BluepoofBikes Motorcycle Adventures

One less bike

My Wind Dancers friend Genia came by yesterday and rode away with the Z.

She'd actually bought it back in January, but she lives up in way northern California and so I offered to store it for her until she and her partner Gary could come down for it.

The Z is now officially a midgetcycle, too, as Genia had it lowered another inch on top of the inch I already had lowered it. Yes, internet, Genia is actually shorter than I am. Can you believe it??

Genia at Aftershocks, dropping off the Z:

Isn't she cute? She's thrilled and I think she's going to adore the bike. Sadly the weather is for shit this weekend so she and Gary are trailering it back to their place, but I can't wait to hear how she likes riding it amongst the redwoods.

Genia's Mt Tamalpais Ride

I had a wonderful ride yesterday with a few of the Wind Dancers. Genia led four of us (me, Jenny, Kathleen, and Sandy) on a great ride up and down Mt Tamalpais and then north to Occidental.

I'd never been up Mt Tam before -- I know, I know, sacrilege! -- and I enjoyed it a lot. The road was pretty gravelly just before the peak but other than that, it was smooth and surprisingly low-trafficked.

It was a pretty foggy day, so the views were a little diminished, but I still thought it was cool to look down on the fog:

We rode some old favorites of mine, like Nicasio Valley, Hicks Valley, Chileno Valley...obviously we were in hills country.

One favorite thing about riding with a small group of women riders: lots of food! We had lunch at a roadside burger joint in Fairfax, a snack break at the Tomales Bakery in Tomales, and ice cream at the Union Hotel in Occidental. Yum yum!

It was a simply awesome ride, relaxing and fun, with great scenery and great friends. All told, the ride was about 260 miles and I was gone for 13 hours...a perfect day.

Short little ride....on the Z!

Hey, remember that Kawasaki I have??

In my defense, it hasn't actually been in my garage for the past two months. ;) My friend Andrew (Nny on Sport-Touring.net) was without bike and wanted to try a Z out, so I loaned it to him...and then never really hurried to get it back.

But Andrew brought it back on Friday night after purchasing a very nice looking Ducati Multistrada for a killer deal, and I took it (the Z, I mean, not Andrew's Duc, sadly) out for a short spin today.

Observations upon riding the Z after 5 months of riding the F and the XT:

* Holy crap, it's low.

* Holy crap, it's small.

* Holy crap, first gear pulls and does not give one thoughts of an aged and anemic slug

* Holy crap, the mirrors still suck. ;)

Other than that last one there, riding the Z today has convinced me to keep it. I had been toying with selling it, but no longer. I think all I needed was a break, to ride something different, to come back to it later and think, "yes, you still have your place in my life."

I rode past the local reservoir at about 50mph, flicking the Z through corners and grinning a big shit-eating grin in my helmet. I took the Z up a dead end road with tons of 10mph hairpins and never once felt unstable.

It's a very DIFFERENT bike than the F or, of course, the XT. It has different weaknesses, but also different strengths. And after six months away from it, I'm excited to learn its strengths again.

Welcome back, Z. :)

Tire-d

I seem to have worn out my tires.

I hadn't noticed before this trip, but today it's been painfully obvious. Not only is the Z not holding a line like she should (her not-quite-professional rider notwithstanding), but I could see the squared-off rear all the way from my vantage point inside the restaurant today at lunch. Now I'm sitting on the curb in front of my gas station parking spot and noticing the front is cupping and at the wear bar, too. Oops.

I guess just over 7k isn't bad for the stockers. I'll call Hare Racing tomorrow, and hope they can reshoe my baby with Pilot Roads before the Wind Dancers Pacific Rally next weekend.

On that note, I'm about 90 boring freeway miles from home now. I'll stop once or twice more to take pity on my poor butt (even the Rick Mayer seat is no match for 150 miles of interstates) and should be home by dinnertime. Yay!

Bridges over the North Fork Feather River, Hwy 70

Loved this view of the two bridges. Too much traffic on 70, but otherwise a great ride.

Lake Almanor, Hwy 147, almost Greenville, CA

The Sierras continue to Not Suck. It's a gorgeous day -- bright blue sky, not too hot, about 75F in the trees.

Pre-coffee humor

The car parked next to me at the hotel has a bumper sticker saying "Don't blame me -- I voted for Rossi!" Obviously not referring to Vale, but it amused me nonetheless.

I disappointed the young waiter this morning by not having come from Burning Man. Alturas is only 100 miles from Gerlach, and I've seen a few playa refugees at the restaurant already. Did the Man actually burn right this year? Something went spectacularly wrong with the burn both years I was there...coincidence, I'm sure. ;)

Every so often, I think about my last time at Burning Man (September 2000) -- I remember standing on top of the RV, looking at all the LEDs and EL wire, wishing I was riding my motorcycle through the desert alone instead. It amuses me, then, that I spent Burning Man weekend alone in the desert this year. This seems like a nice tradition to start.

Alturas, CA

Today hasn't been kind to the Sidekick, so y'all are going to get a big brain dump sometime tomorrow. ;)

I'm in Alturas tonight, in the same Super 8 that we stayed at last October on the Sport-Touring.net ride. Hopefully there won't be ice on my bike again tomorrow morning. ;)

The Black Bear diner next door just underwent a change of management and hasn't gotten their liquor license renewed, so I had to go to the local liquor store for my beer fix. Now I'm hanging out in the hotel room, futzing around online while drinking a beer and watching Law & Order. It's like I never left home! ;)

I played leapfrog with a group of cruiser riders this evening. I assumed they were part of a tour group as some of them had matching luggage, and I overheard them at a gas station and thought I heard a foreign accent. Anyway, they wound up at the Super 8, too, and I got to chatting with one of the men. It turns out they didn't have an accent -- they're all deaf. They were all riding to a deaf group's annual rally that was up in southern Oregon over the weekend. Very cool!

Home tomorrow. :)

Lakeview, OR

This dude cracked me up. "Thanks, buddy!"

The activities I'd planned for the later part of the day didn't pan out for various reasons, so I decided to make my own fun. Naturally, "my own fun" basically involves taking pics of dorky shit I find. ;)

Fort Rock, OR

Had a great time at Fort Rock.

I continue to get the serious heebie-jeebies from apparently-out-of-place massive rock formations. Fort Rock wasn't quite as shudder worthy as Morro Rock, but I still got the shivers. Whaddup wid dat?? What makes me think I want to see Ayers Rock, anyway?

The absolute best part of Fort Rock was the homestead village just outside of town. The place is run by Josephine and Chester, who were great to talk to and tell some fun stories themselves. Chester was a deadhead in San Francisco and said he was at the infamous Altamont concert. Josephine was so happy to see someone under 50 enjoying history and picking up a brochure on Oregon's historical markers that she actually hugged me. :D