My 3000 mile ride/vacation to the PCH on an '06 R1

[Chaos]

Just got back from my vacation on Thursday May 29th. Scratched one off the bucket list.....to ride up the PCH (not the entire thing, but good enough)

Thought I would do a mini-write up. Not very picture heavy as I was more focused on doing the ride then stopping for a 100 pictures along the way. I also had a go-pro with some ok footage that I haven't gone through and made a video yet. I'm new to using one and didn't get the best footage due to learning on the go, battery not lasting as long as I thought it would, and filling a 32g micro-SD before I got to my destination made for too much crap and will need to edit out a lot of the boring. I'll get to that later. Anyway

The week before I went completely over the bike. New front tire, New rear brake pads, flush brake fluid, flushed coolant, engine oil, spark plugs, air filter, cleaned/adjusted/lubed chain. Wired up a connector for my phone so I could stream music and navigation to my Sena smh10.




I wanted to pack as light as possible, so all I had was what I could fit in my tank bag, and a trunk bag. Sandals, underwear, socks, shorts, clear visor for if I need to ride at night, overnight stuff I.E. tooth paste/brush/deoderant etc... Extra tools, chain lube, and my 9mm just in case.

Day 1: Left around 7:30 A.M. Wednesday May 21st and headed west on I-70. Stopped in Green River UT to gas up and get some lunch. Found this little place called La Veracruzana and was amazed how good the food was, a nice little surprise. Got back on the road and headed to I-15. I have an old Vegas buddy who owns a condo in Brian Head UT that he let me use for the night so that's where I ended day 1. Total miles about 600.

Day 2: I lived in Vegas for 5 years prior to moving back home to Denver 2 years ago, my 15 yo son still lives there with his mom. I got up and left around 9 A.M. and got into Vegas around noon, went to my old work and saw some friends, then met up with my son and took him to lunch and then got back on the road around 3. Headed towards Santa Barbara. The ride, and even drive south from Vegas always sucks towards L.A. or S.D so I wasn't looking forward to it...and I was right. High cross winds, some light rain, boring and straight but it had to be done. Finally made it into Santa Barbara around 9pm and I was pretty beat battling wind and traffic as I got closer to L.A. I found this awesome little hotel right on the beach for the night called Costilla Inn http://www.sbcastilloinn.com/, Santa Barbara is really beautiful wow. Day 2 Total miles, almost another 600

Day 3: What I made the trip for in the first place!! The hotel manager suggested I take hwy 154 which meets back up with the 101, instead of just taking the 101 the whole way to San luis Obispo and I'm glad I did...that was an awesome road for motorcycles and I hadn't even made it to the actual PCH yet. Once in San Luis Obispo I found hwy 1 and I was not let down! I understand why that road is world famous, beautiful, some fun twisties when the road had to snake through the hills the entire part that I rode was amazing....to put it lightly. Took hwy 1 all the way across Golden Gate and then up to Santa Rosa where I hit a shit load of traffic...It was Friday around 3-5pm so I expected traffic to suck, so I was a lane splitting mad man, that was fun. On this day I also noticed some rust dust coming from a few of the rollers on my chain. I kept it lubed the best as I could about every 500 miles but I didn't feel like I wanted to risk it, so I made an appointment at a shop to get a new chain installed in Petaluma on Saturday. Made it to a buddys house in Santa Rosa for the long weekend and much needed rest, relaxation, BBQing, and lots of beer!!

Here's the route of the first half.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/3480...d38.440429!3e0




Day 4-5-6 were spent in Santa Rosa and NO riding!!(except to go get a new chain)

Day 7: Back on the road, I decided to take back roads all the way to Reno. I've driven I-80 From S.F to CO before so I knew that after Reno it was going to suck....and it did. Stopped in Elko for the night. Total miles...not Sure Around 5xx.

Day 8: This is the day I've been dreading!! If you've ever driven or...bless your soul ridden I-80 in between Wendover and SLC it's one of the the crappiest, boringest, straightest, stretch of interstate in the U.S. I hit 50mph wind gusts from my right side the whole way, I would say the bike was leaned over a good 20 degrees. Horrible...I'd rather put a blow torch to my eyeball then do that ride again. Anyway, made it to Parachute CO for the night. Miles...550ish

This is what my helmet looked like after about ever 50 miles or so. Had to clean it at every fuel stop.


Day 9: Easy 230 mile ride back home. Got home at about 1pm and had to work the next day on Friday.

Second half route
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Sant...39.6543686!3e0

Door to Door in 9 days



All in all I had a blast doing a solo ride this long, Longest Solo ride I've ever done on a sportbike.
No tickets, no wrecks, no incidents other than the chain for piece of mind.
My wrists and forearms took the worst of it but you have to pay to play.
Also...I could not believe how much more power the bike had at sea level....made me giddy!!!
I'll add some go-pro footage later when I get to it.

[Generic]

Sounds very similar to the ride I'm planning, thanks for doing it first! Great report, glad you made it home safe.

[Drano]

Awesome trip, man! I lived in NorCal for a couple years and loved it there. I lived in Napa for about a year, and one of the reasons I want to go back is for the chance to ride the roads up around Calistoga and Lake Berryessa. Glad you were able to scratch another one off your bucket list.

[asp_125]

Should plan on hitting the northern part someday. We're up in Oregon now and the riding's great! Sweepers on the coast, twisties inland, and smooooth pavement! Oh and the views are killer.

[NUTZ]

Northern California and Oregon are beautiful! Another must ride is CA 36 from Red Bluff to US 101. 140 miles of curves.

[Tiutis]

Nice trip! You've got some good endurance to do it on the R1. Well done!

[Matrix]

Nicely done! Hell of a trip and great write up. I hit a lot of those same roads a few years ago and your experience seems very similar. Love the feel of HP at sea level! Congrats on the journey!

[Chaos]

Thanks guys. Bryan, Al. I'm actually thinking of moving up to that area. I've been a few dozen times over the years and every time all I think about is how bad I want to ride all of those awesome roads out there. And it's purdy!

[Clovis]

Nice trip!! Props to you for doing this on an R1 no less! Oh and packing super light to boot!