AJCruzin
07-16-2009, 01:18 PM
Last weekend my buddy and I took off for new roads. I had heard about the Ojai/Hwy 33 loop from other SoCal riders, and in an article in RoadBike magazine. I decided it was finally time to just do it. Here's a snap of the Spot Satellite map that my wife got to look at while I was out riding. It gives a broad overview of where we went, updating every 10 or so minutes, so it looks like we went in staright lines when we were actually all over.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/bldrratt/SundayRide071209.jpg
After getting lost in Ojai a couple times we finally hit the right road, and it was a BLAST! Lonely little 2 lane that winds up through the hills and across the semi-desert. During the whole trip we only had 3 cages in the way, and 2 of them pulled over immediately for us to pass. The third was a couple of young punks who thought it was best if they took the turns faster than they were able to handle, and of course came within inches of wrecking on several turns. We ended up pulling off into a shady spot for a while to let them get as far away as possible.
On the straighter pat of this 2 lane, there were a couple spots that had signs saying "DIPS". What they ended up being were nearly jumps. A sharp rise in the road, followed by a serious drop. Had we been driving sports cars they definitely would have left the ground and impacted on the far side. As it was the bikes stayed fairly planted, but still got that roller coaster feel in the stomach. Exhilirating! (But we definitely slowed down for the next sign...)
After winding up through the hills, down the other side, and across the valley, we ended up in Frazier Park, CA, at the 5 freeway. We meandered down and took the 138 cutoff East to Big Pine Road, cutting South again down Lake Hughes Road to the 5 freeway. THere were a couple of times where we had to take the corners fairly slow due to debris/sand/gravel in the road, and one OH S%%T moment in a "clean" corner where I managed to high side without leaving the bike. The rear end stepped out on me as I was coming out of a right hander. My right foot flew off the peg and I was nearly standing on the left one. Fortunately I was taking it easy and recovered without incident. Of course, I DID have to forcibly remove the seat from my arse afterwards.
The rest of the ride was pretty much slab/surface streets back to the house. I got some decent video of several portions of hte ride which I'll eventually put up on YouTube and link them here as well. Overall we did almost 270 miles with 3 gas stops, and it was simply fantastic. 7 1/2 hours after I left the house, I drug myself home and was the best kind of tired/sore you can be.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd113/bldrratt/SundayRide071209.jpg
After getting lost in Ojai a couple times we finally hit the right road, and it was a BLAST! Lonely little 2 lane that winds up through the hills and across the semi-desert. During the whole trip we only had 3 cages in the way, and 2 of them pulled over immediately for us to pass. The third was a couple of young punks who thought it was best if they took the turns faster than they were able to handle, and of course came within inches of wrecking on several turns. We ended up pulling off into a shady spot for a while to let them get as far away as possible.
On the straighter pat of this 2 lane, there were a couple spots that had signs saying "DIPS". What they ended up being were nearly jumps. A sharp rise in the road, followed by a serious drop. Had we been driving sports cars they definitely would have left the ground and impacted on the far side. As it was the bikes stayed fairly planted, but still got that roller coaster feel in the stomach. Exhilirating! (But we definitely slowed down for the next sign...)
After winding up through the hills, down the other side, and across the valley, we ended up in Frazier Park, CA, at the 5 freeway. We meandered down and took the 138 cutoff East to Big Pine Road, cutting South again down Lake Hughes Road to the 5 freeway. THere were a couple of times where we had to take the corners fairly slow due to debris/sand/gravel in the road, and one OH S%%T moment in a "clean" corner where I managed to high side without leaving the bike. The rear end stepped out on me as I was coming out of a right hander. My right foot flew off the peg and I was nearly standing on the left one. Fortunately I was taking it easy and recovered without incident. Of course, I DID have to forcibly remove the seat from my arse afterwards.
The rest of the ride was pretty much slab/surface streets back to the house. I got some decent video of several portions of hte ride which I'll eventually put up on YouTube and link them here as well. Overall we did almost 270 miles with 3 gas stops, and it was simply fantastic. 7 1/2 hours after I left the house, I drug myself home and was the best kind of tired/sore you can be.