2021 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

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Smug Satisfaction...

There's a quiet roar of excitement when I plan out a new motorcycle tour.

What surprises our riders the most is how remote these regions are. Name a place, in California, where you can ride a 60 mile stretch of twisty road and see almost no one.

A smugness of satisfaction. We use multiple platforms to carefully plan out a sequence of roads, the result is a tempo of fast slow, energetic speed, then a stretch of blacktop that demands all your senses. And once the sequencing is complete, we can feel it's something special.

There are only a few places in California where you can plan that sort of intensity. We have come to that place. This region of California that is a place to be immersed in excitement, relief and joy. They are all different emotions. Yet for the rider, they can all be combined into one.

It's now April. Time for the Southern Foothills Tour:
18 signed up. 15 made it. Time to head out.

 

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I'm often surrounded by a very eclectic bunch.

Monya flew in from Texas and loves the California roads so much, she keeps a bike in San Francisco just for these tours. She bought a season pass and signed up for all of them.

Cathy I haven't seen since 2012, nearly 10 years later, she signs up for another tour. Same bike.

Luc simply won't go away. He signed up for all of them. He has nearly 10 bikes and just rotates them. Different bike each tour.

 

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Simple solution of how to carry a tool kit

Back country roads - Endless curve

 

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Regrouping

Tollhouse Rd

Climbing in elevation up to 5000 ft

 

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Results of 2020 wildfires atop Bald Mountain on Auberry Rd

 

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More backroads, more foothills.

Maxson Rd

 

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Trimmer Springs Rd along Pine Flat Lake

 

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Pine Flat Dam on the Kings River

 

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Couple years ago they paved one of my favorite backroads. Smooth, fast & deserted.

 

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Time for an ice cream stop. Ice cream has to be planned into every ride day.

Dunlap Rd

 

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Ever sat with a 4-yr-old in church? That's Highway 245.

Highway 245, Tulare County | California Motorcycle Roads | Pashnit

Ride Tulare County Motorcycle Roads, Central Sierra Nevada Foothills

www.pashnit.com

 

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When I got handed a Buell to write an road test article for a magazine. Highway 245 was the first place I took it to test out the brand new bike.

Buell Ulysses XB12X | Road Test | Pashnit Motorcycles

Every detail you ever wanted to know about buying a Buell Ulysses XB12X motorcycle.

www.pashnit.com

 

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Highway 245 drops you into the Central Valley into the orange orchards as far as the eye can see. The smell is terrific. The air here is a heavy fragrant sweet smell of oranges.

 

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Next Day the fellas are starin' at me. Let's ride!

There's always that one guy (who forgets to fill up). I still haven't figured out how to carry extra fuel on the Hayabusa with my current setup so my other tour guide carries some.

 

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Headed into Kern County, these are some of my favorite deserted roads.

All ranch land, there is nobody out here.

Old Stage Rd

 

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Woody Rd

 

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I bought a used GoPro 7 a year ago and have not used it once. Promised myself I'd fiddle with it. They are such a pain in the ass to play with. I used to sell them by the case years ago when they first came out and I was a dealer for GoPro.

But now that you can control them with your phone, it's a lot easier to turn it on-off while riding.

Anybody got any gorilla tape? The GoPro 7 has lots of image stabilization and it records pretty clean video.

on-off with the phone. I like time lapse photos so I set it for every 2 seconds and let it run through a twisty section of road.

 

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