The Road To Stardom Is Not Paved

2 weeks ago I was contacted by a fellow ADV'er asking me if I was interested in going riding and camping with a bunch of guys I'd never met. Sure! Why not? Seems there were some film students (oh, wait...I think it's called "Digital Arts" these days instead of film...) interested in shooting a documentary on the wonderful world of adventure riding and they were hoping to recruit another rider. I spent the next few days frantically scrambling to get a very busy Friday off. Score! Looks like I'm gonna be a movie star!

I loaded up my camping gear and took off under the cover of darkness last Friday morning. Destination: Starbucks in Morgan Hill. I get there in 50 minutes flat, but immediately run into a bit of a dilemma in the parking lot. Seems I cannot get off my bike with the camping gear on it! This is pretty funny to me, in a horrific sort of way, because I'm carrying way less stuff than I usually do when I'm with Eric. Smaller tent, less clothes, less food, etc. Oh, this is not good...I'll rot right there in the parking lot where I sit before I let myself fall over so I just gather my thoughts and tell myself to buck up and get it done. Luckily I figured it out and was able to walk into Starbucks, dignity and credibility intact, and introduce myself to a tableful of strangers. There was Mike on the big BMW GS, his lovely bride Katie the support truck driver, Doug the director who had reluctantly left his GS at home, Sal the camera guy, Jeff the sound guy, and Ryan on a sweet Tiger 800. Paul had yet to show up on his GS. It wasn't long before I knew this was going to be a fun crowd to hang with.

After some direction from Doug, we gassed up and hit the road...
Ryan standing between Mike and Paul...

My turn for gas...

My bike looks tiny compared to these behemoths!



I guess I was too busy being a movie star and all that, but I didn't take any photos between Morgan Hill and Carmel Valley. I had plenty of opportunity to do so, especially when we were shooting in downtown Salinas, but I just didn't. I regret it, too.

We had an uneventful ride down into Carmel Valley. We got to do multiple runs on a few sections of the roads that were conducive to good footage, and it was a ton of fun! Here it was, a sunny beautiful day, I'm hanging out with cool riders on cool bikes, I should be at work but I'm not, and we get to ride fun sections of roads over and over while being recorded...what's not to love? We all felt pretty lucky to be doing what we were doing.

Sal took a few shots of us while we were waiting for Jeff the sound guy to get set up. Thanks for the great photos, Mr. Salvatore Fulmore
The four of us...




Mike and his GS...


Ryan and Paul...



Mmm! If you ever find yourself in Carmel Valley, I highly recommend the Running Iron for lunch...




Ryan and Paul, with Jeff lurking behind and catching every word...


Mike taking it all in...



More later...including a few trailers for the documentary

I didn't fall over. I willed myself to stay on two wheels I wasn't nervous, but for some reason I had trouble getting my leg over the smaller camping gear this time. Maybe I'm shrinking in my old age.

By the way, Paul on the GS is also Huskyfly here on Cafehusky! He left his TE630 at home

Lots of expensive cameras, tripods, microphones, cables, sound equipment, laptops, batteries,
camera man, sound man and a driver. So, yeah, a support truck.

Good one.

Sounds fantastic

Any idea about that Lava cake for $5? Sounds interesting..

More please.

Har-de-har-har... No, as a matter of fact it's going to be called Where The Pavement Ends.

What? Remember who? Do I know you? Are you one of my people?
Do you want my autograph or something?




Yeah, the shoulder is doing pretty good, thanks.

Nu-uh!

Damn it, Muddy...I knew you were going to notice that! You of the pristine perfect not-a-speck-of-dust sexy SM610!

I tried to replace it before I left, believe it or not. They aren't listed on MotoStrano's website anymore and I can't find the receipt to find out what the hell they are. I have the broken one; I was minding my own business, just riding along, when it fell off at Stonyford a few weeks ago

It was pretty cool, that's for sure! It was fun and interesting to be a part of something like that. I've never done anything like it.
Don't know anything about the lava cake, but I can vouch for the Philly beef sandwich with ortega chiles and jack cheese. Ditto the chicken tenders and bleu cheese burger The bar cokes were good, too. The owners were super-cool. They sat and talked with us for awhile and invited us back. Cool place! Don't know if I'll ever experience dessert there, the food is very good and plentiful.

That's the plan; I'm getting on it right now

We had a good time at the Running Iron. The owners were very cool folks and very accommodating, too. Used to own a cowboy bar in Livermore for years.

As we were leaving a German guy in funny gear riding what looked for all the world like a BMW scooter pulled into the parking lot and asked us where we'd been and where we were headed. Paul's GS has a Michigan plate on it and it was loaded pretty good. We started talking to Tomas and he was an absolute riot! He had German flag stickers on his helmet, BMW logos all over the scooter, and he had a bitchin' Remus exhaust on it, too...

What started out as a totally random encounter soon turned into a rich and rewarding experience. Tomas was hilarious! Within minutes I was asking him if he was asking me on a date and he just smiled sheepishly We were ragging on him for riding a girl scooter with silly gear. He took it all in stride and was just a super-fun guy to talk to. We told him where we were headed and he eventually screeched off towards home...which happened to be Bubba Shobert's old place up in Sky Ranch...doing a little burn-out on his girly BMW scooter which turned out to be all hopped-up and Power Commanded and everything.
He's a rep for Remus.

We headed out towards Cachagua Road and just had a blast! The crew caught some good footage out there...and it's no wonder: it was beautiful! Lots of this action...(photo courtesy of Salvatore Fulmore)


Some more of Sal's photos...





We crested the top of the ridge on Cachagua Rd and I saw Sky Ranch on our left. I wanted to stop and see if Tomas was home but we kept on motorin'.

We stopped where the pavement ended, as we'd promised, and waited for the crew to catch up. Pretty soon we hear a 4-stroke single being ridden within an inch of its life. We see it coming off in the distance and Paul says "Hey! Maybe it's your boyfriend!" Sure enough...it was Tomas on his little plated CRF230 From that point on he was one of us and can be seen here and there in the movie trailer footage. What a fun addition! Oh, he had real dirt bike gear on, too.

We made it to our campsite but we wanted to see what was up the road in case it was better. Tomas and I took off up the road to scout it out and he was absolutely rippin' on that little girl bike! I had to ride the 610 a little harder than I would have liked through the rocks and mud (street tires) just to keep up! It was a blast. We ultimately chose spot we were in and settled in for a fun night of eating, drinking, and telling lies around the campfire.

Mike, Katie and Tomas...


Paul/Pcfly/Huskyfly...


Ryan...





My favorite bike in the whole wide world (photo courtesy of Salvatore Fulmore)


My spot...


We commandeered the whole campground...



Our intrepid crew: Doug the director, Sal the camera guy, Jeff the sound guy...


Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it...) I cracked open the bota bag early and kinda forgot to take any more photos that night. I know Doug and Sal were taking photos all night, but I don't have any of them. Suffice to say we all had a blast around the campfire. I was sorta tripping on the fact that none of us really knew each other before the weekend started and yet we were all sitting around the fire talking and sharing and joking and giving each other crap for stuff as if we'd been friends forever. It was pretty cool!

It was also pretty cool when we heard a bike ripping up the road about 9:30 that night. Paul and Ryan thought it was my boyfriend Tomas returning to me early (he'd promised to return in the morning with homemade bread for us) but alas...it was only my husband Eric He was sick and had to work that day but he bucked up and rode down to meet me. I thought it was great til he told me he forgot his damned sleeping bag I used my mummy bag like a blanket to cover us and he slept in all his gear. It was not a comfortable night. It was wet and cold and damp and foggy and rainy and, um, yeah...not comfortable. I was really glad he was there, though


More later...

Glad Eric could make it.

Maybe

We spent a few hours riding together, the 3 of us, the next day and we had a great time goofing off in his well-appointed garage.
Tomas is a totally cool dude and Eric would welcome him into our home anytime. He's harmless

Me, too. He was feeling really crappy and when I called him at lunch it was raining in the Bay Area. I didn't think he'd make it.
He ended up splitting lanes in Friday night Bay Area traffic and riding in the rain. He was looking pretty wet when he got to camp
(it had been raining lightly off and on at camp) and the poor guy ended up sleeping in his gear. Oh, the things we do for love

After a long restless night, we awoke to gray skies and wet ground. We were going to get rained on today, no question about it. It was a lazy morning spent sitting around the campfire. Tomas was true to his word, showing up early with a loaf of freshly made French bread and a jar of Nutella. Ever had Nutella? Do you know what it is? I'd never had any before. I will be forever grateful to Tomas for turning me on to this little slice of heaven. Chocolatey hazelnut stuff...really good on fresh bread!

We packed up camp and headed out for some dirt goodness. Ryan graciously offered me his Triumph, and I gladly handed over the keys to my 610. The first thing I did was ride it into a ditch. Seriously. It has the turning radius of a semi truck...worse than my KTM...and I could not negotiate the sharp left-hander out of the campground. It just...wouldn't...turn. I tried, I really did! I figured I could ride it out but it was soft and full of wet leaves and rocks and stuff and I just...couldn't do it. Eric got on it and ended up walking it out, but not without a lot of screaming motor and spinning tires and flashy drama. I'm sure Ryan was thinking "Oh, no...I thought she could ride..." :laughing Turns out the ditch wasn't the worst that could happen

Did I mention it was raining?

We got some more footage on the funky dirt/mud roads, and we just goofed around and got some miles in. I ended up having to make a u-turn because I missed the sharp downhill right-hander heading down to China Camp. And guess what? I didn't have enough room to make it without running the sweet Triumph into another ditch so I figured I'd just stop, back it up and proceed on my merry way. Things didn't exactly go as planned and the Tiger decided to take a nap on me. It was a gentle drop, as I held on until the last possible second when the bars touched terra firma. Holy Mother of God that thing is heavy! It's really hard to pick up when standing in mud, too. I flagged Ryan down as he came down the hill, and he had a big smile on his face when he pulled up. He said the 610 was a ton of fun. Well, duh! he helped me pick up the big cat, saying he'd dropped it much harder numerous times and it was no worse for wear, and I got it out of the situation I was in and back onto the road. I had a little more fun going uphill on it. Sweet bike, and it fits me well, but it's just too heavy for me to take a chance on in the dirt. It would be a good commuter for me, though! My camera was on the bars of the 610 or I'd have a photo of the sleeping Tiger.

The rain was actually pretty nice...no dust!


Eric took the Triumph for a ride. Here he is cutting up for the cameras...look for this scene on video in the trailer...



We goofed around in the rain while the cameras were rolling and then we all ended up back at camp. Ryan and Paul decided to stay the night, Mike and the crew headed back home to being the long arduous task of editing tons of footage, and Eric, Tomas and I rode back to Carmel Valley in the rain for lunch. The day before he'd asked if I'd ever heard of Bubba Shobert. They were friends and he was living in Bubba's old house. Excuse me? Bubba Shobert? Hell yeah! The first fancy helmet I ever bought was a Bubba Shobert replica. I still have it! I loved that guy! Loved to watch him race. I was at the GP at Laguna 23 years ago when his career ended before my very eyes when he hit McGee who was stopped doing a burnout on the track on the cool-down lap. I was in tears that day leaving the track. Bubba was one of my favorites. Tomas told me he had something for me, but he didn't bring it with him in the morning. I guess he only had room for the loaf of fresh bread and the Nutella on his CRF230. Anyway, we stopped off at his house on the way back to Carmel Valley...I love his garage! That's a lift under the pristine 1974 Carrera parked next to the hot-rod scooter...


Behind Eric is a BMW GS1200 ADV. If you look closely in the mirror you can see it...

This used to be Bubba's house and there was all kinds of Bubba Love on the walls...photos and number plates and such. Plus it was just a neat-o well-equipped garage...

Anyway, this is the stuff that Tomas gave me...is that cool or what?? I will treasure it forever!



I'll wrap this up in the morning, and I'll post a link to the trailers :thumbup


G'night!