Cmayer31
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I'm seriously considering a few long distance trips in the next few months, so I decided to head from San Diego to Ventura and back via Pacific Coast Highway for the most part. I'm figuring that I'll build up to 1000 mile round trips to get some iron butt runs behind me, and this trip was just short of 1/2 of that. I'm pretty sure I can burn 1000 miles a day with relative ease.
I headed out the door at 9:00am, picked up some batteries for the GPS and camera, and then hit the coast.
Here's my take of some of the spots I traveled through:
I love riding through the coastal canyons around Lake Hodges and enjoyed the trip up PCH until it ends due to Camp Pendleton and I had to jump onto the 5 to get through the base. I find that I zone out on long highway runs and have to force myself to identify things ahead of me and keep a somewhat sharp focus on the road and cars. I'm a very defensive rider, but still need to work on zoning out while clicking off high speed slab miles. Oh yeah, ear plugs are a must for me; my Shoei is relatively quiet, but I'd go nuts without ear plugs at a steady 70 mph run.
I caught coast highway in San Clemente and cruised up the coast again. I find with traffic lights, people watching, and side traffic that my focus becomes sharp again and I really enjoy the slower pace and great scenery of the coastal cities.
Stopped for some pictures too:
Saw these guys taking a break too. I assume they were heading north as well.
Now those looked like some comfy bikes. I even caught the Surfliner flying by too. I've taken the Surfliner for work travel a few times and really like traveling by rail.
The surf wasn't too bad, but enter at your own risk:
From here I took off up the coast and tagged onto the tail of a cruiser group that was traveling at a perfect pace that allowed me to relax and take in the perfect weather while moving fast enough to keep me on a loose time frame that I was calculating in my head. Unfortunately they didn't stop at all through the rest of Orange County, so no pictures. I did spot some cool cars through Laguna and fell in love with a Masarati; the sound from that things exhaust was heavenly and the girl driving wasn't bad herself
.
I stopped to take a quick picture in Seal Beach and decided that I will live here one day. This town reminds me of stories my grandparents used to tell me about growing up in Santa Monica. It's a slower pace of life with green parks, small beach homes, and mom n pop shops everywhere. I loved it.
And who doesn't love a town with an old boxcar museum in the middle of it with kids playing botche(sp?) ball next to it?
I then set off at a good pace through Newport and Huntington and was thankful to make it through without much traffic. However, once I hit Long Beach I realized how much I hate Pacific Coast Highway through here and can do with never being in Long Beach again. I don't like the smell, the views, or anything about it. It's an amazing place in some parts and the entire Port of Los Angeles is amazing when you think about all the goods flowing through it, but the route PCH takes is blah and I should have hopped on the 405 to bypass it.
Then I hit the worst traffic I have ever been stuck in: Venice Beach. A great town and the best people watching in Los Angeles, but my god no one can drive! :disapprove: The craziest of everyone in this place were the scooter drivers 30+ mph splitting through stopped traffic. I didn't dare keep up with them and just split at a slow pace to get through the traffic lights. I also tried to eat at In-N-Out as I was starving, but the place is in the same shopping center as a Costco and cagers are insane about parking as close to the Costco as they can, and the In-N-Out was packed, so I zipped off to the freeway and decided to pass all the congestion and catch PCH after Santa Monica.
I headed out the door at 9:00am, picked up some batteries for the GPS and camera, and then hit the coast.
Here's my take of some of the spots I traveled through:
I love riding through the coastal canyons around Lake Hodges and enjoyed the trip up PCH until it ends due to Camp Pendleton and I had to jump onto the 5 to get through the base. I find that I zone out on long highway runs and have to force myself to identify things ahead of me and keep a somewhat sharp focus on the road and cars. I'm a very defensive rider, but still need to work on zoning out while clicking off high speed slab miles. Oh yeah, ear plugs are a must for me; my Shoei is relatively quiet, but I'd go nuts without ear plugs at a steady 70 mph run.
I caught coast highway in San Clemente and cruised up the coast again. I find with traffic lights, people watching, and side traffic that my focus becomes sharp again and I really enjoy the slower pace and great scenery of the coastal cities.
Stopped for some pictures too:
Saw these guys taking a break too. I assume they were heading north as well.
Now those looked like some comfy bikes. I even caught the Surfliner flying by too. I've taken the Surfliner for work travel a few times and really like traveling by rail.
The surf wasn't too bad, but enter at your own risk:
From here I took off up the coast and tagged onto the tail of a cruiser group that was traveling at a perfect pace that allowed me to relax and take in the perfect weather while moving fast enough to keep me on a loose time frame that I was calculating in my head. Unfortunately they didn't stop at all through the rest of Orange County, so no pictures. I did spot some cool cars through Laguna and fell in love with a Masarati; the sound from that things exhaust was heavenly and the girl driving wasn't bad herself
.I stopped to take a quick picture in Seal Beach and decided that I will live here one day. This town reminds me of stories my grandparents used to tell me about growing up in Santa Monica. It's a slower pace of life with green parks, small beach homes, and mom n pop shops everywhere. I loved it.
And who doesn't love a town with an old boxcar museum in the middle of it with kids playing botche(sp?) ball next to it?
I then set off at a good pace through Newport and Huntington and was thankful to make it through without much traffic. However, once I hit Long Beach I realized how much I hate Pacific Coast Highway through here and can do with never being in Long Beach again. I don't like the smell, the views, or anything about it. It's an amazing place in some parts and the entire Port of Los Angeles is amazing when you think about all the goods flowing through it, but the route PCH takes is blah and I should have hopped on the 405 to bypass it.
Then I hit the worst traffic I have ever been stuck in: Venice Beach. A great town and the best people watching in Los Angeles, but my god no one can drive! :disapprove: The craziest of everyone in this place were the scooter drivers
30+ mph splitting through stopped traffic. I didn't dare keep up with them and just split at a slow pace to get through the traffic lights. I also tried to eat at In-N-Out as I was starving, but the place is in the same shopping center as a Costco and cagers are insane about parking as close to the Costco as they can, and the In-N-Out was packed, so I zipped off to the freeway and decided to pass all the congestion and catch PCH after Santa Monica.
