CA 1, Monterey, CA 46

[alanmcorcoran]

I'd planned on taking a trip up to Monterey earlier this summer, but I ended up doing HAiR instead. The show closed last weekend and I was going to go on a ride with Moedad to Angeles Crest, but between the heat wave and the fires, it seemed like a "beach" trip would be better bet. My daughter has been living up in Salinas since she transferred to CSMB last winter and school started last week so I had at least a plausible excuse for all this time (and gas) wasting. About 1/4 of this is along the coast - where it's about 15 - 20 degrees cooler. The rest? Well, at least you can go faster...

I didn't take many pictures - as many of you can relate to, I was mostly riding the bike. There's a few in the slideshow below. This was my longest trip to date and Sunday was the most consecutive hours in the saddle. I learned a lot about my personal capacity for touring - probably would learn more if I kept at it for more days. I'm not sure if Busy has already documented CA 1 from SLO to Monterey, but it's a sort of California "must do." Kind of like Dragon Tail for East Coasters. There's a few gnarlies here and there, but for the most part, it's moderate. The ocean and the cliffs are in view for a lot of it, if you like scenery (like me) this has an abundance. Plus there is the Hearst Castle, which, although quite touristy, is quality touristy. I'd seen it already so I skipped that, but I saw a lot of Harley's (there's mostly Harleys on CA1) stopping there. Got in a lot of hardcore highway miles too, the new bike is really well suited for the super slab. Rode the whole thing in full battle rattle, at times in temps over 100. That kind of sucked, but as long as I was moving I could tolerate it for a few hours. CA 46 is nice too. Cut's through the middle of the state, high speed sweepers through farmland. 50 miles of quality backroad riding.

[pbss:1xcr5bxi]http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/alanmcorcoran/Salinas/?action=view&current=87329303.pbw[/pbss:1xcr5bxi]