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[ST] Trip and Ride Report [long]



So back to the Bay Area this weekend...to Monterey (where Grace got a big award at the State Bar convention - can you tell I'm thrilled and proud?)

Grace had to take a bunch of stuff up to support her delegation, and had to be working fresh and cheerful by noon Friday, so we agreed that I'd drive the van up while she slept; so I rented a U-Haul trailer, tied the bike on, and off we went at 0500 Friday morning...totally painless.

Friday afternoon, I spent lounging around the hotel and reading my Enterprise Data Architecture books prepping for an interview today.

Saturday, Donovan freed up some time on his social calendar, and we decided to go for a quick ride.

1 > Santa Cruz (breakfast) > loop through UCSC campus > Empire Grade > Felton-Empire Grade > Highway 9 > Bear Creek Road > Highway 17 >  back up Bear Creek to Summit Rd > Skyline > Alice's. About 230 miles or so.

Bear Creek and the one-lane part of Summit made the whole ride worthwhile. Yum!

Alice's was relatively quiet, so we snacked and sat with a local sheriff who was chatting with a group of riders. He was directing them to areas where there was little traffic or enforcement...sigh! whatta guy! Then he told us about the Blue Angels in SF, but we couldn't go...

Pete Licht from the ST list has a brewery in Gilroy, and we'd talked about stopping by, so we slabbed back. We missed Pete (we'd been out riding a bit more than we'd scheduled) but got some free beer!! It was great...Coast Range Blonde...try some! (OB Safety Nazi comment: of course we carried it back to the hotel in the top box and drank it there)

Over 152 to Watsonville, and back to Monterey.

We cleaned up, and sat around the hospitality suite, waiting for Grace's ceremony, and one of the lawyers had brought his daughter and her friend who, as it turned out, ride!! The (tall, stunning) daughter just totalled her GS1100 BMW at Burning Man and her (short, stunning) companion has a lowered F650 ...  I warned her that Grace would be insanely bike-jealous...so they joined us for the ceremony and dinner.

As did Shane!! Too cool to see him there. He is looking well, and about to start double-dipping; he can explain his insane career fortune himself. But if I ran a company, I'd be careful about hiring him...<g>...they all close down!!

The ceremony was awesome. Video testimonials, the former Atty General, judges, lawyers everyone turning out for Grace. Insanely cool, she even gave a really good speech before she got all weepy. I got all mooshy, what can I say.

Then we went to a big dinner I'd organized at Tarpy's. Lots of great food, wine, smack talk about Grace. Lots of her friends , our friends, some new friends...too cool.

Sunday, I packed up and waited fro Donovan. 

We rode over to Carmel Valley for breakfast, and then headed off.

G16 > 101 > G13 (Bitterwater) > 25 > 198 > Peach Tree Rd. > Indian Valley Rd. > San Miguel (lunch) > 101 > 58 > 33 > 150 > 126 > 5 and home. About 440 miles (not quite a Tony M day, but enough for me).

Another great ride, with three major exceptions:

DONOVAN'S SLIPUP

Riding down G16, we came up on a sedan being driven quickly and well enough that passing would be a small project. Eventually, the sedan came up behind a Camaro, and was pushing it; finally, the Camaro pulled over, and the sedan did too (modulators help, I say) - of course the corner just past their turnout was full of gravel and had a loose horse on the side of the road. We make it through OK, and after a bit, I decide to shed some layers, and we stop.

I'd glanced into the sedan and saw that a woman was driving; but when she pulled up and stopped next to us I hadn't realized that she was _smoking_hot_. Wavy blonde hair, big smile, animated, friendly. And she drives incredibly well! She was looking for directions, and I gave her some, engaged her in a little conversation and stepped aside to let Donovan talk to her...he's single after all... 

I'm mentally projecting 'meet us for lunch in King City';'tell her to meet us for lunch in King City' at Donovan who waves goodbye as she drives away. I ripped him, and he explained that she had a ring. Hmmph, I say.

We gear back up, and I put my head down; there's no way we're not going to catch her before she gets to the 101. Donovan tags along, and she pulls over and give us a big wave of her (ringless) left hand as we go by. I debate stopping, but it isn't _my_ problem, and we head on.

At lunch at a cool little cafe in San Miguel, Donovan explains that he'd been mentally flogging himself for 120 miles over this...his instincts just aren't developed yet.


MARC'S BIG SLIPUP

As I was leading down Indian Valley, I noticed that the road was fairly dirty; the back end would step out a bit once in a while, and the bike felt slightly 'loose' on the pavement. I was proved correct when both ends broke loose on a lefthander, and we had a 'whoa!' moment. I rode it out to no effect, but backed it down until the road looked cleaner.

When we stopped, Donovan was laughing about it. He said "So I watched and said 'Goodbye, Marc!' " I laughed and said, yeah, it felt like it went a foot or a foot and a half, but it was probably two or three inches. Donovan replied, "No, it was at least a foot." Oops...

We headed down 58, which remains another of my favorite roads...the series of 90 and 180 degree turns in the middle of the road are just incredible; the 100mph roller coaster along the rolling straights where you get so light on the bike...


MARC'S OTHER SLIPUP

Heading up 33, we got to the big sweepers on the way up the hill. I'd been distracted by the fire damage; it's incredible, if you haven't been there since the fire; the hillsides of burned trees, with one tree, inexplicably, unburned.

Anyway, we go to one righthand sweeper, and for some reason, after I got the bike set up and leaned over, I looked at my instruments then looked back at Donovan. I then looked up and OH SHIT the corner tightened dramatically; I cranked it over and started scraping, so picked it up and started braking. The ST as I have it set up seems comfy on the brakes in corners; I can carry a lot of braking without standing the bike up too much. So I'm braking moderately hard and thinking "Donovan's going to hit me from behind, I'm such a moron..." He didn't and I was...

...shortly after that my knees just gave out.

It's amazing what a difference it is to be riding when you're balanced on the bike and when you're just sitting on the seat. Not only does the monkey butt get worse, but suddenly the bike is just much harder to steer.

So we limped into Ojai, stopped for a cocoa and some mild stretching, rode over 150 in traffic and onto 126 to the 5 and home.

Great weekend all around; huge congrats to Gracie, thanks to Shane for coming out, to Pete for the beer, and to Donovan for being such a cool riding companion.

I think I'll take it easy today...


MarcD


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