The day was cloudy to mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid 60’s to low 70’s. The clouds the past few days have made me think I’m riding into some rain but it never materializes. The winds picked up in the afternoon.
Day’s distance: 113 miles
Total trip distance: 1,719 miles
The motorcycle was in the shop for a scheduled service, specifically the 24,000 mile service. These take about 5 hours. For those interested, they cost along the lines of $700 – $800 dollars.
Part of the service requires the technician to test ride the bike. I was just returning from getting lunch when the technician rode past me on my motorcycle.
While my bike has been in the shop for maintenance many times, this is the first time I’ve seen someone else riding my baby. It’s funny how personal that feels. 🙂
It was well after 1pm when I left the shop, BMW of Ventura County. The service manager, Howard, the service writer, Paul, and the rest of the folks were super helpful and friendly. I was especially pleased with the care and concern from the technician, who recommended additional service that may be required. Overall this shop is great and I recommend them without reservation.
To plan today’s ride, I mostly used the Butler Motorcycle Map for Southern California to find worthy motorcycle roads in this general vicinity as I’ll be in the greater Los Angeles area through Sunday morning. Yesterday, I traveled from the north through the Los Padres National Forest, so today I thought I would visit the Angeles National Forest located northeast of Newberry Park.
In leaving Newberry Park, one road I traveled was Hwy 23, at least part of which is also called Grimes Canyon Road. A short part of that was really twisty. Here’s what the map shows.
A stop for gas east of Filmore and a short ride north on I-5 and I was soon in the mountains riding some worthy roads. My favorites included Lake Hughes Road, which runs adjacent to Castaic Lake,
Spunky Canyon Road,
and Bouquet Canyon Road, running past Bouquet Reservoir.
As mentioned earlier, the winds picked up in the afternoon. They felt stronger as I approached Palmdale. Since it was after 4pm, I decided to just call it a day here, as was the plan.
Tomorrow, I look forward to riding through the San Gabriel and San Bernadino Mountains northeast and east of Los Angeles. I may camp again tomorrow night so my next post may be later than usual.
The grass in the mountains (hills?) looks as gold as summer. I especially liked the photo of Bouquet Canyon Road and reservoir. Is that pronounced “bucket”? On occasion I like that British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances. Anyway, Bouquet is a memorable name for me. I’m enjoying seeing the open country of Southern California. Have a great day!
Steve, I’m not sure how to pronounce it. I didn’t get an opportunity to ask. Those roads sure were fun on a bike!