S3

After spending a year in non-operative status, the Triumph Speed Triple went back into service this week. It's a 2001 model which I purchased in April of 2002 and drove for about 2200 miles before getting distracted with other things (namely, marriage). I had to replace the battery, change the oil, and get two recall repairs at the dealer: replacement of the clutch cable and the fuel fittings. Unfortunately, it took the dealer two weeks to get parts, so I wasn't able to start riding until Tuesday (Aug 2). (The fuel fittings had cracked, and the bike was spraying fuel whenever it was turned on.)

I had forgotten how fuel inefficient the S3 is. After filling up the fuel tank (4 gallons), I ran out at 200 miles. Thankfully, I had just pulled into the driveway of a nice family who had a canister of gas handy for stranded drivers: they apparently get a lot of that where they live. I got caught because the only gas station on 138 between the 5 the 14 was closed. Running out of fuel caused the engine light to come on: the fuel pump races since there's no fuel, causing the voltage to fluctuate and signalling the fault. This put the bike into "limp home" mode, which reduced performance significantly. Things reset themselves after 2 fill-ups, though. Unfortunately, the 14-138 is not that interesting a ride, so none of this was worth the trouble.

Just this morning, though, I woke up at 4am and decided to look up another ride. After checking out pashnit.com and sbc-rides.com, I decided to drive the hundred miles to Santa Barbara. After passing through the Gaviota tunnel on the 101 freeway, I took the Hwy 1 exit towards Lompoc/Vandenberg. Daybreak was just settling in, and there was an unusual absence of fog, which made that stretch the most spectacular visually of the trip.

The fog set back in as I rode Hwy 246 west to the beach and then back out east. Things were clear again by the time I went on Hwy 154 south back to Santa Barbara. The views there were awesome: it definitely was worth stopping at the vista points.

Overall, this trip was a great way to get back into riding. Hwy 1, 246 and 154 are all pretty tame---easy to handle for someone who's still just getting the hang of riding. If only these roads weren't 100 miles away from where I'm at in Arcadia.... The best ride close to me is the Angeles Crest Hwy 2, a route I've taken many times on the 1991 Kawasaki Zephyr 550 which I bought as a starter bike back in 2000. Unfortunately, I recall Hwy 2 is a bit too advanced for someone like me, who's been off his bike for over a year, and still isn't used to the power of the Speed Triple. Maybe next time. I've got to come back to Southern California more frequently.