Courtesy of Brian Wood...
Another
great Paso Robles gathering in the books. Not sure how he does it,
but John Button put together yet another great event: new roads, new
food, old friends -- what more could we ask? The roster included
(forgive me any names I forgot): Guy Simmons, Chris Leanders, Gary &
Lavonne Ward, Tim Shevlin, Wes O’Dell, Dennis Elliot, John & Debbie
Button, Bryan Button, Leonard Lloyd & Iris Preece, Jack Riggs, Steve
Quaday, Rich Mample, David Campbell, Dom Ochoa, Doug Wilson, Jeff Smith,
and Brian & Kellie Wood. We were well represented with a variety
of bikes, including seven Hondas (3 ST1300s, 1 ST1100, 1 VFR800, 1 VTR
Super Hawk, and a CBR1000RR), four Yamaha FJR1300's, two BMW's (F800ST &
R1100RT), two Suzuki's (SV650 & DR650), a Triumph Tiger, and a Kawasaki
ZX-14. At least that's what I remember...
Friday night, John arranged for dinner at the Dragon Palace King Buffet,
so after checking in at the Melody Ranch Hotel (across the street) we
all sauntered off to dinner and some early bench racing and lies from
our youth. Dinner was great (as usual) and we all enjoyed our
chocolate motorcycles (courtesy of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory).
As Rich got his honorary California MSTA shirt (in recognition of Rich
volunteering to be Northern Ride Coordinator, in
addition to coordinating the southern Sierra Nevada event), I must remind
everyone to patronize the
http://calmstanewsletter.qbstores.com site, which provides modest
revenue to offset printing/postage costs for the California newsletter
(thanks, Leonard!).
Saturday
morning, John put together a great route around some new roads
(primarily in the morning) and old favorites (in the afternoon).
Given the spread of riders, skills, and interests, John split the group
into two 'waves' with John leading the faster paced riders and Tim
Shevlin volunteering to lead the more relaxed paced group (a seriously
good idea). After enjoying several twisty roads up north of town
and around Nacimiento Reservoir, we enjoyed (well, most of us) the
fabulously twisty, dirty, pot-hole strewn Santa Rosa Creek Road down
into Cambria.
Following lunch at the
Main Street Grill in Cambria, John led us through more twisties and fun
roads (some new, some familiar) before heading back into Paso Robles for
the evening (and dinner). Of course, we stopped at the Jack Ranch
Cafe (with the James Dean memorial) along the way...
Dinner at La Mexicana was great and we enjoyed an evening of
socializing and catching up before heading off for town (lots of places
to enjoy the evening) or bed (for those of us heading out early in the
morning).
I don't know about others, but Kellie and I took some final twisties and
back roads before heading home for the day on Sunday. Another
great weekend and great event put together by John.
Many thanks to John, Debbie, and Bryan for hosting this ride and
providing for the logistics. We put in nearly 700 miles for the
weekend, which is pretty respectable, and thoroughly enjoyed meeting up
with our Northern California friends who met us half way.
Of course,
we are looking forward to the Paso Robles event in 2012!!!
Brian
If you're interested in more pictures or a video, point your browser to:
https://picasaweb.google.com/calif.msta/20110416PasoRoblesRide
-and-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbd6Fo053Dc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYg-inOJfqc
And, courtesy of Leonard Lloyd:
Our fifth annual gathering at El Paso de Robles is
in the record books. Twenty riders and
passengers, gathered for two dinners in Paso,
Friday and Saturday, lunch in Cambria Saturday.
A Bay Area contingent met for breakfast at the
newly renamed Sandy’s Place in south Gilroy.
After breakfast, the plan to follow local resident
Jack Murphy to bypass both US 101 and Hollister
was cancelled by the need for top spec oil for a
certain CBR1000RR, which had lost too much out
the unsecured filler cap to safely continue. With that accomplished, most of the group went on a
scenic twisty detour to Hollister off-road park, while the
two-up bike headed south on hwy 25, confident that
the crew would soon not only catch up, but quickly
pass by.
That CBR was the first in the mirrors, followed by the
sound of the Aprilia V-twin. With a wave from each,
all of the crew were quickly accounted for.
The southbound group re-gathered at the intersection
with hwy 198, before continuing south on rural Peach
Tree Road.
The group gathered in San Miguel for refueling of
certain range limited motorcycles and to say farewell
to the two riders returning home from there. A quick 7
miles on US 101 and time for lunch in Paso Robles. The
event hotel, the Melody Ranch, was beginning to fill
with riders and motorcycles as we arrived to check in,
including Doug Wilson of Minneapolis! A few cold
ones were gathered from near and far to share and
await dinner a short and needed walk nearby.
At the Friday dinner at the Dragon Palace Chinese
Restaurant, John Button handed out the complete
packet, including the ride routes and local services.
The newsletter award of the California MSTA shirt was
made to Northern California ride coordinator, Rich
Mample.
Better than the fortune cookies were the return of the
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory of Paso Robles
chocolate motorcycles. Great with morning coffee.
The excellent weather and warm evening made for
good social times late into the evening.
Saturday, after a riders meeting, two groups,
sport and scenic, headed off north of town to
Mare Canyon Road to Bradley, south to Lake
Nacimiento and then through the winery region
to the west, Santa Rosa Creek Road into
Cambria.
Your editor and passenger took an alternate
route, based on ancient memory. Directly from
town we took Peach Canyon road west, finding
the surface very smooth and mostly clean of
debris. What I did not remember so well is the
non-stop tight curves, uphill and down. As we
arrived at Vineyard Road, the first group of riders
was coming through the junction. We pulled in
following, briefly, the final rider in the first group.
We skipped well remembered Santa Rosa Creek
Road, which enabled us to be in Cambria as
both groups arrived.
The two groups arrived at the Main Street Grill,
north end of Cambria, passing a Lions Club benefit car show on the way. [Your editor and Iris
walked off the hearty lunch taking in the show.]
The ride back to Paso Robles was not direct. After a
brief ride south on Highway One, a left turn in
Cayucos on Old Creek Road became the scenic
route back to hwy 46, Green Valley Road east. The
ride was just beginning, headed south to Santa
Margarita to reach hwy 229 and 41 all the way north
to Chalome and the James Dean Memorial, a
traditional stop.
What would a Paso Robles weekend be without a
visit to tempt earthquakes at Parkfield, so that we
could say we were there for the big one.
Finally, the ride headed west and south to return to
town and tire kicking at the Melody Ranch. Dinner
was a short walk to La Mexicana. By then we were
ready, arriving early.
On Sunday morning, some well informed riders left
early to avoid the coming storm. Others took time for
breakfast in town before departing our well favored
Paso. We paid the price with heavy winds in all
exposed areas. A late lunch in Tres Pinos was our final
treat of the weekend, marred only by the noise of
certain types of motorcycles coming and going to
the “blessing of the bikes” at the San Bonito
fairgrounds. Who knew to expect that?
Thanks to John and Debbie Button for yet another
grande weekend in Paso Robles and for the
chocolate motorcycles!
Leonard Lloyd
