Jonathan's Glorious Weekend
by Jonathan Jefferies
Saturday Feb 24, arrived all wet and blustery in the S.F. Bay. A
late fast moving cold front in from Alaska was promising rain,
thunderstoms and snow down to the 2000' level. It was the sort of
day that leaves tour captains seriously doubting their sanity. Even
the cat thought that getting out of bed for his morning feeding could
be postponed. But it was 6:30 and I had a 9:00 hour to meet -
wondering if anyone else was nuts enough to show up. After hearing
the weather report the previous evening Cathy had graciously agreed
that she would drive her truck out Mariposa, our destination,
carrying all the camping gear. So the bike's load would be lighter
and perhaps a little safer than two up fully loaded.
Arriving at the jumping off place I found Bill Jarvis, NorCal
president, and Bob Love having breakfast and getting ready to tackle
whatever came. Just before we left John Carramango, club historian,
and lovely Carole Feldman arrived on John's R1100RS. My tour plans
-made in expectation of dry weather - had us going up Mines Rd. I
offered to alter my plans and take to the freeway - but the tour felt
that they could handle Mines Rd in the rain and whatever. But could
the Tour Captain?
For those unfamiliar with these roads or California riding, the
Livermore Valley is just east of the San Francisco Bay over the first
set of ridges. Mines Rd. connects the Livermore Valley with San
Jose, south of SF Bay, via Mt. Hamilton and its observatory. It's one
of those Calif. biker roads starting out looking like a regular two lane,
well paved road, which quickly devolves into a one lane twisty with
gravel on the verges dropped down the sides of the surrounding
hills everytime there is a micro-quake. Once we got into the good
stuff, i.e. twisties I expected Bob Love to come blasting by me. I was
being very cautious as there was snow on the hills, drizzle on my
face and my great sail sized windscreen was covered with something.
But after three minor creek crossings - the worst was only a couple
of feet deep and you should have seen our bow wakes - I found I
was still out in front. Later I learned they were waiting to see if
there really was a road under the water and I was the guinea pig.
Speaking of pigs, we finally got to Del Puerto Canyon Road and
stopped at the local bar to make use of their facilities. The sheriff's
men were there and a local was displaying a 90 lb wild porker that
he had just shot. Bloody bags of pig meat - if anyone was interested
- and one short tusked pig head.
But now we began descending out onto California's Central Valley
(the San Joaquin section) and left the drizzle and rain behind - not to
be seen again this day. The Central Valley is normally viewed by
bikers as being akin to Kansas. A hot flat place that you want to get
across fast without a.) being intercepted by police b.) having to hold
up for traffic. So my choice route from Del Puerto Canyon Rd was to
continue on J17 and quickly dog leg north to J16 until we got beyond
the freeways and somewhere near good riding country. But this
weekend riding across the Central Valley was almost a treat, not cold
but definitely not hot. A little threat of rain in the distance but none
or almost none fell on us. The main concern to me was the
disquieting "FLOODED" signs we kept whizzing by. Then we crossed a
sign saying that J16 was closed 8 miles ahead. Eight miles - why
anything could happen in eight miles. And when we got there we
found the road closed for a bicycle race - little did we know that Greg
and Saskia were up there leading the parade. We in the meantime
cut across to Hwy 132 just west of Waterford and continued on our
way. I had originally intended to stop for lunch in Coulterville but we
were running behind schedule and so we stopped in the community
of La Grange at a cowboy bar and restaurant. Normally this place
has 20+ Harleys parked out front but today there was only one. And
he left shortly after we arrived. Probably thought that the
neighborhood was being desecrated by BMW sport tourers. But
lunch was a treat. All the food was home cooked and the walls
covered with photos of the original cowboys in the area and the
Harleys the current owner builds and races. We were invited to a
branding being held the next day but declined as we still had miles
to travel and who knows what they might be in mind to brand! The
rest of the ride was spirited with only stops for a fallen tree and to
see if anyone was waiting for us in Coulterville.
We arrived at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, our destination
and campsite, to find Greg Hutchinson sunning himself on a bench.
But an hour later as the meeting began tempratures dropped an
alarming 10 degrees and folks began to talk about the availability of
motel rooms. In the end the only campers were Dirk "Painted Man"
Scofield and Chris Weld and his lady who stayed in their Van. The
rest of the 26 attendees, 11 motorcycles, and 7 cages (cars) wimped
out to the several local motels and a dinner at the Miner' restaurant.
The non-campers your tour captain included, apparently missed out
on a good camping time. Dirk reported that the temprature warmed
somewhat and he had soft sawdust and a good roof under which to
pitch his tent. And he and Chris Weld held forth until the liquor was
gone telling tall tales and such.
The following day was a leisurely breakfast as the weather
morons had been predicting snow and black ice on the roads and I
wanted to wait until any such had a chance to burn off. Leaving
Mariposa by myself about 10:30 I stayed off the main highways and
rode the foothill roads north until I reached Hwy 4 and turned back
west to the Bay Area. It was a most glorious day for riding. The best
I've seen this year. The weather was all black and threatening each
time my road turned east toward the Sierra Nevada but down in the
valley the roads were almost all bone dry and I got hit with just one
3 minute spritz of rain. It was a disappointment to get home and go
thru the usual unpacking and bike cleaning routines. But later I was
most glad I had as I found a potentially lethal problem. But even
that couldn't dampen what was undoubtedly a most GLORIOUS day of
riding.
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