Sierra ride, 4/26-27/08

Yesterday I felt kinda cranky and sniffly, so I decided to go for a ride in the hills. I had just had my bike serviced and a new rear tire put on, plus I put a new fork brace (SuperBrace) on to see if that would help with low-speed handling. Which it did.

So anyway, I left Alameda around 1:30pm and headed east. Took some boring freeways into the Delta, then 12 east to Kettleman Road to 88, just past Lodi. Then I hopped back onto 12 and then onto highway 26, which was a lot of fun, at least until I tried to find a shortcut back to 88 and came across this:



This is a road called Schaad Road. "Schaad" in Dutch means "damage," so I decided not to take my chances. So I backtracked back to 26 and wish I'd stayed on it, because just before the junction with 88 it swoops down into and then back out of a deep, forested valley. Very pretty.

Finally I got back on 88 east. There was plenty of snow at the higher elevations.



The lake near Kirkwood was frozen.



As was the one a few miles beyond, just below Carson Pass.



The condition of the road was OK. There were some big-ass rocks around the Carson Spur, probably caused by the rapid snowmelt -- the snowpack contains plenty of rocks and other nasty stuff, in addition to plain old water.

By the time I got to Markleeville, it was around 7:00pm and starting to get dark.



Nonetheless I headed up Monitor Pass.



Here too, the road conditions were mostly OK, with just a little grit and pea gravel along the edges of each lane.



The shadows were getting long over the backside of Monitor. Amazingly, though, the temperatures were quite tolerable. I didn't even have to plug in my Gerbing liner.



I tried to take a picture of myself, but I clearly still have a lot to learn about my new camera, in particular about the self-timer setting.



By the time I got to 395, it was almost completely dark. I made my way up to Carson City, found a room, and had a late dinner.

Today I had another leisurely start, leaving the *$ in north Carson City around 11:00am.



After a short ride down 395, which is not very nice, I took Jack Valley Road toward Genoa. While sedately cruising through town at the mandated 25mph, I realized just in the nick of time that there was a 4-way stop there. Oops. Fortunately there wasn't any cross traffic.

Then I got on NV 207, the Kingsbury Grade, which is 9 miles of fast uphill sweepers followed by 2 miles of tight downhill twisties.



Unfortunately there's quite a lot of traffic.



At the end you're rewarded with a view of Lake Tahoe. After a late breakfast at an IHOP in South Lake, I got back on Hwy 50 for the ride home. Just past Echo Summit I saw a line of 7 CHP SUVs eager for action, so clearly some caution was in order. I mostly stayed within the limits, then at Pollock Pines I turned off onto Sly Park Road to avoid the chaos around Placerville. This also turned out to be a very fun little road, at least the first 15 miles or so. Took this down to Plymouth, then Hwy 49 for a bit, then 124 into Ione, and finally back into the Delta for the rest of the ride home.

After turning onto 160 from Twin Cities Road, I went straight instead of going into Isleton, and ended up on a Winding Levee Road (tm).



Then a ferry.



And then another one.



From the deck of which I got a shot of Mount Diablo, which meant that my trip was almost over.



Total mileage for the weekend was about 560.

Great pics of a great ride. Is that the tall windscreen on your bike. Looks like it provides great wind protection.

Thanks! No, that's the stock shield, adjusted to the top-most of 3 available positions. The wind protection is pretty good, but I have to scrunch down about 3" if I want to avoid wind blast completely.

Thats a great ride. Thanks for the photos.

some of the best views in the world on those roads. i love those impromptu rides. you like the vstrom? one of my friends was trying to talk me into getting one for a street bike recently. he LOVES IT for cruising/group rides.

The V-Strom is a great multi-purpose bike. It does many things well, but nothing outstandingly, if that makes sense. It's plenty of fun in the twisties (though the SuperBrace made it a tiny bit less "flickable"); it's good for commuting with a topcase installed; it's comfortable enough for multi-hour stints on the slab; and the fork travel is such that it can easily handle potholed goat trails and the occasional foray off-pavement.

As a motard owner, you might be disappointed with its lack of hooliganistic qualities, and it's certainly not fast, but for my (limited) money it's an excellent compromise.

The one thing I've learned is there is no ONE bike that is perfect for everything... so that just means you need more than one!

I've ridden a friend's WeeStrom and have to agree... it's a great all around bike.

Great pics too!

vaara said:

The V-Strom is a great multi-purpose bike. It does many things well, but nothing outstandingly, if that makes sense. It's plenty of fun in the twisties (though the SuperBrace made it a tiny bit less "flickable"); it's good for commuting with a topcase installed; it's comfortable enough for multi-hour stints on the slab; and the fork travel is such that it can easily handle potholed goat trails and the occasional foray off-pavement.

As a motard owner, you might be disappointed with its lack of hooliganistic qualities, and it's certainly not fast, but for my (limited) money it's an excellent compromise.

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Looks like a fun ride! Thanks for sharing...

TylerR said:

so that just means you need more than one!

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My heart and mind say Yes, but my bank account says No.

Nice! I just might have to make a run for it this Saturday.

Now if Caltrans would just get to Sonora and Ebbetts. Whenever I check the website, I feel like that lady in the Mervyn's commercial: "OPEN OPEN OPEN!!"

Peter you came within 5 miles of our house.

vaara said:

Now if Caltrans would just get to Sonora and Ebbetts. Whenever I check the website, I feel like that lady in the Mervyn's commercial: "OPEN OPEN OPEN!!"

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That's one funny commercial.

We are pretty close to last year's open dates.

Nice pics. What a great ride!

Good ride report dude, and great pictures!