A friend and client of mine, Reverend Chuck and I talked during the week about taking a little motorcycle ride on Sunday, June 3, 2007. Rev. Chuck is always busy doing weddings and such so we had some time constraints on the ride (which I cannot stand, but what can you do) whereby he had to do a wedding later in the day, and would have to end the ride at 2:30pm. We decided to meet at 9:00am and do as much riding as possible until he had to leave at 2:30pm.

Reverend Chuck had a bad motorcycle accident over a year ago, and still has pain and residual effects from his accident, but he is a trooper, and still loves to ride.

I decided to take Rev. Chuck on a ride through the Angeles Crest Forest up to Newcomb’s Ranch and beyond to a secret spot of mine up in the forest. Newcomb’s Ranch is a famous biker spot up in the hills and has a deep history. I always go by Newcomb’s on any ride through the Angeles National Forest.

Those who have ridden with me through the years know that my secret spot up in the hills past Newcomb’s Ranch is a must stop location for good luck. I always ask everyone who comes with me to do the wood ceremony at this spot for good luck, and because I have been doing it for well over a decade myself. No, I will not explain the wood ceremony unless you do this ride with me!

This particular ride is one of my favorites because you literally ride up to 8 thousand feet above sea level in about 24 miles, and the entire ride is basically nothing but hairpin twisties. On the weekends all types of motorcycle riders own these roads. When you ride past Newcomb’s Ranch, there is almost no one on the road. This ride consists of a two lane road, with some turnouts and intermittent passing lanes.

Groups and people that I have lead on this ride are shocked to learn that there is an Alpine Forest just a few miles from downtown Los Angeles, with ski resorts and the works. Everyone always tells me that they did not know!

This ride is usually snowed in during the winter; however, it clears up around March of each year. In March you can still see snow melting in the hills on this ride.

My fiancé (old lady) and I love doing this ride together because there are an infinite number of places to pull into and get frisky up in the hills. Matter of fact, about 5 years ago, I almost lost my motorcycle when I pulled into a hidden place that looked ok, but happened to lead to a shear cliff with a deep incline leading to it. Once I pulled in it was too late. Had my old lady not been there to help me pull the motorcycle out, the bike would have gone over! Suffices is to say, we found another spot.

The entire ride takes you over the summit through Wrightwood and down to the desert floor, however for the 3rd year in a row, the damm roads to Wrightwood are closed because they were washed out in the heavy rains that happened 3 years ago. Every biker and motorcycle rider that I know is really pissed off that it is taking so long to fix the road. The ride over the crest to the Mohave Desert is the best part of the run! Imagine seeing the Mohave Desert before you at 8 thousand feet. Anyway, getting back to the ride…………..

I told my fiancé about the ride during the week and as always she was up for any ride. However, on the morning of the ride she ran a bit late. I guess we stayed up too late the night before.

We met Rev. Chuck at a rally spot off of the 118 (Ronald Reagan) Freeway, and filled up our tanks. We then rode up the 118 east to the Highway 2 exit and got off. When you get off of the 2 exit to get to the Angeles National Forest you always see a ton of bikers at the Shell station on the east side of Highway 2. This Sunday was no different. There were at least 50 motorcycles and bikers of all types at the Shell station either parked or getting ready to make the run up into the hills.

There is a restaurant, just south of the Highway 2 exit and the end of the 2, literally, that I always like to go to for breakfast before I make this run. I do not know the name of the place, but they always serve up a good old fashioned American breakfast, with portions that are huge. They always keep your coffee cup filled as well. We had a quick breakfast at the restaurant, and then proceeded to do the run.

I lead the ride, with Rev. Chuck following. I was on my Harley Davidson Electra Glide, and Rev. Chuck was on his Kawasaki Drifter.

As usual it was a great run through the twisties going very high up into the mountains in a very short amount of miles. We stopped at a forest and visitors station to admire the view and have a smoke. We met a couple of guys who were also pissed off that the road to Wrightwood was still closed. One guy was on a Harley Davison Ultra, and the other was on a Road King. We shot the shit for a little bit, and proceeded to continue up into the mountains.

After a great ride, we finally got to Newcomb’s Ranch. There were lots of motorcycles and bikers there. The first thing bikers usually do when they get to a biker hangout like this is to check out the other bikes that are parked there. I saw this really awesome custom sport motorcycle with a paintjob and detailing like I have never seen. From the wear on the tires, I could tell that this guy was doing some serious racing up in the hills because the wear was on the extreme edges of his motorcycle. I did not meet the guy, but his bike was awesome.

Unfortunately, this weekend like most, there were a bunch of sport motorcycle riders racing the mountain roads. I always give them a rash of shit about ruining it for the rest of us, but they still continue to do what they do. I must say that there were many sport motorcycle riders following the law and riding safely too. Anyway…………….

Once at Newcomb’s Ranch, Rev. Chuck treated me to an ice cold glass of lemonade, since I covered breakfast, and we kicked back for a few just to admire the views. The bar at Newcomb’s was full of motorcyclists who unfortunately were drinking alcohol and then getting on their motorcycles. This is the last ride that you would ever want to do under the influence of alcohol. It takes all of your abilities to do the ride safely while sober!

After a few minutes, we got back on the road to go deeper and higher into the mountains to my secret spot. The last few pictures that are part of this article are of Rev. Chuck and me at the secret spot. I did the wood ritual, but Rev. Chuck forgot to bring what he needed to do the wood ritual. I am sure that next time he won’t forget! At this level we were at about 8 thousand feet and the views are awesome. There have been fires up in these hills over the last few years, so many of the pine trees that are normally on these slopes are gone. It is a shame. I hope that in my lifetime, the volume of trees that used to be on these hills will return before more fires!

We spent some time at the secret spot admiring the views, and then rode to the place where the road to Wrightwood is closed. It has pissed me off for the last 3 years to get to this spot, but I ride to it anyway just waiting for the day that I will be able to do this part of the run again. We then turned around to ride back down the mountain.

I experienced a scary situation with my throttle on the way back down the mountain, it started sticking! Imagine going down deep inclines on severe twisties in the mountains and your throttle starts sticking! The only thing I could do was to pull the clutch in, hit the kill switch, wait for the return on the throttle to go back to normal, put the run switch on, and jump the bike started again. I had to do this procedure at least 10 times while going down the mountain.

A couple of weeks ago, I installed Kuryakyn Premium ISO grips on my motorcycle, and I am assuming that I did not adjust the throttle and return cables correctly. I will take my motorcycle to the Harley Dealership to get it checked out this week.

Once my throttle started sticking I became nervous as hell, just as anyone would be on these mountain roads, but there was nothing I could do except getting my fiancé and I back down the mountain. Once we got down the mountain, the throttle stopped sticking. I am wondering if the elevation coupled with a bad adjustment caused the problem.

At the bottom of the mountain, Rev. Chuck needed gas so we stopped at the Shell station that I discussed above. As usual the place was full of motorcycles and bikers. I had the song Cities on Flames by Blue Oyster Cult jamming on my Harley Davidson Advanced Sound System when we pulled into the station. Suffices is to say the bikers at the gas station got into the groove!

Once Rev. Chuck filled up his tank, we headed north on the 2, to the 118 west, to go home. We parted company at his exit off of the 118, and my fiancé and I headed home to Chatsworth.

I highly recommend this run to anyone with a motorcycle who is not afraid of riding severe twisties. It is one of the best rides in Southern California!

By Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., © 2007