North Coast with Super Doug..

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puppychow

RAWR
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Here is Version 2 of the ride report.
The previous one was a bit unbalanced in it's irreverence, so I removed it. Dougie and I talk a lot of shit on the comms when riding - 99% of which is unpublishable.

I had reached out to Doug on Wednesday about a day ride over the weekend, the response was - "going away for a 3 day ride, not sure where..."
Which got me thinking - how about taking a day off work on Friday, and going "not sure where.." it would be a fitting replacement for the usual Winter romp in the CA winter, which had so far been washed out by the deluge we have received this winter.

We met in Winters, where I committed heresy by actually spending money in a Starbucks - instead of just pissing at Starbucks, as tradition calls.
Once we got on the move, we found the back-road way around Lake Berryessa. As is usual with Dougie rides, the traffic was terrible.. as you can see in the pictures..

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We found a lunch spot near the shores of Lake Berryessa. The farthest north, and the remotest spot with picnic tables - that is accessible via pavement on these shores.

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More back-roads followed, and dropped us onto Hopland Grade. It had been a late start, on top of back roads with no center line, and as you can see, the day was already getting long in the shadows, and we hadn't reached the coast yet.

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From Boonville, we had a choice of taking the shorter way on 128 directly to the coast, or..... that meandering goat trail of a Mt. View Road to the coast, no points for guessing what we picked. By the time we reached the coast, it was already dusk, and very cold, we missed the sunset while switching into warmer liners.
I have never rode the coast in the failing light, the fading light was magical on the ocean, an unimaginable shade of purple, broken up by streaks of black as undulating as the waves. Soon it was dark, and it was pitch black, pierced only by the excellent LED headlights (Philips LED) on the Strom. I tried high-beams, for a moment, and turned them off as I didn't really need them, and as Dougie said, turn that shit off, it is setting everything ablaze!

We stayed in Fort Bragg Friday night, right next to the Harbor, and about 150+ feet above the water, just in case there is another party in Tonga.
We did, however, take a chance and walked down to the harbor for dinner. Silver's at the Wharf, it was a nice enough place, but nothing to rave about, the waiter extolled the virtues of the fall of the bone lamb, but it turned out to be cut off the bone with a saw lamb. This wasn't no lamb, it was an old goat.. I had to send it back. Ordered a burrito in it's place, as walking up to the restaurant, we had heard the music coming from the Kitchen...ordering Mexican was a safer bet.

It was great waking up with a view of the Harbor, and the sound of the fog horn. What a beautiful morning this would turn out to be, one of the days where the coast was as clear as glass.

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Some ways north of Fort Bragg, the coast was clear to the horizon, not even a hint of any haze. The air was so clear, you could actually see the illusion of the undulations in the horizon where the skies met the ocean.

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To be continued
 

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Before I continue, I should make a note here that in my original RR, I was being more irreverent here than I probably should, and maybe more than a little hard on my dear friend Dougie, but it was all in jest and more than exaggerated.

To do a fair retraction of the exaggeration previously in this RR, and correction on the start of the ride, Doug had texted/called he would be a half hour late, and then called saying he would be more than an hour late, but I was already on the road and didn't get the second call.. so I waited longer than I expected and gave him shit about it, but if he called me tomorrow asking to ride, guess what I would do.

Maybe I am out of practice doing ride reports, but I should mention there are probably aren't any better people or better riders, I would ride with in a heartbeat than Dougie. Those of you who really know him, know why.

I am going to leave this apology up here, till the janitors throw it away wherever..
 
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Howl at the moon day!
That lady wouldn't move out of the shot.
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It was cold, but quiet, eerily quiet on the coast, one of quietest days (even for a Saturday) to run up Hwy 1 from Fort Bragg - as most apparently were waiting for the day to warm up. We didn't really stop after the pictures above, until Garberville for gas. Nothing in Garberville really, other than gas, and (the gradual and further south invasion of) the guitar strumming Columbians, Venezuelans, wherever they are from illegals (supposedly weed workers) at the gas stations.

Another quiet ride to Shelter Cove from Garberville, no cops, no stops, and the crystal clear day continued here. Probably the best weather day one could ever hope for, or ever get here in Shelter Cove. We even had whales, giving us company and entertaining us with their spouts as we had lunch on the picnic table overlooking the ocean!

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We back tracked from Shelter Cove and made our way towards Ettersburg, and then onwards towards Mattole and Petrolia.
Desolate roads, in poor condition, mixed in with patches of (at the time of passing - hard packed) gravel, meeting the occasional car heading the other way, I hadn't been keeping Dougie in sight as he much faster, but then I started to keep him in sight, because the cars were behaving when they encountered him, but I would invariably find them in the middle of the road when it was my turn to encounter them. Capped off by a moron in a pickup who tried to back into the road full throttle, and I had to make emergency maneuvers to avoid getting hit. He then proceeded to tail-gate me, until I could find a spot to pull over and let him pass as we were coming into a small town/settlement, and then watched him blow a stop sign through that town, not even a flicker of his tail-lights. Good riddance, as we were turning at that stop sign.

We eventually made it to the lost coast. Admittedly my very first time here, I was glad I took the time to finally check this off my list, before I bid adieu to California in the near future.

Those are some happy cows indeed!

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Stopped at Black Sands Beach..

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Out in the distance, where the slight haze is, that is where Lighthouse cove is suppose to be, we didn't have time to go there this day.

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Black sands..

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Black boots on Black sands - getting toes in the water..

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We climbed out of the Lost Coast into "Victorian Ferndale". A neat little town, almost too perfectly manicured and maintained. Clean streets, no litter, no vagrants, a far cry from nearby Eureka.

Google lied to us, and stated there was a nearby abandoned US Sub base, so we went in search of that, but never found it, it was a fun detour nevertheless... from looking at the map, it heads towards Mattole Rd, but never quite makes it back there, it just dead ends in the mountains.

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To be continued..
 
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Ended the day in Eureka, we found a bluff overlooking the ocean and decided to wait for the sunset there. Found a perfect spot to see the sun go down, even though it was already staked out by a good looking Russian doll who wouldn't step out of her car - afraid of us raggedy bikers. We weren't going to bite ... too hard!

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We stayed out of the craziness of downtown Eureka, the last time I had been through here, I had seen a vagrant pull down his pants to expose himself to traffic, and I had seen a trans "woman" solicit and then take a crippled man into the alleyway for some fun... Umm yea - that was enough to keep me out of downtown Eureka.
We found a good hotel on the outskirts, with a great Mexican restaurant in the same parking lot. Dougie suggested we go there, instaed of the steak house nearby, and his guess was absolutely on the money about this place! Phenomenal food, and some really really strong Margaritas. Yours truly was definitely drunk and not walking in a straight line on the very short walk back to my hotel room.

The weekends are always too short, and Sunday meant heading back home. Wish we cold have kept riding! We made our way back from the coast on Hwy 36. It is a dangerous and perilous road for 4 wheeled vehicles of all sorts, people should just stay away for their own safety. They have been warned, and enuff said!

This is the first time ever, that I have found snow (and even snow drifts) on Hwy 36. It was chilly-nilly freezing willy through here, I needed all the layers that I had on..

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This was our last scenic stop before we headed into the valley. A great view of the Trinity Alps, and to the far right - Mt. Shasta peeking at us over them.

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The ride home in the valley was uneventful again on some less traveled county roads. The weekend was over too soon.
Dougie! Any time you are thinking of taking off for another 3 day ride adventure hit me up! I will do whatever it takes to take the day off and go ride!

Thanks for reading!
 
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Ended the day in Eureka, we found a bluff overlooking the ocean and decided to wait for the sunset there. Found a perfect spot to see the sun go down, even though it was already staked out by a good looking Russian doll who wouldn't step out of her car - afraid of us raggedy bikers. We weren't going to bite ... too hard!

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We stayed out of the craziness of downtown Eureka, the last time I had been through here, I had seen a vagrant pull down his pants to expose himself to traffic, and I had seen a trans "woman" solicit and then take a crippled man into the alleyway for some fun... Umm yea - that was enough to keep me out of downtown Eureka.
We found a good hotel on the outskirts, with a great Mexican restaurant in the same parking lot. Dougie suggested we go there, instaed of the steak house nearby, and his guess was absolutely on the money about this place! Phenomenal food, and some really really strong Margaritas. Yours truly was definitely drunk and not walking in a straight line on the very short walk back to my hotel room.

The weekends are always too short, and Sunday meant heading back home. Wish we cold have kept riding! We made our way back from the coast on Hwy 36. It is a dangerous and perilous road for 4 wheeled vehicles of all sorts, people should just stay away for their own safety. They have been warned, and enuff said!

This is the first time ever, that I have found snow (and even snow drifts) on Hwy 36. It was chilly-nilly freezing willy through here, I needed all the layers that I had on..

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This was our last scenic stop before we headed into the valley. A great view of the Trinity Alps, and to the far right - Mt. Shasta peeking at us over them.

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The ride home in the valley was uneventful again on some less traveled county roads. The weekend was over too soon.
Dougie! Any time you are thinking of taking off for another 3 day ride adventure hit me up! I will do whatever it takes to take the day off and go ride!

Thanks for reading!
Right in my back yard. Great report and photos. Curious though, how do you know she was Russian?
 
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