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