Yosemite and Beyond

Good Morning All!!!

Well we had a successful run up and over the Tioga/Sonora Passes.

Twenty-one of us showed up at the start point to begin our journey

through Yosemite & Beyond.

At 7am I ran over to the Chevron to top off and ran into Ken Head on

my his ZZR1200 sippin on some black morning power juice. After

explaining to him that we had a lot more over at the rally point and

that key word 'Free' we set off to the start point. Tammy arrived

shortly before us to begin setting up the coffee and donuts. There

was bottled water and snack bars for the ride and plenty of maps to

go around.

Slowly but surely people started arriving...first in was a pair of

VFRs, I noticed only because one decided to test the horizontal

landing surface by settling his starboard side of his bike to said

surface thus requiring the element of shopping for a new mirror to

take place (Some people will do anything for an excuse to ride ).

A couple of Connies and then the unforgettable sound of

POTATOPOTATOPOTATOPOTATO - The Harleys. Yes, even I, Jeremy P.

Graham, allowed knowingly - anyone and Everyone on this ride . We had

three Harleys, two FJRs, three VFRs, a couple Connies, and some

others.

We held the riders meet where I made everyone promise to be nice to

our Harley brethren and began to speak of the route. A few of the

riders were quite familiar with the route and voiced many welcomed

opinions and stories of the area.

We pushed off just after 815ish and began our journey eastward. After

the first warm-up on the superslabs we hit 120 and picked up a two up

Harley couple and continued on. We traversed the valley floor and

slowly but surely began our accent towards the Yosemite Valley.

Hitting New Priest road was our first taste of the twisties to come.

We did pretty good until we hit the blue hairs about half way up,,,,

its a good thing their dog graduated as honor student from the canine

obedience school is all I gotta say. Anyway onward, upward. We pulled

off to the side just after Groveland for a fuel check before we

headed up to RallyPoint2 i.e. the main gate to Yosemite. Everyone

claimed good so we hopped back upon our chariots and forged forward

to the parking area just before you hit the main entrance into the

park. I prepaid for everyone which made it easier getting through the

gate. We waited for about 45minutes before the second group showed

up. Once they got there we scampered through the entrance and into

Yosemite.

We hung a left on 120/Tioga Pass and inhaled the beauty of Yosemite.

There was still just a touch of snow on the ground (8000ft) and a

hint of coolness in the air (78degrees).

We stopped here and there for some photo ops and made our way

through Touloumne Meadows and out the opposite side of the park. We

climbed to over 9000feet in altitude (Tracy is at 79ft asl). The

walls of granite, waterfalls, and trees soared over our heads in

amazing beauty.

The 'Nevada' side of Yosemite is just as beautiful if not more than

inside the park and on the valley floor. One of our guests began to

feel the ill effects of the altitude and continued on to our next

stopping point while the rest of us slowly made it out of the canyon

and into a breathtaking drop in altitude. As you come from between

the mountains the road makes a left and follows a 26% grade down to

the Lee Vining area in a matter of 8miles. It was amazing, it was

like a sherpa on the cliff side. Well this of course meant we had to

test the sidewalls of our tires, they worked .

Once we came off of the sharp decline of sweepers we pulled into the

Mobil Tioga Gas Mart for lunch. Lunch? In a gas station? on a ride?

WTF???? yup, our fellow brethren from the Bay Area Riders Forum, aka

BARF highly recommended this hidden cafe' within.... the Whoa Nellie

Deli. Gotta tell ya, it was nice. I started out with a piece of

Raspberry Cheese Cake and followed it up with a 1/2lb Cheeseburger,

on real plates, using real forks and stuff..... no paperware here! We

took over a table that beheld an astonishing view of Lake Mono and

the surrounding area, oh yeah, and two other motorcyclist that were

going the other way.

After lunch we said our goodbyes to the Four Horsemen that stayed the

night in Lee Vining to continue their tour of the area and continued

on. I reiterated that this was a sport touring event where you should

ride at your pace and skill level and have no hard feelings about

passing me at anytime..... well, after we got through the small town

of LeeVining and towards the small town of Bridgeport a few of us

decided to test the range of the throttle on our respective rides.

We'll leave it at, they opened wide and worked well. We waited only a

few moments for the Tail End Charlie to arrive and we continued our

accent into the Sonora Pass after a quick top off. Starting off at

about 7K feet we quickly zigzagged our way up to 9000 ft again. This

time Ken on his trusty ZZR1200 took lead and tested the limits of the

Connie....results-no problem, I did however find out why they put

first gear on this bike. Some of the switch backs were almost 180s at

a high angle. After we dropped over the top of the peak we found a

place to pull over to the side and take a moment to recover from our

fun. Although my GPS showed we had 97miles of the stuff left

(GIDDYUP!!!!). After another 45min or so we began our journey down

the twisty hill called Sonora Pass. This time Robert, a first time

group rider from Tracy, took lead on his CBR . He hung well, almost

too well. After misnegotiating a sharp turn I had to back off and let

a few people pass. 45minutes later I caught up to the group on the

side of the road in Sonora. As I came into town I hit every dagummed

red light there was (okay, there were two, but still). We decided to

move down the road a bit so Hope could get her yogurt and Ken his

happy meal. War stories were exchanged and about an hour later we

continued onward. The 108 had changed a little and was poorly posted

which resulted in a u-turn with a quick right to get back on track.

The fun was somewhat over as far as the twisties action went. Riders

peeled off to their respective routes on their way back to Stockton,

Sacramento, Concord, Bay Area, etc. I exited 205 leaving John Flowers,

Sal, and Ken on their trek back to the bay area.

We avg'd pretty good times given the amount of times we stopped. I

got home just after 7pm and surprised Tammy, who wasn’t able to come

due to her recent shoulder surgery. Actuals pulled from the GPS were

361.2miles ridden

Driving Average of 52.9mph

Overall Average of 35.0mph

Max Speed of XXX

Driving Time of 6hrs 50min

Stopped Time of 3hrs 30min

Total time of 10hrs 20min

Weather high 81.2 low 73.4

Overall a great day, great ride, and great people. Thanks for

everyone who showed up to make this a great event. For those that

pulled out at the last minute or were unable to make it it is a great

ride worth doing even on your own. We missed you but will hopefully

see you at the next one.

A ride/bbq is in the works for Hamilton in the near future. Stayed

tuned to TracyRidingGroupfor more details to follow. Pictures of this

ride are posted on my webshots page....

http://community.webshots.com/user/jeremyandtammy

Until next time!!!

Jeremy Graham