Earache

Tonight's destination is Shelter Cove, California - a scant 500 mile ride. A remote fishing town right on the coast and home to one of my favorite hotels situated high on a cliff overlooking the water. We'll stay here for a couple of nights to recoup after a few days of longish rides.

My friend Joe has to eat on a very strict schedule, so we stop when he's hungry. Joe has selected a small roadhouse that specializes in biscuits and gravy. Fuggin' nasty if you ask me, but we all get an order with the exception of the Irish guys - they opted for a more familiar fare of eggs and bacon...

A few shots of Emerald Bay... Mark and his tourist pose...

After a dinner at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Tahoe Restaurant (good drinks, average food) we ride around Lake Tahoe the enxt morning. Cool and crisp, the air was full of pine scent from the trees. Great raods, curvy as you like, smooth and traffic free. Fantastic views of the Lake from up here....

We're humping it towards tonight's destination; Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Today's ride will be around 650 miles. Hope to throw away some cash at the gambling tables, drink a few cold beers and have a good nights sleep. We're booked into the Harvey's Casion Hotel while MArk and Vincent are across the street at the Mount Blue... Nice room, too nice for us....

Stopped for lunch in Eureka, Nevada, one fo the countless old mining towns that you find out here. It's seen it's better days but still has some excellent examples of 1870's architecture... Lunch was nothing but the best; chili dogs and chips... I wasn't the man I thought I was as I left 1/2 of on the plate. It was just too hot out to eat a heavy lunch. But the options on the menu were kinda slim

Stopped for fuel at a remote desert station. Getting very hot now so we took a bit of a brake. We have been doing 110 mph for most of the day to get across Nevada as fast as possible. No cops looking for us, so it''s a good day. Found an old truck left by the side fo the road at the gas station. Brass radiator would bring a few bucks at the scrap yard. Can't believe it hasn't been nicked yet...

After the races, we head out to Lake Taho, Nevada with our friends Mark and Vinny from Ireland. They shipped bikes over for a coast to coast ride. Not many curves in Nevada...

Corser crashed right in front of me, of course, I missed the shot....

The Ducati riders had a bad day at Miller....

WSB race pics....

Miller is an incredible facility. Too bad it's miles from anything, located way out in the desert near the Great Salt Lake...

The local cops had some Segway thingies to cruise around on. I need to get one!

We arrive in Salt Lake City just in time to catch the WSB races at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. Ben Spies in the AMA support race... The track.... Attendance was kinda low...

Out of the mountains and into the flats of Utah. The temperature rockets upward to the high 80's and it's very hot and dry... Must have some sort of dead animal problems here...

We're at 10,000' here. They had snow as recently as two weeks ago. Fairly cold here still, just a bit above freezing. The sun is very warm though.

Empire, CO - home to about 35 people. Even has a Hard Rock Cafe!

I posted this on another forum that I'm on and thought some here might enjoy it as well. So I'll try to cut and paste the pther posts and put'em here..... Left Indy last Friday and rode to Denver. A quick 1,000 miles. I didn't take a single picture as there is absolutely nothing to see except cornfields. And I think I slept half of the way as well. Three of us, Joe, David and I, made the trip this year. Our first stop after leaving the hotel in Denver was a cafe inm Empire, Colorado for some breakfast. Had some rather small breakfast burritos...

Cool pics of a day they'll always remember. Anyone going to the race? I'll probably head out for the start and then go back home for threst on the radio.

Rt. 26 from Marietta up to Woodsfield is good. Half of it is recently paved and pretty smooth while the second (northern) half is kinda like 555 - all busted up and covered with gravel and shit. Still, it beats 555 in my opinion. I like 93 from Ironton to Jackson, too. Not the curviest (<--new word) but is usually empty and fun to haul on.

My friend has one- at 6'1" and 250 lbs I can't even fit in the damned thing!

Rides fairly good - there's a bit of a stumble because of the pipe. Need to get the bike on the dyno and have that sorted out. I could live with it, but if it's easy enough to correct, then I might as well. According to the seat of my pants dyno, it's down a bit on power compared to my 996. but that's probably to be expected. Still haven't ridden it in anger - will get that done soon though.

Snapped a couple more in the driveway. I need to get a cool background for some better pictures. Maybe a stripper or two sitting on it as well...

And difficult to explain to the wife / girlfriend as well.

It'll be even funnier in 6 more months when I post "still waiting to ride" after an electrical gremlin cripples the Duc. It's happened before!