Rollcall - Downieville, Sunday 05/21/17 9:30 AM start

[GreenMachine]

North route departure.

Planned 9:30 AM kickstands up (KSU).*  Should be fantastic weather for riding.  I won't be there though, so someone else will have to share in leading this one.

This is one of our more fun short rides (less than 190 miles), taking us up into the snow covered Sierras, with vistas, running rivers along side and warm weather to accompany for most of the day.  The group will decide if they want to take in a little more or head back.  Yuba Pass will probably be rather boring, if not, scary to ride.  There is a stop sign to mark a landslide just as you get started into the good stuff. East side of Yuba is moderately dirty so ride with caution.  The west side is clean, maybe some new rocks felled during the recent rain storm Wednesday night.



Bring your camera if you can. Gold Lake loop should have some great picture opportunities of Sierra Buttes.

Lunch stop ideas:  Downieville, of course.  Sierraville has three choices, the diner at the T, the Mexican restaurant across the street or the deli with home made apple pies for dessert across the street from that. 

RSVP** if you're planning on going.   If you do not RSVP, the ride may be canceled even if you had planned on showing up the day of the ride.  Expect the group to depart on the ride as soon as everyone who has RSVP'ed is ready.

North route ride.  This is a minimum C level ride pace route, so all riders welcome.  Meet at Starbucks or thereabouts (if parking is an issue).

As always, see 2017 SSA Ride Schedule for everything that is expected of you and what you can expect.  *** Safety is paramount. ***


* KSU dependent on when everybody is ready.
** RSVP - répondez, s'il vous plaît a.k.a. please reply.

[Laura600]

Tempting.....maybe....boyfriend and I might want to, will let you know tomorrow! 😬

[Wade68]

Will more than likely be up for the ride.  Only thing to rival the fun of this ride might be the Gun Show!  Will update.

[RichVee4]

When it comes to gun shows, Fallon really knows how to have a good time.  Saw this sign driving through town.

I will be doing a dirt ride so not available.  Enjoy!

[dub]

Where you riding Rich?

[RichVee4]

Did an overnight ADV ride with SL out of Austin. Awesome area to explore.

[Wade68]

Is anyone planning to do the Downieville ride?

[renowingnut]

Did anyone roll out to Downieville today? Curious on the road conditions...thinking maybe Tuesday playing hookie from work

[Wade68]

I was at Star Bucks @ 9:25, by myself.  Waited till 9:40 and went dirt bike riding @ Peavine.  Is it really this difficult to get people to ride in this beautiful area with fantastic weather?  Hmmm...  LOL

[GreenMachine]

Sometimes yes.  Normally I'm in town, there in the morning.  Alas, my aging remaining parent is getting old and feeble, so trying to help out and spend as much time with them while I can. 

I do have some big plans and would love to show you guys around, so there will be time still for that.  Plus, there's more enthusiasm for scheduled rides when people post up...gives them the feeling that some others are coming too, I suppose.

We'll get there. 

[renowingnut]

Wish I could have met up this morning, was called out early this morning and finally got home after lunch. Was hoping to get the first ride of the season rolling to Downieville....guessing Peavine was a good ride...weather was awesome today.

[dub]

Is it really this difficult to get people to ride in this beautiful area with fantastic weather?  Hmmm...  LOL

I know exactly how you feel. The same thing used to frustrate me. I couldn't understand how on a nice day in a region full of motorcycle enthusiasts no one would want to spend a Sunday riding some of the best roads in The Sierra under a bright blue sky. I've thought about it a lot.

If you go back and look at old photos from when membership in this club was very robust, Sunday rides had a dozen people show every time; groups almost too big. When I started riding in 2010, you could still count on a handful of people showing up most weekends, sometimes more. Starting a few years ago up to now, you are lucky to get another one or two people to show up if that, as you just experienced.

I don't know what to attribute that too. And I'm sure it's not just one thing. I think it's a combination of getting people's schedules to line up, life getting in the way, and competing interests. If I think back on the people that used to regularly show up for group rides, some stopped riding due to family obligations (aka got married & had kids), some quit after one too many crashes/speeding tickets, some moved out of the area, and some passed away.

For me personally, I road race with the AFM and I'm an instructor for Keigwins@theTrack. That means, on average, I'm out of town at the race track about every other weekend through the summer. As an example last weekend I rode dirt on Saturday, then on Sunday I drove to Sonoma for a Monday trackday at Sears Point. This weekend I rode dirt. Next weekend I will be at Thunderhill for AFM round 3, the weekend after that I will be at Buttonwillow for track days. I'm free the 11th, then back to Thunderhill the next weekend for trackdays. Will I want to go for a Sunday ride on the 11th? I dunno, maybe. If it's not too hot I will probably ride dirt.
I dare even say my interest in Sunday rides has waned as the novelty wears off. When I first started, I didn't know any of the good roads. I was super stoked to hook up with an SSA Sunday ride and just follow the leader while enjoying the country side, corners, and company. I wanted to do it as often as was possible. I didn't have GPS, I never knew where we were or where we were going. I was just along for the ride, literally. Fast forward 7 years and I know all those routes by heart now. I've ridden all the good roads in the Sierra from Yosemite up to Quency a handful of times, some a lot more. It's not new anymore, I don't need to do it every weekend, every once in a while is good enough. I would rather do an overnight ride to the coast or something; see some new sights and ride some new roads. The idea that really excites me is dual sport rides like Rich and Scott just did. There are only so many paved roads to ride, but there are endless thousands of miles of forest roads, fire roads, jeep trails, and two track out there in the wilderness to explore.

Wow, sorry, I didn't intend for this to be such a rambling rant, but like I said, I've thought about it.

[Vegasrider]

This is a forum so you have to be thick skinned when it comes to criticism. In my opinion, it's bad etiquette for the OP to post a ride and not do the ride. If you're not sure, let somebody else post up who is committed. I understand schedules change and things do come up last minute, but the rides being posted up need to state cancelled the night before if there are no confirmed riders.

[GreenMachine]

But the ride wasn't canceled and the OP is to inform those interested exactly what ride is on the schedule. 

In the past I've drawn criticism for not posting the scheduled ride when I knew I wouldn't be on it.  So I guess I'm guilty if I do and guilty if I don't.   Criticism doesn't bother me though, because it looks like we have a really active bunch that want to ride this year.  Don't worry, we'll be doing some rides this season!

Right now though we still have road outages, closures, and some adverse conditions.  I'm like Dub, just like enjoying these roadways, but don't need to do it once or twice every weekend.  But I still draw satisfaction from the roads and the company, just ask PapaSmurf.  He know exactly what I'm talking about.

Oh yeah, I have a ton of ideas for overnight rides or two night 2 1/2 day rides.  Just have to get my big ride done first.  Priorities.

Hang in there folks. 

Gonna gear up for some stressful riding over this holiday weekend.

[Vegasrider]

Well, I'm back to coaching and I'm beginning to refer some of my strong graduates to join this forum so that they can participate on some of the easy pace rides.  This is what I did back in Vegas, I funneled a lot of my graduates to join a particular riders forum in Vegas only because it consisted of  very experienced riders who made safety their # 1 priority.  Never did I ever recall any of the riders have a beer during our group rides. If they did, I could not refer.  I can't recall anyone of our group rides consisting of squids or beer drinkers so don't be surprised to start seeing some new members joining on these rides.