SV Garage

I've been on these rides a couple of times before, so I'm getting to be quite a veteran, now.  Being that Ryan is leaving for the Air Force in a little over a week, we thought it might be nice to get in one last really good ride.

I got suited up and met Ryan at the Chevron at 7am, after I jammed down a quick cup of coffee from Peets.  He was already there, putting air in his always leaking rear tire.  I gassed up, handed him a Fastrak transponder and we were off to the races!

Today, there was a special guest speaker at the Doc Wong clinic.  Rich Oliver is an AMA 250 Grand Prix champion and now has a riding school, which specializes in dirt riding, in Modesto.  He spoke about his experiences, how he got started in racing, from a young age, his mentors and coaches, and the different teams he was riding with.

The lecture part of the ride usually lasts about an hour, but since Rich was there, we were about an hour behind on getting started with the ride.  Ryan and I put ourselves in group four with JC Henderson leading us on his big Honda CBR-XX.  We grouped up and traded names at the B of A across the street, and we were off.

There was more traffic than usual, probably because we were getting such a late start.  JC didn't mind doing double-yellow line passes on slow cars, which really bothered me, him being a "leader" and all, but since I didn't know the route, it was catch up or get lost.  He wasn't much for keeping tabs on the his group either.

Lunch at Davenport was nice.  We arrived around noon and headed over to the Mexican restaurant.  Since we were one of the earlier groups to get there, we actually found a place to sit.  Ryan ordered a burrito and I got a combo plate with an enchilada and a taco.  The food was okay- 7 out of 10 at best.  After lunch, we stood around for a bit, chatting about bikes.  Suddenly, it was time to go- no warning.  Even though the groups before us hadn't left yet, JC must've had ants in his pants and wanted to git!  We saw them lined up at the stop sign, so we quickly slapped our gear on and mounted our rides.

The second part of the ride was a bit faster- the highways were less twisty and technical, plus there was less traffic.  Somewhere in Bonny Doon, I got hit by a yellow jacket in the throat.  I felt it hit me, but I wasn't quite sure what it was until I felt that intense pain.  All I could do was start smashing and patting it down with my left hand!  I wasn't until five miles later, when we pulled off to the side of the road, for a minute, that I was able to verify what had hit me!  It was still stuck on my throat.  As I picked it out of my skin, it fell down my shirt, then we took off!  I wasn't sure if it was still alive, so I began smashing down on my shirt, trying to find that bugger- I didn't want it to start stinging me some more, while I was riding.  For the next twenty miles, I would periodically smash on my shirt, just in case he was still lurking alive down in there.

Finally, we were at the end of our ride.  We parked at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline.  I got off my bike and untucked my shirts to see what kind of insect was stinging me.  A yellow jacket flew out.

"I'm In Tune" - The Who
www.docwong.com/st-clinc/index.htm