There is a lot of history for me in the Mt. Pinos ride. It was my first ride with the chapter and it was my first ride as a ride captain. Because of that I was really excited to go there again. This is not a ride for the casual rider. By the end of the day we would have ridden 385 miles plus over a lot of twisties.
Because of this we started the meeting a little early with lots of info on our ride to Colorado the following week. Three rockers were presented by Glenn Sandstrom: a long deserved Tail Gunner rocker for Ken Indorf, a well deserved Shepherd rocker for Richard Von Luft and an equally well deserved Tail Gunner rocker for Chuck Giambitti. Once the business was completed it was time for the raffle and 50/50. Raffle items were won by Paul McInerny, Glen Sandstrom, Patty Giambitti, Mike Fry, and Ken Indorf and the 50/50 was won by Paul McInerny! Congratulations to everyone!
We split into two groups of ten bikes each with a total of 23 riders. I led group 1 and Ken Indorf led group 2 (he’s training, go Ken). We started off down the 57 to the 22 and before we even got onto the on ramp we were stopped. There had been a truck meets wall issue on the on ramp so we worked to get over to the right hand lane and shortly we were passed the accident and it was smooth sailing. From the 22 we merged onto the 405 N and then up to the 10W and out to the beach. It was a little chilly for a June morning with some low clouds at the beach, but we would be soon moving inland so that was no worry. We followed the coast up to Malibu for our first gas stop, and then up through Ventura and into Oxnard where we merged onto the 33 and out through Ojai. Once we were off of the freeways we started our first set of twisties up through the mountains. Our second gas stop was a very small gas station so we did a gas and go to make room for group 2. We then continued up and over the mountains and finally arrived at Mike’s Pizza in Lake of the Woods.
Lunch was great. If you are ever in the Frazier Park area and want some great pizza, Mike’s is the place. Our group took over the entire restaurant. They were nice enough to send out some fries to each table while we waited and provided a ton of free refills! The pizza was really good – and I hear the salads and calzone were also amazing.
Once we were all fed, we saddled up and started our way up to Mt Pinos. The ride up this mountain is really great, lots of twists and turns and some really awesome views. At the top of the mountain is a big parking lot with a ranger station where we stopped and took a group picture. We then made our way down the mountain and out to Lebec for our last gas stop. We had noticed a little bit of ash from the fires on our bikes when we left the restaurant, but by the time we got to the gas station we were pretty coated. The air was really thick and the smoke was everywhere. The view out towards Lake Hughes was really sad – big orange smoke clouds rising above the mountains.
Mt Pinos is a long ride and makes for a long day. A decision was made to call the ride in Lebec, rather than make our way back to El Torito where we usually end up. This way we could all get home a little earlier. So it was at this time we all said our goodbyes and hugs all around. We stayed in our two groups and followed the 5 down towards the 210. It was really shocking to see the fire on the ridge above us, even saw a few flames. We continued down the 5 to the 210 and onto the 57. From this point members peeled off to make their way home. At the end there were only four of us in group one hitting the 405 north into the beach cities. Still one of my favorite rides!
Because of this we started the meeting a little early with lots of info on our ride to Colorado the following week. Three rockers were presented by Glenn Sandstrom: a long deserved Tail Gunner rocker for Ken Indorf, a well deserved Shepherd rocker for Richard Von Luft and an equally well deserved Tail Gunner rocker for Chuck Giambitti. Once the business was completed it was time for the raffle and 50/50. Raffle items were won by Paul McInerny, Glen Sandstrom, Patty Giambitti, Mike Fry, and Ken Indorf and the 50/50 was won by Paul McInerny! Congratulations to everyone!
We split into two groups of ten bikes each with a total of 23 riders. I led group 1 and Ken Indorf led group 2 (he’s training, go Ken). We started off down the 57 to the 22 and before we even got onto the on ramp we were stopped. There had been a truck meets wall issue on the on ramp so we worked to get over to the right hand lane and shortly we were passed the accident and it was smooth sailing. From the 22 we merged onto the 405 N and then up to the 10W and out to the beach. It was a little chilly for a June morning with some low clouds at the beach, but we would be soon moving inland so that was no worry. We followed the coast up to Malibu for our first gas stop, and then up through Ventura and into Oxnard where we merged onto the 33 and out through Ojai. Once we were off of the freeways we started our first set of twisties up through the mountains. Our second gas stop was a very small gas station so we did a gas and go to make room for group 2. We then continued up and over the mountains and finally arrived at Mike’s Pizza in Lake of the Woods.
Lunch was great. If you are ever in the Frazier Park area and want some great pizza, Mike’s is the place. Our group took over the entire restaurant. They were nice enough to send out some fries to each table while we waited and provided a ton of free refills! The pizza was really good – and I hear the salads and calzone were also amazing.
Once we were all fed, we saddled up and started our way up to Mt Pinos. The ride up this mountain is really great, lots of twists and turns and some really awesome views. At the top of the mountain is a big parking lot with a ranger station where we stopped and took a group picture. We then made our way down the mountain and out to Lebec for our last gas stop. We had noticed a little bit of ash from the fires on our bikes when we left the restaurant, but by the time we got to the gas station we were pretty coated. The air was really thick and the smoke was everywhere. The view out towards Lake Hughes was really sad – big orange smoke clouds rising above the mountains.
Mt Pinos is a long ride and makes for a long day. A decision was made to call the ride in Lebec, rather than make our way back to El Torito where we usually end up. This way we could all get home a little earlier. So it was at this time we all said our goodbyes and hugs all around. We stayed in our two groups and followed the 5 down towards the 210. It was really shocking to see the fire on the ridge above us, even saw a few flames. We continued down the 5 to the 210 and onto the 57. From this point members peeled off to make their way home. At the end there were only four of us in group one hitting the 405 north into the beach cities. Still one of my favorite rides!
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