cv_rider
Junior Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2008
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- Location
- Danville, CA Bay Area
A couple weeks back, I tucked in my first multi-day roadtrip, which was something I'd been wanting to do for a long time, but it took a fortuitious combination of forced time off at work and wife/children being out of town to pull it off.
Starting from the East Bay, I headed over the Santa Cruz mountains and down the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel. The ride from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz was beautiful along the coastline. Easy going, the ride has nice gentle sweepers, and lovely scenery. Along the way, I saw a Wrangled decked out for off-roading who was partially blocking an intersection because his right front wheel had apparently just snapped off. I also stopped at a beacn and watched the windsurfers and kiteboarders leaping off the waves into the air. First pic is from that beach.
Then spent 1.5 days puttering around in Carmel with my dad (2nd pic, a morning walk to get a coffee - nice lighting almost compensates for looking like a slob) and Pacific Grove riding a rental bicycle around and taking pictures of flowers.
The day after that, I headed south further along the Pacifc Coast Highway t0 the days' destination of Santa Barbara. This follows the famous Big Sur coastline, and the picture is from the start of it. Who has a better Twisty road sign than that? :rockon: Next pic is part way along the ride, and you can see how I have the FZ6 set up for touring, with a 46L topcase, and CoreTech saddle and tailbags. Plenty of space, didn't bother packing well, and the CoreTech stuff could have held 50% more had I expanded it. The Coastline is so pretty to ride, with mile after mile of tight turns which, if I was the last person on the planet, would be perfect riding. But there's lots of traffic, got stuck behind a cement mixer a couple of times (but he kept good speed, considering) and people spending more time looking at the scenery than driving (if 15 mph is considered "driving"). So it doesn't turn out to be a great ride from a motorcycling POV, but very nice nonetheless. Next pic from the end of the twisties, and the riding opened up to sweepers and was more relaxing for quite some distance. Had some pretty hefty crosswinds as I passed through large wide-open farming areas.
Spent two days in Santa Barbara with my uncle and aunt. While riding to lunch one day there, I had the worst crosswinds I'd ever been in. It was very unnerving, but I learned that if I tucked in, it was manageable.
I made the 350 mile trip back home on the last day, which was my longest day by 110 miles. I spent the whole day at it, with several nice long breaks, and I didn't drain me too bad. I found lots of nice back roads, staying off the boring highway as much as possible. The best part was Highway 25 that parallels 101 and passes by Pinnacles National Monument. That road seems to have been designed for motorcycles. It has a good mixture of tight turns and fast turns, road is in good shape, no traffic, and you only see a driveway once every five miles when you get to a new ranch. Got another Twisty Alert Trophy here too!
It was really a fun thing to do. I've done that trip many times in a car, and the transit is such a drag - here it was the highlight and a great way to enjoy being "outside" and enjoying the scenery. I hope to find time to do it more frequently, although may have to wait another decade and a half before the kids are in college...
My route:
from:Castro Valley, California to:CA-92/San Mateo Rd to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:carmel, ca to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:CA-46/Cayucos Rd/Green Valley Rd to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:Black Rd to:CA-1/San Julian Rd to:Goleta, ca to:CA-154 to:CA-176/Foxen Canyon Rd
(I wish I knew how to insert pictures in the middle of my text...)
Starting from the East Bay, I headed over the Santa Cruz mountains and down the Pacific Coast Highway to Carmel. The ride from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz was beautiful along the coastline. Easy going, the ride has nice gentle sweepers, and lovely scenery. Along the way, I saw a Wrangled decked out for off-roading who was partially blocking an intersection because his right front wheel had apparently just snapped off. I also stopped at a beacn and watched the windsurfers and kiteboarders leaping off the waves into the air. First pic is from that beach.
Then spent 1.5 days puttering around in Carmel with my dad (2nd pic, a morning walk to get a coffee - nice lighting almost compensates for looking like a slob) and Pacific Grove riding a rental bicycle around and taking pictures of flowers.
The day after that, I headed south further along the Pacifc Coast Highway t0 the days' destination of Santa Barbara. This follows the famous Big Sur coastline, and the picture is from the start of it. Who has a better Twisty road sign than that? :rockon: Next pic is part way along the ride, and you can see how I have the FZ6 set up for touring, with a 46L topcase, and CoreTech saddle and tailbags. Plenty of space, didn't bother packing well, and the CoreTech stuff could have held 50% more had I expanded it. The Coastline is so pretty to ride, with mile after mile of tight turns which, if I was the last person on the planet, would be perfect riding. But there's lots of traffic, got stuck behind a cement mixer a couple of times (but he kept good speed, considering) and people spending more time looking at the scenery than driving (if 15 mph is considered "driving"). So it doesn't turn out to be a great ride from a motorcycling POV, but very nice nonetheless. Next pic from the end of the twisties, and the riding opened up to sweepers and was more relaxing for quite some distance. Had some pretty hefty crosswinds as I passed through large wide-open farming areas.
Spent two days in Santa Barbara with my uncle and aunt. While riding to lunch one day there, I had the worst crosswinds I'd ever been in. It was very unnerving, but I learned that if I tucked in, it was manageable.
I made the 350 mile trip back home on the last day, which was my longest day by 110 miles. I spent the whole day at it, with several nice long breaks, and I didn't drain me too bad. I found lots of nice back roads, staying off the boring highway as much as possible. The best part was Highway 25 that parallels 101 and passes by Pinnacles National Monument. That road seems to have been designed for motorcycles. It has a good mixture of tight turns and fast turns, road is in good shape, no traffic, and you only see a driveway once every five miles when you get to a new ranch. Got another Twisty Alert Trophy here too!
It was really a fun thing to do. I've done that trip many times in a car, and the transit is such a drag - here it was the highlight and a great way to enjoy being "outside" and enjoying the scenery. I hope to find time to do it more frequently, although may have to wait another decade and a half before the kids are in college...
My route:
from:Castro Valley, California to:CA-92/San Mateo Rd to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:carmel, ca to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:CA-46/Cayucos Rd/Green Valley Rd to:CA-1/Cabrillo Hwy to:Black Rd to:CA-1/San Julian Rd to:Goleta, ca to:CA-154 to:CA-176/Foxen Canyon Rd
(I wish I knew how to insert pictures in the middle of my text...)
I hear you on how tough it can be to get away from family and work but it is worth it. 
