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1700 miles in 48 hours

S

salish14

Guest
Guest
Well, that was freaking awesome. I'm just back from riding from my home on Bainbridge Island in WA down to Berkeley, CA. It was a bucket list thing. Interstate 5 is the highway of my life, given that I grew up near it in Los Angeles, and have lived in spots all along it from Mexico to Canada. I've therefore driven I5 many, many times in cages and Uhaul's. For years now I've been wanting to ride it on my bike, and finally did it.

Crazy as it sounds I left on Friday after work, rode down to Eugene and hit the sack around 11. Got up and rode to Berkeley the next day, on lovely dry slab and had never seen I5 look so beautiful. It's utterly different on a motorcycle. Made it to Berkeley about 4pm and enjoyed a lovely evening at the football game and with friends.

Sunday morning got up and rode straight back, 13.5 hours with only stops for gas. Made it home at 9pm.

Never had ridden that far that fast, and other than a sore butt and some leg tightness I felt great. Found I could go about a gas tank between having to stop and stretch it out. Worked out.

Folks in CA drive so much faster than here in the PNW. At one point on I80 leaving Berkeley I looked around and every single car was doing 90mph, as was I. Could cruise about 85 most of I5 back. At one point hit well above a triple digit when passing a phalanx of cars, and man I keep loving my Connie as I looked down and saw that high number and couldn't have told I was doing more than 60 given how the bike felt.

Do those things on your bucket list, as the clock keeps ticking!
 
When I was out there this summer I noticed the same effect. People in WA and WA tagged cars elsewhere stayed a lot closer to the limit.
would this be due to hyper enforcement in WA? Speculation welcomed.  ;) :beerchug:
 
From my experience having lived in CA, OR and WA, I have no doubt that the police in OR and WA are way, way, WAY more strict about limits. Basically, my rule in WA is you get 5 over all the time. Sometimes, if everyone is doing it, 10. In CA, everyone starts at 10-15 over, and often 20, and you never see anyone pulled over for those speeds. I think it's just math. The roads in CA have so many more cars on them and so many people drive so fast it is just a losing battle for them. On I5 here in WA if you are going 80 very often you are going  to get a ticket. In CA, you will get honked at in the slow lane doing that.

Also, I saw some guys lane splitting in CA on sport bikes that were seriously skilled. They weren't dead yet, so they were skilled. Crazy stuff.
 
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