i needed to. so i did! as some of you know, i crashed hard on mosquito ridge road (MRR) in may of 2008. i broke my back and ribs and all kindsa other fun stuff, and completely wadded up my bike, kitty. i then decided to give up riding on the street, as i was too irresponsible, ham-fisted, and retarded (especially after bumping my head).
anyhow, since then, i did a slow loop out to posers in berryessa on an fjr1300 once (taking nearly all freeway), and then once on a drz400 (which i loaded in the back of a truck to get it there) on FR23 in the pouring rain which turned to blizzard snow. so technically, i have been back on the street twice since 2008, but NOT a proper ride.
a buddy of mine went outta town and was brave enough to leave me his R6 to play with. :eek
anyhow, i woke up bright and early yesterday morning and headed out. it was cold. damned cold. it was in the 40s, and the entire sacramento valley was under dense fog. i headed up hwy 99 to hwy 50 for a few miles until i was so cold that i had to turn off onto surface streets. slower speeds meant less chance of my balls freezing and falling off.
i meandered my way through carmichael and folsom until i reached the last stop before salmon falls road where i sat at startbucks for the better part of an hour, not only simply to thaw out and let some of the fog burn off, but to think about what i was doing, where i was going, and how to stay responsible.
at around 9am, i left thebux and headed towards salmon falls. the fog only got worse. in fact, it was so bad, i was having to wipe my visor clear of condensation every minute or so, and visibility was down to about 50ft. halfway up salmon falls, doing at or less than the speed limit (mostly less due to frozen joints, no visibility, and dew on the road), i started rethinking what the hell i was doing. i nearly turned around. i was getting sad.
i arrived in pilot hill. the temps seemed to have gotten just a little better. i stopped for a minute to thaw and have a cig. “to hell with it. i’ve come this far, i may as well mush on,” i thought to myself. i still wasn’t really enthused about it though. but i did. i mushed on. hwy 49 north, through cool, and dropping down into the confluence…when suddenly, the blanket of fog was 100ft overhead! i could see again!
this excited me a little as i made my right turn onto old auburn foresthill road. halfway up the road, something flashed in front of me. i looked up. SUN! i could see the sun for a brief moment! i let out a little squeal of delight in my helmet, and rolled on the throttle a little harder.
as i got to the top of old auburn foresthill road, all of a sudden, the clouds parted, as if moses himself were there, riding bitch on the back of my bike.
blue skies. and onto mrr. i went, i rode, i conquered (i only took a few pics though. i was mostly on a video testing session).
at the pull out, mile 17.
down on FR23. someone left this as a reminder that we’re not the only ones on this planet. there’s also crazy people that leave crosses on picnic tables cause they’re crazy…
also up on 23. i was scouting for a location for a photoshoot i want to do.
i stopped here for about 10 minutes. it was great to just soak in the quiet…the trees…the light breeze… the peacefulness that i’ve been missing this last year and a half.
the steed in which wisked me away into bliss once again.
and this is the last shot i took.
thanks everyone!
a buddy? That’s my bike!