Saturday, August 14, 2010

Oregon

Soooo, Thursday morning finally rolled around, and after a long 12 hours of work, I got to the house, and put the new chain on the Multistrada. 30 minutes of work, the bags were already packed, which was perfect, as I just threw them on the bike, and off I go. 10am start time from S.F.

It was a long day of bombing straight north on IH-5 to just get to Portland. :) It finally got nice near the Oregon border, although unfortunately, while trying to check the distance of my gasoline, I ...................wait for it.......................ran out of gas. hahaha wtf?!

as soon as the bike died, I passed a sign that said, gasoline 1 mile. so the good thing is that I had no more than 1 mile to push my bike, so I had that going for me....which is nice.

After about pushing for a 1/4 mile, a dude on a harley pulls up, and asks what's wrong, I say no gas, and I thank him for stopping. Then a guy in a car, with his family stops, hops out, asks "out of gas?", I say "yes", and he returns with "I got 5 gallons in the trunk, grab some".
Nice. haha so I throw in a gallon of gas and get to the gas station. Time wasted? less than 30 minutes. Thank you Dario.

The rest of the way was without incident, and I got to my buddy's house 20 minutes after Jason did (from Seattle). We caught up, drank a bunch, and I passed out about midnight. seeing as how I was clicking over the 36 hours of no sleep, and it was starting to take a bit of toll on me. haha (I had been awake since Wed at noon, it was now Thursday midnight)

Day 2: Jason and I took our time in the morning, and rode to the Ducati shop, where I got to test ride the new Multistrada 1200. I gotta give this bike 2 thumbs way up. With an 1198 motor in it, and fly by wire suspension, traction control and Horsepower adjustments at a click of a button...I went from "urban mode" to "sport mode" in an instant. what a difference.

Jason and I then rode out to Astoria, Oregon for some lunch at the Cannery. I'll just say that the Salmon burger, with it's huge chunk of Salmon fillet was so damn good.

We rode over the Astoria bridge, after having ridden up Hwy 47 (an amazing road of twisties, canopies of tress, no traffic, and the occasional adrenaline pump when I would go into a turn too hot and on the brakes) hahaha so much fun.

Pictures are coming. Jason is taking pictures, and we're headed east today. as well as to the Multnomah Falls. Another thing to cross of my list. :)

back with photos in a few.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Oregon road trip - Today!

Leaving after work for a ride up to Portland for a couple days, and then east on the bike. Which is completely dependent on getting the chain on and riveted. hahaha breaking the cardinal rule of never doing repairs or changes to your bike the day of, or night before, of a long distance ride.

but oh, well. before I say it's a simple change...I'll just say, the chain is ready to snake through the sprockets, and needs to be riveted and that is it.

Riding to Portland today, and meeting Jason there for some fun with my friends from Portland. should be good. I'll be back with photos, and yes, I've been slacking, thanks to a non-working computer (dropped my laptop from the bed hahaha) and now the screen doesn't work. :(

I think a new laptop is in my near future. along with many photos to come.
I see many monster energy drinks in my near future today. :D

work ends in 30 minutes.