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Took advantage of a break in the rain yesterday for a cold but sunny 140 mile ride. Here's a copy of my post today to the Yamaha 650 list:
----- Original Message -----
> Ducati Tim just proposed a ride over to the Cache Creek Casino for brunch,
> called Kawi Tom and he's up for it too so after the frost melts on my
> driveway and we get layered and leathered up we'll be on our way. Here's
> hoping Hwy. 16 is open, haven't heard about any closures so...
>
> Happy trails,
> Mike
>
Britbike Jim got in on this too so it was 4 riders for the Indian Casino
brunch ride. We gathered in my driveway and discovered that even after a few
hours of sun there were still frosty places with absolutely no grip on my
driveway. Tom showed off his new Corbin seat and his electrically heated
clothing. Jim showed off some new brightwork on his mostly blacked-out
engine. Even though my driveway was icy we decided it'd probably be OK on
the highways so off we went on a somewhat motley collection of bikes, Tim's
Ducati ST2, Jim's FXDX ("the Harley that handles"), my XS11 Special and
Tom's Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 which is frequently mistaken for a Harley. Lake
County is surrounded by mountains so if you go anywhere you're in twisty
road territory. Our route took us up to State 20 and then east over the pass
between Lake and Colusa counties to State 16 down through Bear and Cache
Creek canyons to the Capay Valley in Yolo County where the Cache Creek
Casino is located. This is one of those rides where it's hard to decide
whether to go slow and enjoy the scenery or ride fast and enjoy the road.
Jim set a brisk but not too fast pace since we still needed to be mindful of
ice in the shadier places and there was also some muddy evidence of cleared
slides. There were wet patches of the red volcanic sand that CalTrans uses
on ice patches around here but thankfully no ice was left. Jim did a good
job of hand signalling hazards including a couple of squashed squirrels and
several canteloupe-sized rocks. I thought maybe Tom would have trouble
keeping the pace since his bike is cornering clearance challenged but I
needn't have worried, he made up on the straightaways what ground he lost in
the turns. After a couple of the tighter bends I looked in the mirrors to
see if he was kicking sparks from his floorboards but though there was
apparently no clearance left he wasn't touching anything down as far as I
could see. The few cagers seemed unusually polite and pulled over at the
first opportunity to let us pass. Cache Creek was rain swollen with lots of
white water and there were quite a few kayakers and river-rafters at the
entry and exit points. Dunno if I'd want to get chilly and wet like that but
some folks think we're nuts to ride bikes in this weather so we can
understand other people's passions. Speaking of being cold (or not cold) I
was comfortable with fleece sweats under a pair of flannel lined Cabela's
jeans under my leather pants. 2 pairs of socks under 17" Chippewa boots.
Long sleeved t shirt, thermal top, heavy fleece lined winter shirt and
uninsulated Brando jacket with soft wool scarf. Insulated leather gauntlets.
Unfortunately my old full-face helmet is now unwearable so I wore my shorty
open face with neck curtain. I put my balaclava in my jacket pocket in case
I needed it later and protected my face with a bandanna, bandit style, which
together with a small windshield, proved enough to keep my nose from getting
cold on this brisk but sunny day.
We arrived at the casino http://www.cachecreek.com/ and rode to the
designated motorcycle parking spaces which are conveniently located adjacent
to the elevator on the 2nd level of the 5 story parking structure. It was
nearly full of Harleys but there were still 4 spots left just as if we'd
reserved them. As we were completing our parking rituals a bearded
biker-looking guy emerged from the elevators and rummaged in his saddlebags
for something or other. I noticed his "Old Coots On Scoots/ Lake County"
colors and said hello. He looked up and said "I know you, you ride old Jap
bikes right? From Ukiah aren't you?" "Lake County", I corrected, "met you at
the Blessing of the Bikes." "Great day to ride, huh?", said he.
We took the elevator down to the casino level. In the entrance lobby we
walked by the 50 feet long front desk of the hotel which has a waterfall at
least 20 feet high coming down the wall behind the desk clerks. The decor of
the entire complex is in the 1910 era Arts & Crafts style. Most are familiar
with this style, mostly in California-style bungalows and farmhouses, but
only rarely is it seen on the huge scale of this place. We made our way
through the noisy casino to the buffet which is located at the far corner of
this gigantic space. The place really has one rubbernecking, the humungous
tapered wooden columms and beams with gigantic bronze chandeliers with milky
glass shades, wall paintings of rolling hills vineyards etcetera had me
trying to mentally add up the cost of this facility but I gave up after the
first $10 million or so. Unlike many Indian casinos which have a cigarette
smoke problem (they are exempt from California law prohibiting smoking in
public spaces and businesses) the air conditioning system does a good job of
keeping smoke smell to a minumum and in the restaurants (8 of 'em!) where
smoking is not allowed there is no smoke at all despite the lack of walls
between the casino and restaurants. This is a world class operation which
was obviously very carefully planned and executed.
We arrived at the buffet at 2:30, just in time to miss the brunch. The man
says not to worry, since you're here we'll just charge you for the brunch
but you can have the full buffet...$4 off! We weren't going to be drinking
any complimentary Champagne anyway so this was fine with us. The
all-you-can-eat buffet is positively staggering in size and scope. First is
the seafood, crab legs and oysters-on-the-half-shell and on and on and on.
Then the salad bar. Next the Chinese food which also has it's seafood
dishes. Then the "American food" which has lamb, pork, ham, turkey and prime
rib as the meat courses. Next section is Italian food, then Mexican. Each
one of these sections is as large or larger than any buffet I've seen
elsewhere, even at an old time hofbrau in San Francisco. The dessert section
alone is far larger than the whole buffet at just about any chain
restaurant. After we had eaten and opened our belts a couple of notches it
was time for the ride home.
We had a great blast back up the canyon to 20 with Tim leading the way on
the Blue Duc. We only had to pass a couple of cagers and one of those
pulled over as we approached. We had just turned on to 20 headed west up a
steep grade when Jim held up his left hand and slowed. As I came up closer I
could see that his rear tire was flat. He was trying to limp to the scenic
overlook but decided to take the first wide shoulder available instead so as
not to ruin his new tire which had only about 300 miles on it. Of course no
one's cell phone worked, surrounded as we were by towering mountains, so Tom
said he'd ride home, get his truck and come back. Jim, Tim and I settled in
for at least an hour wait. By this time the sun had dropped below the
mountains and with it the temperature dropped as well. As it often does in
the west, it got dark quite suddenly with no appreciable twilight like
someone just turned off the lights. Jim told us he had only had 3 flats in
47 years of riding. I told him he was unusually lucky but he didn't seem the
least bit cheered up. Even dressed for winter (daytime) motorcycling we
quickly began to feel the cold. That one hour seemed like three!
At length Tom arrived and parked his pickup with the rear wheels in a little
ditch so the tailgate was low to the ground. He had a timber ramp, a front
wheel chock (fabricated from rebar) bolted to the bed and a set of
tie-downs. It was a simple matter to get the Harley securely ensconced in
the truck. Tim and I got pretty cold on the 40 minute ride to Jim's. I was
really glad I'd brought the balaclava and wished I'd worn my insulated G1
jacket with fur collar. The tips of my fingers were hurting something
fierce, I was wishing that they would just go numb but we arrived before
that happened. I put my gloves on top of the cylinder heads while we
unloaded Jim's bike. He immediately put it up on his lift, put a jack under
it and raised the rear wheel clear. He quickly found what appeared to be a
6d finishing nail, the cause of the flat. Tom got in his truck and went home
and Tim and I rode the one and a half miles down to my house. I was glad I
had warmed my gloves, by the time we got home my hands were toasty. Ana
Maria fixed us some hot egg nog with brandy and we kicked back in front of
the pellet stove for a recap of our day's great adventure.
Last night's low was 28F. Today is overcast with rain predicted and Tim has
just left to ride 100 miles home to Mill Valley, down in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...heBlueDuke.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...e/411aa133.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/57bc0b47.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...F/cb2bb471.jpg
Happy trails,
Mike
"You go through the gully Sheriff...I'll head 'em off at the pass!" - Tom
Mix
> Ducati Tim just proposed a ride over to the Cache Creek Casino for brunch,
> called Kawi Tom and he's up for it too so after the frost melts on my
> driveway and we get layered and leathered up we'll be on our way. Here's
> hoping Hwy. 16 is open, haven't heard about any closures so...
>
> Happy trails,
> Mike
>
Britbike Jim got in on this too so it was 4 riders for the Indian Casino
brunch ride. We gathered in my driveway and discovered that even after a few
hours of sun there were still frosty places with absolutely no grip on my
driveway. Tom showed off his new Corbin seat and his electrically heated
clothing. Jim showed off some new brightwork on his mostly blacked-out
engine. Even though my driveway was icy we decided it'd probably be OK on
the highways so off we went on a somewhat motley collection of bikes, Tim's
Ducati ST2, Jim's FXDX ("the Harley that handles"), my XS11 Special and
Tom's Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 which is frequently mistaken for a Harley. Lake
County is surrounded by mountains so if you go anywhere you're in twisty
road territory. Our route took us up to State 20 and then east over the pass
between Lake and Colusa counties to State 16 down through Bear and Cache
Creek canyons to the Capay Valley in Yolo County where the Cache Creek
Casino is located. This is one of those rides where it's hard to decide
whether to go slow and enjoy the scenery or ride fast and enjoy the road.
Jim set a brisk but not too fast pace since we still needed to be mindful of
ice in the shadier places and there was also some muddy evidence of cleared
slides. There were wet patches of the red volcanic sand that CalTrans uses
on ice patches around here but thankfully no ice was left. Jim did a good
job of hand signalling hazards including a couple of squashed squirrels and
several canteloupe-sized rocks. I thought maybe Tom would have trouble
keeping the pace since his bike is cornering clearance challenged but I
needn't have worried, he made up on the straightaways what ground he lost in
the turns. After a couple of the tighter bends I looked in the mirrors to
see if he was kicking sparks from his floorboards but though there was
apparently no clearance left he wasn't touching anything down as far as I
could see. The few cagers seemed unusually polite and pulled over at the
first opportunity to let us pass. Cache Creek was rain swollen with lots of
white water and there were quite a few kayakers and river-rafters at the
entry and exit points. Dunno if I'd want to get chilly and wet like that but
some folks think we're nuts to ride bikes in this weather so we can
understand other people's passions. Speaking of being cold (or not cold) I
was comfortable with fleece sweats under a pair of flannel lined Cabela's
jeans under my leather pants. 2 pairs of socks under 17" Chippewa boots.
Long sleeved t shirt, thermal top, heavy fleece lined winter shirt and
uninsulated Brando jacket with soft wool scarf. Insulated leather gauntlets.
Unfortunately my old full-face helmet is now unwearable so I wore my shorty
open face with neck curtain. I put my balaclava in my jacket pocket in case
I needed it later and protected my face with a bandanna, bandit style, which
together with a small windshield, proved enough to keep my nose from getting
cold on this brisk but sunny day.
We arrived at the casino http://www.cachecreek.com/ and rode to the
designated motorcycle parking spaces which are conveniently located adjacent
to the elevator on the 2nd level of the 5 story parking structure. It was
nearly full of Harleys but there were still 4 spots left just as if we'd
reserved them. As we were completing our parking rituals a bearded
biker-looking guy emerged from the elevators and rummaged in his saddlebags
for something or other. I noticed his "Old Coots On Scoots/ Lake County"
colors and said hello. He looked up and said "I know you, you ride old Jap
bikes right? From Ukiah aren't you?" "Lake County", I corrected, "met you at
the Blessing of the Bikes." "Great day to ride, huh?", said he.
We took the elevator down to the casino level. In the entrance lobby we
walked by the 50 feet long front desk of the hotel which has a waterfall at
least 20 feet high coming down the wall behind the desk clerks. The decor of
the entire complex is in the 1910 era Arts & Crafts style. Most are familiar
with this style, mostly in California-style bungalows and farmhouses, but
only rarely is it seen on the huge scale of this place. We made our way
through the noisy casino to the buffet which is located at the far corner of
this gigantic space. The place really has one rubbernecking, the humungous
tapered wooden columms and beams with gigantic bronze chandeliers with milky
glass shades, wall paintings of rolling hills vineyards etcetera had me
trying to mentally add up the cost of this facility but I gave up after the
first $10 million or so. Unlike many Indian casinos which have a cigarette
smoke problem (they are exempt from California law prohibiting smoking in
public spaces and businesses) the air conditioning system does a good job of
keeping smoke smell to a minumum and in the restaurants (8 of 'em!) where
smoking is not allowed there is no smoke at all despite the lack of walls
between the casino and restaurants. This is a world class operation which
was obviously very carefully planned and executed.
We arrived at the buffet at 2:30, just in time to miss the brunch. The man
says not to worry, since you're here we'll just charge you for the brunch
but you can have the full buffet...$4 off! We weren't going to be drinking
any complimentary Champagne anyway so this was fine with us. The
all-you-can-eat buffet is positively staggering in size and scope. First is
the seafood, crab legs and oysters-on-the-half-shell and on and on and on.
Then the salad bar. Next the Chinese food which also has it's seafood
dishes. Then the "American food" which has lamb, pork, ham, turkey and prime
rib as the meat courses. Next section is Italian food, then Mexican. Each
one of these sections is as large or larger than any buffet I've seen
elsewhere, even at an old time hofbrau in San Francisco. The dessert section
alone is far larger than the whole buffet at just about any chain
restaurant. After we had eaten and opened our belts a couple of notches it
was time for the ride home.
We had a great blast back up the canyon to 20 with Tim leading the way on
the Blue Duc. We only had to pass a couple of cagers and one of those
pulled over as we approached. We had just turned on to 20 headed west up a
steep grade when Jim held up his left hand and slowed. As I came up closer I
could see that his rear tire was flat. He was trying to limp to the scenic
overlook but decided to take the first wide shoulder available instead so as
not to ruin his new tire which had only about 300 miles on it. Of course no
one's cell phone worked, surrounded as we were by towering mountains, so Tom
said he'd ride home, get his truck and come back. Jim, Tim and I settled in
for at least an hour wait. By this time the sun had dropped below the
mountains and with it the temperature dropped as well. As it often does in
the west, it got dark quite suddenly with no appreciable twilight like
someone just turned off the lights. Jim told us he had only had 3 flats in
47 years of riding. I told him he was unusually lucky but he didn't seem the
least bit cheered up. Even dressed for winter (daytime) motorcycling we
quickly began to feel the cold. That one hour seemed like three!
At length Tom arrived and parked his pickup with the rear wheels in a little
ditch so the tailgate was low to the ground. He had a timber ramp, a front
wheel chock (fabricated from rebar) bolted to the bed and a set of
tie-downs. It was a simple matter to get the Harley securely ensconced in
the truck. Tim and I got pretty cold on the 40 minute ride to Jim's. I was
really glad I'd brought the balaclava and wished I'd worn my insulated G1
jacket with fur collar. The tips of my fingers were hurting something
fierce, I was wishing that they would just go numb but we arrived before
that happened. I put my gloves on top of the cylinder heads while we
unloaded Jim's bike. He immediately put it up on his lift, put a jack under
it and raised the rear wheel clear. He quickly found what appeared to be a
6d finishing nail, the cause of the flat. Tom got in his truck and went home
and Tim and I rode the one and a half miles down to my house. I was glad I
had warmed my gloves, by the time we got home my hands were toasty. Ana
Maria fixed us some hot egg nog with brandy and we kicked back in front of
the pellet stove for a recap of our day's great adventure.
Last night's low was 28F. Today is overcast with rain predicted and Tim has
just left to ride 100 miles home to Mill Valley, down in the San Francisco
Bay Area.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...heBlueDuke.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...e/411aa133.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...n/57bc0b47.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...F/cb2bb471.jpg
Happy trails,
Mike
"You go through the gully Sheriff...I'll head 'em off at the pass!" - Tom
Mix
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