2024 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa

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On the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge, you can see a huge concrete abutment. The bridge was built that way because there is a Civil War era fort, Fort Point, underneath that concrete abutment. Fort Point was in the way of the bridge, but they couldn't take out the fort, so they built the bridge right over the top of it in the 1930s.

Very cool fort to tour if you're into Civil War era history. All perfectly preserved and exactly like it was during the 1860s.

Downtown San Francisco

Alcatraz Island - take the tour if you can.

Last time I took the tour was before I was married & i've got two in college so it's been awhile.

Interesting place!

 

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Angel Island was the Ellis Island of the West Coast.

All immigrants came here first and were quarantined for often months at a time before they were allowed entry into California. All the old buildings are still there and the whole island is a state park now. You take a ferry to the island and just wander around the island all day. Approximately one million immigrants, who primarily came from Asia, were sent here from 1910 to 1940.
Chinese immigrants could be detained for a period as short as two weeks to as long as two years.

Underneath the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge is this old lighthouse

 

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Sausalito is our meet spot

 

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We've been meeting at this same cafe for 21 years

Everyone is there waiting for me & all I see are grins and excited riders ready to ride NorCal.

These guys are all local, and veteran tour alumni, but we're joined by new guy Troy, who oddly enough lives just up the road in Novato.

But we're also joined by Hana who rode down from Vancouver, Canada for this tour. Just nine of us on this ride, which is a perfect small little group. Oddly enough, I had 24 people sign up for this ride, which would have been a huge group of bikes, but after 15 cancels, we were down to just 9.
It just all works out in the end.

 

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Our arrival here in Sausalito at this little cafe is predictable enough that often local motorcyclists will stop by to meet us and say hi to the group.

Today, it was Ian and his dog.

"I’ve been following your stuff since the beginning," he said.
"Then I looked at the meet address of the next tour and realized it was 3 blocks from my house! I had to come down and meet you."

Ian was also a Hayabusa owner and we both have the same exact Gen3 Hayabusa. And that dog… Adorable.

Ever the enthusiast, I chide, "You should join us. We would, or rather I would love to have another Hayabusa on these rides."

 

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First order of business is get out of the town of Sausalito and head up into the hills. Sausalito is right at the base of the mountain.

We're headed up there!

 

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High above the ocean

 

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Reaching the summit, the road doesn't open till 9 and we're early.

San Francisco in the distance

San Francisco and the ocean

 

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The wait for the road to open up gives us a chance to hang out

Barney & Troy are our new riders with our small group of 9.

No fog out there over the ocean

 

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The road finally open, we could walk down off the summit & continue the trek northward

 

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Quite the view up here

Bolinas Ridge - Ridgecrest Blvd | California Motorcycle Roads | Pashnit

Ride Bolinas Ridge to Mount Tamalpais | California Motorcycle Rides

www.pashnit.com

 

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These coastal mountains right along the ocean continue north for several hundred miles all the way into Oregon

 

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This road isn't long - 5 miles along the top of the ridge

And into the redwood forest

 

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One of our favorite single lane goaty roads has been repaved. Sweet. The drop off Bolinas Ridge down to Highway 1 and the ocean.

Bolinas-Fairfax Rd has a few twists and turns

 

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Highway 1 along Tomales Bay

Mandatory stop in Tomales

 

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Luc who is always tinkering and taking stuff apart in the middle of the tour day is quickly taking apart his heat troller.

I'm not a fan of wireless heat trollers, they sound good in the brochure, but they're fussy contraptions and seem to need the batteries replaced often. I recently replaced mine with a wired heat troller. No battery issues.

The camera on my phone quit working so no more cell phone pics - fine, I'll use the big camera. However, the selfie camera still works. I never do selfies but since that's now the phone's only purpose, you're gonna see some selfie pics with my tour riders.

Hana