There are alot of great roads around, but I'm right at the bottom of Angeles Crest Hwy, so its tough to get motivated to go farther.
A quick 28 miles up to Newcomb's Ranch and I beat the breakfast 11:30AM cutoff by about 5 minutes. Here's the obligatory food shot of an Egg McNewcomb w/ bacon & ice tea (wasn't hot enough for coffee).
After a bit of food I scoped out the bikes.
There were alot of bikes out. I liked both the vintage BMW & a Chinese BMW knockoff.
The Chinese bike was very cool & the rider just slung it around when he arrived.
There was also this very nice RR with ohlins & other nice mods. Is it anyone here?
About this time is when I met up with the Norton rider I discussed in another forum that can't be linked here. I'm afraid he was in a horrendous crash later in the day, & I was told he was apparently not alive when he was airlifted out. His vintage Norton was very cool, as was the rider, about in his 30's, & very into Nortons. He had just gotten the bike together into riding shape.
Turns out I heard wrong, & he is in the hospital with a bad case of rash, which is better than dead.
[url="http://www.m o torcyclistcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3232"]http://www.m o torcyclistcafe.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3232[/url]Posted on Advrider:
A young fella, name unknown to me, crashed a black 850 Norton Commando on Crest this early afternoon. About 4 miles west of Newcombs. Seemed he slipped in some sandy gravel (west bound) and low sided then went under the front of a Mini-Van coming the other way. He was taken away in the Sheriff's Helicopter, as well as the driver and front passenger of the van (I am told). The air bags deployed in the van. Search and Rescue in Newcombs later told us the motorcyclist was okay, just bad road rash on his back. This is all the information I have. We came upon the crash after it happened, all facts are secondhand collected and not known if reliable.
I later hopped on my bike & rode up the hill.
Above is a nice double tunnel. Just a bit of snow beside the road here, we are at about 7,000 ft. Still is a beautiful day, heated grips on low.
I made it to the end of the road.
They may be opening the road all the way to Wrightwood again this year. It has been closed for several years due to some big slides. The end of the road is around 40 some miles from my house.
I turned around for the ride down.
I like the way the Ferro bike looks against some snow.
Going down the hill (and up, for that matter) I was taking it pretty easy as I'm not very experienced when it comes to the possibility of ice. I guess accidents were not on my mind, so it was a shock to see the very badly crashed Norton of the rider I was talking to earlier (the airlift had already taken place, the accident scene was covered by police, paramedics & fire personel). When I circled back to try & find out about him, I stopped at a turnout above the accident where 4 guys in their 50's, all on nice bikes from Triumph Speed Triple to a Ducati Multistrada. They gave me the grave news. I just tailed them down the hill, & was feeling pretty blue. Another paramedic truck & ambulance passed us going up the hill, I assume for the driver of the minivan who looked pretty shocky. They turned off on Nine Mile so I followed them. About halfway through Nine Mile they got by a slow car & wicked it up to a spirited pace. At the intersection with Angeles Forest Road the back guy in their group got cut off from his friends, so when he & I finally got around some cars he really wicked it up (to what many here would consider moderate speed I suppose, but I've been riding alot slower these days). We rode down Big Tujunga Cyn Road like I haven't before, & it was a great way to clear my mind. It really is an exceptional road in its own right. At the city we parted ways, & back home I was at a bit over 100 miles for the day.
RIP, Norton. My thoughts are with Norton Rider
