Mid-March, I left my work in a glorious, forgotten heap for a week and rolled down to San Diego to rendezvous with my SO attending a convention there. It was a golden chance to act on discovery urges, and to stop in and say hi to a LOT of friends whom I haven't seen in years. 5 days on the scooter. 1,900 miles clocked. Only 300 of it on slab.
Day 1: Highway 25/Hollister, Pinnacles, Nacimiento Lake, Peachy Canyon/Santa Rosa Creek (Paso Robles), Avila Beach
Day 2: Casmalia, Harris Grade (Lompoc), Santa Rosa Rd (Buellton), Cat Canyon, Foxen Canyon (Santa Ynez Valley), Hwy 154/San Marcos Pass, Stagecoach, Camino Cielo (the most terrifying bit of fun I've ever had yet), Lake Casitas, Potrero/Westlake/Mulholland, then the coast all the way to San Diego.
Day 3: Traded in the motor for a rented road bike and spun a 60-mile ride to Torrey Pines, La Jolla and Point Loma.
Day 4: Torrential rain in the morning and ridiculously gusty winds. I managed to find bad weather in San Diego of all places. Lake Henshaw, Palomar Mountain, Mill Creek/Hwy 38, Bear Lake, Hwy 18, 138 (Crestline), Angeles Crest end to end. Thankfully, rain cleared by the late morning, but the wind gusts persisted the rest of the day and night.
Day 5: The winds the previous day left me utterly exhausted and I spontaneously decided to spend an extra day to rest in L.A. and visit even more friends, some family, some museums.
Day 6: Little Tujunga Canyon, Ballard Canyon (Santa Paula), Hwy 150 (Filmore/Ojai), Hwy 33, Lockwood Valley, Mil Potrero/Cerro Noroeste, Soda Lake, Hwy 166, Tepusquet, San Luis Obispo
Day 7: PCH through Big Sur, Pescadero, Skyline, back to Oakland
Photos below, or you can see others
on Flickr
Picked up a rental road bike for a change of pace in San Diego
Epilogue:
Finally had a chance to see how it's done, but my street bars barely fit through the doorway
