2024 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

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low clouds above the ridge, waiting to get rained on

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…”still not raining”

I’ve ridden up the coast hiway some days when it was very cloudy and expecting rain all day and it never came. Was sorta like riding thru a misty cloud.
 
So green this time of year!

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…”still not raining”

I’ve ridden up the coast hiway some days when it was very cloudy and expecting rain all day and it never came. Was sorta like riding thru a misty cloud.

It was coming. :laugh:
Checked the satellite & realized I was headed straight into this on the north side of Porterville, I'm headed due north into the dark stuff.
Had to stop, don the rain suit & rig for a couple hours of rain riding. This also meant staying at a lower elevation in the Central Valley.

Rain here in this part of California is all a function of elevation. Go up, get rained on. Go down, less chance of rain.

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Popped out the other side of the front a few hours later to blue skies and my favorite local non-working nuclear power plant, Rancho Seco

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Overall, pleased with my new ZG Sport-touring windscreen

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Sierra Nevada Foothills ahead, but I can also see rain curtains over yonder

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Forest Home Rd will get the front tire off the ground if the speed is right. ;) Pretty knarly whoops

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Headed for home base over there in the foothills

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Don't rain on me

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Awesome ride as always in the Southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, one of my favorites, we'll do this tour again in Spring 2025.

 
Did you hear? The Sierras got over two feet of snow the other night. Highest single day’s snow cover. That’s bound to lengthen the opening of 89 up by Lassen, 108, 4 and especially 120 for at least a couple more weeks into June. I (was) hoping for late May but now… :confused: Other than snow melt corners it’s soooo nice riding over on opening day.

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Forest Home Rd will get the front tire off the ground if the speed is right. ;) Pretty knarly whoops

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Headed for home base over there in the foothills

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Don't rain on me

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Awesome ride as always in the Southern Sierra Nevada Foothills, one of my favorites, we'll do this tour again in Spring 2025.

Holy crap, a person would get good air over those whoops.......
 
Did you hear? The Sierras got over two feet of snow the other night. Highest single day’s snow cover. That’s bound to lengthen the opening of 89 up by Lassen, 108, 4 and especially 120 for at least a couple more weeks into June. I (was) hoping for late May but now… :confused: Other than snow melt corners it’s soooo nice riding over on opening day.

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That is crazy. Been a really strange spring in Northern California, but i'll take it. Tons of snow, all our reservoirs are full & temps are cool.
Two years of this in a row is super awesome. We did our latest motorcycle tour last weekend and got caught up in the rain.

Yours truly on Sonora Pass, June 2024. Most snow I've ever seen up here in June.
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The ride to Parkfield
The perfect motorcycle tour does not exist.

But wait.

The ride to Parkfield Cafe & Lodge is likely the most popular organized motorcycle tour I offer during our tour season.
But popular is a rather bland word, more likely, beloved. Why?

The perfect time of year to ride doesn't exist in California, everyone knows we ride year-round. But there is. Early spring in-between the rain storms is the best time by a country mile. 'In-between' being the key phrase.

It was snowing the day before the ride date, and it snowed on all the peaks around the SF Bay Area, Mt Hamilton, Mt Diablo, Mt Tamalpais as a cold storm passed over Northern California. Plus one of our riders was riding in from Reno, and he had to ride over 7000 ft Donner Summit the day before the ride.

23 Motorcyclists signed for this tour. It's always a big group, but after the usual cancels & can't make its, we ended up with a healthy veteran group of 16, all Pashnit Tours Alumni with several riders signing up for this same tour multiple years in a row.

Our pre-ride meetings on the first day at the meet spot are often like a class reunion. We're excited to see one another, we're excited to see blue skies above & we're excited to be on the bikes headed for endless twisty road.

The 2025 tour date for this ride has already been set & we’re already taking reservations for April 04, 2025.


We've been meeting at the Big Basin Cafe ever since 2004, 20 years!
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Red Bike parking section
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It's rare, but people do these rides on a Goldwing. Peter also had his GF on the back and rode our backroads like a champ. Very capable bike!
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Headed through the Santa Cruz Mountains , along the ridgeline is Highway 35 & Highway 9, famous for slaloming along the top of the ridge for about 30 miles.

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Sunbeams in the fog

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Highway 236 into Big Basin SP, this road is single lane and super fun ride

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