Nipomo RTE
April 17, 2010
It was just a "Day Ride" (-:
My alarm went off at 5am Saturday morning. I jumped in the shower, got dressed and went down to the garage to leave. It’s so nice to be able to suit up in the garage, open the door, back out the bike, close the door and take off! So I was able to leave the house around 5:50. I had 70 miles to ride to Azusa and wanted to get there on time. I took I15 north to SR91 West, then SR71 north to SR57 North to I210 West to Azusa Blvd.
As I was approaching the driveway of the Chevron a few blocks south of the freeway that Byron told me to meet him at, Byron comes rolling through the pumps! I tooted the horn to let him know I was there and we both stopped and filled the bikes. Byron wanted to wait a few minutes before taking off just in case anyone else showed up. I went in got something to eat and drink and we chatted for a few minutes.
At 7:10, we took off going West on I210 to SR118. In Moorpark we jumped on the 23 North to go through Grimes Canyon (never been there before) and then took a road called S. Mountain Rd over to Santa Paula to get on to SR150 to Ojai. We continued on SR150 until we came to the town of Ojai and found SR33 and a block past there was the Old 76 Gas station (that had been changed to a private brand) where we met up with 7 other folks on 5 bikes. Jeff on his ST1300, Zooker13 on his ST1300, his friend on an Aprilla, George and Kitty (glossblk06) on a wing and Joe and Beth on the Harley. While sitting there talking, we saw Motorcycle Larry and Sheila ride by, but they didn’t see us and just continued on their way.
Zooker13 and his friend were first to take off and we only saw them a couple of times before we got to Nipomo. So it was Jeff, leading, me then Byron with the Goldwing and Harley taking the rear 2 positions. Since Byron, Jeff and I had radios; we were able to communicate while running over 33, which was great! Jeff would point out the bicyclists, rocks and gravel in the roads. This was the first time my radio actually worked for more then a couple of hours, so it was great to have. Plus Byron and I were able to talk the whole way there and back! Now, maybe if Dave (my brother) and I go for a ride, we’ll be able to talk…for once! )
We stopped at a fire station area after going over the mountain and waited for the Goldwing and the Harley. Once they joined us, we started the long somewhat straight ride to SR166. As we were riding along, the Harley and Byron who was riding clean up, keep getting farther and farther behind. When I could no longer see their headlights, I called out to Byron on the radio. And kept calling and calling and still nothing. I was just about to turn around and start back the direction we just came when he answered and said when he mounted the bike, his hand must have turned down the volume of his radio. They were fine and just cruising along at a little bit slower pace then us. So it was on to Nipomo. The ride was great and we had fantastic riding weather!
Our little group pulled in around 12:15pm and since there wasn’t much parking, Jeff pulled into a business that was next door. Jeff went into ask if it was okay for us to park there and the young kid said sure. Well…after everyone except a couple of us left their bikes, the owner came out and wasn’t too happy about us parking there. I talked to him for a few minutes and he was willing (begrudgingly) to let us park there, but we had to have the bikes out of the parking lot by 2pm. I noticed later, that they had put a BIG sign up not letting any others park there…
So we all pounced on this little place for lunch! I had a BBQ Tri Tip sandwich which was way too big, but I ate it! We then kicked tires and talked a bit. Around 1:30pm we all moved our bikes out of the lot next door and kicked the tires some more, then Byron was saying he wanted to hit a particular road heading home and I told him I would go with him. I was pretty sure it was a road I hit on my way to Santa Maria a few years back. (It was, I even got a picture of a badger on that road.) So we got ourselves ready to go and took off back on the 166.
We hadn’t gone but maybe ten to fifteen miles when a CHP in a Cruiser going the opposite direction shined his light, but we weren’t sure if it was at us or the guy in front of him. Either case we didn’t stop to find out, but kept moving, although at a little slower pace…we dropped from 70mph down to 65 mph in a 55 zone. We continued on 166 and went past 33, the route we came up from Ojai, and took a route called Cerro Noroeste Rd that goes all the way to Frazier Park where we stopped, filled up the bikes and took a short break.
Our next target was the old Ridge Route that would connect to 3 Points Rd and turn into Pine Canyon Rd which goes into Lake Hughes and then turns into Lake Elizabeth Lake Rd. That follows the valley into Palmdale. We really didn’t want to stay on Hwy 138, so we took off out of Palmdale and went through the back roads which got us up to Lake Jackson where there was still snow at the sides of the road. Big Pines Hwy runs into Hwy in Wrightwood where we followed the signs to Lone Pine Canyon road and went through the burn area from last year’s fire. I didn’t realize just how close to Wrightwood that fire came.
The fun ends once we run back into Hwy 138 a few miles from I15, where we made one last stop before heading down the hill. At I15 and I215 split, Byron stayed on I15 and I took I215. I made it home just after 9pm.
So I rode 567.5 miles for the day and was gone just over 15 hours. What a day! (-:
One thing I really enjy riding with Byron is, if there is a way to add a few more miles on a route...Byron will find that way! (-: