Eclipse as an excuse to ride

Given that half my co-workers were seemingly taking Monday off for the eclipse, I decided I should take Monday off as well. I didn't want to deal with the madness in Oregon, so a buddy and I just picked a fun route from SF to Weed. Ended up being 481 miles there according to my trip odometer and roughly the same back (different route home and I forgot to check when I parked).

We got a little bit of everything, lots of twisties, some great views, some gravel and one of the roughest (and most entertaining) roads I've ever ridden. I definitely felt the suspension top out a few times on that bit.

The bike now needs a bath, it's 9000 mile service a mirror reinstalled as it came loose so I took it off, and the bumps seem to have knocked the connection for my running lights loose (it was a VERY rough road).

As I read the title of your thread I thought "Why didn't I think of that?" Great way to spend the day.

Where are the eclipse photos, though?

Cell phone + eclipse glasses didn't really deliver and we didn't get all the way to totality (that would have taken away from time on back roads!). Still fun to see and a great excuse to take Monday off If you zoom in on the picture you can barely see the crescent.

I agree with you, just going outside on the bike makes for a good day.

I had the same idea. Went up last week and stayed in Oregon in the path of totality. I was surprised how few cars were up there... apparently it was more than usual, but only like 2% of Bay Area traffic. I think the news really blew it out of proportion.

Have you ever ridden in Oregon? It's unreal. Like... seriously unreal. I didn't want to come back to CA. The roads are flawless, perfectly smooth. The drivers are courteous and pull over immediately. There are hundreds of miles of epic scenery and perfect roads. It felt like a dream.

I will say... the eclipse was pretty unexciting for the most part. It just got darker and darker as if you were wearing sunglasses, not the typical warm sunset/sunrise color. It got colder by a good 15 degrees. It was really once the sun was completely covered 100% that it blew our minds. It stayed that way for about a minute and was truly incredible. It was just this glowing white ring with striations coming out from it. Hard to describe really, and hard to catch with a camera. All the birds in the area were squawking and freaking out. That one minute was well worth it.

But yeah sounds like a fun trip. Thanks for sharing the pics. I wonder what came loose on the lights... maybe the tap connector wasn't tight enough?

Sounds like a awesome trip. Oregon is great. I took a 2 day route to a from Portland (staying in Portland over the weekend) shortly after I got the bike and I concur with your experience, amazing roads, scenery and courteous drivers whenever I encountered any on the back roads.

Yeah I'm guessing a tap came loose as you say. I had the headlight off a few weeks ago to reposition the headlight as I'd not gotten it in the right position when I installed your lights. I noticed one of the rubber bushings for the posts at the bottom of the light was missing. I'm guessing that may have allowed for a lot more movement during the rough stuff and shaken a tap loose.

I'll get that sorted out when I have a chance to clean the bike as I'd feel bad dropping it off for service in it's current state

+1 to what these two guys above write about Oregon roads. Incredible!

I'm from the East Coast and got a chance to ride Oregon on a CBR 1000RR.

Came down through the Rockies, and hugged the Oregon coastline (Goonies!) and visited Mount Hood (Shinning!).

With all the insane roads you guys have out West, makes me wonder why I bother riding when i return home

Well, I figured out the running lights problem. Looks like the strap that holds the batter down broke, so the battery was likely dancing back there an eventually fatigued the connector which broke. Like I said, that one road was a little on the rough side