Carpentaria Road
Run
October 21 – 22, 2006
By Tom
Hart
The weather was nice,
the bikes were nice, the roads were nice, the eateries were nice, the motel was
nice, the dinner was nice, the
breakfast was nice, having to stop riding and go home really
SUCKED. Not that home is a bad thing, quite the contrary. It’s just
that when I get in a riding state of mind, it’s hard to stop.
And now, the rest of the story: If I mess on up names and bikes it’s because I
was taught in the LA Unified School System and I can’t remember
a thing, what with all that education stuff filling up my brain, leaving
absolutely no room for important stuff, like bikes. What really
sucks is being the oldest rider. Come on Max, John (either one) or Chuck,
get out here and make me feel young again. On second thought,
any one of these guys could probably open a can of whoop-ass on me, so
I guess I’ll have to contend with being the elder on this
one.
This year brought out
seven sleds of varying degrees of sled-ship and fashion. One Indian (mine), two
Harley’s (a ‘48 45" and a ’76 Shovel), a ‘72 Ducati, a ‘73 Kawasaki 900, a ‘71 Moto
Guzzi, and a ‘75 Norton Commando.
No breakdowns this
time around which I’m proud to say includes me. If you remember, my mighty
Chief had some issues with its ignition system last time around which required
some battlefield repairs. The weather could not have been better, warm inland
and mild at the coast. None of the wet stuff we had to endure last year. Phil
Shore, my personal favorite in years gone by as the Champ of the Caustic Cloud,
the King of Smoke, the Prince of Public Nuisance, the Duke of Disgusting
Exhaust, lost his titles to two young upstarts, both on Harley’s. They are, in
no particular order Craig and Mark. What a pair to follow. Craig blew out the
blue poison on start ups, on uphill runs and especially when opening that
throttle after a long down hill coast (can you say bad guides). Mark played no
favorites and just let it all hang out all of the time. His bike even smoked
when it was parked and shut off! But to be fair, Mark only upped
the green house effect after he over-oiled his machine. That little mistake
coast him dearly as it did anyone unfortunate enough to be in
close proximity to his machine. I know, “close proximity” is redundant, but it
sounds cool. I had to actually retard the spark on my Chief when I followed
these guys up hills. The gas and smoke was choking the life out of me and my
machine. I’m not complaining, just making note of the situation.
Our tour took us
through the Ojai Valley
and into Santa Barbara.
On the Santa Barbara
pier we enjoyed cool lemonades and ice tea. Some of the guys actually wanted to
consume alcohol, but I quickly talked them out of that by setting a fine
example. After numerous cool ice teas, we departed for Carpinteria and the
Palms restaurant, which is famous for their milk shakes and ice cold Pepsi. The
food is not too bad, either. Many hours later, we found ourselves back at the
Motel 7 lighting up the sky with Mentos and Diet Pepsi, thanks to Mike Menezes.
Don’t ask me why, we just did. Craig was wise enough to bring extra soft drinks
for our annual Motel 7 1/2 gathering. We apparently became too loud and were
advised by the local security guard that the police were coming. I’m not really
sure what the security guy said because my ears where still plugged up with the
oil and dirt from the two aforementioned HD’s, but we went to bed anyway.
The next morning
brought sunlight and caffeine headaches. I do seem to recall that Dr. Phil
warned against the consummation of Mentos and Diet Pepsi in rapid cessation.
That’s why we have a Doc on board, isn’t it?
Back on the road
again, we encountered beautiful weather all the
way back. The sun was rising and the temperature was perfect. It
was one of those mornings when you just wanted it to last forever. We made our
way back to Craig’s town in the Valley without problems. We had beautiful
scenery all of the way. Just like when we came up.
This is one of those
rides where “the more is merrier,” but not necessary. It’s just a good time,
with good friends, and not overboard on costs. Especially so when guys like
Mark want to buy dinner.
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