Day 2

It was up at 6am or so for day two. We had to ride about an hour and a half to meet out whole group. The forcast wasn't too friendly for motorcyclists though, so on went the rain gear again. We headed out onto southern californias freeways which always seem to be packed with traffic. Luckily for us, the traffic wasn't much of a prablem tahnks to california's lane shareing law (or lack thereof) Lane splitting was fun, I hope the lawmakers in Utah can make this possible here, it may get more people on bikes which would reduce emmisions and traffic congestion.

Dan and Brendan

We first met with Brendan, Joe and Chad. Then we were off to redondo beach to meet the rest of th group riding up to Monterey. Again some more lanesplitting. Once we were riding through Beverly Hills, I could smell the flowers that were planted in the center medians of the street. They were pretty strong, this is one of the great things of riding a motorcycle, you can smell what's around you. (although this wasn't the greatest perk when I was stopped next to a pig truck on I-15 while the road was shut down for a few) We made it to the hotel in Redondo Beach and met the rest of the group, Brad Jim and Gino. These are the guys I would spend the entire week with, a few others came and rode with us for a bit, but myself, Brad, Gino Jim and Dan and DJ made every ride. (well I did miss the ride on Monday, and we met DJ in Monterey)

We started out and began our jouney to the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) The PCH in the southern part of the state is much different from the northern part, some of it like a freeway. A section of the road takes you inland where we rode past some strawberry fields, again, I could smell the strawberries as we rode through, that's not something you always experience in a car.

The hotel in redondo beach, here you see Joe (with Backpack) Chad and Dan in the back

Here you see Chad, Brad is standing behind Chad, Brendan and Dan again (camera hog)

Here's the group as soon as we hit the PCH

Here's a video of us rolling up the PCH

We stopped at a few places along the way, Neptune's Net apparently is a famous seafood place, I wouldn't know.

Neptunes net, Joe, Gino (facing away), Chad, Jim in the background, Brad, Dan and Brendan

Jim at Neptune's Net

The trip to Moneterey from Moreno Valley is somewhere around 300 miles, the bikes have a range of 120-150 miles, so we made a few stops along the way. Although we talk talk to eachother via the net and I felt like I knew these guys, we'd talk and get to know eachother a bit better at the stops.

Brad and Gino with Joe trying to be funny. There was a inside joke about me only coming so that I could document illegal activities like speeding and wheelies and later arrest the offenders, Hence the how fast were you going question.

Jim and Brad Checking out Chad's Triple.Dan, Gino, Brad and Joe.

Brad and Gino

Again we started out for Monterey. After lunch (somewhere past Pismo) we were finally to the more scenic challenging part of the road. The Sights were beautiful, even with a full face helmet on you can everything, there's no roof, or pillars to blck you view, sure you can scoot forward and look up or out the window, but it's not the same, you don't see the whole picture. It's kind of like an I-max movie. And again the smells, this time it was the sea. I don't like seafood, but I love the smell of the ocean.

Finally some proof that I was on this trip.

The View

It was pretty windy that day, I don't know if these quirrels were trying to stay low so they wern't blown away or if they were trying to stay out of view, but I thought they looked funny.

We had a couple of mishaps along the way, first was Bendan's bike, the fuel line cracked and began to leak fuel, this could have been pretty bad had we not stopped when we did.

Dano washing his hands..... There was a hose there.

Luckily the leak was at the end of the fuel line and the line was a little long. Everyone picthed in a bit and the bike was fixed.

Next was Brad's rental bike. It was obvious that this bike had been crashed before (even though it only had 500 or so miles on it) One of the bolts to the shifter mount fell out and Brad lost the ability to shift. The passenger peg was removed and the bolt fit the shitfer mount perfectly, again we were on our way, this time we would make it to the Ramada in Monterey. Dj was there waiting for us when we got there, we checked in and found an Italian restraunt to eat at.

Another member met up with us there at the hotel, Shelby Brendan's brother. I don't think I got any pictures with Shelby in them. I'm also waiting for some of the others to share some pictures, I'll try and edit these posts when I get them.

Day two was a fun ride the road (past Pismo) was really fun, about 50 miles or so of tight twisty technical roads. The only problem was some strong wind gusts. When leaned over in a corner coming around the mountain, you'd get hit with a stong gust of wind that would puch your tires (a motorcycle wheel acts much like a sail at speed) One corner felt like my wheels slid a foot or so in dirt, the road was clean, it was just the wind, but it still scared me. The night up in Pismo was a lot of fun, by the end of the day I felt like I knew these guys a lot better. Most were definetly far ahead of me as far as riding skill goes (or guts, they were fast riders) I diddn't try to keep up, I love to ride fast, there's nothing like speed, but I told myself before giong down there that I wouldn't push myself, I did after all have to ride the bike home. Had I pushed myself and tried to keep up with these crazies, I probably would've had a bad experience. However I had a great time riding my own pace. The road is awesome. I will be back for a PCH ride, only I'll ride the entire way up.

More to come, i'll keep you posted.