Andrea and I decided to go riding at lunchtime today. She didn’t want to go as far as Alice’s, so we stopped at The Little Store, a great little restaurant on Hwy 84 just past Cañada Road in Woodside. We had great bacon cheeseburgers and great rootbeer floats, woohoo!
(sorry for the photo quality; it’s not my usual camera)
Neither of us really wanted to go back to work after lunch, so we started up 84. Andrea went in front, since it was her first ride in the twisties. She pulled over a couple of times, to let cars pass, but she sure seemed to be doing well. Before we knew it, we were up at Alice’s.
(Andrea is the champion……of da world!)
Woohoo Andrea! Her first ride in the twisties, and she did really well! She turned her head perfectly — especially in the tight hairpins — and had great entry speeds.
The way down was a little harder, as it always is. I was being tailgated for a while by a jerk in a huge truck — even when I’d flash my brakes and gesture “back off” with my hand — but we eventually pulled over and let him go. I didn’t really mind (other than being annoyed by his rude behavior), though — that’s why we put the more experienced riders in back. Let the jerks tailgate someone who isn’t already worried about a million other things.
It ended up being a nice ride. Though I learned that the Kilimanjaro isn’t a very good “nice weather” jacket. I’d worn it in today because, heck, I was excited to finally have one, but man, I was sweating by the end of the ride. I even pulled out the liner at the restaurant and I was still warm. I was just about the perfect temperature up near Alice’s with all the jacket’s vents open and its liner removed — I’d guess it was around 70F out — so I can’t say I’ll be wearing this jacket during California summers. That’s OK, though; I bought it for Alaska and for winter riding.
The Kilimanjaro is also pretty big on me when I’m just wearing a T-shirt underneath– I bought the correct size for wearing it over many layers of shirts plus the electric vest. Today, I think I looked sort of like a six-year-old wearing mommy’s motorcycle jacket as a dress. But it’ll be warm and waterproof along the Alcan! 🙂