18 October 2006
Chris writes:
Mid-Week Riders Rode…
It rained heavily the night before so we had some puddles to contend with, but was otherwise ‘sunny’ till we got to the top’o Mt. Hamilton where the guys put their heads in the cloud. No Angels spotted.
It was a better day when George Ruper was there….
Bill Grass
Bill Grass rode his ‘new-to-him’ motorcycle for the first time… He wasn’t in any rush to ride it mind you….having had it in his possession for about four years now. He was nice enough to ride my new RT up to the observatory and let me reminisce a little on this, my old machine. Has 163 K on the clock.
Bill: Tighten-up that left muffler, it bounces when you bounce.
What a ‘charmer’….
Smooth, even rumored to play the guitar….
Kincaid Road, ring any bells?
Kincaid Road is the dead-end road that goes NE off the Mount Hamilton Road about five miles (road-wise) below the observatory. It’s marked as a ‘Dead-End’ and in all the years I’ve ridden this road, I never ‘ventured forth.’ I’m sure some of you are in the same boat….noticed it, but it wasn’t on the itinerary, didn’t have time, yadda-yadda-yadda.
Well, this fearless little group yesterday wasn’t afraid to ‘explore.’ The road starts out really nice, center stripe’s all. The cut into a cliff-face; there are no guard rails, paddleboards, etc.
of brand new asphalt (laid about yesterday too!), then reverts. You come to this beautiful steel-grate bridge over the headwaters of a creek (San Leandro? San Lorenzo? Something like that…).
We stopped to take a few pictures. BMW Riders (Randy a noticed exception), had no fear of putting down the old side-stand…but someone else, who shall remain nameless here, wouldn’t even let go of the railing. Meanwhile, Randy (mentioned earlier), broke-out ‘lunch’, but only for himself. We waited; he dined.
We crossed the bridge, the road got to be a paved goat-path with a lot of very steep 5 MPH-type turns (think 1st gear and the thought of putting your foot down…). It was fun, scenic and lonesome. We saw ‘sign of man’, but no one else until almost our return to the Mt. Hamilton Road (not that it’s heavily traveled mind you!).
After the bridge and the fun part of the road (love those tight, tough turns - they challenge), we came to a gate and could go no further. The fellows posed for a picture.