Gordon Shuffles the Deck

 

XLCR-Out



My Friend Gordon send some photos of his new bikes. He sold his '77 XLCR, and bought a '75 Sportster XLCH which he turned into a (Then Came) Bronson bike.
 

XLCH-In, but changed

to a Bronson bike.

   



Gordon sold an Enfield, of which I don't have a photo and bought a '71 Triumph Daytona 500. 

 

Enfield-Out   Triumph-In



I think Gordon's latest adjustment to his collection is the sale of his XR883 in favor of XR1200X, which Gordon tells me he is going to set up for the track.

 

XR883-Out



 

XR1200X-In



While some eschew possessions in their search for perfection. Gordon nears that state of contentment as he continues to shuffle the deck in the eternal struggle to find motorcycling perfection.

Electra Glide in Motion

Hill Climb

     When my friend Dale called to see if I wanted to go to a hill climb, I fired up the bike and headed out. The event was held at an off road RV park in Carnegie, California. Carnegie is located east of Livermore, off of Hwy 580, and about 100 miles from home.

     The first thing you need for a hill climb is a hill. The hill never looks very steep when looking up from the bottom. However that is an illusion, the hill is very steep. Occasionally one of the course workers will slip, then slide 10 or 20 yards down the hill. You can tell how far they slide by the yard markers along the course.

      Next you need some bikes to blast up the hill. There are many different classes, from stock to highly modified. There were a couple of nicely prepared Harleys.

Some bikes use knobbies, some paddle track tires and some used chains, a lot like snow chains. Some used paddle track tires and chains.

There were all kinds of engines allowed in the different classes. Some large engines like the Harleys and some multi cylinder engines and some classes ran regular dirt bike engines.

To have a hill climb you have to have people. Not just racers but spectators. This is the heart of the sport. It's as much fun to people watch as it is to watch the races blasting up the hill.

This could be the happiest kid in the world.

I really enjoyed the day. I sat in the crowd and oohed and aahed with everyone as the racers blasted up the hill, sometimes making it to the top and sometimes not. I wandered around the pits looking at the machinery, I people watched, I got sunburned, it was a great day.

Death Valley

     Death Valley is not called the valley of death for nothing. In summer you can feel the hand of death on your shoulder. With the summer temperatures, a mechanical breakdown is no inconvenience, it's a life or death crisis. In winter death may not be so close, just don't do anything stupid.

We stayed at Stovepipe Wells Inn, which is about at sea level. Furnace Creek is about thirty miles away and is 190 feet below sea level. From Stovepipe Wells we took side trips around the valley.

    Scotty's Castle is about forty five miles from Stovepipe Wells. Scotty's Castle was built by a Chicago millionaire named Albert Johnson. In winter you can see the full beauty that Johnson saw, I doubt he was there much in summer it's just too hot.  

 We also took a side trip to Ubehebe Crater. It's a volcanic crater and one of the windiest places I've been. It's near a place called The Race Track, where rocks move across a dry lake bed leaving tracks. No one has ever seen these rocks move or filmed them, so while there are theories, no one really knows. 

I think that Death Vally is most beautiful at dawn and sunset.

Wildrose Canyon

     We turned from Panamint Valley into Wildrose Canyon, which is a gravel road. At the top of the canyon we decided to take a side trip to the Charcoal Kilns.

     After leaving Panamint Valley the road starts to climb. The gravel road to the Charcoal Kilns climbs steeply and the charcoal kilns are at about 6800 ft.. The road was closed just past the kilns due to snow but goes to Telescope Peak (11331 ft).

     The Charcoal Kilns were built in 1867 to provide charcoal for the mines and smelters in Death Valley. To make charcoal, the kilns were filled with Pinion Pine logs which were then set on fire and closed up to cut off the oxygen.

     The kilns were only used for 3 years and then abandoned.

     We left the Charcoal Kilns and headed back down the mountain to Highway 190. The Electra Glide breathed a sigh of relief now that it was back on pavement. We headed over Towne Pass (4956 ft.) and into Death Valley.

Panamint Valley Roads

     After leaving Tehachappi, we rode through Trona, the town that, but for the mineral wealth of the Searles Dry Lake, would be a ghost town. Trona is the name of the town and the mineral that is mined there, Trona Na3H(CO3)2·H2O or trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate. I feel smarter just saying this stuff.

                                                                                                                                                   

After leaving Trona, we head over a pass at Pioneer Point and down into Panamint Valley, this is where the wild burros live after they escaped from mining trisodium whachmacallit over in Trona.

If you love long, straight roads that head to a vanishing point, I recomend the panamint valley it has the best. 

Looking South.....

Looking North.

Death Valley Trip

Winter is a great time to visit Death Valley.  Getting there is the challenge, it is cold most everywhere else in the state. Crossing the Sierra  Nevada  Mountains in winter is a real challenge on a motorcycle. The two all season passes, Donner and Carson, lead to Highway 395. 395 runs along the eastern side of the Sierras and at high elevations, so that's a really cold ride.


The only real route is down Highway 5, then east over Tehachapi Pass. The ride is about 365 miles from home to the town of Tehachapi. We left in the afternoon and got into Tehachapi around midnight, when we arrived at our motel the temperature was a chilly 27 degrees.

You can see, in addition to the heavy leathers, there are power cords dangling. Hell yeah, we got electrics!.

Real Old School

     My friend Ryan is going old school.  He bought a high wheel bicycle.  It's a reproduction of the style of bikes that were first produced about 1870.  The high wheelers were almost gone by 1890, when they were replaced by the modern style bicycle, called the Safety Bicycle. 

     The photos show Ryan riding the high wheeler.  Many of our common phrases come from the nineteenth century and the phrase associated with the high wheel bike is "taking a header." During the heyday of these bikes many people died taking a header.

     So the bikes were almost gone by 1890, but "almost gone" is not gone.  And certainly not forgotten.  High wheelers are still made, and still ridden, real old school.

Torq-Thrust Motorcycle Wheels

     At the Full Throttle Saloon in Sturgis last summer, I saw this bike with a Torq-Thrust car wheel.  American Racing first started making this wheel around 1963 and it was one of the most popular wheels ever made, but it is a car wheel.

     After I took these two photos I must have gotten distracted or something, because I didn't walk over to the bike and see how the owner adapted this wheel to his motorcycle.  I wish I had taken some closeups or at least looked at the other side of the bike.

     Anyway this wheel looks great on the bike and represents mechanical genius.

Hatt's San Quentin Toy Run 2010

Ho Ho Ho, its December, time to go on Hatt’s San Quentin Toy Run and visit Santa Claus. Santa is there and some of his helpers, we have presents for the good girls and boys.  The weather outside is frightful but it’s still delightful. 

First stop is Pier 15 in San Rafael, a new starting place but a good one. Pier 15 is on the Bay, tide is high, but tis the season for high tides. It’s a little rainy but tis the season for rainy, it’s freaking December isn’t it.

Next stop is San Quentin Village where we drop off the toys for the kids. We’ve all brought some toys but there are a couple of extra pickups trucks full of toys too, everyone grabs a few extra toys to put under the tree. I feel good that Hatt and his people have come up with so much for the kids and I know that this is going to be one of the best SQ Toy runs ever.

We then ride to San Geronimo Valley Golf Course, a brilliant choice, the back bar windows look onto some beautiful forest scenery.

Then on to the Rancho Nicasio Bar and Restaurant another good choice. This year we  bypass Pt. Reyes Station, with the filthy Western Bar and old, whiny, town bitches.

Our last stop is Los Guitaros Restaurant in Novato.  The food was delicious.  Really good.  Great choice for a last stop, Bret.  Much better than in years past.  I also had some good luck.  I won the low hand of the poker run.  This was the best San Quentin Toy Run yet.