Sunny day provokes unplanned ride

[VisionMeister]

My friend Paul had been working on his 82 GS110e and called Sunday wanting to go for a test ride.
I have been busy with the holidays and was still in clean up mode. But, couldn't resist as the sun was out.
We waited till 2:00 pm to let it warm up as much as possible, maybe into the low 50's, and took off heading for lower elevations and even warmer temps.
It felt good to twist the throttle and motor away as I hadn't ridden since the first week of December and was quite frustrated with all the delays in my remodel that I had to ignore during the holidays.
We rode down Hwy 88 to Jackson at a good 70 mph clip, testing the cold adhesion of our tires on the sweepers and warming them up along with the suspension. The V felt very stiff in suspension compliance.
We turned south on Hwy 49 which was very cold in the canyon down to the Mokelumne river. At Mokelumne Hill we headed towards Valley Springs and turned off at Paloma Rd. which the CROV took in the opposite direction last fall.
The temperatures now warmed up some as we were 1000 ft lower elev. than where we started and were on southward facing hills.
We crossed the old Pardee dam as we headed north. This is a single lane road acroos the top of the dam with traffic lights at each end to control directions. You can't see across the dam as the road curves on top of the dam. Hope no one tries to run it from the other side.
We stop at the overlook of Pardee Lake where we can see the foothills and high Sierra rising up on the eastern side. The day is crystal clear and we feel good warming in the sun. It might even be 60 degrees. A couple stop by on a Trimph Sprint and Kawa Vulcan. They are from Roseville and have a 1 1/2 hour ride home (we're only thirty minutes back). They'll be after dark to get home.
They confirm good conditions on Stony Creek Rd. which we promptly take to take advantage of the last of the warmth. It's 12 miles of tight turns with lots of whoops and dips in the road. These are fun to blast full throttle to increase the G forces which compress our arms and back. Your head bobs around with the forces as you focus on the next apex or line of clear visibility.
By the time we're back to Jackson its getting colder with the elevation gain in the late afternoon. We head directly home without stopping for the obligatory ale at the National Hotel. We'll have two next time. 
My problems at home seem to have become minimized.

[don_vanecek]

Ah....nice.  And I may have three more months before taking even a short afternoon ride (but, hey look on the good side, there are no bugs around at the moment!).

[Tiger]

 8)Ahhhh, Isn't life just grand, V_M... 8)

[h2olawyer]

Sounds like a "warm-up" for Colorado riding in June!   ;D

I'm jealous . . ..  Glad you had a good ride.

H₂O