Hello, I just finished up a great seven day out-n-back from SF to Monterey. It was supposed to be a nine day loop heading one day east then south through the California central valley with a cut over to the coast and head up through Monterey to SF. Day one was way to hot so I bailed on that idea.
Instead I re-loaded the Hillborne and headed to SF where I meandered down the coast, camping at state parks, stayed at Pigeon Point hostel (after an aborted Big Basin run) and turned around at Sunset Beach Monterey. I pushed the bike over 92 (horrible road to ride a bike) to Half Moon Bay going and took Devil's Slide coming back. I hit Devils Slide at 10 am and there wasn't much traffic. I charged over at 2mph without having to be at peace with entire world. The Hillborne was great, I didn't have tons of stuff maybe 40 pounds at most but the bike took the down hills smoothly and I felt in control the entire way. People talk about front end shimmy. I did feel that but only when I did weird things like stand up and lean over the handle bars or ride with one arm and the other leg out (bike yoga) otherwise it was steady ride. The highlight of the trip was the other people on bikes i met along the way. One English couple were on the first night of their one year around the world tour. They had fully loaded Thorns with the Rolhoff hubs, the super duper Trangia cooking set and a very roomy Hilleberg tent. It sounded like a great adventure. A french fellow was ending a tour across the US, an Austrian couple were in the middle of a tour of the west coast. People doing border to border rides in both directions and then there was me "I'm just on vacation dang it!" . It was fun to see lots of Trangia stoves among the Europeans The Hillborne generated some fun comments : "How old is that bike?", "What does the kick stand weigh?" Most people said the usual nice bike but one fellow riding a fully loaded Lemond said "Rivendell? I hear they make great touring bikes", yes they do! I didn't take many pics, mostly Hillborne posed by the ocean. I have a few posted here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrebb/sets/72157624990502478/ Note the brand new B17 standard. I retired the black Flyer Special since the springs take up lots of saddle bag space. The new saddle felt great from the start and, I think, is springier that the flyer. Regards, Ray -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
