Terra'n Up the Lost Coast

[WoodsChick]

Saturday December 29th. We rolled the bikes out of the garage as soon as the rain stopped and headed for the Lost Coast. My brand new Husqvarna TR650 Terra had a whopping 164 miles showing on the clock. I would add 1000 more in the coming days. Time to get to know the new machine and see how it would do in the dirt. And sand. And snow. And ice...

We slabbed up to Garberville, then headed east onto Alderpoint Rd. The views towards the east from up on the ridge were spectacular...

Eric was digging his lightly-loaded 950cc anniversary present...

Alderpoint Road is chock-full of my favorite kind of pavement, and the Terra was proving to be up to the task despite the famously stiff new Husky suspension...

This area is so beautiful in the winter. The sunshiney nature of these photos belies the fact that is was absolutely freezing...

Note that I am dressed like Bibb the Michelin Man as we're crossing the Eel River. I've got Eric's wind-proof liner over my riding jacket, and I've got my wind-proof and water-proof snowboard pants over my riding pants...

Eric and I have ridden and camped on the rocky riverbanks down below, but as you can see the river was now raging all the way to the edges...

This is what it looked like last summer. The bridge we're on can be seen in the background...

A quick stop at the only business in beautiful downtown Blocksburg...

7 hours and 300 miles later (luckily my new Husky seat is quite comfortable!) we pulled into Eureka in time to catch the dying sunset over Humboldt Bay...

First things first, right? Celebrating my new little black dress that is much littler than the one I wore last year...

Dinner, drinks, hot tub and quality time with the maps took us into the next morning where dirt and sand awaited us.

 

[WoodsChick]

Up before sunrise and moonset, we took a walk along the shore of Humboldt Bay and Elk Creek. It was 33º...

This Great Blue Heron was really happy to see the sun peeking over the bluff behind us...

It was nice to still see the moon...

We came upon a very sweet memorial for a young man...

Rest in peace, James...

Did I mention what day it was?

We suited up and took off for the beach as soon as the temps warmed up to a balmy 38º.

The sand doesn't look too bad. I think we can make it out to the shore...

Eric had a good time ripping around on the "little" bike...

We left the beach and headed over to Fernbridge. We wanted to ride under the bridge. Y'all might not remember, but we rode my friend David's SuperTenere out there a year ago last November when my shoulder was broken. Lots of room to roam...

But not this time. The water came almost all the way up to the edge, and the dirt that was exposed was too muddy for this stage of my Terra-riding career...

We decided to bail on the bridge and head into Ferndale for a quick visit with Mario at his Lost Coast Cafe. I highly recommend this place if you ever find yourself in Ferndale. Mario is from the Bay Area, and he makes everything himself. Soups, bread, pastries...everything is top-notch! Eric had a birthday mocha while we waited for our adults-only grilled cheese sandwich and split pea ginger soup...

Lost Coast dirt on the way...

 

[WoodsChick]

I am seemingly incapable of passing up a good cemetery...

Heading west towards the coast, the beauty of this place makes my heart ache...

Eric bringing up the rear from the east...

I should be bombing down the road instead of stopping and taking pictures of it...

And this is why...

We wanted to ride Kings Peak Rd and we were running out of time. It was dark under the trees by the time we got out there. These short days were killing us. We bombed the road and didn't stop for too many photos. I had a blast on the road, though. The wet dirt switchback section on the paved road getting out there gave me no trouble on the mighty 650, and the downhill switchbacks on Kings Peak were a non-issue, too, even though it was pretty wet and slidey out there. The Terra was proving much easier to ride off the pavement than I had anticipated. I was digging it!

The 650 is a little tall for me. I have to get it rolling before I slide all the way back onto the seat. That might change once the suspension gets broken in a little bit. Can't really make any changes til that happens so until then I'm living with 3/8" sag :laughing

We made it to the end of the long dirt road just as the sun was going down...

We sprinted out to HWY 101 and bombed back to Eureka at a fairly constant 75mph, all the while keeping the revs at or below 5k. The 650 motor purred along with no complaint. It is incredibly smooth for a single, and never felt like it was working hard at all. I was really wishing it was a 6-speed before I bought it but I don't miss that 6th gear at all. The wide-ratio gearbox does a great job and it shifts very nicely. The motor is pretty grunty, even though it didn't really feel like it at first. I can let the revs drop to about 2k in top gear and the motor just pulls me right out of it with ease. The motor runs nice and cool and, unfortunately on this very cold night, does not put out any heat at all onto its freezing rider.
We got back long after dark, parked the bikes and walked to a BBQ joint for a rockin' birthday dinner.
More dirt coming up soon!

 

[Highfive]

Very nice ride!

HF

 

[MendoForest]

Awesome! looks like a cooooool adventure.... brrrrrr

 

[Stroker Ace]

Starting off the new year with an awesome ride on two new bikes!!! You're living everyone's dream!!! The bikes and scenery are BEAUTIFUL!!! Ride on Baby****************************************

 

[WoodsChick]

Very nice ride!

HF

Thanks, HF!

Awesome! looks like a cooooool adventure.... brrrrrr

Hah! it was! Welcome to CafeHusky Where are you located on the north coast?

Starting off the new year with an awesome ride on two new bikes!!! You're living everyone's dream!!! The bikes and scenery are BEAUTIFUL!!! Ride on Baby

Thanks, Stroker Ace You'd like it up here! (hint, hint...)

 

[WoodsChick]

Early start on New Years Eve day, wanted to get back before dark and have an early dinner before Amateur Hour started in the bars and on the roads. Had a little bit of dirty pavement and dirt in mind today...

It was pretty cold due to the cloud cover. Cold and damp...

Mmm...just the way I like it...a little wet, a little dirty, and a little rough around the edges...

Just a note on the stock tires...Metzeler Saharas. I was fully expecting to not like them but I was pleasantly surprised by these tires everywhere. I'm notoriously picky about tires, and it takes me awhile to feel comfortable on new ones even if I know I like them, but these were good from the get-go! Now, I wasn't pushing it too hard, but I was following Eric closely on his 950 and I was kind of gritting my teeth in more than a few sections. I figured Eric's Heidenau's would let go before mine, though, so I just decided to have faith and push it til he hit the ground That never happened, of course, and I never got real slidey in the wet pavement, even under hard braking. Nice!

What a motley crew this was...

The pavement disappeared and we were on deliciously moist dirt for almost the rest of the day...

Hmm...decisions, decisions...

Ooh! Jackpot!

This was a high spot on the road and we figured this must be Showers Pass. Cool...no more snow!

Have I mentioned how moist and perfect the dirt was?

Crazy terrain variety...wide upen meadow-ish stuff, oak scrubland, deep dark shady ferns beneath the trees...

More later!

 

[HARDER1]

Awesome RR WoodsChick! It seems Eric and I share the same Birthday - I feel his pain I was out Cruising my Terra here in the PNW on that day too. Brrrrrrr. Keep it comin'!

 

[Motosportz]

Great report and perfect TR650 territory. that bike should be perfect for these rides. How does it stack up to your 630?

 

[oregonsage]

Very nice, as always.

I, on the other hand just did a round trip to Idaho. Ice storms in the Columbia River Gorge both directions....not so much fun

 

[Motosportz]

I, on the other hand just did a round trip to Idaho. Ice storms in the Columbia River Gorge both directions....not so much fun

What the heck were you thinking?

 

[oregonsage]

What the heck were you thinking?

It was a balmy 40 degrees in Eugene when I left at 6 am Friday, crossed the Sandy River and boom....
Dont like the weather in Oregon? Drive around the corner!

 

[WoodsChick]

What the heck were you thinking?

My thoughts exactly! What were you riding, Lonnie?

As far as how the Terra stacks up to my 610? Totally...different. Much more comfortable for longer rides, and...well...I think I need to save that for a different day. I could be here all night! I gotta post up some more photos and hit the sack. Suffice to say I love the TR650, I think it's going to work out great for this kind of stuff and it's already proving its mettle on my daily commute into SF, but there's no way in hell I'm ever going to love another bike the way I love the 610. If the pace is brisk, as it frequently is with the grizzled old roadracers I run around with, the 610 is the weapon of choice. But more on that later! How about some more photos?

Ok...so where were we? Oh yeah...varied terrain. So we'd been climbing a bit and it was getting colder, I come around a corner and this is what I see...

It's always hard to tell in photos, but this was a bit of an uphill...

We could have made it to the top, I'm sure, but then who knows what would lie ahead. We hung around in the snow for awhile, enjoying the wild blue sky and the complete silence and solitude...

Let's see...fleecy tights, liners, riding pants, windproof snowboard pants on bottom. UnderArmour ColdGear top, polyester thermal, wind-proof vest, liner, jacket, Eric's waterproof windproof jacket cover thingy on top. The lovely ensemble was completed with my fleece-lined Buff that is twice as long as it needs to be. Tres' Sex-ay...

We turned around and prepared to backtrack to the last intersection...about 10 miles or so. Favorite photo of the weekend...is this guy a total bad-ass or what?

Meanwhile, Ms. Not-So-Bad-Ass prepares her graceful exit. Yeah, I'm a little short...

We had a feisty ride back to Eureka, and we didn't stop to take any photos as we didn't want to burn any daylight. It's funny, we ride in the desert quite often when it's like 20º-40º but the cold on the coast tends to affect us a lot more. It's a damp cold, and it makes my oft-broken bones ache something fierce. Temps would drop like a stone with the sunset, and we didn't want to have to duke it out with any early revelers on this last evening of 2012. We bombed back to Eureka and had a nice dinner at the Lost Coast Brewery and then hit the hot tub at the hotel for the rest of the evening. I did a lot of thinking about the year that was slipping away, and the year that was booking towards us with a full head of steam. 2012 was so good in so many ways...I was sort of sad to see it go. Can't help but look forward to the New Year and all the goodness that's going to come with it, though...including a 300-mile ride home with some lovely dirty views thrown in

I'll finish this off tomorrow...I promise!

 

[ray_ray]

Your RV2 impersonation?

You guys are seeing an awful lot of terrain changes through out the entire trip ....

 

[ray_ray]

Pay attention to this 'All PRO ' trail bike riding move ... Notice the right leg in reference to its angle and the seat ... Its how you get your foot on the ground when a foot is a little short of the ground for what ever reason ... Great dirt bike riding move****************************************!

Works for both boys and girls

 

[WoodsChick]

You got that right, ray_ray It's a balance thing...a feel. I can't imagine trying to ride this tall relatively heavy bike as a beginner.

 

[WoodsChick]

January 1st...the very first day of our new year. What better way to spend it than on a motorcycle for a few hundred miles? We hit the road early, slabbing our way down to the trees...

Big bike, big trees...

I'd been planning on using this bridge to get over to the gravel and rock river banks but that wasn't going to be happening today...

It was pretty wet under the trees...

The dirt was perfect up on the ridges, though...

This little guy was fearless. I was about 12' away from him when I snapped this photo...

This was taken when the touchscreen function on my camera got accidentally turned on. I kinda like it, though...

Urban graffiti in the middle of nowhere...

Know this...

Yeah, the views were ok, I guess...

Hmm...my first crunchy-frozen downhill shady snow experience on the 650. It was fun after I came to a stop...

The frozen corners were slicker than snot...

I think Eric was expecting/hoping for exciting footage but I stayed upright...

That was the last photo we took. We dropped down out of the hills and hit 101 the rest of the way home. We got home a few hours after sunset and I was seriously lamenting the lack of heated grips and hand guards. Despite the cold, I had a great time racking up some miles on my new Husky. I'm quite pleased with the bike and can't wait to get it all set up the way I like it. A little closer to the ground would be nice, too
Great way to close out a fantastic year, and I am so looking forward to what lies ahead for me. There's no doubt I'll be closing out this year on a bike, too, but there's a lot of riding to do between now and then. Can't wait!

 

[ghte]

WELL we asked for it and got yet another brilliant Woodsie report.
Thank you again Woodsie, loved it and got a bit of a feel about the Terra as well.
That country side is just wonderful, Have to get over ther one day and make it a bucket list effort
Cheers Mate.

 

[Coffee]

Beautiful (and cold)

If you ever want to ride the windy (wind-eee) roads around Napa, I know a great place for a free lunch