I mentioned that I got back from an 800 mile ride, and Mdubya suggested a ride report, so here it is. I figure this is the best forum for it. Sorry, no pix, but I'll throw in a Google map to show the route. The board might not let the map display, just open the link in a new window.
http://www.levelfive.com/PM/Ride_2.jpg
I was invited to visit my friend and employer, Lee Parks to attend as a student the first Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic of the season. It's been about 2 years since I taught the class and needed a refresher on the curriculum, and it was good to get a tune-up on my riding skills as well.
So, I packed a small bag, checked over the DRZ -- coolant, check, recent oil change, check, oil on the dipstick, check, extra air in the tires for a long ride, check, lube the chain, check. The weather was crap when I left Oakland - about 55* and raining (before y'all jump on me about Ooooh, it's 17 and snowing here, I KNOW, I know.) The weather is tricky here - the numbers seem like it ought to feel warmer, but it's really damp air, which is quite chilling -- I figure there's about a 10* fudge factor - 50* here feels like 40* there.
I got a late start at about 11am, so I figured I'd just take the highway all the way down. On the map, you can see that there is a line to the east that runs straight down I-5. I-5 is a bit like 50 to Ocean City - it gets you there, but is soul-sucking with only a little bit of agricultural scenery to entertain you. If I had either a truck or trailer, I-5 would be the way to go, but in the future, if I'm on a bike, I'll avoid it like the plague. Google said it would be a 6-hour ride. Right.
The area circled in yellow is an area known for high winds -- the Monterrey bay (Laguna Seca, Moto GP, easy ride from Oakland!!) is to the West, which is flanked by mountains, and the Sierras to the East have a low(er) spot near Shaver Lake. This causes the wind to rush in off the coast, literally funneled by the geography. It lived up to it's reputation: I had to lean about 15* to the right to keep my bike in my lane in certain spots, and the headwinds were so strong that on a couple of the uphill sections, I found myself on the throttle stop to maintain 75mph. Throw in rain, turbulence from tractor trailers, and other features such as bridges that blocked the side winds, and just staying in my lane was a full time and attention gig. Plus, the rain cover on my luggage blew off, causing some worry about my laptop, but fortunately, I was about out of the rainy weather.
The area circled in green is the big-money heavy industrial farming area of the Central Valley. This is where they grow billions of acres of crops, all densely packed to take advantage of every square inch of land. At the moment, fruit trees are blooming, and in several spots, when I crested a hill, it looked like the valley was covered in pink snow. In a week or two, when those billions of acres of fruit trees are dropping their blooms, I expect that the ever-present winds will swirl up a pink snowstorm of petals.
Interestingly, on this segment, I was trying to run between 75 and 80 mph with the majority of the traffic, combined with the headwinds, I got really crap mileage -- 24 mpg! I guess running it nearly flat out, with the shift light flickering on and off isn't too good for mileage. I ran my Valdez-class 3.9 gallon tank onto reserve in just 90 miles. On the next segment, I backed it down to maintaining 65 mph, and was rewarded with a return to 'normal' economy of 44 mpg.
Approaching Bakersfield, the land turns to desert, at first glance, it seems to be populated mostly by a buncha nothing, with sprawling areas of suburban development. It's just that the pretty stuff in the desert is either really big or really little and you have to adjust how you observe things to have an appreciation. This is a land where people set up MX tracks in their yard, and can ride completely off-road and completely legally on hundreds of thousands of square miles of gov't land (BLM - Bureau of Land Management) that is not regulated like Park Service land.
I arrived in Victorville at about 9pm. The next couple days were spent working and riding, the course was good, and I enjoyed my visit.
On the way back, Lee gave me a suggested route. If I had two days to do it, I would have continued on past Atascadero and ridden up the coast on the Pacific Coastal Highway, indicated in dashed blue lines on the map. Practically vibrating from excitement, I woke at 6:30, ate a light breakfast, packed, and left at 8 am. The route was all on numbered state roads -- 15 to 18 to Palmdale, 14 to a 1-exit jaunt on 5, getting on to 126 to 150 toward Ojai. A right turn onto 33 toward Taft, to 58 at McKittrick. 58 runs to Santa Margarita, where I picked up the 101 to go home.
The red circles are the best spots - 14 is dashed because it's just a highway, but the scenery is spectacular. It passes between two parks, and the mountains are amazing. 33 and 58 are circled because it's simply the best of everything - amazing twisties, amazing grippy surface (although there was a lot of water-management maintenance that spewed sand and dirt out onto the road, and rocks DO fall onto the roadway with alarming regularity, and usually right at the apex of a blind turn), amazing scenery, and a stunning lack of traffic -- granted, I was riding it on a Tuesday.
On 33, the yellow circle between Taft and McKittrick represents oil country. As heavenly as Ojai is, Taft is hellish. It's an oil town. Think There Will Be Blood. It's fascinating in a sort of gritty, black, sooty, pre-silicon, eco-savage sort of way.
Although I've never been there, 58 feels like Scotland - cattle ranches drape over lush green rolling hills with ropey roads that swoop and cling to the landscape like a string of pearls on the prone figure of a slender, fit college girl. In places, there were fields of Black Eyed Susans, which colored the distant hills like smoky gold and green phase-change "flip" paint favored by the bling-bling crowd, with a different shade depending on the angle which you were viewing it. Other spots had sage-colored, twiggy plants, and those hills looked like heather-green nylon velour blankets.
I was worn out by the time I reached Santa Margarita. In the post-riding-class buzz, I was definitely riding a bit faster than my usual pace, although not scary-fast and completely within my skills with no attention-getting 'moments'. Just that ceiling on my skills had been raised a bit. I'll admit this: I had sensory overload and was relieved to get on the highway. I paid too much for gas and scored a pretty decent Mexican dinner in Soledad, and arrived home at about 10:30 pm.
Lessons learned:
* If you have a narrow-seat dual sport, get a Sweet Cheeks - it's a funny little fabric saddle bag that triples the width of your seat.
* No matter what you ride, get an AirHawk - it will double your miles-per-day threshold.
* If your GPS freaks out, relax, delete route, reboot it, and re-enter your waypoints.
* Write down your waypoints before you reboot the GPS.
* Check your oil at every gas stop.
My DRZ has been great in this regard for 8k miles. Even on last summer's 1500 mile trip to Indy, I didn't need to add a single drop of oil. At my last gas stop, it sounded fine. When I got off at my home exit, it sounded clattery. There was no oil showing on the dipstick. With any luck, I'll just be able to add oil and everything will be fine. If not, my desire for a big-bore stroker motor may get bumped to the top of the priority list.a
and this after you asked for a ride reports forum! 
