Ducati Monster Forum

So, if you haven't read my first Epic Monster Ride post (Part I), you can do so now to get more context on my story.
http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=68491.0 (http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=68491.0)

I have been meaning to do a write up on this, and finally getting the chance.
3 weeks ago I returned from a month in the SF bay area and rode back to Phoenix AZ.  My home office is in San Mateo, so I got some quality time at work. I got to spend some quality time with my sister, my bro-in-law, and their kids.  It was a success on all accounts.  It was also a transforming time in my development as a motorcyclist.  The ride back to AZ was even more epic than the ride out.  I resisted the temptation to just head straight through central CA on the I-5 beeline back to AZ, but to make it another bucket list trip.

Day 1
Out along the bay on the 280, 680 to the 580, to the 120, on into Yosemite NP, through the Tioga Pass (10,000' !) Mount Dana, Mono Lake, down the 395 along Mammoth Mountain, Mammoth Lakes, Bishop, Ridgecrest, and on into Barstow for the night.  This was a 730am to 1130pm riding day.  There were plenty of stops, and some of them for an hour or so.  It was all pretty routine riding until I got well into Hwy 120.  Going into Yosemite park was fun, ascending about 8 miles in complete twisties.  There were too many cars moving slowly ahead of me to really take advantage, but was fun nonetheless.  The rest of the ride into Yosemite was pretty cool, casual, fun riding. I went through the park, saw all the big sites - Half Dome, Cathedral Rock, etc, etc. Fun riding until caught in the park traffic, as it was Labor Day weekend.  Been to Yosemite before, so it was not mind blowing.  I didn't leave the park until 2:00pm.  I saw a wolf on a hillside on the way in.
This is the good part....
Riding out the 120 into and through the Tioga Pass was amazing.  This is some of the most incredible scenery I have ever seen, with great riding too.  The elevation goes up to 10,000' from about 3,000' in about 25 miles.  There are forests, mountains, lakes, meadows, and Twisties!

Riding past Mammoth was pretty mind-blowing.  Just amazing scenery.  The sun was starting to set, and it was a mostly clear day.  The temp rose about 20 degrees in less than an hour as I descended.  Riding down into Bishop was the windiest riding I have ever done.  I got a cramp from leaning into the wind. It shifted and changed speed almost constantly.  There were a couple of holy shit moments. Once past Bishop, and yet another stop at a Carl's Jr for dinner, it turned into somewhat monotonous riding, and straight as an arrow.  This gave me a chance to take in the scenery more.  At this point I was in the Mojave Desert, going not too far from Edwards AFB on one side, and Death Valley on the other.  What a contrast from 2 - 3 hours earlier.  Once the sun was completely down, and I was miles from anything, the stars became the new attraction.  I have never seen so many stars.  Unbelievable.  I wish I stopped for even 10 minutes to take it in, but I just really wanted to get to the hotel by this point.  The last hour to the hotel was kinda brutal.  To top it off, the road to the hotel that i had planned was closed for construction, so it took another 1/2 hour to figure out where to go.
Finally made it, and my aching body, and sore stiff legs were happy to have any place to lay down.

Day 2:
I wanted to get on the road early again, but my body had other ideas.  Didn't get on the road til almost 10, but was refreshed and excited to go.  Glad that the good people of Barstow didn't feel the need to screw with my bike overnight.
Riding the I-40 out of Barstow just begs for speed.  I found some cars to get in a pack with that were doing 90-95.  The great thing about going that fast is that you can make great time.  The bad thing about going that fast for a while is that once you have to slow down, going 50-60 feels like a slow crawl.  The first few hours were pretty smooth.  Made 2 fuel stops in the first 225 or so miles.  Only real highlight of this part was I got stuck behind a pickup that seemed to want to match the speed of a couple of 18 wheelers, and go 65-70.  I tried to move to a position to pass a couple of times, and he just moved right back in front of me.  Once I finally had a hole to get through - it seemed quite a bit like he was deliberately trying to run me off the road.  Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t.  It took quite the swerve to avoid him, and move past him.  I learned a lesson about giving people plenty of room on the highway, as you never know who might have a hard on for screwing with motorcycles.
I couldn’t make up my mind to stay on the 40 to Kingman or head down the 95 through Lake Havasu.  I basically flipped a coin in my mind and decided to go down the 95.   The first 10-15 miles through Parker were kinda brutal.  Stop & go in 105 degree heat on a long ride is not fun.  Made up for it by enjoying the miles of twisties between the Lake and Parker.  The SR 95 from Parker to Quartzite is straight as an arrow, has no side streets, not another soul for miles, and pretty smooth road.  Let your imagination fill in the blanks…  The I-10 from Quartzite into Phoenix started to build up some traffic as I made it into town. My patience and my backside were wearing thin.  The last 10 miles seemed to last forever and took on a somewhat surreal feel, as I was back in very familiar surroundings, but it felt different.  I felt like I was now a different rider.  Making it home, and parking the bike in the driveway was bittersweet.  So glad to be back home, but sad to come to the realization that the saga was over, at least for now.

While there in the SF bay area, I commuted to work on my bike almost every day.  I got my first indoctrination to lane-splitting.  I told myself that I would hold off and not start doing it right away, but on my first morning commute, I probably passed over 100 cars via lane-splitting.  When commuting up and down the 101 along the bay on a moto, its just kinda expected that you are going to lane-split. That is one part of California riding that I will miss very much.  I think I saved 15-30 minutes / day from lane-splitting.  I didn't go crazy, and tried to set a personal limit of no lane-splitting over 60-65 MPH, unless there is a huge hole.  There was a big wreck on the 280 one afternoon and traffic was backed up for miles.  I probably passed over 2,000 cars that were pretty much stopped over a 5-6 mile stretch.  Kudos to the state of CA for having this law!

I also went on a pretty awesome ride every weekend.  CA Hwys 101, 35, 17, and 9 are amazing rides through beautiful country.  Its fairly challenging, depending on how hard you want to hit it.  My confidence in riding roads like this grew significantly on these rides, and got to spend a lot of time with my Harley riding lifelong pal.  We made a pilgrimage to Laguna Seca, and spent some time riding around there.  We paid homage to the Corkscrew, and watched the youtube video of Ben Bostrom’s legendary pass from 1999.

When I left Scottsdale 6 weeks ago, my 696 had just over 3,250 miles.  I came back from CA with just shy of 6,400 miles on her.  That's over 3,000 miles in between 4 weekends.  Not sure if or when I will get to do that kind of riding over that much time, but like I said, it was a transformational experience, and I appreciate all things on two wheels and a motor so much more now.  Thanks for reading.  I wrote this for me as much as for you, but hope you got something from this to inspire your next riding saga.


(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5559/15091188445_74e7e4f597_h.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oZyhye)IMG_20140830_154217 (https://flic.kr/p/oZyhye) by jimmycat996 (https://www.flickr.com/people/65984500@N00/), on Flickr

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(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3852/14901842000_d038a73b17_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oGPQsm)IMG_20140830_132549 (https://flic.kr/p/oGPQsm) by jimmycat996 (https://www.flickr.com/people/65984500@N00/), on Flickr

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(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/14901796638_350db7da58.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oGPAYf)IMG_20140830_113057 (https://flic.kr/p/oGPAYf) by jimmycat996 (https://www.flickr.com/people/65984500@N00/), on Flickr

(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5568/14827707018_95107409f8.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oAgSH1)IMG_20140823_150902 (https://flic.kr/p/oAgSH1) by jimmycat996 (https://www.flickr.com/people/65984500@N00/), on Flickr

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(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3873/14707404068_400ccb984a.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/opDhQd)CA Hwy 35 (https://flic.kr/p/opDhQd) by jimmycat996 (https://www.flickr.com/people/65984500@N00/), on Flickr

(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3886/14829024858_0aa6111413.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/oAoCso)laguna seca 2014-08-23 13.11.08 (https://flic.kr/p/oAoCso) by jvh3 (https://www.flickr.com/people/24605532@N08/), on Flickr

Nice trip & write-up!  [thumbsup]

Agreed. 

Epic is the right word.  [thumbsup]

Very cool!  [thumbsup]

I think California has some of the best riding in the world.  I feel very blessed to be able to live and ride here.

Awesome & Thanks for sharing  [thumbsup]

love 35, 9, 84, 1 and all the great little side roads of goodness in between... 17 not so much ;)  [beer]

Amen brother.  [beer]

We are extremely fortunate.  [beer]

I used to think the best roads were in SoCal.  Boy was I wrong.  I have a couple of routes here that I can ride on a Sunday that blow Angeles Crest away with about 1/50th of the traffic and virtually no LEO's. 

I may have to be back in SoCal for a couple of years for my new business venture and am dreading riding down there again.  When I do it will be with my CHP buddies.  It is the only way I feel like I can keep my license on a sport bike down there.

Our problem up here is the deer.  One needs to be quite careful dusk and after dark.

I didn't ride after dark besides on regular roads, so I wasn't worried about deer.

  "and virtually no LEO's....."[/quote]
What is an LEO?
 :D

I got it now - (JFGI) Law enforcement officer.