Fun with a Gallardo
#1
09-29-2006, 06:41 AM
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Fun with a Gallardo
Today i had some fun up in a Azusa canyon. Its my normal riding spot when i just want to get out of the house, its about 10 minutes down the freeway from where i live and a prime riding spot durring the week, on the weekends its usually crowded with campers, offroaders, and harley/goldwing riders.
If anyone lives in southern california its the Azusa ave. exit off the 210 freeway, just follow it north till it becomes San Gabriel Canyon road. Its a nice little windy road oasis JUST outside the L.A. metropolis. you can also take the East fork for some more nice roads, however the east fork roads arnt as well maintained.
Anyway today after work i suited up to get some riding in before the sun went down, took off down the 210 west fighting the the 5 o'clock glare, got off on Azusa. Half way up to the canyon i come to a red and lane split to the front, sitting tehre's a brand new silver gallardo. I'm not one to get star struck by a pasta rocket but they are very nice cars. I give the guy a thumbs up and take off thinking its sorta odd seeing a $200,000 car in Azusa, the driver was a guy probly in his mid 50's looked like a science teacher for some reason. So i continue up towards the canyon, Azusa ave is a 35mph zone, and its sorta a speed trap, so you just have to cruise thru. Once you get to San Gabriel, civilization fades away pretty quickly and you can open it up a little. So passing the last bit of suberbia I'm doing around 55-60mph and see a silver streak coming up pretty quickly. I head up into the canyon, the first mile or so of corners are pretty tight, then it opens up to some higher speed sweepers and decent size straits, then for the last half mile or so it gets really tight. My normal pace thru the canyon is around 45-60mph, a good bit faster than most of the cars you see thru their but not as fast as some of the other guys on bikes you see flying thru, i hardly ever am out of 3rd gear the entire run except 2nd in the tighter parts and 4th in the straits. This guy was stuck on me the whole way up, he was easily keeping with me in the turns, especially the tighter stuff, but i was pulling on him a good bit when the road straitened out. About half way up i got nailed dead center in the face shield by a nice size bee, left a good bit of bug guts smeared across my line of sight then we got stuck behind a 4x4 just rolling thru the canyon, but he eventually pulled off. By that time we had passed east fork and were in the big straits and fast sweeper part of the road, i opened it up and pulled on him a good deal thru that section but towards the end the turns get pretty tight, and theirs alot of shuffleing side to side and using up most of the road to get a decently fast line. luckily this section is completely deserted, corners arnt blind like the bottom, its past all the offroader turnouts, and the road is barricaded at the end for some reason. So we get to the top and turn around, we exchange smiles and a thumbs up, and i let him take the lead this time.
On the way down i hung back about 100 meters or so, and tried to keep up, i did pretty well for the first half. but on the tighter stuff towards the bottom he just left me. so much so that he was out of sight, probably 2-3 turns ahead. I also dont like pushing it too much around the lower corners because their are dirt/gravel turnouts every 1/4 mile or less and cars tend to drag a good amount of that dirt/gravel out into the road. and the turnouts are sometimes half way around a blind corner or right in the middle of your braking zone. i caught up to him at the bottom and had a few words with him at a few red lights on the way back towards the freeway, complemented his car, and let him know its good to see one of those cars driven the way its ment to be driven. seemed like a really nice guy. I wanted to race him from the lights but didnt because Azusa ave. is thru an entirely residential area on the south side. so just rode next too him till the freeway, wav
If anyone lives in southern california its the Azusa ave. exit off the 210 freeway, just follow it north till it becomes San Gabriel Canyon road. Its a nice little windy road oasis JUST outside the L.A. metropolis. you can also take the East fork for some more nice roads, however the east fork roads arnt as well maintained.
Anyway today after work i suited up to get some riding in before the sun went down, took off down the 210 west fighting the the 5 o'clock glare, got off on Azusa. Half way up to the canyon i come to a red and lane split to the front, sitting tehre's a brand new silver gallardo. I'm not one to get star struck by a pasta rocket but they are very nice cars. I give the guy a thumbs up and take off thinking its sorta odd seeing a $200,000 car in Azusa, the driver was a guy probly in his mid 50's looked like a science teacher for some reason. So i continue up towards the canyon, Azusa ave is a 35mph zone, and its sorta a speed trap, so you just have to cruise thru. Once you get to San Gabriel, civilization fades away pretty quickly and you can open it up a little. So passing the last bit of suberbia I'm doing around 55-60mph and see a silver streak coming up pretty quickly. I head up into the canyon, the first mile or so of corners are pretty tight, then it opens up to some higher speed sweepers and decent size straits, then for the last half mile or so it gets really tight. My normal pace thru the canyon is around 45-60mph, a good bit faster than most of the cars you see thru their but not as fast as some of the other guys on bikes you see flying thru, i hardly ever am out of 3rd gear the entire run except 2nd in the tighter parts and 4th in the straits. This guy was stuck on me the whole way up, he was easily keeping with me in the turns, especially the tighter stuff, but i was pulling on him a good bit when the road straitened out. About half way up i got nailed dead center in the face shield by a nice size bee, left a good bit of bug guts smeared across my line of sight then we got stuck behind a 4x4 just rolling thru the canyon, but he eventually pulled off. By that time we had passed east fork and were in the big straits and fast sweeper part of the road, i opened it up and pulled on him a good deal thru that section but towards the end the turns get pretty tight, and theirs alot of shuffleing side to side and using up most of the road to get a decently fast line. luckily this section is completely deserted, corners arnt blind like the bottom, its past all the offroader turnouts, and the road is barricaded at the end for some reason. So we get to the top and turn around, we exchange smiles and a thumbs up, and i let him take the lead this time.
On the way down i hung back about 100 meters or so, and tried to keep up, i did pretty well for the first half. but on the tighter stuff towards the bottom he just left me. so much so that he was out of sight, probably 2-3 turns ahead. I also dont like pushing it too much around the lower corners because their are dirt/gravel turnouts every 1/4 mile or less and cars tend to drag a good amount of that dirt/gravel out into the road. and the turnouts are sometimes half way around a blind corner or right in the middle of your braking zone. i caught up to him at the bottom and had a few words with him at a few red lights on the way back towards the freeway, complemented his car, and let him know its good to see one of those cars driven the way its ment to be driven. seemed like a really nice guy. I wanted to race him from the lights but didnt because Azusa ave. is thru an entirely residential area on the south side. so just rode next too him till the freeway, wav
#2
09-29-2006, 02:46 PM
RE: Fun with a Gallardo
more road...is the path to GMR closed?
yea great road, especially after they paved it again...but mang...too much dirt for me! lucky you live so close to it!
awesome road...clean...is montezuma pass in eastern SD...i think the SD winter route is the best ever...with palomar (tight side only...fast is too bumpy, but still has too many people), banner grade (awesome switch backs) and monty pass...OMG...AMAZING SWEEPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yea great road, especially after they paved it again...but mang...too much dirt for me! lucky you live so close to it!
awesome road...clean...is montezuma pass in eastern SD...i think the SD winter route is the best ever...with palomar (tight side only...fast is too bumpy, but still has too many people), banner grade (awesome switch backs) and monty pass...OMG...AMAZING SWEEPERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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