Englishman Advises his Countrymen on Motorcycle
Touring 2900 miles of California via Electra Glide
by Bob Cocksedge - June 2008
This year we decided to try for something a little more adventurous than a jaunt around Western Europe. The mountains of northern Thailand followed by a week on the beach called to us, until we found out that it would be about 50% dirt roads, which didn’t appeal with two-up (remember I only said a little more adventurous). So the attention switched to Western USA – not least due to the best Dollar exchange rate for many a year, don’t you know!
Utah and Colorado looked nice - in fact lots of places looked nice – but in the end we settled on California as that would also allow us some days in San Francisco, and I wanted to wear some flowers in my hair. It’s hardly the wilderness (California, not my hair), but still somewhere neither Sue nor I had ever been before.
Flights were arranged, maps and guides were consulted, articles were read, insurance was bought, the rental bike was booked, more insurance was bought, the route was planned, all the hotels reserved, yet more insurance was probably bought (I think I lost track about there) and the whole thing generally organised to death. Several times during the process my mind flitted back to my first motorbiking trip to Europe, not all that many years ago. A 12 year old Kawasaki with 85,000 miles on the clock and a dodgy past, no proper waterproofs, no recovery or health insurance (never even thought about it), no pre-booked hotels, or even a plan of where to stay. Oh yes, they were the carefree days, back then……
Anyway, back at California, June 12th arrived and off we went. First a few days of car and San Francisco, followed by two weeks aboard a Harley for a 2900 mile figure-of-8 lap of most of California. Following the format piloted by Mike Fairhead in his California article a couple of years ago, I won’t give a day-by-day account of the riding, more of a quick summary plus a record of what we felt we got right – and sometimes wrong – in the hope that this might be of use to future travellers.
So what’s the summary? Well, pretty darn good, really. The Californians we met were almost universally friendly, welcoming and polite, drivers were tolerant, and roads were wide and – once you got away from the cities and the central valley –largely empty. The scenery was always interesting, often spectacular and, apart from some coastal mist, the only time the sun didn’t shine was at night.
For those who like at least a modicum of geography, our route took us from Mountain View, 30 miles south of San Francisco, east across the hot and sticky San Joaquin valley as quickly as possible, for a first night stay near Yosemite. From there east again across the Sierra Nevada Mountains with passes close to 10,000 feet above sea level, then south east across Death Valley and down to more than 200 feet below sea level en route to Las Vegas. After a day’s break from the riding, west across the Mojave Desert to get back to the Sierra Nevada, then a wiggly route north by north west through the hills for many a day, eventually moving from the Sierra Nevada to the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains en route to California’s northern border with Oregon. Finally, west until the big wet thing got in the way, then follow the coast back down to San Francisco. All with a few extra scenic detours, of course.
And so, to the things (we think) we got right,
Speak the Language – that’d be American
Speaking the English version of English might achieve conversation, but not communication. Come on, you’ve all seen all those American films. Gas is obviously not gas, a bike never has an engine, excuse me means sorry, chips are crisps, paved means metalled and chaps are not jolly fellows from the hockey club. Rather less obviously, Inn means B&B whilst B&B means posh B&B - and bum pass hell is…….. no, on second thoughts you’ll have to wait a little longer for that one
Be Flexible on Clothing
California in June is – err – warmish. We went with the intent of being sensible and wearing full riding gear, albeit with Draggin’ jeans rather than leathers. We even took thermals and waterproofs with us. Scott Mindich at the bike hire place gave us that ‘ you can’t be serious’ look, and sure enough within a few hours the jackets became ornamentation for the back box, where they stayed for the whole of the two weeks except for the costal stretches. Whilst riding in T-shirts is not ideal, we decided it was less risky than parboiling ourselves into insensibility and then falling off, which seemed to be the realistic alternative. So long as you remain conscious, risks are not great with a 55 mph speed limit and lack of anything like a tight turn.
Plenty of high factor sun cream is needed and long sleeved, lightweight, light-coloured tops would have been handy for desert riding.
Plan Ahead
California is a big place – yes, really. It’s over twice the size of mainland Britain and unless you are fortunate enough to be able to spend a couple of months there, you won’t even nearly see it all. So planning is needed to fit in as many of the best bits as possible. We took advice from Mike Fairhead, from John Harrison – the IMTC USA rep who lives in California, from the National Geographic Driving Guide, from a detailed atlas of the state (yes, it’s so big that you can get a 140 page A3 atlas covering just California) and from Ilene Mindich of the California Motorcycle Adventures bike hire company
We also booked all the hotels before we went. Whilst this does commit you to a given end point each day it also allows you to shop around and read reviews, sometimes to get discounts, and to do it all on a dark, wet and cold English February evening. It also gives the ability to ride later into the day without the rear mounted Command & Control System starting to issue automatic warnings………
Get a Tri-band Mobile Phone
If you’ve planned ahead and so don’t need to be ringing round hotels, a UK tri-band phone works for calls home. (It also works for calls within the US, but of course at international rate) These phones used to be expensive but now come from £20 upwards. It also helps if, just before your trip to America, you go to the IMTC weekend in Tiverton, ride back in a monsoon, drown your old phone, and so have to buy a new one anyway.
Watch the Wildlife
Once out of town, unfamiliar wildlife is not so hard to spot, even for the completely unskilled such as we. Sadly we saw no bears or mountain lions, despite Sue repeatedly trying to make them appear out of the trees by the sheer force of will alone, but there was lots of the less exotic. Chipmunks and gophers a plenty, coyotes, deer, a couple of herds of elk, a herd of Buffalo (OK, so the Buffalo were in an enclosure in Golden Gate Park…) seals, sea lions, quite a few osprey, a single bald eagle, herons, pelicans, humming birds, blue jays, woodpeckers a pecking, and unlimited quantities of turkey vultures – which always seemed to start circling as soon as the Harley engine stopped. Obviously they were familiar with the design.
Go When You Want, Go Where You Want.
Just like Europe, too early in the year has to be avoided if you want the mountain passes to be open, but there is still some flexibility. We wanted to spend July 4th in San Francisco, so we went a bit later than we would otherwise have chosen. By the time we picked up the bike on June 18th it was getting quite toasty out of the mountains (in the mountains too, come to think of it). We also wanted to go across Death Valley to Las Vegas, and then back to the Sierra Nevada via the Mojave Desert. Much sucking of teeth ensued whenever we told people the plan to go through Death Valley the day before midsummer’s day, and through the Mojave Desert the day after it. We solved this problem by stopping telling people. Surprisingly enough we seem to have lived to tell the tale.
… but Take a Camel Bag and Pick your Time of Day.
Dehydration is a real risk. The effects are unpleasant at best, and potentially serious. The camel bag (Heavy duty plastic bag with drinking pipe and screw top filler) allowed us to take a swig every 10 minutes or so, in addition to the normal refreshment stops. Fill it with water or rehydration sports drink like Gatorade, preferably with lots of ice from the ubiquitous ice machine first.
The day we went through Death Valley the forecast for was for the temperature to peak at 121 F; just a whisker short of 50 C - but that doesn’t come till mid afternoon. We were on our way from Panamint Springs (a motel and bar a good 50 miles from absolutely anywhere) by 6am and across Death Valley by 8am or so. We were much reassured as to the sanity of our timing not only by other (motor) bikers on the route, but also by one guy on a push bike, towing a trailer (English usage, not American) about the size of a beach hut. It makes you feel quite humble……
Our only really hot time was at the traffic lights as we arrived in Las Vegas at around 11 am. Due to carriageways being a squillion lanes wide the lights can take 2 or 3 minutes to change, which feels more like 2 or 3 hours with temperatures already into the 40’s and a big air cooled Harley motor about 3 inches from your inner thigh. I’ve never been so glad to see a set of lights change.
Don’t Let the Fuel Run Low
When the sign says ‘No services for 68 miles’, like the one as we left the Kern River Valley for the Sherman pass over the Sierra Nevada, it doesn’t just mean there won’t be something with a big car park, a MacDonald’s, an annoying RAC salesman and some bloke trying to fix windscreen chips. It means there will be nothing except the road itself to indicate the presence of other humans on the planet. Just nothing. Nothing.
Go to Bumpass Hell
No, this isn’t an American derogatory imperative, nor a fetish club in San Francisco, nor even a condition of the bowels caused by the change of water. It’s a volcanic area in Lassen National Park, a 3 mile return walk from the road, steep in most places and precipitous in some – but well worth it. Our timing was just right for this, as the snow had melted enough for access without the need of an ice pick and snowshoes, but still plenty of it about for best scenic effect, And when you get there - bubbling, steaming pools with a strong smell of bad eggs.
It’s better than I’ve described it… honest.
Hire a Harley
If you’re hiring, a Harley has a lot going for it. Yes, I know they’re big and heavy and scrape footboards at ludicrously slight lean angles (especially an Electra Glide with two up with far too much luggage). They also vibrate like a good ‘un at tickover, the exhaust pipes are where the footrests ought to be and they overtake like I ballet dance. But that’s not the point.
A low seat and centre of gravity let you handle the weight and curves on California roads are never very sharp, so its easy to learn to avoid anything but the briefest scraping of footboards – especially when any more prolonged scraping is accompanied by an inexplicable but severe prodding pain in the ribs. On country roads double white lines down the middle of the road (yellow actually, but with the same effect) can go on for tens of miles, so – if you do actually come across traffic - overtaking opportunities come at the ‘turnouts’ where slower traffic virtually pulls off the road to let you through; no serious acceleration needed. Off the freeways, the speed limit is 55 mph and just about everybody sticks to it. Even on the freeways, to see someone doing more than about 75mph is exceptional - so no serious speed needed here either. The Electra Glide is also long distance comfy (a numb bum free zone), but mainly it’s just that Harleys fit into a lazy tour of California like no other bike can.
I’d never ridden a Harley until this trip. Neither have I ever had the desire to own a Harley - and I still don’t (OK, OK - haven’t) - but if we go back to the States and hire again, then there’s no doubt that’s what I’ll be going for. Probably.
But Hire the Right Harley……
The Electra Glide is one of the few Harley’s that appear to come with full hard luggage, which worked pretty well despite the interesting (!!) fastening system on the panniers. We got ours from California Motorcycle Adventures in Mountain View, California. Friendly but businesslike, we were very pleased with the service, which included pick up and return to central San Francisco at a prenegotiated and very reasonable rate. If you go direct to Mountain View, transfers from and to the International Airport are normally provided free for hire’s of over 10 days.
Although the bike was a couple of years old, it shone like new when we picked it up, complete with new tyres and a service. Apart from a few minor fasteners vibrating loose (Hey, it’s a Harley!) it ran faultlessly for the whole trip of nearly 3000 miles and returned somewhere around 50 miles to the gallon – no doubt helped by those speed limits and double yellow lines. Should you be heading that way, check out the website http://www.californiamotorcycleadventures.com
Don’t forget to mention IMTC – it won’t get you a discount, I just think it’s nice to mention IMTC whenever you can.
And so finally to the Things We Got Wrong
Ah yes. Ummm. Err.
You know, apart from the usual too many clothes and too much luggage, I really can’t think of anything at the minute. And its getting late, and the article is probably already too long anyway, and I can’t see the keyboard properly because I’ve lost my specs – you know, the rose tinted ones I always use for looking back.
Now, where’s that map of Colorado and Utah………