisty section to get you up and over the ridge. I just love the ease at which this bike will flip from right to left. Its a big bike, but it just floats around the corners and lines up for the next one. Again, beautiful condition of the road and no, and I mean zero traffic, made it a real hoot. The road is just cut into the mountain, towering cliffs of rock on either side, big chunks of it sticking out at the apex of the corners. Its imposible not to smile!
Borrego Springs. I will say more I hope of this small desert town. I want to go back, and just sit and watch. It totally caught my attention, I will try and get some more photos at some stage. Its far enough away that its hard to get to after work. See how we go.
The road out of the Springs is just as, if not more, interesting as the road in. Tight banked corners and some rock slide debris make it a treat on the 1800.
From there, its auto pilot home.
What a great ride. It was hours of sheer bliss. I am really falling for this bike. To think I even considered a 1500!!!! The thing is amazing.
The country is amazing. It seems bigger than Australia, I know its not, I think it comes from the fact that you can see such a range in a few hours. You cant do that back home (least not the places I have lived).
I am going to pull apart the little video camera and mount it on the bike such that I can record bits of my trips. I am hoping that some video snippets will help share what I am experiencing over here. I know the camera is failing miserably.
Super day, super ride. Wish I could can it.
Something a little different now. I have put all the Goldwing photos in the one Picasa web album. You can see each one starts with a map. So each ride is ‘map to map’. Give me your thoughts. If you would rather see each trip in its own album, I will consider it, but I thought this might be easer, you just check the one album and be up to date with the ‘Wing.
Now, something different again. Here is a link to the ride as a slide show, it goes from the map, just watch it till the next map, then move your mouse and hit the ‘X’ at the bottom to close it and go back to the album.
Dont worry about reading all the captions the first time, just watch the photos……
Sunday ride slide show link.