Ride in the New - 2015

     I was just about to mount up and back down the driveway to head out for the meet point in Sylmar when my wife pulled in from her long New Year’s Eve nightshift at the hospital. I told her that I didn’t remember being this crazy to head out on a ride with the birdbath frozen solid. As she walked up the stairs to the house she waved her hand and without looking back said, “No one’s got a gun to your head.”

     True, but I’d been looking forward to the ride with the SoCal Victory Riders and I was geared up and ready. I should learn something every ride; about myself, my bike, the road, or my friends and something from each would be great; a grand slam of epiphanies, if you will.

     What I learned about my bike is that it is set up like I like it but that it wants a little more bling and lighting. It is ready when I am; whenever, wherever I want to go.

     Between my place and the meet-point in Sylmar I learned that I can take the cold and that I’m geared up just about right though I could use more thermal boot-socks for the feet and heated gloves for my hands or maybe heated hand-grips if I plan on doing cold weather runs more frequently. I deployed a lesson learned a couple of years ago about what to drink during a cold ride; nothing cold. I had hot chocolate and was in balance when the six bikes and seven riders headed out; JSP Riders as ride leaders, then Brad, myself, Shawn and Danielle (2 up), and Kevin as sweep.

    JSP had the route so I didn’t worry about where to turn next and couldn’t recite it if my life depended on it; one less worry on a clear day, if cold, and with holiday traffic at a minimum the ride was ideal. We headed out toward Fillmore and had a nice tight grouping. I really liked watching JSP in the lead; great pacing and style. I learned about them that they ride so well together it is quite apparent that they were made for this.

     Jed led us into the foothills before reaching Fillmore, over back roads in and around Highway 23 where we picked up three more bikes and riders, Martine, Tim, and Bev. The addition was seamless and we never stopped. The views we had all along this route were diverse; along orange orchards on the right with the chaparral covered hills to the left and then making a right turn we passed between a red pepper patch and an Alpaca ranch. It was great riding along the edge of this agro-belt and then into the hills. Along one citrus orchard the irrigation system had run overnight leaving icicles reaching the ground from the juvenile trees. Can you say “Frozen OJ”? What I learned about the road here was that even on the driest of days, if it’s cold enough you have to watch for ice. We all traversed the ice patch from the irrigation runoff without incident.

     We rode by Lake Sherwood above Thousand Oaks and in the northwest corner of the Santa Monica Mountains. I’d never heard of this little lake surrounded by high-roller estates and gated communities. We skirted the lake at one point cautious of a group of Canada Geese with several species of duck behind and a wading Great Egret on the hunt for small fish or frogs. A cold hunt is was for that great white bird.

     One of my favorite scenes (who could have only one on a day like this?) was coming out of Kanan Dume to see the Pacific Ocean shimmering in the bright winter sun. What I learned right then was that I need to get my camera set up so I can try to capture and image of it. The ocean was like a sea of diamonds sparkling in the sun. We had that view on down the coast to Duke’s in Malibu for lunch; indeed, we had it all through lunch with the great window view where we watched a dolphin pod cruise by and loons hunting just beyond the surf line.

Photo courtesy of Shawn Frausto
at Duke's in Malibu

     At the iconic Duke’s (I looked it up and it is iconic) we met our last two bikers in the parking lot, Ed and Debbie, standing by a pair of Harleys. That rounded out our headcount to 12, down from 20 due to the weather and equipment issues. We fit at a nice table and could converse with anyone we wanted while eating the Hawaiian/surfer food. The service was great in the pleasant environment even counting the three times Brad had to receive his burger.

     As with most of the destination rides that I’ve been on, this one’s return trip was one of attrition with riders peeling off to head for home, some right from the parking lot and others as the route down PCH, up Sunset and into the Santa Monica Mountains to Mulholland Drive and down in to the valley in Burbank rolled along. Light traffic again and it was a fun little ride. Star Tours’ vans were out in force like yellow jackets at a picnic; they looked like sardine cans with the lids peeled back. We waved at a lot of them – how were they to know that we weren’t stars under all our gear?

    It was a grand-slam day to ring in the New Year with friends and new friends.

Y’all keep the iron side up.