my first long distance ride.

[capt.saveaho]

About a month ago I bought a BMW f800s, not a touring bike but I did it any way. A good friend of mine had been nagging me to go for a long distance ride with him on is v strom. Not quite knowing what I would be getting myself into I said ok. Our ride started off in Novato and had several destinations. The route for day one started on 101 then to 20 to 1 to where it met up with 101 again, then we attempted to find the lost coast, with gps in hand my buddy and I took what we thought was the correct left turn, we were wrong. Just before we decide we should turn around my dumb ass has to tip over my brand f**king new bike on gravel. Having never actually flown off of a (street) bike before it happened faster then I imagined. In my mid somersault all I could think about is how f**ked up my brand new bike was going to be, luckily it didn't suffer much damage, aside from a broken shifter (thus posing a problem). But my observant friend recalled seeing a motorcycle shop in the last town, he then decides to show me how far and twisty the backtrack was going to be. Once we got to the motorcycle shop I decided it was a better time then never to tell my dad who co-signed on the loan that I just crashed my brand new bike. To my delight he was just glad nothing (really) bad happened. After we were able to repair the shifter I made the executive decision that we should finish the ride. So we started back on our marry way up to Eureka where we spent the night in an above my budget but really nice best western. After getting the room we decide to get.. lets call it brunch, after circling around a few times my buddy see's a bbq place that had the same name as a place he eats at work almost everyday. Turns out that it belonged to the same family and we got this messy tri-tip sandwich that was really good. To fast forward a bit we make the decision to take 299 to Redding and then decide what we wanted to do from there. 299 is a road I recommend if you like twisty high speed roads. Because that was what we ended up doing. After 299 we took 44 to 89 which went into Lassen national park. 89 ended up being an extremely fun road not to mention the distracting view everywhere. After going over the pass we got on to 36 which the portion we road was straight and boring so I decided to top out my new bike (well not new anymore), I was a little disappointed at only getting up to 137 but I had to take into consideration the bag and all my extra gear. The rest was pretty boring I 5, as straight and it gets, we stopped in willows to get gas and Starbucks when my buddy took a look to see how the shifter was holding up and good thing he did because it was about to go, we managed to find this little hardware store and they barely had what we needed to put the bike back together, but we made it work. It was smooth sailing all the way home, aside from my ass and back hurting like no other. When we got home my buddy asked me if I would do it again and I proposed taking a 5 day trip and really covering some ground. But next time I don't want any crashing involved.

Here are some of the photo's i will up upload the rest later.

 

[Gester]

Nice ride report. A bit short but enjoyable all the same. Sorry to hear about the drop, but I guess you could say that's why they're called adventures.

 

[DReg350]

Cool report! I completed a similar ride earlier this summer. We did the same: 1 to 101. When 1 turns east and heads to 101, there's about a 25 mile stretch of gorgeous asphalt that twists through a lush green canopy. Simply, a devine road. We jumped off at Myers Flat and rode through the Avenue of the Giants, then back to 101 and on up to Fortuna. Fortuna's a bit closer than Eureka and a whole lot cleaner IMO.

Next time consider 36 to 3 to 299 instead of 299. 36 and 3 were... well let me put it this way, if god rode a motorcycle he'd ride 36 and 3. Most fun motorcycle road I've ever been on.

In one way I feel badly for you that you dropped your bike. In another way I'm glad you got it out of the way. Now you won't be afraid to crack that thing open. :thumbup

 

[capt.saveaho]

Cool report! I completed a similar ride earlier this summer. We did the same: 1 to 101. When 1 turns east and heads to 101, there's about a 25 mile stretch of gorgeous asphalt that twists through a lush green canopy. Simply, a devine road. We jumped off at Myers Flat and rode through the Avenue of the Giants, then back to 101 and on up to Fortuna. Fortuna's a bit closer than Eureka and a whole lot cleaner IMO.

Next time consider 36 to 3 to 299 instead of 299. 36 and 3 were... well let me put it this way, if god rode a motorcycle he'd ride 36 and 3. Most fun motorcycle road I've ever been on.

In one way I feel badly for you that you dropped your bike. In another way I'm glad you got it out of the way. Now you won't be afraid to crack that thing open. :thumbup

We ended up cutting the ride short a day, but 299 to 3 was our original route. Then we were going to catch 89 into Lassen, as far as the crash goes it could have been a whole lot worse, anyone who knows 299 its in my opinion as fast as you wanna go, I saw 100 through a few corners so I'm glad I didn't crash there.

 

[capt.saveaho]

Here are a few more photos. For some damn reason I cant get all of the pictures to upload I will try again later

 

[boney]

Good on ya for getting out. Don't worry too much about the drop. Anyone who tells you they haven't done something similar at some point is lying (or tempting fate by talking about it.)

 

[HiggyB]

Good stuff and I agree, don't sweat the drop. That ride up and through Lassen is awesome, I did that last year and loved it. :ride

 

[WoodsChick]

Nice report and photos!


Don't sweat the minimal drop damage. Just consider it hard-earned experience. Besides, your bike now has some unique character :thumbup



WoodsChick

 

[little_twin]

Since captain crash-a-lot cant seem to do it, here are a few pics from the Lassen National Park.

 

[little_twin]

The summit.

 

[DefyInertia]

anyone who knows 299 its in my opinion as fast as you wanna go, I saw 100 through a few corners so I'm glad I didn't crash there.

shit ton of CHP on 299.

Did you say you hit 137?

 

[little_twin]

We were on 299 early, and no excessive speeding was done there.

 

[Rumbo Sur]

Nice ride/report/pics boys! We're heading up that way this Friday for a nice 4 day ride. I would think your F800 will be OK for longer days with a few key mods to seat, maybe bar position? Were you guys trying to find Usal road when you fell off?

Trust me, it's just as well you did not find it. It would have been tough on your street bikes. Beautiful area. Tons of little back roads all around there, but as mentioned. 36 is God's own road. But do be careful ... I had a small shunt there some years ago that involved a helicopter ride and six operations! :shocker

Ride safe .... And BTW, a long ride would be to Alaska and back! Eureka is just our back yard!

Cheersarty