I was a member of the scooterist ranks for about 11 years before I made the leap to full fledged motorcycles stromtrooper a few years back. Of course, If I knew that you could do this in the twisties ON A SCOOTER, I might have remained a member of the scooter nation.
The guy who made this video rode a bone stock Scarabeo 250 through Mulholland Drive in LA. A legendary road with all sorts of twisties.
Impressive! Would like to be able to do all that on my V-Strom...!
According to this Business Week article, Singapore Airlines is planning to replace the old 747-400 Megatop with the A380 Whalejet in early 2009 on the SFO-HKG-SIN run (SQ1) and the return (SQ2).
Of cors, that depends on Airbasi actually delivering the planes! With all the delays and compensation that Airbasi has had to pay SQ for the A380 delays, they could replace a great deal of their fleet with A330s which have been used for compensation in the past.
When it eventually arrives, that means that all SQ flights that leave SFO will be the new cabin configurations! Now that's exciting...
After getting a late start last Sunday (moral of story: ALWAYS reply to organizer's emails PROMPTLY), the ride to Lake Berryessa instead turned into an endurance test up the Shoreline Highway. How far could we go?
View Larger Map
This is how far we went...227 miles round trip
The ride started at the Marin Vista Point on the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Many tourists prefer this view to the other Vista Point on the San Francisco side. It's a crap shoot when it comes to making a choice about which one to visit. The San Francisco side has parking meters (typical) and rabid meter maids on the hunt for "revenue enforcement" (again, typical). The Marin side has a MUCH better view but means crossing the bridge to get back to San Francisco and a US$4.00 toll. Personally, I'd go for the view from the Marin side.
Current city policy if you're a businessperson
We weren't the only ones using the Marin Vista Point for a meeting point. There's more room here so tour buses, lots of tourists in rental cars and about 80 or so Harley riders came and went before we took off "north". First stop: Point Reyes Station. This is where motorcyclists who are doing the coast ride make the mandatory fuel and coffee stop. Since we started so late, it became our mandatory fuel and lunch stop. Fuel at the only gas station in town and grilled tri-tip sandwiches from the only grocery store in town.
The wrench is for opening yer beverages!
On the grill today: Freshly carved tri-tip, bratwurst and hot links! The chef is a former motorcycle rider...
Tri-tip sandwich under a tree.
One of us tried to get cash from the only bank in town but their ATMs were out of cash. As was the ATM inside the only grocery store in town. Cash eventually came about 30 miles up the road, on the way to Jenner.
On the way "north", we passed through several state parks and beaches and lots of small towns. One of these towns was Jenner, the furthest north we've gone prior to this trip.
"organic coffee". Joy.
They have their own Post Office trailer...
Eventually, we made it to Gualala, which is one of the bigger towns on the coast. They have a Lions' Club, TWO name brand gas stations and a pharmacy!
Ed taking his bike onto the dirt. Not sure if that's what Scramblers are supposed to do
The ride back was uneventful. Same nature, same nice scenery. We took a detour back to the bridge that saved us all of three miles via Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. With all the traffic that we had to deal with, I'd rather go back through Muir Woods. Hopefully next ride, I'll be able to jury rig my camera so I can take some pix while on the move...
Loads of fun and 50 MPG to boot!
This past week has been an expensive one (and I haven't GONE ANYWHERE!). Here's some of the things that have been playing havoc with my charge card.
Bluetooth headset to comply with new law: US$30.00
Motorcycle tuneup: US$380.00
New motorcycle jacket that fits right: US$210.00
Then, my car takes a dump on Oak Street heading uphill. In a traffic lane. Tolerant and diverse drivers help me move my car to the side honk and flip me the bird as I sit there blocking 1/3 of the traffic on the street.
New alternator and valve cover gasket AND water pump: US$400.00 US$790.00!!!!
Sheesh.
What's more fun than driving fast? Driving fast on the race track!
bbbbwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Audi will be releasing the new A4 in the US later this year. To coincide with this, Audi sponsored the "Audi A4 Experience" where we learned the basics of track driving and then did some hot laps on the track.
We got a briefing on racetrack dynamics, on the cars we would be driving and theory about apexing through curves. Useful stuff to know every day you drive. Then we walked through the garage (where they stored a LOT of R8s for a different event) to the race track.
That's a lotta R8s. Does Tony Stark keep his here?
Once we walked out onto the racetrack, we got a safety briefing explaining how to set up the seat, how to drive once we were out there and most importantly, how to get fitted with the mandatory helmets. Hands at 9 and 3 o'clock please.. Then it was time to drive!!
This is how to raise the seat back, this is how to raise the seat
The first two laps were done slow, so everyone could get the hang of playing "follow the leader" at speed and to make sure we were apexing the curves correctly. Then we did the last three laps, progressively increasing speed so that we were doing close to 100 on the straightaways.
Follow tight and fast...
But that wasn't all. After we did our hot laps, we paired up and drove a road course (marked by cones) in the new A4 and three other cars that compete with it in the market place. The Mercedes-Benz C300 AWD, Lexus IS250 AWD and the BMW 328xi are all sedans with all wheel drive and are priced in the high 40s (except the Lexus which was $10k less). Here's my verdict from going through the cones:
Merc: Very disconnected, felt the most comfortable, easy to drive.
Lexus: High center of gravity, softest ride, easiest to set off the anti-lock and the traction control
BMW: Nice and solid and heavy. Could use 50 more horsepower
Audi: Fun to fling around, very entertaining.
After the test drives were done, we were asked to fill out surveys on iPod Touch handhelds. Their computers generating the name badges and processing registration were iMacs. How cool!
...scroll down the screen, choose select then send...
In addition to all the driving, there was some looking to be done. Audi brought their new lineup for door slamming and tire kicking duty. Lots of R8s to drool over...
Lined up all in a row, all in silver!
I'm particularly fond of the A5...
There's more pix to come. It was a nice, hot, fun day at the track. If only BMW would do this kind of promotion out here, I'd drive their cars around the track too!
It's summer season, when my globetrotting (on a budget) ways are curtailed this year by the double whammy of expensive jet fuel AND greedy, poorly managed/operated legacy airlines. Compared to just the greedy, poorly managed/operated legacy airlines.
So what do I do for fun on the weekends? Go riding! For the past few weekends, I've been getting up early (AAACK) and going for rides with a bunch of Triumph riders. The SF Bay Area has a lot of neat places to ride if you want to do a day trip and San Francisco itself has a neat area that's not overrun with traffic calming (yet) and has lots of hills and twisties.
An entry about a Presidio ride is forthcoming...
Yesterday, we met in a McD's parking lot in Pleasanton very early in the AM. After filling up the bikes with gas and then ourselves with McD's brekkie, we proceeded to hit the trails.
Our destination was to ride up Mt. Hamilton on one side and then ride down the other side then ride back up a different way and ride back down, winding up back in Dublin.
Silicon Valley from the foothills near Mt. Hamilton
Ended the ride at Hooters where we enjoyed the scenery and the buffalo shrimp! Should have came on Sunday because motorcycle riders get 20% off!
Motorcycles at rest
I'll try to photoblog these rides more throughly...they're exhausting and fun!
Here's Cookie Monster being interviewed on NPR. Typical MSM softball interview.
Cookie Monster v. Stephen Colbert. I'm not sure who wins...
No particular reason why, just because it's funny! Think I'll go hunt down some Mrs. Fields' now...
Contrary to popular belief, this blog is NOT a ramen blog! Or rather, this blog is not JUST a ramen blog...
That being said, here's a useful site that explains the different styles of ramen that's out there. Eventually, this will go onto the blogroll once I find a good template I can tweak without messing it up.
*hat tip to Tastespotting*
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