[NevadaWolf]

I'm a lurking member on Sierra Sportbike Associations forum, but due to living out in the sticks, I've never been able to join them on any rides. But I have used their maps for planning my own routes so am always daydreaming about the twisties they have found.

One of the members there, Mel, loves narrow, winding, old mountain roads - goat roads in other words. The few I've been on have been an absolute blast and I mentioned so on the forum. Well, this weekend Mel texted me and asked if I wanted to go riding. After some back and forth on scheduling (Street Vibes and all that) and then some weather issues (30% chance of rain, want to cancel? No. Ok!) we met up for some follow the leader.

Mel's basically an A group rider on the street, but he seriously toned it down so he never left me in the dust. My mental image was of a Great Dane out for a stroll with a little Pom running like mad to keep up. I thought I did fairly well and really enjoyed tailing along behind him. It was great watching someone so smooth and relaxed which really helped me set up my corners and keep my forcus ahead of me rather than mentally bouncing around all over the place.

We did explore a few new roads to me which made the day awesome! Norton Grade Road jumps off I-80 outside of Colfax and cuts down to the town. Narrow little one lane road with some tight turns hidden behind trees and brush on the side of the road. Short section but one I had to really concentrate on due to the width and sharpness of the corners.

Ridge Road, off Hwy 49 north of Nevada City, goes up and is a wide two lane road (with a surprise CHP coming down) and we were able to open up the throttle a bit as we climbed through the turns. On the way down, Mel let me lead and I only &$^#ed up once - coming into a left hander, I tried only using my front brake rather than both, failed to scrub enough speed, took the corner way to hot and wide, and managed to get back on line after shouting some very colorful words at my own screw up. Thankfully, IMO anyway, we came upon two horse trailers that slowed us down and gave me a chance to shake off the mistake.

Mel led the way back and we had enough gas for the return trip so on down towards Washington and a very twisty little road that dropped down. Very very fun sweepers and tight hairpins with enough tree cover to give it a surreal feel to this desert rat. We stopped at the bottom where the bridge cut over the river and Mel pointed out a popular swimming hole just up the bend. He let me lead and this time I remembered I was on a new road and to not do anything foolish. Made it up while maintaining a smooth speed and no issues other than a big fat grin on my face.

We headed back to Reno and waved farewell. The day was overcast, cool but not cold, and a wonderful Sunday to hang out and eat up some miles. One of the fun things I saw was as we were inching our way through the packs of bikers heading out of Reno, a BMW GS came up beside me loaded down with gear. As the rider inched forward to make the pass, my thought process went like this... "Oh, cool bike! Hey, nice riding suit. Personalized place, nice. Wait, what!?! IRON BUTT RALLY RIDER!?" (spotted the special plate backing they get.) Too many bikes on the road to keep up with that bike but it was spiffy to see nonetheless.

I have to confer with my GPS to verify this route. The roads were so new to me, I was basically lost all day and just out riding for the fun of it. I may have forgotten some specifics in the haze.