Scuff Ride

I got the mighty Multistrada back from the shop yesterday so I took it out to scuff-in the new tires. It was also a good opportunity to try out the new Zumo GPS, helmet, and jacket.

I started out early riding up Santiago Canyon to Old Town Orange where I stopped at the Filling Station for breakfast. The Filling Station is a small restaurant that is suffering from over popularity. I should have had breakfast at home.

I wanted to get some mountain roads in so I headed out to San Bernardino to pick up Highway 18. Highway 18 up to the Crestline cutoff is a very fast, four lane wide road that is a great place to move out your chicken lines. Just what I wanted to scuff-in the new tires. Many tires will feel a little squirrelly but the Scorpion Syncs don’t seem to suffer from that. Probably because they have limited traction as it is.

Past the Crestline cutoff, Highway 18 narrows down to two lanes and traffic becomes more intrusive. There are plenty of turnouts but few seem to use them. Locals tend to treat the road as their own, day-trippers either don’t know any difference or they just don’t pay attention to what is behind them. Luckily, most of the traffic turns off to go to Lake Arrowhead or Blue Jay leaving some very fun road heading into Running Springs.

Once in Running Springs, I picked up Highway 330 back down into San Bernardino. It was wide open until the turnoff for Barton Flats, where I fell in line with a freight train of motor homes and trucks towing watercraft.

I do not stop in San Bernardino often so I decided to take the opportunity to visit my parents in Mountain View Cemetery. It was especially appropriate since it was the fourth anniversary of my Mother’s death.

The 210 extension opened a few weeks ago so I decided to try it, much to the confusion of the Zumo GPS, that had no clue there was a freeway there. It kept trying to recalculate my route by piecing together parts of surface streets.