OC to Cayucos Ride Report

[michaelf3]

First of all, I want to thank Jeff, Bob and Jerry for coming. Extra thanks to Jeff for leading the the ride and showing us all the awesome roads. Jeff will have to post up the link to our route because it wasn't the ones he sent me two days earlier.

Day 1: OC to Cayucos

Jerry and I started in Garden Grove at about 8:30am and went to Long Beach to pick up Jeff and Bob at about 9:00am. While on the 405N just pasted LAX we were stuck in traffic due to an accident. Jerry gestured to Jeff to start splitting lanes and off we went; four bikes splitting. When we got to Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, we were once again stuck in traffic. Apparently, a motorcycle cop got into an accident because we saw the bike on a flatbed tow truck and there we tons of cops around. Not a good start I would say.

The ride got worst before it got better. Un-be-unknownst to Jerry, Bob and me, Jeff decided to take us on a surprise twisty detour on Highway 23 (Decker Canyon Road). About a few miles up, I was making a decreasing radius righthander and went wide on the corner. Correcting my mistake (bad riding skills), I made another mistake. I over corrected and ended up laying or should I say leaning the bike again the rock wall on my right. I actually never touched the road the whole time. Busted the right side of the upper cow, turn signal, and scratched my right side case. Nothing a few hundred dollars can't fix. "Busted bike=a few hundred dollars, road trip=priceless", my mastercard moment. My right foot got pinched against the rocks and for the rest of the day it was super sore. Luckily I came away without any other injuries. Come the second day, 95% of the pain had dissipated.

As you can see after the incident (not get off because I never actually was off the bike). The three amigos were deciding on my fate for this trip. They took pity on me and let me continue.

Bob "The builder" or is it "The f i x e r" did a great job at patching the not so pretty RWB. Side note: Can't believe the word f-i-x-e-r is actually a banned word here on VFRD.

With the bike all patched up and having lost any pride I have left except the need to feed a hungry stomach, Jeff lead us to this hidden hideout call "Ye Cold Spring Tavern". Nice little watering hole in the middle of nowhere. Jeff will have to post up the direction for those interested.

After having our fill, we headed for Solvang to see the Motorcycle Museum. Lots of nice old bikes. Here are a few photos. Jerry took a whole bunch. Maybe he'll feel like sharing soon.

Left Solvang and got to Cayucos around 6:00pm. The lady in pink at the counter of the hotel wanted to charge us $217/room for the night. I showed her my printed reservation with the pricing saying two rooms for $217. After awhile she relented and give us to rooms for the reservation price. Jerry wanted to thank her in his special way by offered to bring her a beer once we got back from the town center. Went to town (small coastal town) to get a bite to eat and brought back two six packs. We talked till almost 1am before turning in. Jerry never did bring the pink lady her beer. I bet she was waiting for Jerry all night. :blink:

Day 2: Cayucos to OC

Left Cayucos around 9:00am and headed to this one stretch of road Jeff called "Rossi Driveway". Did a couple runs and yes almost bit the dust again (dirt on the road). Made our way to highway 58, long stretch road but beautiful sensory and you can just about go as fast as you want on some stretches. Almost didn't make it out of Highway 58. I know my and Bob's gas gauges were blinking for a long time before we found a gas station. Well, we did find one gas station, but there were on pumps. We found a second gas station, but the station did take our credit cards and there were on attendant present. Finally we got to Taff on fume. My tank took 5.446 gallon to fill. I know Jerry was hypermiling Bob's bike to get to the third gas station.

After gassing up and ate lunch we were off to Ojai. On highway 33, a lady in a jeep in front of us wanted to full over to let us by and ran her jeep off the road. I guess this is what you get for trying to be nice. :happy: Luckily, her car didn't rolled and it appeared that there were no damaged to the car once it was pulled off from the side of the road.

Further on the 33, the twisty part of Highway 33, a biker crashed pretty bad and the road for closed for awhile. Once the road opened up, we high tailed back home.

Great awesome ride with great companions, what more can you ask for. Just got to do it more often.

[HispanicSlammer]

I know that bike! Same bike cause thats where it came from, the Solvang Museum. It was at the vintage races in Albuquerque NM. Cool post featured it.

[michaelf3]

I know that bike! Same bike cause thats where it came from, the Solvang Museum. It was at the vintage races in Albuquerque NM. Cool post, I would like to feature it but the pics are too wide - and the homepage does not resize (yet) if you resize a pic for me and put it smack at the very top to 640 px wide I will feature it. Or just upload one to the vfrd gallery it will resize a medium for you.

Pictures resized.

[V4 Rosso]

Nice pics and trip report :blink: But with having witnessed 4 crashes in two days, is crashing a regional sport in your area?

[JBAXX]

One of the things I like best about going on long rides is the different vistas you come across when out riding. We had everything from oceans, canyons, farmlands, forests, mountains and deserts. I thought more than a few times how beautiful California really is when you get out and experience it. Thanks to Jeff (NVR2L8) for picking some really great roads.

A few things that stand out in my mind:

Riding up the coast on PCH. Twisting through a traffic-free, newly paved single-lane forested mountain pass. Heading out toward the desert feeling like I'm in a time warp, with some of the canyons looking just like a scene from an old western movie with cattle, old buildings and windmills. Riding out of Maricopa the golden rounded hills and hazy blue sky looked surreal, as if someone painted one of those "fake" backdrops like they used to use in old movies all the time, and then the run up hwy 33 through the Los Padres National Forest was absolutely spectacular, as was the road. I really liked Ojai, it is a beautiful place.

And how could I forget - Rossi's Driveway! I found this youtube vid:

Unfortunately, we were riding most of the time and not stopping to take pictures, but I wish I could mount a still camera on my bike that would let me snap a photo when I come across an amazing vista, as there were many on this ride. Some day.

Oh, and Bob - next time you let me ride your bike in the middle of No-Freakin'-Where , make sure you put some gas in it!! :ohmy: :blink:

I had to nurse his 5th gen for about 40 miles with the reserve light flashing, but even that lent itself to the adventure of the ride! :happy:

As Michael said, I took a bunch of pics at the Vintage Motorcycle Museum.

Here are some highlights:

This is the first bike that caught my eye. Clean classic lines. The curator told me I have expensive taste - this bike is worth about a quarter of a million dollars. Please don't sit on it.

1940 Crocker Big Tank

I turn around and the next bike I see...

Britten. One-off carbon fiber exotica.

Mike Hailwood Racer

It was cool to see all the creativity and innovation by bike manufacturers

V-8 engine

Mini-Crankshaft

WWII era Bimmer with stick-shift

I really enjoyed these ultra-classics:

I'm not a Harley guy, but I really liked this one

Enjoy!!

[alwaysaware]

Thats too bad about Michael's bike. But parts are easier to fix than skin and bones. Sounds like you guys had a blast. Thanks for posting the cool pics. :blink:

[JBAXX]

Nice pics and trip report :happy: But with having witnessed 4 crashes in two days, is crashing a regional sport in your area?

More like 5. But then again, Michael didn't count his as an "actual" crash! :blink:

[JBAXX]

After gassing up and ate lunch we were off to Ojai. On highway 33, a lady in a jeep in front of us wanted to full over to let us by and ran her jeep off the road. I guess this is what you get for trying to be nice. :wheel: Luckily, her car didn't roll and it appeared that there were no damage to the car once it was pulled off from the side of the road.

We came up behind the Jeep on a remote twisty road and waited for a clean spot to pass. She must have been going 50-60 mph when She pulled onto this short gravel turn-out, ironically right at the beginning of a nice little straight. I was the 2nd bike past and had to move over to the unoccupied oncoming lane to avoid being showered with gravel. All I saw in my mirror was a huge cloud of dust, so we all turned around and found this lady sitting in her car, afraid to move as it was on the verge of rolling. So we counter-weighted the car by standing on the wheels, opened the door and pulled her out.

You can see her on the right in the 1st pic kneeling down in the orange jacket. She was shook, but remarkably calm the whole time.

You have to look closely at the 2nd pic, but you can see the Jeep on the right (behind the red 6th gen) on the edge of the ditch. What you can't see is how close it is to rolling down another 10-15 feet which would have surely totalled the Jeep and put this lady in the hospital (or worse). At the speed She was going this could have ended very badly.

A passing driver alerted a tow-truck who just happened to be in the area (mind you, this was a very remote road - how lucky can you get??) so we stayed with her until the tow-truck operator expertly and carefully pulled the Jeep out with what appeared to be no damage! For such a dangerous situation, she was extremely lucky.

She was very nice to us and thanked us for coming back to help her. I told her to go buy a drink and a lottery ticket!

[VFR Capt.Bob]

Nice pics and trip report :wheel: But with having witnessed 4 crashes in two days, is crashing a regional sport in your area?

In Michaels defense Decker Canyon is notorious for eating sportbikes of all skill levels. I've practiced on it and still dread the steeply banked, steeply inclined, blind decreasing radius turns that seem to be in new places every time you go up or down it. Plus theres about a 12" shoulder usually filled with freshly fallen rocks.

[VFR Capt.Bob]

Thank to Michael and Jeff for putting this ride together. Never knew I wanted to go to a place called Cayucos. Turns out, it's a neat little surf community crowded between the hills and the surf just above San Luis Obisbo.

Jeff took us on a lot of back roads I'd never been on. My favorite has to be Rossi's Driveway. Just a rollercoaster ribbon of new asphalt cut through a beautiful woods. My guess it would be physically painful to drive a car through such a twisted road.

We stayed up till 1am sipping ice cold Modello Negro and talking. Just reminds me there's a lot more to motorcycling that I enjoy that the Sunday morning ride.

Also wanted to mention I rode Jerry's 6th gen vfr and have to say it is one hell of a sweet machine. I really didn't want to swap back to my 5th but when I did I enjoyed it just as much. The 6th gen is way more refined ride and power IMO. I was having way too much fun to notice when I was chasing down Jeff's BMW well into the triple digits that the fuel gauge was flashing on the last bar. :ph34r: :wheel:

Laguna Seca Moto GP is coming in July. I'm gonna put together a ride through the same areas we rode for the trip up. Hopefully we can start on a Friday and arrive in Monterey in time for dinner.

[JBAXX]

Laguna Seca? Oh hell yeah, I'm in. :biggrin:

[michaelf3]

I managed last night to take off the upper cowl to asses the damages to the bike. Here are the damages after having had a closer.

Right Headlight - lens is okay, but the assembly is cracked

Right turn signal - broken

front fender - small scratches, no cracks (will replace anyway)

Upper cowl - broken

Right side cowl - big scratches, no cracks (will replace anyway)

All parts were ordered from www.ronayers.com. Ronayers.com had the cheapest price for the fairings and was only marginally ($3-7) higher on other parts such as signal lens, fender).

33100-MCW-A01 (Right Headlight Assembly) = $227.83

33410-MCW-K01 (Right Turn Signal Lens) = 29.43

61100-MCW-D00ZR (Front Fender *PB308P*) = 124.60

64205-MCW-K40ZA (Upper Cowl Set *PB308P*) = $347.65

64310-MCW-K40ZA (Right side Cowl - TYPE1) = $358.62

Miscellaneous items (nuts, screws, clips, ect...) = $40

The parts should be here in about 10 days and the bike should be like new by mid December.

Even with my mishap, this was a great trip. I hope to have many more trips in the near future with the great folks at VFRD.

[VFR Capt.Bob]

I managed last night to take off the upper cowl to asses the damages to the bike. Here are the damages after having had a closer.

Right Headlight - lens is okay, but the assembly is cracked

Right turn signal - broken

front fender - small scratches, no cracks (will replace anyway)

Upper cowl - broken

Right side cowl - big scratches, no cracks (will replace anyway)

All parts were ordered from www.ronayers.com. Ronayers.com had the cheapest price for the fairings and was only marginally ($3-7) higher on other parts such as signal lens, fender).

33100-MCW-A01 (Right Headlight Assembly) = $227.83

33410-MCW-K01 (Right Turn Signal Lens) = 29.43

61100-MCW-D00ZR (Front Fender *PB308P*) = 124.60

64205-MCW-K40ZA (Upper Cowl Set *PB308P*) = $347.65

64310-MCW-K40ZA (Right side Cowl - TYPE1) = $358.62

Miscellaneous items (nuts, screws, clips, ect...) = $40

The parts should be here in about 10 days and the bike should be like new by mid December.

Even with my mishap, this was a great trip. I hope to have many more trips in the near future with the great folks at VFRD.

Wow. Hurts to hear the damage. I could be wrong but the front fender looked like all it needed was to be buffed out. If nothing else I'd recommend selling both the front fender and side fairing as definately salvagable parts. Upper fairing is history.

I'm thinking of taking a track day riding class some time. I'll post up once I find a good deal. I think it'd go a long way in preventing the recent spat of riding mishaps. IMO you're a good safe rider from everything I've seen.

[michaelf3]

I didn't have to replace the front fender, side fairing or headlight, but I figured if I was taking the bike apart anyway might as well. Not sure what to do with the old parts, but I guess I'll hold on to it for now.

[JTG]

Wow. Hurts to hear the damage. I could be wrong but the front fender looked like all it needed was to be buffed out. If nothing else I'd recommend selling both the front fender and side fairing as definately salvagable parts. Upper fairing is history.

I'm thinking of taking a track day riding class some time. I'll post up once I find a good deal. I think it'd go a long way in preventing the recent spat of riding mishaps. IMO you're a good safe rider from everything I've seen.

Apparently I'm keeping my bike :fing02: because no one wants to offer me more than $3 for it (figuratively speaking of course) It pains me to let it go for so little, and since I don't really need the money I'm going to put it on a battery tender and store it in a corner of the garage.

That being said I've been wanting to partake in a track day riding class, maybe in the spring/summer. Not sure when you would plan on going but please keep me in the loop.

[VFR Capt.Bob]

Wow. Hurts to hear the damage. I could be wrong but the front fender looked like all it needed was to be buffed out. If nothing else I'd recommend selling both the front fender and side fairing as definately salvagable parts. Upper fairing is history.

I'm thinking of taking a track day riding class some time. I'll post up once I find a good deal. I think it'd go a long way in preventing the recent spat of riding mishaps. IMO you're a good safe rider from everything I've seen.

Apparently I'm keeping my bike :comp13: because no one wants to offer me more than $3 for it (figuratively speaking of course) It pains me to let it go for so little, and since I don't really need the money I'm going to put it on a battery tender and store it in a corner of the garage.

That being said I've been wanting to partake in a track day riding class, maybe in the spring/summer. Not sure when you would plan on going but please keep me in the loop.

I'll definately post it up well in advance and start PM-ing all the people who don't respond who I think would really like to but need a little push. In my mind nothing builds confidense better than knowledge and experience. Track School= best of both worlds.