Riding the California Coast with Miss Behavin'

[RDJ]

Had the opportunity 2 weeks ago to ride LA-SF and back. The weather was terrific, and Hhy 1 down the coast from Monterrey to Malibu reminded me very much of 'home'. A few pix attached.

[RDJ]

a few more...

[RDJ]

... the end.

[tri boy]

Coastline cruising. Way to go.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Nice one. Isn't Big Sur gorgeous!!

[woodboats]

Great photos!
Thanks for sharing.

[firecrab]

Ha! My old hoods! LA and SF! How'd ya like LA traffic? Oh and the rockstore! I wiped out with my GSX-R 750 not too far from it in the canyons ... that was not a fun day :\ . But once I saw Jay Leno show up with his jet bike show up at the store ... that was sumthin!
Nice Boss Hoss too - it must be made for rides like that! Looks like a cool trip! Congrats!

[RDJ]

Thanks firecrab. At the risk of starting an unwanted debate about relative road manners, it's always a pleasure to ride in the US in my opinion: motorists are more respectful of motorcyclists in terms of road room, and people more often give way sensibly when in queues to keep traffic flowing, compared to NZ. (Yes these are generalisations, but in my own experience generally accurate ones).

LA traffic in general - no real worries, except I rarely ventured out of the right-hand lane on the freeways; the average speed was too high for my taste while looking for unfamiliar exits!

And of course it's necessary to keep a wary eye for the Swooping Trifecta - SUV driver on the phone in the HOV lane suddenly realising their exit requires them to execute a high-speed 'California Cut' across four lanes of rush-hour traffic

[chubby]

I'd appreciate some more of your talk on the trip. Hell I'll probably never ride there so I'd like to live it through your words. Thanks for the pics by the way.

[firecrab]

LA traffic in general - no real worries, except I rarely ventured out of the right-hand lane on the freeways; the average speed was too high for my taste while looking for unfamiliar exits!

And of course it's necessary to keep a wary eye for the Swooping Trifecta - SUV driver on the phone in the HOV lane suddenly realising their exit requires them to execute a high-speed 'California Cut' across four lanes of rush-hour traffic

Yep. Sounds familiar. Also - people reversing on the freeway because they missed an exit, reversing out of an exit because it's the wrong one.
Road rage is scary too - I had various encounters in the seven years I lived in LA. There's a bit of road rage in NZ too, but the difference is that people in LA are packing.

[Hitcher]

A nice appetite whetter. Thank you!

[RDJ]

Hi chubby

Having racked up a fair few miles on both coasts, plus Tennessee / Arkansas / Missouri / Illinois / Wisconsin, with day trips into Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New York - so still a lot of places to cover - my quick suggestions for a hasslefree ride would be (and please excuse re-Statements of the Obvious)

1. Either store or pick up a bike at your port of entry: HOG Rentals and EagleRiders and the sport bike rental places are generally not far from major airports, and will usually arrange to pick you up and drop you off from the airport at no extra charge (special kudos to Route 66 Riders bike rental in Santa Monica and Las Vegas Harley-Davidson). If you are way out of synch with US time in terms of time zones consider this as a feature not a bug - you can hit the highway after arrival and get out of the city at a time when it's not rush hour, and you'll sleep better in a roadside hotel when you're ready to do so.

2. Be aware that you're riding on the "other" side of the road; a lot easier to do on a motorcycle, than in a cage. And very much easier to remember in heavy traffic than on the open road, pulling out of a remote gas station after letting your guard down. To remind myself I use fluoro stickies on the gas cap as well as the windscreen, with an arrow on the windscreen pointing right...

3. Personally, no matter whether the state allows me to ride without a helmet or not, I always wear a full face, not just because I feel naked without, but because particularly on the Interstates ("the slab") trucks shed bits of tire and vehicles lose everything up to and including ladders and entire vehicles off the backs of their trays and trailers; a bee in the eyeball at 80 miles an hour is also not fun. For similar reasons I prefer to ride with a windscreen. For a few hours riding without is fine, for days without it's very tiring.

4. Speaking of 80 miles an hour, I find it safest to ride at the average speed of the surrounding traffic, usually in the second-from-right lane*. On the interstate in the extreme right hand lane there will always be people merging and leaving, usually doing so quite suddenly and without one may surmise much in the way of self interrogation i.e. "are there any motorcyclists I might hit when I swerve". On the interstate in the extreme left hand lane there will be people attempting to break the land speed record, while at the same time in the same lane there will be people sticking resolutely to the maximum limit for that stretch of road because b'god they are in the right lane at the maximum legal speed and everyone else can wait.

5. *Except that when I'm in a city, when I will stay mostly in the right-hand lane so I can take my exit without having to do a last-minute-swoop myself. Speaking of the right-hand lane, at most intersections in built-up areas there are generally three lanes, one to turn left (wait in the queue), one to proceed straight ahead, one to turn right. If in the right lane I gotta turn right. In the wrong lane? Deal with it. Turn right, then U-turn down the road and turn right again.

6. ‘Gas’ (not ‘petrol’ or ‘service’ as in NZ) stations are usually plentiful, except in places like Arizona and Nevada, and when riding the V8 bike I top up at every available opportunity outside the cities. Nearly all gas stations (unless in ritzy areas like Santa Monica where they will serve you and expect a tip, or in Oregon where they will not let you serve yourself in case you set yourself and them on fire apparently) are self serve / strictly pay in advance. My V8 does not have a fuel gauge, but it has a reserve tank, and although I never know quite how much will fill the tank up (get between 8-10mpg in cities and 15-20mpg on the open road), if I pay for more than I fill, I never had a problem reclaiming the balance in cash from the station attendant. Make sure you carry plenty of small denomination (1 and 5) dollar bills; almost no gas stations will give you change for anything bigger than a $20 bill. The same is true for many convenience shops. Although the US is as safe as anywhere and safer than most, split your cash and credit cards between some cash in easily accessible pockets, credit cards and most cash in an inside zipped-up vest pocket, and an emergency $200 and one credit card in your boots.

7. Be aware that in some parts of Nevada, 'service station' will be interpreted as 'brothel'. If you ask for and follow directions to the 'service station' and only find a brothel, not only do the, ah, staff not have gas for sale, but they won't actually know where the nearest gas station is. But they won't know in a very cute if affected Vegas-style way and they will find the whole situation simply hilarious.

8. Subscribing to AMA's MOTOW or Bros Club or similar roadside assistance service will more than pay for itself. They will take you to get your tire fixed, will bring you gas if you run out, will attend pretty smartly in the event of a mechanical breakdown, and will know where the nearest motorcycle mechanics are to be found. However, and while your experience may vary, relying on your New Zealand AA membership to be reciprocated in the US will not help you much if you have a motorcycle; most of the cage-only roadside assistance services are not motorcycle friendly; it's not that they are unfriendly, but they won't know how to react to a motorcycle breakdown, and will send out a tow truck with a hook (from which they want to dangle my bike? No thanks). More experienced people than I have given very good suggestions on what to carry on the road; I personally always carry a mobile phone, phone numbers, roadside assistance card, credit cards, cash, gas siphon, wire and PosiLock connectors, and jump cables - plus assorted spanners and pliers and screwdrivers to fix the very obvious. I don’t carry spare fuel and water pumps, wheels or tires etc...

9. Interstates are a great way to get quickly from A to B, but don't go through much scenic country, and (nearly) everybody goes (very) fast. Once you get off the Interstates, the pace of driving tends to be more relaxed, but best to not speed; especially in smaller townships a considerable amount of municipal revenue comes from fining people speeding through the township to be stopped by the sheriff or deputy at the end of a long stretch of otherwise empty highway. Pay up like a good 'un if this happens, no point arguing.

10. Using a GPS (I favor Garmin's Nuvi and Zumo) is extremely useful in and around cities, and in that context time-saving and stress-relieving. I don't mind the inbuilt battery limitations and I never link Bluetooth to listen to the voice directions, as I really don't want to be focusing figuratively or literally on the GPS while riding fast, only when stopped at an intersection or red lights. Outside the cities, maps are much better. In general, unless there is something in a city I want to see (i.e. Golden Gate Bridge, Iwo Jima Memorial, 'The Wall'), it's not only more pleasant but also actually faster especially at rush-hour to detour around cities.

[RDJ]

11. Wearing your nationality literally on your sleeve or jacket is much more often helpful than not in my experience. Indeed, across the breadth and depth of those parts of the states that I have ridden, people are almost invariably friendly to foreign motorcycle tourists. Even tourist trap motels may let you park your bike somewhere in a corner for half a day, either for a few dollars or at no charge, even if you’re not staying there. Finding hotels outside big cities is easy, and usually cheaper if you log on and book online at an Internet cafe rather if you than ring ahead; but cheapest of all is to ride up to a mom-and-pop hotel with a vacancy sign about 2100 or 2200; the room rate is almost always negotiable; the linen is usually clean; the water is usually hot; the food is usually more than adequate and sometimes downright excellent; and as long as you asked for a room at the back of the hotel, the road noise doesn't stop you sleeping and you can park your bike outside your window. They generally don't mind if you wash your bike in the gravel parking lot, in fact they'll cheerfully lend you a bucket, and they generally don't push for on-time check out the next day.

12. Best I steer away from the "To Wave or Not to Wave, that is The Question" controversy, but it's very definitely the done thing to stop if you come across any fellow rider who may be stuck or stranded at the side of the road. As others will do it for you. Cages on the other hand will speed up as they pass you. In general, the further away you are from cities, the more courteous other road users are. Whether it's because they've got more tolerance or whether because they may be carrying guns and they think you might be carrying a gun, most people are non-confrontational, will give way more often than not, will acknowledge road courtesies and respond appropriately. Watch out however for SUVs especially where the driver's on the mobile, 'death cars' (local equivalent of NZ's boy racers with clapped-out high-speed imports - by their serious panel damage and apparent unroadworthiness and don't-give-a-damn driving style shall ye know them), school buses which deserve and should get the right of way over all other traffic, and pedestrians who are basically entitled to "cross walk" at every intersection whether there are roadmarkings or not.

13. The forces of law and order in my direct experience are quite unlike they are portrayed on television. If we ask them for advice they will help. If we treat them pleasantly, they will reciprocate. If we get pulled over for speeding, we do not make any sudden moves because they are armed and they are worried that we may be and that we may react unpleasantly. I hear that some will tend to shoot first in such circumstances. Best to stay on one's bike, hands clearly in view on the petrol tank, having raised one's visor in order to be able to speak clearly and politely. Always carry licence, registration (or rental agreement), and insurance (or the rental’s insurance).

14. The 'highway patrol' don't appear to have quotas for speeding tickets, and they do appear to exercise discretion. If you've scraped the floorboards in a corner raising showers of sparks but have done so inside the speed limit, it's usually a negotiable flaw in your riding character. If however we've blasted our black-leather-jacketed self on a chopped-down bike with NASCAR pipes and no baffles through a suburban neighborhood well over the speed limit scaring all the soccer moms, or - worse - have not stopped for a school bus with flashing lights, woe unto us - which is perfectly understandable. Speaking of leather jackets - wearing a ¾ touring fabric jacket without flashy zips and so forth definitely gets a different reception than wearing a leather bike jacket (probably because it defines me instantly as belonging to the geezer rather than the biker fraternity). Then again, it gets very cold up mountain passes even at the height of summer so a short jacket is more for styling than serious touring. Don’t forget wet weather gloves, and Frogg Toggs (cheap, light and very waterproof; US$39 for a pair).

15. California is the only state as far as I know where it is legal to lane-split. The first time I did so on the 101, I was totally taken aback when ahead of me, people who could see my headlight in their rear view mirror actually moved aside to let me through. Yes they did. On the extreme left is the HOV (car-pool) lane where in CA bikes can also ride. The HOV lane is high speed and not for the squeamish – they go very fast, and there’s no room to allow someone to pass you.

16. In many states you pay tolls. Easiest for us transients is to pay with $1 bills you can access easily with gloves (and watch when you put your feet down on the oil patch at the tollbooth, especially if your bike weighs ¾ of a ton). There are passes such as EZ-Pass which work with transponders that allow you to zip through without stopping, but are basically a lot of hassle to get (need a credit card and local address).

17. Wal-Mart is the best all-round store to pick up the groceries and spares, tools, oil etc in one place at the end of a long riding day. Ralph's is a bit like Foodtown, has just about everything you need including yummy barbecue chicken, salad, fresh bread, and prepackaged desserts - you can get a nice hot meal for less than $10. Denny's is OK, McDonald's is what it is, as are KFC and Taco Bell. I personally prefer a self-assembled meal from a supermarket or a motel meal (see above).

18. Highlights of US touring; the places I saw as a child in the movies, all the iconic places and monuments. Friendly locals, long straight roads, long twisty roads, road users who share the road rather then get enraged when you want some of it. The Statue Of Liberty, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate bridge, Death Valley, Big Sur, the Mississippi, Nashville. Sweet Home Alabama, hotrods, Knott’s Berry Farm, the Hollywood sign. 24oz steaks, thick all-icecream thickshakes. Route 66, redwoods, Lake Erie, the Atlantic City boardwalk. The price of gas.

19. Lowlights of US touring; flying into LAX, LA freeway congestion, NY taxi drivers, Alcatraz touts, flying out of LAX. Discarded diapers at the Topanga Canyon lookout, condoms on Malibu beach. The I-5. The I-95.

20. Single best advice I was given: “buy the most comfortable riding gear you can afford, adjust handle bars and control levers comfortably before you start the first day’s ride, look up and ahead, and enjoy the ride.” Oh yeah!

[mstriumph]

RJD - i think i hate you ............

[P38]

Thanks for the excellent report RJD.

Sounds like you had a great time and learned lots.

Good on ya

Excuse me while I go somewhere and turn green with envy.