I live in Vancouver BC and have been riding for 12 years now. During that time I have logged 150,000kms and good portion of that is in California. Most of it is in the United States. For good reason, the roads are incredible. This trip was similar to previous ones. This time it was made up of the best of the best of the best! Here’s why.
Day 1 – We loaded the bikes into the truck and drove down to Weed, CA from the Canadian Border (Blaine WA). Left at 10am and arrived at 8pm. Leaving at this time helped us dodge the traffic in Seattle, Olympia, and Portland.
Day 2 – From Weed, we had breakfast in Redding. Drove for two hours to Paradise (how appropriate). There we unloaded the bikes and left the truck at an Ace Hardware parking lot. That puts us at the bottom of Hwy 70 to Quincy. The plan was to ride to Quincy then the La Porte Rd to the T intersection. We call that road The Race Track in the Sky (RTITS). It was 200 mile out-and-back with 80% of it, incredible corners. It took us 4.5 hours with a lunch break. We loaded the bikes back into the truck and off to Willows.
Day 3 – Thunderhill Track Day with Keigwins. This was a big track day with lot of participants. Thunderhill is a VERY fast track with a lot of very fast riders. There are definitely far more race bikes here than other tracks. My Ninja 1000 was definitely the minority. It was great to be back here. I didn’t miss one session and rode a total of 220 kilometers that day. Keigwins runs a great track day. They did mix the intermediate (B+) with the expert group (A) which proved for a few unsafe moments. Some of the racers respect nothing. When I come back I hope to be one something more race related with better tires. The bikes were loaded back up and we drove to Anderson to stay at the Gaia Hotel Resort.
One of the best things about a Thunderhill Track Day is Dave Moss. Dave is a Suspension Wizard. For $20 he will tune your suspension. For $40 he will continually tune your suspension throughout the day between trackday sessions. This is incredible value for the expertise. Dave will transform your motorcycle. Dave Moss Tuning, Feel The Track.
Day 4 – The must ride hwy36/299 was on the menu for the day. This is always a great ride. Even better since a lot of it has been repaved.
Day 5 – More Hwy 36! Expect this time we added in Platina Rd, The road around Ruth Lake, and Hwy 3 to Hayfork and back. Hwy 3 is freshly repaved. The last 30 miles of the day was challenging. This was day 4 of intense riding on incredible roads. I was unsure how safe it would be to do another day. When we got back we agreed to head home. We made it to Medford, Oregon.
Day 6 – The original plan was to stay in Yreka and ride to Cecilville but we tapped out! The rest of the drive back home was quick and uneventful. We only had to deal with some traffic in Seattle. Were were home by 500pm.
In total we rode 1600kms. We could not get a better 1600kms of roads and track in there if we tried. Between the past NorCal rides and Butler Maps I have. There wasn’t anything missed in regard to our mental and physical stamina. The total cost of the trip including everything was about $1600CDN. This is fairly pricey for a motorcycle trip but considering what was accomplished, good value.
The notable places for coffee and good eats were Madayne (coffee and food) in Redding, Moon’s restaurant in Quincy, Wildflower Cafe & Northtown Coffee in Arcata, and Thai Ginger in Portland.
