First GZ250Bike Group Ride: Ortega Hwy, CA

[alanmcorcoran]

Moedad and I finally hooked up this morning. I'd mapped out a loop of some of the best motorcyle roads in Orange and Riverside County, including Santiago Canyon, Live Oak Canyon, Ortega Highway, Cajalco Expressway and Carbon Canyon Rd.

[pbss:18yz412v]http://s221.photobucket.com/albums/dd7/alanmcorcoran/Ortega/?action=view&current=df8b378c.pbw[/pbss:18yz412v]

We met up at the intersection of Jamboree and Santiago Canyon. About a minute into our pre-ride chit chat, a red miata(?) came roaring over the hill (third photo), made a sharp left turn across the left lane, and caught a little air before coming to rest in the adjacent field. Guy just missed two bicyclists grinding their way up the shoulder. Not sure what caused him to careen into the field, but we saw a yellow sports car a few minutes later and there was a chopper (the flying kind) that might have been in pursuit. I thought we'd better get going before the road got cordoned off for the accident investigation.

We stopped at Cook's Corner and again, after Ortega, at The Lookout, both popular biker stops. Moe had some chores he had to do so we split up in Lake Elsinore, he headed to the 15, I continued on 74. Eventually I re-united with Cajalco, took that to Corona, and then made my way towards Chino Hills. I got a little turned around on that part, but using the basic Boy Scout navigation system (mountains, sun, etc.,) I was able to connect up with 142 (Carbon Canyon) with only one U-turn, back-tracking about a quarter mile. This ride included many segments from previously reported rides, including the Cook's Corner, Farmer Boy's Hemet, Seventh Street Theater and others.

Total mileage was about 140 miles. I made a third stop at Starbucks in Corona, for a total elapsed time of about 4 hrs and 20 minutes. Butt is a little fatigued, but nothing compared to my bicycle days.

Moe's not a big talker, and I guess I'm not either. In any case, there ain't much opportunity for talking anyway. We seemed to be a good match on the road - I think our total mileage ridden is pretty close - I'm a little over 1800 at this point - and we seemed compatible speed wise. We went either staggered or straight followon. A few times on Ortega we let some impatient tail gaters pass, but for the most part we were at the posted speed limit or better. There is some pretty hairy stuff at the end of Ortega - I was in the lead for that and took it pretty conservatively.

The weather was just about perfect. No wind, not too hot, not too cold. A really beautiful day. I don't stop for a lot of pictures and there's none of the actual Ortega ride, but it is one of the most scenic roads I've ridden on. Hard to believe it's only about an hour or so from my house.