Last Rides

[Fatfatboy]

[oldironnow]

Went for a ride to see some of my people.
North on the peninsula in the early afternoon.
Through The City and over the Golden Gate Bridge before the traffic wave.
Mill Valley to see a relative, and then San Rafael to see an ancient relative.
Out into the back country of Marin on Lucas Valley Road to avoid the Novato construction bottle neck.
Past SkyWalker Ranch and the redwoods, open grassland, hills, and craggy granite rocks jutting up amongst the cows like huge rotting molars.
No time for photos - too greedy to keep going in the chilly air.
Back on 101 in American Graffiti town.
Windsor for fuel and a third relative.
Healdsburg for a fourth.
Parked early to see the fourth relative’s play.



Found a grill to warm-up in.
Watched the first-run reading.
Got out after 9:00 and booked it.
Already way cold.
Hand warmers in both gloves.
Decide the best plan is to not give in.
Stopping could lead to quitting.
South on 101, flagrantly tucked in on the paint.
I can get my left hand down between a gap in the frame to tuck in behind the head. Kind of holding on to manifold for first cylinder. It feels so good, the heat slowly seeping through the glove. It’s like stealing miles from failure.
The right hand can kind of get down around the fourth cylinder. It took some practice when riding through New Mexico last April, but I’ve gotten good at it. Desperation is a motivator.
This time over the Richmond Bridge.
580 to 80.
The big fly-over at Berkeley to 880.
Halfway is Fremont, and I stopped at a known-adequate Shell. 45 minutes to ingest and meld with hot coffee, hot rice and beans, and eventually straight hot water because I’m too jacked on coffee. The shaking disappears and it’s time to go. Add two more hand warmers to the gloves. Now under the palm as well as on the back of the hand.
That palm position is really good.
Nearly 11pm and 41 degrees.
Clear, though.
Hwy 17 is shorter, but low winter sun means shadowed cold spots in the roadway that condense up slick at night; I’ll take the long way to Gilroy and then the backroad on 129 into town.






Ratana gets into the garage, and I get a long shower.


.

[motogrady]

Good read guy.
You got a lot in on that ride.  
It’s nice to hear good things about that area,
I mean, here in the mid Atlantic, TV wise,
You guys are either burning alive, or having a revolution,
or getting buried under a mudslide, or about to slip into the ocean.

Refreshing really.  
A ray of reality from a beautiful area.

Ya.  Good read. Thx Oldiron.👏🏻

[hacksaw]

Wow. That doesn’t sound at all like fun.

[motogrady]

But beating on a ricer hanging from a tree is?

[oldironnow]

motogrady wrote

Good read guy.
You got a lot in on that ride.  
It’s nice to hear good things about that area,
I mean, here in the mid Atlantic, TV wise,
You guys are either burning alive, or having a revolution,
or getting buried under a mudslide, or about to slip into the ocean.

Refreshing really.  
A ray of reality from a beautiful area.

Ya.  Good read. Thx Oldiron.👏🏻

Thanks for the props !
I hemmed and hawed between the comfort of the pickup and the commitment to the spirit and joy of riding … but the GMC has issues (sips some coolant now and again, and the transmission is weird), but it wasn’t raining, and I need to save that truck for rain-days (like this morning)… so it came down to “am I, or am I not, a motorcyclist??”
Chose to ride and enjoy the moment for the memory that I may have (ha!) when I’m too broken to ride.
We all draw the line somewhere.
I want to keep it as far away as possible from ‘not riding anymore.’

[motogrady]

oldironnow wrote

motogrady wrote

Good read guy.
You got a lot in on that ride.  
It’s nice to hear good things about that area,
I mean, here in the mid Atlantic, TV wise,
You guys are either burning alive, or having a revolution,
or getting buried under a mudslide, or about to slip into the ocean.

Refreshing really.  
A ray of reality from a beautiful area.

Ya.  Good read. Thx Oldiron.👏🏻

Thanks for the props !
I hemmed and hawed between the comfort of the pickup and the commitment to the spirit and joy of riding … but the GMC has issues (sips some coolant now and again, and the transmission is weird), but it wasn’t raining, and I need to save that truck for rain-days (like this morning)… so it came down to “am I, or am I not, a motorcyclist??”
Chose to ride and enjoy the moment for the memory that I may have (ha!) when I’m too broken to ride.
We all draw the line somewhere.
I want to keep it as far away as possible from ‘not riding anymore.’

Well, it’s not only the ride.
You connected, if only for a bit, with family members.
Maybe for the last time, who knows?
Plus, you were part of all those places, however obscure,
at that point in time.  

Plenty of time for couch surfing or keyboard warrior.

I know I’m working on my bikes this week…..

[hacksaw]

If it’s warm out.
Nobody said hang a motorcycle rider from a tree and bash him .
Hopefully you do understand the difference.

Riding is a form of Russian Roulettte even in good weather.
You said it yourself
“Maybe for the last time, who knows?”

[Fatfatboy]

Another great read from the midnight western rider.
I’m glad to see you’re getting out there. Way to represent.
Thanks for taking us with you.

You inspire me layer up and get back out there.

[m143]

Awesome read,
Thanks for that.

[oldironnow]

Thanks for the props 👍
I’m stoked anyone can tolerate my writin’ style.
In my mind, I feel like we’ve crossed paths in the same tavern, and that’s how I’d relate what travels I’ve recently made.
And that’s how I feel when you all relate the rides you take… when the Vortex is crankin’.

[Fatfatboy]

I'm thinking I should trade one of the bikes in for a snowmobile. Just about the time the snow melts we get more. And it's 7 freakin degrees. I think I saw a polar bear eating a seal this morning on my way into work.

[hacksaw]

Hopefully it was Seal. Not a seal.

[hacksaw]

I never thought to analyze yours , or anyone’s writing style. Your experiences are your own. And certainly not mine. I rarely read these kind of articles in magazines. Unless I plan on riding a similar path.
You are a forum friend so crossing paths with you in a pub would be great. But that would be a shared experience.
But honestly where you stopped for gas or what u ate for lunch aren’t high on my list of things I need to know. Or however fat2 put it “nosey neighbors need to know” or something close to that. If you are on the road enjoying yourself and get back safely I am happy to know that .
How you actually write that isn’t for me to judge .

[oldironnow]

hacksaw wrote

I never thought to analyze yours , or anyone’s writing style. Your experiences are your own. And certainly not mine. I rarely read these kind of articles in magazines. Unless I plan on riding a similar path.
You are a forum friend so crossing paths with you in a pub would be great. But that would be a shared experience.
But honestly where you stopped for gas or what u ate for lunch aren’t high on my list of things I need to know. Or however fat2 put it “nosey neighbors need to know” or something close to that. If you are on the road enjoying yourself and get back safely I am happy to know that .
How you actually write that isn’t for me to judge .

I’d appreciate meeting you in a pub as well.
But, personally, reading that you ‘rode to Narragansett and back yesterday’ is to me 1% as interesting as reading that you ‘got the BMW out of the garage after it got hung up on the lawn mower that the kid didn’t put away (GRRR!) and was dang happy that it fired right up! Did not expect that!
Got my gear on and a leg over and headed out about 10am to miss the traffic to Narragansett.
It’s still early Spring out here, with seeps and rivulets and slime that’ll catch you out in the corners, so I took it easy for the two hours under the trees just starting to leaf out, and nobody friggin’ cut me off the whole way. Which was great. But what wasn’t great was meeting up with Bob at The Bike Stop Cafe for a lobster roll, and IT’s NOT A BIKER BAR !!
It’s about bicycles !!! 😤
But we had a good time catching up and checking out his chopped BSA, which he took a long time on, but it runs good and here’s a picture….’



I have the opposite reaction to an un-detailed post.
It doesn’t add anything to me except a disconnected fact.
Reading about what all of your sense brought your mind, that’s worth my time and always enjoyable.

.

[motogrady]

I dunno.  

To me, ya some ride reports are hard to follow.  

But really, I’ll probably never hit a fraction of the rides out there.  I find it enjoyable, interesting to see different places and things from the eyes of a motorcycle guy.

Remember that guy from Ukraine that flew over to Alaska, bought a bike,
and rode it to the tip of Argentina? Then sold the bike and flew back to Kiev?

I wonder if he’s still alive.

[motogrady]

Here he is.

https://youtu.be/Ud18v-5vrSw?si=ccwJuoJ5311CwI28

[hacksaw]

Nice BSA very similar to one I built that fat2 now has.

I don’t care sportster tanks on Brit chops.but that just my thing.

Narragansett Rhode Island?
Thsts interesting.
More interesting than a guy from Ukraine . lol.

[Fatfatboy]

Friday we got a fluke warm up so I took advantage of it to get my first ride of 2025, other than my short commutes on the z125. I headed north towards my old stomping grounds. Rode a bit with a couple young men, one on a Ducati Motard and the other on his just purchased Yamaha XSR700. It’s the first I’d seen of this model. Great looking Nike that he carved the tarmac quite well with. A stop by Busch Wildlife just to kill a couple Camels and soak in the beauty of the day. Even the ducks were enjoying paddling around in the warmer temps before it drops back into the 40’s. Even though it was just a short 100 mile or so day it brought fresh air into the lungs. Quite the phenomenon how sunshine, wind in the face and a two wheeled motorized machine can give one a fresh perspective.

[hacksaw]

Killing couple of Camels is filling your lungs with fresh air?

That Yamaha is terrible.when is this all black motorcycle trend ever going to end? The wheels are nice but I can’t see any definition to the motor . It’s just one blob of black.i don’t like the rear fender so high off the back tire.
At least in your vtwin one can see it’s V .