BluepoofBikes Motorcycle Adventures

T minus 4 and counting.

Holy crap, I leave in 4 days! I'm pretty much all set and ready to go, as is evidenced by my sudden return to blogging.

To say that I've been "busy" over the past month is like saying that the Pacific is damp or that California has a small budget problem.

In addition to the Microsoft acquisition, which you readers likely knew about, Peter and I also bought a house. So, when I wasn't doing paperwork for taxes, I was doing paperwork for the acquisition and when I wasn't doing that, I was doing paperwork for the house. I have perfected my signature and can doodle my initials in my sleep.

I won't say anything more about the house until July, since that's when we're moving in, but I shall leave you with a very important photo from our initial tour of the house:

That there is storage in the garage, people. Bliss.

Speaking of garages, Peter and I are currently in the extremely unnatural situation of having only two bikes in the garage.

The XT is loaned out to a friend for this year's Sheetiron 300 this weekend; I'm really excited to hear more about that ride and how the XT does. *sound of gears turning in my little brain for 2009*

The DRZ hopped into the truck bed yesterday and was duly tootled away to the Federal Motorcycle Transport distribution center in preparation for its own cross-country trip. Peter will pick it up in Fort Lauderdale in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, our garage is depressingly empty and I admit to doing a little arm-waving-around kicking dance this morning just because there was the space to do so.

So, with that, trip prep is pretty much over and done with. I'm making some tweaks to my tentative route already as Arizona is having a heat wave and perhaps southern AZ is better saved for another trip when it isn't 110F already in Phoenix.

Just like with my 2005 trip to Wisconsin, I won't really be blogging during the trip. I'll post some photos along the way, but I'll be writing the "real" trip report upon my return. Here, go re-read the Wisconsin trip report if you're looking for something to do.

See you in six weeks. :)

Subbing in R5 vs R3: 5-4

Andrea asked me to sub for her team yesterday and I'm glad I did, for I got my first ever hat trick!

Woo!!!!

That is all. :D

Camping at Manresa State Beach

Peter and I went to Manresa State Beach on Friday night with Dan and Colleen, who was visiting from Seattle. Unfortunately I don't have many photos as my camera battery died. :(

Just for Jennie, since she was such an awesome wing in our game last night, here's my review. ;)

The beach is pretty easy to get to from anywhere in the Bay Area; you take Hwy 1 south out of Santa Cruz and take the San Andreas exit (there's a sign at the exit for Sunset and Manresa beaches). Turn right at Sand Dollar Road (about 4 miles later) and follow the signs to the campground.

Manresa camping is "hike-in" only -- you drive past the main area to park in a 20-minute-only parking lot near the campsites. One slight criticism I have of the campground is that there are multiple paths from the 20-minute lot in to various camping areas and there are no signs as to which path leads to which numbered sites. I wound up carrying a lot of gear around via the "wrong" path until I found my campsite.

Once you get your gear out of the car (or off your motorcycle, in my case), you've got to drive back to the overnight parking area. Once again, there are no signs, but it's easy to get back to the campgrounds from that parking lot.

The campgrounds themselves are situated on top of a bluff a little ways back from the ocean, so you're not actually camping on the beach (nor do any of the sites have an ocean view, as far as I can tell). That's OK, though, the campsites are still nice: pretty big, with multiple flat spots, a fire barrel, a picnic table, and lockers.

We could see a nearby house from our site (and hear their leafblower in the early evening, grrr), but I don't really expect complete solitude from campgrounds within the Bay Area.

You can see the house in the background in that pic.

The campsites are pretty spacious -- it fit one three-person and one five-person tent with tons of room to spare (yeah, yeah, we brought the huge tent; my hubby couldn't find our three-person ;) ).

The sites are pretty visually isolated with lots of scrub and slight hillsides. We couldn't see any other camps from our site. Noise does carry, though, and it being Santa Cruz and all, there were a lot of surfers and families camping. The surfers were up pretty late singing and drinking, but that's what earplugs are for! ;)

The campsites are close to a walking path down to the beach. The path is a little steep, but we saw both an old lady in a wheelchair and a guy on crutches on the trail without problems. ;)

We had the campsite the farthest from the bathroom (#38) and it still wasn't all that far. There are three showers and 5 individual locking toilets, all unisex. The bathroom also had a laundry tub.

I think that's about it. Again, sorry for not having many photos; I'm hoping Colleen and Dan have some more that I can link to later tonight.

Topical analgesic -- in a stick!

OK, OK, I know, I know -- I don't post forever and then I do and it's about topical pain cream. But hey, baby steps.

I stopped by the hippie grocery store by work on a whim today and found this:

Merry Hempsters Hot Hemp Muscle Rub

Why do I care?

Because for YEARS, I've been using Tiger Balm, BioFreeze, etc, which I love...but I hate getting my hands all stinky and goopy and menthol-y. Maybe I'm, like, lightyears behind what the kidz do these days, but I'd never seen a topical analgesic in stick form before.

So I bought it and put it in my tankbag. I look forward to many wonderful gas station applications of happy neck AND happy hands. Hooray!

RIP, B12_Bill.

Bill Lockwood, one of my first motorcycling buddies, passed away last night (not motorcycle-related).

I have many wonderful memories of riding with Bill all throughout northern California.

He was my photography partner on the 2003 "STN Northern CA Adventure" ride where we were consistently an hour behind the group as we would stop together for photo after photo.

He was patient and kind as I dragged him through all the touristy tree shit places along Avenue of the Giants on the way to the first WCRM in 2004.

I thought of Bill often even after we lost touch over the past couple of years.

RIP, Bill. I hope your roads are twisty and your beer is cold.

R4 vs R2: 7-3

At long last, the new NCWHL season has started!

My team this season is the as-yet-unnamed R4, led by captains Wendy and Nora. There are a lot of people that I don't know, or only know in passing, and I'm really looking forward to skating with these new faces. :)

Our game on Sunday was pretty good, and we won 7-3, though the playing levels were more even than the score implies, I think.

I played center; my line was Chris (who was also on the Spleens last season) and Sharon, who had just moved up from the green division. Sharon's sister, Helen, also just moved up and plays D for us. Anyway, I thought Sharon played great for it only being her 2nd game in the red division. She's going to be awesome by the end of the season.

I scored one of our goals, though I'm still not sure I actually got the goal as opposed to the assist. It was one of those "everyone get in front of the goalie and whack at it until it goes in" goals and I'm not convinced I touched it last. But a point is a point is a point.

Anyway, no photos from the game, sadly, but a good time was had by all.

Sierra Designs Sirius 2 tent review

Since I posted this yesterday on ADV, I figured I'd post it here, too.

Here's my review of my Sierra Designs Sirius 2 tent.

From Sierra Design's website:

• Trail Weight: 4 lbs 2 oz
• Fastpack Weight: n/a
• Packed Weight: 4 lbs 10 oz
• Packed Size: 23" x 6"
• Number of Doors: 2
• Interior Area: 31 sq. ft.
• Vestibule Area: 4 + 4 sq. ft.
• Peak Height: 39"
• Floor Material: 70D Nylon Taffeta, 1800mm
• Body Material: 70D Nylon Rip Stop
• Fly Material: 70D Nylon Taffeta, 1500mm
• Number of Poles: 2
• Poles: DAC Press Fit, 9.0mm

• MSRP: $159 (USD)
  

Here are some photos of my tent:

As you can see, the tent perfectly holds my Aerostich High-Tech cot -- though a taller rider might find that their bag rubs up against the tent walls in the night. I'm only 5'1" and the very bottom of my bag is often damp from condensation when I use the cot (even with the vestibules staked out).

The vestibules are great for my boots and riding gear (I keep my helmet and tankbag inside the tent -- I don't like a wet or buggy helmet in the morning!).

It has a LOT of ventilation for summer camping, which is my preferred time to camp anyway. I don't have a photo of the tent with the fly off but I'll take one the next time I camp.

I also attached a Sierra Designs portable attic (manufacturer pic here) and leave it in the tent at all times. I put my Brunton Glorb LED lantern in the attic at night and can always see the tent from the outside (and can easily maneuver around or read in bed via the light).

The Sirius 2 is really easy to set up due to the clip system of the poles (no sleeves). It takes me about 5 minutes to set up, including lining up the footprint and clicking together the poles.

I pack the footprint and poles/stakes separately from the rest of the tent; the tent itself (including the fly and attic) fit in a Medium sized Granite Gear compressible stuff sack.

The coldest weather I've camped in with this tent so far had an overnight low of 35F. The warmest so far has been an overnight low of 47F.

This tent came highly recommended from Becca, moto-camper extraordinaire, and I have to agree with her assessment. Two thumbs up!

Camping Experiment #3: Del Valle Regional Park

At what point do these cease being experiments? I think I'll lose that moniker on my next trip.

Steph and I headed to Del Valle Regional Park, near Livermore, this past Friday. Our plan is to hit up a bunch of inland parks now before they become the surface temperature of the sun.

The ride to Del Valle was pretty uninspiring, sadly, as I had to work on Friday and didn't get out in time to beat the traffic. I sat on Niles Canyon Road for a while before finally breaking free of most of the commuters in Livermore.

The road into Del Valle (Del Valle Road, go figure) was empty, hilly, and green with spring. No complaints here!

I checked into the campsite area and headed for our site. There's a little store by the check-in ranger station but I didn't get a chance to visit it before it closed. I think it sells some groceries, firewood, and a small amount of camping sundries.

We were at site #41, which I can highly recommend. We were skeptical at first since it's right across the path from the (well-lit) bathroom, but a slight hill between the building and the tent area completely obscured the bright lights. All the convenience of nearby toilets with none of the annoyances!

The bubbling creek that winds into Lake Del Valle snaked behind our campsite, complete with a comfortable gravel sandbar to sit on and contemplate life, the universe, and everything.

I wandered around for a bit, climbing trees and walking along the creekside.

My little tent:

When Steph arrived, I broke out my dinner of champions, courtesy of a 7-11 in Livermore. Nothing but class!

Our "real" dinner was salmon, prepared pre-trip by Steph and cooked in aluminum foil on the campfire coals. Yum!! And of course, S'Mores for dessert.

I was pretty comfortable once again at night (my digital thermometer claimed an overnight low of 39F inside of the tent). I was spoiled, however, by Jean's 3" thermarest last weekend; my 1" Women's ProLite 3 didn't seem to cushion my shoulder and hips at all. Grumble.

We had a quality breakfast of cinnamon bagel bites and JetBoil coffee (Diet Coke for Steph) and then packed up. I had forgotten my contacts case (note to self: put extra contacts case in toiletry bag) and wasn't in the mood to tackle Mt Hamilton with a 5-year-old glasses prescription, so I took the uninspired way home again.

All in all, a great night. Del Valle is highly recommended!

Camping Experiment #2: Butano State Park

This past Friday night was Camping Experiment #2 at Butano State Park near Pescadero. I wanted to try out the tips that I'd gotten after Camping Experiment #1, plus just have a fun night out with my friend/coworker Jean.

I left work early on Friday and took the longish route to Butano State Park. I stopped for lunch at Alice's, where I parked next to three motorcycle cops from Salinas who were out for a joy ride. I took Hwy 84 over to the coast and rode south alongside the Pacific. Good times.

Jean was already setting up camp when I arrived.

Since she was car camping, she brought me her husband's 3" Thermarest. Talk about comfy! I felt like I was floating at the top of the tent. Too bad it packs up to the approximate size of all the rest of my gear put together.

Jean also brought her Taj Mahal 4-person family tent, giving me a bit of size anxiety.

One thing that really helped with the cold aspect was starting a campfire. Yay campfire! We drove into nearby Pescadero for cinnamon english muffins from Arcangeli's and picked up two boxes of wood while we were there.

Dinner was a mixed salad of spinach greens, fresh tomatoes, and a poppy seed salad dressing (provided by Jean and hauled in her Prius) plus JetBoil-cooked Jambalaya and ChiliMac (provided by me and hauled on my Beemer). I'm beginning to see why people like car camping.

By the way, both the Jambalaya and ChiliMac were from Mary Jane's Outpost and were very good. Two hippie thumbs up!

During dinner, it started raining. Thanks to the canopy of redwoods, though, the picnic table stayed completely dry. It was really relaxing and wonderful to sit by the fire, drinking beer and chatting, and listening to the rain pitterpatter down all around us.

Nighttime was the real test of my camping experiments and this week, it went very well!

I'd put all of my bike gear and the stuff sack bags underneath the cot when I set it up, and placed Jean's monstrous Thermarest between the cot and my sleeping bag (which I'd also exchanged for a Marmot Women's Teton 0F since last week, after talking to many campers).

Just before crawling into the sleeping bag, I undressed and pushed my clothes into the foot of the sleeping bag. I put on silk long johns and my hat, and got into bed.

Lo, I was even warm!! It was a miracle. Hooray!

I woke up a few times in the night, but it was more due to "What's that noise? Oh, rain on the tent." than discomfort. I actually slept quite well.

In the morning, I found that the outside of the foot of my sleeping bag was damp where it had brushed up against the tent wall. There was a bit of condensation on the inside of the tent, but nothing else was damp. Next time I'll make sure to keep the sleeping bag away from the tent wall, though after hanging the bag up at home, it dried in less than an hour.

Other than the condensation, the tent was completely waterproof. That was a good and unexpected experiment!

Jean and the car camping pulled through once again with a full breakfast spread of eggs, toast, and smoked salmon. Yessir, we were roughing it.

There was no denying where we'd set up our tents!

All in all, it was a great night. We had a lot of fun, and I stayed warm! I brought a small digital thermometer with, just for fun, and it recorded a minimum temperature of 47F in the tent overnight. So that's not bad at all. I think that keeping the tent zipped up and the fly down (instead of staking it out to create vestibules...that part of the fly is also over the large mesh areas of the tent) really helped keep the temperature up.

For what it's worth, I also really liked Butano State Park. The campsites were clean and not one right on top of each other. It may be crowded in peak season, but it was perfect when we were there. The rangers we met were also very friendly and waved with a big smile whenever they drove by. I'll be going back!

A couple of new write-ups

I was busy spinning wrenches on the Beemer on Sunday:

Installing a fuse block

Installing PIAA lights