1999-11-14 We were supposed to go to Palomar, but I was sick, and Squidboy was sick and ... it was just easier to stay in bed later. (meet you at 6:30 am? aaargh!) But, we've got Dane staying with us for a few days, so we had to show him _something_. So after a leisurely breakfast, we all gassed up and headed to Sand Canyon -- for some reason my legs werent awake, so I let the two squids go ahead and did the road at my own, slower pace. I kept getting distracted by sights and sounds and scents -- my sinus's had been stuffed to the gills for two weeks with this cold, so scents were particularly distracting. That and the smashed case of beer in the oncoming lane further drove me into taking Sand Canyon even slower then my normal slow pace. Finally, I woke up -- havent been riding in a week, and I stopped thinking about how slow I was, and started practicing sliding around the tank, and setting up for turns and looking where I wanted to go, and next thing I know, I'm coming flying into a downhill right hand decreasing radius turn going, "WHEEEEEeeeeeeeee! YES!" in my helmet as my ass slides off the seat, my knee slides along the tank, and my shoulder drops just as my chin would have hit it as I look thru the turn... whahoo! I get a good rythmn going and curse the fact I'd forgotten my sunglasses at work -- coulda used 'em in the beautiful sunny warm day. Squidboy and Dane are waiting for me just as Sand Canyon stops being interesting and I see all these houses for sale - wouldnt that be a terrible commute, 15 miles of Sand Canyon every day to get to the 210? Not. We get onto Soledad Canyon and get caught behind some traffic -- which was ok, got some time to look around. Squidboy was leading, but I decided to play ducks in a row with Dane... Soledad lead to Aliso Canyon, which again, I have to say is Much Better coming down the hill the other way, then going up -- its just a much more interesting road. The neat thing was I didnt lose squidboy or Dane -- which is a nice feeling. I feel like I've broken thru a barrier I'd set for myself, and maybe took another step towards 'getting better'. The bad part was the dust -- Squidboy would kick up some, dane would kick up more and I'd breath it all in. *cough cough!* Triggered by something a local rider said, sometimes I feel like we set up barriers to success either by trying too hard, or not trying hard enough, or in my case, letting my head get in the way of what my body already knew how to do... a lot of the abilities in riding aren't natural for me, but are made so by sheer practice -- but 'cause of that, i dont always _trust_ what the instinct says. on Angeles Forest, we come up on another bike -- I see black jacket, white helmet and red bike and think, "Hey, wonder if that's Jeniffer -- be kinda cool to intro her to Dane..." until I realize 1. that the red bike was a vfr, and 2. that the backend view of the rider wasnt nearly attractive enough. (Jeniffer is a labiker who rides a red seca II) he's also all over the place. Squidboy and Dane pass him on one straight, and now I'm stuck behind him *wobble wobble* "dude, try leaning it!" he races down the short straight into the next turn, slams on the brakes and wiggles some more -- I'm finding myself coming up on him and I prolly scared him since I alsmost did have enough room to pass him in the turn. Remembering how much I hated when squids did that to me, I trailbraked and slowed down. Downshifted, waited for the straight and was by him like a bat out of hell... Squidboy turns up from Angeles Forest up to Upper Big T (aka 90 mile) but the horrid tar snakes are apparent everywhere! yucko! HEY! why are they pulling away from me on the straights?!? *vroom* you buncha tiny pecker'd nancy boys think your wimpy little 600cc sportbikes can beat Huckleberry?!? I'll show YOU!!!! *rolls on...* um, hrm -- boy, that front wheel feels kinda light... yeee haaaa! (*catches up*) By the time we hit the Crest, i'm in a total groove. Nothin' is gonna bother me now. We get up to Newcomb's and see a number of people who had gone to the Love Ride, have lunch, hang out, play with the dogs, and then head down. Fastest ride down the hill yet, except just before the Angeles Forest turnoff, we come up to a big old ford100 truck with two guys who are just completely sightseeing. They not only were wobbling all over the place, they were taking left curves with half the truck in the oncoming lane, oh and they were feeding each other... . I was terrified -- these guys were not only not paying attention, but looked to be actively dangerous. Squidboy politely waits for htem to use a turnout. They dont. He starts getting into new york mode and begins to intimidate the drivers... they are merely confused. Next thing you know, he's making hand motions that make his annoyance quite obvious... (geeze, how DO you +do+ that???) :) We all pass them and head on down. Only other stupid moment was less then two miles from the Shell Station, I notice a yellow Duc behind me. When we all begin to pull out to pass the slow cages when it becomes two lanes, he almost clips me by pulling out behind me and zooming ahead, only to almost clip Dane who didnt move over -- the ducati ended up in the oncoming lane. Squidboy, Dane and I are shaking our heads, and I'm almost hoping he stops at the Shell station. "Nice pass, asshole, why dont you come out to Fastrack and show us what your ballz are really made of?" The two guys in the truck do stop at the shell station and are giving us dirty looks. Should have walked over and told them 1. the speed limit on the crest is 55, 2. that turnouts are there for the SLOWER traffic 3. staying in their own lane was a good idea unless their goal was vehicular homocide. But a good day, albeit shorter then the original 450 mile day (only 150), and it only got cold over 5000 feet. Gayathri -------------------------------------------------------------- gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, WSMC #701 '88 FZR400 ('gurlzbike') '98 T595 Daytona, "huckleberry" "There is nothing so rare as an act of your own." - Henry Thoreau