Tuesday December 23. Perfect day for a ride. Headed up the tallest local mountain, Mount Hamilton (4219 feet).

The road is a little bit twisty, just the way we like it.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c313/Galanity/P1060243.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c313/Galanity/P1060271.jpg

Looks like the road was draped over the land.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c313/Galanity/P1060267.jpg

Full ride report (+many more pictures) here (http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69799).

So... um... /ducks the snowballs thrown by the snowbirds! hehe :)

I'll ride!!! Weather calling for 67* for christmas and 73* for friday. Got a love it, West Texas. Saturday night 29*.
Great pictures.

Looks great EQ, and as a person who lives in what has become some kind of "tundra" I can also say those pics are making me drool. :drool:

Thanks for the reminder. :smiley_th

that's it, rub it in! we STILL have snow and on Sunday it was a big 1 degree with the wind chill of -10 degrees outside. maybe next month I will be able to get a short ride in.
anyways, the pic's are just great! you call that road a little twisty? I call that crazy! there is nothing like that around here.

Ohhhh, like Ruger said, ya gotta rub it in, huh?! LOL
It's a rainy Christmas eve morning here in Western PA, and although it's raining and the temps are above freezing, the roads are still cold enough that ya never know where the black ice might be!!!!!!
Hit atleast a half dozen slick spots on my way into work this morning!!:wow:

But really, the pics help cure the winter blah's for those of us not fortunate enough to be able to have a Christmas ride.
Thanks for sharin' EQ! :smiley_th:beerchug:

Mount Hamiltion reminds me of when I was a kid growing up in Walnut Creek, CA and we had Mount Diablo looming in our background. Every once in a blue moon, it would get snow on the peak as in your photos and I would bug my parents incessantly to take me up to see and touch the snow. How things change, I am looking out my window here in Downtown Chicago, the streets are an ugly mess of unplowed snow, cars stuck up and down the street that are frozen into their parking spots, and more snow on the way as we speak. Oh how I hate the sight of snow now!!!.........Anyone else feel like bitch slapping Al Gore....LOL!

Stevie D.
Chicago

Great Pics. EQ, glad you used your head and turned around, else we may have never got to see the pictures...
Thanks and have a good one...Old Dog...

That`s the kind of road that I needed to practice on last summer, before I broke my leg. Not enough curves out here on the praries. Don`t know what to do with one then, when I do get one to play with!!

Enjoy your Christmas rides all you lucky guys (and gals) in the south.

thats just not cool.... up here like hyper its ice covered in show covered in ice iwth an inch of rain on top of it all!!! welll hopefully it warms up cuz there is a road that ive been wanting to ride for a while now but with it being around 10-20 degrees on average not much riding is going to get done... id deffinetly love to get out there and ride a place like that but i guess that will jst have to wait for now.. awesome ride man..

That`s the kind of road that I needed to practice on last summer, before I broke my leg. Not enough curves out here on the praries. Don`t know what to do with one then, when I do get one to play with!!

Enjoy your Christmas rides all you lucky guys (and gals) in the south.

OlHossCanada,

It's all what you're used to. All the roads around here - all - are twisty. Straight roads just don't exist. Riding like that, taking turns becomes second nature very quickly. (It's also preference. I love the goat trails, some riders hate them. :) )

A central plains friend told me he had one ride, 150 miles with only 6 turns. I can't imagine a ride like that, there are some roads with 6 turns every 150 YARDS. Learning to turn is a skill riders must know to survive.

One poster (on the southbayriders.com forum) summed it up far better than I can. Posted by Darren:

ARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

I have been "operating" a Motorcycle for almost 20 years, but... I have only been RIDING one for the past 20 months.

I can attest to this. Having grown up in Florida, learning to ride there, and logging most of my miles in and around Florida... I never knew what technical riding was until I got out here. Sure, I got into riding on the track in the past few years, but never anything technical on the street. My "rides" were typical Sport Bike Starbucks Posers. I had to have the latest bolt on items, the loudest exhausts, power commander, stickiest tires, etc... only to ride down to Fudruckers on a Thursday night, or to the River Front, etc... Yeah, pretty much, I was a poser.

Then, I got stationed out here. I sold my Falco, and bought a GSXR. I had to have it. Then, I rode HWY 25 / 198 for the first time, and about **** my pants.

I was on one of the most powerful production bikes on the planet, and suddenly, was WAY above my head. Fortunately, I was not 20 years old, and bullet proof. I rode a few rides with Robert (SP2Pilot) and some others, and just sat back and watched. I asked intelligent questions, heeded advice, and adapted my style to become a decent technical rider... not just a point and shoot kind of guy. Sure, I could "operate" a motorcycle... but, I could not RIDE one. That was a slow curve for me...

In the last 20 months, I have logged 27,000 miles on my GSXR. I have grown with that bike, and learned to RIDE it. I survived the learning curve of technical street riding, and my idea of operating a motorcycle has evolved. No longer do I have the need for flat out acceleration. No longer do I need the spanking new bling bling, or the power adder that makes the bike just that much cooler... I just LOVE to ride. I love the friendship I share with fellow MOTORCYCLISTS... I do not get my identity from my bike. My bike gives me the freedom to do what I love... RIDE the MOTORCYCLE.

My tastes have changed. What is important to me now, is comfort, reliability, HARD BAGS, Gas Mileage, Two Up Comfort, Handling and GREAT Brakes.

I am not afraid to commute. I am not afraid to "slab". I am not afraid to ride in the rain... hell, I love riding in the rain. The more I became a MOTORCYCLIST, the more I grew to appreciate just how WELL mannered that GSXR is. It is a blatantly BRILLIANT bike. But, it is still very focused.

I still have an interest in track days, but I doubt I will ever race. I will keep my GSXR and use it occasionally, more than likely, fit it with track plastics and just use it for the track... but now... when I get back to Florida, a Sport Touring bike will be my next choice. So, I have been fortunate to live in this great area for the past... well, two years once I leave... and I am very fortunate to now call myself a MOTORCYCLIST... not just a Motorcycle Operator.

I will take some very fond memories back to Flat Land with me... for I truly got to live in Motorcycle Heaven, and I have had the time of my life here!


(Note, by "here", he means the coastal mountains of California, near San Jose.)

If you want to ride roads with more curves than you can imagine, get out here to California. This is truly a motorcycle paradise.

ATGATT

Mike