New Year’s Day - 2019

It was a dark and chilled morning when I woke up on New Year’s Day, 2019. The muted rumble of Ollie’s breathing and the soft contended respiration of my wife begged me to stay tucked away in bed. It wasn’t until the icy waters of the shower streamed down my back that I allowed my excitement for the day ahead rise to the surface. It was a ride day! I’d be seeing friends, making friends, and rolling over unfamiliar roads. What better way to start a new year?

It was near freezing at my hillside home though there was no rime on the birdbath this year. I quietly geared up in my little office/closet, no mean feat since I was putting on stuff I’ve never ridden in before, namely the chaps I received the day before. A scene ran through my mind. In many stories, movies, and the like, there is a scene where the heroes prepare themselves for conflict and/or adventure. The scene for me was from Cat Ballou where Lee Marvin’s character, Kid Shelleen, is getting ready to face his nemeses, a twin brother. He sobers up, bathes, shaves, and Jackson Two assists him in dressing for the fight. For your viewing pleasure, the scene:

I could have used a Jackson Two to help with those chaps the first time I put them on. While I’ve made lite of the ritual here, make no mistake, it’s a critical part of every ride for each of us. We need to consider the weather and dress right, check out our bike for the ride ahead, and have our route firmly in mind, at least to the point we join up with the day’s leader. Our routine is how we show respect for the ride and those we ride with and it’s a part of our vigilance. It sets our minds properly.

I waddled out to the garage, put my new thermal glove liners on, and backed down the driveway to head out to the first meet point of three. We added Mauricio, a friend of Shawn’s, to the group for the first time. It was less than a mile down the 210 freeway and I knew he was a good fit, like your hands into a favorite set of gloves. The other new-to-me riders would prove the same. It is one of the special things I’ve found in riding with friends who ‘get it’. It’s more about the ride than the bike though the bike can certainly affect the ride. It’s more about the people than posing and there were no posers on this ride. With nineteen riders and nearly a third of them new to me, I scarcely had time to really talk to them all. However, thank you, each of you, for being riders.

There was a bit of strangeness to the day for me and I hope it’s rectified sometime this summer. We pulled into the De Luz School and Ecology Center, our nineteen bikes clogging up the circle driveway. I looked in my mirror and saw a car pulling and thought, ‘how’s this going to work, getting those poor folks through the drive?’ It was Tim in his car with Jeanie and it was strange not seeing him dismount from the Enterprise. We spent a little time looking at the 1927 one room schoolhouse and Tim got out his newest passion and took a couple of drone shots of the group.

Photo courtesy of Tim Robertson and his drone at De Luz School

The ride through De Luz Canyon (and maybe Rice Canyon?) was special. We wended our way through twisties to our hearts delight, rounding corners to breathtaking vistas, and down steep grades into vales of Black-oak shrouded canopies. I could ride it again and just thinking about it as I write puts a smile on my face.

Brief helmet cam video of De Luz Canyon:  

From the canyon we worked our way through Fallbrook down to the coast and our destination at the Coyote Bar and Grill in Carlsbad. Our thought was to ride along the strip by the beach and stop for a group photo, but it being a gorgeous day and Carlsbad doesn’t take reservations for such things, we got separated into several groups. It’s no easy task keeping twenty vehicles in caravan. The great thing is we all ended up at the eatery for good food and drink (Doctor Pepper for me, thank you Brad) and an excellent time of rider’s fellowship.

At the end of these rides a sense of melancholy sets in as riders bid friends goodbye and safe travels, to head off in different direction. It was no different New Year’s Day 2019.

My 2019 wish for my friends here is that we all find twisties that challenge us and we rise to the challenge. That you all find yourself in places that warm your hearts and light your fires. Here’s to a prosperous and healthy 2019.

 Y’all keep the iron side up and ride baby ride.

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White

Ride Roster, mostly in order of appearance:

Mauricio Ahued

Todd

Shawn Frausto

Jed and Sue

Jerry

Aaron Falls and Lupe Delgado Falls

Steve Mclean

Keith and Karen – ride hosts

Jess

Steve Thrasher

Kevin and Jeanie

Tim and Bev

And others to be named soon: 

Shakespeare on Maui

Lahaina Art - if I could have rented it I would have ridden it

It was ten days ago from this writing (June 29, 2018) that I took a ride that I had every intention of reporting on within days of its completion. I’m still working on the rationale behind the delay as I usually post my write up within a couple of days of the ride, sometimes even the day of. I was on Maui, why rationalize a delay? Why delay reporting or bragging about a ride in such a cool place?

I think one factor is that it was a solo ride that I took while on a family vacation with my wife and my daughter’s family, none of whom ride. My wife was content to spend her birthday reading and crocheting while lounging on a beach overlooking the Pacific with a legion of blue tones woven into a tapestry that makes our hearts ache. The kids took the road to Hana and I grabbed the opportunity to ride. Still it was a guilt-edged ride and I didn’t feel like taking time out from the flow of the rest of our vacation to write it up.

Another factor is that it was a lot of work to ride and difficult to separate the ride from the toil of it. Truth be told, I was just too busy enjoying sunsets and shave ice.

The night before the ride I went online and reserved a Victory Vision at the Kihei EagleRider, aka Aloha Motorsports. I saw in the small print that the bike might not be there and it wasn’t. Had I made my reservation the week before when I was seriously contemplating the ride, or even 24 hours before, they would have moved the Vision from the main store in ‘Lahaina’.

Keoki, aka Ke, was the man in charge of the Kihei location and he was busy checking in returns when I arrived a few minutes before opening time, three Harleys and a street bike from one group, and two Slingshots from other motorsport adventurers. They have a range of vehicles from scooters to sport bikes, Harleys, and the apex of the bunch, the Victory Vision I had reserved. For the folks without motorcycle licenses they have the Slingshots, a wild looking street-legal dune buggy, and a Cobra. While waiting my turn I imagined doing a spin in or on several of the different rides.

Harley Electra Glide - ridden enough to be happy with my
personal choice

Keoki found the Vision at their Lahaina location and made arrangements for me to ride a blue Harley Street Glide up and swap it for the Vision to finish up my ride. I had a route in mind to go around the west node of the island with a side trip up to I’ao State Park. The swap would only add another 25 miles or so. Or so I thought. I was given the key and instructions on the Street Glide and took off having put my long-sleeved shirt in the saddlebag. I went on up to Lahaina. Only problem was, EagleRider is not in Lahaina proper as I had thought, only a Harley dealer on Front Street which I had just cruised. Aloha MotorSports is further up island in Kaanapli but with a Lahaina. Note to self and anyone else who wants to listen – have the route and destination firmly in mind unless the purpose of the ride is to wander around a strange place without a destination in mind or required.

They took care of me at the store; a key swap and go was all I needed. Except that I’d lost the key and faced a $250 charge to change out the lockset on the Harley. Thankfully Keoki had already saved the day when he found the key in the lot where I’d dropped it while getting on the strange bike.

Let me digress for just a moment before taking off on the Vision for my quest for a tropic ride. This is the first time since getting back into riding ten years ago that I wasn’t wearing riding boots and jacket. It was an odd feeling and a little uneasy at times.

The Vision is a full-dress touring bike and outweighs my Cross Country by about 90lbs, dry. Not much difference really and hardly anything at all once the bike was moving and I got used to the configuration. The issue for me was that the kickstand was set up too widely splayed and the bike leaned past the ideal standing angle making it a bit of a stretch to get her standing up. On one photo-op stop I made the mistake of parking with the kickstand downslope and had to get off the bike and push it up to balance it while I swung my leg over. It was dicey and I’d wished I had packed my riding boots after all.

 

Beautiful overlook, bad parking decision

There are several differences between the Electra Glide and the Vision. Riding from Kihei through Lahaina to Kaanapali on the Harley I got the standard biker’s salute/greeting from other riders and glances from drivers and pedestrians alike. When I pulled into the lot at the second store scooter renters glanced over their shoulders to see me as I parked it. When I threw my leg over the Vision and started it up they all turned and watched as I eased out of the lot. I still got the rider’s salutes but the driver/riders in cages gave long looks as we passed each other. When I pulled into a store parking lot in Napili to get water I had two conversations about the bike and its looks and performance, both of which are superior. Nice bike!

I decided to continue on my clockwise direction which put the ocean to my left and over the oncoming lane, not my ideal choice but time was a concern by the time I’d found the store for the swap. Once you get beyond Honokowai the road narrows and gets more twisty and even more so along the way until it gets to be less than two lanes and truly twisty, ‘da bess’ for a rider. But it was work and required vigilance to the road and oncoming traffic which was thankfully pretty light on the 19^th.

The road was like a tropic version of Ireland country lanes with its rock walls right up to the tarmac. At times the tall grasses on Maui grow taller than I stand and lean over the roadway on one side with overhanging volcanic rock on the other. It was awesome and I wish I had a helmet cam video of the whole ride. The vistas as I came around corners to overlook the channel between Maui and Molokai are inspiring. Turquoise waters over white sands and coral beds blend into waters the color of denim with whitecaps whipped up by the trade winds that look like diamonds sparkling off to the distance. Nani (beautiful).

I road through little hamlets that don’t appear on the map and haven’t bothered to stake a town name to the roadside; it’s island living and where you are is where you are. I passed over one-lane bridges with streams running down from the mountainsides carving out channels in the lava. Locals gathered at the bridges and scrambled down for freshwater swimming. The vast Pacific stretched off to the Northeast as Molokai faded off behind me while the rainforest ran up the mountainside.

The more I write this the more I want to write the ride but it has to end just as did the ride, back at Kihei where I found Keoki mapping out a ride that makes me want to turn around and do it again. He has a route that gives you three distinct vistas of the island in a day and puts you in a place for lunch the locals all seek out. Next time Ki’oki…

Aloha Motorsports is ka ‘oi (the best)

Malu ko’u na ho’alohaloha (peace my friend)

Y’all keep the iron side up and ride baby ride.

Jerry ‘Shakespeare’ White

It's impossible to find a vista with a bad overlook...

Sad Postscript Note: Last night I learned that my Ride Brother Kekai was found dead in the mountains of his beloved Maui after going missing on May, 20. When I saw the CNN report I was struck in the heart. My prayers go out to Kekai's family and the Maui community for peace. Maha maika'i kakua'ana, malu.