Cyclerides.com Weekly
Update
7/25/12
Greetings Riders,
Well, Mrs. C. and I are staying off the bikes and are in town
for a while awaiting Grandbaby #2. The new Grandson is due any day
now, in fact, he is 2 days past due date as I speak. We are anxious and hoping
everything goes well on this delivery as it did last time. Will keep you updated
on Facebook when it happens.
In the newsletter last week I outlined how Mrs. C. and I pack
for a trip.
This year we both packed for 9 days in just our own
saddle bags on the bikes. We really had to take the term “minimalist” seriously
to make this work. Read how little you really have to take with you on a road
trip. Click Here to Read. As a follow
up, I had a few readers suggest the vacuum storage bags to create even more
room. I’ve never used them, but it sounds like a good idea. Click Here for a link to where
you could get those.
Over the next few weeks, I will be reviewing our Road Trip 2012,
providing you with maps, photo’s and highlights of the trip. As
most of you know, there is really no good way to exit or enter Phoenix on a bike
in July and August. Your best bet is to leave shortly after sunrise and head to
higher ground as soon as you can. By the time we finally got out of town it was
6:30 AM and we headed up Hwy. 93 out of Wickenburg all the way to Las Vegas
where we picked up Hwy. 95 to head toward California and our destination of
Bridgeport, CA for the night. We took 95 up to Tonopah, continued West to 6, to
120, to 395 near Mono Lake in CA. From Vegas to Tonopah is pretty much a long
straight strip of asphalt that is uninteresting short of the old town of
Goldfield that is full of historic buildings. It is worth a stop there to ride a
few of the side streets to see these old buildings. Hwy. 120 is a great little
road that takes you through a series of “whoop ti do’s” that are a lot of fun
before a beautiful ride through the Inyo National Forest. If you are in the
area, work this one into your trip.
At the intersection of 120/395, which is virtually the East
entrance to Yosemite Nat. Park,
we were only 30 miles from
Bridgeport which would bring our 650 mile ride to an end for the day. One little
fun fact about Bridgeport is, not only is it a cool, historic old town, that is
the county seat for the area, but it is pretty much the only lodging in the 112
miles between South Lake Tahoe and Lee Vining. So if you are out in this area
late in the day, Bridgeport is your only hope for lodging and services. This was
our second stop at the Ruby Inn Motel in Bridgeport in the last couple of years
and would highly recommend it. We saw an interesting plaque on the side of an
old building in Bridgeport that you have to read. It really shows you how old
West justice worked. If you were guilty, you weren’t going to walk like you can
today. Very interesting. Click Here to Read.
After a good night of rest from our 650 mile 12.5 hour day on
Friday, the heat of Phoenix was far behind and were ready to get
into the cool and beautiful part of this trip. Starting at an elevation of 6463
feet in Bridgeport, it was sweatshirt weather, a welcomed departure from the 115
degrees in AZ. Our goal for this day was to spend some time in the Sierra Nevada
Mountain Range and then head toward Lake Tahoe possibly spending the night there
if we couldn’t go further.
The Sierra Nevada, (Spanish translation meaning snowy mountain
range), is a mountain range in East/Central California that also
encompass part of Nevada. The Sierra runs 400 miles north-to-south, and is
approximately 70 miles across east-to-west. Notable Sierra features include Lake
Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at 14,505 ft.,
the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted
by glaciers out of 100-million-year-old granite. The Sierra is home to three
national parks, 20 wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas
include Yosemite, Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. All of these
attributes make the Sierra Nevada a great destination for motorcycle riding.
There are 4 notable passes across the Sierra Nevada that include
Tioga Pass, home of Yosemite National Park (9943 ft.), Sonora Pass
(9624 ft.) Ebbetts Pass (8730 ft.) and Carson Pass (8650 ft.) We have traveled
all 4 of these passes in the past and they are all excellent motorcycle roads.
But our 2 favorite’s are Sonora Pass, Hwy. 108 and Ebbetts Pass, Hwy. 4. While
Tioga Pass is very nice, and I would highly recommend doing it at least once, it
has a high volume of traffic in the Summer and you can spend as much time
looking at tail lights as you do mountains. For that reason, I prefer Sonora and
Ebbetts for pure motorcycle riding enjoyment, raw beauty and very little
traffic.
This would be our 3rd time on Sonora and Ebbetts Pass over the
last 6 years. This time we went from East to West on Sonora and
West to East on Ebbetts. Everyone has their favorite ways to do certain roads.
If I were to choose, I would do both of these from West to East, only because
you would get to go down the steeper side of the mountain. That is just my
preference, but I guarantee, you will enjoy these 2 roads immensely in either
direction.
It is about an 80 mile ride from Hwy. 395 to the town of Sonora.
At the start of the Sonora Pass from the East you will see
this sign proclaiming a 26% grade. In all of my
travels, I think that is the most incline I have ever seen. The road is in great
shape and you will ride through beautiful pines, mountain views and granite outcroppings along the way. A few
recommended stops along the way would be the Sonora Pass sign for a photo op. This also has a sign
to tell you the history of Sonora Pass. The Vista just before Darnenelle to see
the beautiful Donnell Lake. And a good little roadside store in
Strawberry called the Strawberry Store is a nice place to sit under the
tree and drink an ice tea. The Sonora Pass is just a great road to ride a
motorcycle on while getting lost in the beauty of the mountain scenery.
At Sonora we turned North and took a shortcut through Columbia
and across the New Melones Lake to Ebbetts Pass, Hwy. 4.
This
little shortcut turned out to be an excellent find. Follow the map that I give
you for this route. About 3 miles after you get on Hwy. 4, you will go through a
little town called Murphy’s. It is worthwhile to take a side trip through the
Main St. of this town. You could also go out to the Ironstone Winery and
Vineyards just outside of town. This is a very beautiful
property and worth the side trip. Continuing on East from Murphy’s another 15
miles you will come upon Big Trees State Park. We had gone past this park 2
previous times and not stopped. This time we were glad we did finally stop to
see these giant Sequoia trees and enjoy the excellent 8 mile ride into the park
and back. It is $5 to enter the park and well worth it. If you have never seen
giant sequoia’s up close, it will amaze you how big they are. Mrs. C. puts it
into perspective as she stands at the base of one. Click Here to View.
This portion of Ebbetts pass is about 71 miles from where you
enter near Murphy’s.
You will be riding on a very well maintained
road through tall pines and rock outcroppings that are familiar to the Sierra
Nevada landscape as you climb in elevation toward the pass. At approximately
Lake Alpine the you will see a sign that says “Ebbetts Pass ahead, very steep
winding road”. They are not kidding. The road now becomes basically a 1 1/2 lane
road with no centerline as it serpentines through the forest, boulders, and up and down the
mountain. The road continues this way for the next 30 miles and produces a very
exciting and scenic ride. This part of Ebbetts Pass makes the whole trip worth
while.
Soon after Lake Alpine and the sign, you will come upon Mosquito
Lake that is one of the most picturesque settings that you might ever see while
riding.
If you are willing to slow down traffic a little bit, it
also makes a fantastic photo op that would double as a desktop picture for your
computer. Click Here to View. This scene and the next 30 miles is why we keep coming
back. About 8 miles from Mosquito you will cross Ebbetts Pass very
unceremoniously compared to the Sign at Sonora Pass. This is where you will
start your descent back down to Hwy. 89 that will take you North to Lake Tahoe
or South back to 395.
When you reach Hwy. 89 you are only 35 miles from South Lake
Tahoe
which is a good place to spend the night. By the time we
reached Tahoe it was 6:30 PM and a good time to stop. Even though we had only
done 250 miles in our 9 plus hours of riding, it was a full day with all of the
twisties in these 2 passes including the stops that we made. We bedded down for
the night at an awesome Best Western in Tahoe called the Timber Cove Lodge on
the Southeast side of the lake. This property is right on the beach next to the pier. A great place to spend the night. We
ordered a pizza, sat on the beach and watched the sunset over the Sierra Nevada range that we had
just spent the day exploring the best way possible, on a motorcycle.
If you are looking to plan a quick trip, I would highly
recommend doing all 4 passes in one trip.
Plan about a day to do
some serious sight seeing in Yosemite on Tioga Pass and then swing around to
Sonora Pass and zig-zag your way through Sonora, Ebbetts and Carson Pass on your
way to a loop around Tahoe. That would be a fabulous trip that would take you
about 6-7 days round trip from Phoenix. If you have any questions, feel free to
email me at info@cyclerides.com .
As always, if you would you like to do some research of some of our past
rides? Try the
Google
Search for the Cyclerides.com Archives: If you remember something from a newsletter that you want to revisit but
can’t remember the date of the newsletter, now you can use the new Google Search
of the site. Just choose a “keyword” that is unique to the subject and click
search. It will come up with all the newsletters that have that word in the
letter. Click Here to
give it a try. Or go to the Archives button on www.cyclerides.com.
Tidbits and Updates:
**Looking for a good long weekend ride idea?
The
Coronado Trail Loop combined with Silver City is a good one this time of year.
See my report on this ride from last year that includes Kartchner Caverns.
Click
Here to View.
*
*Would
you like to do some research of some of our past rides? Try the Google
Search for the Cyclerides.com Archives: If you remember something from a newsletter that you want to revisit but
can’t remember the date of the newsletter, now you can use the new Google Search
of the site. Just choose a “keyword” that is unique to the subject and click
search. It will come up with all the newsletters that have that word in the
letter. Click Here to
give it a try. Or go to the Archives button
on www.cyclerides.com.
Bike Nights
Every Tuesday Night
Mad
Dog Saloon Tuesday Bike Night in Mesa. I am really excited about Mad Dog
Saloon as it is a perfect stand alone bike night location with a huge
patio.
For those of you that live in the area you will recognize it
as the former Salty Senorita’s. The patio is huge with an outdoor bar, the
inside is huge as well with garage doors that open to the outside and TV’s
everywhere you look. And plenty of motorcycle parking. There will be food and
drink specials including $1.00 tacos on Tuesday’s. Mad Dog Saloon is located at
1860 S. Stapley, just 3/10 of a mile South of U.S. 60 on Stapley. Stop by and
check it out. See you there for opening night on Tuesday, May 8th. Click Here for Details,
Map and Photos of the Mad Dog
Saloon.
This Week
Thursday, July 26th
August 2nd – YOU DECIDE! The location .
* VIP Motorcycle Parking
* Arrowhead Harley Girls
* Door Prizes
* Food Specials
Friday. Jul. 27th - Sunday, Jul. 29th
- Morman Lake, AZ.21st Annual Too Broke for Sturgis.
Hosted
by ABATE of Arizona as our primary fund-raising event. Too Broke, is an Old
School Biker Party. You can rest assured that the money raised goes to a great cause,
fighting for your motorcycling freedoms. Everyone who attends is made to feel
like family, even first timers.
The
2011 event will be an ADULT ONLY party, attendees must be at least 18 years old
to enter. Proof of age will be required, with or without an accompanying
adult/guardian. You must be at least 21 years old to drink alcohol on
premise. Just like the last seven Too
Broke celebrations, we'll be under the stars and beneath the pines in the cool
North country of Arizona. What better way to beat the heat of the Valley in
July. Too Broke for Sturgis is held at the Mormon Lake Lodge Campground and
Arena. The area offers shade, camping with hot showers available, first-class
biker entertainment, an assortment of vendors and awesome scenery. The
Saturday Poker Run will take you on a tour of that awesome scenery! Live Music
featuring Cell Phone Cowboys Friday and Saturday nights. And don't forget about
the Miss Too Broke Contest, Tattoo Contest, Poker Walk, Bike Games, Wet
Tee-Shirt Contest. Too Broke is just an all-around great old school biker party.
$30 for weekend pass, $20 for Saturday pass. Abate members get $5 off for
the weekend pass. www.toobrokeforsturgis.com
Saturday, July
28th
Buddy Stubbs
Arizona Harley-Davidson Hogs & Dogs. Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson helps
you battle the AZ heat in July with a Cooling Clinic during their monthly Hogs
& Dogs!
Join them on Saturday, July 28th, from 11AM to 2PM for
FREE food, drinks, live music, a bikini bike wash and museum tours hosted by
none other than Buddy! The Cooling Clinic will be the second installment in
their popular Educational Clinic Series taking place throughout the summer
months. Their trained H-D personnel will provide tips and tricks as well as
showcase great H-D products that are designed to help you stay cool while riding
in that Arizona summer heat. Please RSVP early to reserve your space! Don't miss
this summertime escape at Buddy Stubbs Arizona Harley-Davidson! Contact marketing@buddystubbs.com to RSVP
for this fresh, new clinic. Buddy Stubbs AZ H-D is located at 13850 N. Cave
Creek Road, Phoenix, AZ. You can also check them out on the web at www.buddystubbshd.com.
Extras
Mid Week Updates will be made on
the Cyclerides.com Facebook. New
Easy to remember Facebook address. Go to
Cyclerides.com
Facebook. Over 3900 FANS! Take a look at all the new photos posted on the wall.
If you are not on Facebook, you can still view the
page, but
you will not be able to post. There will be a link there for you to sign up for
Facebook if you are inclined. Click the LIKE button!
Here is a compilation of video of “Lucky
People”. Pretty amazing close calls. Click
Here to View
Here is an old clip from Benny Hill show called
“Italian Firing Squad”. Click
Here to View.
Video of the Week: Here is a funny Bud Light Lime commercial about
getting it in the can. This pushes the envelope about as far as it can go.
Click Here to
View. Click on the Video of the Week graphic on the
page.
If you would like to sign up for the Cyclerides.com Weekly
Update Click
Here.
Until Next Week,
Blessings and Safe Riding To
All,
Barry Caraway
"The Road Is Yours - Take The Ride"
www.cyclerides.com
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reserved.