Hans was on his new BMW R1200ST, which I've dubbed the "Borg Bike", and I was on my trusty R1 "SPORT tourer", complete with Ventura rack and bag. Although the Power Pilots on my R1 already had over 3000 miles on them, the rear looked good enough for another 1500 or so, so Friday morning off we went! We had no "plan" just a rough idea of where we wanted to go and what roads we wanted to ride, so we'd just ride until we got tired or it got dark and then find a place to stay for the night.

We headed east over Mt. Hamilton to Patterson. It was a beautiful day, temps in the upper 70s to low 80s. We took some interesting, if not exactly twisty roads across the valley. Bear Valley Road from Hornitos to Hwy 49 was the most entertaining on this stretch. We had lunch in Mariposa. We headed south to the end of Hwy 49 and explored some back roads represented by interesting squiggles on the map. Past Bass Lake to Auberry. Powerhouse Road was a really fun piece of tarmac along this stretch. Its tire grater pavement would guarantee our rubber stayed stuck to the road! Southward, we intended to swing past Pine Flat Lake, but a wrong turn took us east towards Fresno. Whoa! Let's not go near there! Turning southward again we hooked up with Hwy 180 and headed towards Kings Canyon National Park. As 180 gains altitude it delights us with wonderful sweepers and great vistas, fore shadowing even better things to come. The park entrance fee for motorcycles is just $5, cagers have to pay $10. After entering the park, we turn right on the Generals Highway towards Sequoia National Park. We took a few pictures along the way here, but cameras don't do this place justice! Those trees are damn BIG! Exiting Sequoia, we stop for the night in Three Rivers, after about 350 miles.

On day 2, we head out of Three Rivers on Hwy 198. We turn left onto Yokohl Valley Drive towards Springville. This is a great road that winds through a valley and over a mountain with great views the entire length. There's some funny pavement that looks like it has gravel on it, but it is actually stones embedded in the surface of the pavement, which I guess it to combat black ice in colder weather. Plenty of traction to be had, I never felt my tires slip once. At Springville, we turn left on the Mighty 190 - my favorite road in the state! It lasts just 23 miles, but it feels like there's a 1000 turns all the way up to 7000 feet elevation! This road is demanding, with a lot of switch backs, but perfect two lane pavement the whole way! On top of all this, there's very little traffic, a biker's paradise! At the top where Hwy 190 ends and Western Divide Hwy begins, we stop for a break and admire the deep blue sky, bright green trees, and the silence. We follow these little known roads down into Kernville; wonderful asphalt that chases the Kern River about its banks. From Kernville we follow Hwy 178 towards the desert. Joshua trees make their first appearance on this trip and we cross Walker Pass into the high desert. Down Hwy 14 to Mojave for lunch. It's another beautiful day and the temps are reasonable, probably in the low 90's in Mojave.

After lunch it's some more ground pounding to Palmdale. We use Avenue S to bypass all the traffic lights on Hwy 138, and hook up with 138 again further on. In Little Rock we turn off and hook up with Fort Tejon Rd. This parallels 138, but is a much more entertaining road. We stopped for some pictures against the Joshua Trees here. We connect to Valyermo Road and Big Pines Hwy. We once again climb towards the sky and desert scrub and Joshua trees grudgingly give way to scraggly pines, and finally beautiful pine forest. We stopped at the Mile High cafe for a drink; an older couple touring on an older BMW were also there. Should have taken a picture of them, that's Hans and Michele in 20 or 30 years!

We head east on the tail end of Angeles Crest Hwy, anticipating two days hence when we will again meet this wonderful road but heading west over the mountains. At Wrightwood my AAA maps shows an interesting road that heads off to the southeast, and cuts off the boring section of Hwy 2 and 138 that we would otherwise be forced to endure. Signs point us in the direction, but we must navigate residential streets first. Finally, Lone Pine Canyon road opens up before us. A few twists and turns and then - OMYGAWD WHAT A VIEW! It's been a little windy and all the smog was blown out of the valley and we had a gorgeous vista laid out before us with the desert valley below us and snow capped peaks in the distance. You know my motto, "less talking - more riding", so I don't bother to stop and take pictures, but I did slow waaaaayyy down to enjoy this panorama! My photography skills couldn't have done this scenery justice anyway!

On Hwy 138 once again, we resume climbing, this time into the San Bernardino Mountains. We wrap around Lake Arrowhead and head down out of the mountains on Hwy 330. Some more ground slogging on the interstates gets us to Hwy 243 to Idyllwild. This is a bloody AWESOME road! Now officially my second favorite road in the state. The sign says it's 26 miles to Idyllwild, but I feel like I just blinked and was there. I was really riding "in the zone" on this stretch of road, I wish it could have lasted all day! Perfect pavement that winds right and left and back again. Now daylight is waning and it's time to stop for the night, so we find a room in town and tuck in for the night. Almost 400 miles of smiles today!

Day 3 dawns and I glance at my rear tire. Hey, where'd all my tread go????? I'm starting to think I might need to replace this tire before getting home again, but it'll get me through the day OK. We'll be somewhere on the coast north of LA tonight, there's plenty of bike shops around there so I'm not worried. We head south out of Idyllwild and take Hwy 74 to 371 and 79. Not much to write home about here, just your basic flawless asphalt but not too much in the way of twisties. We were headed towards Palomar Mountain, but on a whim I decided to head off towards one of my first tarmac loves leading into Borego Springs. So we turn left on S2 and left again on S22, aka "the glass elevator", so called because the desert floor sprawls out a 1000 feet below you as the road winds down the side of a mountain. They've repaved it since the last time I've been here, and added some turnouts to boot! Woohoo! I love this road, a few gradual decreasing radius turns and more tire grater pavement! Until now the Borg Bike has kept up with me pretty well, but I cut my sport bike teeth on this road several years ago and I've now left him in the dust. We gas up in Borego Springs, and turn around and head back up the elevator! A real treat to ride this road twice in one day!

Back on Hwy 79 south, we turn west on Hwy 76 towards SoCal's motorcycle Nirvana, Palomar Mountain. We head up the "back" side, East Grade Road (S7). The pavement is rippled from grooving down on the road, I suppose to improve cagers' traction in cold weather. I've learned not to let it bother me and just cruise on up the mountain to the locals version of "Alices" - called "Mothers" - all vegetarian cuisine (they've got good chili). It's about noon now and most of the squids have left for the day. We spied a Benelli Biposto in the parking lot, but don't quite know how it got there. The current owner said the previous owner imported it himself. How? I dunno. Down the "front side" - South Grade Road (S6) where most every turn is decreasing radius, seemingly in both directions (it's a magic mountain :-). A few back roads to Temecula, then it's back on the interstate for some more jockeying with the botts dots.

Back up Lone Pine Canyon Road to Wrightwood and The Crest. We pass the Big Pines Hwy turnoff and salivate in anticipation of the twisties to come that will lead us west and to the coast. But an ominous sign rears up at us "Road closed 2 miles ahead". No! That can't be! Alas, it is. Just past the visitor's center the gate is closed, no passage allowed! The volunteers at the visitor's center explain to us that due to about *32* separate washouts, Angeles Crest Hwy will be closed, quite probably all year. Winter was not kind to The Crest. So we back track to Big Pines Hwy, retrace our path down Valyermo Road and Fort Tejon Road, where we connect up with Mt Emma Rd and Hwy N3, which takes us back up to The Crest, but west of the fun bits. It's a fun route though, I've seen N3 on the map before and wanted to try it out anyway, and it's quite the entertaining ride too! More superslab to Ventura and our final night's stop. 380 miles in today's adventure!

On the morn of day 4, my rear tire looks no worse than 24 hours previous, so I decide to press on. We take Hwy 33 out of Ventura to Ojai for breakfast, then continue north on 33 for a trip on another of my top 10 roads in the state. Another 35 miles of magical pavement disappears in the blink of an eye, although we do stop for some pictures along the way. A right turn on Lockwood Valley Road, and a left on to Cuddy Valley Road and Mil Potrero Hwy are fun diversions from the slabbing that the remainder of Hwy 33 would otherwise provide. Don't get me wrong, these are awesome roads in their own right; the high speed sweepers on Mil Potrero are awesome and provide great sight lines through the turns, but compared to the roads we've been on it's like having a Franzia chaser after Dom Perignon.

We follow 33 north again and turn west on Hwy 58. Fresh pavement up and over the pass - WOOHOO! Down the other side and we approach autobahn-esque speeds on the roller coaster section. We stop to take a break under a shade tree and I inspect my rear tire. There are *sheets* of rubber peeling off the center of the tire - UHOH! We're not far from Paso Robles, so we proceed at a MUCH more conservative pace and find Powerhouse Sports in PR. This is a BIG shop, they've just moved into their current digs and it's HUGE. They carry Yamaha, Suzuki, Polaris and KTM. One of their mechanics is off for the day celebrating his anniversary, so the one mechanic left is pretty busy. Hans can't wait around as he needs to be home to catch a redeye to the east coast. He takes off and I cool my jets waiting to get my R1 a new shoe. Unfortunately they don't carry Michelin, and their prices for Metzelers are none too attractive either. But I don't really have a choice, so $240 later I have a new M1 rear tire. It's 4:30 now and I'm just wanting to get home, so it's slab time up 101 and I'm home by 7PM.

This was just an awesome four days of riding, about as good as it gets! I hope you enjoyed this little write up, and you should really get out and ride these roads at least once while you're living in California!