Bucket list rides.

[betoney]

50 minutes ago, Kevin R said:

Betoney, for the southern part of your Cali trip in '21, if you think you might head inland from Pismo on SR58 (I echo the earlier comment about this one being a top 5 road in USA) and consider going all the way to the Sierras, then a pass through the Kernville/Lake Isabella area won't disappoint. The ride up from Kernville through Johnsondale and Ponderosa is sweet and SR155 and 190 are lovely, serpentine ribbons of asphalt. 155 and 190 are like the Dragon back east with hundreds of 2nd and 3rd gear corners. It's been some years since I was last there so not sure what the pavement is like now, but at the time they were racetrack smooth.

A lot of great suggestions, thank you. 

Your suggestion was exactly what I have been looking at on Google Maps, 58 through McKittrick and Bakersfield, around Lake Isabella to Kernville and then 155 West. 

Depending on the time of year, the Sierra passes might not be open, we rode Sonora last year and I want to ride Ebbett's next year, if possible.

[wanderer]

1 hour ago, Kevin R said:

Betoney ... a pass through the Kernville/Lake Isabella area won't disappoint. The ride up from Kernville through Johnsondale and Ponderosa is sweet and SR155 and 190 are lovely, serpentine ribbons of asphalt. 155 and 190 are like the Dragon back east with hundreds of 2nd and 3rd gear corners.

I concur. I would also add for consideration the less obvious M-50, or Mountain Highway 99, or whatever it is called from California Hot Springs to Johnsondale.

https://goo.gl/maps/ApZiB3hv36Bj3ipM8

 

[chitown]

10 hours ago, wanderer said:

I concur. I would also add for consideration the less obvious M-50, or Mountain Highway 99, or whatever it is called from California Hot Springs to Johnsondale.

This!!

Those roads are usually closed for winter. But I may have gone around the closed signs more than once

And in good weather it's glorious. Almost no traffic and miles and miles of sequoias and twistys.

58, Bodfish (becomes Caliente Bodfish Rd),  pick a side and continue north around Lake Isabella (I usually fuel in Wofford Heights), Sierra Way (becomes Mtn Hwy 99), M90, 190. Fuel in Springville. If it's a day ride slab back south. If not, Wagner, Yokohl Valley, and work my way along the Sierras. 

Another fun ride in that area is Sherman Pass (also closed for winter) and Nine Mile down to 395. 

 

 

[nhchris]

I am getting lots of emails from Easy Rider rentals offering all sorts of incentives. 

One of my bucket list rides is a BMW rental out of Vegas with return in Flagstaff.  I'd love to tour the south western parks and roads.  Anyone ever done this?

[betoney]

56 minutes ago, chitown said:

This!!

Those roads are usually closed for winter. But I may have gone around the closed signs more than once

And in good weather it's glorious. Almost no traffic and miles and miles of sequoias and twistys.

58, Bodfish (becomes Caliente Bodfish Rd),  pick a side and continue north around Lake Isabella (I usually fuel in Wofford Heights), Sierra Way (becomes Mtn Hwy 99), M90, 190. Fuel in Springville. If it's a day ride slab back south. If not, Wagner, Yokohl Valley, and work my way along the Sierras. 

Another fun ride in that area is Sherman Pass (also closed for winter) and Nine Mile down to 395. 

 

 

So many great suggestions in this thread...now I'm going to need more vacation time from work. 😎

[chitown]

1 hour ago, nhchris said:

I am getting lots of emails from Easy Rider rentals offering all sorts of incentives. 

One of my bucket list rides is a BMW rental out of Vegas with return in Flagstaff.  I'd love to tour the south western parks and roads.  Anyone ever done this?

Haven't used Easy Rider but have friends that do and are happy as far as renting Harleys goes. Have definitely left Vegas on a motorcycle and toured the southwest and many of the parks and roads. 

Two years ago was the latest southwest tour and it was 109F high in Vegas when I arrived.

We can only tolerate a bit of tourist stuff and on this trip North Rim and Pike's Peak were those spots. Parks on this trip were GC, Arches, and Bryce  as one of the riders had never seen them. On past trips we've done Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, all the Cali parks etc. This route was 

to Vegas via slab (had a plan for a non-interstate day but the heat scuttled that)
to North Rim via obvious route
to Cortez via 89,98,160,163,191,162,402/G,160. 
to Salida via 160,550,50 with an in/out on 92 (Black Cyn). 
to Frisco (on I-70) via 50,9,11,24,Pikes Peak,24,67,126,285,Guanella Pass,I-70. 
to Moab, made it up on the fly. 141 was in there as I recall lunch in Gateway.
to Cedar City via I-70,24,12,Bryce Cyn,12,89,14. 

Performance award in Arches. They don't report to other systems (yay for no insurance bump) unlike my one other park ticket, Death Valley.  

Edited December 17, 2020 by chitown
senility

[chitown]

If it seems like I know a lot of western roads all the credit goes to my friend Roger. Retired in his early 60s. Had not ridden since his 20s but couldn't afford to fly his Baron for a hobby so motorcycling became his obsession. He's 83 now and has been riding virtually every day of the last 20 years. Remembers every road. And rides a liter hypersport. No GPS, no aux lighting, no cruise, no hyviz. His one concession is an airbag vest because if he falls he doesn't want to lose riding days to recover. He once bought a bin'd Gixxer and welded the aluminum frame back together in his garage. Then put 80k miles on it. 

We are not worthy

A lot of very happy riding days and trips in my memory are due to him. The Pyrenees trip I mentioned earlier is something a few of his friends have arranged as a gift to him. Unfortunately covid keeps pushing that back and we don't know how long he'll continue riding.  

Edited December 17, 2020 by chitown

[betoney]

2 minutes ago, chitown said:

If it seems like I know a lot of western roads all the credit goes to my friend Roger. Retired in his early 60s. Had not ridden since his 20s but couldn't afford to fly his Baron for a hobby so motorcycling became his obsession. He's 83 now and still rides every day. Remembers every road. And rides a liter hypersport. No GPS, no aux lighting, no cruise, no hyviz. His one concession is an airbag vest because if he falls he doesn't want to lose riding days to recover.

We are not worthy

That's awesome.  👍

[Kevin R]

10 hours ago, nhchris said:

I am getting lots of emails from Easy Rider rentals offering all sorts of incentives. 

One of my bucket list rides is a BMW rental out of Vegas with return in Flagstaff.  I'd love to tour the south western parks and roads.  Anyone ever done this?

 

8 hours ago, chitown said:

Haven't used Easy Rider but have friends that do and are happy as far as renting Harleys goes. Have definitely left Vegas on a motorcycle and toured the southwest and many of the parks and roads. 

Two years ago was the latest southwest tour and it was 109F high in Vegas when I arrived.

We can only tolerate a bit of tourist stuff and on this trip North Rim and Pike's Peak were those spots. Parks on this trip were GC, Arches, and Bryce  as one of the riders had never seen them. On past trips we've done Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, all the Cali parks etc. This route was 

to Vegas via slab (had a plan for a non-interstate day but the heat scuttled that)
to North Rim via obvious route
to Cortez via 89,98,160,163,191,162,402/G,160. 
to Salida via 160,550,50 with an in/out on 92 (Black Cyn). 
to Frisco (on I-70) via 50,9,11,24,Pikes Peak,24,67,126,285,Guanella Pass,I-70. 
to Moab, made it up on the fly. 141 was in there as I recall lunch in Gateway.
to Cedar City via I-70,24,12,Bryce Cyn,12,89,14. 

Performance award in Arches. They don't report to other systems (yay for no insurance bump) unlike my one other park ticket, Death Valley.  

chitown's info above is great. That hits a lot of CO & UT highlights. If you go that way you should definitely stop in Mesa Verde NP (really cool native american ruins there). UT is epic with Cedar Breaks, Bryce, and Zion in the west and Canyonlands and Arches in the east. Riding wise, rt12 is the shizzle along with many of the roads in the Cedar City, Parowan, Panguitch area. There's also pretty sweet stuff north of I-70 in the middle of the state.

Not sure how much time you will have, or the time of year, but if you want to focus more on AZ then I have a few suggestions for you. I took a nice 5 day trip there in early May a few years ago (from SoCal). April/May is a decent time to visit AZ - it's warm but tolerable at low elevation and cool at high elevation. I camped a couple of nights on the Mogollon Rim (pronounced "muggy-own") area northeast of Phoenix and did day rides on the roads south and east of there. The rim is over 7000ft elevation so the nights were chilly but the scenery & riding were excellent. There are some big a$$ copper mines thereabouts - a sight to behold. Over near NM, 191 between Clifton and Alpine is a great ride: scenic and very remote - well worth the effort to go there. All easily reached from Mogollon Rim area.

After a couple nights on the Mogollon Rim and riding some pretty sweet roads I moved my base to a campground in Navajo Nat'l Monument up near Kayenta, AZ. The Betatakin Ruins and Fir Canyon inside the Navajo monument are striking. On the way up I made it a point to stop in Petrified Forest Nat'l Park. That place is otherworldly and well worth a stop and a couple of short hikes. The roads up there are not mosickle roads per se (not so curvy) but have high scenic value and traverse wide open spaces - a big contrast to NH. 🙂  And, what trip to AZ would be complete without going to Four Corners and Monument Valley? chitown's route passes by there and I did a loop over there on one of the days. It's an easy way to ride in 4 states in an hour or so (depending on how long you linger at 4 corners)! Did not see Roadrunner or Wile E. in Monument Valley but I was looking!

On the way back home I rode a stretch of old Rt66 through Oatman, AZ. That is a quaint and dusty little town with a couple watering holes near the CA/NV/AZ state lines, south of Vegas. Evidently the burros I saw wandering free around the streets there are a normal sight.

[DavidS]

On 12/8/2020 at 3:38 PM, betoney said:

That has been my mantra in the past year, "try to discover a new road on this ride".  Even though I have many favorite destinations or 'regular routes' I have discovered a lot of alternate routes, some destined to become new favorites. 

So true..... I have been riding my bike down this obscure road which starts at the end of a residential neighborhood and continues for about a mile until the road turns to gravel, just as it starts a slow curve to the right. I rode it hundreds of times, and always just stopped at the gravel and turned around. One day, I decided to keep going and see where it ended, and OMG, was I surprised.

The gravel road goes for about 20-30 yards, and then curves to the right. Just after you get to the end of the curve, the road is adorned with fresh asphalt, and goes for around 20-25 miles following the Snoqualmie river back through some of the most beautiful country in Washington state. I do see some hikers and a few other folks back there, but typically very little traffic, a good freshly paved road, and miles of twisties and curves, both out, and back.

Unfortunately, there is no cell phone coverage after the first mile or so, but that is where riding with a friend comes in handy.

[betoney]

12 hours ago, DavidS said:

One day, I decided to keep going and see where it ended, and OMG, was I surprised.

Just after you get to the end of the curve, the road is adorned with fresh asphalt, and goes for around 20-25 miles following the Snoqualmie river back through some of the most beautiful country in Washington state.  I do see some hikers and a few other folks back there, but typically very little traffic, a good freshly paved road, and miles of twisties and curves, both out, and back.

You gotta love finding a road like that, especially close to home.  👍

[koth442]

On 12/16/2020 at 8:22 PM, Kevin R said:

If you decide to head back north instead of inland from Pismo, then Nacimiento-Fergusson Rd to Hunter Liggett and then through San Lucas to pick up SR25 is pretty good

This. Nacimiento-Fergusson is stellar. 

[wanderer]

On 12/17/2020 at 6:42 AM, nhchris said:

I am getting lots of emails from Easy Rider rentals offering all sorts of incentives. 

One of my bucket list rides is a BMW rental out of Vegas with return in Flagstaff.  I'd love to tour the south western parks and roads.  Anyone ever done this?

Not familiar with Easy Rider rentals! but I've rented a BMW R 1200 RT from Eagle Rider in New Orleans and returned it in Miami. I've also rented a HD in Jackson WY and returned it in San Diego CA. My experience with Eagle Rider has been good. The main frustration is that the non-HD choices are limited.

Each franchise is different, but one other frustration I did have. My rental from New Orleans was supposed to have been a Yamaha FJR from Atlanta. The Atlanta franchise showed many different types available one day, so I felt assured that I could wait a bit and if I didn't get my first choice I'd still get my second. But then the next day nothing was available, which seemed impossible. I called them up and they said they had the bikes, but in busy season they didn't have the staff to outfit and prep the bikes, so wide availability instantaneously became no availability. Poor business strategy IMO (leave inventory idle for want of staff), but c'est la vie. The only lesson here is don't procrastinate on your reservation like I did.

There are plenty of dealerships with HD rentals, but in order to get a non-HD I had to change my starting location from Atlanta to New Orleans, and the bike from FJR to BMW, and it all worked out. It is super-convenient to be able to just pick up a bike one place and drop it off at another.

 

[betoney]

Well. it looks like one of my planned trips could possibly be delayed for yet another year.  Part of PCH near Big Sur collapsed into the Pacific Ocean.  😫

Section of Highway 1 in California Collapses After Heavy Rains - The New York Times

---

A section of the scenic road near Big Sur collapsed after heavy rains.

 

[wanderer]

and I managed to go down that section of Hwy 1 just two weeks ago!

I also went down March 7th 2020, returning from one of my work trips to the Bay Area - my last trip before COVID lock downs, just as the weirdness was starting. I remember a few TSA agents in San Jose airport were COVID positive that week, and I figured I dodged the whole airport/plane thing on the bike. That started as a wet rainy day. This news is a reminder that Hwy 1 may not be a good place to be on a wet rainy day, for more reasons than just traction.