ULTIMATE RIDE: A Pashnit Motorcycle Tour 4-Day Ride of NorCal - (300 Photos!!)

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ULTIMATE RIDE: A Grand Tour of PASHNIT California
From the Pacific to the Sierra Nevada

The bikes flowed down the hill in a chaotic sporatic manner. It was a deserted place where Speed Triples and Aprilia Tuono's are lined up like downhill skiers at the Olympics, ready to make their runs.

There was swoopin' & hollaring- grins aglow, we were full-fledge committed, an unabridged slalom down the hill where hooligans are born and bred, raised and coddled as if held captive in their own separate country. One day a week, they let them loose and drop them off here. It was a road from a time when there were no rules, no road straightening, and the grader guy never showed up for work.

At the bottom of the hill, it was the grin on his face that told the story. It was one of those smiles that felt as though we were basking in a blue sea of liquid glee.

"How did you find this road", he asked?!

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Sharif and Travis came up from Los Angeles for the tour and both work as paramedics. Shariff works on the 'Life Flight' helicopter and I began to feel tired when he described the schedule they work of 3 or 4 days on of 24 hour shifts, and then 3 or 4 days off.

Sharif



Travis just got married a few weekes ago and it would seem was sort of like Sharif's twin. Took me a day to get them figured out. They had been friends and riding partners for a very long time, well over a decade they'd been riding together.

Travis



Glenn owns NCA Laboratories, a firm in Sacramento that specializes in Hi-Fi speakers. 15 years ago he broke away from corporate America and struck out on his own and hasn't looked back. He had put some 4000 miles on his new FJR just in the last 2 months and was getting ready for a big trip across the United States. He had thought this would be a good introduction to what it'd be like to travel on the bike for a few days.

We couldn't get Glen to stop smiling for the whole ride and every time I pointed the camera at him, he was like a school boy who'd just been let out for summer vacation. Glenn also races Miata's and has a '65 Shelby Mustang with 450 horsepower sitting back home.

Glenn



Ed had a lot of miles under his belt and used to own a Honda Blackbird XX for about 5 years. His latest conquest was a new Yamaha FZ1 which he was still breaking in. Ed is French-Canadian and came to the United States in 1984 and has been working in high-technology for some time. These days he works as a 'Senior Software Engineer' in the Petaluma region north of San Francisco.

Ed had only started riding motorcycles at age 46 and this was a big trip for him, so he thought he'd consult the experts and do his first big trip with the Pashnit Tour group!

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Kevin was on his second tour of the season and having such a great time, he was planning on a third- the Sierra Nevada Pashnit Tour a few weeks later.

One odd thing that happened on the tour is while we were in Sausalito at the start of the ride, Kevin was the cafe & was stopped by a cop who looked at him and did a double take. "You were on a Pashnit Tour?" He asked. Kevin, rather surpised, said yes.

The fella recognized Kevin from his picture on the Pashnit Forum from the previous ride that I had posted.

Kevin




Russell is originally from South Africa, and now living in London for the last few years. He has the lucky chance to spend a few months with his technology firm in San Francisco. Russell had an ephipany to do some exploring in this United States and thought he'd just rent a Harley & run around the Pacific coast or something. But then again he'd never been in the United States before, and ended up typing 'bike tours' or 'motorcycle trip in california' or something like that into the internet. Every time he did a google.com search for researching his upcoming ride, he kept running into this 'pashnit' site.

"I've really got to check this out", he thought, what this 'pashnit' website? He never heard of it. I got a bit of a chuckle out of that. Seems 'Pashnit' has become synomous with 'good motorcycle roads in California'.

He called me 5 days before the tour and asked if I had room, of course Russell, we always have room for our overseas counterparts. His Harley Softail proved a bike that he slowly got used to, and by the end of the weekend was really loving. Russell said he got the Harley b/c he wanted the 'American Experience'. And he got it.

Russell



Russell and the Harley



And your Tour Guide Tim



...aboard the trusty FJR




Then usually bringing up the rear is that Mad Max Leather Clad Pashnit Guy...

[pashnit]

The plan was to start off on the north side of San Francisco in Sausalito much like our 3-Day NorCal Tour. This was also a day where I did much of the sweeping and thusly got a chance to shoot a lot of photography of the Pacific Ocean and Highway 1. More on that in a bit.

But first, after the formalities in Sausalito, it was off and up to the top of Bolinas Ridge which is just north of Mt Tamalpias. By far one my favorite spots in the north Bay Area.




The grass is just starting to turn from the brilliant green we see in Springtime to more of a golden brown.




The Pacific in the distance

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Below is the tiny alcove of Bolinas.




Russell's Harley Davidson






Glenn and Tim checkin' out the bikes and the view. Both Tim and Glenn had almost identical FJR's. Glenn's was practically brand new with a mere 4000 miles on it, Tim's has over 56,000 miles on it!

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Glenn's bone-stock FJR & the Rockster




The guys getting to know each other. We'd all just met an hour before.






Travis and Sharif brought up from Los Angeles a CBR & an RC51. The CBR had some funky track day lookin' fairings on it. The RC51 looked bone stock!




Don't forget the busa, which looks good from any angle.

[pashnit]

All together now. Btw, to continue with PART THREE of my Photo Tip Series, with a shot like this, I'll get that warm feeling with the max zoom to 200mm. Other thing I'll do is line up the camera with the headlight, than try to balance out the placement of the grass in the picture. A huge component of a shot like this is the morning sun which is coming in from behind to my left. That's what gives everything that warm glow.




We typically spend the morning exploring Marin County and making our way slowly north.
This time we rode out Fairfax-Bolinas Rd...






...to Sir Frances Drake Rd, through the redwood forest and out to the ocean on Marshall-Petaluma Rd.

Marshall-Petaluma Rd, Marin Co, CA


Yes, I take two of everything.

[pashnit]

Russell & the Harley




In Tomales, taking a break




Ah, that BMW Rockster... What a georgeous bike Kevin has




I've always enjoyed photographing Harleys too. Spent much of the weekend shooting the Harley.




Wouldn't be a Pashnit Ride without me running all over the place trying to get that magazine cover shot of the bikes! It's a work in progress.
The RC51 & company

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Okay, let's ride. So you like some pics of Highway 1 you say? Well, I've got just the thing.




And the Pacific Ocean too you say? Got that also!








More you say? Okay!

[pashnit]

Some more of the road? Got ya covered!




Oh, and the view now too? SO demanding. See the bikes?




My 2nd version of the same pic. See the difference- wee bit more zoom, and you get a whole different feel to the shot. Zoom in scenery shots is good.