XS West - Making Passes

[Bill]

Matt's dad, Paul, led most of the Sunday ride and took the meaning of "rally" in the classic sense. We "motored" through four historical high-elevation Sierra mountain passes in the same day.

Ebbet's Pass Sign

Ebbet's Pass Landmark

Monitor Pass Sign (Paul is on the left)

Monitor Pass Landmark

Sonora Pass Sign

Sonora Pass Landmark

I think the fourth one was Pacific Pass?, but we didn't stop for pictures.

Thank you, Paul!

XSively,

[Pat Kelly]

I've pedaled my bicycle over every one of those (70 lbs ago).
I SOOOOO wish I'd have been there with Y'all. I'm glad there were no problems.

[xs650mike]

Wish I could have made this ride...next year! I'll be waiting for a full report. Thanks for the pics.

[Bill]

Pat Kelly wrote:

I SOOOOO wish I'd have been there with Y'all. I'm glad there were no problems.

Wish you could have made it, too. We all agreed we should plan another one. There are lots of XS guys (and former ones, like me) in the area.

However, there were some problems, but I wanted to start with the positives. Over the course of Sunday's ride, two riders went down. No serious injuries.

The first one seemed possibly due to overly aggressive riding or very challenging twisties. I'm not certain, since I was ahead of the the crash. I'll let someone else provide the detais. The bike was not rideable.

The second one was likely due to fatigue. It was near end of a long day and the rider misjudged a turn. Low-sided on a sandy shoulder. The rider was bruised and the bike was barely rideable (clutch lever was broken).

Chatting the following day, we agreed that the accidents were avoidable, and discussed the need to emphasize more safety issues when riding in groups, on challenging roads, and long hours.

A pre-ride safety briefing would have been a good idea and should be considered in future rides like this one.

[xs650mike]

One thing that can't be emphasized enough on group rides is that no matter what the rest of the group does, always ride your own ride. The group will wait for you to catch up at the next junction and send someone back if you don't show up in a reasonable amount of time. Better to be slow than ruin a ride with a get-off or crash. I used to ride with a bunch of cafe-racer types and it was considered a much worse sin to crash than to be slow. It's much better to wait for someone than to have to drag their bike out of the brush and/or administer first-aid! The XS11 can turn unruly if pushed too hard in the corners but it does give fair warning before it goes comepletely apes**t. Of course this was a small group but with larger groups it's a good idea to break up into two groups, the fast crowd and the smell-the-roses types. The fast crowd can ride a longer route and everyone can meet up later at a pre-arranged point. I'm glad there weren't any serious injuries.

[LoHo]

It was great to meet you guys! I wish my bike had been up to riding, but, with two riders down, I might be better off. I'm a pokey puppy myself, so I could have been one of the "sparklers" in an effort to catch up. Who went down? You were all pretty well leathered up and I'm happy that no one was injured.

[dragxs11]

Well dispite the unfortunate events, I wouldn't have missed the rally! I don't think that Maximan(Cody), who bent his forks, would have missed it either. We put him on a plane back to Oklahoma, and his bike is now in my garage waiting for forks, triple clamps, and a fairing to arrive. Some otther comsetic damage, but a little body work and it'll be good as was. Paul's( my dads) bike needs a headlight assy., left signals, pickup coil cover, and guage cluster, but I'm already lining up parts. Again, a few other cosmetic blemishes. Both guys are bruised and sore, but are ok. Cody put his bike into a ditch on the outside of a 30mph turn. I feel like it was my fault, because I was too close behind him. When he saw me, he straightend out to give me room, and it was too much. Dad just got fatigued and headed into a turn too fast(in a hurry to get home).
Dispite all this, we're already planning next year. I'm thinking Mt. Shasta, CA. I grew up there, and know all the back roads. the riding there is almost as grand, and it will offer something different. It was awesome to spend the weekend with these guys. Truely worth the effort.
Jerry and I rode Highway 49 from Sierraville to Auburn. That was and awesome road that I will have to do again. Sorry the rest of you missed it.
Matt

[dragxs11]

I apoligize to you Larry for not talking to you much. It wasn't until we got to Carson City that I was told you were who you were. I thought you were just some guy following us in an SUV cause you liked our bikes I'm also sorry that I missed the ride on Sunday(main event). I had to go get the truck and trailer for Maximan's bike, and take him to the hospital. It think he's bummed too. Like I said, though, this was the first rally, and was a little rough around the egdes. Next year will be better.
Matt

[xs650mike]

LoHo and I were kicking around tentative plans for a NorCal (Lake County?) get-together for a weekend in October...think it's time we finalised our plans. I'll make a post that's a new thread starter so we can find out who is up for it and when they can make it. Lake County is part of the North Coast wine country (just north of Napa County). We've got some great uncrowded mountain roads up here and the fall foliage will be spectacular in October. On some of these roads I doubt that we'll see another moving vehicle. If we do decide to rally here I will definitely ride the route a day or two beforehand so as to know where any potholes and other hazards might be even though I ride these roads regularly. I'd like to get some NorCal XS650 riders in on this as well, at least a couple of them have expressed interest. There will be plenty of cheap accomodations and campsites here since the tourist season's pretty much over.

[LoHo]

How about an Around the State Rally next spring? Meet at the Santa Cruz KOA on Friday night, ride down Hiway One to Morro Bay for lunch, then to KOA in Midpines (near Yosemite) for Saturday night. Sunday we ride to Yosemite and the Gold Country and spread out from there. If someone local could be the camp master for the two nights to set up food and firewood, we could have a real rally with lies and s'mores late into the evening. Camping allows a little more interaction than just riding behind a guy all day. Having camp masters keeps us from having to haul everything. We could pitch in for the BBQ and beverages and a breakfast in the morning. I volunteer my wife to host the Midpines event...she and I can pack up the car and ride two-up on Sunday, then ride/drive back to Fresno. We'd need a camp master for the Santa Cruz camp, and some reliable numbers in order to hold spaces at both locations. With a plan and an itinerary, riders could join up at the nearest location and peel off when they had to head out. Who's up for it?

[MAXIMAN]

Thanks for all the help Matt. I don't know what I would've done without you and your wonderful family. And don't worry about that old Maxim. If it can't be fixed I'll get another one.

I'm thankfull it didn't break my neck condidering I hit the ditch face first at that speed. The fact I had few scratches and no bruises is a testament to wearing a full face helmet and body armour. If we had be going any faster it would've been disasterous. I had to trash the hat. Bought a new Scorpion about an hour ago.

Somebody said upthread they thought we mayhave been riding too aggressively. I guess if you consider going 35 through a 35 mph curve is too aggressive then you shouldn't be riding with me. Now the day before going to Carson City.....THAT was a little agressive but fun fun fun.

And yes I loved the ride even though I racked my bike up. I try to post some pics here in a minute.

[MAXIMAN]

Pix

Here's a pic of the first morning ride of "gangsters".

L to R: Ed Darwin, Diver Ray, LoHo(Larry) and Wife, Paul and wife (Matt's parents), Matt and me.


Matt's Cruise Missle! This is one of the sweetest looking Elevens I've ever seen.


All the Elevens in Virginia City. F to R: Matt's missle, Ed's Special, my Maxim (Zilla), Jerry's Maxim and Rays sweeeeeeeeet Standard with the bobbed windshield.

[MAXIMAN]

More Pix

Matt, Ray and Jerry in VC


First morning riders at lookout above Reno. L-R:

Jerry, Me, Matt, Ray, Paul and Ed.


Her's Matt's little "trick" tail light. Of course he gave me crap about the way I pronounced tail light being a Texan (tay-eel lite).



Jerry and Ray putting on Jerry's new tire at an indy dealer in Reno. Matt's just standing there jacking his jaw as usual. Don't ask what I was doing. It's obvious...isn't it?

[roosterd]

Bummed I missed it!

Awesome pics! I was hoping to get a look at some of the bikes. I was supposed to be there until I had a small emergency on Friday. I hope to make it in the future, October sounds like fun. I'll keep checking back. By the way Matt's missile is a beast! It gives me a lot of ideas with my '79 special.

[MAXIMAN]

Mee Too. I took picts of all the bikes and will be trying to get them up later. But I got a lot of Matt's Special. I want to employ some of his ideas on my '79 SF.

Thanks again to Matt Katter for putting this ride together. If he does it next year I plan on going. The ride out with Jery Fields through central NV was a TOTAL HOOT. I hope Jerry enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for riding with me Jerry!

I'm just bummed I didn't get to ride back or finish the ride on Sunday. I have pix of that ride too though and will be posting a few later.

Cody