San Simeon - 2006 May

May 13 - 14, 2006 - San Simeon Over Night Ride

Bob M's Photos of the Ride

Only Don I. from the group made the Ride. Lars B., Lee, and Bob M were guests who made the Ride.

Here is the Ride Information

May 13 - 14, 2006 - Mother's Day Weekend

Overnight Ride to San Simeon - Hearst Castle

Meet at the McDonalds just west of I-5 on Benjamin Holt Drive in Stockton at 10:00 AM.
From there we take the country roads to Tracy and down Hwy 33 to Los Banos and lunch at
the Wool Growers Basque Restaurant in Los Banos. Gas up and head to Hollister to Hwy 25.
Cut over to King City for gas then head down Hwy 101 then over to the coast and San Simeon.

"63 Miles of Bliss" by Pashnit.

There's something unique about this road and I think I've finally realized what it is. It's the length really. That unimpeded length. It's but another deserted stretch of pavement that's become a playground of sorts for motorcyclists of any persuasion. You might even say this road has it's own fan base. A road built with motorcyclists in mind.

Hwy 25 headed south out of Hollister is probably one of California's poster-child motorcycle roads. It's one of these forgotten roads surrounded by bigger and better well traveled rides.

I-5 to the east, Hwy 101 to the west. In between is this little gem and any motorcyclist will love this road!.

This is JUST the ride on Saturday. The return ride is up Hwy 1 at Noon on Sunday, oh boy!!

Link to the Ride Web Page

end

NCTRF_2005_May

Just a couple of photos taken by Patrick Williams in May of 2005 on the Salmon Falls - Foresthill Ride:

The Sky High Bridge

The Red Dirt Saloon

The Magnificent Seven

Poppies in bloom

Lunch

Las and Eric sharing a little snack for two OR FIVE
--fin

NCTRF_2006_Nov05

Nov 5, 2006 - Napa and Sonoma Counties Ride

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The Corners now has a Café.
The fog in the Valley delays our Ride until 11:30 AM. I had to wait out some dense fog at the McDonalds at I-5 and Hwy 12.













The weather was so nice that the parking lot at the Corners was jam packed.

















































Las is putting her cookies in her saddle bag.
















Ted from Davis decided to join in on the Ride.
















Eric, Tiny and Pdub.
Nine bikes head out of the Corners and along Hwy 128, Pdub, Eric, Phil, Las, Todd, Tom, Ted, Tiny and me.

The weather is cool but beautiful and although there are a lot of people on the road this weekend the ride on Hwy 128 was fairly clear.










Las has to repair Pdub's carb. One reason for making us late to lunch.

Pdub waves me over to stop the group along Hwy 128. He has to repair his carb to get rid of all the back firing. Las has to put the rubber nipple into place on Pdub's carb.

We turn onto Silverado Trail and cruise along at a fairly decent clip until some car pulls in front of me 2/3 of the way along the Trail. I take my displeasure out by honking my horn for a rather long time at the offending motorist.





Nite Lite and son Brian had finished eating and were getting ready to head out when we pulled into Busters. Note the Phil and Tiny were first in line to get their food.
















Todd and Tom who ordered a full dinner.
















Parking lot at Busters.
















Las and Todd ordering.

































The NorCal Triumph Riders and Friends even had two Triumphs for this Ride.
















We head out of Busters for our next destination --- ICE CREAM in Sonoma. Over to the Petrified Forest Road which turns into Calistoga Road a very twisty little road that winds into eastern Santa Rosa. Calistoga Road becomes a city street for about a mile until it T's into Hwy 12. We then ride Hwy 12 through the Valley of the Moon. There is a lot of traffic because of the gorgeous weather. Probably a lot of wine tasters.

Into Sonoma's town square I lead the group of now eleven bikes through the One-Way exit {the wrong way} into the parking lot at the rear of the alley way. One of these days I need to find the Entrance to the Parking Lot. I always go through the exit. Then to the Chocolate Cow.

Ice cream break in Sonoma.
















Phil a Nomad rider and Tom an FJR 1300 rider.
















Ted rides a 1500 Classic and Tiny a 1600.
















We head out minus Nite Lite and Brian as they head back to Petaluma. Over Napa Road back to Hwy 12. As Hwy 29 and Hwy 12 split we wave good bye to Tiny. Hwy 12 through Jameson Canyon is a bitch. The traffic is barely moving but we get through to I-80 and I say good bye to the group as I head off to Fairfield and my usual gas stop. They pull off I-80 at Suisun Valley Road to gas up. Las has such a small tank.

A short Ride but we did get to eat a lot...............

The Riders:
Pdub Bonne America
Eric B Triumph Legend
Las Boogar
Todd W H-D
Tom P FJR 1300
Phil T Nomad
Tiny 1600 Classic
Ted 1500 Classic
Nite Lite Nomad
Brian S 800 Classic
Don I R850R
----------------------------------------------

NCTRF_2006_Oct22

Ride Report - Sunday October 22nd

{Click on photos for full size images}

River Road Ride Report - October 22, 2006


The riding season may be winding down but you'd never know it by the near Summer like conditions we experienced on Sunday. Four out of the first 5 bikes to arrive at the River's Edge Cafe in Isleton were Triumphs. The fifth rider owns a Triumph but on Sunday he was riding an early inheritance from his father, an 04 Harley. I don't know which model it was and I'm not big on Harley's, but if I were going to buy one, Eric's would be it. Beautiful bike.

















With all of those Triumphs showing up it was almost as if the Norcal Triumph Riders Club was actually dominated by our namesake brand, which we know isn't the case. Shortly after this break in reality the usual eclectic mix of bikes began to pull up. But where was the grand Pooh Pah, our fearless leader????? We soon discovered it was Don's turn to have a flat tire. As we discussed that fact over breakfast, there was a sudden and spontaneous chorus of "I don't want a turn". So Las, Phil and Don, you three represent the last of a tradition we have decided to terminate post haste.

The good news which is kind of amazing if you think about it is that Don was actually able to get his bike back to Stockton, pick out another steed from his stable and join us for our ice cream break at Shelby's in Rio Vista for the second half of the ride. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In attendance at breakfast was Yvonne and me, Phil and a lady friend, Steve and his buddy Ray, Scott, Andy Berger, Andy Neves, and Eric with his wife Lisa.
I am happy to note that the River's Edge Cafe is maintaining their high standards as the food was excellent. Scrambled eggs with Feta cheese and scallions along with honey glazed bacon, Yummy! There were more great food items worth mentioning but is it necessary. I wish I could spend a week in Isleton and try something different off their menu every morning. Did I mention their lunches are even better. Sorry for going on about the food but we all know that the meal, whether it is breakfast or lunch is a big part of the ride experience.

Alas, although there was a fairly large {for our group} turnout for breakfast only the two Andy's on their separate Speedmasters, Phil and I went on the Ride. The others were in eat and run mode for whatever reason, since the weather was perfect for riding.















Instead of using the Rio Vista bridge we had to go in the back door to reach our beloved wind mill road. We got word by some other patrons that there had been an accident on the bridge, so instead of enduring that traffic we took the scenic route and used the ferry's to approach Rio Vista. Other than it's exceptional views and fun corners the only event of note along this favored loop other than seeing a T100 going the other way was a Vulture I very nearly hit. As I slowed and honked my horn to scare him off his carcass one of his relatives flew down right in front of my face. Yvonne's helmet hit the back of mine as I went into semi wheel lock and braced for impact. Luckily when I opened my eyes again Big Bird was gone. Yes I know I'm not supposed to close my eyes in those situations but that bird was as big as me.















After that encounter Yvonne and I were ready for onion rings and ice cream at Shelby's back in Rio Vista. True to his word Don was there waiting for us. In between bathroom breaks we engaged in our usual conversations that only motorcyclists can enjoy. Don was kind enough to accept his appointment as ride leader for the rest of the trip. After another 45 minutes of beautiful river roads and hitching rides on the two Ferry's we stopped at the Grand Island Mansion for our meeting and to close out the ride.

The next ride is scheduled for Saturday November 4th and involves meeting at the Corners for a ride to Bodega Bay. If the weather is uncooperative the ride will be bumped to the 5th. If it looks like rain all weekend we'll reschedule for Saturday, the 11th. More information to follow.

Paul Warrick,
AKA Pdub

Note from Don I.:
When I left the group at the junction of Grand Island Road and Hwy 160 I was cruising along and decided to head to the River's Edge to see if they were still open. It was on the way home anyhow. It was open and I had an early dinner of a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich on their wondeful bread. The bacon of course is their honey glazed bacon.

fin

NCTRF_2006_Jun17

June 17, 2006 text and photos by LAS:

Shame on me! Put me on the list for Friday beatings.......please! Please also forgive me and allow me to correct this un excusable oversight on my part.

For those of you who do not already know, I gave up the cave in Sacramento and relocated to a new place in Carson that has been dubbed Tac Ops. Shortly after my move, Todd gave up his box at the top of the stairs in Auburn and also relocated to Tac Ops. Since we've taken up residence on the Carson side of the hill, we got to take a nice weekday ride to Sacto on Friday in order to be in place to lead the Saturday morning ride. Highway 50 is soooooo much nicer on the week days without all the traffic. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into the Marriott at Sunrise and Folsom Blvd where we snacked on free nachos with a cool beer, had a nice dinner in the steak house, worked off the dinner in the pool, relaxed in the whirlpool and then kicked back in the king size bed and giggled (I giggle. Todd is manly so he laughs or guffaws.) while we watched the Pink Panther movie.

We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, packed up the bikes and headed down the street a couple blocks to the ride meeting place. This is a great place to meet for rides. I stopped at McDonalds on the Southeast corner for some breakfast. Then I rode over to the Northwest corner to get gas at the Shell station. Finally I rode over to the Southwest corner to park Boogar in the Carl's Jr. parking lot and walked over to the Starbucks where Todd was relaxing with his morning coffee. Andy also got some coffee and Phil had his breakfast at Carl's. There is something for everyone here at this intersection.

Todd and I arrived first......I thought. As Todd pulled into Starbucks, Tom was pulling out. Tom ditched us and took off with a group of questionable looking characters for South Lake Tahoe to attend a bike show. We were terribly insulted Thomas! However, we hope you had fun at the bike show all the same.

Andy showed up next. Who is Andy? He's a really nice fellow on a Triumph Thunderbird. Made me miss Jeff and his screaming T-bird. Remember how cool Jeff's engine sounded when he wound it up in streets between the tall buildings in Grass Valley? It echoed and bounced off all those walls. For those that already enjoy the sound a good set of pipes, this is total ecstasy. Anyway.....back to Andy. He's the one that showed up at Streets of London for the monthly meeting and spent the evening talking to himself cause not a one of us showed up! How nice of him to give us another chance and show up for a ride. I hope you enjoyed the ride Andy. We enjoyed meeting you and having your company for lunch. Thanks for not hating us and giving us the 2nd chance. I hope we'll get to see you again.

Here's a picture of Andy and his bird.




Then Dan showed up on his Triumph. Good move Dan...bringing the Triumph on the Triumph ride. He could have brought the Aprilia or the Goldwing. How nice it is to have choices. Since Dan brought the Triumph, that made two.

Todd on his Harley. Me on my Suzuki. Andy and Don on Triumphs. And then Phil showed up on his pretty new Kawasaki. That's it. Those were the riders.

After meeting, eating and the usual bs, we mounted up and rode out White Rock Road. It was feeling warm already. White Rock is a nice enough road but we got stuck behind a couple of big smelly trucks so that was a bit of a bummer. Still, rolling down the road on a motorcycle is good.....always good....even if you have a big stinky truck in front of you.

We passed through the city bustle of El Dorado and then began the curves of Salmon Falls. I'm a slow one in the curves and because I don't like to impede the enjoyment of the other riders behind me, I gave them full permission to pass and eat up the road if they wanted. Maybe halfway along I heard a mighty roar and then a flash of red shot past me. On one wheel? Huh Dan? Do you need both wheels for a maneuver like that? Dan cleared out his pipes and then had time to turn around and backtrack a bit to meet back up with us before we pulled into the gas station at Pilot Hill.

Break time at Pilot Hill for water, rest room and leg stretching. Since the heat of the day was taking hold, I took advantage of this stop to soak my new cool vest and give it a try. Prior to the purchase of this vest, I was soaking my Joe Rocket open mesh jacket at stops. The jacket only stays cool for about 20 minutes. This vest stayed cool all day. Good buy. I recommend them. Don bought one last summer and I believe he's sold on it as well.



The next leg of the ride took us down the shaded curvy roadway of Highway 49 to the confluence in Auburn where we leaned right and climbed the hills to Forest Hill Road. This is such a great road and it's always fun to listen to the first timers rave when you get to the top.

Todd lead the ride down Hwy 49 so he was the first to hit Forest Hill Road. Off he went with Dan hot on his tail. Phil, evidently eager to drag the rest of the new stuff off the bottom of his foot pegs, was next. Boogar and I were blocking Andy and the bird through the single lane stuff so he was forced to accompany me up the road. There was no catching the race team that had sprinted out ahead of us once we hit the two lane stuff again. Was fun to look up the road through the curves and watch the three of them moving through the turns.

After regrouping at the top to gas up, we moved on to the Ore Cart/Red Dirt Saloon for lunch. Too bad we weren't there on Sunday instead of Saturday. They have a sign on the wall that reads "Free Beer Tomorrow". Lunch was good. It always is there. The company was even better. Always fun to sit around and visit.

The ride was scheduled to continue through the enchanted forest after lunch but Dan had already planned on leaving early to meet some afternoon commitments. Andy didn't realize we were going to run so long and thought he might also need to call it a ride and head back towards town with Dan. Phil was game for the afternoon ride but Todd and I sort of begged off. Thank you Phil for not holding that against us. After saying the goodbyes and waving off Dan, Andy and Phil, Todd and I headed back to Placerville via Highway 50. Gas for Boogar, cold bottled water for me and Todd and then we were back on the road toward South Lake Tahoe. We took another break at Strawberry where we ran into some riders we had met at the Dapper's Memorial Day run in Washington, California and then finished the ride to the Lake where we stopped for the bike show. Since we live 25 minutes from South Lake Tahoe, I guess you could say that Todd and I took the LONG way to the bike show. We didn't find Tom there but Todd did find a nice pair of chaps. Lots of pretty bikes too. Vendors, food, people in leather........all the usual bike show stuff.

A nice ride down Kingsbury Grade and then along the base of the mountains through Genoa brought us to an evening coffee stop. More bs with other bikers and then on our way for home. We landed safe and sound at Tac Ops around 8 p.m. Another great ride. A perfectly good way to waste a couple of days.

Las
Boogar and Piglet

NCTRF_2006_Apr30

WOW. What great weather for a Ride. We are meeting with some of the Santa Rosa RAT Pack to Ride from the Corners to the Lakeview Inn Pub near Kelseyville.

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I get to the Corners at about 10:40 AM for our 11:00 meeting time. Tiny and Tom P. are already there. Duece and his troops from Marysville arrive a short time later.


Donny from Healdsburg gets there, but the rest of the Santa Rosa group arrives a few minutes after Pdub and his group. {Pdub you need to allow gas station time for a bunch of bikes}

We have soooo many bikes, about 28 to 30 that we split into three groups. {four if you count the two Daytona riders who rode their own route to the Pub} We were warned by some riders of the CHP car about a mile up the road, so we start out at the speed limit. We turn off for Berryessa-Knoxville Road and get behind a little traffic for awhile, but it is moving at the speed limit. After losing the traffic we open up a little, not real fast. We make the obligatory left turn onto Pope Valley Road and knife our way through the mountains. At Pope Valley the General Store does not have enough room to park a bunch of bikes, so I head up to the school. But the school parking lot has a locked gate. But we stop in the driveway for our Rest Stop. People complained that we had "just started". Well it was 45 minutes into the ride to the pub and right at the halfway mark timewise.







We reset the groups at Pope Valley and the quicker riders take off, unfortunately they are the last to reach the pub as they blasted by the turn off for Point Lakeview Road and needed to stop and get redirected.

Our "slow poke group one" runs into three riders that Tiny is leading and merge with them with Tiny in the lead. It seems that the rest of his group had dropped off at the Pope Valley School and were now mixed into the other groups. The scenery is remarkable with lush green from the Spring rains. The roads have dried out and are in real good shape considering the amount of rainfall. The roads have been relatively traffic free. But then we Tee into Hwy 29 which is a main highway of two and sometimes four lanes. It is the highway that runs through the heart of the Napa Valley Wine Country then heads to Lake County. That is a pretty boring part of the Ride. But about two miles west of Lower Lake we head off onto Point Lakeview Road and a bunch of up and down twisties as we wind our way to the south shore of Clear Lake.

"Slow poke group two" exits Hwy 29 at Lower Lake where Hwy 29 makes a left turn at the signal light. They go straight onto Hwy 53. They right themselves stop for gas and are the next group to reach the Pub.




Rod Llyod, owner and barkeep

Merry Llyod, owner and cook

Sonoma Joe

Pdub

Mark and Donny

Deuce and troops


Being a copy of the Smallest Pub in Britain it takes us awhile to all get drinks and order our lunch. There is an added room and a deck patio so that now about 100 people can be accomodated. Ron "steals" Tom's lunch as they had both ordered Curry. Tom a good bit later almost gave up his lunch since Tom kept insisting that his name was not "Ron". As Rod Llyod had placed our names with our lunch orders and the young girls who brought the lunches out had no idea who was who. The poor young things just called out a name and hoped that someone would claim the plate.



After lunch we split up with some heading back to Sacramento, the Santa Rosa riders went on their way back home. And the NCTRF group after some bickering about back tracking instead of riding around Clear Lake wind up taking the prescribed Route to Esparto. I was leading a group of five plus the Marysville troops until the Highway 16 turn off. The Marysville boys {the two sports bikes had left after the gas stop in Nice (pronounced like the French "neese")} and Dan A continued along Highway 20. Dan headed south on I-5 as he had to get home and his new Goldwing would get him back to South Sacto in a hurry via I-5.







So Tiny, Phil T, John A and I reach the hamburger stand in Esparto to find that it has been sold and the new owners have not opened it yet. So we walk across the street to the Porta-Potties in Esparto Park. Get the bottles of water out of the saddle bags which are now at about 85° and wet our whistles.

Pdub and Yvonne, Eric, Mark, Tom and Ron arrive about 10 minutes later and they too are really disappointed that the place is closed. The Sacramento folks are deciding where to stop in Woodland for a drink or ice cream as Tiny and I head off for I-505. I leave Tiny at Midway Road to head over to Hwy 113 and Hwy 12 to I-5 and home to Stockton. Tiny continues to I-80 and home to Pinole.

The Ride Route covered 175 miles. For me to get to the Corners was 76 miles and then getting home from Esparto was another 82 miles. So I put on a nice round 333 mile day.

NCTRF_2006

Northern California Triumph Riders and Friends (NCTRF) - 2006
{CLICK on photos to view full size images.}

March 26, 2006 Ride to and Meeting at the Silver Dollar Saloon in Marysville

We met at 11:30 AM at the Esparto High School. Phil T. was real early because he thought the meeting time was 10:30. I arrived next then Deuce pulled in. Then Pdub and 5 others rolled in. The weather was a bit brisk but otherwise beautiful.


Deuce arrives


Pdub leading his crew


Gary and Cindy G.


Dan A. on his Aprilia Caponord

We rode about one block to the Esparto Park to make use of the two Port-a-Potties before embarking on the road.

Highway 16 was a bit busy and the slow moving traffic slowed us up a bit. The Cache Creek Casino has provided the Tribe with a terrific living area a few miles north of the Casino. The place keeps growing with new modern buildings. We wander through the small towns of the Capay Valley slowing down as we travel through the main streets of the towns.

As we leave Rumsey and near the twisty canyon road a friendly motorist pulls over to let the stream of bikes pass. Somewhere along the way Tom P. has caught up with the Ride. We ride along at a good clip until we run into a couple of cages which slows us down near the speed limit.

We turn east onto Hwy 20 and have an uneventful ride into Williams where we stop for gas and a drink, rest and restroom break at the Carl's Juniors where we had started our Gnome Run.

Deuce takes the lead since he lives in Yuba City and the roads are in his back yard. We make it to the Silver Dollar without losing anyone.


Mutt and Jeff

Las and Todd had to repair a brake lever and skipped the Ride to head straight from home to the Silver Dollar. They had finished eating by the time the rest of us got to the Silver Dollar around 2:00 PM.


Silver Dollar






We lunch on beef and a trip to the salad bar. Most had the Tri Tip sandwich or Steak sandwich or a big burger.



After eating we had a short meeting where Tom P. has volunteered to lead the overnight Ride to Lake Shasta on August 12 - 13, 2006. We are still looking for a few Ride Leaders. Our next meeting is the usual April through October second Wednesday at the Streets of London. The date is April 12, 2006. The next Ride is a ride starting at Lake Berryessa and going around Clear Lake then back Hwy 20 to Hwy 16 to Sacramento.

After lunch we split up to head home via a few different routes.

The Riders and their Rides:

Don I. '97 BMW R850R Stockton
John A. '02 Honda Goldwing Antelope
Tom P. '04 FJR1300 Orangevale
Phil T. '06 Nomad Citrus Heights
Pdub '03 Bonne America West Sacto
Ron H. '82 Honda CBX Rancho Murietta
Jack F. '05 Boulevard Rancho Murietta
Gary & '97 Vulcan 1500D Loomis
Cindy G
Deuce '02 Bonne America Yuba City
Dan A. Aprilia Caponord Sacramento
Todd W. '04 Softail Auburn
Las Passenger Carson City



by norcalrat