Morning Run

Log Item: Santa Rosa Plateau

Tenaja Falls

My daughter, Emilie, reminded me that I promised to take her on a motorcycle ride up through the Santa Rosa Plateau (back side of Camp Pendleton, CA), and to breakfast. The Santa Rosa Plateau is a really nice area full of orchards, vineyards, estates and some ecological preserves with hiking trails. We weren't hiking today, we were biking on the Diavel.

Emilie

It's a delightful ride and we spent three hours riding down roads covered over with canopies of trees (tree tunnels), and through winding valleys. 

2017 has been a wet year and there are some seasonal lakes that remain filled despite the summer dry season. It's the climate change that Al Gore warned us all about.

We drove south to Fallbrook and I told Emilie to yelp someplace to eat and she came up with the Main Street Cafe. 

LL

Emilie ordered the biscuits and gravy. Not me.

LL on Diavel

And then it was east from Fallbrook toward I-15 completing the loop.

The Ducati ran like a clock and its nimble handling makes it a joy to drive on narrow back roads such as those encountered today.

There are a few routine maintenance issues that I need to see to, but tools and supplies are still packed in the endless boxes in the garage. I don't want to unpack here because we're moving again.

Two Year Mark

Log Item: I've had the she-devil for two years now, and I'm looking forward to the move to Arizona.  It's been something of a garage queen while worked to get the house ready to sell, with infrequent outings. 

Even today, it's going to get a run for lunch, but just the daily tasks combined with the pressure from being self-employed means that I can't take the entire day and blow it on a ride along the beach. A few miles from her to a sandwich place and back is all the love that she will have showered on her.

The realtor, who rides a Harley Davidson Softail saw the Ducati in the garage when I showed him through the house and now he's actively shopping to trade off his hogs - and opting for the Diavel. It's a sexy bike, it's light, nimble and fast. 

I purchased a motorcycle trailer to haul the bike(s) from place to place. It makes a more enjoyable ride to take the machines in a trailer for 500 miles, drop them off and ride them than it does to beat myself to death in the transit. Call me soft or old, I can take it.

The trailer (special order) has e-track tie downs, but to keep the bike upright and in good shape, I bought two Condor SC-2000 chocks (picture below). I installed two wicked large 3/16" steel backing plates underneath the deck. The trailer itself has a solid steel frame so engineering the backing plates took some effort.

Condor SC-2000

Is the second SC-2000 a bit of over kill for a dirt bike? Maybe, but who is to say that I won't get another big street bike in the future? There remains that nagging desire to build a custom Harley D on a Pacau frame with an S&S knucklehead engine and a suicide shifter.

Time to Ride the Wind

Log Item:  I've been riding the She-Devil from time to time, but I've been neglectful as to the blog. The last time I was out, it rained on me - which isn't unusual anywhere but Southern California, what with the global warming and all. (One day we'll defeat the weather but until then the war and taxes continue...)

I'm also packing to move and that ordeal continues there as well as I strive to make my home a "model home" so that somebody will pay top dollar for it. Happily that struggle is coming to an end and it's a nice day. As I was out in the garage this sight greeted me (right). 

The She-Devil was saying, LL, put something exciting between your legs. When can I say no to that? So I laid down a bit of cardboard - and hoisted her on the rear rack to do the necessary chain cleaning and lube. 

The chain wasn't bad, but it wasn't perfect, either. I lube the chain more often than the manual calls for, but I've witnessed catastrophic chain failures before and they're not pretty.

First lube the chain, then I have to back the car down the driveway and curb-park it. Then the Dial comes out and she gets a good wash-down. The She-Devil is not a lesbian, so I did not take her down to the motorcycle dealership last weekend where they were giving away grilled hot dogs and "free" bike washes from young ladies wearing bikinis.  It's more or less a wet t-shirt contest and chair dance with bike owners tipping the young ladies.

Better that the TLC comes from me.

Where to ride today (while the world goes to hell in a hand basket - and me with the cell phone turned off)? Simple Simon's comes to mind. You can be forgiven if you don't live in Southern California and haven't been there. The sandwiches are good. I know that in the ultimate test, a sandwich is a sandwich (unless it's Fredd's Aunt Sally who made it), but it's lunch, I have to eat, and I'll take the long way through the orange groves in Southern Riverside. They're in bloom and the place is fragrant and beautiful.

So that's it. The bike is washed, the chain is lubed, and it's time for lunch.