I think of my “college days”, and smile… I lived and breathed academia for one full year of my life. But I lived in the collegiate environment for quite a bit. And one thing that was sadder than sad was “Closing Time”.

I can’t recall the names of the bars other than Joes Tap, Red’s, and the “Shamrock” in Independence. Or the bar in Rowley, perhaps “The Tap”? “The Keg” in Waverley. “Pazzaz” in Iowa City. The “Brass Rail” in Fort Dodge. I was reluctantly herded out of these and more when the 2am “Closing Time” bell rang.

Like those youthful collegiate days, it’s closing time for the Native Iowan and his blogging.

I suspect, like a good WWE wrestler, I’ll come back in a different disguise, but it’s time for me to go, smell the roses.

I started blogging because I had volumes of words that i wanted to “publish” / archive. I have achieved this.

The blogs I have up will stay alive. The tales and traumas are still fun to share.

And life is guuuuuuuudddddd.

Adios Amigos

800hp Supersnake power plant…

pretty, pretty…

the snakes and the R8 out enjoying the sun…

Some pretty lucky kids around here…

They shall be demented for life…

loads of fun today… lots to do and stopped by a local bike shop and ended up with a 100cc Honda…

My 9yr old dare-devil is into it big time… Took him a bit of time to be able to manage to start n take off but he handles the power very well. It is much better than the 80cc JR bikes we’ve learned on. This is a torque filled motorcycle, not a mini bike.

So as the kids ride n play I am moving my shop around… slowly finding what works.

Now, is it just me but aint this as purty as a ridgeback puppy… 

So, hangn in the land of Oz. Getting moved into the new shed. There is lots to do and little to tell so I’ll drop some picts in…

polishing on the 57 BSA…

our graffiti wall

the XR 75…

all good fun…

Ok, I am a bit beat from last week’s ride. I was up at 5am and rid’n today by 7am. Home by about 930am after aborting early due to traffic on the Angeles Pass. Traffic wasn’t right and I saw grief in the long-ride so I turned around n went home. I think I’ll ride this again next week one day n see how much better it be.

As I learn the roads I need to learn the seasonal changes that control each ride-worthy road.

So it’s a greek salad n burger afternoon. I haven’t eaten a cooked meal in 2 days… When I got back from the HWY 1 ride I was pretty damaged… started Friday with a hang over. Rode hours hard on demanding roads, then hit the city… and the city traffic… talk about tense… stressful, challenging… ride LA on a Friday afternoon… if I was home by 4pm I was asleep by 8 or 9pm… After well over 6 hours in the saddle. The last two nights have found me asleep early and cranking way too early… Need to turn this around a bit.

I have slept a lot n eaten little. I keep crackers n peanut butter, almonds, n “good” junk in the house to survive. But I need a feed… and a couple of beers. This place has 155 beers on tap… they sell more beer in this joint than the rest of this “area” combined. Or so I am told by “David”.

So far so good…

The salad n burger we good. The beers have slip down silently and rest happily in my hopper. The alcohol is taking effect n and I am happier camper than when I walked in.

It’s a block n a half from the apartment… I think I’m heading soon to a nap…

Life is good.

Highway 1 offers so much. It goes from overloaded with hazard and risk to being down right boring. And after the first couple hours of riding I was happy to welcome the boring… The first jump this morn was pretty intense… I was on the road basically alone and still only averaged about 30mph over my first 80-some miles.

It does not look like much but the 80-some miles took me 2.5 hours and had me breathing hard and stilling my beating heart. It is a terrific, demanding, hard, frightening, beautiful, and fun-filled ride… I found this online…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrRokto2U1c

It is 80 miles of switchbacks, steep up n down hill runs, and dangerous traffic.

The roads are pretty good, indeed, very good. Lots of traffic entering from the sides and the roads, even the straightaways are hillock prone so you seldom, rarely see what is coming up on you. My eyes are looking as far ahead as I can see. Which is not very far in some places…

A nice, snakey down hill run into a 15mph right hand turn. Down fast, drop 2 gear, pop the clutch and rev the engine and lean in one fluid motion. Speed has been spilt off and I am into the tight-right where I accelerate, up hill, over a hillock which almost raises my front wheel as I accelerate into a 30mph left hander. I am probably hitting 50mph, uphill, and just picking my line and leaning into the leftie… All I see ahead of me is blue sky and a bank of clouds, down on the water, about 800 feet below. I’ll use what camber there is and lean the bike into right tire track of the road… and I see it. The massive chrome bumper and the huge chrome grill. All attached to a fire-engine red PeterBuilt, pulling a 40 foot long load of logs… down hill, with steaming brakes, halfway into my lane, as he turns his nose downhill… yep, a shot of adrenaline is useful… I snatched the front brake giving it two quick pulls, dropped down a gear, popped the clutch then hit another lower gear, as I stood the bike up, out of the curve and bled speed as I almost went onto the very small shoulder which is attached to the 800 foot sharp decent…

I rode out of that at probably 25mph. it was not a drastic encounter, but it could have been. I saw the truck first. Then I saw the bus sized mobile home and the 12 cars behind the truck. All itching at the brakes and frustrated by the truck.

There is so much to mention… the high, winding switchbacks, visible into the distance, above the fog and clouds hundreds of feet below, on the water. The small and interesting looking towns… Manchester, Guhulala, Sea Ranch… so many sights, so many smells, so many fleeting visuals.

And its the fleeting visuals thats gonna get you in trouble… the vehicles coming in from the side are the worse… You see them, they act like they’ll stop then “DAD” gooses his minivan in an effort to hit 60mph within the 2.3 seconds he has before you get to the intersection. Its only after you brake hard, stare Dad in the eye, so that he hangs his head in shame for being so impatient… The log trucks are so, so dangerous… because they are so, so big… And the local buses… these guys know the roads and drive “too fast”. Follow them closely at your peril. Anything with lights, any official vehicles should be well watched. I was cranking on 101 yesterday, doing 75mph in a 65; I was passed by a big-arsed cop, on a big white hog, passing me at speed. They think they own the road. There is lots to watch out for… old men in fancy cars… and even worse… old women in fancy cars… I love the huge mobile-homes with the car and the boat hitched behind… going down hill you can feel the heat from their breaks. I’ll write this all up later as it is an important part of my riding, but…

HWY 1…wow… what a ride! After Bodega Bay is mellows out but from Leggett to Bodega Bay… gotta be one of the top rid’n/ driv’n roads on the planet. I shall come back, again and again.

From Jenner I shot to Petaluma, across the golden Gate Bridge, through SanFran and down to Monterey.

The HWY1 here is a bit different. Different scenery, flora and fauna. More agriculture. more traffic, more bugs and bad drivers.

So sitting in a fancy place in Monterey. Have been emailing with Andy and his gang and they are going to join me for supper tonight. Hope they get here soon. I am going to be poor company after this next beer. I am fading quickly. But I shall survive… not much to do in the morn, no… Only another 7 hours in the saddle…

Tomorrow…

Spending the night in a nice, yuppie class, kid friendly,with dispensers for “mutt-mitts”. When I travel I am willing to spend a couple of dollars on a good bed and an even better meal. After a long day of driving it is easy to end up with an upset stomach. The “runs” in super-zipped-up leather suits is not good newz. Nor is a week of constipation. So I plan my days and nights aiming to ride within my personal abilities. And staying as healthy as is possible.

Today was a funny, funny ride… first jump was only: 

I think it took me more than 4 hours to reach Santa Rosa. Mainly due to going through SanFran. A ride down memory lane in many ways.

It was worth a total of 8hrs of travel, maybe 6 to 7hrs of saddle time. I didn’t stop much but at one point I’d averaged 25 mph over an hour stretch of SanFran City. And all is good, my day’s ride is done. The Pacific Coast is over yonder. Pleasing place to end a long day….

Highway 1, what can I say…

Better have damn good brakes plus decent speed control… it is as demanding a ride as you make it…

The air is clean and crisp. The wind is worth note. Vistas are dangerous… don’t stare too long or you’ll be in honest trouble.

There is traffic and the narrow, through-forest, and along coast roads don’t allow for much “racing”. I had a couple “close calls” in traffic today but ifn you got your radar on and you’re rides eyes wide open, looking way, way ahead; you can see the dumb-shits, long before they hurt you. And the close calls I had were, honest, close calls. Ride eye-open or not at all, on these roads.

You gotta have it all switched “ON”.

Which is the kinda riding I like. I rode through downtown San Fran this morn. Down Mission, past all the once known names and places. Over the Golden Gate Bridge. North into Redwood Country.

And it is pretty country. All of it. But once you get north of Santa Rosa it just opens up with splendor. I rode from Santa Rosa to Leggitt to get on to Hwy 1…

All through amazing land. Much under the agricultural hand. Much still dry n wild. Lots of cool scenery and mini-mountains and small roadside towns. I turned onto Hwy 1 at Leggett. The next 40 miles are severe, to be kind, very severe… hard turns, up n down hill, traffic both ways. Demanding riding.

But it works… there are “turn-offs” where a slower vehicle can pull over. And it works. You can ride as fast or as slow as you like. And it is pretty but don’t be too much of a tourist. It is a demanding road and big trucks with logs or super-huge buses type campers take up a lot of room. These corners are blind. If they say 20 mph they mean it plus 10. But not plus 20.

It took a full tank of gas to get to Mendocino… A very decent and good day’s ride.

And I end up where I be… as I write this…

A dawg friendly Bar… what a place! I like it a lot. Three dogs are hanging at the bar.

Check it out… CHECK IT OUT!!!! ….

http://www.stanfordinn.com/

For light riders of my age-group, this is perfect…

The restaurant is ideal for my needs… I just said no to the “burger” and the gal said “we’re vegan”. I smiled and laughed. A vegan burger. I like it. I like it a lot. It’s a fun and friendly and hippy cool sorta venue. I dig it. The gardens are “over yonder” and the chef/ nutritionist chats the clients up, as the dogs rattle their chains and the beer’s bubbles dance in the end-day’s sunshine.

Much like the place I stayed in the Lake District, this has a good vibe. A solid, NorCal, hippie vibe which I most definitely identify with.

Tomorrow… 

And all is good…