A fun rainy ride in Northern California

[Alex]

Every March, I go on a club ride up to a Duck Club owned by one of our members. It is a few hours north, and the roads on the way up are fun, and there is some great riding in that area as well. This year the weather looked to be a little interesting, and the forecast didn't disappoint. I posted it up on our club site, but figured I'd share it here as well. I did not take the ninjette, the RT is a bit more comfortable in poor weather conditions (and when I need a ton of luggage). Here's the post below...

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Well that rocked.

I had been looking forward to the ride for weeks. While the weather reports became more and more ominous as the date approached, I knew all that would mean is that I'd get a little wet. I couldn't even process not going. There had been too much preparation. Annie was on travel during the same time, so we had to arrange for an overnight sitter for the little monster, and a stay at the doggie daycare for his dog. All was in motion, away I went. The ride up the freeway Friday morning to Napa was surprisingly dry (and quick), and even though I left the garage a bit late, I landed at Denny's with enough time for breakfast. I pulled in with Geoff Walshe, and a few other folks had already arrived. There was much discussion about routes, yay or nay on the gravel/dirt portion, would we make it to LaPorte, etc. In the end, we agreed to just say screw it and do the entire planned route, and if we have to change the plan later, so be it. Here's the obligatory group photo. The few, the proud, the wet.



The trip out of Napa started getting a bit wet, and the pace slowed. By the time we reached 121, "getting a bit wet" no longer quite covered it. We heard stories a bit later about how two of our weather-forecasting-challenged riders chose not to put on the rain gear that they had so carefully packed. 30 minutes in, after stopping by the side of the road, one of them was able to pour a pint or two of water out of his boot. We gathered ourselves back up together at an early gas stop; here are the bikes left in the street to catch the eye of the stragglers:



We then kept heading for a planned lunch at Toki's Fountain. But by the time we reached Marysville around noon, folks decided a better plan was to look for something interesting to chow down on nearby. Bill Mittendorf led us to a quirky, memorable, and ultimately successful lunch stop. All you can eat Sushi, + Chinese, + Thai. The restaurant was both empty and huge, so they didn't mind when a pile of wet bikers wandered in and started dripping all over their floor. They even had covered parking!





After lunch, people were curious about how quickly they could make it to the Duck Club if they went straight there. I think if an airlift was feasible, a few might have chosen that route. But as none was forthcoming, we pressed on and aimed our gadgets to the club, less than 30 miles away. Bill Mittendorf has some property in the area and solid local knowledge, so he happily led us in to the land of the ducks. As we got closer, Colin and I thought that Bill had a devious sense of humor, as there was a stretch of 6 or 7 intersections in a row, where our gadgets were telling us left, and the group turned right. Or the gadgets were saying right, and we turned left. It happened so many times in a row that we became convinced he was just messing with us. When we got within 20 miles, I bailed to the way that I was familiar with, and we all were still aiming for the ducks, if on a slightly different heading. As we pulled up to the club, we realized Bill was about 30 seconds ahead, so local knowledge isn't such a bad thing to have. (Of course we have a theory he had it pinned at 120+ to emphasize that point, but we'll never know). :-)

We were at the club just a few minutes before 3, with a light rain above, and food and drink ahead.



John quickly got us situated in the right rooms, and the festivities began early. A fire was soon up and running in the living room, and the bar car was open for service. We were theoretically disappointed that the traditional tractor ride wasn't in the cards, as there was a distinct lack of tractor, but it was probably a good excuse to not have to go back out in the cold and wet anyway. John S. and Don B. had come up with a foolproof way to cook up the chicken and duck even in a downpour, and it worked a treat. Here is Bill M. loading up the circular charcoal grill (under a canopy).





There was some chatting:



Some drinking:



And soon enough, dinner was served. More eating, more drinking, more revelry, and we were on to the main event, poker. Steve was clearly so intrigued he had a hard time staying awake:



Evidently he didn't have to be fully awake, as he handily took the second game from Geoff "the closer" Walshe. We went to sleep late, with loose plans to ride in the morning if it wasn't that cold and wet out.

When I woke up around ten the next morning, it was cold and wet out. :biggrin: But there was still a merry band of stalwarts ready to brave the elements. Before the small group left that morning, Steve had a demonstration of, well, I don't know what he was demonstrating. But it would make a great caption contest:



Tourdo, Mittendorf, and Thull joined me for the Saturday route, and the plan was similar to Friday's: follow the planned route, and deviate once necessary. After gassing up in Colusa, we kept heading West to Maxwell on our way to Stonyford. While it was a bit wet out, the rain wasn't that steady, and the roads weren't that slick. The Stonyford loop is always great fun, and it didn't disappoint on Saturday. The biggest calamity was me realizing I was starting to get quite cold, but a quick stop to figure out my electric jacket had come loose had me warmed right back up again. Here's the group in Stonyford:



We took the planned route all the way up past Orland, when we realized that we didn't have time to make it all the way up to 36 and back before dark. Bill suggested a fun road that I hadn't seen before, Black Butte, which took us out to I-5 a little farther north, near the town of Corning. We found a local mexican place, and had some lunch. While we were eating, it did seem like the rain was a bit stronger than we had experienced, but that never matters when you're inside. Our 4 stalwarts became 3 when Thull had a strange attraction to I-5 after lunch, which he utilized to make it back to the club a bit before we did. Because the rest of the group flipped the bikes around and took the exact same route all the way back. And no matter how many times we do it, that Stonyford loop remains terribly entertaining. On the way back I noticed a huge dam near the road that was gushing, so we pulled off to take some pictures:



Bill then took a hike up the hill, to make his way across the dam itself! (zoom in as needed)



Steve clearly had a moral issue with this: :biggrin: (Bill is at the end of the red arrow)



As we got closer to home base, the weather got a bit stronger. Not far from the club on West Butte, we ran into the first water crossing that hadn't existed just a few hours before. And then we ran into the second water crossing, a bit more significant than the first. Neither were large enough to slow us down much, and we pulled into the club around 5 PM. It would only be a few moments before things started to get really interesting.

I went to take a shower, came back out, and sat in front of the fire. There was some hubbub in the kitchen, as another local had driven his truck up the drive, to warn folks that the flooding was getting quite bad and likely to get worse very quickly. To check it out, Don took his truck out to the end of the driveway, and confirmed that where there used to be road, was now lake. The truck that had come in only barely made it out, and the water was up to the taillights on an F-250. John filled us in at that point, with stories about people being holed up in the club for days when flooding gets really out of control. This was definitely a good safety tip, but is probably a bit more useful if we are not having this conversation while we are in said club, with flooding that has already hemmed us in. Here is a map of the duck club:



Here is a wider view, which shows how things are laid out. The road smack in the middle going north/south is the long driveway. At the end of the driveway, is North Butte Road. Which was now completely underwater, for a few hundred feet.



At this point, there was quite a bit of chatter about what would require people to get back on Sunday, which work commitments would be missed, which family commitments would be missed, which airplane tickets would become useless, etc., if we were holed up in the club for days on end. The upside is we had enough alcohol to serve a small army for an extended period. so we had that going for us. One individual who *really* needed to get out was Rob Thull. After another scouting run with the truck, and some suggestions to try and trailer the bike out, it appeared that someone could use a levee next to the road (but on the inside of the field) to make it a few hundred feet east, then cut over a weak part of the fence to make it to solid ground and escape. The levee is just a few feet wide, several feet tall, and covered with muck and marsh grass. It did not sound attractive, but was judged to be the best option at the time. Rob suited up, made his way down the driveway with Don's truck as an escort, and headed out for home. A whole bunch of folks were anxiously watching, to see whether this was a viable solution or if we'd be pulling Rob and a shiny new Multistrada out of a flooded field. He made it, tooted his horn, and was on his way.

It was quickly getting dark at this point, just passing 7:00, and the question became if anyone else felt the urgent need to follow Rob's strategy. After a whole bunch of hemming an hawing, ultimately the rest of us stayed put, with the hopes that if it wouldn't be better in the morning, hopefully it wouldn't be any worse. This is the point in the tale where the reader is simply obligated to consider us all dumbasses of if not the highest order, a relatively lofty height. We went back to the fire, went back to the bar, and made plans for the traditional Saturday night steak dinner. Which was fantastic!

During dinner, the rain picked up a bit. And the wind picked up a bit. People checking the forecast realized it was going to rain continuously for the next few days, let alone that night, and it became a stressful place to be. So we drank a bit more, and the stress subsided. The poker gang set up around 11 PM, and then it started to get, well, real. The rain picked up. The wind picked up. And we noticed that there was water in the parking lot, in places that were dry just before. With no real options, the game went on, until the wind picked up some more, and things starting crashing outside the house. One of the KTM's was blown over, and we righted it into a more protected area. The winds were picking up to levels I've never felt here in California, easily 50 - 60 mph+, blowing chairs, ripping the back cover off of a pickup, bending trees and bowing telephone poles. And then the power went out, just when we noticed a number of lightning strikes. So we played by candelight.



After Tourdo took all of our money for the last time (yes, I went 0 for 4 this year, making it the first Duck Club in my history where I didn't make up much of my ride fee off of the rest of you. ), we went to bed around 1:30 AM, with the plan to wake up in the morning and hope for the best. At that point we realized that where there was once muddy field, was now a seamless lake across the entire property. It was pretty clear that we were up the proverbial creek without the proverbial paddle. So we slept, or at least tried to, but the wind didn't die down all night. It was bowing the windows, slamming things up against the deck and the walls from time to time, and making it that much more challenging to stay asleep.

I woke up around 7. The power was still out, never having come back on since we lost it the night before. Rick Rockey and I noticed Curt's Prius coming back up the driveway. We quickly went out to get the scoop, and he let us know that the road looked even worse than yesterday, but the levee might still be a possibility. The Prius is going to take up residence in the club for an extended period, as it simply isn't going to make its way out until all of that water recedes. Curt also mentioned that while there was a small break in the weather right now, the forecasts looked ominous very soon. That was all it took to get a bunch of anxious motorcylists packed and raring to go, and we all gathered our gear. The group spent a few minutes helping Don and others get the truck loaded back up with all of the food/drink, and then we sent Matt on the first scouting mission to check whether the levee was still viable. As he went out, the rest of us followed not far behind, and we decided to give it a shot. I had the luxury of watching a few bikes in front of me seemingly make it to the end and make their way off, so I aimed the RT onto the levee and gave it a little gas, immediately slewing the bike sideways, and going nowhere. Crap. I gently gave it the slightest bit of throttle and clutch, and inched the bike forward while duck paddling on both sides of the bike. This was enough to start it in the right direction, but even idle in first gear was too quick for me to manage the heft of the RT as it slipped right and left, which means my clutch hand was getting more and more of a workout as it was being fanned the entire way, a foot at a time. I heard later from Colin that I was making it harder for myself by staying on the mud instead of the reeds, but after thinking back, I realize that I was worried about tipping over to the left and not being able to catch the bike in that slimy muck that was somewhat lower. With water on both sides of the levee, a careless throttle hand, clutch hand, or a misplaced boot, would put a 600+ pound touring bike into a position it wouldn't escape from for days, and might not be salvagable at that point anyway. I inched my way all the way to the crossover point, and saw where people were putting their bikes over to get to the road. After I sat and stared at it for a few moments, Brockway suggested (thankfully!) that Tourdo might have an easier time getting it over this muck, being able to stand on both sides of the bike that much easier if needed. I happily hopped off, and stood next to the bike to spot as needed. Steve aimed at the pile of muck, two or three of us pushed, and soon enough the RT was on solid ground (and a few pounds of muck was covering me from boot to chest, as I was pushing the bike from directly behind. Brilliant!) Steve ferried Colin's Multistrada over the same way, but it was even more challenging as it found itself stuck in that same muck; but the concerted efforts of a number of helpers managed to yank it up enough for the minimal traction to get that bike onto the pavement as well. And we were free! It was a bit of a cathartic moment. At that point, we were home free, as long as we could make it to a gas station that had power before some of the group reached the end of their tanks. The rumors were that the outages were widespread, but once we pulled into a functional station in Live Oak, all was well. Wet and windy, but well. We then made our way down Highway 99 to 70, and eventually I-5. Breakfast was at the Black Bear diner near Sacramento, before we all broke for home. By the time I pulled into the garage, it was a 630+ mile weekend, of which I enjoyed just about all of them. Except for the few hundred feet on the levee...

There are huge thanks due John for inviting us up again year after year, and I can safely say that this won't be a ride we forget anytime soon. One regret is that during all of the actual excitement, there wasn't as much time and eagerness to take pictures about what we were seeing. So until more pictures show up, you have to take my word for it about things like the underwater road, the field turned lake, etc. I did take one video, which shows almost nothing, but the wind makes itself known as I walked out on the deck around 1 AM.



The rest of my pictures are all up in this gallery.

Here's the full route I traveled for the weekend.



See you next year, John! (Oh, and big thanks are also due to Linden for creating a kick-ass ride shirt! I have a feeling it is going to be one of the more memorable collectibles in the closet...)

[setasai]

Wow, sounds epic. You guys are warriors. I had to commute to school in this weather and it was horrible as it is. People just dont understand that driving slow doesnt compensate for crappy decision making.

Glad you guys had fun. Thanks for sharing!

[AMMOCAN]

WOW! Thanx for sharing Alex. I can definitely see this being a catalyst for a film. I am glad everyone had fun and made it home alright. I too can vouch for the crazy vicious wind & rain we had this weekend, specifically Saturday night. I think it might have had something to do with the moon.

[slolane]

Sweet, great pics

[JeffM]

Great story Alex. Thanks for sharing.

Are not the simple trips, that actually turn into adventures, the ones that become the best memories.

[Mekkakat]

Wow does that look like an awesome time, seriously.

THanks for the share man