23 March 2006
Marc writes:
Spring sprung with two whole days in a row without rain.
WWWobble, assuring us that this was a good thing, suggested a short
mid-week ride. So we rode. Well, some did anyway.
Where’d my new bike go?
The captain impressed us the most by showing up. Why was that so impressive? Because his choice was ride with us or pick up his new to him motorcycle. Here he is in this picture wondering if maybe his new motorcycle is hiding under his old.
Breakfast
Guess where we had breakfast? The captain is filling his
bike with gas when this picture was taken. I guess the rest of us had a
full tank before we started. As the ride to breakfast was less than 10
miles I guess this counts as filling up for the start of the ride.
After breakfast the real ride started.
Where was everyone?
Water/Beach Photo for Steve….
Chris says: Nobody was ‘out’, our leader, Major Wobble said this was going to be a “short” ride. (I gassed in Half Moon Bay at breakfast and was home 190.5 miles later…short?) The Water/Beach Photo is for Steve…. Play close attention! No SNOW!
Seaside Schoolhouse & Bill Grass
Chris says: We took George Ruper over this road, only we stopped at a different bridge, over a different creek. Beautiful spring day, the best we’ve had (3rd day of Spring mind you….). Bill Grass rode with us to Santa Cruz and up Hwy#17 at Scott’s Valley before we left him to attend a Dr’s appointment - he had a whole hour to make it Lorrie! Bill thus missed the ‘Big Wendy’, a U-turn I take ‘zero’ responsibility for….
Look, a Honda
Bill, Chris, and Bob
Lest people think we are biased, pay close attention to the first picture: Yes, it is a Honda. You’ll have to ask the Honda’s owner why he rode that bike and not the beemer sitting in his garage.
Steve’s Correspondents….
Chris says: “Super Bike”, who gives a big rat’s arse anyway? We come to ‘bad road’, will the GS rider venture forth? No! Will the all experienced dirt rider on a sport Honda venture forth? NO! It takes the oldest of the group, on a faired RT, to lead them in quest of the really big pot-hole, and a way around the 150’ foot mud-puddle surrounded by slippery ‘goo’. Whimps! I ride with ‘whimps’ I tell ya! Now, if Randy had shown, I know he’d have stepped right up!
Swanton Road
Chris says: Swanton Road. Does George Ruper recall?
Monterey Bay
Major WWWobble
The Captain
The best looking bike
High atop Loma Prieta…
Chris says: We rode Summit Road up the crest of the Santa Cruz Mountian, to where it ended and the road changed names to Loma Prieta, the mountian which gave it’s name to the ‘89 quake. Quite an assent! The road kept disintegrating as we assended. At the top it turned to ‘dirt’, or dirt’n gravel. Being a real man, (read ‘real rider’), I wad not deterred, not like my companions. The sign did say ‘Mt. Mondana 8 miles’. However, only I was ready to commit. Steve’s correspondents did follow - though unwilling to ‘lead’ - this on a WWW Wobble ride mind you. ‘Sport Touring’, harumph!
The last picture above looks across Monterey Bay, Pt. Lobos is high on the right, the southern ‘tip’, Wastonsville in the flats, foreground, and Santa Cruz, at 90 degrees to the lens, right.
We rode down this road a couple miles to an open gate that proclaimed the road to be ‘Mt. Mondana’, but ‘private road’, permission to pass revocable at any time! I was for pressing forward….but Noooo! The majority (everyone else mind you!), voted for ‘Wendy’ and back we went… I take zero responsibility for this ‘Wendy’….
Marc says: Chris left out the part where the sign said “No Through Traffic”. I was only thinking of another closed gate far ahead. In an email exchange Steve agreed with my wisdom, saying: In my experiences, “Private Road” and “No Through Traffic,” together means “Trespassers Will Be Shot.”
Sign Post Chris
Isn’t it nice of Chris to go around with a sign post letting us know where we are. Makes it harder to get lost, that way.
Photo taken over-the-shoulder…
Chris says: Now Marco correctly noted, this was a ‘Burns Led Ride’, but where’s the ‘leader’?
OKAY MARCO! GOT IT!
Chris says: OKAY MARCO! GOT IT!
Somebody should wave to Marco…..
Marc says: I was just giving Chris a target. Seems like he had the camera up
there trying to take a snapshot forever.
Wildflowers have started to bloom
Chris says: Wildflowers have started to bloom. At 60 the foreground’s a little ‘blurred’ as it were….