K11 Owners Group

[Flying Duck]

One was a dual sport of some sort on I-5 north of Eugene Oregon. The other was a bright green ricer that was being loaded onto a tow truck. Those were the ONLY two bikes I saw on the road yesterday in 618 miles. I guess most people are smart enough to stay out of the wind, wet and cold. Not me - here's my two day 1,480 mile ride on 1/2 and 1/3:

The GPS track:



Well, I had to get my K11RS home after New Years. When I checked the weather on Jan 1, I saw that a HUGE storm was coming to deluge most of California on Jan. 3. Wanting to minimize riding in the rain or staying another week or so for the weather to clear, my only "logical" choice was to get as far north as I could on Jan 2 so I'd at least avoid as much rain as possible.

So I decided to get an early start and head for Eureka or Crescent City - or stop when I hit rain - whichever came first. I had to head over to the coast at the Oregon/California border because the Siskiyou's on I-5 are pretty much guaranteed to be COLD and icy this time of year.

So, I got all of my stuff ready and left Rancho Mirage at 7am on Wednesday mrning.

Sunrise at Sunrise Country Club (where my dad's condo is):




I wanted to make good time so I generally only stopped for gas and shot a few pictures while riding. I could've slabbed it and done it in less time but I couldn't pass up a chance to ride some of Hwy 1 in the sun. So I slabbed it over to 101 and picked up Hwy 1 in San Luis Obispo.


Heading West on I-10 from Rancho Mirage:




While I had my camera out, I shot this picture for kicks. (My speedo is calibrated BTW.) Imagine my shock this morning when I looked at this picture and noticed where the temp gauuge needle is. I have no idea what's going on here. Obviously, doing 80mph with the temp in the 40s isn't going to do this. My needle doesn't bounce around and I've never seen it go past the red before the fan kicks in. It doesn't worry me though as the bike runs fine and I know the fan works. I guess I'll write it off as one of life's mysteries. Sure is peculiar though. Oh well......




I hit LA at rush hour but traffic was amazingly light and I was able to breeze through LA at 10 over with some lanesplitting. Then I headed north on 101.


One of the many vineyards that dot the lanscape along 101 on the way to Pismo Beach.




On to SLO along 101:




Piedras Blancas Lighthouse on Hwy 1 - I shot it while riding so there's no zoom and it's a little blurry.




It was a great day on Hwy 1 - nice weather and moderate traffic. At one point, there were two big trucks filled with boulders that had backed up about 8 cars behind them and even though it had a double yellow, I found a nice straightaway where I thought I could pass them all at once. I kicked it down into second and went WFO up to 8500rpm - WHEEEEE!!!! What a gas.

I had to stop at least once for a Coke and a bag of chips so I stopped at one of my favoraite spots. This always reminds me of Then Came Bronson(<- link)from the late 60s.




Looking south:




I headed over to 101 from Carmel and headed north on 101. MY timing again was impeccable and I hit the south Bay Area at about 4pm during rush hour. But with some fun lanesplitting I made it across the Golden Gat4e Briddge at 5:00 for some sunset shots.





Downtown SF:




Lanesplitting up 101 thorugh Marin was great. I'ts a two-laner and a large number of the drivers will pull over 2-3 feet on both sides so you can ride right up the gut.

I hit the northern realms of 101 later on in the evening. It was getting cold and the temps were getting low enough for the "ICY" warning signs to have their auto flashers start blinking. I didn't actually see any ice on the road but between that, the utter darkness, the foggy tight turns and seeing a doe grazing along side of the road, I was a little paramoid riding this stretch and took it easy.

I made it to Eureka a little before 11pm. I was shooting to make it another 90 or so miles to Crescent City but it was late and time to find a hotel even though I knew I'd have to ride that in the rain the next morning.

When I got up at 7am, the promised storm had already arrived with rain and winds. It was sprinkling a bit so I decided to see if it would let up. It didn't. When I left at 9am, it was really raining with winds gusting pretty hard.

Ever tried to get a fully loaded K bike off the center stand on a flat wet painted surface? It just slides along on the center stand - so I unloaded the bike and was finally able to get it off the centerstand after a few tries. But at least the motel owner had been nice enough to let me put my bike under cover over night so the bike was mostly dry for my departure into the rain and winds.


When I stopped for gas in Crescent City, the wind was blowing hard enough that I couldn't even get any cover from the rain under the gas station awning - nasty stuff.

The first six hours were spent riding through a continuous drenching storm. Although my toes were pretty cold and my gloves got soaked (went through three pairs), The heated grips and electric vest made it tolerable.

Everyhwere I stopped people would come over and ask me how wet and cold I was. There was on older guy at the KFC where I stopped to warm up and dry out for lunch who came over and empathized and then told me that I was probably better off than he was when he fought at the Battle of The Bulge. I guess that puts things into perspective.

From Cottage Grove to Seattle for the remainder of the ride, the rain was only intermittant. I'd put some dry neoprene socks on at lunch so, though cold, my feet at least stayed dry for the rest of the ride.

Again my timing was awesome and I hit the Portland area right at 5pm for their rush hour - stop-n-go, no HOV, no lanesplitting. It took me wel over an hour to get thorugh the Portland area. The rest of the ride, though a bit chilly, wasn't too bed and I made it to this Fort Lewis gas station (40 miles from home) a little after 8pm.



I made it home at 9pm. All in all, it was a pretty miserable day of riding yesterday but there's some perverse part of me that actually enjoyed it. Any ride where you and your bike make it home in one piece is a good ride, right? And cold rain is still better than ice and snow this time of year.
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86-97 K75F(K75/100/1100 Frankenbrick)
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[owrstrich]

1,480 miles in 28 hours...

i like the ride reports when the rider is actually going somewhere... unlike my ride reports where im just out sightseeing...

this length of the west coast commute must be routine for you by now but im guessing its a new experience each time...

very nice... thanks for sharing...

owrstrich
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[Off the grid]

Shit Drake, that is nuts man. That many hours on the bike were you ever road hypnotized or drowsy?

Great pics as usual.

[Flying Duck]