Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Tour de Cycle News Unfor tunat ely, O rtega H ighway is also a p o p u lar rou te fo r h om ew ard bound com mu ters d uring the week, and by the time we all got there abo ut 4:30 p.m., the road was al read y packed with cars, d riven by people who know th e road and every decreasing-radius tum like the back of thei r ha nd . I was nea rly d rag gin g the Beem er' s cyli nder head s just try ing to kee p up to this one older lad y in a Toyo ta Camry . I was impressed. Despite all the cars, we were still able to mai ntain a bri sk pace and have fun. For me, this was the highli gh t of the ride. Thi s was a far cry from the freeways.of L.A. The su n was se tti ng beh ind th e h ills and the air /1 dawned on me lhal il was gelling late in the day and / had beeit Ihe only one who had not ye l la ken a turn leading Ihe group. I was aboard the Seca II when / pu lled in [ro m. of Paul, who had commandeered Ihe RF600 , and / began 10 .eslablish a quick er pace f or my , uh, gang. "Yeah, Ihis is cool," said Ihe hip p ie vo ice insi de my head as Lea der of th e Pack pla y ed in Ihe backgr o und . " / feel s o in cha rge . " / f el l /ik e... /ike S noo py did when he finally go t lired of being kicked around by Ihe big dogs and took his place 01 the head of the sled. " It does n't gel any bell er Ihan Ihis ," th e hippie voice droned again. T hen, looking in my rearview mirror, / noliced that Ihe rest of the boys were heading down an off-ramp. Hey , whe re the hell are Ihose g uys going ? T here's mUliny of0 01 , / tell yo u. Scott Rou sseau We go t an unexp ected br eak wh ile waiting for Scott, who h ad appa ren tly decide d to go exp loring on his own. Ten m inutes la ter, he fina lly ro d e u p, tai l between his legs. He rod e near the back of the grou p for the rest of the trip. 10 T hings were good. Th e ride was aboul 80 percent complele, and / was still in one piece. A ll thaI wa s lefl was an hour-long stinl on /-5 , and traffl c seemed 10 be fa irly lighl. BUI jus: when a smug smile began 10 creep over my fac e, the glare of doz ens of brak e lighl s senl a chill down my sp ine. T raf f ic. N OI ju sl ordinary Iraffic bumper-Io-bumper /rafflc . I qui ckly looked f or my peers in hopes Ihal Ihey would exil and decide 10 lak e sideS/reelS, bUI inst ead all I saw was Ihe back of Kit's helmel as he disapp ear ed betw een a S/al ion wagon and one of Ihose cars Ihal says " H i. " BUI thaI was okay, Kit's my hero - he rides close to 100 miles per day on a bike , rai n, sleel or shi ne. He should know how 10 lan e-splil. BUI as f or Ihe rest of us, / was su re Ihal we wo uld be united a s spinele ss , non-Ianesplill ing j ellyf ish. Wrong again . Paul disap .peared just as quickly as Kit had, and / suddenly came to Ihe realizalion Ihal / would hav e 10 bit e Ih e bullel and make like a snake in a melal jungle. Lu ckily , / was mounled aboard Ih e . Suz uki RF. "Poor Chris," / lhought . "He's on Ihe Harley. " W ilh one fing er on Ihe cluteh lever, my thumb on lhe horn bullon and a ca ulio us th rolll e hand , / began 10 weave in belween .lhe cars Ihal surrounded me. Surprisingly , lane-spli ll i.ng came ea sily to me, and / aClually fo und my self having a good lime. ThaI is, unlil a big w hite ITUck wilh refl eclive cowboy hal stickers in ilS rear window moved over on me. / was shocked. / must admil thaI/ enlerlaincd thoughls of ripping off his mirror, bUI inslead, / simply glared at his sm iling fac e as / rode past. Al Ihat mom ent , / vowed to always mak e ex Ira room f or street riders during TUsh hour. Donn Maeda W h e n y ou ve n r u r e in l o a war zone , it's a good idea 10 either f ollow rhe guy wit h Ihe biggesl g un or luck in behind the sharpshoote r in y ou r plaloon. Chris had the bigg es l gun, bUI / had a f eel ing he co uldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it. Kit, on th e ol her hand , was a sharpshooter , so / lucked in behind him as we started our ass au lt on this insani ly kn ow n a.s lan e-sp lilli ng. Ridin g in a virtual sholgun posilion behind Kit , / fe lt as safe as any lan e-spliller could possibly f eel. / f ully expected the rest of lhe gro up 10 ha ve Ihe same fo llow- Kil-! o-th e-veryend idea, and was surprised 10 look inlo a rearview mirr or which was vo id oj any Iwo-wh eeled pu rsuanlS. Wh ere were Ihey ? Didn't they not ice that il was gell ing dark and cold? Paul Carruthers Pa ul and I made it to our int ended off-ram p first, pulled int o a gas station and waited for the others to arri ve, Pretty soo n we saw the tin y head lights o f Donn's, Mark's and Scott's motorcycles approaching the off-ra mp, bu t there was no sign of Chris and the Hog. Parling cars, lTUCks and sem is aboard Ihe Shadow Classic in Ihe middle of rush hour lraffic wa sn'l 'my idea of a pic nic; , longed for Ihe [eathery Sera II, the nimbl ehandling RF600 , or Ihe ullra-stabl e Ninja. " I can't lak e much more of Ihis, " / Ihought. Th en / rem embered thaI Chris wa s s till behind me. On Ihe Harl ey .. With its Wis eonsin license plal e. My mind conj ure d up wild images of cannibalistic nat ives leaping out of their Rangers, Senlra s and Coupe de Villes - and eating the poor boy for lunch . Scott Rousseau Eventua lly, Ch ris appeared from the endles s sea of vehicles abo ard the big Hog. We aU rejoiced with loud chee ring and high fives ..We were who le agai n. We were each expected 10 try out all six of Ihe mOloreycles, bUI being a procraslina lor of Ihe worst kind, I had pUIoff riding Ihe big Harley until Ihe olh ers lilerally f orced il upon me:- or forced me upon iI, as il were. Af ler all, at 710 pounds , lhe H-D was more than lwice as heavy as anYlhing / had ridden unlil thaI day. "Don 't worry , Ch ris," Paul reass ured me as he pri ed my fin gers from lh e handg rips of th e li ll Ie RF600. "The Harley is Ihe besl bik e f or th e freeway. " Fade in 10 a ja mmed-up seclion of /-5, where we fi nd Chris encounlering his firsl exp erience wi l h lane-spl illing... on Ihe Harl ey. Betw een t he un -G odly weighl , th e " plan ahead" braking power and a c1ulCh pull lhal wa s stiffer than a s ho t or Ev ercl ear, welL let's j ust say that / was cursing Paul's name as / allempled to "lhread Ihe needle" f or Ihe [irs t tim e. At tim es , il see med as Ihough the walls were closing in on me, but wilh Ihe big Harley-David son' forged on. Hey, , eould be wrong, bUI didn 't lhal auraelive y oung woman in Ihe Lexus j ust give me . the eye? Maybe yo u're righI, Paul, Ihis Ihing daes work well on lhe freeway . Chris Jonnum w as b e ginnin g t o ge t cri sp aga in. We were s till a good hour from ou r starting point , an d it was here where we decid ed to split up - wi th Donn, Scott and Paul tu rn in g back for home, while Mark, Chris and I head ed back to the airport. It reall y is am azi ng how mu ch fun yo u can have rid ing wi th you r buddies without makin g a big ordeal out of it. Heck , we d id n't go anyw he re o ve r ly exciting but we still had a great time. And what w ould a grou p rid e b e w ithout h and ing out ve rb a l a w ard s a fte rwa rds ? H er e' s wha t we ca me up with: Scott gets the Bonehead Award for rid in g ah ead of th e "tour gu ide" and riding off in to th e di stan ce on a busy freeway while th e rest of us followed the lead rid er down the off-ramp; Donn - gets. th e Sty le Awa rd for obvious reasons; Mark gets the Happy Award for jus t plain having th e most fun; Chri s gets the Big Hair Awa rd for getting big air on th e Beemer , and Paul gets the Cool Boss Awa rd for lettin g us d o all of this. I ju st h ope we d on't h ave to w a it ano the r five years for the next Tour de Cycle News.

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