Fast 400 Ride 8/31/2014

Discussion in 'Trips & Events' started by OOTV, Aug 26, 2014.

  1. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Hey Party People, This Sunday 8/31/2014, we (OOTV and OCLandspeeder) are going to do another Fast 400 ride starting from Westminster (Orange County) and through several So Cal areas. The reason it is called the Fast 400 is that the ride is primarily on fairly fast roads and is it close to 400 miles RT from the starting point. It will be a long day with a lot of twisty roads and should not be considered if you are not an experienced rider. Full gear is recommended and be sure to bring water, snacks and whatever you normally take for day long rides as this will be close to an 8 hour day, not including rest stops and lunch!

    There are 2 meeting points, the initial departure from OC at the 76 Gas Station on Willow Lane and Westminster Blvd (Right off the 405 FWY) KSU 7:10AM and the other at the base of the ride's starting point, at the 'Park Ranch Cafe' at the corner of Foothill and Osborne (The intersection on the East side of the 210 FWY). Guesstimate we leave this point at 8:30AM.


    NOTE: THIS RIDE IS FOR NOT NOVICES BUT EXPERT LEVEL RIDERS.

    Here is the proposed route...

    https://goo.gl/maps/kPhJ7
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2014
  2. sunofwolf

    sunofwolf New Member

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    I go but the longest ride I have done was 140 miles with saddlebags and it wasn't easy, my hands turned to rubber-don't no how you can do 400 miles of super twisty roads and end up in one piece on a heavy vfr?
     
  3. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Oh Lord have mercy on this poor soul.......:eek: :confused:
     
  4. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Sorry D...I had to...couldn't help myself.
    Have a very safe and sain ride...and send me some pictures so I can live vicariously through you guys on that day .
     
  5. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    That is why you'll continue to drop your VFR, you think it's too heavy!
     
  6. rvmiller

    rvmiller New Member

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    Maybe Sow/VI carries his VFR. The only time I feel the weight of my bike is when I am placing it on the centerstand, and that is a brief moment

    Ride Red!
     
  7. 34468 Randy

    34468 Randy Secret Insider

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    I would join you but 1. I'm too far away. 2. I question if I could do that at my age.

    Have a great ride. Kingsley, Chomper and I will be doing a three day trip weekend after next down Washington and Oregon. Jasonsmith usually is with us but be damned if he didn't fuck up his foot but good a couple weeks back.
     
  8. Aimbot9000

    Aimbot9000 New Member

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    Have a blast guys! Glad to know there will be real motorcyclists on the road this weekend. I'll be grinding out the boring 12hour drive from Charlotte,nc to Cooperstown,ny thank god for Sargent seats!
     
  9. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Bump...
    :bump2::bolt:
     
  10. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    So here is the ride report from Sunday. What started out as a 6 rider event turned out to be just 4, we had 2 riders that are neither VFR owners nor members on either VFR forum, but we did have 2 VFRD members that were originally onboard to go but ultimately didn’t end up going. We lost, a Buell rider from San Diego, he took ill before we even got the ride going, he never got to leave San Diego. With that, it would have left us with only 3, but another VFRD member joined us last minute.

    As planned, 3 of us met in OC at the 76 Gas Station in Westminster, OCLandspeeder, Myself and Robert (an OC Moto member) riding his CBR1000. Of course since I live the closest, I show up last, but right time to gas up and go at the proposed 7:10AM KSU. Being that I made the initial route plan, I was volunteered to lead the way to the second meeting point, so off we go… Our route had a simple plan to take a few freeways to the second meet point where we planned on meeting up with one of the original planned attendees, but unbeknownst to us, we had not known at this time he would not be showing up. So as we head, on relatively empty freeways, North and East, we take the typical staggered formation, Robert decided he wants a slightly quicker pace and takes point, so Rogue and I fall in behind him. As we approach our 3rd freeway intersection we get passed by a small group of sport riders, at an even slightly higher pace than Robert, maybe due to “pack mentality” or just trying to quicken our pace, Robert starts to fall in behind them, and as they all were rounding the corner of the exchange on ramp, I get over just past the on ramp to the current freeway we are on. Low and behold, just before I start to throttle up to catch Robert, a CHP cruiser enters the freeway right behind me and OCLandspeeder!

    Not wanting to get a performance award I slow down a bit, just above the 65 MPH speed limit and hit the exchange on ramp, followed by OCLandspeeder…and you guessed it, the CHP cruiser! Although we weren’t going too fast at the time, he definitely could have stopped us to remind us of the speed limit or really gave us something to remind us. Anyway we get to the second meeting point a little early, early enough to know we had time to grab a quick bite before the one other confirmed rider showed up (still had no idea he wasn’t going to be showing up). So we sit down grab menus and decide what we want for breakfast. At this point I look out the window and see a yellow 5 Gen, I knew this wasn’t the other rider’s so as I stepped out to grab something off the bike and I run into another VFRD member who saw the post and decided to join us (member C_Williams).

    Not to bore you with the small talk and/or what we had for breakfast, but we got a little background on one another and discussed the ride plan, take it at your own pace and we’ll stop and rest at some key points along the way sort of thing. Everyone agreed and off we went, although a little later than our 8:30AM departure, still early enough to avoid the bulk of traffic. OCLandspeeder took lead and sets a nice steady and quick pace, enough that we are not making ourselves targets for possible LEO but not slow enough to where we think we’ll never get there. We caught up to a couple of vehicles that were ahead of us but as luck would have it, they either turned off to other spots or pulled over to let us by. Now whether I was hovering behind OCLandspeeder a little too close or he didn’t want to go too fast, he waved be by and I picked up my pace a little (Video to follow soon, I hope).

    Again with the luck, we had zero, and I mean zero cars in front of us the whole road, a few bicyclist but other than them, no one! At the end of this road we stop, double check that everyone is OK with the pace and whether they need gas or other reason to stop awhile but no one does so we move onto our next set of roads, a little more North and a little more East. Since OCLandspeeder knows this route, by heart I imagine, I relinquish point back to him and we head off, unfortunately we had to suffer behind a few larger vehicles, but once we got to the fun stuff, they were no longer a rolling road block! These back roads are great fun, not too tight and twisty as to keep you on the low gears, but nice and fast with not a lot of surprises around each corner. These roads take us around a couple of lakes, which due to the drought California is having, were very low…and I mean low! You can see a quite distinct mark on the landscape where the water level used to be, but since we were moving pretty good and no need to stop we have no photographic evidence for you all.

    After the larger roads, we head up this much narrower and unmarked road (i.e. No center line) and proceed to our next connecting road, one that is also known for having sandy corners. Here is where we find some shade and a place to view the valley below us. We take a few pics, probably the only ones in our post, but we do get to chat a bit more about our bikes, what we do for a living, what some of our remaining plans are for Labor Day, etc.

    Here's a shot of the group, minus yours truly and a slight view of the valley
    IMG_1674.jpg

    C's 2000 5 Gen
    IMG_1675.jpg

    Robert's CBR 1000
    IMG_1676.jpg

    OCLandspeeder's lovely RWB
    IMG_1680.jpg

    My trusty steed
    IMG_1679.jpg

    Well, all nice and rested we head to the Mt. Pinos area where we will eventually hit highway 166 and the famous 33! Before we get to 166, we run through a very fun road, Hudson Ranch/Cerro Noroeste Rd. OCLandspeeder sets a decent pace through here too, as like the other roads, knows these pretty well. I play middle man and try to keep Robert and C_Williams in my rear view but try not to let OCLandspeeder get too far ahead, so I ride like a “yo-yo” for a while, catch up with OCLandspeeder, slow down until I can see Robert and ‘C’ and then play catch up again. Once we were out of the really twisty stuff I just stayed on OCLandspeeder’s 6. At the end of this road is highway 166, which we only take for a few miles to highway 33 which we take South into Ojai. On 33 there is a little café called ‘The Place’, it’s a little family run restaurant that sometimes isn’t open when you might expect it to be. Rouge and I had that trouble the last time we did this route and so we didn’t plan on eating there but we did stop and rest, hydrate and grab a quick snack. As our plan was to stop, get gas and food once we got to Ojai. Once we got to Ojai we were going play it by ear and take a possible detour through the town of Moorpark and avoid some of the highway/local traffic. It turned out to be a good idea as for the most part, again little to no traffic, oh, did I mention that we had little to no traffic on the this last section too? Well we did, and it was awesome!

    Once we got through Moorpark and onto the 118 freeway through Simi Valley, we took a little detour to stop and refresh one last time before the long slab ride to our final destination…Home! So we stop a a place called ‘Chuy’s’ (Pronounced “Chewies”) and grab some cold refreshment (no alcohol at this point, we still had about 100 miles left to go) and while we were sitting there chatting, a patron comes to our table and says…”Hey, you were the guys that passed us this morning!” We all look at each other and then turn to the guy and said, “Really, where?” We all had assumed is right near where we were on one of the last roads or freeway we were on, but he said…”Over out there by Lake Hughes”. “Whaaat? That was like over 6 hours ago”, Robert said. The guy said, “I totally recognize your bikes, that was you guys, and one of you got a little too close to us when you passed. It was all good but a little close”. We all had to chuckle, as the point where he was referring to was nowhere near our current location! What are the chances huh? Anyway, that’s our ride, so glad we had no troubles, little to no traffic and no performance awards, not that we would have deserved them or anything…

    Oh, although not sure what too close meant I did apologize to the driver as you need to keep driver/rider relations on good terms!
     
  11. duccmann

    duccmann Member

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    Sounds fun.........glad the popo changed his mind .......:cool:
     
  12. metallyguitarded

    metallyguitarded New Member

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    Great ride report. Definitely post up the video when you get a chance! I've only ever gotten one speeding ticket and it was on my ZX6R. Got pulled over by a CHP cruiser who was kind enough to tell me she decided to stop me when I hit 80 but she was only going to cite me for 75 (10 over). I very politely accepted my "performance award" (haha, love that) and figured, I was way over due given all my past outstanding performances that went unrecognized!

    Once I get my bike back in top shape (I truly appreciate all the help you've been giving me), I'll be joining you for some of these rides. Given that I'll be adding a couple hours just to get to the starting point, I better think about getting myself in top shape too!
     
  13. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    You can always join us down in Palomar, much closer to you and if there are roads you like to take post 'em up and we'll join you!

    As far as your bike, get the parts, come over and we'll take care of it.
     
  14. Scubalong

    Scubalong Official Greeter?

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  15. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    Right On! We'll wait for your ride report, even though there were no VFRs involved, you were, so that makes it legit!

    BTW, save a Saturday for helping MG with his brakes, it'll probably be the weekend of September 13th. We can make it an all day event, BBQ and pool party!
     
  16. Scubalong

    Scubalong Official Greeter?

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    I am down.......:thumb:

     
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