Joy Dutta’s blog

I just needed a welcome break from the routine life. Lately, weekend woodworking has been a lot enjoyable, but something was just not right for a while. No cruising the highways, no roadside eating, no getting away from the traffic congestion. I had become lazy enough and desperately needed to ride. Somewhere. Anywhere.

A bunch of fine woodworking magazines for $15 - suddenly caught this ad in craigslist while looking for some scrap lumbar. Location - Auburn, CA. A quick check on the map, and there it is - I-680 followed by I-80 and then some nice country road - CA-49. Those magazines suddenly seemed like a bonus for a charming ride. Not to mention those are the finest in its class and makes woodworking all the more meaningful.

Despite the chilly morning, it brought back some memorable moments from my epic ride last winter. I braved the freezing wind effortlessly with my gerbing jacket liner and heated grips. How I missed the fresh air and the fog in the valleys. Riding early in the morning in these areas always makes one feel like riding through some fairy land. Auburn is a pretty little town, away from the crowds. The guy I visited had a nice farmhouse with a gravel road connecting it from CA-49. My concours is not fond of gravel at all so I had to handle it very carefully. To add to the tension, two big free-roaming neighborhood dogs scared the daylight out of me. It was a LOT of pain to reverse the bike as the front door of the house was at the end of a downhill stretch. It was almost embarrasing with the couple watching me fight the 600lb beast.

A delicious snack at the local KFC while I glanced at a couple of mags refreshed me up after the 160mi cruise, non-stop. I was glad to find my riding stamina almost matching up with the refueling interval (180mi).
I wish I took a little detour on the return way, but as always I am impatient to execute the next plan, which is making some wood project I have in mind for a week.

320 miles from 8am to 3pm. I would say this is an excellent warm up ride for the upcoming big ones this year.

And, 17 FineWoodWorking magazines for $15 - can’t beat this kind of deal, I am sure.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 at 7:28 pm and is filed under motorcycling, woodworking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.