Santa Ana winds

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

4) Fourth, the traffic is averaging at least 75 and many drivers cruise at 85. This means there can be a 20 to 30 mile difference in speed if you are only going 55. This is not a huge problem, but you need to be very vigilant about what is happening behind and to the sides of you.

In spite of this, I still have hit the freeway - sometimes out of necessity, sometimes just to practice. But it's very nerve wracking and I don't think I'd be able to do it for long stretches.

Always thought you were nuts; this just confirms it !! :crackup

NO WAY you would catch me on a bike in that mess.....not ANY bike mind you, and especially not one like the GZ that can't really keep up. :skull:

[Moedad]

These are the two that get to me, especially #3.

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

3) California freeways are re-laned, re-directed, squished together and re-routed near constantly. As a result, the concrete pour of the original lanes don't match up with the actual lanes anymore and there are one to two inch "seams" running lengthwise, diagonally and otherwise, constantly, in and out of your path. When you hit one of these, it causes turbulence with the tires, the lean and the steering that you must correct for, or you will go down.

4) Fourth, the traffic is averaging at least 75 and many drivers cruise at 85. This means there can be a 20 to 30 mile difference in speed if you are only going 55. This is not a huge problem, but you need to be very vigilant about what is happening behind and to the sides of you.

[mr. softie]

And I thought I95 through Philly was bad! That sounds much worse. Take the Hummer instead! :2tup:

Are there no alternatives to the freeway?

[alanmcorcoran]

Sometimes there are, sometimes not so much. I've written about the difficulties in ride reports. To get to West LA (for coastal points like Santa Monica or Malibu), for example, involves a thirty five mile trek through LA "surface streets" which can take 2-2.5 hrs. To get to Corona is 4 miles on the freeway, 35 if you go "around."

Some of the freeways are paved with asphalt, but not the ones I need to go on.

[NeverAgain]

from above

3) California freeways are re-laned, re-directed, squished together and re-routed near constantly...........

Correct , but it only take 100 - 200 miles to get use to.
at first it feels like the bike moved a full inch, than half, than 1/8 and now it is just a harmless turbulence.

4) Fourth, the traffic is averaging at least 75 and many drivers cruise at 85............

Not correct, the physics might be correct but when you are out there you won't feel it, plus you can ride in the first 2 lines till you upgrade to 650cc

my freeway riding is 26 miles, at first I used to ride 20 road + 6 freeway (avoiding all the freeway connection and windy spots) later I was doing 10 road and 16 freeway ( avoiding less and less)
we all say 99% of cars are as*h*les, but that is not true a lot will open a split lane for you, wait for an opening to pass you ( 100% of Californians are afraid of lawsuits and traffic accident make the majority here)

I will start a new topic tomorrow about the gasket change I had ( they changed a lot of thing $180 coved by warranty )

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by NeverAgain

4) Fourth, the traffic is averaging at least 75 and many drivers cruise at 85............
Not correct, the physics might be correct but when you are out there you won't feel it, plus you can ride in the first 2 lines till you upgrade to 650cc

From the LA times, circa 2000... (it's gotten faster since then...)

* According to survey data, average speeds on the Santa Ana Freeway in Irvine jumped from 64 to 69 mph from 1997 to 1999, while speeds on Interstate 5 near Encinitas rose from 68 to 71 mph.

* About 45,000 of the 220,000 drivers who use the Santa Ana Freeway on a typical day now top 75 mph. Two years ago, only about 9,000 drivers did.

* The number of motorists ticketed for exceeding 100 mph in south Orange County hit an all-time high of 216 in 1999, more than double the number a decade ago. Statewide, the number of motorists ticketed for topping 100 mph doubled in the 1990s, from 4,895 to 9,716.

“It’s crazy out here, man,” said Bradley Eldon Cahill, a San Diego businessman recently cited for going 92 mph along Interstate 5 in San Clemente. “People were passing me at 100 mph.”

“Sometimes you get in a daze,” said one 27-year-old woman pulled over on the San Diego Freeway near San Clemente. Ticketed for going 88 mph in the slow lane, she said her 1999 Saturn “sealed” her from the speed. “I had no idea I was going so fast,” she said.

Remote freeways tended to record the fastest speeds. On Interstate 5 in Shasta County, the average speed in 1999 was 70 mph. On Interstate 15 in the Mojave desert, the average speed is 75 mph, and nearly half of all motorists drive faster than 75 mph (the speed limit on this stretch is 70 mph).

“People really fly through here,” said Randy Dopp, a CHP officer who patrols the wide-open desert areas of Riverside County.

The 12-year veteran said he recently ticketed eight drivers in one day for going more than 100 mph.

In an average year, Dopp issues about 500 tickets to motorists exceeding 100 mph–more than some entire CHP offices. His talent for snaring speeders has prompted colleagues to nickname him “100-mph-Dopp.”

Dopp intercepts most drivers on Interstate 10 on the way to Palm Springs. He has pulled over famous athletes, Hollywood stars, young mothers going to visit loved ones in desert prisons, doctors speeding to hospital emergencies.

“I could write 50 tickets in a day for people going over 80 mph, so I try to find the worst of the worst,” he said.

Like Dopp, officers statewide focus on snaring the most blatant offenders.

‘I wasn’t going 88, I was going 95’

Orange County CHP officer Stephen Miles usually limits enforcement to motorists driving more than 20 mph over 65 mph. On a recent afternoon while he patrolled the southbound San Diego Freeway, speeds were typical, with traffic moving at about 75 mph.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by NeverAgain

Correct , but it only take 100 - 200 miles to get use to.
Not correct, the physics might be correct but when you are out there you won't feel it,

A valid description, no doubt, of your PERSONAL experiences.
That may not, however, be typical of all riders; hell, it may not even be typical of MANY riders. Some riders never quite master the clutch/shifter thing !! :shocked:

So......representing your feelings as the "truth" is often not a good thing to do !!

[Magnar Infectus]

Sounds like I-95 in Palm Beach County, FL. It's 55mph in the construction zones (which is most of it) and 65 where the construction is finished. I usually go about 80 (in my truck) just to keep up with traffic, but I constantly get passed like I'm standing still. I won't be taking my GZ on I-95 anytime soon.

[alanmcorcoran]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

representing your feelings as the "truth" is often not a good thing to do !!

Seems to work, though. Add repetition and some volume and you've got a pretty strong argument.