Sunday Morning Ride in Marin - 01/04/2009

[Alex]

Although I didn't take the ninjette, I figured I'd still post up a ride report for today. Definitely a fun day of riding, with some neat coast pics! The MSMC SMR is a weekly event (details here), and I try to make more of them than I miss, but I hadn't gone the past 2 or 3 weeks due to rain and cold.

When I got up this morning, I took a peek at the remote thermometer in our bedroom, and it dutifully reported to me that it was 27 degrees outside. Undeterred, I got myself and my moto-crap together and made my way to the bike. With my Gerbing out of commission, Colin had volunteered to lend me his extra heated vest, so I aimed the RT to his place. He had promised to leave the vest in his mailbox, and had said he was a maybe for today's ride. I was a few minutes late, getting to his place around 8 AM, but the Gerbing was still in the mailbox. And I was late enough that if he had already left, banging on the door to wake Vicki probably wouldn't have gone over well. But it did turn out the Colin was still getting his beauty rest.

I swapped out my unheated liner for the vest on the way up 280, and between the vest and my heated grips, I was doing OK. It was clear and bright all the way up, with a temp in the mid-40's as reported by the BMW's dash. When I got to the Big Rock Deli, there were 3 other bikes there already. Turns out Don Beaton had gotten there even before 8, so he had a pre-ride of sorts and still decided to stick around for the rest of us at 9. I had a thought, and added my unheated liner on top of the heated vest, which turned out to be the right call and in fact was just as warm as my heated full liner is anyway. Thanks Colin!

A few more bikes trickled in, and eventually we had 9 happy folks:



RnB had brought his GS with the new Akro cans on it; here's Robert Craig drooling over them:



While it was a little chilly on the ride out to breakfast, it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. The RT's wind protection along with a little electrical cheating kept me pretty comfy the whole time. There were some spots on the road that looked like they could be a little slick, but with a moderate pace in those areas, it wasn't too taxing and there were no scary moments. I did have to slow down for two young deer in the road. One of them was right on Lucas Valley on the climb up to Big Rock, and the other was on the road after you go through Valley Ford and hang that right. That particular deer was pretty stubborn, and I had slowed down to < 10 mph and gotten to within 30 or 40 feet of it before it decided to make its way to the side of the road.

We were seated immediately at Howard's, which I guess is one advantage of such a chilly morning. Arriving an hour late didn't up the crowd such that we had any issues in that department. After breakfast we all headed in different directions, with RnB, Rick Rockey, Robert Craig, and myself heading out over Coleman Valley to the coast. We all took turns on Robert Craig's new Tiger. Fun bike! I got to ride it on one of my favorite sections of the SMR, the loop out to Dillon Beach. Great power, decent handling, just fun all around!

Here is the group at the Coleman Beach overlook on 1:



Robert and his new steed:



Upside-down forks, radial brakes, steel lines, and a sportbike-sticky 17" front tire:



Glad I convinced myself to brave the cold, and happy so many other folks made it out as well. Leaving at 9 AM didn't materially affect the traffic we saw on the ride to breakfast or the ride back, and even the ride all the way home on the freeway was pretty light. I'm game for the later start time for the next few weeks, as long as the traffic situation stays the same.

Here's a GPS overview of the route, about 250 miles door-to-door for me:



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

[BlueTyke]

Looks like it was an awesome time!