Got Ride Oct 14 ??

[dub]

Thanks for the great ride guys. 

We'll see how the weather holds up, but I may hang it up for the winter and have that be my last street ride for the season.  I don't mind the cold when commuting to work, because I can bundle up.  But, it's a little tough to dress for a Sunday ride when it's 30* at my house at 9 in the morning and 80* down in the valley at 2pm, then 60* again when I get home.

I clocked 418 miles yesterday, how about you guys?

After I split off from you guys over Gold Lake I got to the intersection of hwy 49 and thought 'I'm not done yet'.  So I turned right.  Once I got to the intersection of 20 and 49 in Nevada City I didn't want to take 20 to I-80 then back down to the South Shore, and I thought 'I'm not done yet'.  So I turned right.  I didn't really have a plan, I thought maybe I'd just follow 49 all the way down to Placerville, or maybe detour through Georgetown and Marshall rd or 193 all the way to Placerville. 
Well, by the time I reached Auburn I had come to terms with the fact that I probably wasn't going to make it home before dark and figured since I came this far, I may as well take the fun way home.  I realize racing the sun down Wentworth Springs/Ice House isn't the best idea as that's no place to be alone during dusk.  An unfortunate encounter with Bambi could have left my stranded, possibly lying in a ditch for hours before some one found me.  But, I guess I like to live life on the edge.  Luckily, I only had one sighting; a family of three crossing the road about 100 yards ahead of me.  But every time I saw movement (a squirrel or bird) or a tree branch along side the road that I thought looked like a deer's head I was on the brakes.
Despite the fear of deer and facing a sunset with only a dark smoke shield with me, the ride was awesome.  The road was in great shape and the only traffic I encountered was a handful of Wheelers on flatbeds going the opposite way on WWS and just one I had to pass on Ice House.  After making it out of the wooded section I was treated with a killer sunset on the way down and made it to 50 with the last of the daylight.  After stopping to re-don my neck warmer and windproof thermal shirt I had stuffed under the pillion of the SV I was on my way back up the hill in the dark.  I didn't have any glasses and  decided I would rather have the reduced vision of wearing the smoked shield than catch a rock thrown up from a car right in the eye.  Luckily there was moderate traffic so I just sat in behind a line of cars throwing out plenty of headlight. 
I got home a little after 7:30 (left the house at 9) and was pretty tired of being on the bike.  I wasn't hungry thanks to that enormous lunch at Pizza Factory in Quincy.  So, I went straight to the couch where there were three (3!) BSB races waiting for me from the final round at Brands Hatch.  I only made it through the warm up lap of race 3 before falling asleep.

Click here for my route.  It was a good one, I would do it again next season while the days are longer.  Or, maybe instead of back tracking I could ride bucks lake down to Oroville.  Is there a fun way to get from Oroville to Auburn?  Maybe via Nevada City/Grass Valley?

[GreenMachine]

That's quite a story and ride adventure you had Sunday.  It reminds me of some of the late season rides we've done in the past.  Almost Fecta material, Brian's ride.  How was La Porte yesterday, BTW? 

Yes, there are several ways to get from Oroville to Auburn.  You've ridden it with us before to some extent actually.  The in between short-cuts would be Loma Rica/Marysville Road and Grass Valley.  That little eastbound section near Loma Rica is that  single lane junky patched up road you can't go more than about 50 MPH on.  It's brief though. <here>.  Or you can straight shot it on the longer route from Oroville to Roseville (safer at night).

I envisioned all the times where I was in a similar situation, racing the sun to get through the mountains before it set.  Once I rode over Yuba in the dark and there was frost on the road surface.  It was a moonlight night.  I still remember going down that long straight into Sierraville.  It was so bright out and bitterly cold.  My shield was constantly fogging up, so I had to crack it open and tuck behind the windscreen to see.  I also had to take turns tucking my hands into the radiator vents for warmth.  There were several deer between there and Truckee.  That was a cold scary ride!  Thought I was going to get frostbite or worse that evening.

Again, awesome story.   Thanks for sharing!

[Mel]

Hey Wiles,

Sounds like you had an awesome day with lots of riding! You missed some fun roads coming down 49 just south of Marysville Rd. You could have turned left up Ridge Rd and done the 4 miles up to the fire station at Pike City Rd, and came back down. That section of road is pure twisty heaven, and it is not a goat road GM  ! Continuing south on 49 you could turn right on Pleasant Valley Rd down to a left on Bitney Springs Rd, which T's into Ruff and Ready Rd where you turn left and head down into Grass Valley. These roads are really fun with a variety of twists and turns with all smooth pavement running through some picturesque farm/ranch country. I'm always looking for cool roads off the beaten track so to speak, and still have a few I want to check out .

Mel

[n10sive]

After I split off from you guys over Gold Lake I got to the intersection of hwy 49 and thought 'I'm not done yet'.  So I turned right.  Once I got to the intersection of 20 and 49 in Nevada City I didn't want to take 20 to I-80 then back down to the South Shore, and I thought 'I'm not done yet'.  So I turned right.  I didn't really have a plan, I thought maybe I'd just follow 49 all the way down to Placerville, or maybe detour through Georgetown and Marshall rd or 193 all the way to Placerville. 
Well, by the time I reached Auburn I had come to terms with the fact that I probably wasn't going to make it home before dark and figured since I came this far, I may as well take the fun way home. 

I saw this scene in a movie once....what was the name of that....

OH YEAH! It was Forrest Gump! LOL

[dub]

Hey Wiles,

Sounds like you had an awesome day with lots of riding! You missed some fun roads coming down 49 just south of Marysville Rd. You could have turned left up Ridge Rd and done the 4 miles up to the fire station at Pike City Rd, and came back down. That section of road is pure twisty heaven, and it is not a goat road GM  ! Continuing south on 49 you could turn right on Pleasant Valley Rd down to a left on Bitney Springs Rd, which T's into Ruff and Ready Rd where you turn left and head down into Grass Valley. These roads are really fun with a variety of twists and turns with all smooth pavement running through some picturesque farm/ranch country. I'm always looking for cool roads off the beaten track so to speak, and still have a few I want to check out .

Mel

There's a lot of roads I don't know about.