October 14 friend and local banker John Harelson and I head East up through Ramona. It’s early Sunday morning, the sun is just cresting the Eastern mountains and the further we go the colder it gets. To put things in perspective, cold for a Southern Californian is anything below sixty degrees. As we wind up the 78 into the town of Ramona we enter a fog bank and in the moisture the temperature drops, the official low is 51, including wind speed and moisture it was damn cold.
Riding out old Julian highway and into Julian proper we made good time – not many people on the road in the early morning, just riders out looking for some fresh air and no traffic. On the way to Julian we detour down Wynola road, enjoying the twisty road and beautiful fall colors. We pass a group of wild turkeys standing by the side of the road and then wind into the town proper, stopping at the Julian Coffee House on the East side of Main Street, next to the gas station.
A few cups of coffee and the tanks topped up, John and I head East on the 78, to the desert of Borrego Springs. The ride down the mountain is fantastic, the air crisp and the wide-open roads phenomenal. We continue through the desert on the long, long road, past the sand dunes and desert rats. The Harley Sportster's XL1200 engine motors along a comfortable vibration coming from the v-twin, seemingly effortlessly moving us along at a cool 70 mph. North on the 86 we head up through the first traffic of the day to Salton City.
The Salton City area is the land of lost expectations with streets named Sea Oasis, Desert Shores, and other names that came from a more optimistic time. The Salton Sea has receded over time shore-front properties are now in the middle of arid lands, far from the water. Looking for a road that will take us to the water’s edge, we finally come across an RV park that has access to the sea.
We ride down one of two jetties to get a look out at the Salton Sea. Further out the water is blue, up close it is mostly clear. Most striking is the lack of activity; used to seeing people enjoying in water, boating, jet skiing, fishing, swimming and more, it is strange to see so much water with only the occasional bird.
Riding back we head up through the town of Borrego Springs and into the mountains. The air is remarkably blue and crisp, perfect riding weather. We ride back down into the valley and head back West on the 76. In all we cover 270 miles in about six hours. The whole time we are reminded of the beauty of rural San Diego, the sights, the sounds, the smells. All of nuance isn’t noticed in the climate controlled environment of a car.
Monday, October 22, 2007
From Sea to Sea with Desert in Between
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Slow Isn’t Always Safe
On Sunday I had a chance to get out and run “the East County loop” as I’ve come to call the ride from the 395 North, to the 76 East, to Julian, and then back home via 78 West. To mix things up on this ride I ran the loop in reverse, hitting Ramona on the 78 East, to Julian, etc.
On this ride I encountered significant traffic on the 76 leg, pretty much from Lake Henshaw to the 15. The most frustrating of the traffic was a driver in a Mercedes SLK doing between 35 and 40 from the lake to the Pala Casino. The speed alone would have been marginally frustrating but it was a nice day and having a relaxed ride is not a bad thing. What was frustrating and dangerous was the build-up of cars behind the SLK, and more worrisome, my Sportster.
One ass rode the back of my Harley-Davidson for a good five miles. To try and be as safe as possible I put some distance between my front wheel and the car in front (an SUV behind the SLK). By the time the Mercedes reached the casino there must have been close to two-dozen vehicles (cages and bikes) stacked up. The driver and passenger seemed completely oblivious to what was going.
Now I know that twisty roads can be problematic for drivers and riders alike and that’s fine. Do what you do within your limits and be safe but please, use the turn outs to get out of the way and let the other motorists pass. What's safe for you may not be safe for those around you.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
The First 300+ Miles on the Sportster Custom
This week I’ve put over 370 miles on the Sporty including 160 on Saturday that included destinations in Julian and Oceanside. I continue to be amazed by the bike overall; it is very comfortable for clocking miles, handles well in the twisties, and has plenty of power. I am mostly surprised with how well the Harley-Davidson handles.
Going through very tight turns you can really lean the Sportster over and feel very confident in the control. The only thing to watch for is gearing, you want to be low enough in the gears to leverage the copious torque through the turns. I found that the Sporty and I performed best when looking as far as possible through the turns, and if I got fixated on the rider in front the ride became significantly less smooth and enjoyable.
My neighbor Doug and I did the 130 mile Julian loop in about three hours. Now that we’re into Fall the weather and scenery are perfect for riding and it stayed cool enough for jackets the entire time. The ride out to Oceanside on the 78 was less enjoyable but I made good time. The amount of turbulence at speed is significant without a windscreen and I can feel the effect in my back and shoulders.
Doug has a great pair of riding glasses from Panoptx that include the Photochromic Day/Night lenses that adjust the tint based on the ambient light. They go from clear to a fairly dark tint without the need to change lenses. This is a perfect solution for riders, especially those with open-face helmets, who don’t won’t to limit their riding by time of day and don’t want to pack multiple glasses or lenses. This week I found myself riding at night with my blue-blocker lenses, not impossible to see but they certainly limit the effectiveness of the excellent Sporster Custom headlight. Harley-Davidson also has a line of riding glasses with Day/Night lenses that I plan on checking out soon.
Taking the coastal 101 from Oceanside to Carlsbad capped the day – those of us in San Diego are really fortunate to have such great riding destinations and weather. Average mileage for the day, 46mpg which is pretty good considering the Sporty is still in the break-in period. I expect to see the mileage climb above 50 mpg as we get closer to the 500 mile mark.
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