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November FSR - A Coast Ride Sunday began with KZEL blasting in my ears and ended with a smile stretched between them. 6:00 am. Down goes the music and up goes Doug. A quick shower and I'm headed for the garage, gear in hand. The morning in Stayton is cold and gray. A heavy, Oregon mist is falling and low clouds are slung overhead. Rain gear or no rain gear, rain gear or no rain gear? No rain gear, stash it in the back pack on the tail rack. 6:50am. Geared up, bike warming, I back out of the garage between the rigs into the cold, wet, gray day. The plan is to meet at the McDonalds in Philomath around 8:00 with a ride start of 8:30. With that in mind I head out toward I-5 via Marion and Jefferson. The mist is following although light patches of blue are visible off to the west. That looks promising. Down I-5 to Albany and from there quick jaunt to OR 34, Corvallis and a few miles later Philomath. Somewhere around Albany the mist disappears and by 34 the road is dry. The blue patch in the west is growing. 7:45am. Traffic is light for Sunday morning as I roll into Philomath on 34. Passed the McDonalds, one bike parked out front. I am early and run through town before turning around to the Chevron and gas up both tanks. Jim Hiler is inside MickeyD's as I park on the side. A cup of OJ and more plucky FSRiders appear. Keith pulls in followed by Lyle Robertson, Aimee Lesieutre, Jim Hutchins and finally Steve Jackson. We have two V65s, a Triumph, BMW, KLR650, ST, and Goldwing. 8:30am. After a short few minutes of morning pleasantries and BS, Keith leads us out of the parking lot headed west on OR 34. The weather is still cloudy but dry. The temps are in the high 40s/low 50s, just right, no sweat in the helmet. Keith led at a pace spirited enough to keep it interesting yet sane enough for most everyone to keep up. The highway is mostly clear with patches of wet pavement, a few wet leaves, few rocks, and some mud, but in intervals far enough apart to easily avoided but close enough to keep you acutely alert. 34 is twisty enough in sections that are great fun with sections where rubber necking is cautiously permitted. 9:45 am - 12:30 pm. The miles to Waldport are stuffed in what seems like no time and we head south on Hwy. 101 toward Yachats. A LEO looked us over as we pulled into town but we are good boys and girls in populated areas like towns and cities. The tide is quite high and there is a salt haze in the air that gradually coats visors and shields. In Yachats our brunch stop is the Blue Whale where we congregate for body fuel and more BS. After tucking away a Denver omelette with biscuits and gravy and other breakfast foods we head for the door and Cape Perpetua. At Cape Perpetua Keith lead us up to the overlook where I remember I have a camera and take advantage of the photo op. After rubber necking at the scenery below, close to 1000 feet or more below us it seems, and watching the waves crash against the rocks, we decide to head on down 101 to Florence and then east on OR 36. Lyle, on his dual-sport KLR650 is going to take the original planned route back on forest roads looking for the holy grail of pavement all the way through. We street bikers don't want to risk the wet leaves, pine needles, and other wet weather hazards that we may find on that route. Jim takes the lead and the rest of us string out behind as we traverse the short, twisty, access road back to 101. Down 101, which is continuously hosting tourist traffic such as RVs and motorhomes, we head. At every passing opportunity cage traffic is dispatched although Jim and Keith make it around one particularly lumbering coach that refuses to pull off at turn outs. No good passing areas are available and we mosey along alert for that short section of pavement with no oncoming traffic that we need to get around and recatch Jim and Keith. Oh, wait, they stopped at a turn out and are waiting on us. Soon we reach the sandy outskirts of Florence and look for our turn east. The run up OR 126/36 to Mapleton is uneventful although we continue dispatching cages in ones and twos beside the scenic Siuslaw river. At the Mapleton junction we made a short gas stop as some needed to top off. I'd filled both tanks at Philomath so took the opportunity to snap a couple more quick shots. 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm. At the Mapleton junction 126 heads to Eugene, 36 goes over the hump toward Triangle Lake and is the more twisty route. We chose 36. Jim took off and immediately made the right turn across the river bridge on 126 toward Eugene. The rest of us wore puzzled expressions and continued straight on 36 pulling off just past the turn off to wait. Sure enough, a few minutes later Jim comes zooming back across the bridge and takes up his spot in the lead. Now OR 36 is not an especially well traveled route, at least in my trips over it, and today is no exception. As the climb begins the road begins swerving like a snake. Jim and Keith have picked up the pace and it is a bit more spirited. Jim Hutchins and I are next followed by Steve and Aimee. As we overtake some eastbound traffic we are dispatching them in pairs. Jim, ahead of me, is really cranking his Goldwing over and when he makes a pass I am ready, his 'wingman' so to speak. We scream by on several opportunities and tuck in neatly and even a double yellow curve is no problem as we straighten it out around a rig. Steve behind is keeping in touch and Aimee's headlight is visible most of the time. This is a fun road. All too quickly we slow as we round Triangle Lake, pretty dead this time of year. Past the lake we are back up to speed but the road is less twisty but fun nonetheless. We head north again on Territorial road which is fairly straight and lifeless all the way to Corvallis. Passing through Monroe we did spy some law enforcement assisting a motorist with paperwork on the side of the road. The pace slowed as this road must be patrolled. I never got a radar hit the whole way to Corvallis nor did I see any other enforcement. At Corvallis, Jim Hiler and others continued toward Albany, probably on OR 20. Keith and I stayed east on 34 with Keith turning soon after. I made my way to I-5 for a short northward jaunt to OR 20 toward Lebanon. At 226 I headed toward Scio making a cutoff to Richardson's Gap road where I tested top end on Ajax. Speeds over the ton make short work of miles of asphalt. Turning right onto 226 again out of Scio I blasted the short series of twisties by Thomas Creek before turning onto Kingston Jordan Rd. Up the hill and right onto Mt. Pleasant road which is narrow and very twisty, usually very pleasant. Today, after rain and cooler temps, the road is wet, covered with leaves and debris, and totally treacherous. Ajax and I tiptoed our way through to Kingston Lyons Rd. and then zipped home. All in all a very enjoyable ride. I am looking forward to many more rides with this group in the future.
Trip Stats:
I've posted the few pictures I took here:
FSR November
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