| Author | Message | ||
     Slaughter |
I'd like to add a word of thanks to my bud, Glenn Giardinelli (GSXR1000) for leading the local loop out of Harley's. He knows all the local So CA roads and has been a great help getting me off my ass and ditching work when I would have otherwise ruined a perfectly rideable day by working through a sunny afternoon. Good to see Candice out with the mob and to her MIA husband Tim, NYA NYA, NYA NYA, NYA NYA! | ||
| Ferris |
well kids, i'm not sure if i should gloat or be apologetic, but my route home, via Tehachapi/58 and Ferris Trail, neatly and conveniently circumnavigated several mondo thunderstorms, and the most i picked up was a couple of teeny drops of the wet stuff here and there. the road was dry, and the pace was spirited. and compared to the "covered-wagon" road between Harley's Rock Inn (cool place!) and Lake Castaic, Ferris Trail is clean enough to eat off of (excepting, of course, the occasional cow Patty...) Steve, Tehachapi wasn't any warmer going back than it was this morning when we met, and the wind was still agressive and relentless, with a mean, cold bite. i stopped for gas at the Chevron, and considered (for a brief moment anyway...) peeing on my hands to warm them up  once i turned north at Caliente and aimed towards the Lake, however, the wind diminished and was generally behind me, the temps got friendly again, and a low but vibrant sun streaming in over my left shoulder did an admirable job of highlighting the road and the rolling green hills and the stunning wildflower displays and the storm-capped mountains and the total and absolute lack of the slightest sign of civilization. once again, for about the gazillionth time, i counted my blessings for living where i do. hey, it was kinda a cool bonus running into Buellin' Bob Setbacken at Willow Springs, eh? congrats on your podium finish! he sure enjoys hammering his black/White Lightning around the big track ("Dammit, if I only had 20 more horespower!!!" ), and one of these days i expect he'll actually appreciate how much credit i deserve for his crash up on the Crest several years back -- i mean, if it wasn't for him trying to earn the coveted "Rides like Ferris Bueller" trophy, and clobbering the snot out of a perfectly innocent guardrail in the process, he never woulda converted the resultant pile of mangled metal into a racebike! today's little adventure had so many highlights it's hard to know where to begin. riding in tight formation across the lush (!!!), poppy-studded Mojave Desert was pretty unique and unforgettable. sitting in the bright sun in front of the Bud Balcony at WSIR and watching and listening to all the racebikes scream and skitter around bumpy Turn 4 was mesmerizing. Steve, how about the look on Saro and Loli's faces when we pulled up in front of the Rock and i called out to them by name, even tho we'd never before met? (Loli's Buell Blast gave them away)  and speaking of Loli, how 'bout them tattoos!!!!!!! i thought it was particularly decent for James, on his subtle-like-a-concussion Bigg Gixxer, to allow us all to pretend we were actually keeping up with him due to our skill and Milwaukee motors (how he manages to keep that thing under a buck-eighty while strafing the laser-straight roads that transect the Mojave is beyond me). Jim, it was pretty apparent when you bailed that the weather between Willow and the coast was gonna be a significant factor. i guess when you ride machines named after the stuff, it's only fair that you get to ride in it once in awhile, eh? and so sorry about sandblasting you so bad on the way up to Castaic! if it's any consolation, that pesky Slaughter fella was pinging rocks off of me like he was keeping score! i'm pleased to say that i only squared-off one nasty little, high-speed, dirt-strewn corner on that section, in a successful attempt to remain VOR (Vertical and On Road). Timbo, i'm not surprised that you and Ed got pounded on your ride south, it REALLY looked black down that way. thank goodness the winds dried you out by the time you got home! oh hey, almost forgot to mention how cool it was to finally meet Chris Matty from Glendale Buell! and Candice, one of these days you and Steve need to start organizing a Lake Isabella and Beyond run, and, perhaps, consider making it a Sat/Sun affair. i can show y'all some pretty tasty road-sets up here in Ferrisville, including four mountain passes ranging from 6000 to 9200 feet, the Wild & Scenic Kern River, and trees as big around as houses. ok, enough babbling. i really, REALLY enjoyed the day, gang, and it was indeed a pleasure to meet and ride with you all. we are SO lucky this deal came off, and i'm impressed, but not surprised, at the caliber of people who turned out today. ride to lean, FB | ||
| Ferris |
rats, i KNEW i'd screw up!!! James was on another Blast, and Glenn was on the Suzuki Sizzler! cool pix Timbo, but how come it looks like i'm 20 pounds overweight?  (um, maybe because you ARE, Ferris???) | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Ferris, Somethin's wrong with Timbo's camera. It does that to me too. Glad you got some good weather for the ride home. Steve, Glenn did a nice job. And Ferris, Glenn's Gixxer prolly goes faster in 3rd gear than my lil' S2 can go period! No matter. I'm not in a race. No worries on the sandblasting. It's to be expected on a day after a big storm. I didn't think the road was that bad at all. Pretty good considering the size of the storm we had. You must really be spoiled up there in Ferrisville. We've got some roads over here the goats complain about... Enjoyed meeting Racer Bob as well. I'll have to look him up when he's hangin' with the Ducatisti. (sp?) | ||
| Timbo |
It's gotta be the jacket Ferris, All that bundling up ya know, you too Jim. | ||
| Timbo |
Wait... | ||
| Timbo |
There, is that better?  Timbo  | ||
| Sarodude |
Yesterday was definitely a cool ride - though a bit abbreviated for both Loli and me. It was great seeing the now familiar faces of James, Jim, Candice (are you a lurker?), Timbo and Steve. It was also great to meet Ed and Glenn. As far as the Ferris Bueller experience goes - "Hey, that must be Saro and Loli." It was great to finally meet you! I'm sure we'll ride together soon. I woke up Sunday morning having TOTALLY written off the ride. I saw blue sky peeking at me from between the blinds and alerted Loli. We checked BadWeb, looked up Harley's on the web, got ready and bailed the homestead. Slabbed it to Lake Hughes Road (in the interests of getting there in time - HA!) and realized what a fantastic ride I've been missing out on (LHR that is). We both tip-toed through a good part of LHR. Wet, cold, muddy, gravely. I wasn't sure what icing conditions were and wasn't thrilled with the prospect of picking up (and repairing!) 650-ish pounds of overweight American Chrome (which I've become so oddly fond of). Got to Harley's about 0850. No Buellers. I figured we'd been left in the dust. Well, Steve and some guy I've never met showed just a couple minutes later (hadn't even unzipped my jacket yet) and that's when the mysterious man in the helmet and the blinding Lightning mentioned our names. Everyone else trickled in afterwards. Some were solo (Candice, James, Gixxer Glenn) while Timbo, Jim, and Ed (BMW 1150?) came in together. Almost forgot Tim(?) on the Sporty. Since Matty wasn't gonna be racing, Loli and I decided to head for warmer weather after breakfast - splitting off from the group. I was a bit shocked to see the group go (or should I say BLOW BY US!) our way, then promptly return! No doubt they were just exploring Lake Hughes Road. Well, we never really made it to warmer climates. Just headed back home at a very relaxed pace for reasons of slight under-the-weatherness. All I know is this... Gotta meet, eat, & ride (not in that particular order) with those folks! Harleys, the ride there, and the company present were fantastic! See everyone around... -Saro | ||
| Ferris |
...Ferris, Glenn's Gixxer prolly goes faster in 3rd gear than my lil' S2 can go period! i imagine it's quite the entertainment for Glenn when someone asks how fast his bike will go and he replies with something like, "Uh, in which gear????" all i know is that at 80-mph yesterday i could still relax and look around, the wind blast fairly manageable. at 90 i was exhibiting the first signs of forearm pump, from hanging on to the handlebars for dear life. and at 100, tucking in as tightly as possible behind what passes for a fairing on my White Lightning and dealing with some annoying speed-wobbles, visions of an emergency MedEvac flight to Palmdale precluded me from wanting to emulate Glenn's performance envelope any further There, is that better? yeah, MUCH better! now then, if you could just make me a little taller, a little younger, a little smarter (and a little faster...), we'd be getting somewhere! ...that's when the mysterious man in the helmet and the blinding Lightning mentioned our names. Saro, thanks for leaving ...with the protruding Joe Rocket jacket... out of your description FB | ||
| Jim_Sb |
We both tip-toed through a good part of LHR. Wet, cold, muddy, gravely. I wasn't sure what icing conditions were Okay. So I'm the only one who thought the roads were fine. I'm glad you guys haven't been with me on days when I thought riding was tough. Like the time we did ACH / Angeles Forest and were treated to lots of snow and ice... and dealing with some annoying speed-wobbles What did Racer Bob say? "Just let go". "I cannot fear, fear is the mind killer". | ||
| Ferris |
What did Racer Bob say? "Just let go". yeah sure, he's just trying to pay me back for what i did to HIS White Lightning... FB | ||
| Slaughter |
Let's see... "Just let go" or "power out of it" Either way, sounds like I convert a street bike into a track bike. All this talk makes me want to get a steering damper before I buy anything else though. | ||
| Ferris |
Either way, sounds like I convert a street bike into a track bike. hey Steve, i know an easy way to make this a quick, albeit slightly painful, reality. er, y'wanna go riding up on the Crest with me sometime??? FB | ||
| Slaughter |
Ferris... Anytime! This Sunday is our regular BRAG ride and Candice, Tim (her MIA hubby), me, Ken (Ducati) and possibly one other - Steve/Jane riding 2-up on a Kawi - we all usually start out here at about 8-8:30 and ride up and over the Crest to Glendale HD where the ride officially starts. Don't know if you'd want to attempt the ride this Sunday because that'd be a really early and long ride for you. Otherwise, I am up for any weekend or weekday (weekdays with a little notice) This coming Monday we are going to do Hypercycle track day at Streets of Willow (about way past time for me to do a track day) I'm pretty much interested in any shade of a day's ride up in the canyons. If we do it on a weekend, lunch at Newcomb's Ranch is always fun - eat outside and see what sort of hardware shows up. Stay in touch on that... ACH is always a great ride - especially starting out from this side - heading up Upper Big Tujunga you get a set of gorgeous sweepers between Angeles Forest and ACH. Steve | ||
| Jim_Sb |
y'wanna go riding up on the Crest with me sometime??? Count me in. I like that road... All this talk makes me want to get a steering damper before I buy anything else though Steve, are you sure you need one? I ride like we did pretty much all the time. The S2 has never even hinted at a headshake. Well, not while the front wheel was on the road, anyway. I'd avoid a steering damper unless necessary. | ||
| Slaughter |
Ferris, I am still looking for a track bike - I hope to start out with one, not convert the Great Pumpkin into one... I am not wanting to achieve the coveted "Rides like Ferris Bueller" award anytime soon. | ||
| Slaughter |
Jim, The only times I felt that front end could be iffy was coming down at speed while turning slightly and starting to feel "something" - nothing really developed but... this was NOT a real wobble but just made me uncomfortable. Glenn and I were on the backside of Lake Hughes road heading back up from Castaic where you can open it up a bit and the bike can really get light going over a couple rises. Probably doing about 125 on the last long downhill before the climb back up the hill. Probably more psychological shake than mechanical. I am not going to rush out and get a damper. I am convinced the best money can be spent on track time, not hardware (well maybe a real set of boots) I need more constructive saddle time than anything else (well, maybe some custom seat and fairing work but hey, that's to make it look cool... not for performance) I never told you about my flap flutter in my Kestrel. In 1979 was trying for the CA 100 Km speed record in 15M Kestrel (I cut the wings to 15M from 17) and got flap flutter at about 120 KIAS. Busted loose bellcrank mount from the fuselage wall and loosened both flap drives. Didn't stop banging until I slowed to about 60. Wiggling machinery still bothers me. | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Probably doing about 125 That's out of my realm of experience. But if you crest a rise at that speed and your front tire gets light I would venture a guess that the shake you feel is one you're creating. When the wheel touches back down she prolly snapped right back in line, eh? Or did I misunderstand? got flap flutter at about 120 KIAS. Thankfully that is too. And will remain that way if I can help it. Whew. Wiggling machinery still bothers me. Amen. You would've 'enjoyed' the flight I had to Vegas this morning. Met up with a lovely little cell just West of Baker. Ugliness. Attention getting bumps with plenty of rain. Had to go down to Needles and come up by the river. That's IFR, Ferris. I Follow Rivers. Real IFR was not an option due to forecast (and reported) icing conditions. | ||
| Slaughter |
Jim, Did not get airborne - just light and yes, it is quite likely that the feeling I had was exactly that, the "wobble onset" being just the feel of the front end tracking in as the wheel came back under load... It is way past time to do this kinda stuff on the track, and stop kidding myself. Your flight to Vegas sounds like the Clark Mountain/Baker Grade held up a storm cell again. At least you didn't get icing where you were... turbulence maybe, icing scares the piss out of me. I had only one exercise in flying where icing was potentially an issue - flying from Mojave up to Carson City. Bumpier than snot with winds at altitude and between the light snow and turbulence, I was really relieved when I made the decision to turn around. Had to turn around to land/fuel at Bishop. In that case with the mountains, there really wasn't an alternate route around the cells and the tops of the mountains were all covered with the only routes down in the valley. I can't imagine riding and flying back in the Northeast where they have to deal with such crappy weather so often! (but at least they do get maintenance done during the cold months) | ||
| Jim_Sb |
Steve, That's sort of where I am on the high speed stuff, and why I don't get into that on the street. Sure, it would be fun, but it would be much more fun (and relaxing) on the track. I'd like to do a track day but I'd get tired of seeing you guys lap me.... I've had a few run-ins with in flight icing. Nothing stunning to report. I usually take action (climb, descend, detour) before ice ever forms. Once I start to see any ice accumulate I come up with a new flight plan pronto. I don't mind descending through ice when it's warmer below but I'm very cautious about trying to climb through a large layer and I will not try to just fly through icing. To me ice means "do something different now"... The worst bumps I've ever had in my life were departing Mammoth. Severe clear. Night. Ran into an unforecast mountain wave rotor. Words cannot describe the brutal pummeling our Bonanza withstood that day. Imagine a panel 18" in front of your eyes and you can't see it because of the bumps.... I would never intentionally enter one of those rotors... I learned to fly in Chicago and even with their legendary winters flying there in winter is, IMHO, worse in the summer when the big boomers dot the skies seemingly every afternoon. We'll have to swap stories some time. I have some good ones. |
