It's been a while since we've had a ride and Minh has been all cooped
up at work trying to make good on a software delivery. To say the
least, Minh was stressed. Deadlines and over work has been
seriously cutting into his play time. Russ had also just come
back from a family related trip from Jamaica. Your first
immediate
reaction might be, "Jamaica? That's a problem?" What you
don't
realize is it's family matters, and it's not his side of the
family. We'll end it at that. He hasn't been riding his
steed of an R1 for the last 1 1/2 weeks. I'm sure he's itching to
get at that throttle. Hearing that Minh and I are going to do a
quick curry run, Russ' eyes perked at the possibility of him flinging
his leg over the R1, and the possibility of chowing down on some
excellent curry. However, the fly in the ointment for Russ is the
fact that his 23rd anniversary is this weekend. He's going to try
and squeeze in some time for the R1 but I seriously doubt he'll be able
to do it. Nonetheless, I'll give him the chance. The notion
is there, but I think he's screwed.
[Saturday - August 11, 2007]
9:45AM, I receive a call from Minh that's he's ready to head over for
the curry run. He asked whether I have heard from Russell and
whether Russ is going to make it. I told Minh I seriously doubt
that Russ can make it, but I'll give him a call anyway. Minh then
asked if maybe we can do the "Rim of the World" instead of the
curry run. I had doubts but maybe we can do that ride if Russ
doesn't come. I called Russ and got his voice messages.
That's about the best and the most communicating with Russ for this
day. I knew he's tied down, but I had to try. It wouldn't
be fair I he wanted to come and we just took off. 10:30AM rolls
around and Minh shows up at my place. I told him I haven't heard
from Russell so I'm going to assume he's not going. At
that point Minh nudged me a bit and said we should do "Rim of the
World". I asked him if he knows the way, he showed me his tank
bag map. "OK. I'll go program the Nav and we'll do
that instead." Second try, I got the route.
So we head off. I've been wanting to pair my BMW Nav system with
my new Chocolate/cell phone but can't seem to find the time to do
it. So once again, there will be no audio cues as to when to
turn. I just have to keep an eye on the Nav and make sure we make
the right turns. One of these days I'll get around to doing
it. It's not hard, just a matter of doing. I'm still
learning to read the Nav. I'm getting better at it. Slowly.
The News recently announced the section of the 210 freeway between the
15 freeway and the 215 freeway had been opened up. Of course, the
nav system doesn't have the updated map yet so who knows what it's
going to think when we get to that section. I just hope the nav
will figures it out and not go nuts on me.
As usual on the weekends, it's fast/easy sailing on the 210 heading
east. Next thing you know it's the 18 HWY exit. The section
of freeway the nav system
didn't know about proved to be non-problematic. Of course it told
me I should make all types of detours, but in the end it found itself
when we go to the 18 exit. The interesting thing about this is
the fact that all the old roads (possibly homes) indicated on the nav
system is no longer there. It made me wonder what this section of
road looked like before the completion of this of section the
210. It's history now. I
guess I'll never know.
The turn left to get onto the 18 was, for a lack of a better phrase,
common. It didn't seem all that exciting for the "Rim of the
World". It looks just like any regular street in a
regular city. Oh but how quickly I change my mind as we headed
about 5 miles north. OK, so the road is climbing and
turning. Nothing special here. Oh but wait, it's continuing
to climb and turn. Hairpins and large sweeping turns. It's
a
nice road. 4 lanes total. Two lanes on each side. Of
course Minh and I quickly out paces the cars climbing this hill, which
is really switchbacks on a mountain side. The climb is fairly
gradual
with some occasional sharp turns. Just what you would expect from
switchbacks. Next thing I knew, the world was opening up below
us. We has acquired a substantial amount of elevation to see the
LA basin below us. Unfortunately it was a hazy smoggy day so we
couldn't see all the way out to the ocean. Nonetheless, we
starting to grasp the concept why they call this road "Rim of the
World".
Eventually Minh and I pulled off the HWY to admire the view and the HWY
itself.
While we were standing there talking I made the comment, "Who came up
with this Rim of the World thing? It sounds like it's on the edge
of
the Pacific Ocean or something." Minh agreed. Some how I
pictured Rim of the World to be akin to something like the
ring of fire (e.g. the ring of volcanoes all around the Pacific
Ocean).
Oh well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that this is a good
and enjoyable road.
Here's a taste of what it's like to ride the "Rim of the World".
Duran Duran - Ordinary World
It was about 1 PM so it's time to think about lunch. I hadn't had
breakfast so food was definitely creeping into my thoughts. when
we reached the town of Rimforest. We looked around for a
restaurant but couldn't find anything. The closest is a mini-mart
with a possibility of Mexican food. I asked Minh if he wants to
eat Mexican food. All I really got out of him was, "Is that a
restaurant? It looks like it's just a mini-mart." He
doesn't seem to be interested. I really wasn't interested
either. So we decided to stave off old man hunger to see if we
can find anything in Big Bear. Plus I wasn't really that hungry
and could afford to travel a little further.
We kept on trucking until we reached the town of Skyforest. Lo
and behold, a restaurant/deli. It's called the Rocky Outpost
& Trading Co. That fine. So long as there's food, I'm
not complaining. It also looks like a pretty nice
restaurant. Pardon the images. I had to use my cell phone
to take these images. Minh didn't anticipate doing this ride so
he didn't bring his small camera and I just got my new cell phone so I
don't know how to use the darn thing. Oh well, at least I did
manage to snap some pictures.
It was an interesting place. It's a deli but with a twist.
What I mean by this is, you find things like a "Cookie Monster Smoothy"
and instead of a French dip sandwich, they call it something
else. But it still a French dip Even their Reuben sandwich
has co slaw instead of sour kraut. I can hear it already, "What
in the world is a Cooke Monster Smoothy?" The answer, "Oreo
cookie shake." However, it does taste better than you run of the
mill Oreo cookie shake. I think there is more chocolate or
something like that. Anyway, Minh and I settle down to devour our
meal. Interestingly enough, the owner of the place has a
rottweiler for a pet dog. I use to have a friend that has a
rottweiler. They're big dogs. They can grow to be 160-170
lbs. That's not something to be taken lightly. Pun
intended. The dog kept on barking. I didn't pay a lot of
attention to him until the owner came over and asked if he was
bothering us. I said, "No. He's fine." I think
the yellow jackets were doing a way better job anyway. The dog
was still barking and pretty much ignored us. Minh then decided
to see how well trained this dog is. He gave the dog a command to
sit. Nothing. He would hold his spot and bark
occasionally. That was the case until Minh decided to throw him
some roast beef.
Man, once he got a taste of that, he sits on command. One chunk
of beef, one trick. After a while, I was throwing him corn beef
also. I don't know if we were training the dog or he was training
us. Either way you look at it. He's one smart puppy.
Did I say puppy? Yes I did. He's a puppy. I
originally guess him to be one year old, but the owner told us he's two
years old. That's fine. One or two, close enough.
He's still a puppy. One big puppy. Smart cookie too.
When we got towards the end of our food, he was catching the meat in
mid air. Dude's good. However, there were no more goodies,
there was no
more tricks. Yup, Minh and I were very well trained. Not
only was the dog no longer paying attention to us, the hornets were
gone too. Go figure. No food, no respect.
"What are we going to do now? The sky is falling and the world is
about to end!"
Actually, Minh didn't say that. I don't know what he said.
I think it was something about my cell phone's resolution.
Beef flinging all done, we suited up and headed out. As we
continue on, my thoughts are with the guys that can't make the ride due
to commitments and mechanical issues. I'm going to have to bring
the gang in this direction in October or November time frame.
Hopefully by then the smog won't be so bad.
The entire time I'm riding this, I see so much of the scenery
resembling Mammoth and Yosemite. It's California alright.
Taking the
North Shore Dr. at Big Bear lake was slow going. The cars in
front of
us were busy sight seeing instead of driving. The snail's pace
finally
ended when the last car turned off to one of the residential
streets.
Not too long after, the 18 HWY ended for us. I've been doing good
so
far until this change of road. We were suppose to extricate
ourselves from the 18 HWY but it was hard to tell with just a glance of
the GPS. I look again and again but I was too late. Not
only that, it
looks like we are suppose to turn off onto a residential street.
I
just wasn't sure of the entire situation until we over shot the turn
off. I checked the GPS one last time, and yes we missed it.
Oh man,
I'm going to hear about this from Minh. My excuse is I don't have
the
audio cue so I really have to try and read the GPS. Oh well. One
U-turn it is.
We take Baldwin Lake Dr. to head towards the 38 HWY. As Baldwin
Lake Dr. turns into Old Shay Rd. the surrounding change from a wide
open savanna into a heavily shaded forested setting. Nice.
The shade is welcome because my bike is registering 90+ F ambient
temperature. We finally meet up with the 38 and make a left turn to get
on with it. There was traffic this day, but most people use the
turn-offs if they thought they were too slow. Awfully nice of the
folks. I make sure they see me waving as I pass by. What
the 38 lacked in terms of scenery, it made up for in terms of fun
factor. The initial sections of the 18 was wide sweeping but the
38 takes the cake. Not only that, the majority of the 38 was
down. It was a blast. For the sake of a deer surprise, we
didn't do any more than 65 MPH. Even without the crotch rocket
speeds, it was still fun.
Once we got to the end of the fast sweeper part
of the 38, we pull off on one of the turn-offs (with a lot of shade)
and had ourselves a coffee break (figuratively speaking).
Break over. Getting ready to finish off what's left of the 38 HWY.
While Minh and I were standing there having our afternoon tea, a road
bicyclist road up, passed us, and stopped on a little street a 100 or
so yards beyond us. While he was passing, I was mentioning to
Minh of how fit he must be relative to us. All we're doing is
sitting on a machine and hammering the throttle. I agreed with
Minh when he commented about how good the guy's lungs must be.
Back in my junior college days I use to be a road biker myself. I
did my fair share of century rides. Look at me now. Pork
belly and all. Minh was surprised to hear that I did century
rides on a bicycle. I don't remember how long it took but my
estimate was anywhere between 6-10 hours. I wasn't the fastest
bicyclist. With that Minh commented, "... and now you have
problems going a hundreds miles on a motorcycle." Well, kind
of. Actually, a 100 miles on the R12R is really not a problem.
BSing aside, we got back to the ride. Unfortunately, the rest of
the 38 was spend behind slow cars that refused to turn off. On
the other hand, the view is still spectacular. Unfortunately, I
was tired of video taping so I didn't bother taping this last section.
All too soon, we came out of the mountains and into Redlands. The
ride is pretty much over. We searched for a gas station in
Redlands, filled up, and headed back on the 10 Freeway. I hate
the 10 Freeway. Too much traffic, and too many trucks. When
the 57 Freeway junction came up, Minh and I departed for the day.
Overall it took 5-6 hours to do the loop. My total distance is
203 and Minh's total is 210.
It's a good ride with beautiful views. For this day the view is a
bit hindered by smog. However, because it's such a good ride, I'm
sure I'll grab the entire gang and have them on this ride before the
end of the year. I want to see the ocean while I'm on the "Rim of
the World".
Written on: August 15, 2007
Last modified: August 17, 2007
