Sitting at my computer this morning I watched the full moon disappear into oblivion. The bright orb shown like glowing christmas bulb hanging from the neighbors trees and within moments was no longer visible from my vantage. With the fading of that moon came a beautiful sunny morning, clear and crisp. I could feel a motorcycle ride coming on!
The embers of the ride were kept warm in my head long after seeing Gary off to San Francisco and giving my son a ride back to downtown Sacramento. When I got home, I geared up and set off, even if it was an abbreviated ride, it would be my first ride of 2011.
I had no idea where to go. I looked up last years first ride of the season and found that it wasn’t done until March 18th, oh the heresy!! Last year I rode to Pardee Dam and Poloma Rd creating a figure 8. Well, I had to go elsewhere different this year and since I was already on Hwy 16 heading east, I decided to revisit Latrobe Rd, the age old road, one of the first where I began this marvelous past time. It looked as though I would create yet another figure 8. Upon my entrance onto Latrobe, I immediately passed two CHP, well, at least I got that out of the way early on!
I picked up the pace a bit keeping in mind that I had brand new SHINEY slippery tires on! Oh man, did they feel good though. I can’t rave enough about the PR2s, they are my favorite touring tire! Anyway, back to Latrobe. It’s an odd little road. Tim wrote about it years ago, on his moto roads site, and said, “Some wonderful corners await you along with some small changes in elevation. Up down hills coupled to a few blind pop-ups are sure to keep you awake. You’re bound to get stuck behind some ole granny (I know I always do) doing 35 mph through the twisty section though.” Yep, well said Tim!!
I remember the first time I rode this road was behind Gary on his old Yamaha XJ750 and I was terrified, certain we’d be thinly spread along the road side, and then on my second ride, I was the granny going so slow that I was holding up traffic on my little 250 Rebel. Today was different…few cars, no CHP, new pavement, and lots of confidence, I was able to navigate this road painlessly. It was a new pleasure, but I couldn’t help but think about that new rider only a few short years ago, with a rabid fear of the “lean”. ; ) Phew, I am so glad I survived those rides and went on to pursue a career in motorcycle riding!
Latrobe at the speed it was mean to be ridden. ; )
Once I crossed Hwy 50, i took the ascent up through traffic inundating El Dorado Hills and on to Salmon Falls. This road too brought back fading memories of another of my early ridden roads, but I had put in several miles before braving Salmon Falls Rd. I would trail behind Gary as he tried to keep me in his mirrors. After the first few times, I remember seeing only Gary’s tail lights for about a second and then never seeing them or him again until I reached Pilot Hill. I got used to that…and I am certain that now, ever though I am MUCH faster, I will never keep pace with that madman! Salmon Falls is fun, if you haven’t ridden it and are in the area check it out. It is tricky though some tough decreasing radius curves and off camber areas…i have seen plenty of damaged bike parts along the roadside, but today I didn’t even see another bike. It was heaven.
Gary shot these a few years ago, but you get the idea…
At Pilot Hill, I took a little cut off road, Pedro Hill Rd and got a dose of goat. I was laughing in my helmet as I bumped over the bad pavement and sandy areas, covered in shade. It was quite like an entirely different day as there was no sun until I reached Hwy 49.
49 was wet, and had patches of what must have been black ice. I had no idea, until the SUV ahead of me slid on a curve! Glad it was them and not me! I did take a more conservative approach after that, after all the entire road was shade covered, even though the sun shown brightly in the sky the temperatures up there wasn’t much above 48!
I continued on Hwy 49 to Lotus cut off then to Rescue to Folsom and the ol rote Hwy 50 home, not much exciting going on there!
Beautiful day as warm as 61 in the valley…great day to be alive and riding a motorcycle.
Disclaimer…i didn’t take any photos today…i simply rode! All photos are from either Gary or my previous pix of these roads.