Had a great time on a quick 1 week trip, here is a quick re-cap along with some road reports. No pictures of the roads, as none of us had Go-Pros and none of us wanted to pull over to take pictures on some really really nice twisty bits...
Saturday, Sept 19th...long un-eventful drive to Sacramento to San Diego, only stress about Ninja staying put in the back of the truck...
Sunday, Sept 20th, left Sacramento.
Here is our group...
From L to R, Timo (ZX14R), Geoff (BMW S1000RR), Chris (Yamaha R1)
Headed towards Placerville initially, Highway 193 out of there North is GREAT riding. Then to Marysville, CA towards a town called LaPorte, LaPorte Rd towards Quincy also fantastic. Lake Almanor for the night, poor beer selection, but beautiful (and a cool 75 degrees, which after 95 in Sacto felt great)
Monday, Sept 21
Left Lake Almanor, rode through Lassen National Park
Then rode 299 to 3 to Scotts River Road (goat path, but well paved and smooth, surprisingly trafficky) and on to Highway 96 to Happy Camp, GREAT road for a ZX...sweepers to hairpins, mostly along a river, big trees, just great.
Plug for Klamath River Resort Inn...great place, new owner, view literally from my motel room front door..
Tuesday, Sept 22
Rode from Happy Camp down to Eureka, first still on the 96, then briefly again on 299, then 101 South...all good and then stopped at this place called Black Lightning Motorcycle Cafe. Motorcycle parking right in front, awesome food, great decor, met the owner, will definitely hit this again if near Eureka. Some pics of BLMC below.
Then, properly fueled up on coffee, some sort of fantastic breakfast quesadilla etc we rode down to Fortuna, then grabbed Highway 36 east (140+ miles of twisties...it really is ALL it is cracked up to be!) Had to circle back to take a pic of that sign haha.
Wed, Sept 23
We had planned on going back a bit on the 36, but due to some road construction going on at the end of it, decided to just take an easy route to Fort Bragg. Highlight of the day was Highway 20 that goes from the 101 to Fort Bragg, really nice road. Got to Fort Bragg pretty early, had some pints at the Noyo Harbor, and eventually at North Coast Brewing etc later that night.
Fort Bragg sunset..
Thurs, Sept 24
Great ride again on Hwy 20, then south on 101 to a town called Hopland, taking 175 east. 175 is a tale of two roads, climbing up the hill heading East towards 29, one of our best stretches, great road, tight, banked turns, dragging everything and giggling inside helmet, but then after cresting the hill, the second half, the surface was crap! Very rough, very low traction, all down hill, pace slowed down considerably. Still beats working, ended up in Chico for the night, maybe enjoyed the bars too much...maybe.
Friday, Sept 25
South from Chico to Highway 70, which mmmmmmmayyyyybe be the best road of our trip. Also, right along a river, very smooth surface, great stop in Belden (over a bridge) into a place called Beldentown for breakfast, and then off again towards Quincy, 89 into South Lake Tahoe also a very very nice stretch. Checked into Basecamp Hotel in South Lake Tahoe, right on the stateline, GREAT hotel, two bars, two jacuzzis, nice relaxed vibe, covered motorcycle parking, love it. Here's a view from their patio bar towards the casinos...
Saturday, Sept 26th, 100 miles on the 50 from South Lake Tahoe to Sacto, nice road, but a fair amount of traffic, followed by 8 hour drive back to SD. All in all, a great trip, no accidents, no cops, no bike issues, good times!
It followed me home...very closely.