Run Up North

What is better than a road trip with good friends? well nothing really. Myself, Caleb, JD, Troy, Murray, Simon and Joey (for some of the way) just got back from 4 days of excellent times. We took the coast road up to Boulder Creek CA and camped in a redwood forest on i9. Mostly marine fog the whole way and I was bloody freezing because as usual I didn't bring a warm jacket. Man this is California, what the hell do I need one of those for?! Ahem. The next day Saturday we headed up the 9 to route 35, Skyline blvd. Now you know when you get those magic times when you're riding and everything is just brilliant and you want to yell, cry, laugh and scream all at the same time? well as we got to the top of the mountain the fog cleared, dappled sunlight came down through the trees, the twisty 2 lane road gleamed and the temperature went up by 15 degrees. It was one of those moments, pure magic. Sometime later we arrived in San Francisco and negotiated our way through city traffic and over the Golden Gate bridge. Then through Napa and on into Newcastle just north of Sacramento for Gabe's Philo Beddoe Family Reunion. Sunday we split early and follow a route organised by Murray and what a route it was. Through countryside and over dale on through Sonora heading for a campground in Kings Canyon. So far I have failed to mention that at this point all of our bikes where running like Swiss watches. However 40 miles from our destination, in the middle of nowhere Troy's primary belt snapped. The sun was beating down and we had no spare. This is where mobile phones are a life saver. We waited 3 hours for a triple A tow truck to arrive, by then it was dark and thankfully a lot cooler. Long story short we ended up back in Fresno and Troy went off with the truck driver to a shop to replace the belt. Sorted. Monday we get on the 41 over to Paso Robles and stop in San Luis Obispo for lunch. Then onto my fav road in the world, highway 33 back down to Ventura. Finally to home on the shit 101 freeway. A little over 1300 miles, one breakdown, many gas and beer stops, amazing roads, lots of laughs and my pan didn't miss a beat. I went into the garage this morning (Tuesday) and the bike was sitting there still with all the kit strapped to it, I stared at it for 30 minutes and had to talk myself out of getting back on and doing it all again. And to my riding friends, you blokes are the very best. Miss you already.