berth
Well-known member
Took the bike out the other day.
Geared up, mounted up, rode to the gas station, parked, got my gloves off, push the chin bar up, opened the tank, found I didn't have my wallet, reversed all that, and went back home.
Of course, the reason I had to fill up was that last time I went out, I went to the gas station, etc., etc., and found...I didn't have my wallet, but said "bah, I have enough so I'm going anyway" And I did, flouting the law, breaking the rules, riding on the fringes of society.
Back at the gas station, filled up, scrubbed some ancient bugs off my helmet visor and hit the road.
Dashboard read 94 degree F (for Fahrvergnügen). And, as normal, I'm in my full Michelin Man riding suit of Kilm Badlands Pro. But, since my little adventure running back and forth and back to the gas station, I was a bit sweaty, so the heat was no problem. The venting is really good on this set of gear. When I was donning the suit, my wife notices my fly was open. I said "Oh, that's for more ventilation" but she didn't buy it. So that was one of the few zippers that remained closed today.
Hit the road, up the pass, figured I'd give Angeles Crest another stab. It's high, should be out of the heat. Freeway was fine, save for the overall heat, the weather was great.
On the way from the freeway to Wrightwood, I like to take Lone Pine Canyon road. It's a pretty, quiet road that goes through a pretty, mostly uninhabited valley. It's one of those roads that I always think "why does this road exist". It doesn't go or come from anywhere. It just goes through. But, nonetheless, its always a pleasant ride through that valley.
Entering Wrightwood, slow down, short shift, going down the hill back to the highway I mostly just pull in the clutch and let it coast while keeping it under 30MPH. Keep it quiet for the folks that live here.
Just on the outskirts of Wrightwood as I start to head up the mountain, there's road work signs, flagmen that don't exist, and large piles of dirt and fill on the side of the road.
Heading on up the hill, temps reading mid-80s by now.
This area was hit pretty hard with the fires from a couple of years ago. Just barren areas with burnt, dead trees. Farther up, I saw evidence of logging, cutting the dead trees down. This doesn't surprise me, you need to do something with these trees, and having a dead, standing forest doesn't really help anyone. I've always wondered if they might make an effort to come back through and do some replanting or not.
Moving along, I encountered a large (10 wheel, 3 axle) dump truck. He was kind enough to let me by (Angeles Crest is almost entirely double yellow), but he was hauling a load to be sure. In fact, in the end, I encountered 4 dump trucks. Beyond a slow moving 4Runner, the dump trucks were all I saw. Now I know why they had the dirt piles in Wrightwood. Something (ostensibly larger dump trucks) was moving up dirt and fill to this staging area just before Mountain High ski resort, and they were transferring it to a fleet of smaller trucks better able to navigate the mountain road.
Road was mostly clear with a few rocks, which is normal. But finally, coming down the hill into a saddle, I see the sign ahead: Road Closed. The sign said Road Closed, but the gate was open. This is where the dump trucks were going. They're making progress on the washouts and such that have I guess kept CA 2 closed for awhile now.
Angeles Crest is one of those highways that I bet CalTrans hates, always needing some kind of major repair. Different from the Sierra passes, which gets rockfalls and such during the winter, AC gets washed away and loses roadbed. More than just a blasting and bulldozing effort to fix it.
So, I turned into the parking area up there, who's name eludes me, and that's where I took the photo. I thought the peak in the background was pretty nice.
I didn't stay long, hopped off, snapped the pic, turned around and start heading home. 81 degrees here.
One thing I love about modern bikes is the EFI. Angeles Crest is pretty high. The parking lot was at 6600, but I went over a pass at 7100. And on my Hawk GT when I used to ride through here quite often, it just ran out of gas at altitude. It was really noticeable.
Not this thing though. Doesn't skip a beat. Displacement helps (850 vs 650), that the fuel injection making up for the lack of oxygen helps also.
Uneventful ride back down through Wrightwood, I just take the normal highway home. No real traffic to speak of, quiet day on the mountain.
Hitting the top of Cajon Pass and the 15, merging onto the freeway, I noticed we had some summit winds picking up. I was getting buffeted and blustered by the wind, by the trucks. You could see some palm trees being blown around.
I'm not really a big fan of wind. Wind itself doesn't bother me so much, but gusty winds are another matter. But I will say this. Even in this wind, the bike is rock solid. It's a characteristic I noticed immediately when I test rode it years ago that is was just super stable. In the wind, it was no different. I was getting pushed around, but as long as I managed to not transmit that motion to the bars, the bike wasn't going anywhere.
It's just the way of it. I don't have a windscreen on the bike. I have a clear plastic piece on the front who's entire job, I think, is to hold screws and washers to be used to mount a real windscreen should someone want one, but I have not yet felt the desire to mount one myself. I like being "in the air", it's part of what make being on a bike different. Being out in the elements.
Heading down the hill, heading home, temp was reading 96. I was no longer damp and sweaty, not as much as I was when I started, so it was just warm air coming through the vents. It was still fine for me, I wasn't really feeling it. Even dressed like the Michelin Man in Hefty bags, the vents make it comfortable, as long as I'm moving. I wasn't going far enough to worry about hydration. Even if I was comfortable, I was still getting dried out like a raisin. Stopped in the heat, and, yea, that's not good eats. But riding on the road, as heavy as the gear is, it's fine and it all works.
Hit the gas station on the way back for laughs, topped off so I can forget my wallet next time.
Home again.
