8,000

Days like today are exactly why I ride a motorcycle. Woke up this morning and for the first time in weeks, no months, it was nice outside and I was pretty excited to go riding. Met up with Brad (on his white 848) and Dave (on his yellow 1098) in the morning and headed out to Port Angeles. It was a little chilly out, but otherwise uneventful. In PA we met up with our friend Pete on a Ninja and from there bombed out Hwy 112 twords the coast. Somewhere along the way we passed a small group of guys on sportbikes on the side of the road who apparently were some locals because they passed us with ease. Eventually we all stopped at the Hwy 112/113 intersection and they were in fact a group of local riders from Port Angeles. Very cool guys. Even though they know that road like the back of their hands Brand and I were able to hold our own and keep up with them for the most part.

They told us that it wasn't worth riding all the way out to Neah Bay because the road wasn't very good. I knew better, so the three of us took off that way anyway. Apparently all they do is ride 112 back and forth all day long. It's a great road and all, but eh, even that would get old after awhile. The last 20 miles out to Neah Bay are very technical and yes, some parts of the road weren't that great, but overall man, it was an amazing ride. We passed through Neah Bay and headed out all the way to Cape Flatery which is the NW most point of the continental US. The road from Neah Bay out to the Cape is only about 5 miles, but it was unquestionably the best section of road we hit all day. It was repaved recently so the road was absolutely perfect. It started out with a nice section of high speed corners and gradually tightened up with slower corners until we made it all the way out there.

Unfortunately the road ends rather abruptly in a parking lot surrounded by trees. It was nice and all, but we came all that way and we wanted to see the ocean damnit. So we set out down the hiking path with all the best intentions of seeing the damn ocean. It was pretty cool hiking through the woods on a nice trail with some really cool wooden bridges over some of the swampy portions. We made it all the way out there and got some really awesome pictures. We managed to hit it on one of the rare days when it was nice and sunny out rather than totally foggy and rainy. By the time we got back to the bikes we were all pretty tired. Motorcycle boots are great for riding, but lets just say they are less than ideal for hiking through the forest.

Did just under 300 miles for the day, and I even broke 8,000 total miles on the 848. Not too shabby for a bike I've only had for 5 months.

A few pics are below, the rest can be found here.

Meeting up with the locals from Port Angeles:


The three Ducatis:


Cape Flatery


Brad


Dave