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Despite the long wait it was well worth the read Lone, pleased you wrote it :thumbup: nice pics too.
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Lone vs. World....Take 1
- Thread starter lonesoldier84
- Start date
KBrink
Junior Member
Thanks for the great read man, your pics are the best. You Canucks aren't too bad. Ha ha :canada:
Amazing pictures and just the right amount of emotional masturbation!!
I assume much more is on the way?
I assume much more is on the way?
Senior
My brother is Junior
truely impressive and a great write up . . . :thumbup:
I must get around to doing a little camping trip on mine
I must get around to doing a little camping trip on mine
I'm only just getting into California....I still have to get back.
The best is yet to come haha.
But thanks all!
KDN
Junior Member
Great read...great pics.
Can't wait to read about the journey home.
Can't wait to read about the journey home.
CCHOUSEKY
Kentucky Wildcat Fanatic
Lone, amazing post so far! I love all the pics and the banter makes me feel like I was right there with you! :thumbup:
Every time I see one of these "epic" trip posts, it just makes me want to do one myself. I'm definitely adding this to my bucket list...although I'll probably wait until I move to the FJR or something similar to try it...LOL. I'm just not sure I could do it on my naked Fazer.
Every time I see one of these "epic" trip posts, it just makes me want to do one myself. I'm definitely adding this to my bucket list...although I'll probably wait until I move to the FJR or something similar to try it...LOL. I'm just not sure I could do it on my naked Fazer.
Awesome first half of your trip Lone. Amazing pics. I'm also hoping to do an 'epic' trip sometime in the near future. Thanks again! :thumbup:
Let's take a moment to think how they both end up taking similar pictures. Two different people, from two parts of the continent travelling relatively the same distance (1300 miles) arriving around the same time.
Lones view from Interstate 15 from the North from Utah.
Dirk's AKA "Krid80" view from Arizona, Highway US 95 from the south heading into Vegas.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/33123-california-back-august-2010-a.html
Lones view from Interstate 15 from the North from Utah.
When I finally turned a corner and made a visual on Vegas and saw the sign that said like 14 miles to Vegas all around the same bend, I was so thrilled.
Vegas baby.
Dirk's AKA "Krid80" view from Arizona, Highway US 95 from the south heading into Vegas.
http://www.600riders.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/33123-california-back-august-2010-a.html
Last edited:
Man, that was great! I loved all the pics too.:thumbup:
MHS
Junior Member
Awesome pics. Thanks for those and the writeup!
Makes me want to go on my cross country journey, just need to find the time off work to do it...
Makes me want to go on my cross country journey, just need to find the time off work to do it...
Yeah Kenny. We both stopped at the 14 miles to Vegas sign.
That sign happens as you come around a corner and see the lights for the first time. After a long weary ride it is such a welcome site in the middle of the night that you just have to stop to commemorate it.
That sign happens as you come around a corner and see the lights for the first time. After a long weary ride it is such a welcome site in the middle of the night that you just have to stop to commemorate it.
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The scenery is absolutely beautiful :thumbup:
Keep the pics coming
Keep the pics coming
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That's quite the trip. Great report and photo's. Thanks, You Rock!
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That was me in the shower. Yes, I was naked the first time I met Lone. Thankfully the front desk was gracious enough to give him his own room. I am sure I snored like a bear that night. I did Vegas on my third night AND saw the canyon. Na na na boo boo.
Thanks for linking my ride report Kenny. Lone, you lose points for turning in your assignment late.
But then, you were always making us late, so I guess it is to be expected.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G using tapatalk.
That was me in the shower. Yes, I was naked the first time I met Lone. Thankfully the front desk was gracious enough to give him his own room. I am sure I snored like a bear that night. I did Vegas on my third night AND saw the canyon. Na na na boo boo.
Thanks for linking my ride report Kenny. Lone, you lose points for turning in your assignment late.
But then, you were always making us late, so I guess it is to be expected.
LOL!!
God damn it who the hell wakes up at 7am on a holiday? Then you have to have breakfast and a nice stroll around getting your stuff together. Noon is a respectable hour to get rolling god damn it. Haha
I made it in a similar amount of time to you but I OFFROADED on my way there for some big chunks haha. That counts for QUADRUPLE miles. Therefore I win.
:BLAA:
Well, after I fueled the Ducati guys’ tanks up a little bit like the motorcycle fuel tanker than I was, we got rolling to pick up a spare rear race tire one of them had. The pace from this point was quite slow as we nursed my bike down the canyon roads. I was pretty pissed to be quite honest. These canyon roads were what I had been looking forward to for quite a while. But “sunny California” is right. It blew me away how beautiful the days were and how little that changed over the course of the year. I had to be in a dream. This couldn’t be a real place. Year round riding? That is worth any sacrifice. It really is. To hell with Edmonton.
Nice rides.
We finally arrived at this fellow’s place around 6 or 7 if I recall correctly. We all took the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the “Ducati Dudes” and rest up for a bit. We poked around Robert’s garage and saw tucked behind some things….a full-on Graves R6. I didn’t get a picture of it but Dirk did. I hope they don’t mind my putting it up…but I will.
Well, after we rested up a bit we got ready to head out, I grabbed the spare race tire and threw it on top of the rest of my stuff. At this point everyone thought it was pretty hilarious and I’ll admit I laughed at it too….but holy ****. Seriously, I burned into my mind the lesson learned….don’t pack so much god damned useless ****. I am not going to list all the stuff I brought….but I could have easily thrown half of it away and not have been that bothered. It’s nice to have it all, but it’s not needed. And you need to boil it down to the bare, bare minimum and essentials on a riding trip. With the rear loaded on, I felt like I was navigating a loaded camel through the desert.
We got rolling. The dealerships were closed and there was no way to mount the tires, but the tire had held up so far and so I decided to push on a little way further to a friend’s house which was about 90 minutes away. John was kind enough to give a couple of us a place to crash for the evening. That was a good night. Good times.
The next morning, John got ready to head out with us for the next stretch to Laguna Seca along the coastline. Half of us had never seen it before so we felt like kids on the way to Disneyworld.
Jesus Christ. Lesson learned....leave the sink at home.
Here I will make mention of John’s modding abilities. Not only did he create from scratch everything needed for a streetfighter conversion (eg. brackets/etc), but he MADE an exhaust system. And all of this just by tinkering around and researching things on the internet. That’s some commitment. I had seen a couple pictures before, but they didn’t do the bike justice. It was as unique as it was pleasing to look at. Great work.
Second from the right.
We had a quick breakfast and got moving. First stop was a local bike shop to get the tire mounted. They refused to help out and fit us in that morning (we were there literally as they opened too….lame). I forget what they were called otherwise I’d post the name. So we decided to roll down to Santa Barbara Motorsports since I was planning on meeting up very briefly with a friend that lives there for lunch. The guys at SBM were great. They went out of their way to get me in and my tire changed so we could get rolling again. They understood the need for expediency right in the middle of a big riding trip. Thanks gents. Anyone in the area should definitely check them out if they need anything.
So, with the tire finally on and lunch in our bellies, we finally got moving towards the ride for the day. I had left most of my stuff with my buddy in Santa Barbara since I was going to come back down after Laguna Seca. I was finally light and nimble for one of the best stretches of road of the trip. It worked out great. The highway that curls along the coastline is beyond brilliant. For someone landlocked in the Canadian prairies all his life, riding down a secondary highway along the shoreline was more than my senses could take in. The endless expanses of water, the brilliant blue skies, and this brilliant bit of tarmac snaking its way through the rocky terrain climbing as it went through numerous elevation changes and switchbacks….oh god it was epic.
Lazy bastards. Get a job ya bums.
Nice rides.
We finally arrived at this fellow’s place around 6 or 7 if I recall correctly. We all took the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of the “Ducati Dudes” and rest up for a bit. We poked around Robert’s garage and saw tucked behind some things….a full-on Graves R6. I didn’t get a picture of it but Dirk did. I hope they don’t mind my putting it up…but I will.
Well, after we rested up a bit we got ready to head out, I grabbed the spare race tire and threw it on top of the rest of my stuff. At this point everyone thought it was pretty hilarious and I’ll admit I laughed at it too….but holy ****. Seriously, I burned into my mind the lesson learned….don’t pack so much god damned useless ****. I am not going to list all the stuff I brought….but I could have easily thrown half of it away and not have been that bothered. It’s nice to have it all, but it’s not needed. And you need to boil it down to the bare, bare minimum and essentials on a riding trip. With the rear loaded on, I felt like I was navigating a loaded camel through the desert.
We got rolling. The dealerships were closed and there was no way to mount the tires, but the tire had held up so far and so I decided to push on a little way further to a friend’s house which was about 90 minutes away. John was kind enough to give a couple of us a place to crash for the evening. That was a good night. Good times.
The next morning, John got ready to head out with us for the next stretch to Laguna Seca along the coastline. Half of us had never seen it before so we felt like kids on the way to Disneyworld.
Jesus Christ. Lesson learned....leave the sink at home.
Here I will make mention of John’s modding abilities. Not only did he create from scratch everything needed for a streetfighter conversion (eg. brackets/etc), but he MADE an exhaust system. And all of this just by tinkering around and researching things on the internet. That’s some commitment. I had seen a couple pictures before, but they didn’t do the bike justice. It was as unique as it was pleasing to look at. Great work.
Second from the right.
We had a quick breakfast and got moving. First stop was a local bike shop to get the tire mounted. They refused to help out and fit us in that morning (we were there literally as they opened too….lame). I forget what they were called otherwise I’d post the name. So we decided to roll down to Santa Barbara Motorsports since I was planning on meeting up very briefly with a friend that lives there for lunch. The guys at SBM were great. They went out of their way to get me in and my tire changed so we could get rolling again. They understood the need for expediency right in the middle of a big riding trip. Thanks gents. Anyone in the area should definitely check them out if they need anything.
So, with the tire finally on and lunch in our bellies, we finally got moving towards the ride for the day. I had left most of my stuff with my buddy in Santa Barbara since I was going to come back down after Laguna Seca. I was finally light and nimble for one of the best stretches of road of the trip. It worked out great. The highway that curls along the coastline is beyond brilliant. For someone landlocked in the Canadian prairies all his life, riding down a secondary highway along the shoreline was more than my senses could take in. The endless expanses of water, the brilliant blue skies, and this brilliant bit of tarmac snaking its way through the rocky terrain climbing as it went through numerous elevation changes and switchbacks….oh god it was epic.
Lazy bastards. Get a job ya bums.
This is worth any sacrifice. It is beyond addictive. Southern California lives up to the hype and then some. I’ve seen some stretches of road in South Africa and in Australia that are similar in terms of landscape/roads. But this is within reach. It is practical if you force it a little bit. Make the sacrifice. Make the trip. You will be beyond thrilled with yourself for doing it.
Traffic was pretty light and we kept a good pace. We got to quite near Laguna Seca before we decided to stop for the night. Food is so great on riding trips. It’s like you’ve never seen food before everytime you get a meal. Love it.
The next morning we hit the road pretty early and before long we were at Laguna Seca.
Now, seeing it for the first time is brilliant. You’ve seen it on countless screens either in races or in video games. But as you come over the rise and see it nestled in its valley, and you see all the flags flapping in the wind and the circuit itself comes into view….yeah. It's pretty special.
I have a panorama shot I'll have to crop together of the full track view from the top.
But..
There was a race school in progress and a class was whipping around on Mazda MX-5’s. The urge to get out on that track with a motorbike is intense. I looked into it and th only option was to pay $2,000 - $3,000 (or something ludicrous) for a three day Skip Barber course on an RC-8. They didn’t have any open trackdays for bikes in that time window. But one day…
The corkscrew is something else. I had heard you have to see it to really get how extreme it is. And you really do. It is like driving off a cliff. You could see it on the cars hurtling over it. Full compression of their suspension followed by a complete release as it seemed like the entire undercarriage of the car just fell away. And you see the underside of the car when you’re standing near the bottom. They do fly off that thing.
I'll put up a video of the cars flying off the top later.
Traffic was pretty light and we kept a good pace. We got to quite near Laguna Seca before we decided to stop for the night. Food is so great on riding trips. It’s like you’ve never seen food before everytime you get a meal. Love it.
The next morning we hit the road pretty early and before long we were at Laguna Seca.
Now, seeing it for the first time is brilliant. You’ve seen it on countless screens either in races or in video games. But as you come over the rise and see it nestled in its valley, and you see all the flags flapping in the wind and the circuit itself comes into view….yeah. It's pretty special.
I have a panorama shot I'll have to crop together of the full track view from the top.
But..
There was a race school in progress and a class was whipping around on Mazda MX-5’s. The urge to get out on that track with a motorbike is intense. I looked into it and th only option was to pay $2,000 - $3,000 (or something ludicrous) for a three day Skip Barber course on an RC-8. They didn’t have any open trackdays for bikes in that time window. But one day…
The corkscrew is something else. I had heard you have to see it to really get how extreme it is. And you really do. It is like driving off a cliff. You could see it on the cars hurtling over it. Full compression of their suspension followed by a complete release as it seemed like the entire undercarriage of the car just fell away. And you see the underside of the car when you’re standing near the bottom. They do fly off that thing.
I'll put up a video of the cars flying off the top later.
We all said our goodbyes as we were leaving Laguna. The others were carrying on to San Fran then hoofing it back East. I was going to work my way back south with John to have a couple days of surfing with my buddy in Santa Barbara. Oh, and high-powered rifle shooting. Haha, you can’t come to the States and not blow something up. His house had formed the ultimate destination of the trip as a kind of “max distance checkpoint”. The concept was that everything after Santa Barabara would be “on the way home”. I was going to be a tiny bit behind schedule but still had time to turn into central California to explore the canyons as I worked my way up to Northern California.
So, with the other guys gone, John and I picked up the pace a little bit on the way back south. Having a decent idea of where the really tricky bits were was good. All the corners held a steady radius or opened up as you went through them. There were very few off-cambre bits but some of the hairpins were wickedly tight. When it said 10mph corner….it was a 10mph corner.
It's like this ALL god damn year there.....Jesus.
So, with the other guys gone, John and I picked up the pace a little bit on the way back south. Having a decent idea of where the really tricky bits were was good. All the corners held a steady radius or opened up as you went through them. There were very few off-cambre bits but some of the hairpins were wickedly tight. When it said 10mph corner….it was a 10mph corner.
It's like this ALL god damn year there.....Jesus.
After we got about three quarters of the way through the fun bits John fell pretty far behind as he got caught behind a truck and I pressed on for a bit. I finally found a nice scenic place to stop off and waited. After a little while John pulled up and we used the time to rest up and have some water and soak in the shoreline. It is pretty peaceful when you’re not flying through it. So awesome.
There he comes.
We got rolling again. Now, I’ve mentioned I learned a number of lessons on this trip? Here was another BIG one coming up. When you stop to cool off….so do your tires. And you can’t assume the tires you have on will behave the same way as the set you “always” use. The reason I wasn’t too bothered about my tires was that I had supreme faith in them. They were race tires! And I am not a racer. Warming them up a little bit would provide infinitely more traction then I would EVER need….
Well….
This flashlight took the full brunt of it and still works well to this day. Lol.
There was a slight elevation change and the second corner of this stretch of two was much tighter than the first one.
Looking back:
Draggin Jeans < Leather.
There he comes.
We got rolling again. Now, I’ve mentioned I learned a number of lessons on this trip? Here was another BIG one coming up. When you stop to cool off….so do your tires. And you can’t assume the tires you have on will behave the same way as the set you “always” use. The reason I wasn’t too bothered about my tires was that I had supreme faith in them. They were race tires! And I am not a racer. Warming them up a little bit would provide infinitely more traction then I would EVER need….
Well….
This flashlight took the full brunt of it and still works well to this day. Lol.
There was a slight elevation change and the second corner of this stretch of two was much tighter than the first one.
Looking back:
Draggin Jeans < Leather.
