Today was ride day. Gordon couldn’t make it so it was just me and Len, which always makes it easy. It’s easier to agree on a route (Len simply doesn’t care and will ride wherever I lead him even though he rides the local roads more than I do and knows them way better). It’s easier to stay tight and in formation with two riders. And it’s easier to adjust the ride as we go based on weather and road conditions. Today’s weather was hot. We purposefully did not ride up to Lake Elsinore, where it remains more hot than elsewhere, so I plotted a course through Couser Canyon and Rice Canyon up to Temecula and then east on 79 through Aguanga and Warner Springs and into Lake Henshaw from the back side. That’s almost a two hour ride through incredibly scenic and twisty farm country. What I was most concerned about was road work stoppage since it proliferates at this time of year. Apple Maps, via CarPlay on my CHIGEE digital screen does a decent job of showing me road blockages, so I avoided the first one on Old Castle Road and went to Couser Canyon through West Lilac Road. I had forgotten how nice West Lilac is on that stretch and I actually think that improved the ride. Between that, Couser and Rice, we had a solid hour of uncongested twisting country roads that were in fine repair and with no stoppages. The rhythmic sweeping to the left and to the right through those canyons is a thing of beauty. Picking a line through the curves, which are becoming increasingly familiar to me, is half the fun. It makes you feel like Mario Andretti banking in and out of the turns with the gearing low enough (mostly in Second, but occasionally Third) that no braking is necessary beyond the engine breaking afforded by the gearing. It’s the way I was taught to ride through the Alps and Dolomites by an Edelweiss Tour Guide back 25 years ago as we came down from Munich through the Grossglockner Pass. It’s a mesmerizing feeling.
From Rainbow up into Temecula and east is more suburban and busy, but it wasn’t too bad today and we managed to time the big construction delay on Rt. 79 just right and had a very short wait time as we skittered up along the line of waiting cars and trucks to take our rightful motorcycle spot at the front of the queue. Here in California, an especially in the inland ranch areas, there is a great deal of respect for the privileges of motorcycles and not only do people (at least most of them) not mind the priority treatment, but they even tend to pull over in spots to let us pass so that we can enjoy the fullness of the chicane of curves in particularly sweat sections. It’s not something that happens everywhere in the country, but for one reason or another, California is particularly bike-friendly, which is really great for riding like we do. Rt. 79 is a country 2-lane highway where speeds of 70-80 are quite normal and acceptable. The scenery is lovely and the road has more of a long-arc sweep to it than a twisty nature, but the 30+ miles of it we rode to get around Palomar Mountain, the major geographical constraint in this area, was pleasant enough because what we lacked in turning we made up for with nice speed. It is a familiar route for me and one that always makes me feel particularly connected to the Golden State, especially at this time of year when the grasses are all…golden…and the live oak trees scattered here and there across the ranchland give the scenery a distinct dappled look that just shouts California to me. This is also big sky country so when you look out over vistas you are looking over a minimum of 5-10 miles in any direction and there is always a mountain or two off in the distance.
We have several favorite lunch spots for our rides and indeed we tend to organize our rides so that we pull into one somewhere between 90-120 minutes from departure. We got a bit of an early start today (another benefit of being only two) so we pulled into the nearly empty Lake Henshaw Cafe. It’s not the best spot we lunch at, but its decent and they have the requisite chili with Tapatillo that I need to feel fulfilled these days. I continue to believe that most people think riding a motorcycle is a lazy man’s game, but they could not be further from the truth. My Oura ring has done a good job of reminding me that while a riding day does not afford me many steps, I spend 3-4 hours in what it shows as Medium/High intensity activity. I certainly feel that on the bike and think that my arms, back and shoulders (especially my triceps) get a helluva workout. I see that it estimates that today’s ride expended 770 calories, which is well over my normal daily activity budget of 550 calories. I think its safe to say that my riding days are my most active days with more high intensity than any other days. Right now, after coming in from the ride and its midday 100 degree heat, I am covered in a light layer of sweat more so than even after an hour’s workout with my trainer. It feels good and I feel largely spent. In fact, I may use it as an excuse to go into the hot tub for a soak, which I haven’t done is a while.
In this hot weather, I tend to wear my half-lid Sena Cavalry helmet since its cooler than the full coverage SCHUBERTH. It has Bluetooth speakers, but the open air nature of it isn’t conducive to listening to an audiobook, so I crank up the tunes. Today I listened to Cool 70’s tunes and my Heat Wave playlists, which seemed appropriate. There is very little that beats the sensation of cranking tunes while you crank a big heavy piece of metal around California country roads on a hot, hot day. I can only take that much pleasure once a week.