Planning a day ride tomorrow east over the Tioga pass thru the Park @ 9,943’ from 2,300’ and back west over the Sonora pass @ 9,623’. Weather looks good but it is getting chilly up high, mid 50s and 60s. No mesh jacket this trip. Should be around 300 miles but almost all of it will be strenuous mountain climbing on one and two lane roads with several serious switchbacks then a short stint on 395 parallel to Nevada and then back up another pass and back down west. The eastern ‘down’ side is only to about a mile high unlike the western side which is much longer. It’s not just an up and down ride either though as the top has sections with lakes and meadows and several areas for extreme back road camping. Near the eastern edge of highway 108 down from the Sonora pass is a Marine mountain warfare training center. (That) would be rough duty! I’m taking the Kawasaki as it’s much easier on me with so many elevation changes and hairpin switchbacks. Going slowly up or downhill around tight corners is not what the Busa was intended for. Wonder how many bikes I’ll see?
Only saw a few deer and several squirrels. Must have seen 50 bikes. All but two groups were solo or in pairs and only a couple LD riders. One gaggle of Hawgs had the obligatory van pulling a trailer with a Hawg in it.
I even saw a Lambretta scooter climbing the mountain from the east! That must’ve been a workout. Had three saves from my radar detector and late in the day, another herd of Harleys were coming towards me and about the same time my detector was going off and every one of them were slapping their helmets. (That’s) never happened before. Sure enough a CHP was running radar down the road. Man it’s nice having such an early warning, even before they can see me! The bike ran flawlessly but at 4,800 miles the rear tire is toast. Surprised an OEM tire lasted that long. Mileage for the day was 358 and I got home in nine hours, averaging about 40 mph. What open spaces there are getting to and from the mountain is where I could haul azz. Some corners too!
