ABQ - PDX via HWY 1

Short backstory - I was searching for parts for my FZ6 and ran accross a deal to good for me to pass up. So I bought the bike and flew to Albuquerque to get it. My family was meeting in Phoenix for the holidays anyway so this was the perfect way for me to get there. I had also taken off the following week from work already so everything just fell into place for me to make a nice trip out of this.
I had been wanting to ride up HWY 1 and 101 for awhile so I jumped at it. Even if it wasn't the best time of year for it, how bad could it be?
I had 8 days worth of riding planned out and little over 1 day with family in Phoenix. I also planned on making it to SF area for New Years eve. I have an uncle in San Jose whom I hadn't seen in awhile so I was hoping to hang with him. I was going to be camping (yes camping:Flip the nights I wasn't staying with family.

Ok lets start this off.
I arrived in ABQ around 3:15 on the 26th. The guy I bought the bike from picked me up from the airport and took me to my new bike (aka his house).
I got a great deal on the bike because it had been laid down and the plastics were distroyed. FZ6 plastics are easy. I had bought a whole headlight- cowling assembly and had shipped it to his house. Even after the cost of pastics and my flight, this bike cost less than half of my previous FZ6 which I bought 2 mo earlier. I already had the title and bill of sale in hand which had his current address. I expected at worse for assembly to take 2 hrs.
I was a little off after about an hour ride north to his house and assembling the bike I got on the road close to 8 pm.
It was after dark and it was friggin COLD (28 deg). There was also a storm right where I had planned on camping that night. Instead of riding for 2.5 hrs and camping I decided to get a hotel in ABQ and start early the next day when the sun was out.
Alarm goes off at 6 am. It's 21deg and still dark. I set the alarm for 7 and go back to bed.
Alarm goes off again. At least the sun is up this time. After eating breakfast and packing up, it's time to hit the road.
:banghead::rant:battery doesnt' have enough juice in this cold to get the bike started :banghead::rant:
Not to worry, the battery is easily accessible right under the gas tank. Well to get under the tank I have to remove parts of the cowling also. To get to my tools I have to unpack all of my crap that I just spent 15 min getting on the bike while freezing my nuts off :spank: (they have since reappeared so no worries)
I get the battery exposed and get a jump. It starts right up. I am now debating with myself as to whether I want to drive straight to a cycle shop and get a new battery or just risk it till I get to Phoenix (thats my destination today and the battery will be warm). Getting a new battery is the wiser choice, so I opt to risk it and just go. I don't want to reassemble the dissassemble the bike 2 more times while my nuts are gone. Have I mentioned that it was cold?
Off I go heading south towards Las Cruces then to Tucson and final destination Phoenix. Yeah thats about how exciting that ride was. 3 roads all straight, 1 had a slight bend over a couple hundred miles. Don't wanna get to crazy.
That was the longest ride of my life(at this point in time, read on). Literally and figuratively. Over 560 miles and 8.5 hrs according to google.
In PHX I spend time with the Family, change the oil/filter and go with synth. I also perform the dual headlight mod. I got tired of explaining that the FZ6 came stock with only 1 head light on and the 2nd wasn't burned out.
I also got a HUGE relief when my uncle from the LA area said they were headed home the same time I was planning on leaving and not spending new years in Vegas.
ME: "U-haul? Yes I would like to rent a trailer"
I was so NOT looking forward to the super slab ride from Phoenix to LA. If I thought the 3 roads from ABQ to PHX was bad. PHX to LA was going to be worse. 1 road and no turns.

We need grub for the road. In-N-Out here we come.


On the Super Slab

I still haven't heard from my Uncle in San Jose so this uncle and family talk me into staying an extra day. I know I have at least 2 semi short days that I can compress into 1 longer day so I decide to get more family time in.
Midday the following day my Uncle from San Jose calls and says hes home and would love to see me.
Well hell.... I had planned on 2 days getting up there and had written him off. Now I have to make it up there in 1 :rant
Following morning I eat and then hit the road. Here I come 101 :cheer::rockon:
Damn it takes forever to get through LA :ban:

I've been on the 101 for awhile now and it's been in town the whole time. I look at the map and there looks to be a shortcut through the mountains and it looks to have twisties.

This was a nice road but far too many people (which is my general complaint about CA in general)


I stopped for lunch in Pismo Beach


HWY 101



My loaded Mule


My good side


I finally make it up to my Uncles in San Jose around 8:30 pm. Plenty of time for the new years festivities.
12:30 am I'm in bed. Get up the next morning, converse and eat breakfast then I'm out on the road again. There was fog and drizzle the night before starting around Monterey and it's still a little drizzly in the morning. Welcome to SF.

Looking South at the Golden Gate Bridge.

HWY 1 N of SF isn't anything like South of SF. It's mainly 35 m/hr with 15 and 20 m/hr corners and ****loads of traffic. I'd imagine SM's would kick ass here.


Construction cause we weren't progressing slow enough.


Couple more HWY 1 shots where I stopped to pee.



View from my hotel that next morning


My front tire had become drastically bald because I had negleted to check the air pressure every day. I didn't find anyone that had a tire until Eureka. I started searching before Ft Bragg when I started off this morning.



From a decent group of guys. I was in and out in 45 min.


This was a long day of riding but I had time to stop for a couple more pics.



When I got to the Oregon border I was greeted with a rain shower.
According to the weather reports I was in between 2 storm systems, so my plan was to ride as far as I could until I ran into one of them. Well I didn't run into anything longer than a 5-10 min shower at a time and ended up plodding on till I was at home at 2:30 am. According to google that was ~560miles and 11hr 40 min drive time. But that didnt' account for the snow I ran into between Lincoln city and McMinnville where I was doing 10 - 15 mile an hour on the shoulder (but thats another story).

All in all a very good trip even if I was rushed and it was long. I just would leave my camping gear at home next time. Notice I never used it?

Happy New year,

A great story, I am glad that you managed to do most of the things that you planned. Good choice the stylish, sophisticated silver and black.

Did the insurance cover the costs?

Cheers

Nelly

Still waiting on my other 2 replys to be approved for the rest of the story.

Nelly said:

Happy New year,


Did the insurance cover the costs?

Cheers

Nelly

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I only had liability, so no. But I'm building my first FZ6 up as a nekid. I bought an R6 front end and a Buell lightning headlight assembly and screen. I figure this build is gonna cost me the same as if I had full coverage witha 1k deductible, only now I get a sweet street fighter instead of a stock fz6.
Well actually since I bought this 05 also I will have both.

You're a little nutz....good stuff and thanks for the story. :thumbup:

Did you lane split at all while in Cali? Impressions? I'm getting used to it and loving it.

For future reference, you don't have to touch the fairing at all to gain access to the battery. Just unbolt the tank in all three spots and slide it back a couple inches before lifting it up. Also, just push start it next time...this only takes seconds.

Congrats on the new bike :steve:

Well, In-and-Out Burger is a great place to get a hamburger!
(Sounds like the best part of your trip.)
Just kidding, you got another FZ6 cheap! That's real good.
And one day you can tell your grandchildren that story.
Thanks for sharing.

Nice story and thanks for the pics.

Just a bit about the battery. What I have found is that if it is flat but rapidly clicks when you try to start then if you don`t try to start it again you can quite easily jump it off yourself, even on a flat road.

Put it in second, turn the ignition on, pull the clutch in and push. You do not need to be going fast, just a gentle jogging pace. Let the clutch out and it should fire up. As soon as it does keep the revs up but drop the clutch qickly before it runs off with you down the road.

Once you have ridden for an hour you should be able to start it on the button but I usually try to stop on a downhill gradient so I can let the bike roll while I am on it, to jump it off.

I say "Usually" but in 2 years I have done this about 4 times and that is after I have been doing jobs on the bike.

It will jump off with almost nothing in the battery. I have even done this on a forest track in the middle of nowhere. I am so glad the bike is light and needs so little power to jump off.

Jumping the bike like this is not the safest way in the world but desparate times need desparate measures.

Steve

Great post! A lot of people don't know this, but the elevation of Albuquerque is a mile high. Hope you dressed warm for the ride.

+1 on the In and Out Burger, great pic! LOL....

DefyInertia said:

Did you lane split at all while in Cali? Impressions? I'm getting used to it and loving it.

For future reference, you don't have to touch the fairing at all to gain access to the battery. Just unbolt the tank in all three spots and slide it back a couple inches before lifting it up. Also, just push start it next time...this only takes seconds.

Congrats on the new bike :steve:

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I only lane split once. I'm a fairly new rider and it kinda made my butt pucker a little bit.

Nice to know about gettign to the battery

steveindenmark said:

Nice story and thanks for the pics.

Just a bit about the battery. What I have found is that if it is flat but rapidly clicks when you try to start then if you don`t try to start it again you can quite easily jump it off yourself, even on a flat road.

Put it in second, turn the ignition on, pull the clutch in and push. You do not need to be going fast, just a gentle jogging pace. Let the clutch out and it should fire up. As soon as it does keep the revs up but drop the clutch qickly before it runs off with you down the road.

Once you have ridden for an hour you should be able to start it on the button but I usually try to stop on a downhill gradient so I can let the bike roll while I am on it, to jump it off.

I say \"Usually\" but in 2 years I have done this about 4 times and that is after I have been doing jobs on the bike.

It will jump off with almost nothing in the battery. I have even done this on a forest track in the middle of nowhere. I am so glad the bike is light and needs so little power to jump off.

Jumping the bike like this is not the safest way in the world but desparate times need desparate measures.

Steve

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I'll have to try push starting it next time if this ever happens again. I didn't realize it was so easy.

VEGASRIDER said:

Great post! A lot of people don't know this, but the elevation of Albuquerque is a mile high. Hope you dressed warm for the ride.

+1 on the In and Out Burger, great pic! LOL....

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I ended up taking 6 layers off when I got to Phoenix.

Any mod or admin know why my two replys with pics haven't shown up yet?? Those are the continuation of the story.

I can see all th way to the part where you mention never using the camping gear "notice I never used it?" Was that the end or was there more?

DefyInertia said:

I can see all th way to the part where you mention never using the camping gear \"notice I never used it?\" Was that the end or was there more?

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No that is it. On 3 different PC's I've looked at this thread on, I only see my first post with the In-N-Out and desert pics.

I have no idea why it was like that, but I was able to fix it for you. :thumbup:

DefyInertia said:

I have no idea why it was like that, but I was able to fix it for you. :thumbup:

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Thanks much :thumbup:

Nice story! That worked out for you pretty well. So let me get this straight, you went out to buy a bike, then turned around and took it on a road trip? Wow! I would have been all over that thing with a fine tooth comb before I left the house. Great deal though.

The sunset picture in the bay is amazing. Thanks for sharing!

-bryan

Great story H20. You are correct, the 10 sucks, period. I've done the drive from Austin to Tucson to PHX a number of times; and each time it gets longer and longer. When I first drove it the speed limit was 65. In west TX it is now 80, thank God!

I'm glad you made it safe and sound. I've gotten caught in NW this time of year in wicked snow storms.

Again, great tale! thanks! :thumbup:

bmccrary said:

So let me get this straight, you went out to buy a bike, then turned around and took it on a road trip? Wow! I would have been all over that thing with a fine tooth comb before I left the house.
-bryan

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Yup thats about it. It's a Yamaha what could possibly be wrong with it?

h2o_boy said:

Any mod or admin know why my two replys with pics haven't shown up yet?? Those are the continuation of the story.

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You may have run out of attachment space.. I will up the quota...:thumbup: