Tag: Sierra Nevada

That rattle in the sprocket was really starting to worry me. Whenever I’d touch it before it always seemed solid. I called Santa Clara Cycle who recently (< 350 miles ago) put a new tire on it and they offered to look at it. I was 200 miles away and not really interested in trailering… Read more

So it’s day two in Lake Tahoe. To say it was cold was an understatement. The morning started off in the low 20s. A friend of mine was traveling from South San Jose up to Lake Tahoe with a motorcycle trailer the day before I left. The good news is I didn’t have to trailer… Read more

I spent a lot of time thinking on the Memorial Day Mingle when my last long motorcycle tour really was.  On that ride, a lightbulb went off that it was the Memorial Day Mingle last year.  A whole year had gone by without focused time in the Sierras with my motorcycle.  Because of that, I wanted to… Read more

There are two rides I’m really proud to have contributed to Homoto’s riding culture: The Mid-Winter’s Tour down the Central Coast and the Memorial Day Mingle through the Sierras.  The Memorial Day Mingle celebrates togetherness between riders and the opening of the Sierra passes for the summer.   Riding the passes on opening weekend for me… Read more

Ibuprofen is a God send. Michael suggested I take some to help reduce the inflammation from the bug bite. It worked like none other! While I wasn’t quite normal, things were looking a lot better. We were originally slated to take US-50 down to Ice House Road to Wentworth Springs Road. A number of us… Read more

The Memorial Day Mingle is our “season opener” as most of the Sierra passes are open and it’s time to brush off the winter coat and go have some curve carving fun up in the hills.  Sure, it’s California and we ride all year, but there’s something really special about being deep in the mountains. … Read more

Up to the mountain This weekend is Homoto’s annual board retreat. One of the members has access to an awesome cabin up in Lake Tahoe. When starting my term as president, I felt it was important to gather the full board to have a time of connection and bonding as well as planning out the… Read more

Saying goodbye to everyone on the third day of the Death Valley trip is always hard.  Many of us see each other only once a year as the group comes from the far corners of California and even places beyond.  I slept in as many of us were out late last night and the ride… Read more

Photography takes a fair amount of time and money to really make photos look great. If you like my work, I’m asking for $5 to be donated for each image to Homoto to help better motorcycling. I’ll then send the full resolution for your use (print, social networks, etc).  Use the contact me page to… Read more

Steve and I talked about doing a ride in Lake Tahoe back in October during the Death Valley ride.  It sounded cool since it was far out there and one of those rides that would come together “in time.”  In about March the “wow we have a lot to do” came up and it was… Read more

The Hope Valley usually turns a bit later than areas further south.  I’m guessing that’s due to the lower elevation of the area.  We lagged a bit getting out of the hotel as the breakfast was slammed with people and they were short staffed.  Ah well, the outsides were warming up anyway. US-395 is a… Read more

Sometimes you make plans on paper months before that sound great. I was going to be four days in Death Valley, three days at home, and then back on the road for this fall colors ride. Simple, right? What I didn’t realize is how full the weekend at Death Valley was going to be and… Read more

Today was the last day on the road.  Doug was headed up to Quincy for an extra day of riding.  I was thinking of doing the same but rain was forecasted and if I was honest, the office was calling me back. Riding with people is fun, but it’s hard to take your time exploring… Read more

Just about everybody hit the road by 10 AM. The plan last year on day two was to hit the bristlecone pine forest as well as cross Sherman Pass. I wasn’t on top of my game and forgot water so I missed the bristlecone pine forest. Also reports of Sherman Pass led me to believe… Read more

I didn’t want to have to drive all the way back to San Jose to get my tire fixed. I knew of a few places in the city which I hadn’t been to nor did I’d know if they would be open on Saturday. KC Engineering came to mind and City Cycle came to me… Read more

Morning called for me about 7:30 and everyone was up at 8:15. Steve was ready to go well before the rest of us! But as 8:30 rolled around we were ready to rock! Since dinner was a bit harder to prepare that I thought and the store had less food than I thought we just… Read more

Riding for me falls in one of three camps: solo adventures, random wanderings with a few people, or full on organized trips. This time it was the latter. I was fortunate to have a great group.  Rather than ride from motel to motel this time we went camping!  I learned a lot through the process… Read more

With all of us scattered over the house I didn’t think I was getting any sleep.  I could not have been more wrong.  Not only did I sleep well, I was the last one up! By day three we were cruising.  I have to admit, the hot day yesterday made today a bit more painful… Read more

Some buddies and I usually take a motorcycle trip all over the Sierras around Memorial Day weekend. Usually we stay on the west side of the Sierras near Yosemite, but prices this year seemed way out of line for what you get. Crappy motels were starting in the 150 range.  Since the passes opened very… Read more

It’s hard to believe a year has passed since the last trip. The ride is an interesting mix of people from both Northern and Southern California. It seems that the Northern California group is much smaller than last year. It’s just ZZ and I. Usually we stay on the west side of the Sierras like… Read more

The group had some interesting toys all ride up.  The most interesting was the set of VW Bugs… As a kid I rode in a Honda Pilot (not the SUV) much like this one on the beach.  They are really fun toys! The ponies all ready for departure The ride plan today was simple: leave… Read more

Wow! What a ride!  I left the bay area around my usual 3 PM.  I was only going to the gold country, so it wasn’t actually that long of a ride.  Leaving the Bay Area was the typical jaunt: freeway to freeway to freeway.  Once in the Central Valley though, things changed rapidly.  There was… Read more

I’d had the Daffodil Hill run on the calendar since March 17th, then the 24th, then the 31st. Finally April 1st was showing some promise. The skies were supposed to be clear, even though some rain was coming through the day before. Sunday morning came and it was COLD (for April). The weather at Daffodil… Read more