We made it to Hollister around 5:00pm. Saturday night the clocks sprung forward, giving us an extra hour of “sunlight,” or better to call it daylight, what there was of it within an hour. We had to take Hwy 152 back over the Pacheco Pass to the Central Valley, and we figured we’d super-slab part-way or the whole way home on I-5 to reach Sac at a decent hour and minimize our riding at night. Pacheco Pass was passable, although high winds were noticeable. We’d heard from a phone call home on Saturday night about the forecast for high winds in the Central Valley on Sunday, but the gusts between Hollister and Los Banos weren’t prohibitive. But when we got on I-5, the winds were another story… gusting at probably 20-25 miles per hour, we were counter-steering for much of the few miles we stayed on the highway. Consulting the map I planned out a route to avoid I-5 for a stretch, taking the parallel-running Hwy 33 up through cow country, then getting back on I-5 briefly to get past Stockton and taking Hwy 4 and Hwy 99 to get to Hwy 88 and back to the Sierra foothills.
The side road through farm towns was slow going because of speed-conscious locals who dawdle down the roads at 50mph in 55 zones. Impatient of this after 20 minutes, I suggested we cut back over to I-5 again. Clouds were gathering and we stopped to remove our sunglasses. We tooled onto I-5 about 10 miles southeast of Tracy and immediately felt that the winds had picked up. In reviewing the weather around Modesto on Sunday, the gusts had peaked at 36mph. These walls of wind were pushing our bikes toward the side of the road. The gales would bear down and only leaning the bike over significantly would keep it within the lane. That’s when the first few drops of rain started coming down. I had insisted that we should hang in and just get home, it being late, going on 7:00pm. But within three minutes on I-5 we were slowing to 40mph, a dangerously slow speed for the super-slab. I pulled off and cursed the winds and rain and failing light. The rain intensified, falling steadily. We agreed to ride on the wide, paved shoulder to the next exit. Everything worsened in the additional five minutes it took to get to the 11th street exit to Tracy.
As relatively new riders we had no experience with sudden inclement weather and neither of us has ridden in gale winds. We had no rain gear and no confidence to deal with high winds, rain, cold and night-time riding, in combination. The story goes on… a tale of unpreparedness for adverse conditions, of hitting awful weather that could have been avoided with an earlier start, of the need for flexibility when touring with bikes. To keep it short, we found a Motel 6 after another half hour of cold, wet riding around Tracy. After calls to work Monday morning, we got back on the road and took it easy getting home via 88 and 49, in chilly temps, but dry skies. The bikes need a good washing, and we hope they’ve forgiven us for the unexpected baptism in the crappy weather. Lessons learned, though, so we’ll be better prepared for the next round. Highway 36 still calls….
