Ultimate ride: exploring northern california - 30

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<span style='font-size:15pt;line-height:100%'>ULTIMATE RIDE: Exploring Northern California with Pashnit</span>

<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>From the Pacific Ocean to the Sierra Nevada Mountains...</span>
Okay fellow busa owners, here we go again. These threads have been huge hits with the folks here so I'll keep posting them. There's about 300 pics here, so will take you about an hour to get through this whole thread if you read it all, so enjoy!! Was a very fun ride, and be up in this region again in end of August.

If anyone is going to Laguna Seca - MotoGP Races in Monterey, CA in July - stop by and say hello - I'll have a booth there and be just hangin' out all three days just chattin' the day away.

 

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A quick intro to some of the riders that came on the ride, spanning the spectrum of motorcycledom in the spirit of Pashnit.

Sharif and Travis came up from Los Angeles for the ride and both work as paramedics. Shariff works on the 'Life Flight' helicopter and I began to feel tired when he described the schedule they work of 3 or 4 days on of 24 hour shifts, and then 3 or 4 days off.

Sharif

Travis just got married a few weeks ago and it would seem was sort of like Sharif's twin. Took me a day to get them figured out. They had been friends and riding partners for a very long time, well over a decade they'd been riding together.

Travis

 

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Glenn owns NCA Laboratories, a firm in Sacramento that specializes in Hi-Fi speakers. 15 years ago he broke away from corporate America and struck out on his own and hasn't looked back. He had put some 4000 miles on his new FJR just in the last 2 months and was getting ready for a big trip across the United States. He had thought this would be a good introduction to what it'd be like to travel on the bike for a few days.

We couldn't get Glen to stop smiling for the whole ride and every time I pointed the camera at him, he was like a school boy who'd just been let out for summer vacation. Glenn also races Miata's and has a '65 Shelby Mustang with 450 horsepower sitting back home.

Glenn

Ed had a lot of miles under his belt and used to own a Honda Blackbird XX for about 5 years. His latest conquest was a new Yamaha FZ1 which he was still breaking in. Ed is French-Canadian and came to the United States in 1984 and has been working in high-technology for some time. These days he works as a 'Senior Software Engineer' in the Petaluma region north of San Francisco.

Ed had only started riding motorcycles at age 46 and this was a big trip for him, so he thought he'd consult the experts and do his first big trip with the Pashnit!

Kevin was on his second ride with me and having such a great time, he was planning on a third- the Sierra Nevada ride a few weeks later. Kevin was a new rider that had only been riding for 6 months or so. His bike was a BMW R1150R Rockster, a mean lookin' streetfighter style motorcycle that mysteriously didn't sound like a BMW. It may have had something to do with a missing baffle or two Kevin seemed to have misplaced, but we really couldn't be sure. Kevin works in finance for the San Francisco Airport and used to own a bicycle shop in the Bay Area.

Kevin

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Russell is originally from South Africa, and now living in London for the last few years. He has the lucky chance to spend a few months with his technology firm in San Francisco. Russell had an ephipany to do some exploring in this United States and thought he'd just rent a Harley & run around the Pacific coast or something. But then again he'd never been in the United States before, and ended up typing 'bike tours' or 'motorcycle trip in california' or something like that into the internet. Every time he did a google.com search for researching his upcoming ride, he kept running into this 'pashnit' site.

"I've really got to check this out", he thought, what this 'pashnit' website? He never heard of it. I got a bit of a chuckle out of that. Seems 'Pashnit' has become synomous with 'good motorcycle roads in California'.

He called me 5 days before the ride and asked if I had room, of course Russell, we always have room for our overseas counterparts. His Harley Softail proved a bike that he slowly got used to, and by the end of the weekend was really loving. Russell said he got the Harley b/c he wanted the 'American Experience'. And he got it.

Russell

Russell and the Harley

My buddy Tim...

...aboard the trusty FJR

 

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Then usually bringing up the rear is that Pashnit Guy...

 

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The plan was to start off on the north side of San Francisco in Sausalito much like our 3-Day NorCal Ride. This was also a day where I did much of the sweeping and thusly got a chance to shoot a lot of photography of the Pacific Ocean and Highway 1. More on that in a bit.

But first, after the formalities in Sausalito, it was off and up to the top of Bolinas Ridge which is just north of Mt Tamalpias. By far one my favorite spots in the north Bay Area.

The grass is just starting to turn from the brilliant green we see in Springtime to more of a golden brown.

The Pacific in the distance

 

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Below is the tiny alcove of Bolinas.

Russell's Harley Davidson

Glenn and Tim checkin' out the bikes and the view. Both Tim and Glenn had almost identical FJR's. Glenn's was practically brand new with a mere 4000 miles on it, Tim's has over 56,000 miles on it!

 

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Glenn's bone-stock FJR & the Rockster

The guys

Travis and Sharif brought up from Los Angeles a CBR & an RC51. The CBR had some funky track day lookin' fairings on it. The RC51 looked bone stock!

Don't forget the busa, which looks good from any angle.

Btw, a couple mods you can quickly see that I get asked about is the Tobin Seat of course, great travel seat, the RKA Saddlebags, and the Tank Bra by Bagster with matched tank bag. Good stuff !! The color-matched dash panels, mirrors, and brake rotors are by Race Ready. All good folks to work with. The silver rims are off an TL1000.

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All together now. Btw, every now and then, I get asked about the shots I do, and a request to explain what it is I'm doing with the camera, so I'll pipe in some quick insights- maybe somebody might get something out of it I'll get that warm feeling with the max zoom to 200mm. Other thing I'll do is line up the camera with the headlight, than try to balance out the placement of the grass in the picture. A huge component of a shot like this is the morning sun which is coming in from behind to my left. That's what gives everything that warm glow.

We typically spend the morning exploring Marin County and making our way slowly north.
This time we rode out Fairfax-Bolinas Rd...

...to Sir Frances Drake Rd, through the redwood forest and out to the ocean on Marshall-Petaluma Rd.

Marshall-Petaluma Rd, Marin Co, CA

 

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Yes, I take two of everything.

Russell & the Harley

In Tomales, taking a break

Ah, that BMW Rockster... What a georgeous bike Kevin has

 

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I've always enjoyed photographing Harleys too. Spent much of the weekend shooting the Harley.

Wouldn't be a Pashnit Ride without me running all over the place trying to get that magazine cover shot of the bikes! It's a work in progress.
The RC51 & company

 

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Okay, let's ride. So you like some pics of Highway 1 you say? Well, I've got just the thing.

And the Pacific Ocean too you say? Got that also!

More you say? Okay!

 

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Some more of the road? Got ya covered!

Oh, and the view now too? SO demanding. See the bikes?

My 2nd version of the same pic. See the difference- wee bit more zoom, and you get a whole different feel to the shot. Zoom in scenery shots is good.

Every time I ride along California's Pacific Coastline, I fall in love with this region all over again. It's georgeous everywhere you look and every turn holds a new vista!

This pic I keep taking from the same spot during different times of the year. During Spring it's a brilliant green.

 

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Oh, did I mention a few twists and turns? Got that too!

Is it as fun as it looks? You bet!!!

And all along the way is the view like this!

Oop! Now how'd that get in there.

 

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Little story about this photo: Many years ago when I first moved to California I headed out to see the NorCal Pacific coast for the first time and this was one of the very first photos I ever took of the ocean. This photo actually sat on my wall of my office for over a decade. Interesting to come back to this exact small rise in Hwy 1 and re-shoot this pic. This spot is just south of Stewarts Point-Skaggs Spring Rd.

Somebody say lunch? Everytime we come through here, Tim says he smells food. When we rolled in to this town, there was that BBQ smoke rolling down Main Street! Seems the whole town smelled like BBQ!

YUM !!!

Our group at lunch - not a bad view, either!

 

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The view from the lunchtime picnic table

(photo by Glenn)

After lunch, it was time to head for Point Arena to check out the Point Arena Lighthouse. While I've photographed the lighthouse before, each time I go, I try to find something different, or possibly to improve on previous photos.

For one, the road out to the lighthouse is just dreamy!

Point Arena Lighthouse, circa 1870. This one you see here was actually built right after the previous one was damaged in the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

 

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Point Arena Lighthouse, Pacific Coast, California

Back in the day, lighthouses looked like this...! The Saint Agnes Brazier, circa 1680. Learn something every day.

Stairs to the top - all 145 of them!

I didn't count them, but 145 sounds about right!

At the top, our docent was kind enough to explain the history and the inner workings of the lighthouse. Ed and Russell look on.

 

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Stairs to the lens...

Circa 1882

The lens

Inside the lens- which was shipped around the tip of South America in a giant vat of molasses.

The space inside at the top is so cramped, there's just enough room to squeeze up against the wall. The glass is mere inches away from you. Had to be a little inventive with my camera angles.

When you look out the window at the top, the view of the Pacifc Coastline is stunning!!!

 

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The Panoramic version looking north

Scroll--->

 

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Looking down on what is now the museum

Which of course I had to check out... Lots of history on lighthouses, shipwrecks and all things coastal. Know what this is?

Pic (of a pic) of the lighthouse

Outside, the riders were chatting away