Monday, June 09, 2008

Mountain Roads Ride 6/8/2008 (Sunday)

egrep (BARF) posted this wonderful ride, via Stage / Tunitas Creek / King's Mountain ... so, today i went on a 90 mile ride (another 30 miles to the restaurant and back to home)

Home - 280N - Moody - PageMill - Alpine - Pescadero - Stage - Tunitas Creek - King's Mountin [Downhill] - King's Mountain [Uphill] - Skyline - 92 - 280S - Sandhill - Palo Alto Downtown - Lunch/Dinner at Mango Caribbean Restaurant off Hamilton Ave - 101S - Home

Ride was awesome. I had my new jacket on today with the A* gloves. felt good :-) For some reason, it took me a while to adjust on Page Mill and Alpine. not sure what was happening. I was not able to concentrate through the turns. I took a quick stop and while at Pescadero i was good. Stage Road was awesome with great views of the lush mountains and ranches. As i entered Tunitas Creek it reminded me of Jamison and Mines combined. Man, it was dreadful. Potholes, loose gravel, what not !!!! But the turns were sharp and steep. I really loved it.

As i crossed Skyline and went down King's Mountains i loved it, because of the steep / winding U-turns. The roads were good too, so i could concentrate more on the turns. I went down to Woodside and decided again to come up. While coming up all the way to Skyline I had no cars in front of me, so i really gassed up (doing 45 in a 25mph zone ... shhh !!!)

egrep is doing the same ride on Jun 29th. I will love to go on this ride again and keen to learn how the pros handle these roads.

I miss my Gixxer a lot. I think i have never missed anything or anyone so much in my life before. For some reasons, i am very depressed and sad today.

No news yet. No email yet. But, i see communique happening. Well, i am still not sure what i am trying to venture into is correct or not. (I am writing this all in riddles, because the blog is public). I am not sure if I am being a guinea pig for test OR being a dumb ass OR being made a joke. Deep down, i feel a little hindrance and denial in the process. Maybe i am wrong and time will only tell.

About the restaurant

Well, i think i should stop looking at the restaurant reviews online. Satisfying my taste, is a million dollar question :-) First of all, i did not get the Red Stripe + Cola Champagne (non-alcoholic) mix as suggested. The waitress said they never heard about it ... duh !! So, just settled for the Red Stripe. (Nothing significant though). Ordered jerk chicken drumsticks and spicy goat curry. the drumsticks were good. Chicken was tender. cooked in olive oil, there was a diff spice aroma. Goat curry was amaaaaaazingly hotttttt ... wow !!!! [remember in US they refer hot as spicy. When we say spicy, it should be rich and aromatic]. I really liked it though (as i eat super blazing hot foods). The goat was tender and came with potato and couple of bones. I dont know why people in reviews wanted boneless goat, but there is no point in eating goat meat without bones or even savouring the bone marrow (I loveeeeeeee bone marrow).

I would say the restaurant is good, not super great. I would definitely come back again. Its bit pricy though (at least for me 27$ including Tips is a bit pricy).

And, i messed up one thing, i started off the bike from the restaurant with the disc lock ON. f*************** this is the 2nd time i did this. The start was pretty hard and i kind of fell but manged to put my right foot down, thereby preventing the bike to fall on the ground. And i see the right front brake caliper is wobbling a lot. Damn !!!! Curses on me. I was li'll bit afraid even to use the front brakes on my way back home as i might lock up the wheel. I came back, opened the caliper, did not notice any bends or breaks. refitted the caliper and went on a ride. The wobbling decreased significantly, but its still happening. Not sure if the rotor is bent ? or the caliper pad is misformed ? .. Well, at this point of time its rideable. I have sent a pm to shawn for the valve job .. will have him check this one too !!!!!

So, here is a map of the ride today.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=15128949504375284111,37.332680,-121.961960%3B15317325192936839817,37.360647,-122.169719%3B4702269413709901366,37.314502,-122.189274%3B18111703323678835242,37.299452,-122.264459%3B4428142025907981617,37.262868,-122.313411%3B16406819925694659556,37.251622,-122.382811%3B2561640404582675443,37.292269,-122.381329%3B18290059972503065978,37.326798,-122.386472%3B7256605287110515135,37.331123,-122.389513%3B13540429375818149712,37.364650,-122.389380%3B18224544305066105117,37.359062,-122.395813%3B4768543400460647931,37.432604,-122.245829&saddr=Saratoga+Ave+%4037.332680,+-121.961960&daddr=Moody+Rd+%4037.360647,+-122.169719+to:Alpine+Rd+%4037.314502,+-122.189274+to:Alpine+Rd+%4037.299452,+-122.264459+to:Pescadero+Creek+Rd+%4037.262868,+-122.313411+to:Pescadero+Creek+Rd+%4037.251622,+-122.382811+to:Stage+Rd+%4037.292269,+-122.381329+to:Stage+Rd+%4037.326798,+-122.386472+to:Stage+Rd+%4037.331123,+-122.389513+to:Tunitas+Creek+Rd+%4037.364650,+-122.389380+to:Tunitas+Creek+Rd+%4037.359062,+-122.395813+to:Woodside+Rd+%4037.432604,+-122.245829+to:444+Saratoga+Ave,+Santa+Clara,+CA+95050&mra=pi&mrcr=7&via=4,6,8,9&sll=37.422799,-122.234917&sspn=0.057122,0.105743&ie=UTF8&z=10

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