Dead Battery, Hot Chocolate, Bruised Ribs, Electronic Issues, Coffee stops, “Turn that blinker off!”, Japanese American History and lots of fun….. Part 1
June 21st, 2016 | 
Author: Each motorcycle ride has it’s issues, drama, and events that always leads to a smile and some great memories – this one was no different.
It has been a long while since I rode one-on-one with Dean. I think the last time was our Four Corners Ride in August of 1997. That ride was to go to the 4 corner most cities in the lower 48 states in 21 days. This ride was to “shake” out Dean’s new bike and break it in – and for me to check out the area of the Lost Coast in northern CA for future trips and to visit Big Ben.
This ride started Friday morning meeting Dean at 6:00 a.m. at the Chevron gas station off the toll road. Of course when I pulled in Dean was already there, but he already announce that his SENA (helmet to helmet communication device) battery was not holding a charge. He also announced that he did not finish his wiring harness to his tank bag for accessories, so he couldn’t power the device anyway. This was highly unusual for Dean as he is usually has all bases covered. Must be because he is retired now?
No problem, we switch units because I could power from my bag – so off we went… kind of.
Dean only had 35 miles on his bike, so he needed to do his break in riding, which means not a constant speed. I kept a steady 65 mph on the freeway way he would drop back, then accelerate, drop back, accelerate, etc…. for the next 150 miles till we got to the first mountain roads. I’m sure he pissed off some people.
We then headed up 9 Mule Canyon Road, AKA Sherman’s Pass, to cross the Sierra mountains to get to the east side. This road offered plenty of bumps, twists, and turns – enough to break in Dean’s new bike. Once we crossed to the east side, we hopped on Route 99 up to Merced to have a buffet dinner, meet Dean’s cousin, and then a quick stop at a store for some “All Day IPA” before heading to Cressey and the Tanji ranch.
Day 1 pictures – (i) for description of picture, FS for Full Screen
2016_06_10_Day1
Posted in 2016-06-10 Shake-n-Break-in Ride