KTMrad 516 Posted June 24, 2010 Somewhere around 2001.......... This past Memorial Day Weekend, I loaded up the Ducati in the back of the pickup (last minute circumstances forced me to truck up instead of ride) with the dog and the gas BBQ grille. The Airheads BMW Club reserved a great group camp at French Gulch on a hill overlooking Lake Isabella. Got there Friday afternoon and popped open a beer. Walked up to the Cabana to say hello to the people who had already arrived. Then I saw Kelly getting ready to tap the first Keg. When Kelly said he was bringing some beer along, I never thought he was going to have 3 kegs (microbrew, of course!) for the weekend, what a nice surprise !! Friday nite was a good time, with the usual bench racing, storytelling, joking, etc. amongst the group. I saw a guy who had a BMW Prague shirt on and found out he was from Prague, Czechoslovakia. I started speaking Czech to him and he was surprised I could actually speak with him, so all night long we hung out and talked, he helped me with my Czech and I helped him with his English. We also talked with Dave from New Zealand, quite the mix of people here !! Saturday morning breakfast time, Kelly got out the premade breakfast he prepared in San Diego, and everyone was throwing tortillas filled with Kelly's creations onto the grille. Lots of compliments on the breakfast burritos. After breakfast, some people headed out for rides, some on street rides and the guys on GS's went out for some Dual Purpose rides. I headed out late in the afternoon with Don, Reed and his girlfriend up along the Kern River to the Sherman Pass turnoff. We started up the mountain, winding up the twisty road towards the summit. The road was REAL dirty, so we had to keep our cornering speeds down to play it safe. Rising higher in elevation with each turn, it got pretty chilly on the way up and Reed turned back because they were not prepared for the cold. Don and I continued up the mountain to the overlook at the 9200 foot level and checked out the awesome view of the Sierras and Mt. Whitney to the north. We turned around and headed back down the mountain and back to camp. Saturday nite more people had showed up. The guys from the dirt ride came back, and Noell was the celebrity of the day. He had hit a rut (about 20 yards from the end of the dirt section) with his GS and hit the windscreen with his forehead as the bike bounced through the rut, unfortunately his faceshield on the helmet was open. Luckily he was OK, except for the bandage between his eyes. Sunday morning, we again had breakfast burritos and mucho coffee, then, of course, the beer after breakfast. Today, a group of about 10 bikes was headed out 155 to ride some of the bitchin' local twisties. 155 is a great road that heads up the mountain out of Wofford Heights, than twists its way down the other side to Glenville. For about 30 miles, the road twists back and forth, turn after turn of real tight stuff. It was also a bit dirty in some corners. From Glenville, we headed north on a county road which meandered its way thru the rolling countryside and ranchland. The road got pretty tricky and challenging, with unmarked corners and some real bumpy sections. We ended up in Fountain Springs for a cocktail break at the local bar at the crossroads. Don was wanting to try my Ducati 748, so we swapped bikes and I got on his BMW R1100GS. We took off after the rest of the group heading up to California Hot Springs. I was surprised how good the BMW handled, especially on the tighter turns, it certainly does not feel like a 550 lb. motorcycle. The wide bars on it definitely help throw it into turns. We stopped for a quick break at the springs and Don was having such a good time on my Duc so I let him continue to ride it as we headed north and east over Parker Pass on another tight, twisty county road. We stopped to wait for the rest of the group at the 190 turnoff. It took them a while to catch up so we figured they probably stopped for a break. Later, we found out that Scott went into a dirty corner at about 35mph and lost the front end and went down. He tumbled across the other lane as his bike started doing donuts in the road, spinning around on the brush guard which protects the cylinder, because the throttle was stuck. Luckily, he was just bruised a bit and the bike was rideable with minimal damage. We continued down the mountain back to the road along the Kern River and thru Kernville back to camp. Sunday evening, 3 Irish guys and a guy from Vancouver showed up. The Irishmen flew in to Seattle and borrowed bikes from friends. They were touring thru California, and stopped in to see fellow Airheads. The guy from Vancouver had ridden in on route 155 and was ranting and raving about what good roads are in the area and that they have no roads like that in Vancouver. The Irish guys also loved the roads in California. This reinforces the fact that we DO have some of the best riding roads anywhere here in CA. Sunday nite we had a tribute to Gary Hanson, who had just retired. Everyone polished off more beer and the Irish guys were passing around 2 bottles of Irish Whiskey. Another great night. Monday morning rolled around and many people started packing up early to head home. Everyone was pretty much gone by noon, with the last of us helping Kelly and Debbie stuff their truck with all the extra gear someone had left behind because their car had broken down. We were amazed that we were able to fit all that gear in the back of Kelly's truck. Another GREAT Airheads gathering, with about 60 people showing up for the weekend. Lots of great people, riding, beer, food, camaraderie. WHAT ELSE could you ask for !!! Looking forward to next year !! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
