ÜberDoober
02-28-2009, 03:44 PM
What a beautiful day for a ride, so ride we did.
With the event posted at SWR only the day before, I wasn't sure anybody would turn up but we had five bikes and six folks show up at 9:00. We even had two Doobers show up! Mush on the pristine SV 1000, that I've ridden with now a bunch of times now and Uncle Den/Dennis on the hot rod red Interceptor, that I got to meet for the first time today. :thumbup1:
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture001-1.jpg
Den's VFR
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture006-2.jpg
Mush/Matt's SV
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture008-1.jpg
And the official bike of DooberVille, my Ninja
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture007-1.jpg
The tone of the day was safe and easy and I lead the way out of town and through the traffic and lane restrictions of the Renassance Fair. With the traffic behind us and the open road ahead, as we approached the bottom of Gonzales Pass, gusty winds came from out of nowhere to give everyone a little wake up call.
We made a brief unscheduled used coffee stop in Superior and motored on our way. Climbing into the mountains, the air turned chilly but not enough to be uncomfortable and actually added some crispness and definition to the beautiful morning.
Taking the planned side trip at the turnoff for the Kelvin/Riverside highway, I dragged the group over to one of my little hidden fishing spots for a break at the Gila River. Most had never been there before.
The river was flowing pretty good.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture011-1.jpg
The gang hanging out and checking out the water
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture020-2.jpg
Martin joined us on his XL and planned to take the unpaved Kelvin/Riverside Higway on the way home. Good luck with that and I sure wish I had a dual sport bike that could do that road.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture013.jpg
It's that time of the year where the wildflowers are starting to show up and the desert floor is covered in green.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture015-2.jpg
We continued on to lunch at the new Corona Cafe, formerly the coffee shop at the General Kearny Inn. Nothing special but nothing to give reason to not go back. After we had finished dining, those that had thought about going home the long way decided, like me, to re-trace our steps back to the valley so once again, I took point and kept the speeds down.
I must say it took a huge amount of self control to not blast through the twisties like I have so many times on this road before. We did run a tiny bit faster on the return run but it's all downhill! I had managed to somehow creep up to 65 in a 45mph corner and was nicely heeled over in a right hander when some bigass bug smacked into my faceshield with a loud crack depositing his insides completely in my line of sight. It was enough to make me wiggle a bit trying again to see where I was going. :blink:
The ride back through the ridiculous 45mph speed limit and lane restrictions of the Ren Fair again and I was starting to think about fuel. At one of the lights before we hit the freeway, Dan hollered over and asked if I was stopping back at out starting point, a Chevron station, and I said I was just going for it and hadn't hit reserve yet. When we stopped at the final light, Dan said that he had just switched over.
One by one, riders peeled off and with 142 miles on my odometer, my bike stumbled and I finally was forced to switch to reserve. I was close to home and still thought I could make it with only another 15 or so miles to go. A few miles before my exit, I started to get paranoid about running 75 in a pack of cars and running out of gas so I bailed on to surface streets. I made it to my corner station with no problems and topped off the tank before heading home.
I'd like to thank everyone that came out for such a nice ride on such a pretty day. By the time I got home, I was ready to ditch a layer as I was starting to get pretty warm. Hot weather is coming and I'm not looking forward to it so I'll be riding as much as I can between now and summer.
:seeya:
With the event posted at SWR only the day before, I wasn't sure anybody would turn up but we had five bikes and six folks show up at 9:00. We even had two Doobers show up! Mush on the pristine SV 1000, that I've ridden with now a bunch of times now and Uncle Den/Dennis on the hot rod red Interceptor, that I got to meet for the first time today. :thumbup1:
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture001-1.jpg
Den's VFR
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture006-2.jpg
Mush/Matt's SV
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture008-1.jpg
And the official bike of DooberVille, my Ninja
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture007-1.jpg
The tone of the day was safe and easy and I lead the way out of town and through the traffic and lane restrictions of the Renassance Fair. With the traffic behind us and the open road ahead, as we approached the bottom of Gonzales Pass, gusty winds came from out of nowhere to give everyone a little wake up call.
We made a brief unscheduled used coffee stop in Superior and motored on our way. Climbing into the mountains, the air turned chilly but not enough to be uncomfortable and actually added some crispness and definition to the beautiful morning.
Taking the planned side trip at the turnoff for the Kelvin/Riverside highway, I dragged the group over to one of my little hidden fishing spots for a break at the Gila River. Most had never been there before.
The river was flowing pretty good.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture011-1.jpg
The gang hanging out and checking out the water
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture020-2.jpg
Martin joined us on his XL and planned to take the unpaved Kelvin/Riverside Higway on the way home. Good luck with that and I sure wish I had a dual sport bike that could do that road.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture013.jpg
It's that time of the year where the wildflowers are starting to show up and the desert floor is covered in green.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/Picture015-2.jpg
We continued on to lunch at the new Corona Cafe, formerly the coffee shop at the General Kearny Inn. Nothing special but nothing to give reason to not go back. After we had finished dining, those that had thought about going home the long way decided, like me, to re-trace our steps back to the valley so once again, I took point and kept the speeds down.
I must say it took a huge amount of self control to not blast through the twisties like I have so many times on this road before. We did run a tiny bit faster on the return run but it's all downhill! I had managed to somehow creep up to 65 in a 45mph corner and was nicely heeled over in a right hander when some bigass bug smacked into my faceshield with a loud crack depositing his insides completely in my line of sight. It was enough to make me wiggle a bit trying again to see where I was going. :blink:
The ride back through the ridiculous 45mph speed limit and lane restrictions of the Ren Fair again and I was starting to think about fuel. At one of the lights before we hit the freeway, Dan hollered over and asked if I was stopping back at out starting point, a Chevron station, and I said I was just going for it and hadn't hit reserve yet. When we stopped at the final light, Dan said that he had just switched over.
One by one, riders peeled off and with 142 miles on my odometer, my bike stumbled and I finally was forced to switch to reserve. I was close to home and still thought I could make it with only another 15 or so miles to go. A few miles before my exit, I started to get paranoid about running 75 in a pack of cars and running out of gas so I bailed on to surface streets. I made it to my corner station with no problems and topped off the tank before heading home.
I'd like to thank everyone that came out for such a nice ride on such a pretty day. By the time I got home, I was ready to ditch a layer as I was starting to get pretty warm. Hot weather is coming and I'm not looking forward to it so I'll be riding as much as I can between now and summer.
:seeya: