To: nedod@nedod.org cc: Subject: A Hooligan's Sunday... -------- A late Saturday night date made getting up early (meet at WHAT? 7:30 AM?!) more difficult then it might have been, but I got out of bed after hitting the snooze button too many times, ran around the house looking for my leathers -- helpfully put away by my neat house mate and impossible for me to find, and into the new silks my Mom got me for an early xmas present. (its cold out there in the morning, and who knew what the weather might be like...) The ride was called by Tony (ynot.fix@gte.net) 'cause Jeff Gronert (caffeineracer) wanted to do some San Fernando twisties. (ok, Santa Clarita twisties... oh. maybe some Lake Hughes...) anyway... I'm running late, so I maintain DOD nominal to take the 210W to 118 S to the 405 to our meeting point... I get to Holiday Burger in Mission Hills too late for breakfast, but just in time to gas up and get going... Jeff Gronert on his Superhawk, Jim and Marcia Ness on a Blackbird, Jim Dutton on his vtr1000, Kevin K on his Shadow, Monica on her gs500e, Blas on his vfr800, Michael on his wife's EX500 (i'm scrubbing in the tyres, really...) and Tony on his trusty SV650. We started with some little side roads to avoid the freeway to get onto Lopez Canyon. Maybe its the cold medication (oh, did I mention I'm coming down with a flu? silly me, I tried the 'just take decongestants at the first sign to avoid it getting worse...') or the real lack of sleep and no caffiene 'cept in the Excedrin, but I'm feeling good today. Like really good. Like I'm keeping the front runners in sight. (whoa! I'm not the slowest one in the group!) Couple of things -- I changed the fully adjustable handlebars on my T5 to be at a 15 degree downangle, so I'm really committed on the bike right now -- this is forcing me to really keep my thighs hard on the tank and to keep the balls of my feet on the pegs to keep the weight off my wrists and forearms, as well as off the front of the bike. The cool thing is that this is pretty comfy and suddenly makes the bike a hell of a lot easier to turn -- make that flick, into these curves. Level II of Keith Code also helped, with following the vanishing point also being 'following the leader'. WHOO!!! From Lopez Canyon, we hit Little Tujunga -- no problem 'til the downhill part. Hrm. How do I keep myself off the bars? (I'd left 'em a little loose and was worried that all my weight might actually move them). Ow. My legs hurt. Ow. Then Little T becomes Sand Canyon and this is my favorite part, thru overhanging trees and cliffsides, we finally end up on the other side of the mountain in Santa Clarita. (wow, nice houses for sale over here.. wonder how much they are? :) ) Soledad Canyon to Agua Dulce to Vasquez to Bouquet (yes, that road that Patrick did that video on). I cannot believe how smoothly we're all riding (the faster bunch, I never really see Monica or Kevin) -- I'm keeping up with Jim Ness on his Blackbird. {Aside: Jim is the manager of Firing Line, a local Burbank range, and he taught me how to shoot handguns...he's also one of the quickest two-up riders I know and his lines are a joy to follow...} His comment, "Well, a year of racing certainly helped -- you're so much faster then the last time we rode together." HA! High praise indeed from the man who consistently takes away my gun at the range, holds it upside down in his left hand and shoots the centers of targets. He also gives me free lessons 'cause I'm pathetic at anything other then 6-25 feet. :) Spunky Canyon has been repaved, but there is often sand in the middle of the section. There was sand this time too. Darn it. I'm kinda getting hungry now (remember, I didnt eat breakfast!) and ask Tony for lunch plans. We stop at a gas station after strafing (and I mean, strafing...) San Fransquito 'cause Monica ran out of gas. I take the opportunity to drink some gatorade (those decongestants are dehydrating me) and taking off some layers as the temps start to climb into the comfortable 60/70's. Talk to Blas for a long time at the gas station and look at the rides at Magic Mountain whilst others kick tyres and we figure out what to do next. Tony leads us on a merry chase over 126 to Val Verde Park, site of a previous LaBiker picnic, and head up to Lake Hughes Road. Jim Dutton must have eaten his wheaties 'cause while I can keep up with him in the sweepers, the tighter stuff was getting harder. (Hunger was distracting me and my BRAIN was getting tired...) We stop at the Rock Inn on Lake Elizabeth Road (in Lake Elizabeth, natch) and run into other LaBikers, who'd started another ride, later in the day: Miz Meg Hentz on her F650, her partner Chris on his BMW something, Miz Rebecca Sattin on her Honda Shadow Sabre and mutual friend Karima on her VTR1000. (yup, three superhawks in one day...) THEN, Cecil shows up with his other biker crew and he's on his bran' new Aprila Mille. *jealous!* Anyway, we all finish stuffing our faces, and people head their seperate ways, but I vote to continue following Tony, mainly 'cause its heading towards home for me. My excitement for the day runs over on Lake Elizabeth road, whilst trying to keep up with the blackbird, I gas it out of a turn and hit a bump and feel the front end try to slap out of my hands. I stay on the gas and loft the front end a little bit -- hanging onto the tank with my knees to keep as much weight off of the wriggly end as possible, and when I'm all straight and not out of shape, touch the rear brake to feel the front end gently end up back on the ground. WHOO!!!! (Just in time to slap it into the next turn... cant let Jim and Marcia outta sight, or I'll never catch up -- he does take that thing into DOD nominal plus 30 in the straights...) The neatest thing is that usually something weird like that has me thinking about it way too much for the next too many miles and I slow down. This time, I shrug, get it behind me, and continue on, grinning like a maniac wondering if Patrick would be proud of me getting my front wheel off the ground at 100 mph. ;-) I'm just having a blast keeping the revs high and blasting the bike out of the corners. Tony at Crago racing as the suspension dead on, as no matter how hard I try I cant get the rear end to break loose. :) Jim and Marcia take off at the end of Lake Elizabeth to head home (they live near Pearblossom) and its just me, JimD, Tony and KevinK.... we take Soledad to Aliso Canyon to Angles Forest, stop at the top of Angeles Forest and hang out for a bit. Tony decides to sit in the sun and JimD, Kevin and I head back down -- my ear is starting to hurt and I'm afraid i'm getting an ear infection, so I think about going home... Angeles Forest to Angeles Crest to the 210 to home... I pull into my garage with ~250 miles more on the odo, with only 40 of them being freeway... My ear stopped hurting once I got rid of the ear plug that was too hard and hurting me (gotta go back to the Ultra Leights). My cold like thing turned into a full blown Flu over the night, but y'know, that's ok. :) Gave me time to write this... While it was a little chilly in the am, by the middle of the day it was often in the 70's and sunny the entire time. Sometimes, I really love living in SoCal. Gayathri >-------------------------------------------------------------- gayathri@world.std.com Calamari Club #002, WSMC #158 '88 FZR400 ('gurlzbike') '98 T595 Daytona, "huckleberry" "Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar." - Ralph Waldo Emerson