Canyon Stan's CBR 600RR!!
Week 7

Waiting - 1	Waiting - 2	Fallen Birds
End of 33 - 1	End of 33 - 2	End of CN - 1
End of CN - 2	After Lunch - 1	After Lunch - 2

I posted on SoCalSportbikes that I had time on Sunday to ride and wanted to see if anyone else was up for going. PoPo (Paul), YodaDada (Jim), rc51phreak (Adam), Driven (Bruce) and GixxerThou (Gene) all said that they would be up for a ride. Since I still don't have a license plate, I wanted to stay away from the Crest so I wouldn't get pulled over again. I have also done the Santa Monica Mtns. quite a bit lately and wanted to see some other roads.

PoPo recommened that we do Lockwood Valley Rd. & Cerro Noroeste Rd.. I had done Lockwood Valley before a while ago, but never Cerro Noroeste Rd (CN). It sounded like a good choice. GSXR-Freak (John) invited us to come up to his place to meet. The riders that are around the San Fernando Valley (SFV) area (myself included), decided to meet some place along the way (HWY 118 and De Soto) and ride up to meet PoPo together. From there we would ride up to GSXR-Freak's place and then start our ride.

I got to the SFV meeting spot a bit early after grabbing some breakfast at Mickey D's. I decided to get a couple of pictures of CamBRee before everyone else got there while she was still clean. Shortly after taking the pictures YodaDada arrived. We hung out for a bit and just chatted. While we were taking GixxerThou arrived with a riding buddy, Ben. His buddy, Ben, had a very sweet looking Ducati 996. We all chatted about his Duc until Driven arrived. Once Driven arrived we rolled out to go meet PoPo. We took the 118 East to the 405 North. We then took the 405 North to the 5 North. We then took the 5 North to the 14 North. We exited the 14 at Sand Canyon, which is where we were going to meet PoPo.

Once we pulled into the Shell station on Sand Canyon, PoPo was there waiting for us. We all decided it was best to top off our tanks before heading over to GSXR-Freak's place. We gassed up and headed out. PoPo lead the way. We took Sand Canyon to Bouqet. I love Bouqet, but there was quite a bit of traffic on it. PoPo did a great job of leading while trying to keep tabs on everyone in the group. I certainly wasn't helping by riding so close behind him. I was eager to do some hard carving, but PoPo did the right thing and I eventually realized it was best to save the hard carving until later in the day.

We then took Bouqet to Spunky Canyon Rd. We stopped where the 2 meet so we could make sure that everyone had made it and knew where we were going. PoPo and I arrived together followed closely by GixxerThou. YoDaDada then pulled up shortly after that. A couple of minutes later Driven pulled up. This had me concerned because when we started out Ben (on the Duc) was in front of Driven. In less than a minute we could see Ben pulling up. Something didn't seem quite right but I was glad that he had made it safely. Suddenly, as he was making the turn on to Spunky, his front tire hit some gravel while he was riding the front brake. He went down. To me, it was like it happened in slow motion. He got up and was pissed. He threw his helmet down and started swearing up a storm. GixxerThou, YodaDada and myslef ran over to pick up his Duc. His shift lever was bent and the left side of the bike was rashed. YodaDada took out some tools and GixxerThou bent back the shift lever so the Duc could be ridden.

Ben then started explaining to us that he had just gotten his Duc out of the shop to fix a problem with the engine bogging. This problem was still not fixed and it is really what had him more upset than the low speed lowside. He was not going to be able to continue riding with us. GixxerThou decided it was best for him to accompany Ben despite Ben insisting that GixxerThou continue on the ride. GixxerThou did the right thing and hung with his buddy. The rest of us knew that we needed to leave if we were going to make it to GSXR-Freak's place in time to meet rc51phreak.

We continued up Spunky Canyon Rd until we got to San Francisquito Rd. We took San Fran to Elizabeth Lake Rd. This got us to GSXR-Freak's place. I thought GSXR-Freak was going to join us on this ride. I really enjoy riding with him. But, he was going to spend the day working on a buddies bike and was just being hospitible by giving us a place to meet. rc51phreak was there ready to go. So, after hanging out for a bit and getting some water from GSXR-Freak (thanks buddy), we decided to head out.

We took Elizabeth Lake Rd to Pine Canyon Rd. We wanted to stay away from Lake Hughes Rd because PoPo had already been on it the day before and knew that it was quite dirty. We took Pine Canyon Rd to Three Points Rd. We took Three Point Rd. to the Hwy 138. We took Hwy 138 to the 5 Freeway. We got off the 5 Freeway and got some gas before we made our run. PoPo thought it would be best to do Lockwood Valley Rd to Hwy 33 and take Hwy 33 to CN. This would be a triangle that would bring us back to where we started.

We left the station with PoPo leading, me behind him, YodaDada behind me, Driven behind YodaDada and rc51phreak (on his GSXR-750) behind Driven. It stayed this way most of the day. Lockwood Valley Rd was kind of how I remembered it. Pretty boring mostly. It did have some tight stuff and rapid elevation changes, but not enough for me to get really excited about. I was glad PoPo was in the lead, he knew the spots where the "10 mph" turn signs REALLY meant 10mph. The elevation changes did add a bit of excitment. YodaDada said that my back wheel came off the ground a few inches in one spot.

Once we all had gathered back up at the end of Lockwood Valley Rd, we hit Hwy 33. This road gave us a chance to get any high speed cravings out of our systems. It also help me realize that a 600cc sportbike is no match for a litre sportbike in a high speed run. YodaDada (on his Yamaha FZ-1) and PoPo (on his Honda CBR954RR) simply pulled away from me. I would have probably done better if I had downshifted and run up to redline and then shifted into 6th gear. Despite not doing this, I did reach 142mph.

When we got to the end of the 33, we all stopped to get into the shade and take a breather. That's when YodaDada had noticed that some baby birds were on the ground. He gathered them up together and made a makeshift nest for them in the hopes that momma bird would be able to find them once we had left. We rode off, hoping the baby birds would not end up as lunch for some other animal, and found the end of CN. Once we made the right turn on to it, I noticed that PoPo had left his turn signal on. While I was closing on him to let him know it was still on I saw a squirrel dart out in front of him. He tried to swerve to miss it to no avail, he ran it over. I was just able to miss the remains as I went by.

Once I caught up to PoPo and signaled to him that his turn signal was on, I decided to go ahead, take the lead and do some hard carving. I was in the zone and CN is a great road for serious carving. PoPo took chase. Since I didn't know this road I was basing all of my riding on the Vanishing Point technique. I know that I could have gone faster, but was keeping it safe. Now that I've been on that road once, I'd love to ride it again without worrying about what I might see once I got to the top of some of the hills. When we got to what appeared to be a small town, I turned it back down a notch and let PoPo take the lead again.

PoPo and I found some shade at the end of CN and waited for the others. PoPo was going to have to head home but was willing to wait until everyone had shown up. YodaDada arrived shortly after we did. Not too long after that, Driven and rc51phreak arrived. Once everyone had arrived safely, PoPo headed home. I lead the group back to Frazier Park where we got some lunch at a Jack in the Box. After lunch, I got a couple more pictures and we all decided to call it a day.