It was a dark and stormy day...

[tobes]

here in Los Angeles. Well, not too stormy more of a little rainy but a good day for a ride anyhow. I put some tunes on the iPod and headed into the mountains with a light rain coming down. Slick roads but there were very few people out so it was a good day to take it slow and enjoy the scenery and think about this past year.

A few days ago a coworker was lamenting on what a terrible year this had been. I thought about that and indeed it has been a tough year – in general and personally. The economy collapsed, our parent company collapsed, a sale is now looming and lots of uncertainty is ahead. On top of these things July saw the untimely passing of a close family member (one of the more stressful things I’ve been through) and other family issues remain. But, then some very positive things happened: for me this election was inspiring, my brother and I had a great motorcycle ride together up to Oregon in August, and I finished a designation that had been dogging me for awhile. In the end exhausting is the way I’d describe 08’.

Today was kind of like that, dreary and rainy but then patches of sun breaking through. So, into Angeles Crest and Green Valley I went and, with the addition of head guards and new tires, ventured off onto a little dirt. This’ll look all very familiar to the locals.

[corbtown]

Great post and nice pics. I'm in Ohio, so a little envious of the riding opportunity. Sorry to hear about the death of a family member. Last year my mother, and one of my sisters, very close to me in age both died. The passing of time really actually helps, but I still miss them and find myself thinking about them at odd times--but there are very good memories. On a positive side, I just bought a "new" 2004 R1150R. I saw in your post that you rode some dirt roads--how does it handle, and what speed did you get to? I had a GS before I got the R, and never passed 25mph.

[tobes]

Hi Corbtown. The R12R did okay in the dirt. I kept it in 1st gear and pretty slow as this particular stretch had some ruts and I didn’t want the suspension to bottom out. But a couple of weeks ago I shot down another fire road and was cruising along in 2nd. That was more hard packed and flat and on a dry day. Here in SoCal there are a lot of forest roads to venture down and I’m getting more interested in exploring some of these. Nothing too radical but it’ll be fun to check out the occasional fire road and I think this bike will be fine for that.
Mike...

[mnnden]

Very nice!!! waking up today to -3, I am more than a little envious, Thanks for sharing, Den