Tioga Pass, Yosemite

Last summer my coworker, Ethan Jones, and I had planned to ride over Tioga Pass in Yosemite. Unfortunately, difficulties came up that forced us to cancel that trip. This year the Tioga trip was at the top of my list and had decided to make the trip regardless if anyone went along with me. So when I heard Ethan and his dad, Jonathan, available and up for the challenge I was overjoyed. We had Friday, July 3rd off for the holiday, so we planned it that Friday and Saturday. We booked a room in Lee Vining and waited for the day.

We left at 8 AM Friday and headed out through Friant. We were not far from Friant when I noticed that I had lost my backrest. It was a corbin-style that fits into my corbin seat. We backtracked to see if I could find it, but came up empty. Not a good way to start a trip.

We reached Oakhurst, took a break for a cold drink, and headed on to Mariposa. It was already turning out to be a hot day and I was looking forward to riding in some cool weather. We filled up and had lunch at Mariposa. So having had delicious, nutritious meal at the local Burger King, we started for the park. We chose the Merced entrance to the park to limit our driving time in the park. The Fresno/Madera entrance would require a lot of slow driving and a trip through the valley to get to Tioga road. The Merced entrance is up the Merced river to the Yosemite Valley. It's a nice ride, but hot without any breeze blowing.

About halfway up the Merced river there is a rockslide that closed the road. It was the biggest rockslide I had ever seen. The road was completely shut down and didn't look like it could ever be opened again. We were routed over a temporary bridge, across the river for 1/2 mile, then back over another temporary bridge back to the original road.


From there we head up a steep gorge to the park entrance where we took a break. The cool shade was a welcome relief after the hot ride up the river. From there we head up a gorge to Big Oak Road turn off. From there it is another steep climb up the mountain to Hwy 120 at Crane Flat. You climb some 4000' feet in just 10 miles of road. You pass through some great scenery up along the side of the mountain. The view back over the Merced River gorge and Yosemite Valley is outstanding. There was a controlled fire burning on the mountain across the river from the road. The view of the fire was something else. It gives you an idea of just how devastating fires can be in this environment.

We got to Crane Flat where one of the three park gas stations is located. The road intersects with Hwy 120 at this point. Going west on 120 takes you back to Modesto, east takes you over Tioga to the eastern side of the Sierra's and the state of Nevada. Filled up and ready, we headed east for Tioga pass. I was leading at this point and traveling at the speed limit. The park roads are normally very good and this one was no exception, surprising for a road that is closed for most of the year.


Climbing higher we reached the tops of the mountains out into the open. What a spectacular view. Olmstead Point has to be one of the most beautiful vistas in the whole park. We could see the landmark hills to the south, including Half Dome and Glacier Point. To the North, as we rounded Olmstead Point, we had a fantastic view of Tenya Lake. This is snow melt water, but people were out swimming in it anyway. We felt the water and it is really cold.

Moving on past that we pass through the mountain domes and finally come to Tuolumne Meadows. It is a huge group of meadows that are surrounded by mountain domes. The altitude there is 8619 feet, and you feel it when you walk. We fueled up there and got something to drink. Walking the inclines to and from the store really had me sweating. And, boy, is there some mesquitoes here! Swarms of them surround you. This is because it is a marsh here during the snow melt, with the Tuolumne River running through the meadows.



We traveled a little further and finally came to the park entrance located at Tioga Pass, elev 9945 ft. After passing out of the park, we pulled over for some pictures. From here you have a good view down the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. The road down this side is very steep dropping you 3000 feet in a few miles. The hillsides are much more bare and there are few trees. The road down takes you along some scary rockslide hillsides. You can see fallen rocks on the side of the road and scrapes in the road where previous slides had been cleaned up. It is definitely not something you want to happen while you are on a bike.


More to come...

See more pictures here...

That "Dam" Ride - Day 2

I was up the 2nd day at 5AM. I had some breakfast, gassed up, and was headed out toward Kingman for the Arizona side of Hoover Dam by 6AM. The weather was nice but still a little on the warm side for that time of the morning. In Arizona they have these photo speed enforcement sites at various places along the roads and highways. All the other cars pulled to the right and slowed down, so I did the same. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I definitely didn't want an out of state ticket.


The route to Hoover Dam from Laughlin takes you toward Kingman, then North on Highway 93 to the dam. Highway 93 is under construction around the dam where they are widening it and making a river crossing to bypass the dam. You pass through some hills as you work your way down to the river. The construction limited our speed, so it was almost 8AM by the time I got to the dam. I parked at the first parking lot and snapped a picture of the dam. As I was getting ready to move on, one of the tour busses pulled right up to my bike and blew his horn for me to move. There was no bus parking sign where I was parked, but I guess they assume they can park where they want and everyone else has to get out of their way. Well, since it ticked me off getting scared by the horn of the bus, I took my sweet time getting my helmet on, too his annoyance. (I just need to pray more...)


Hoover Dam is really neat to see and even funner to ride across on a motorcycle. I was going to say it was "cool", but it's too hot there to be "cool". Even early in the morning it was hot. And I knew it was going to get real hot later, so I wanted to get my touring done as quickly as possible. I parked on the Nevada side in the cover parking garage and walked back across the dam snapping pictures along the way. I checked into taking a tour, but the cost was too high. I might go back and bring the family when I have more time, and when the weather is cooler. I grabbed a few souveniers from the shop and started out homeward bound by 9:30. Some people may think, why do you even go there if you are only going to spend a little over an hour there after all that distance. They would be missing the whole point, it's the ride not the destination. The destination is just an excuse for the ride!

Riding back through Las Vegas to Barstow was interesting. I had driven it in a car and new the speeds that others would be going, which was far beyond the speed limit. However, traveling myself at 75-80, I was not expecting to be passed by "gambling buses". Those dudes really move on. And they are LOUD. I don't want to hear one more person grip about my pipes, until they stick their head out the window doing 80 MPH with one of these buses 5 feet away. Deafening!

I stopped at Primm on the CA/NV border, fueled up, had lunch and headed toward Barstow. Traffic was fairly light for this road, which meant people could drive even faster than usual. I was moving along around 75, constantly being passed by everything on the road. The bike would run with the others, but going any faster the road bumps and wind just beat you up. So I found the fastest comfortable speed and ignored (as best I could) the other vehicles. I was making good time till we came to the inspection station outside of Barstow. There was no way I was going to do stop-and-go in this heat, so I proceed to share-the-lane up to the inspection station. In California it is legal for motorcycles to share lanes with other vehicles. Yes, it is legal for us to ride right up the middle of the road like that. It's also very scary at times, especially when some driver is upset because you can and he can't. I had a few cars try to squeeze me in, but a honk and some yelling usually fixes that. It also helps to be dressed in leathers so they think you are "bad".

Riding through the desert is hot business. Your worst enemy is dehydration. I installed cup holders before taking this trip so I could carry drinks with my in easy reach while riding. Usually I drink water or Gatoraid, but when I saw a Starbucks next to the gas station while I was fueling up in Barstow, I started craving a frappachino. It was while drinking this wonderfully cold drink down Hwy 58 that a group of out of state Harley bikers passed me. As they went by, I held up my frappachino in salute, with a few head shakes in return. These Kansas bikers must have had a good laugh at their next stop talking about the crazy California bikers that ride around on rice burners drinking frappachinos through the desert. But hey, what the heck, California is the land of "fruits and nuts". By the way, my little rice burner (Japanese-made bike to those who don't know) had no problem keeping up with those big, American Iron bikes, once I finished my frappachino that is.

I made it to Tehachappi in good time. Riding behind a California Dept of Forestry fire truck helped a lot. I sat in his wind draft and coasted along without most of the wind blasts I would have had to fight. I filled up, grabbed a cool drink and headed out to Bakersfield. I was getting anxious to get home. I hit Bakersfield and started up Hwy 99 towards home.

It was about then that my hinder parts were starting to suffer from a bad selection of jeans for the ride. The jeans I was wearing were bring on a bad case of heat rash. I was having to scoot around in the seat to find some comfort. I had been riding constantly since Primm on the border of CA/NV with only 2 gas/drink stops for about 5-10 min each. That had been close to 4 hours of constant, hot weather riding and I was beginning to feel it. Normally I would have stopped after 2 hours, but I just wanted to get home. It was getting so bad that when I stopped for gas at Tulare, I almost fell because I could not get my leg down because of the pain. But, I wanted to get home and I knew I was close. So, after a quick fill-up I was back on the road. Fresno was 45 minutes away and I could make it. By the time I pulled into the driveway, I almost couldn't walk from the pain. But I made it. I had ridden from Primm to Fresno in 5 hours, averaging 72 miles an hour, including 3 gas stops.

One reason I decided to make this trip was to see if I could handle long distance riding. The longest I had gone in the past was 300 miles in one day. On this trip the first day was 420 miles. The second day was 515 miles for a total of approx 935 miles. These are the two longest rides to date, but I'm hoping for others of equal or greater distances. Until then, I'll savor this ride for a while.

View more pictures here...

Visalia Relay for Life Bike Rally

I rode with my friend Bob and some of his friends in the Visalia Relay for Life Bike Rally. There was around 200 bikes there that day. We left the Harley dealership on Hwy 99 just north of Visalia and rode through the foothills behind Visalia. We ended up at a Pizza joint in town for lunch. A nice day for a ride, a little hot, but still nice.

Here are some pics. This is from one of the stops at a park on the way back into Visalia. Bob has the Gold Wing, his dentist has the BMW K1200RT and another friend was on the HD Road King.

That "Dam" Ride - Day 1

Hoover Dam or Bust!

I took the Tuesday off after Memorial day to make it a 2-day holiday. I had planned to play in the university's golf tournament, but after our team fell apart, I decided a motorcycle ride was a better idea. I've never been to Hoover Dam, and the weather wasn't too hot, so I decided that's where I was going. So mapped my route, calculated my gas stops, informed my friends (most of whom thought me a little odd), reserved my room (actually, that was my wife's job), and waited till that Monday morning when I would venture on my first real motorcycle ride lasting more than 1 day.

The route I had planned would be a 900 mile ride covering 3 states (that sounds so cool to say you rode through 3 states). And it would be a real test of my long distance riding. I've ridden 300 miles in a day no problem, but this would be back-to-back rides of 400 the first day, followed by 500 days the second. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive that I would not be able to make it. But I had to at least give it a try.

The first leg was from Fresno to Laughlin, Nevada where I would be spending the night. I left home on Monday morning at 8 AM. My wife, who was headed to Disneyland for 3 days with her close friend and her family, was up early and had made a run to Starbucks for a couple of cold ones. Everything had been packed and the tank filled the night before so all I had to do was put on my riding clothes and kiss my wife bye. I snapped a few pictures of the bike, checked my gear, and left the house. The morning air was really cold and I was grateful I had decided to wear my full leather jacket an not my mesh jacket. I hardly touched the cold frappachino, wishing I had a hot one instead.

I reached Bakersfield in good time with light traffic due to the early holiday time. Gassing up and grabbing a Dr Pepper, I headed East on 58 toward the Mohave desert. A word of wisdom to bikers who have not learned that open soda bottles and motorcycle riding don't mix, put the lid back on. Not 2 miles down the freeway I hit a good bump in the road and found my bike and myself covered in Dr Pepper. Very stick stuff that soda. It required another unplanned stop to clean the tank, the GPS, my helmet visor, and my jacket before proceeding. From then on all sticky drinks were in cups with lids and straws.

The ride up to Tehachapi is a steep climb. Fortunately, it's a 4 lane freeway. There was a lot of slow traffic on the road. Once I crested the top of the climb I was hit by the worst crosswind that I have ever experienced. I've ridden in some strong crosswinds, but this wind very nearly blew me off the road. It was all I could do to keep my head upright. It felt like someone was pushing my on the side of my head. After a few miles the wind changed and the was more tolerable. I guess that explains why they have about 100 of those giant windmills on the top of the hill looking over the town.



Mojave is only a few miles past Tehachapi, but looks like another world. Tehachapi sits on the edge of the Mojave desert, but is on the rainy side of the mountains and has grass and trees. Once you crest the hills above town with the windmills, the landscape changes to desert with sage and Joshua (cactus) trees. And the temperature between Tehachapi and Mojave is almost as much as the mileage between them.



Entering Mojave you see the famous Mojave airport, where they store airline aircraft not in use. You can see the aircraft lined up on the airfield. They store them here because of the dry temperate climate. This is also the airport where the Starship One aircraft flew into space a few years ago winning the X prize. I stopped at the McDonalds in town to use the restroom. While I was at McDonalds, I met a couple from Germany, Luther and Anna, who had rented a Harley Ultra in San Francisco. They were riding through California on their vacation. They had come out to Mojave to see the airline storage site, hoping to get a tour of the facility.

After topping off my tank, I rode around the airport, taking a few photos. As I started out of town, the bike started running rough, starving for fuel. I had to pull over and was thinking, "This is the end of my trip! Here I am stuck out in this place and someone's going to have to come get me". What an awful feeling it was. I turned the bike around and tried to ride it back into town. I managed to about a 1/4 mile back to the airport offices. As I was pulling into the parking lot the bike roared to life. What a wonderful sound that was. The only thing I could think of was that I somehow got some crud into the tank filling up at the gas station. I was able to turn the bike around and head to Barstow. Thankfully, I had no other problems with it the rest of the trip. Of course, I bought only Premium gas from that point on, so that may have helped.

After a quick lunch in Barstow I headed for Needles. The stretch of road is pretty straight and well maintained. Traffic toward Needles was very light, but the return traffic was loaded with boats coming back from Lake Havasu. I stopped for a quick fillup at Ludlow. The two gas stations there were making the money that day with all the holiday traffic.



If you have never been through the Mohave Desert, it can actually be very beautiful. There is quite a number of lava flows that are visible from the freeway. You can even stop and grab a lava rock along the way. It is a very serene ride, albeit a hot one. Not the place I would want to break down at. Every now and then there is a cool breeze you can feel that must be coming from the ocean through the mountain passes. But for the most part, it's a hot ride.

I made Needles in good time. I learned one thing about the town right away. You may think that name refers to the needle like rock formation that surrounds the town. That might be true. But I believe the name refers to the feeling of the heat on your skin. If you think Mohave is hot, then Needles (and the river basin) is hell! There is no wind at all. And even though you are down by the Colorado River, there is no cool breeze you would normally feel from it. It's just plain HOT! And I was needing some refreshment, so off to the local McD's for some sweet tea.

Laughlin is an interesting place. It was my first time there. Other than the gambling and the water sports in the river, there's not much to do there. Since I don't gamble, and it was too late for water sports, I just ate and went to bed.

(Click on the pictures for a larger view)

Morro Bay and back

One of my favorite Saturday rides is to Morro Bay and back again, 300 mile round trip. I've done the ride a few times on my Savage in about 6 to 6-1/2 hours. I had not made the ride on my Honda Shadow 1100 ACE so last Saturday was my day to go for it on this bike. I was hoping to be able to knock my hours down closer to about 5 hours, knowing I could sit in the Corbin seat longer.

Saturday morning came early. We had been at friends house the night before celebrating my wife's (mumble)-th birthday. So it was after midnight when I got in bed. I had planned to leave at 7Am so I would be home around lunch time. But I kept hitting the snooze button. I didn't get up till almost 8 and wasn't on the road till 8:30. When I left the house, I was contemplating not making the ride that morning, but headed in that direction anyway, jumping on Highway 41 South. Somewhere before reaching Lemoore I made my decision to go.

The ride out was uneventful for the first 120 miles. Traffic was relatively light for a nice Saturday morning and I was making good time. I passed through Kettleman City at 9:30 and kept going. With the larger tank on this bike I'm able to make the ride through to Paso Robles without stopping for gas. Kettleman to Paso Robles is 50 miles with no gas. The Savage has a small tank and the ride from Fresno to Paso is too close a call to take the chance. I have a 2 gallon aux tank and I usually use it on the Savage when I take it on this run. With it I can easily go 200 miles without stopping for gas. But for today, I knew I could best 120 miles without hitting reserve on the Honda.

Traveling through the hills south-west of Kettleman City I experience some heavy winds. This area is known for it's high winds and dry climate. Add to that the turbulence of trucks, RV's and travel trailers and you have some fun times on a motorcycle, especially if you have on loose clothing. My leather jacket can turn into a vicious weapon in the hands of turbulent winds. I had purchased it just after Christmas, my first true motorcycle leather jacket, only to find out how unfit it was for the winds of riding. It has a zipper in the middle with a flap that folded over and snapped. In any significant turbulence those snaps would come loose and the flapping leather would proceed to inflict pain on my unprotected neck and chin. It isn't much of a problem if I'm wearing a full face helmet, but I prefer my 3/4 helmet for it's lightness and comfort. After being flailed incessantly by the spring winds, I made a trip to Walmart and purchased some Velcro squares. I put them on the collars and folds to keep the wind from (easily) tearing them loose. However, this trip was a true test of the Velcro and I have to say that my face was very happy for it.

Highway 41 merges into Highway 46 near the place that James Dean had his fateful accident. There is a marker at a rest spot near the crash site. He is not the only life that has been lost on this stretch of road. This is one of the most dangerous roads in California. One reason is that this is largest road/highway between the south part of San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast area. There are many trucking companies that use this road to haul into the San Luis Obisbo, Monterrey, and even San Jose areas. In addition the Pismo Beach and Morro Bay areas are heavy tourist spots. It is not unusual to find many RV's, travel trailers and toy haulers on this road through out the year. With all the traffic on the road, you would think that it would be a divided highway. But, unfortunately, this is a two-lane road with the occasional passing lane. For some unseen reason, CalTrans refuses to upgrade it. So when traveling on this road, you flow with traffic and don't get in a hurry, that is, if you want to reach your destination. Fortunately, the trafic was good on the way to Paso Robles, not so on the return route.

I made it to Paso Robles in good time, turned south on the 101 and got off at the Highway 46 turn off. My trip odometer showed 120 miles and I needed gas. There are a few stations at this turnoff, my favorite of which is the Chevron with a McDonalds in it. Wishing I had time for a Sweet Tea, I filled up quick at the Chevron station and headed off down H-46 toward the Pacific Ocean. I have to tell you that this is my favorite part of the trip, and well worth the effort to get here, especially in springtime. The Highway 46 road from Paso Robles to Highway 1 is one of the most picturesque roads in California. There is a small range of hills that separate Paso Robles from the ocean. The Paso side of the hills has acre upon acre of vineyards. It competes with Napa and has quite a number of wine producers. I just love riding through the hills smelling the wonder fragrance of nature. Once your top the hills, you are treated with a gorgeous view of the coast line. From a vista at the top you can see all the way to the Morro Rock in Morro Bay. Even when the fog is heavy (which is most days) the top of the rock is usually visible from here. Today was an exceptional day with no fog limiting visibility. I just had to stop and snap a few pics with the camera on my phone. Someday I'll remember to bring a real camera with me when I ride. However, I may find myself with more pictures on my camera than miles on my odometer.



Once you top the crest of the hills, the temperature drops 10 degrees as the cold air starts coming in off the ocean. This air is denser than the area you have just ridden through and ever bit as windy. Needless to say, you must be careful. Something else to be careful of are critters. This is a non-developed area. There is a lot of wildlife here and the like to cross the road. A few cars found that out as what appeared to be some small animal ran across the road in front of them. The front car slammed on it's brakes and swerved. The rear car didn't react as fast and hit the back of the car in front. But, fortunately (for the animal) neither hit the animal running across the road. I, being prudent, was about a 1/8 of a mile back from the cars and was able to watch the show with very little avoidance necessary on my part. Always better to watch a crash than crash from not watching, I always say. Well, not always. But you get my point.

Highway 46 ends at Highway 1. This is part of the famous Pacific Coast Highway. If you head North from here you drive through some of the most beautiful coastal road in America, all the way to San Francisco. But today I'm headed south to Morro Rock. On the way there you pass through the town of Harmony, population 12. My parents have more brothers and sisters than that town has people. I've often wondered why they call the town Harmony. Obviously, they must have started with less people to come up with a name like that. It's very rare for just me and my wife to have harmony with the kids around. Then, again, well... I guess I'll that's just about all I'm going to say on the subject, because I'm already through the town before I can think any more thoughts.

Did I tell you that it drops 10 degrees when you crest the hills? Well, when you get to the ocean, it drops another 10 degrees. And, boy, is it windy. The stretch along the coast from Cayucus to Morro Rock is cold, windy, and not that fun. It opens up to a divided highway and the pace picks up. However, with the denser air, high winds and many hills, my bike was straining to just do the speed limit. It's amazing how cold this place can get. I used to surf and boogie board here when I was in college. My family lived just over the hill in Atascadero. Today I'm just wondering how in the world I did that without freezing to death. Of course, we did wear wetsuits. It makes me glad that I remembered to put on thermals for this trip. I would hate to freeze on this 10 mile stretch of road.



As I entered Morro Bay I stopped and snapped a quick picture of Morro Rock. Then I turned off onto Highway 41 and started on my return leg. I will be returning through Atascadero on the 41. This is a nice ride as well, but very curvy and slow. Once I reached Atascadero I discovered that they are widening the freeway overpass where I need to get on the 101. I had to proceed down the road and make a u-turn to get on the freeway. Traffic was heavy and it took me a good 10 minutes off of my time. Up the 101 and off at the same exit to get me a bottle of water and some beef jerky. Man shall not live by bread alone, I like beef jerky when I take a trip. Back to the 46 as fast as I can and a stop at the last gas station before Kettleman City to fill up. The wind is usually in against you on the trip back to Fresno so I wanted to make sure I had the most gas possible for this leg.

As I mentioned, the return leg on Highway 46 and 41 was slower than on the way there. Heavier and slower traffic was the norm all the way to Kettleman City. As I was nearing Kettleman, nature was calling enough that I didn't think I could make it all the way to Fresno. I had to make a pit stop. I pulled off at a Chevron that I knew had outside bathrooms that turned out to be closed for some sort of construction. I jumped back on the bike and decided I would stop down the road in Lemoore. However, the bike would not start. The starter would not crank. I check the transmission to make sure it was in neutral, verified the kickstand was up, made sure the run button was on, pushed it again and....nothing...nothing...nothing. All I could think of was that I was stuck in the "arm pit" of California on a beautiful day with a bike that won't start.

I began to tear the bike apart checking wiring, fuses, and anything that might be loose. Still no cranking in the starter. Just the occasional "click" out of about 20 pushes. I checked the lights and horn to see if the battery was run down. Everything looked OK there. Finally, I just gave up and went inside to cool down and think things through. I was fretting over what to do. I knew my wife would have no idea how to come and get me and the bike. And my brothers are impossible to reach on a Saturday. Finally, sitting in a booth sipping my McD's Sweet Tea (heavenly stuff), I hit me...just push start it! So I finished my tea, went out to the bike, threw on my gear, pushed it over to a hill, said a prayer, and ran like a crazy indian. Remarkably, the bike started the first time out, probably because it was still hot from the days running. I stopped at the bottom of the hill and made sure all my gear was tight before setting out. I knew I had just enough gas to get me home and there was no way I was going to stop till I got there. And, luckily, I did. Six hours after starting out I was back home pulling into my driveway. I turn the bike off and tried to start it. Nothing. Oh well, into the shop it goes.

Even with the difficulty's at the end it turned out to be a nice ride. I made my 300 mile journey in a decent amount of time given the stops and slow traffic. I also found my corbin seat perfectly comfortable setting me up for even longer day rides. My next trip I'm planning now is to head up the coast to Monterrey and back through Pacheco Pass, a 400 mile ride that will take about 9 hours to complete. But I am perfectly confident that I can make the trip comfortably on the Honda 1100 Ace, once I can get it started again, that is.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the pictures.

EDIT: The switch problem turned out to be a faulty starter switch (a common problem on Honda's it seems). I was able to clean and adjust the contacts on the switch and get it running again. I also ordered new switch kits for both sides since most of the handle bar switches are pretty worn out (51K).

Last summer's ride to Glacier Point, Yosemite

It's nice to live so close to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and Yosemite in particular. Yosemite is one of the most beautiful national parks to visit, the views are spectacular and easily accessible. One of the parks most spectacular views is the Glacier Point vista. It's also a wonderful ride for a motorcycle, as I found out last summer.

A couple from church, Don and Yvonne, and I had planned a Saturday ride up to Oakhurst for lunch by way of back roads through North Fork. I was excited because it would be the first ride on my heavily modified Savage. I had just purchased the Honda ACE a month earlier but was experiencing heating problems with it (which turned out to just be a bad radiator cap). So I decided to take the Savage on the ride.

The Savage had been at my parent's home where my youngest brother was doing some mods for me. I had purchased some full fenders made of fiberglass and was having problems getting the back mounted. So he modified the frame so the fender fit better, along with cutting down the seat posts to make the Harley Davidson Sportster seat fit better with the flow of the bike. He also helped me get the floorboards mounted. The bike had been out of riding shape for 4 months so I was really excited to get back on it to ride.

The Savage is a light, powerful bike. In stock form it can coaxed to pop a wheelie. Mine has an after market turnout pipe, a cone air intake, and converted from a belt drive to a chain drive with better highway gearing. It will easily cruise the freeway at 70, but still climb highway 41 to Oakhust at 65. I found no problem leaving Don's V-Star 650 in the dust. Of course, my bike weighs in at least 150 lbs less, and I was riding single to their double. My wife has yet to ride double with me and has not expressed any interest at all to any of my querries to do so. Some day I'm hoping to get her on either the back or front of one of my bikes. So far though, I've been without luck.

We meet up on a Saturday at the Starbucks at River Park and headed up the 41. We took the North Fork turnoff but saw that we were going to go through some road construction. We had to travel a 2 mile stretch of dirt road where they were reparing the old road. It was kinda fun doing a little "dirt tracking" on the Savage. The bike was holding up find and I was very pleased. The only thing not holding up well was my rear-end. Unfortunately, the HD Sporster seat was the stock one of the two sportster seats I own. It looks really good, but the padding causes my hinder parts to numb. I have a second seat with modified padding for better comfort, but had left the better looking seat on for the looks. A decision that would cause me pain and many stops for relief. I've ridden on the other seat for 2 hours without having to stop. This trip 15 minutes was a very, very long time.

Passing through North Fork we took the road to Bass Lake. We stopped there at a cabin owned by the owner of the company Don worked for. One of his coworker and her husband were staying there for the weekend. Her husband was also a motorcyclist and an owner of a HD Softtail. I was curious to see what he thought of my bike. He came directly over to it and stared it over good, asking what kind of bike it was. I asked him what he thought it was and he answered that it looked like an old Harley. Bingo! The very thing I was hoping he would say. Of course when I asked him if he knew of any singles that Harley made, he admitted he was stumped. So I told him it was a custom based on a Suzuki Savage. When he found out it wasn't a HD, he lost all interest in it.

From there we continued our ride up to Oakhurst for lunch. While we were enjoying our lunch we decided that such a nice day needed some more riding time. So Don and Yvonne suggested we ride up to Glacier Point in Yosemitee park. I hadn't been to that part of the park in several years so I was game. So we jumped on our bikes only to find out that the 4 months of inactivity had taken a toll on my battery. The Savage would not start. With no cables jumping it was out (needless to say, I now take cables with me on all trips). So we decided to push start it. It is interesting to note that hills are plentiful in the mountains. So having found a good one, we were able to push start it. That was a short trip though, because our next stop was a gas station on the other side of the street. And, yes, we had to push started it again after getting gas. Don and I were starting to get a work out, with more to come as the day went by.

We took the short ride up to the entrance to park, paid our day fare, and started toward Glacier Point. The traffic was heavy, being a nice summertime Saturday, and slow. My bike had the highway gearing on it and I was finding I had to constantly shift between 2nd and 3rd with the slower traffic. The ride took longer than we expected, but being it was such a nice day, we didn't mind much. Once we arrived at Glacier Point, I found a nice spot an the upside of the parking lot, expecting to need it for the expected push start we would have to do later. It turned out that this would be the only time it would actually start for me without pushing it. Maybe the higher altitude helped.

The view from Glacier Point is spectacular. If you are ever thinking of visiting Yosemite National Park, this is one vista you don't want to miss. The drive is a few miles off the main road from the south entrance. From this view you can see Half Dome, the whole Yosemite Valley and many of the main geological features of the park. There is also a snackbar and store if you want to get some souveniers or something to eat. Unfortunately, we were there right after a forest fire had occured just outside of the park which had disrupted the electrical power. The store had a very limited amount of "cold" drinks and food, not good on a hot day. They did have some frozen ice cream bars that were being bought up pretty fast. We were fortunate enough to get us some.

After enjoying the view we headed home. But before we left we did a few poses on a turn that allows a clear view of half dome from the road. You'll see those pictures below. The ride home was pretty uneventful, other than having to push start the Savage again in Oakhurst after getting gas. What started out as a simple lunch ride turned into an all day event. As is usually the case, I found another great place to ride in my neck of the woods. I'm planning a ride back with some more friends again this summer.

Hope you enjoy the story. I know you'll enjoy the pics....

What do you ride?

If you're here reading this, the first thing you notice is the website name, garyonasavage. This name comes from one of the bike's I own, and my first name of course, gary-on-a-savage. The savage is my 1996 Suzuki Savage. It's a 650cc, single cylinder, cruiser style bike. Suzuki is still making them today, but under the name of the S40 Boulevard. Mine bears very resemblance to it's original form. It's heavily modified with full fiberglass fenders, cut down frame at the seat, a HD Sportster seat, and new taillight and turnsignals. The belt drive has been changed to a chain drive and regeared for better highway speeds.

My other bike is a 96 Honda Shadow ACE. This one is pretty stock with the exception of the exhaust and seat, pretty much standard changes on any cruiser. I bought this year while I was working on the Savage. I hated being without a bike during the nice spring days. So when I saw this at a good price I scooped it up. It was high on the mileage, 46K when I bought it, but it's a well built design by Honda. I've already put another 5K on it with only a few of what you might call long distance trips. Most of that mileage has been just traveling to work and back.

For more pictures of my bikes, check out my BikePics pages.

To blog about motorcycle riding

This is my first time ever to blog. Although I've been involved with computers for the for the past 25 years, both consulting and programming, I've never been one to do the blog thing. Some of my fellow programmers are heavily into blogging about computers and software. Me, why would I want to write more about what I'm doing at work...don't I get enough work at work? So, if I'm going to blog, it'll be about something I want to share with others, namely my passion of motorcycle riding!

So if you find this blog by chance and are a fellow motorcycle enthusiast, welcome, and I hope you enjoy.