Entire West Coast Ride - Party in Half Moon Bay 9/7.

[L8BRAKER]

(Astoria to North Bend)
Well as a Budman stated already this day was a little bit on the heart thumping side as far as the incident with the Buck. Let’s just say it was one of those ass puckering moments on a motorcycle that for a split second it didn’t look good but thank God that there was no incidents between myself and Enchanter as I barely missed him. Besides this incident I really enjoyed the ride leaving Astoria and stopping at the lighthouse. The Oregon coast is just flat out beautiful and I’d even say it compares to the California coast. Every single day that we rode was an adventure totally enjoyed the moments of all the coastal stuff. One of the highlights I think for me was at the MILL casino where we got to meet the chief and Budman got to interview him that was a really cool moment. Budman your ride report is flat out BAD ASS! The detail of the day and all the stops and the bridges etc. it makes me feel like I’m reliving it. Very great full to be a part of such a great adventure. I was sad when we had 2 days left and we were in Morro Bay and that’s when I discovered and tested positive for Covid. That’s where my trip ended and on Saturday morning I rode back to the Bay Area where I quarantined for eight days. Glad the rest of the guys were able to continue and finish it out in San Diego.

 

[budman]

The Ride Day 4

Mamola loves his salmon and took the pic above. WA and OR offered the chance to upgrade!! A couple of his pics are also not day specific so you may see similar from me coming up.

The Ride Day 4 – North Bend to Crescent City
144 Miles our shortest day planned to allow a lot of interview time.

Map

After brekkie at the Casino we packed up the Sprinter and headed out to the west on the Cape Arago Hwy eventually turning south at the coast. We rode next to The Range Inlet and onto Seven Devils Road. Tim rode along with us, but on Seven Devils we left him as we wicked it up!!! I was warned about it being treacherous the night before, but hell it was awesome.. wish it was 5 times longer! I bolted out to the front and kept looking in my mirror for one of the boys to come play, but it did not happened. When I asked what up the answer was "We needed the gap to stay safe after the deer deal". To me that was just a bummer. Like I said I got over it quick.

We rejoined 101 and I was ready to ride Seven Devils again!!! (we did not). Awesome fun road and the weather was great!. Continuing south took us across the Bullard’s Bridge at the Coquille River, through Bandon as we wondered to the west and hit the Face Rock Stand Scenic View. Love the Oregon Coast Hwy!! At Port Orford we headed east for a few miles before returning. A multitude of Parks and beaches line the coast. I sure fell in love with Oregon!

A trip across the Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge got us across the Rogue River a place my Dad loved to fish at Then we crossed the Isaac Lee Bridge another Conde B. structure. This is not a planned rider stop, but we did for a minute and enjoyed the view and the drone crew caught up after being stuck behind an overturned RV. The pictures looked like a death situation, but we were relieved to hear our chase driver helped with the roadside mess before the LEO’s showed and the two people in the RV and their dog were good.
When we hit Gold Beach we headed off the Hwy a bit and have lunch at Hunter Creek Bar & Grill. That was a cool spot on the river and the food was good. The film crew was just a bit behind and joined us. Oregon Drone was scheduled to fly Kissing rock just up the road so we took off before them. The formations lips are only seen from above and I look forward to seeing the footage. BZ and Paul caught up to us while we were there and shot some roadside stuff. The wind was crazy. I would estimate 40mph and I was worried about the drone being able to fly. Damn if he did not rock it!! I did my Titanic pose into the wind based on a request.. man it was blowing and looking the wrong way with my hippie hair was problematic.

Then we wound inland for a while before returning to the coast at Myers Creek where the rugged beauty of the coast is on full display. The PCH rolls into the hills and back to the coast for Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor a while. Continuing on provide varied opportunities to take a break and snap a photo and this is one day where due to duration we mostly rode.

Once beyond 101 is a fairly straight shot to the California border and Pelican Beach. We did not stop at Pelican Bay Penetentuary as they declined my request to interiview some of the most notorious bad guys in the country

The Smith River forced us inland until we crossed it and continued on the inland route until 101 again hits the coast. I noted more Bud Dispensaries along the way, there were so many and each little town seemed to have one.
Bud's Buds, Bros Buds, Buds Buds!!



As we hit Crescent City the guys pulled into the upper parking lot and I circled it seeing the culdesac at the Pier as a much more favorable landing spot. After a while they came down to join me, but it gave me time to think about stuff. It was beautiful for sure and J.P. had his drone flying and BZ walked out on the adjacent Jeddi to capture some stuff. We walked out to the end of the pier to enjoy the view. Walking back inspired J.P and he wanted us to do a side by side walk back as he thought it was a great shot. I did not expect to do it three times.

We were scheduled for more interviews but I had some bad thoughts. I walked to the pier to search for no motor vehicle signs. None. There were bollards there to keep cars off, but those won’t stop motorcycles!! So I told the guys I am riding out to the end of the Pier who is with me? We discussed tickets, bike impounds as the worst cast etc. and two decided to play with me BTL boys Mamola and Mako. We rode out and turned around. I told a couple of people who were heading out there our intention. It was a slow roll and the highlight was a you kid who was walking out with his family when we were on the ride back stepped out holding out his hand to get the low five hand slap. He had a huge smile on his face and inside my helmet so did I.

The interviews were interrupted by multiple car alarms in a few WTF moments.

Afterwards we went to the Motel to check in. I was damn happy to see an elevator as I was getting tired of hauling my luggage up stairs. The Motel had a restaurant and bar that would be both food and fun. It had an early closing time of 9PM, but other bar options were few so it was all good. We had permission to film in the bar only and the manager circled us with some stink eye looks for sure. Speaking of Stink Eye we did another scene with Tim in the bar that I think will be big laughs. Just something I thought of on the fly as my mind constantly thought what would be good film. After they closed we sat outside under and changing LED light to film rider chat. I loved it. J.P. thought this was weird, but it reminded me of the 70’s LSD infused movie stuff and I thought it was awesome. We had bought some beer from the front desk and I really enjoyed chatting with the boys even ribbing the guys who were not part of Team Wharf Riders!

A good day.. also one of my fav’s.

Previous pics HERE and few new ones below.

 

[budman]

A few more Day 4 pics

Yup... couple more.

 

[N4teTheGreat]

Good stuff, glad everyone missed the deer that's one of my worries whenever I'm out riding!

 

[Chill]

The Ride Day 3

Astoria to North Bend (Coos Bay)

A bit further we had our first drama of the trip. A near miss with a deer for Enchanter and Mamola. I had just seen an unmarked LEO go the other way as we were cruising well over the speed limit and that slowed the riders behind me. Then I saw a deer jump out. A big motherbucker!! HERE. STREET VIEW. It came out of the bush on the right side and Enchanter slammed the brakes. Mamola did not see it yet and I watched him come damn close to Enchanter as he hit the brakes hard just a second later. Then I watched hoping that the hoping the deer would not reverse direction back into our path. It did not and a red sedan nailed him in an explosion of red plastic.. Now the assumed dead dear slid back towards us and I watched it slide by me just to the left of me. Reminded me of racing in Portland where it was a rider sliding below me. Everyone made it OK, but it did create for some epic chat at our next stop. Enchanter and SLO were both saying we needed more separation. In particular lateral as Mamola was damn close when he went by him and if ass packing happened the day would have turned extra ugly for sure. Later that night BZ stitched together rough footage from several of the GoPro’s to get a view of the drama that unfolded.

This was a really intense moment, I can still see it very vividly. It really was one of those moments when you rely on all your skills. The discussion afterwards was very important and was very influential on how we road from that point forward. I felt very lucky to be riding with these guys.

...We rolled on passed the Oregon Dunes OHV Area (awesome) and after crossing the McCullough Memorial Bridge, we headed to the Mill Casino our home for the night. THE NICEST home for the night and also the spot where I would get to interview the Chief of the Oregon Coalition of Tribes. The Mill hooked us up with a private bar off the Casino floor overlooking Coos Bay. It was awesome! We also interviewed the Executive Director of Oregon’s Adventure Coast and Captain Jeff and gun for hire for fishing expeditions. Our friend LawmowerTim surprised us with a showing at the nights festivities. He rode up to say SUP!

I had a great time talking with Capitan Jeff of PacificPond Charters while Bud was interviewing the Chief and the Executive Dir. I will most definitely connect with him next time I am in Central Oregon.

The Mill Casino was a great place to stay! The chowder was one of the top 2 chowders on the trip. Dill, chunks of salmon, plenty of clams, yum.

Overall, the Oregon coast is just flat out stunning. I can't wait to go back up for more adventures!

 

[Enchanter]

The DEER.

It's interesting how each of us has a slightly different memory of the event.

We were doing 70-75 MPH when I saw the deer standing motionless on our side of the guardrail and immediately got hard on the brakes (F&R). As soon as the deer ran across my path and I knew I wasn't going to hit it, I knew my next threat was the riders behind me. As I released the brakes and got back on the throttle, I checked my mirrors. My right mirror was FULL OF MOTORCYCLE, and I pressed hard on the left bar and hoped for the best. Zing...the bike went by. It was close.

I got back up to speed and began to replay the event in my head. It occurred to me that there was no thought to my actions in the moment. It was 100% lizard brain. This was the second time that I almost got hit from behind on a BARF group ride. Damn it.

I don't know how far we rode before getting off the highway. It could have been 15min, or it could have been an hour. I led us into a Stop-N-Rob for caffeine and a snack. I don't remember if we got gas or not.

We sat on the sidewalk and talked about the near miss. I think I did most of the talking. I started with "We got lucky." and continued with "We need to make some adjustments to our riding. We're riding too close to each other."

I can't speak for the others, but I made an effort to make changes to my mental and physical approach to the ride on the remaining days. Crashing is always bad, but crashing hundreds of miles away from home...that's really bad.

I hoped the group would make some adjustments.

 

[budman]

I think some adjustments were made and guys were actually really wary for a while as evidenced that day and on Seven Devils Road. I got some great video at the Stop -N- Rob

I don't think we got gas actually. Just let the adrenalin peel away for some and address the gaps needed to be safe...r.
**EDIT we did get gas per SLO**

 

[budman]

The Ride Day 5

Crescent City to Fort Bragg – 244 Miles

Map

The days journey had us quickly leaving the coast and continuing on what became what is known as the Redwood Hwy. We rode through heavily wooded areas that may not be far from the coast, but no views were found for a while. At DeMartin Beach we stopped for a photo / drone shoot and found that DR SLO had a screw in his tire. Damn. That was lucky because it happened to be facing the rear and he saw it!! Chill pulled a plug kit and a small compressor and the guys went to work trying to plug it. We also tried to reach BZ via Sat phone to have him come back in case we needed to load the bike in the sprinter. No luck. The only time where the $$ spent on renting them would have paid off. It was a nice spot and still had the Oregon Coast feels. Some of us got to enjoy it, but SLO, Enchanter and Chill were focused on repairs. In the meantime, time was slipping and I was thinking our planned lunch with Lonster was at risk. That proved to be right. After a couple tries a plug was successful and it was decided the film crew would follow SLO to Eureka to seek a new tire. SLO had to be a little nervous with an 80 mile ride to new rubber!

When we left were adjacent to the beach for a moment and then once again into the forest as we approach Klamath eventually paralleling the river for a while before crossing it. It was now getting warmer and temps were in the 80’s. Beyond Redwood State Park we will rejoined the coast and stuck close for a while. The 101 headed inland and it was now getting hot.. fucking HOT as it climbed to the high 90’s, but we were making time on 101. Boogie boogie boogie taking chances with getting a ticket. We came to a van with its flashers on as we got close to Eureka. I was WTF, but when we moved to the slow lane to go around it we found it was our boys! Wave to the camera

After taking the wrong turn off to meet Lonster we lost track of Enchanter as he got through a stop light before the group. That wrong turn bad was on me. I had no clue that the road did a big loop and came back to 101 and we were 5 miles north of the gas station. When we hit Eureka riders had planned to do a photo op at the Carson Mansion – a Victorian beauty but that was out the window with us over a half hour behind (we made up a lot of time as I think we were a solid 40 minutes behind leaving DeMartin Beach.
We found Lonster at the proposed gas stop and meet up spot and chatted for a while. We grabbed another gas station lunch and Paul and BZ pulled in as well.

After a bit we saw SLO roll by with the other van in tow and he headed straight to Pacific Motorsports for some emergency rubber!.. They delivered.. thank you!!

After using the worst bathroom ever we were back on the Redwood HWY following the Eel River which took us inland. We crossed it multiple times the last announcing a chance to jump onto the Avenue of the Giants north entrance. We rolled through the redwoods in awe of their majesty, but also feeling the heat as it was now well over 100!

We stopped at a pull out It was now hotter.. fucking HOTTER almost 110! Danny said he felt like he was falling asleep and was beet RED. Thinking he was getting heat exhaustion we abandoned thoughts of going through the Drive Thru Tree and turned around for help.

We hit a CalFire station a short jaunt away and Enchanter ordered Mamola into the office into the A/C and a chance to dowse himself with water. I followed and did the same. We all stripped off our gear and sat on the bench in front in the shade. Soon the fire crew came in and asked “What up?” We told him about Mamola falling asleep and they grabbed water for all and some ice for Danny. Next they broke out the blood pressure machine and started mental test to make sure he was not delirious. He had his wits and they started to ask about calling paramedics because they were concerned for him. They also starting asking all of us questions about how we felt and said “What the hell are you guys riding in 114 degrees for?” 114.. holy shit. My outside air gauge said 111. Maybe that is the limit?

We all consumed water and electrolyte drinks and put ice bags on us. The banter with Danny continued and the CalFire bossman said if we called the paramedics Danny was going to the hospital. He felt we should because while he was for sure mentally all there his BP was high.

That would f’ us up, but we wanted to make sure Danny would be OK too. After an hour of wrapping with the crew, continuing to water my lawn we put ice in our pockets, ice watered my cooling vest and I put a big bag of ice under my air bag vest against my chest. Everyone did something similar. We had pulled our gear our of the sun too make sure we were not putting on heated helmets, jackets and gloves!

After Mamola signed an emergency medical release form we decided to go straight back to 101 and forgo the rest of the AoG as we had heard from SLO that he was set and would meet us at the Legget turn off.

We followed the Eel River through Garberville and the temp dropped to 104… felt almost cool Continuing on we found SLO at Legget and my air temp gauge was back at 111. We took a quick break, drank some more water and changed GoPro batteries before heading out on towards the coast. I thought let the fun begin…Sweet twisties!

I started to rip it up and soon the foot was out with just Mako behind me. A car here and there brought Enchanter back but we never did see the others as we headed west back towards the coast. I let Mako lead. He pointed me by and we had a hoot!!

Eventually I pulled over just before the Coastal HWY Lookout after seeing Paul with a low mount GoPro at the turn before. He was wearing a high vis safety vest (good call) and was not real visible standing in the bushes. Mako and I waited and soon Enchanter came by but did not like the spot I stopped (I think as we were very close to the lane) and he rode on to the Lookout. Oh well I thought.. the planned group coming in shot was gone so I rolled on too.

We hung in the cool breeze and revelled that we beat the heat!!! After a while Mamola and SLO showed and then a frustrated not so chill Chill. He took off his helmet walked to the lane and gave a car a one finger salute. The temp there was 64. 47 degrees cooler.. thank GOD!, but Chills temp was high!!! He was mad as hell and wanted to vent and chat, but I knew our time to the next drone shoot at the Pudding Creek Trestle was a bit in jeopardy so I shut him down and said we got to go!! He did not look happy... sorry man.

We saddled up and headed out to our next stop... the Pudding Creek Trestle. Sauntering down HWY 1 was fun.. love it. When we came to the trestle we turned off at the first access point (WRONG! - My bad again) and then had to head back out, but I noted a drone following us.

We came back to the right spot and dismounted. All seemed happy and Chill was chill again. Mako and I had a discussion of riding across the trestle, but was quickly dismissed as anyone coming the other way would not have room to get around us. Love me some good BTL, but not at the expense of pissing off or potentially harming a bicyclist or pedestrian. We are not that BAD.

After a while and some chat we wondered to another of Tom Bodet’s spots and checked in. This time some of the crew grabbed some conditioner and shampoo for me from the last motel. So sweet of them!

After showering and changing we grubbed it up and headed to our watering hole for the night Milano Bar. Mamola did not drink any booze at all making sure he would be good the next day (smart move).

It was a cool spot (bit of a walk), but I had film stuff in mind. My Snake Pliskin skit. I had purchased an eye patch and thought I would fool around with the locals asking if they knew my son Snake. An off duty bartender (Dave) took the bait and delivered!!

Then he told us he was leaving on a month long Dual Sport ride around the east coast. That sounded awesome and fun!!! Thanks Dave.

We got a couple others to play along but most asked did not. I must be scurry or they were hiding from the law

A cool circumstance had Mamola and I meeting the bar owners kids and their husbands at Fred's Place earlier this week. They all drove down to see the Dave Matthews band and Mamola noted a Milano hat and asked me if that is where we visited. I said yes and then the fam came out back and we proceed to facetime Mom and Dad with a pic of Danny in front of their bar.

For sure this was a brutal day with the weather, a flat overcome, Chill's run in with a car and the heat exhaustion. Just more fun and drama for the crew!

Previous pics HERE and a few more below.

 

[Enchanter]

Before we left the Cal Fire station, I packed my Aerostich with ice. Every single pocket was stuffed to the top. They were so full that it was difficult to swing my leg over the bike.

We rode about 30mi to meet up with Dr SLO. When I got off my bike I checked my pockets. All the ice had melted. There wasn’t even an ice chip left. It was all gone in 30min.

 

[budman]

Yeah.. my ice bag was ice water when we met up with SLO.
I doused my head before Legget. Thanks for carrying the waters for us. This was not the only time I said I should have had a bag on my bike.

How many people does it take to put a plug in a tire??

Hint: 3!

 

[Dr_SLO]

Time to Chime In - Dr SLO Edition

Firstly, what an amazing experience! This is exactly why I like riding the big rides. You never know what's going to happen and you better be sure you're prepared to do whatever it takes to reach the final destination.

A huge 'Thank you!' to Budman for including me on this project. I know there was a gargantuan amount of preparation to make this happen and I provided limited input.

I'm going to start a few weeks before the ride. I've been hankering after a GoPro for a little while. The reason why was because I received a gift at the beginning of the year, which was a B6 VSYSTO dash cam for the bike. The Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory does not have a lot of room for additional equipment under the fairing, so it was a real challenge to get the camera installed but it provides some reasonable footage even though the resolution is 1080p. This prompted me to consider an upgrade to a GoPro to record fun jaunts on the scooter. With the GoPro Hero 10 providing 5.3K it seemed like a perfect choice for future projects and Budman's west coast ride.

Boy what a disappointment the GoPro Hero 10 is for a platform. It's plagued with overheating and battery consumption issues. You're good if you want to record for brief periods (10-20 minutes) at the highest resolution and frame rates but anything long term (30-40 minutes) you have to use the lower specs. Even then, for the ride that we had planned, operating the camera permanently to capture those fleeting glimpses of potential action along the journey meant rethinking the GoPro setup.

I finally settled on a hardwire setup. This consisted of mounting a USB charger. The most suitable place was above the headstock on the handlebars. I chose a YONHAN Motorcycle USB Phone Charger because it had two USB ports and an on/off switch to prevent draining the battery, which it was directly wired to. With this setup the GoPro behaved well. I started experimenting with different positions, which are limited on the Tuono; the test footage was promising.

The next consideration was storage on the bike. Although a chase vehicle was planned, we were going to be separated from it for a lot of the time. I would need batteries for the GoPro as a back-up, a way to charge my phone, a few zip ties for camera mounting, plus other sundries. I intended to run the aft camera of the B6 unit eliminating the ability to carry the tail pack I usually use for long trips. Time for a tank bag!

I'm not a huge fan of tank bags. I like to sit forward on the bike, and they tend to get in the way. Still, I needed to adjust my riding style and decided on an SW-MOTECH Pro Micro tank bag. This has an excellent locking mechanism that combines a magnetic attachment with a mechanical latch. Good for those brisk pace days. Carefully following the manufacturers' instructions, installation of the locking mechanism to the fuel tank was straightforward. This micro tank bag was perfect as I could carry all the small items that were needed during the day and my phone could be connected to the USB phone charger from the bag.

The week prior to the ride I was diligent in changing the oil, making sure the bike was mechanically sound, cleaned and lubed the chain, and instilled fresh rubber for the journey; my go to tyre, Bridgestone S22s. I was set and ready for the bike to be shipped to Tacoma the following day and super excited about the journey ahead. On my way to drop the bike off for shipping there was an issue. A grating, grinding sound was coming from the bike when it was under load. I had a range of feelings; really bummed that I might not make the trip, angry at myself for not checking the bike more thoroughly, worried that I might affect Budman's vision for the project. Added to that, I didn't know what the problem was! Ultimately, I made the decision to ship the bike and deal with it in Tacoma. The bikes were to ship on the Sunday, and we were due to arrive in Tacoma on Thursday for prep day; I had a few days to think about the issue and make some plans...

 

[Dr_SLO]

I don't know how far we rode before getting off the highway. It could have been 15min, or it could have been an hour. I led us into a Stop-N-Rob for caffeine and a snack. I don't remember if we got gas or not.

I looked back at my onboard footage and it was 20 minutes from the incident to the Stop-N-Rob. We did gas up.

 

[budman]

The Ride Day 6

I looked back at my onboard footage and it was 20 minutes from the incident to the Stop-N-Rob. We did gas up.

I stand corrected


The Ride Day 6
204 Miles
Map


A cruise through town led us across the Noyo River Bridge and eventually back into less heavily populated country, but not in the boonies. After crossing the Big River, and into Mendocino the density of people dropped, and nature took over. It was surprisingly warm for this area with temps reaching the low 90’s. Who picked this time frame anyway?

It was pretty and a few passes through the small towns provided some scenic and rustic California life images. I love that part of riding, seeing places that the typical tourist gives 2 shits about, but makes me wonder what life here would be like.

A stop at Stewarts Point Store Stewarts Point Store was a must! We made fun of the NO MOTORCYCLE PARKING sign of course.

We also snacked and hydrated. I got a call from the Drone company saying our permit to fly the Golden Gate Bridge had been approved by CalTrans Film Division and all you have to do is mail a check and provide them a routing number. “I am on the road on a motorcycle with no check book and zero chance of doing this, can you do it?” CRICKETS.

That meant we had a 150’ limit and there would be no close up imagery. More later.

After a bit of banter, some laughs and the required cleaning of our shields we headed to the historical Russian compound Fort Ross and Museum for drone footage by our crew. I had never been to Fort Ross, but read all about it during film/ride prep. It was all I thought it would be cracked up to be (no time to hit the Museum though). Really cool, but it was not really cool…still in the high 80’s. Enchanter did not join us for the walk down to the Fort, rather choosing a chance to catch his breath on a picnic bench. The Director of Photography gave me crap for parking in the shade. “That screws up my shot!” …..Dude it was hot!! So of course we rolled it again and parked in the sun.

Then we walked down to the Fort past the Museum. The old school build was interesting and quickly we got a Sven (Chill) moto model moment too (previous pics). Danny was a bit behind us with some restroom time for an upset tummy and of course I gave him no quarter as we had a schedule to keep do the show must go on! At least we did not have to implement the emergency bathroom hand signal.. so all good. We hit the Chappel and I rang the Bell calling all to join me for a quick chat in the building where the 1800’s residents prayed for food, safety and probably cooler weather.
I imagine the bell announced to the residents at the time that it was time for Church service or a call to arms. Two of the structures were armories.

I noted that after a minute I could totally hum the bells range. The writing on it was foreign and I had some fun with the camera after seeing a “Watch for Rattlesnakes” sign. I said this says "watch for rattle snakes, this one says watch out for ticks, this one say watch out for spiders… I may be an OG, but I still am a goof ball.

Inside was interesting with some sand filled tables on each side of a small alter and the round vault to the Lord above featured an old chandelier. I joked about the tables were for cooking Salmon as the Chief had noted that was the best way to cook it. Below the sand. That did not exactly compute, but I would have to believe him. There was a pleasant echo in the Chapple and J.P. came in to shoot Chill, SLO, Mako and I do some rider chat.

We mounted back up continued along the quiet coast to Bodega Bay where we planned to grab a bite at Giochio’s Kitchen. Nope..too much time at the Fort meant a gas station lunch again. I did up my game and get some peanuts.

After gassing up and hanging in the shade I told the boys KSU in 7 minutes and we hit the mark exactly on time. After a bit the road heads inland to the east for a bit and then back to the coast at Tomales Bay. Stinson and then Muir Beach led us to the endless slow turns and hills. Getting around cars was tough here and I was getting tired and it was hot. When we finally started to find more signs of humanity I was happy because I knew the Golden Gate Bridge awaited. Soon HWY 1 brought us back to rejoin Hwy 101. It was still hot, but cooled slightly. As we sat at the light to hit the one way tunnel to enter the Vista Point where Fort Baker / Battery Point was a red BMW pulled up next me. SFMCjohn!! A fist bump and smiling eyes were exchanged.

The plan was to have some of the SFMC crew lead us across the bridge just as they did in 1937 when the bridge opened. No chance to recreate Hap Jones jumping the line to be the first person across the new span though. Damn… Hap was BAD!!
He recreated the ride during the 50th anniversary of the bridge as noted in the Wiki link above.

We met with Brian H. and few SFMC gents including a few that have been on BARF Rallies and SFMCjohn. We did some quick chat on film with the GG Bridge in the background and several of our riders did some interviews there.

After that I finally hooked up with our drone pilot after walking past him 5 times. He finally introduced himself and I said you have 20 minutes.. fly man fly!!! “We will have the SFMC leading us across the GG Bridge as they did for all vehicles when it opened in 1937 be ready to shoot at 3:55. Drone ride along footage was planned but the dude missed it!!!! G-damn. $$ wasted.

We did mount a camera raised up on the sprinter to capture the pack of riders and all riders had their GoPro’s going. The film crew also captured some ride along images. It should still be cool even without the drone shots, but I did so want that. The permit process and then the miss by the Pilot was the biggest frustration so far.

Once across the bridge we took a right and regrouped. Then Brian led us along the coast with an SFMC scooter dude providing group support and pretty much after Brian stopped we all blew every stop sign as a group to stay together. We rode through the Tom Lantos tunnel and continued to the Montara Reef where another drone shoot was going to catch us coming up the coast and to the parking lot. The pilot had a great view seeing the footage I just saw us and yelled SWEET!!!...and just as we came around a corner he flipped it back to the coast and missed our ride in

The story was he was looking for bicycles and I was like WTF I told the bossman we were on motos via email 5 times. People just don’t pay attention!!!

Then we rode on to the Motel and the SFMC dudes that stuck with us headed to the Old Princeton Landing to start the party while we unloaded, showered and made our way there.

When I got to the OPL I saw a dude with clown hair, a mask holding a BUDMAN 4:20 sign in honor of the JOHN 3:16 dude that was at every sporting event during the 2000’s.. I laughed my ass off. Thanks B!!!

We got a cocktail, met some family, some BARF friends and some Fred’s friends for a cool evening of hanging out with a bit of filming too. Oh how I wished the patio was lit… but they had a fire pit!! The food was good, the spot awesome and when we did a filmed rider chat and people clapped.. I was shocked and humbled. Thank you all and to The Old Princeton Landing for your support.!

At closing time (11PM) we did circles in the sprinter in front of the OPL while debating which way to head back to the Motel. Not real smart, but kind of BAD. A few of us hit the grocery store for munchies and beer and the shit talking went on until 2am!! Huge day..some frustration on the drone stuff, but a fun day.

Huge thanks to the SFMC for their support.

The crew had wanted a day off so we all went home to check on life shit and then meet back up to continue a day later. At first I was against it, but realized the time for them would be good and checking on work was good and that would put us in San Diego on 9/11 and that kind of made our planned tribute to the Military make sense too.

Previous pics HERE and a few more below.

Golden Gate and more OPL pics in the next post.

 

[budman]

Here are the pics from the GGB and the John 3:16... dude.

 

[Lonster]

Awesome writeups guys! Thanks for sharing.

 

[budman]

Firstly, what an amazing experience! This is exactly why I like riding the big rides. You never know what's going to happen and you better be sure you're prepared to do whatever it takes to reach the final destination.

A huge 'Thank you!' to Budman for including me on this project. I know there was a gargantuan amount of preparation to make this happen and I provided limited input.

Super glad you did this with us!! I really think your interviews will be awesome.

Boy what a disappointment the GoPro Hero 10 is for a platform. It's plagued with overheating and battery consumption issues. You're good if you want to record for brief periods (10-20 minutes) at the highest resolution and frame rates but anything long term (30-40 minutes) you have to use the lower specs. Even then, for the ride that we had planned, operating the camera permanently to capture those fleeting glimpses of potential action along the journey meant rethinking the GoPro setup.

No doubt there was some challenges with the camera's. Certainly run time. I did not have heating issues until we got into the big heat. I have zero clue how long my camera stay on when riding Legget. Should have iced the camera down

Ultimately, I made the decision to ship the bike and deal with it in Tacoma. The bikes were to ship on the Sunday, and we were due to arrive in Tacoma on Thursday for prep day; I had a few days to think about the issue and make some plans...

Very glad the shop up there got ya fixed up!! Having a prep day was a good call for sure. Turned into a repair day.

Awesome writeups guys! Thanks for sharing.

Still bumming we missed lunch with you Lonnie. Glad you are enjoying the write up. A couple more days to go!

It is helping to rekindle my memories as well. When I first got back I could not remember shit!!

 

[bikeama]

Damn this thread delivers and keeps getting better.

 

[budman]

The Ride Day 7

San Gregorio to Morro Bay
207 Miles
Map

After the day off the Riders and Film Crew met at the San Gregorio General Store with Enchanter and Butch to meet us in Santa Cruz. I felt a bit refreshed physically and ready to go!!!

We sent the film crew ahead to Pigeon Point to set up for a drone shoot and ride in. When we passed Pescadero State Beach and I thought about the Gary J Memorial there. That was a difficult, but good day with so many friends honoring Gary.

We hoofed a right Pigeon Point Road and headed down to lighthouse. I had told the guys I was going to BTL and ride through the barrier and invited them to do the same. So I rode right through the barrier to lead the guys to park next to the Lighthouse. This time Chill followed but SLO was still a good lad and did not.

A couple of other travelers (Bros from NY) were mystified with the happenings and walked over to ask what was up. Mark and Peter were doing the west coast towing a trailer see Cali bro vacation and Mark said his other brother was a big bike guy and asked if he could take a pic. Of course!!! We also got those guys to take on with us to send to Bro. They really want to see what we come up with!!

We punted the crew down the road to Waddell Beach for another drone shoot and some roadside stuff. From years of riding this area I knew the views of Kite Surfers and with the road is directly adjacent to the beach it would make for good film. We did a couple of runs to make sure we got it and with J.P. doing the Drone footage I was confident we would get some good stuff. Look forward to seeing that.

We continued down HWY 1 where we caught Enchanter before getting into Santa Cruz. We then made a pass through town by the Boardwalk and I chose to do the GoPro face cam thing to catch some of the Boardwalk roller coasters behind me. Always thinking good film shots was consuming and the normal Rally Ride brain was working overtime always on this trip. We continued on and met Butch at a gas station. I love his Kenny Roberts racing leathers and matching R6 plus he is such a character I knew the film crew would love him. He would have been an asset if he could have made the ride.

We then rode through to Watsonville and eventually Monterey, Pacific Grove, and Carmel. Rocky Creek Bridge announced that we were leaving the populated areas behind and just down the road was the tourist heavy Bixby Creek Bridge. The plan was to meet the drone company to get shots the riders and this time Enchanter led the guys to a shoulder and I went ahead knowing who I was looking for (same dude as the GGB). I found him and told him we were just down the road and he was ready for us this time. We did 3 passes over the bridge before going to the Hurricane Point Vista and we had BZ and Paul waiting to shoot our approach. Damn this place is windy. No wonder it is named Hurricane Point!!

We dismounted and did a bit of chat before mounting back up and heading on to the Big Sur River Inn to grub. Everyone was in a great mood! We sat on the deck in back and shot some GoPro stuff and enjoyed lunch with the entire team. Butch peeled off after lunch and our short lived ride with him was fun.

Within a mile or two Enchanter's Garmin was announcing a road closure so we tried to check but with no service we were out of luck. A quick "Should we go around/" was answered with a NO. Once again I had to make a snap descision to keep us on task. I had seen the temp closures before and also have been forced to head inland before as well. It was worth the risk.

Leaving we were back in thick forested hillsides and rock bluffs bounding the coast. This part of the journey is slow going for cars so we had told the crew to get go straight to the Big Creek Bridge Vista Point after lunch and with the extra time at Bixby and Hurricane Point I figured they would beat us there.

Then a f'up... the planned stop at the Big Creek Bridge View Point for chat and drone shit was missed.. DERP!! J.P. said he got some drone footage, but we were oblivious and rode right past. I am sure we got some cool on board ridging footage as there is a lot of tourists passed and you can look down on sweeping roads.

There can alway be havoc on HWY 1 in this area and we came to the road being stopped for an accident and we filtered to the front to find what is up and set us up for some no traffic time once past it. Turns out a Harley dude went off the road coming the other way and had a broken leg. I told Mako to walk up and get shots from his helmet mounted GoPro of the first responders in action (always thinking )

Once cut loose we had a short free run before catching the tourista’s again, man they are slow. We ended up in two groups as Mako, Mamola and I ended up getting ahead passing cars like the aggressive muthers we are. BTL!!!… Also Enchanter stopped to ask a CHP if the road was closed. All caught up when I decided to hit a turn out and wait. We had a good chat and that allowed the film crew to leap frog us to get to Morro Rock.

When we came to Ragged Point I knew that meant a fairly straight run through Cayucos and Morro Bay. The original plan was to stay in Cayucos but that got changed when the Old Cayucos Card Room and Saloon was shut down. Some of the BAD KOBAZ OG’s had some great times there and for sure I am bummed it is closed so future day rides down the coast will end up in Morro Bay instead.

When we stopped at Morro Rock to do our last ride in and drone shoot I was awed by the majesty of it. As we stationed ourselves below the Rock and dismounted we chatted a bit waiting the film boys to meet us to do some interivews. This was the first time I actually stopped at the park / beach there and it was really cool. Mamola was complaining about allergies and not feeling great. I gave it no second thought. After several interviews We took a short jaunt and checked in to the Rock View Inn to get cleaned up. At this point hauling my luggage upstairs was really becoming a task, so much for being refreshed.

As soon as I was showered and changed Mamola texted me saying we needed to chat. I said I am busy (GoPro batteries, gathering SC cards as was done each day) it would have to wait but Enchanter texted me saying you need to do this ASAP. I walked over to his room I saw a glum looking dude and he told me he had tested positive for RONA. I topped in my tracks and immediately told Chill "Get the fuck out of his room, we will get another room so that Danny can isolate". Of course J.P. was all over the drama and again proved what an excellent Director of Photography he is. I told Danny he should probably go home tomorrow because if he did get sicker another day would leave him really far from home. Also I did not have rooms booked for him to isolate and the Motel in Santa Monica was all booked. He looked so bummed. So was I.

After sitting on a bench discussing our predicament the rest of us started to filter down to Rosie’s to get grub and I only mention it because the service sucked!!! Bills mixed up, food late.. I was not happy! Actually PISSED and I am not easily PISSED! Probably included some frustration that my best bud would not finish the ride with us too.

After dinner we went to Legends Bar and met some locals. Cool spot and nice people too. Again the chat include what the heck are you guys doing and as every time that happened the people we discussed it with were engaged and really interested. Fun!! After a while I was… um lit. Hell if I could remember how to get back to the Motel. I was done and ready to go so I stopped drinking at 10pm and drank water. I knew there was no hope of finding the motel so I waited.

When BZ said he was heading back at about 11pm I tied a rope to him and followed him back. It seemed like a long walk!

For sure a fun day except for the RONA drama and the plan to have Mamola head home was leaving me a bit bummed.

Previous pics HERE

New ones below. Hurricane Pt and Morro Bay to follow

 

[budman]

Day 7 pics continued.

Some fun at Hurricane Point and Morro Bay..

A couple more to follow.

 

[budman]

A couple more from Morro Bay and one of Mamola getting bit.. little did we know. So bummed man... glad it was not bad and you are back on two wheels.