(If you've already read this, go down to the bottom to see the pics)
Well I have to say the Angeles Crest Highway run was incredible,
to say the least. This is just a HUGE playground for motocycles
and people with cars that want to drive them to their limits through
roads that will scare the hell out of you. The cops in CA were
noticeably worse than where I'm from, but up here, it's a whole
different world, as you'll see a little later in this post.
I left Tucson Friday morning, stayed at Larry A's house in Irvine
Friday night(Thanks Larry. Your family's hospitality was
unprecidented.), and met up with the rest of the guys for the
run Satuday morning. There were 4 of us in all - Mani(red 94TT
- on the mkiv list), Dan(very tough looking white 97TT - on the
mkiv list), Mick(blue 88N/A - SOGI member), and me(white 89T).
After waiting around for awhile for any other stragglers that
may have decided to show up, we headed out to the famous Angeles
Crest Highway.
We regrouped just before the beginning of the place, gassed
up, got drinks and made plans for further regroupings. When everyone
was ready, we followed Mani, who had been doing this run for the
past nine years, up towards the ACH(Angeles Crest Highway). I
wanted to stay close behind him because he knew these roads and
I thought it would be easier if I could watch his brake lights
to see how tight each corner was. Forget it. Mani not only knows
the roads and has a better car than me, but he drives with the
skills of a professional. This guy just absolutely flew around
those turns! I might have kept up with him for 2 or 3 turns a couple
of times after he slowed down to let us catch up, but that was
it. Even so, it was a complete blast hammering it around the corners
and through the hills.
At one time, Mani and I were flying around a corner and came right
up on the back of a cop. We came up on him VERY fast and it
would have been hard for him not to notice, so we slowed down
and pulled over at the next turnout to let him get ahead a bit
and let the rest of the group catch up. Once together again and
giving the cop enough time to get ahead, we headed off again,
tearing up the road just as hard as before. We came around another
corner, squealing tires and all, and saw a little cafe on the
left. Outside of the cafe was that same cop standing next to his
car staring right at us with folded arms. Mani didn't seem phased
and did a u-turn in the road to pull into the cafe, still in the
cops view. I did the same, and so did the other two that came
flying around the corner and noticed us a little too late to pull
directly into the parking lot. I guess the u-turns made him a little angry, because he gave us a little lecture about how dangerous
it was. But that was it! He said nothing about how fast we took
the corner or how fast we came up on him awhile back. He was definitely
very cool about the whole situation. Mani did the noble thing
and bought his coffee inside the cafe :-) There were several little
cafes along the route. It seemed that their main income came
from people like us who were up there just to have some fun on
the roads. If the cops were to start cracking down on speeding,
they would all most likely go out of business. How nice it was not
to have to worry about things like that so you could just concentrate
on the corners and staying on the road.
We had originally planned to go to a place called Newcomb Ranch,
which is a bar/restaurant and is very popular with people that
go up there. Unfortunately, the way we went, the road was still
closed. Understandably, though. Way up there near the top, we
ran into some snow and fog. Not the best combination for our purposes.
There was also some loose gravel on a few parts of the road
up there and at one point, I can remember looking in my rearview
mirror after an unexpected sharp hairpin turn and seeing an 88N/A's
tailights. Not good. I immediately pulled over and did a u-turn(no
cops around this time). Dan, who had been behind Mick, pulled
up and gave me the thumbs up. A little while later Mick showed
up to tell me the story. He had been surprised by the hairpin
and spun 180 degrees in the loose gravel ending up going the correct
direction in the opposite lane. With a guardrail on one side and
a stone embankment on the other, I don't know how he managed not
to hit anything. Pretty impressive if you ask me, not to mention
relieving.
If you plan on hitting this road, I have one other bit of advice
- Fill up your tank!! Right Dan? ;-) Dan spent the last 10 miles
biting his nails wondering if he would make it to the gas station.
We did roughly 175 hard miles up there and Dan's needle was below
'E' with the light on when we finished. He had filled up near
his house and his needle was still on 'F' when he started, but
it obviuosly wasn't enough. Lesson learned.
The weekend was a blast! We will definitely do this again. I
would like to see a big group of us go out there sometime in the
summer. Mani and I will put together details soon for an "official"
meet. But, if you want to go out there, leave your egos behind.
These guys that were there this weekend are just good people who
have nothing to prove. They're just out to have a good time. It's
safer and more fun that way.
If you want to read more on the Angeles Crest Highway and see
some pics, check this site out. It was put up by a motorcycle
club, but it tells you all about the road. --> http://www.f6rider.com/Valk/AngelesCrest.htm
Special thanks to Mani Jayasinghe for putting this together.