Gremlin's Tall Stories

The alarm rang at 6am as planned. I got up at 7am… that wasn’t the plan. Once again, I silenced the alarm instead of getting up. Oh well, headed to the main building for the complimentary breakfast, receiving comments of surprise at seeing me up (it’s not that unusual is it?) and some of the others were busy having breakfast.

I packed (yeah… watched some SVU at the same time) and gassed up on the way out of town. As usual, prepay was required, the attendant saying I wouldn’t use the whole $40… I wasn’t on reserve yet, but still managed about $33 worth of gas. He was rather surprised. I headed out of town at 9.30am, surprised at the nice temperatures and thinking to myself that I should do this more often. Mid-20s is a very nice riding temperature.

I headed north on 385, with a timely diversion at June Lake. The highway was getting extremely boring, and June Lake was beautiful, so an excellent little time waster. Back on 385 briefly, before turning onto Highway 120, to visit our last national park, Yosemite National Park. It was different to the other parks in some ways, a little less green shrubbery, more mountain ranges and some waterfalls.

Reaching the gates to pay the fee, I provided my annual pass. A lovely blonde ranger advised me that Highway 140 is closed. This doesn’t mean much to me until I look at my route summary… it includes 140. Some brief looking at the GPS map shows me I can simply use 120 and it will actually be shorter to San Francisco. I’d kept Merced on my trip simply to do as much of Ken’s route as possible. Riding through Yosemite, it’s a quick reminder on how beautiful snow-capped mountains, high lakes and tree canopies over the road are.

Reaching the intersection of 120 and 140 I take 140 anyway, wondering if I can find out why the road is closed, or maybe it’s opened already. At one overlook I find out why it’s closed. Park services are doing a managed fire, and there’s smoke right across the valley. I turn around and head down Highway 120. The road is a stunning ride with some very tight sections.

The temperature had been climbing throughout the day, and was now sitting in the high-30s. Reaching Groveland I decided it was time for a break. The ride hadn’t been too challenging, but had actually been a bit boring. I luckily found a nice deli, that made home style sandwiches. Coleslaw and a can of drink rounded out the combo deal, for only $7. I’d stopped next to a BMW RT, they were a Swedish/American couple who lived between the two countries.

From Groveland to Chinese Camp, the road was brilliant, zigzagging down the mountainside. Lovely views and really tight well sealed roads, only spoilt by the traffic I encountered half way down. After that, it was a boring run down 120 until the Interstates, hopping from 99 to 205 to 580. The others would have headed south, possibly through Merced (that was the original plan before 140 was closed) to Gilroy, but I was headed to San Francisco first (well, Hayward, in the South East, north of San Jose).

I headed to AdvDesigns (yes, again) to collect some more parts. This time was a cover for an analysing unit that was a little too exposed for comfort, and a Shorai Battery, which Edbear is the distributor for, in NZ. I’d been shown them by AdvDesigns, then seen them spoken about on KB, so figured it was the easiest way to get one. Essentially, it performs better and lasts longer than a conventional battery. Oh, and it saves almost 9 pounds (about 4.5kg). Try losing that weight from a bike for US$150. I arrived just after 4pm, and since it was Friday, it was about an hour to spare, as they aren’t open tomorrow.

A quick catch up with Chad, I’d already sent him some emails organising the bits and pictures from the trip. Again, I told him how brilliant the crash bar extensions were, and he liked seeing the parts tested and living up to their job. He suggested I should look at a bigger bash plate, after I showed him my bent stock one. At least I resisted the urge so far, but more off-roading, and I would fit a more complete guard.

I left at 5.15pm, thinking I would be in Gilroy around 6pm. I forgot about traffic, and experienced it for pretty much the first time in 6 weeks. It still wasn’t as bad as Auckland. It stopped a little, but mostly kept moving, not like the gridlock in Auckland. I wasn’t inclined to split, as although legal, the bike with panniers on is not small and I’m in a foreign country. The carpool lane was OK for bikes, so I used that, which helped a little.

The roads were boring, nothing eventful to speak of at all. I reached Gilroy at 6.30pm and checked in. Most of the others were by the pool having a few drinks. Pizzas were ordered as it was our last night as a group, with some leaving in the morning to return hire bikes and fly out of San Francisco.

I topped the bike up with oil, saving some space as I finally finished a bottle since Sturgis. Got a bit more space for the spare battery now. The pentiometer guard was fitted, after one of the guys was very handy, having a 2.5m allen key to tighten the screws.

The others had had plenty to drink and were rowdy, so I headed back to the room to do some blogging. The blogging didn’t go according to plan, joining in the fun and games from the 2nd floor deck until one of the staff said other guests were complaining… woops. Back to blogging until almost midnight when I headed for the shower. I checked my emails, and it turned out to be very timely, receiving an email from motorcyclesuperstore that the Pilot Road 3 front was now available in my size.

My joy turned to dismay… they don’t ship overseas. Hunting around, more of the same at two more, then found bikebandit, which I remember my boss previously using and having an excellent experience. Sure enough, they said they also had stock, so while it cost US$110 for shipping, the total still came to less than NZ$600. Bearing in mind NZ doesn’t have the tyre yet, and might not even have it this year, and even when it does arrive, it probably won’t be under $700 a set, it was good buying. Pity I wasn’t here a few weeks later, or the tyres weren’t available earlier, as they could have been shipped with the bike, or fitted to the bike. Oh well… plenty of other things have worked out instead.

Before getting into the shower I was sure I experienced an earthquake, a slight shaking, but not too violent. It only lasted a few seconds, and afterwards I went outside to check on all the bikes. Everything was fine so back into the shower and then bed.

Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/5jSNQYLfS4dqJLrz8

Route: http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=N+...&via=1&t=m&z=9