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Barona ride this last Saturday
I know some of you are snowed in, so I thought I'd share my latest ride with you to help tide you over till the thaw:
Me and a friend started out at my house at 7:30. Since the wife wasn't going, I thought I'd take the Dyna. My bro was on his SE VROD. Neither of us had a shield, so we pretty much froze for the whole way to Capstrano Playhouse. We were meeting up with a couple other buddies there and as it turns out, about 70 other riders. So we all headed out about 8:30 over the Ortega Highway up the mountain. It's really an amazing ride, even at the snails pace the Road Captains had us moving at. We get to the top overlooking Lake Elsinore, what a sight. From that distance, you can't really tell how dirty it is, so it really is amazing! Anyways, we motored down the moutain and thru the city, hopped on the 15 and powered down to Escondito near San Diego. There's a little back road they took us on that's pretty neat. Beautiful undivided two lane road winding through a series of amazing ranch style homes on huge multi acre lots. So we finally get to Barona, four hours later, the sun is out, not a cloud in the sky and at least 75 degrees. We were set to meet up an hour later gassed up and ready to go. So the six of us figured we'd have time to grab a quick bite and a bit of gambling. Mike and I split off and hit the slots, both hitting for about a c-note. I get a call from one of my other buds, he's at the bikes and it's 1:30, time to go (and he's got my jacket in his bags). So I ran out after them to get it before they left. We were going to stay awhile longer and hit the freeway home. Neither of us were up for another four hour jaunt home. I get to the bikes to find out that the group is taking the freeway home, so I ran back in after Mike. We got back to the bikes and hit the gas station just as the group was firing up the bikes! So we get back to Escondito for the only break on the way home and there's no gas. Mike's got a half a tank wasn't sure if he could make it back, so he splits off to gas up and meet back up with us as we get on the freeway. After the break, we saddled up and hit the freeway, no Mike. I get home and had a funny feeling about it so I tried to call him. No answer. It turns out he left us and got back on the undivided road, which at this point is two lanes going each way at 50 mph. He's five minutes out at a light waiting behind some truck when he looks in his mirror to see some lady talking on the phone barrelling down on him full speed. So, he splits the truck just in time for the lady to slam right into the back of it at 50, totalling both cars and probably the one in front. And he's right next to the truck still. What's really weird, is that 99% of the time, I'd have gone with him, but for some reason, I didn't. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have both been able to get out of the way. Anyways, as I've mentioned in the Safety forum, I always split when I'm commuting, now I'm absolutely convinced of it's value.
Ride safely,
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