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Saturday: Dave and I had a leisurely start; we left Alameda at 9am, heading toward Dublin to meet up with the East Bay group. However, we got there too late and decided -- based on the weather and road-closure reports -- to go via Lake Tahoe. We had a very pleasant ride down the River Road (160) to Walnut Grove, then cut over to Ione, and then up to Placerville on 49. While enjoying a delicious repast at Taco Belch, I checked the status of Tioga Pass and discovered, much to my consternation, that it had re-opened 5 minutes earlier. But by then we were committed to US 50, so that's how we went. I was expecting the worst, but the ride really wasn't bad, apart from all the traffic. The road was completely dry, and there was only a little bit of grit in the centerline. We got to South Lake Tahoe around 4pm, warmed up with some hot chocolate, and headed into Nevada to take the spectacular Kingsbury Grade down to 395. At our next gas stop in Walker, we ran into a couple of QBIDV'ers who had taken Monitor Pass, and so we got our first inkling of what the rest of the group had gone through. The ride down to Lee Vining was uneventful, but it was getting dark and we were starting to get cold. At sunset we stopped at the Tioga Gas Mart and met a few more of the group, some of whom were (like us) visibly shivering... Also, at the pump I spoke to a fellow V-Strom rider who had tried to ride up Tioga Pass, only to find out that 120 wasn't open to motorcycles. Poor guy had to get to SF that evening, so I told him to take US 50, which was probably the least bad option at that point. When we left Lee Vining, it was almost completely dark. And cold. Very. Very, very cold. Cold. Colder than an extra-cold day at the annual Coldness Festival in Coldville. Did I mention it was cold? I had somehow imagined that the elevation would drop off quickly after Lee Vining, but it didn't... in fact the passes on 395 were the highest on our route, at 8000 feet. We pulled into Bishop shortly before 8pm, slightly numb and giggly but otherwise OK. Sunday: Once again, we lagged behind the group, only leaving the Starbucks in Bishop at around 9:00am. For a short while we rode along with Torr in his U-Haul; in Independence we said goodbye to him and continued on our way, ever downward into mercifully warmer weather. After an entertaining trip down 190 (yay! twisties!), we got to Zabriskie Point about 3 minutes before the photo was taken. Then, after lunch at Furnace Creek, it was off to lovely Trona, where a lady in an SUV informed us that she had passed a rider with a flat tire. We assumed (correctly) that the rest of the group would stop and take care of her. The last part of the ride, just before sunset, was absolutely gorgeous -- Highway 178 (yay! twisties!) to the Kernville turnoff (eek! freshly oiled twisties!). After dinner at the "That's Italian" restaurant, we rather antisocially went back to our room to watch Desperate Housewives. Whether there were any episodes of Desperate Gay Bikers playing out in real life is still unknown. Monday: Morning saw another tire mishap, this one involving Tad's friend's BMW, and another late-ish start for the Alameda contingent. We breakfasted at Cheryl's, then headed east down 155 over the mountain (yay! twisties!). It was a slow ride, but very enjoyable -- until a certain point on the west slope where I pulled over to wait for Dave and had my little side-stand incident. Result: a smashed turn signal, a couple of scratches on my fairing and my brand-new (argh) Givi tail bag, a relocated clutch lever, and a sore left foot. Fortunately, Dave pulled up almost immediately afterwards, as did a guy in a pickup truck; they helped me pick the bike back up. Thank you, Pickup Truck Man, wherever you are. Chastened, I rode somewhat conservatively down the rest of 155 to 65, where I had planned to hook up with 46, but I missed the turnoff (it wasn't marked), so we ended up in Bakersfield (ew). A quick blast up boring 99 and we got on boring 46, headed toward boring 33. Throughout all this, we had no sign of any other group members -- until we got to the infamous construction site on 33, where we were joined by Jay, who was frantic because he had been riding with Christopher but had lost him. After a few minutes being serenaded by a Tejano version of the ABBA song "Chiquitita" on a nearby car's sound system, we were off through the carnage wrought by the road graders and other heavy equipment. The three of us made it through without falling -- barely -- and stopped just north of the road work to compose ourselves and check our tires for rocks. We got to Perko's in Coalinga just as another sub-group was finishing lunch. Then we took 198 (yay! twisties!) to 25 (oy! twisties!) to Hollister, where we got a bit lost but quickly found 101 anyway. At sunset we made one last stop in Gilroy, then blasted up 101 to San Jose, where I stupidly took the wrong exit and forced us to make an awkward U-turn near SJSU. Finally we got back on track and pulled into Alameda at 7:15pm, after an exhausting but exhilarating three days of riding. I love California. |