Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2003 22:32:18 -0700 (PDT) From: "Innocent Bystander" Subject: 129 ride report To: "roadies" The Barkeep's looking much cheerier and says the cast is feeling looser so the swelling is going down (or the cast is expanding). part of the cheer might have been cuz SexyRoomate was home (having the day off). she's a very cool lady, and she is taking good care of him and not taking any guff. me, i just drop through cuz i like laughing at cripples. looks like i been hired to scout out roads and bring back reports until he can ride again, so that's what this is. (it pays in zuchini. i managed to slip out unpaid today ;^) Well, so i did cruz santa cruz yesterday; i din't stop. the place is jammed with people and kids in parking lots being careless with cotton candy(the kids, not the parking lots) and worse (think corn-dog and sugar-stuffed kid that has just been spun, dropped, twirled and otherwise abused by amusement rides, but don't think too hard, the visuals were real bad). i kept going south to rio del mar, a quiet and relatively forgotten spot between 'cruz and monterey. place is so small it doesn't have a gas station, the biker bar went out of business since i was last there(http://www.farfaraway.info/rio/defunct_bikerbar.jpg) but the rio sands motel lives on, as does the cafe' rio (http://farfaraway.info/rio/cafe_rio.jpg )(killer sea bass & asparagus). the beach is straight from a california bikini B-movie: white sand, skimpy swim suits (sorry, no shots of these, i know, i'm derelict), pelicans, surfer wanna-bes and sunburnt san franciscans... (http://farfaraway.info\\rio\facing_north.jpg ), took 680->17 to 'cruz, then "The Cabrillo Highway" (which sounds so much cooler than hwy 1, but either way, it's gotta be one of the best rides in the state, an that's saying something, though the stretch along monterey bay is dull by comparison to nocal and big sur) 17 has wide smooth curves and fortunately two lanes in either direction, cuz trucks are limited to 35mph. a day like yesterday with the bright sunshine, pine scented air. soft breezes and those roads remind me of why i don't check out of the hotel california, in spite of the rest of it. today lolanme went further south through watsonville (which some of you know as The Artichoke Capital of the World, and many of us just call Real Ugly) and hung a louis onto 129. 129 is two lanes with big sweepers, and no low speed limit for trucks, and good line of sight so you can see the man, er, i mean, so you can see through the curves. lotsa green stuff growing, some of it is brussels sprouts, some garlic. i was gonna go south to hollister when i hit 101, but the bike turned north, she was muttering something about taking the goods to the barkeep. so i did. h