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CROV, Fall Ride, see the pictures!!

Started by glennw, October 07, 2004, 09:34:10 AM

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glennw

A 6:30 am start put up put me in Johnsondale about 2:30 pm. I took the twisty route out of Santa Barbara through the local wine country. Nothing like the morning air! ?Highway 154 through Santa Ynez to Foxen Canyon (high speed sweepers!) and out to the mostly straight highway 166. 80 miles later I got through Bakersfield and then took Breckenridge Road, a new road for me 42 miles across the ridgetop. It starts out a wide two lane through some Orange groves. Soon it?s short dry grass and rolling hills as it gets narrower you pick up a few cows on and alongside the road. Boy are cows STUPID! I had a Mexican standoff with one untill I put my light in her face an dip a little ?hop? with the clutch. Sometimes I wish my V had louder pipes! Anyway you keep climbing up and up this road untill you get to some well fenced ranches with a lot of no tresspassing signs on both sides of the road at about the 15 mile point. The longest straightaway so far has been about 1/8 mile. Then it turns into a very nicely forested road that goes on and twists for another 15 miles or so. It has so many trees you are in the shade 90% of the time. I don?t know the altitude but I would guess in the 6000-7000 ft for range.
Then you come out of it and go down about 10 miles of switchbacks until you come out near the tiny town of Havila. It was about 85 degrees when I was coming down into the lower (3500 ft) elevations so I opened the shield on my full face to get a little air and BINGO! BUG IN THE EYE! I still had a ways to go down the hill when I came upon a firemans pick up coming up the road. Trying to pass with one eye on a narrow road is no fun!! Finally I got to the bottom. It took me 2 hours to go 42 miles!
The road from here is a blast all the way to Johnsondale, so much so we all took the road the next day.
I sure wasn?t going to complane about doing it again. The rest of the roads we took will show up in the others stories I?m sure. Along with a lot more cow encounters!
Where are the photos guys?
Ron and Sharon had a great set up for everbody, even covered parking for the bikes. All we had to do was RIDE!
GlennW

 

Half Mad Max

Ron_McCoy

This last weekend the California Riders of Vision held their first annual
    Autumn Rally.  We had seven Visions, aGTS 1000, a Venture Royalle,
    nine riders and several co-riders in attendance.  My wife Sharon and I
    hosted at the "R Ranch" at Johnsondale, Ca, 4720 ft elevation in the
    Southern Sierra pines.  Glennw, H20 Lawyer, and Supervision arrived
    through the afternoon Friday.  Gbranche and family, his wife Mary,
    Matt(Vision Rider), Ryan, Stephanie, Catherine, and Gabrielle arrived
    in the evening accompanied by Brian, soon to be known as Dirty Vision,
    Moffet. Don Minor made his appearance later in the evening.
    VisionMeister arrived Saturday morning. After much drinking of coffee,
    taking of pictures and getting Don's Venture started(same starter clutch
    and starter clutch problems as the Vision) we headed down the river
    to Kernville. While gassing up we met Cougar Dave and got to show
    off our bikes to him and talk about Visions. I hope you can ride with us
    next time Dave.  We then headed off for a loop through the mountains.
    We went through Wofford Heights, Isabella, and Bodfish(yes,that's
    really the name) to Caliente-Bodfish Road and through Walker Basin,
    the Lions Trail to very near the epicenter of last weeks earthquake,
    Caliente Creek road and back to Caliente-Bodfish road with a cultural
    stop at the museum in historic Havilah. This was all on twisty, winding
    mountain road with many elevation changes and curves that varied from
    tight hairpins to long sweepers. For me this was a chance to show off
    some of my favorite riding areas.
    Back at Kernville, we had lunch at the Pizza Barn then headed back up
    the river to Sherman Pass road. The first few miles are spent riding
    through the aftermath of the 2002 McNally fire but finally the alpine
    forest returns as you near the top of the pass at 9200 feet where there
    is a lookout with a fine view up the Sierras including Olancha Peak and
    Mt Whitney, the highest peak in the contiguous United States. We
    returned to Johnsondale for another evening of enjoyable conversation.
    Sunday morning our riders started leaving as many had long hours of riding
    before they reached their destinations.  Sharon and I had a swift ride
    down to Springville with the Branche family before returning to pack up
    and head home.
    We had a most enjoyable weekend of great companionship and riding
    and hope to do this again many more times.

Brian Moffet

#2
Ah yes, the cows. ?"Beware of Cows" Ron said as I headed home.

Greg had set up to take our pictures as we came around a corner. ?We came flying through, around the second corner to come face to face with 2 steers (the horns on both were probably 6 feet from tip to tip). ?By the time I went through, which was before Don on his Venture Royale, these two looked like they had enough of these mad sewing machines ripping through their area. ?

Yes, they were on the side of the rode, there was nothing between us and them, and they had larger horns than most people find on a Vision :-)

Brian

glennw

#3
Brian, I simply told the cows to "moooove" over.
And when did you have time to notice they were steers?
It's a good thing my full face & tinted shield hid the look of terror on my face, I thought they were BULLS!
GlennW
Half Mad Max

h2olawyer

Finally made it back to Colorado & home last night.  Thanks again to Ron & Sharon for hosting & Glenn' help in planning such a great event.  Well worth the 2800 mile round trip!  ;D :) ;D :D ;D  I'm gonna suffer from permagrin for the next few weeks.

Tons of fun meeting & riding with everyone.  Quite a change from my normal solo rides.  While we have roads that tight and confined in my part of the country, none of them are paved.  What a great set of nearly nonstop twisties!

Found this site when I got home: //www.pashnit.com/roads/cal/Caliente-BodfishRd.htm and thought - wow, I've been there & ridden that.  There are other links within the story to additional riding in the area.  Fairly good description and photos of the road.

The dual disc project I finished the day before I left Colorado performed flawlessly & it was a good thing! (mooo).  Some of the parts I ordered finally came in while I was gone so I can now get the braided stainless lines installed correctly (instead of it'll do).

Didn't take too many photos but have some of the bikes lined up in Johnsondale that I'll post soon.

Glad everyone made it to their destinations safe and that a great time was had by all.  I'll definitely try to make it out to another CROV "shake rattle & ride" in the future.

H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

supervision

Glad to see your home, sure was a good time!    Nice to meet ya Rob, see ya again.. Dave
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gbranche

(better late than never - hey, it takes time to put together a picture web site...)

After getting out of San Jose a little late, Matt (my son) on the Vision, Catherine (my daughter, riding with me), and I (on the GTS) blasted down US-101 to CA-25 to Hollister, followed by my wife Mary and the rest of the children (Ryan, Stephanie, and Gabrielle) in the Grand Cherokee. It was there that we joined up with Brian "DirtyVision" Moffet. From there, we continued down CA-25 south of Hollister, until we turned off onto Coalinga-Los Gatos Road, a small, twisty, sometimes-one-lane strip of pavement that winds it's way through the coastal range and into the Chevron-Texaco oil production facilities just outside of Coalinga, CA. If you ever have the opportunity to take a ride down this road, you will not regret it (except, maybe, for the one cattle grate that SHOULD have been labeled as a "Dip", but isn't, and that will bottom out your suspension...) There's good clean pavement from one end to the other, and very little traffic. A most enjoyable ride.

We stopped for fuel and a passenger change in Coalinga (I swapped Gabrielle for Catherine), then continued east until we picked up I-5, which we used to make up a little time as we headed south. We exited at Utica Ave, and rode across the central valley to Earlimart. Since Brian hadn't fueled up in Coalinga, I figured he was probably running on fumes by now, so I pulled into a convenience store to allow a fill-up. (That's where most of the "Arrival" pictures were snapped.)

From there, we continued east, and used California Hot Springs Road to make our way up to Johnsondale. Once again, CalTrans provided a most excellent two-wheeled playground, except for allowing clueless cage drivers on the road. (We ended up behind a Taurus that absolutely refused to acknowledge the purpose of the turn-outs provided in many locations along the road.) Because of the delays earlier in the day, and the aforementioned cage driver, it was fairly dark by the time we got to the Pine Flat turn-off, so we had to dial it back a little to account for the anemic lighting available to most motorcycles. I had mounted a pair of PIAA 1100X driving lights to my GTS a couple of weeks earlier, and they helped, but not enough to maintain the pace. We arrived in Johnsondale around 8:00 PM on Friday evening. Ron, Sharon, Glenn, Rob, and Dave were already there. Don pulled in on his Venture shortly after.

The next day dawned bright and clear (what? You expected any less in California? :) ), and that's when Craig joined our merry band of V-twin floggers. After the obligatory family portait, and a few pots of coffee, Ron led us along the Kern River to Kernville, where we descended upon an unsuspecting gas station like a swarm of starving locusts. After draining the pumps dry (or seemingly so), we went to a park on the banks of the river, which is where Cougar Dave caught up with us. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to bring along his Vision, but was able to soak in the atmosphere and Vision aura, and hopefully got back home with plenty of incentive to get his ride running.

From there, we used CA-155 to get to the town of Lake Isabella, and on to points south. Ron led us up the aforementioned Caliente-Bodfish road, where he stopped at a convenient overlook for some photo opportunities. After a brief stop, we continued on. After arriving at a "T" intersection in a wide valley for another quick rest, my son Ryan (passenger) and I went on ahead, and found a relatively decent location for some action photos. After waiting for the string of bikes to arrive and pass through (while I was taking shots of all that I could), Ryan and I mounted up and played catch-up with the group. My wife Mary had stopped just a little further down the road, and was able to get a shot of me in the curves too, so that's how we managed to get a picture of everybody in action. (Glenn, I apologize for the out-of-focus shot. You guys just came through too quickly - the camera couldn't react quickly enough. I guess I should have had my 20-year-old Canon  A1 along.) After a countless number of curves, hills, and steer, we arrived at a wide, shady pull-out , which is where we stopped for a breather.

For the return trip, Ron led us along Walker Basin Road, a fine route on it's own. Lots of fast sweepers, lots of slower, tighter curves, and not much straight pavement. This took us back through Lake Isabella (fuel stop), and then back to Kernville for a late lunch of pizza. Those of us that needed to filled up in Kernville, and then the majority of us headed up Sherman Pass road to the summit. Don had had enough of muscling the Venture through the twisties, and so headed back to the cabin for a shower and some rest. Rob also headed back to the cabin, apparently having had his fill of California roads. Sherman Pass road was another two-wheeled playground, and I took advantage of the opportunity. The view from the summit was breathtaking, and the ride back down was even more so. (I can't comment on the scenery going up or coming down - I was spending way too much time concentrating on the riding.) We arrived back at the cabin and bedded down our steeds just before a rare thunderstorm moved through the area. We spent the rest of the evening swapping stories and experiences.

By the next morning, the storm had moved on (as thunderstorms do), and the day was once again perfect for two-wheeled transportation. Most folks left before 10:30 or so, in various directions, to return to a more normal existence. The Branche and McCoy families stayed behind for packing (always seems to take longer for a family of 7), a little additional socializing, and lunch. After lunch, we headed out of Johnsondale, and took the Western Divide Highway to CA-190, and down into Springville. This was yet another amazing road, with the additional pleasure of seeing an SUV pulled over by CHP after failing to yield to faster following traffic. (Well, I don't know if that was the actual infraction, but I do know they failed to yield to us, and were pulled over a little later after we had stopped for an ice cream break.) It was in Springville where we parted ways with Sharon & Ron, with them heading back to the cabin for a final pack-out, and the Branches continuing on through Porterville to some of the lesser-used roads of the central valley (again), finally getting on CA-198 past Le Moore NAS and into the Coalinga area once again. After getting some dinner, we went north on I-5, exiting at Little Panoche Road for a diversionary route back to CA-25 through the Panoche valley.

We arrived back home around 9:00 PM, after a very enjoyable and fulfilling weekend. The riding was the best that I've had in a long, long time, and the company made it so much more enjoyable than it would have been alone. Thanks to Ron and Sharon for providing the best accommodations possible (perfect in every way), and for all of the attendees for making it all so much fun. I especially want to thank Don for allowing my daughter Stephanie to occupy his passenger perch on the Venture, so that she could enjoy the riding with the rest of us.

You can count me in for the next one. (Maybe we'll have to explore Northern CA for a change...)

Oh yeah, did I mention the pictures? Enjoy!

Greg

glennw

Great Pics Greg!
I guess I was going faster that I thought.
GlennW
Half Mad Max

Ron_McCoy

   Great pictures and report Greg!

            ;D ;D ;D ;D

supervision

  Thanks for the write-up and pictures, good work!  Sure was fun and I'm looking forward to the next one.  Probably have to wait till spring ... or we better meet real soon!!   Dave
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supervision

Cool bikes, Harley makes those, right?  Who were those guys?  
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dtknox

Congratulation! It sounds like it was a great ride and you pooled togther more Visions, in one place, that I have ever hear of.

I was looking at the photos and noticed the front caliper on the gray Vision (the one with only the upper half of the fairing) it does not look like the original caliper. If that is a two or four piston caliper, I would like finding out more about the upgrade.

If the owner could post the information (on the caliper, mounting and master cylinder) on the main board, it would be great.

Thanks

Dale
Vision 82
Ducati M750 97

h2olawyer

Dale -

I think you are wondering about Ron McCoy's bike.  He has done some extensive modifications to his Vision.  Bigger forks & better brakes - dual system using the 82 Vision discs but better calipers.  I think I remember the specifics but will let him give you the details so they are correct.

I also (finally) have my few pictures available for viewing.  There are a few of all the bikes (except Don's Venture that didn't want to start until after I put the camera away), and each bike shown individually.

http://home.comcast.net/~h2olawyer/photo4.htm

Here's one of just the 7 Visions together:



H2O
If you have an accident on a motorcycle, it's always your fault. Tough call, but it has to be that way. You're in the right, and dead -on a bike. The principle is not to have any accident. If you're involved in an an accident, it's because you did not anticipate. Then, by default, you failed.

Lucky

Gotta love the cantileverd front end on that GTS, We saw several early examples of that design on our Yankee run at the vintage meet.
1982/3 XZ550 Touring Vison, Gold on Black

VisionMeister

Thanks Greg for all the hard work to post the pics. It was a great compilation of the weekend.
Also wanted to nominate you for hardest on the brakes on the Sherman Pass downgrade. I've always heard that is where those GTS front ends excel; braking and steering forces separated. Never even smelled them getting hot but, I just couldn't keep up. Especially deserving since you had a passenger. Call it the Kevin Schwanz late braking award (Schwanz first club raced a Vision when he started roadracing).

gbranche

QuoteThanks Greg for all the hard work to post the pics. It was a great compilation of the weekend.
You're welcome.

QuoteAlso wanted to nominate you for hardest on the brakes on the Sherman Pass downgrade. I've always heard that is where those GTS front ends excel; braking and steering forces separated. Never even smelled them getting hot but, I just couldn't keep up. Especially deserving since you had a passenger. Call it the Kevin Schwanz late braking award (Schwanz first club raced a Vision when he started roadracing).
Thanks for the recognition. Sometimes I don't understand all the complaining about the single-disk front end of the 82's. (Manadatory Vison content...) I only have a single-disk on the GTS - of course, it's mounted in the center of the wheel, and is being squeezed by a six-piston caliper... :) As far as I know, the GTS still has the best braking performance of any production machine, and it's over ten years old now. (IIRC, the road tests ended up with an average 60-0 distance of around 90 feet.) I'm hoping Yamaha will produce a GTS 1300 (engine and drive train from the FJR1300 with the RADD front end), but until then, I'll just have to make-do with the one I've got.

Greg

Ron_McCoy

So, if I took a single disc front end and mounted six calipers..............................