As some of you may know, I’ve been out of the saddle for almost the entire riding season. Yesterday, however, I got to ride again, and did so, in a big a way! 400+ (s)miles of mostly twisties and at a nice, brisk pace. :-)
I’ve coined this ride, “The Triple By Pass” ride. Word play for the three Sierra Nevada mountain passes we crossed. Ebbetts, Monitor and Sonora. (And technically, we also did Kingsbury Grade which to some might be considered a mountain pass! Quadruple By Pass?)
The route was a familiar one, but we knew we going in, that the terrain, until very recently, was covered in snow and might be challenging. As such, when we got 6000 or so feet above sea-level, we started reminding everyone to chill and watch out for sand, gravel, snow, impromptu streams and even ice.
The weather couldn’t have been better as the ten riders, subdivided into 3 smaller sub-sets, took to the mountains. At the back were the tourers — including a Harley, the middle group was the Buells and at the front was me and the sport bikes, including one very nice ZX-10!
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Perhaps, things were just a little too perfect though? Perhaps, something had to go wrong? Well, it did. Near Ebbetts Pass, with the road crapped up by recent snow, snow run-off and the annual disrepair, one of the touring bikes washed out the front on a patch of sand, lost traction, hooked-up and launched the rider high-side. The bike cartwheeled, nearly hitting a bicyclist who was seriously out in the middle of nowhere! The rider slid and then tumbled into the solid rock embankment. At first glance, he appeared to be gravely hurt! His face plant, pavement surfing tore through his nylon protective gear at every pressure point and his helmet showed precisely why REAL riders where full face helmets! 
Ironically, the bicycle rider almost struck by the tumbling FJ1300 was a nurse! And although “Mary” could have easily been killed and had every right to be angry, she wasn’t and was instead instrumental in stabilizing the fallen rider! (If you’re in a Cardio Surgery unit in a hospital in San Jose, CA, hopefully, Mary will be your nurse as well! She’s an angel!)
Another blessing was the CHP Officer who happened upon scene only minutes later. Where often in such situations, the officers are condesending and accusatory, this officer was nothing but helpful and supportive! As it turns out, he himself is a rider (Yamaha FZ1) and truly understood the situation and why we were out there riding to begin with!!!
But after the two hour break, getting our friend to hospital and his bike “towed” to motorcycle heaven/the shit can, we still had a ride to complete! I thought the crash would have damped everyone’s spirits and we would have just grabbed a meal at the nearest civilation and bailed, but that was not at all the case! The perfect weather, beautiful water falls and snow made for postcard surroundings and EVERYONE was still game to ride!
South Tahoe was the closest place to get a decent meal, so we chose to return to Murphy’s Irish Pub. Great potential, but if they have wedding reception or other large group going, go somewhere else! They just were not properly staffed for walk-ins. Enough said.
South Lake Tahoe though, being the busy city that it is, and motorcycles not having any business being in ANY city, we split lanes and did everything humanly possible to get the hell outta there and back to the wilderness ASAP! And although Kingsbury Grade (just east of the casinos, off HWY50, Nevada side) isn’t exactly the “wilderness,” it is a great road and provides quick access back to open space! Not to mention, it has an incredible view of the high dessert!
Soon we were back to strafing the twisties as normal! And two roads of note, Monitor Pass, east of Markleeville, and Sonora Pass from HWY395 to Strawberry! If you wanna get your groove on, on twisty, but smooth roads, try either!
Even with the crash induced delay, we still managed to get in a great ride with fun and scenic views for all!!! And best of all, our rider buddy was treated and released from the hospital. He’ll ride again! As for his gorgeous FJ1300 — probably not.
The route (You’ve gotta do it!)
