WA Guzzi Breakfast and Ride Afterward

[Greg Field]

We had a good crowd this month, both at my house for coffee beforehand and at the Krain Corner in Enumclaw for the Guzzi club breakfast. The guy in the background is my neighbor, Mark, checking things out.

 

 

Here's about half the bikes that were there.

 

 

Here's some more. And then even more came just before we took off. Among them were my neighbors Pete and Esther from down the street, who rode up on their Stone and Nevada. My neighborhood in Seattle, called Georgetown, is becoming a hotbed of Guzzi activity. Within one block from my house, there are four Guzzi owners and a total of 9 Guzzis (5 of them mine). The other owner lives around the block. I see his EV all the time but have yet to meet him. All told, I think 12 bikes took off from my house headed for breakfast.

 

We left around 8:00 and rode the usual route. The turnout at the Krain was even larger than normal, with maybe 40 bikes in the lot.

 

 

Here's a picture of a few of them. That's Steakdaddy's nice Aluminium at the head of the line.

 

Afterward, a bunch of us decided to take a ride. My brother (from Cali) is in town, and he wanted to ride out around Mt. Rainier. Pedro picked a nice route during breakfast, and eight of us decided to go. From Enumclaw, we headed out on SR 410 towards Chinook Pass. From thee, we planned to take SR 123 over another pass down to US 12 and then through the Rimrock country before heading home. While gassing up in Enumclaw, a person at the station told us SR 123 was closed due to a slide. We decided to head that way anyway and see if we could get around the slide on motorcycles.

 

Between Enumclaw and the pass, SR 410 is medium twisty but filled with cars, so we took it really easy. We stopped at the pass for a bathroom break. While there we met a very friendly (really) county sheriff in a silver pickup that was stealthily marked "Sheriff" on the side but offered no other clues that it was a police vehicle. He told us that SR 123 was completely washed away and that there was no way even a dirt bike would get through. We decided to keep going on SR 410 to its junction with US 12 and then head west to the Rimrock. I mentally filed it away that when he pulled out, that's the direction he headed, too.

 

After the pass, 410 gets less trafficky and twistier as it swoops down a river valley and out of the wet side of the state into the dry side. While bombing through this, I spotted the sheriff's pickup driving slowly about a mile ahead. I eased up on him gently and followed for a ways behind him precisely at the 50mph speed limit. That was no fun at all on such a road. After a few minutes of that, I thought, "He seemed like a reasonable guy. If I pass him repectfully and pull away at just a few mph over the speed limit 'til I'm out of sight, I bet he'll let me get away with it." So, at a place where it was legal and safe, I did just that. He didn't stop me, so the rest of the group did the same. Within a few minutes, he was out of sight behind us, and we wicked it up and had some fun.

 

 

We stopped at Whistlin' Jack's for gas. That big guy standing there is my neighbor from across the street, named Mark. He just bought a super-cherry 1981 or '82 Suzuki GS 1100 and came along for the day. He's about 6'10" and is built like a linebacker. He makes that big GS look like a toy when he sits on it.

 

 

Another shot from Whistlin' Jack's. That's Steakdaddy on the left, and my brother Scot next to left. In the foreground is my friend Jimmy's Spot 1100. He's a mad scientist tinkerer type, and it would take hours to point out all the subtle little customizing he's done to that bike.

 

After that the road straightened out a bit and the lush forests gave way to the dramatic, sere terrain of Washington's dry east side.

 

 

Here's a shot taken as we waited at the turnoff to US 12 for all the stragglers to catch up. That's my brother on his KLR 650 (he also has a hot-rod Sportster and an R90S BMW). He had ridden that KLR to Wisconsin before riding it out to Seattle for a visit.

 

 

The Cascade mountains that we had just crossed scrape the clouds clean of precipitation, leaving eastern Washington virtually a desert for much of the year.

 

From here, we turned west on US 12, which at that point is a two-lane road that bombs along the Tieton River. The terrain is pretty open, allowing great sightlines around the curves. Eventually, 12 carries us higher and higher, back into the trees and lushness of the Rimrock area. It's a great road, and I was having a ball. It's beautiful, too.

 

We stopped at this overlook, which offered a great view of Mt. Rainier.

 

 

 

Here's Mark on his GS1100. Did I mention that he makes it look small?

 

 

And here's mad scientist Jimmy. He was feeling colorful that day.

 

 

Here's some of the rest of our crew.

 

 

And there's my ride that day: Billy Bob, my V11 I bought as a totaled wreck and resurrected. I have always loved the way it looked but was going to trade it on a Griso because I did not like the way the rear end felt "squirmy" all the time. Now I love it. What changed? I changed from a Pilot Power rear tire to a Metzeler. It feels like a whole new motorcycle now.

 

The next stop was for gas in Packwood. We pulled out of Packwood onto one of my favorite roads: Skate Creek Road. This one's super-tight and the trees grow right onto the shoulder. There are no sightlines whatsoever, and the road surface is beat to hell. To ride it fast, you have to be mentally frosty and hyper alert. I love the challenge of it. This is where Mario dances. Sadly, it's only 22 miles long.

 

 

It's our practice on these rides that everyone rides their own pace, and whoever is out front stops at every turn until all have caught up. Here's Billy Bob going tink, tink, tink as it cools while we wait for the next rider to show up.

 

 

About 5 minutes later, Mark showed up. He rides that Suzuki pretty well. And he makes it look small.

 

 

Then most of the rest of the herd arrived. While we waited for the last stragglers, I took a pic of this funny sticker on Pedro's Quota:

 

 

After that, we headed west on 706 and north on Oville Rd. E and on home for a beer at the 9lb. Hammer, a nice little bar about 3 blocks from home. 

 

It was a great day. I got to ride 250 miles of twisties with my brother, let him meet some great friends, introduce some newbies to the great local Guzzi crew, and see some beautiful country. Who lives better'n me?