| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Great Story Al posted on the GDB. Didn't want to lose it. Thanks Al!   | ||
| Al_Lighton |
Sunday, 7:45AM, rain pitter-patter on the roof. Phone rings, from bud Tom, saying today's mission is scrubbed, right? Quck check on weather.com says no way, we're riding. How did people live before weather satellites, the internet, and weather.com? Up to Harleys House of Harleys in Oceanside for another spirited romp with Jerry Johnson thru the mountains and deserts of the southest parts of california. I love riding behind Jerry when he rips a 200 yard wheelie on his loonytunes S1W. Someday I'm gonna learn to do that.... We blast by about 150 Harleys (also on a HHoH sponsored ride) on a less spirited putt up 76. Nelson Venezia (BRAG lead out of Bartels on his gorgeous black saphire S2) gets popped for 93mph by a chippie while Jerry scoots by at a mere 81mph. But the guy riding the tail of the ride sees him pulled and realizes he knows the cop, pulls over, BS's with the guy for a while and he lets them both go. WooHoo! Palomar is fogged in, but that guarantees that the bears-in-the-air aren't, so passing on the double yellow is AOk. Snow on the road sides, misty, but the roads are dry and the twisties tight. Yum! Pretty light up at mothers kitchen, and a might cold, so a couple cups of coffee and it's time to boogie down the Southeast grade. That road is just cool, and there wasn't another person on it other than our ride the entire way down. Lunch at the Hideout, where Nancy (the babe wife of the very cool owner of the biker haven) has once again demonstrated her ability to hire yet another gorgeous waitress. drooooool.... Blast out of there and onto S2, otherwise known as breakdown alley. It's hard to not go at sustained speeds well over 100 on this stretch, and more than once a Buell has been known to rebel against the flogging here. But not today, everyone makes it to 78 intact. A quck blast thru the tight canyon carved twisties on Yaqui Pass road and we're into Borrego Springs. After gassing up with what must be VERY special gas (@$1.95/gal) Tom, SteveH, and I say goodbye so that we can blast back across the mountains home at our own pace. The road coming up out of Borrego springs (S22? Mapquest map) is one of the most enjoyable roads east of SD, especially going UP, and there was almost no traffic on it. Big smiles, virtually laughing in my helmet the whole way up. A quick blast back past the hideout and onto Mesa grande road (Mapquest map) The funny thing about this road is that the twisties are so tight they don't show up on ANY map, it just looks like a straight line, but there are LOTS of them. On past Santa Isabel and Ramona, onto Highland Valley road back to civilization. Even Highland Valley, less than 20 minutes from my house, is a total hoot. We may have a quack for a governor, eco-nazies with their smog law legislations gone wild, all the fruits and nuts and ALL their friends and family from the entire country here, but DAMN, we've got great roads and nice weather!!! If you are even THINKING that you should go on the California BRAG ride but are finding excuss not to, change your friggin mind and get your ass out here! Al | ||
| Court |
Al: Far be it from me to up and accuse someone of fabricating a ride story or simply "creating" a ride. I was going along with your faux tale for quite a while. I know the roads all too well and still get goose bumps thinking of that overlook above the desert floor. (which you'd have seen had you really been there) I was rockin' and rollin' on a High Voltage Yellow 1996 S-1 before the real world knew there WAS an S-1. (thanks Jerry Johnson) You are probably wondering what tipped me (a Kansan displaced into the Big Apple) the major tip-off that you were exercising something akin to literary forfeited license in your fabricated tale.... Well....ANYBODY who EVER writes about Borrego Springs with no mention of the Tex-Mex will ALWAYS be taken to ask. It's the one strip mall in the world that retains "Mecca" status in my book! Seriously....very cool ride, great story and I was THERE! Damn you, Court (p.s. - if you'll remind me, I'll share a way cool pic from there) | ||
| Al_Lighton |
Since Steve just hapened to post a very cool aerial picture of Palomar on Sacborg, I'll include a link to it here. It's a cool picture:  From http://www.pashnit.com/maps/palomar-usgs.jpg | ||
| Blake |
Al: Pic added via "imagelink" tag. | ||
| Court |
Blake: Any chance of you getting a real job and loosing the time to micro-manage and let our board return to it's primative roots? Court (come to NYC!...Henrik and I will teach you how to act like a grown up) | ||
| Blake |
"Act like a grown up"  Why on earth would I want to do that?  | ||
| Buelliedan |
You don't stop riding because you get old, You get old because you stop riding!! |
