I will be putting song titles in at various points because those were the songs in my head during various points on the trip. If you know the song, you'll know my mindset. My cousin suggested I make a tape before the trip, turns out I didn't need one. If you have these clips sampled, please let me know, I'd love to include some.
The deal is made, the tankbag strapped on, and soon I'm off to Morgan's place to rest up for the next two days of riding. Back on the highway. Now I'm scared. Brand new motorcycle beneath me. New tires, new engine, lots of crazy drivers. Plus, I can't go faster than 70 mph because I shouldn't take the tach past 5 grand (5 grand in 6th gear is 70 mph). All I'm thinking is "Man, I can't wait to get the hell off this thing and put it in Morgan's garage". And I'm supposed to spend the next two days on the back of this thing. Things do not look good. The engine is running a bit rough but not too bad. I guess the parts really are working themselves in. I guess that's good. Finally get to North Hollywood and put the bike away for the night. Phew.
Topanga Canyon is a super twisty windy road that leads from 101 through a park and down to the ocean at Malibu. That's where you pick up PCH. I ride carefully through the turns because the engine and tires only have 30 miles on them apiece. Going through and especially hairy set of curves a BMW "sports coupe" pulls on the road behind me. He sees a shiny red sportbike and wants to play. There will be no playing for me. These tires are brand new. I continue on at my pace and eventually he disappears. Just keep a cool head and everything will be find. I come around the last corner and the Pacific Ocean stretches out before me. I pull up to stoplight and two guys on GSXRs go roaring away from the light. Hey, no one told me this road was for 750s. Cool. And it's only 9:30 am.
"Get you motor runnin', head out on the highway, looking for adventure..."
I make the right and head up PCH toward Malibu. It's gorgeous.
No wonder the movie stars all live here. The native are
out for their morning jogs and bicycle rides. Wow. They really
paid attention when the gyms were having their "Get Your Body
Ready for Summer at the Beach" promotions. Oh yeah, keep your
eyes on the ROAD. Got it. The road through here is
all scenic coastline and
I took a break at the start of the Santa Monica Mountain
National Park. From here you can see one of the governments
missle test centers. I didn't get any pictures of it, so
I get to keep my camera.
While I was
taking the break a rabbit came out of the brush and headed
straight for the bike. It squared itself up in front of the
bike and stared it down. I am not kidding. I only wish I
had my camera with me instead of in my tankbag at the time.
Here's the bike, isn't it great? Don't worry, you'll see it
again, read on.
Hwy 1 joins the interstate for
a short time as you enter Santa Barbara, and I must admit,
it sucks. I got trapped by two 18 wheelers who I sincerely
believed wished to taunt me. Of course I couldn't go faster
than 70! which made evading them all the much more difficult.
I finally got off the interstate where PCH runs by the water
for about 2 or 3 miles, then becomes interstate for a short
while more. I got off for the two or three miles and stumbled
onto RV hell. I never liked RVs much just because of how
intrustive they are if you try to go to a regular campsite.
Now there were miles of them streched out along the coastline.
The fog hasn't burned off completely yet, but this shot should
give you an impression of how many there were. Weird.
PCH continues for a big as interstate as I mentioned before but soon you're back on country roads. Not really that close to the water though. The US Military owns this part of the coast. Vandenburg Air Force Base is around here and I ride into the town of Lompoc to get some lunch. It's 1 pm by now and I've spent almost 4 constant hours on the bike and I must admit, I'm not really used to it yet. My wrists and back are a little tired and so is my right knee. I find a Subway and get a sandwich. Man am I hungry! I take a rest until 2 and by body has recuperated almost fully. I'm ready to get back on the bike. Two guys pull up on cruisers who I think must be doing the same trip I am but disappear before I get to talk to them. On toward San Luis Obispo.
The road is interstate again (of course) through but soon
you're dumped back out by the ocean and enter a town called
Pismo Beach. Holy commercialism Batman. This town if just
beach town on steroids. People on scooters and bicycles.
Old men and women, families, everywhere. Walking in and
out of cheezy tourist shops looking for "bargains". It's
like bad dream and I wanted to leave as soon an possible.
Some guy pulls up an a scooter an nods at me. Like I'm
supposed to think he's cool because he's got two wheels
and a full face helmet. Please! Even if it is a Honda
scooter. I slowly (no choice) wind my way through town
and for once am happy to be back on the highway. It puts
distance between me and Pismo quickly. Soon I putter
through San Luis Obispo and am pretty close to where I'll
be staying for the night. So I take a detour. I head
down a short road to get back to the water and am
confronted by a huge rock in the middle of the water.
How it got there I don't know but it looks like this:
The view of the bay is very beautiful however so it
was a pretty nice place to take a breather.
Back on the bike I make my way toward Atascadero and the Super 8 motel (American Motorcyclist Association discount) where I'll spend the evening. The roads have been fun in places so far but nothing extremely radical. Just lots of open space in between major towns. But now I'm on Rte 41 to Atascadero and it's just curve, curve, curve. What a way to end the day! (and to start tomorrow). It's a country road that winds through a canyon inbetween some pretty big hills. I take the bike on a "spirited" ride through here because by now the tires are plenty warm and broken in. They grab just fine and they should because I'm still stuck below 5000 rpm. (sigh) Check in to the motel, grab some dinner. Another guy is staying here with an ST1100, go Honda. Spend hour reading "Contact" by Carl Sagan (great book) and grab some sleep. Zzzzzzz.
I put on my Internet VFR List t-shirt, gas up the bike,
grab some more Gatorade and I'm ready to go. It's 8:45 am.
I head back on to Hwy 41 which will take me toward the
coast and am once again greeted by wonderful road. Here
is the anticipation:
And here is the road, can you say zooooom?
I get to PCH and immediately pull over and put on my turtleneck.
Thank you Kevin for the suggestion. It's a little chilly by
the water in the morning. The extra layer helps alot. I pass
through Harmony, California on my way to San Simeon. Once you've
gotten to Harmony you can bet the roads are just going to get
a whole lot better. 
PCH heads out toward the ocean and I'm stuck behind 5 cars. Great. Looks like I'll be following a line of Sunday drivers around some of the coolest corners in the US. It's 10:30 by now and the sun starts to break through the fog. "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles goes through my head and we come to the entrance to Hearst Castle. Out of nowhere, cars start peeling off the road and make a right into the castle road entrance. One, two, three, four, five. Do you believe this? Soon I have clear pavement in front of me as far as my eyes can see (which is till about the next corner). The road is finally starting to wind around the coast and it's all open in front of me. This is all national seashore and it's all mine. I start the bike through the first few turns and am in heaven.
"Danger Zone" from Top Gun
The road gets really crazy from this point on and I can`t
help but to really start to push the bike faster and faster
through the turns. There are of course cliffs to my
left and rockface to my right but that makes it sooo much
better. I'm sure the scenery was beautiful but I was paying
too much attention to the road. Just me and the machine.
I pass an old couple from Colorado plodding along at 15 mph
in their pickup truck. Most people were nice enough to
pull to the side of the road. The road wasn't very crowded
tihs early to begin with. I did pass on double yellows once
or twice (oops). My tires were warm and gripping real well.
The road was in real good shape too. Tried a couple of
times to get the bike ATWTFO (all the way the, full, over).
This is what some of it looked like.
I got stuck behind a woman in a Ford Explorer. I pass
and catch the pack of cars in front of her. I slow down
till I'm doing about 5 mph, I wait for the Explorer
to catch me, then I take off until I catch the pack
again. I do this numerous times and it ensures me plenty
of open road. One time I even stop right in the road.
I'm sure she thought I was crazy. A line from a Beastie
Boys album is in my head "I'm runnin', I'm passin', I'm
runnin'". I take a break after a long time doing this.
The bike is great.
Pretty much the only other bikes I see on this road are 2 TL1000s
and a cruiser or two. All coming in the other direction
(southbound). Around 12:15 I'm in the area of Big Sur and
pretty tired, but stuff like this makes it all worthwhile.
Now you know why I'm going back here to go camping in a few weeks
I'm getting closer to Monterey and Carmel the whole time and decide I finally need to take a real break. I get stuck behind a minivan and the kids in the back are staring at the bike with eyes open and mouths agape. Dad starts to turn off the road and I strike my best Ricky Racer pose for them and take off. I zoom by a little cafe/shopping area that's got bikes out in front. I turn around and stop. Low and behold, it's another brand new VFR. 50 miles on the odo. The owner comes out and we chat for a while. He bought it the day before in Monterey and was trying it out. Traded in his BMW for it and likes it a whole lot. There was also a BMW, Ducati 900SS, TL1000, and an early 90's VFR. The owners were inside eating and none came out. The VFR was for sale and I jotted down the number for the internet list. Don't know where I put that!
Got back on the road and headed through the Monterey
Peninsula.
I avoided going through the town of Monterey itself because I had already been there before and didn't need to deal with the traffic. Plus, it wasn't that long to get to Santa Cruz. Had to deal with PCH becoming an interstate again and met up with some traffic. 2 more kids are staring at the bike now from a minivan. They wave and I flash them a "peace" sign. This certainly is not helping the image of the badass biker dude but oh well. The traffic finally breaks and I head through some farm country to Santa Cruz.
Santa Cruz is your typical college/beach town and there
are plenty of places to eat which is good because at
this point I'm STARVING. I see a little greek restaurant
where I can sit by the window and marvel at the VFR. It's
beautiful and there are alot of other beautiful things
walking about. See a UGAG (ugly guy, attractive girl).
Sigh. She really like the bike and I catch her looking
at the bike more than once. Then again, my bright red
Katana used to catch alot of looks too. I doubt if most
people even know the difference. Anyway, finish with
lunch and gear up again. A few kids out front ask me
if I can pop a wheelie for them. Hmmmm. There's about
15 feet between me and the line of cars in that intersection
I'm headed toward. Do you want me to wheelie into a 5 mph
intersection? I politely respond "No". Of course by
this point in time "California Girls" by the Beach Boys is
in my head and I doubt if it's gonna go anywhere. I
head out of town toward Half Moon Bay. Lots of open but
straight road. Here's a picture.
And here's the lighthouse at Pescadero 
On the way to HMB I see two 94+ VFR pass by the opposite direction. I can't help but wonder if maybe I know them from the VFR list. Impossible to determine however. I ride through the last twisty portions of road with a Ducati rider who looks REALLY uncomfortable. I've been riding for more than 6 hours by now (including lunch break) and am still doing fine. Hmmm. Maybe the VFR was a good choice. "I left my Heart in San Francisco" is running through my head, what did you expect? I cruise the rest of the way to San Francisco and see a bike that looks familiar go the opposite way when I get close to the city. Was that Scott? Nah. So I keep going. In fact, it was my roommate out for a Sunday ride on his ZX-6. He chases me home (ok, taking the scenic route). I make a right on Fulton Street and head down toward my house. I'm home, 530 miles later.
I get in the house. My roommate shows up. "Hey dude, I'm going out for a ride." Me - "Can I join you?"
Yup, back on the road to play away the late afternoon on windy Califorina roads. Gotta love that VFR.
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