R2R2R, Amazing Ride to the R2R

4 min read

Written by Doug Faigel, Lost Tribe of Arizona

With the San Diego R2R being practically in our backyard, our club was not going to waste the opportunity for an epic ride to the R2R. The R2R2R was born! We faced withering >100∞ temperatures and the outer bands of Hurricane Kay but had a blast!

Our ride captain and club rep, Max Heeres, diligently created a detailed ride plan for us to follow. Some of the roads we had ridden, but many would be new. We planned for a gathering of friends to join our tribe on this adventure. It was a shanda that Max couldn’t ride with us. He was hit by a flying boat while riding through the desert on Memorial Day and was recovering from ankle surgery. Fully committed to our R2R2R, Max used his recovery time, and the attention to detail of an experienced project manager, to create our detailed plan.

The Tribe began our ride at sunset on Saturday, meeting at a Circle K off the I-10 just west of Phoenix. There were four of us leading this adventure: Len Suckle, Nevin Heitner and Jim Wright riding sweep on his big yellow Goldwing. It was still over 100 degrees, but with the sun off our backs we made quick work of the 150 miles to our hotel stop in Blythe, CA. Sunday proved to be a hot ride skirting north of LA to Solvang. We topped 114∞, and got our first taste of both California traffic and lane splitting (lane splitting is awesome!). At Pea Soup Andersen’s we met Jake Simon (Shul Boys) and Max Feldman (NY Chai Riders). Solvang is very picturesque and well worth a stop. It was at Pea Soup where we started what would be our daily end of ride cool-off ritual: the hotel swimming pool and drinks!

Monday the fun part of the ride began: the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey. Riders from around the world flock to this stretch of hardtop between San Luis Obispo and Carmel. Two lanes of windy road twist up and down through coastal mountains, with each bend rewarding us with spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and California coastline. Max had sent us off with a list of photo stops; we did our best to find as many as we could.

Monterey is a charming northern California seaside town and tourist destination. It was there we welcomed the Golf Riders who flew in from Toronto, Canada: Steve and Stacey Levitt, Joel Kleinberg, Brian Adelberg, and Sheldon Smaye. They rented Harley’s in San Francisco and had a hot ride on peninsula twisties to the Stargazer Inn. Joe Notovitz, the long-distance champ of our group, arrived after 3000 miles from New York through Ontario to meet us on the left coast. But then we had a surprise guest: Max Heeres, the man himself! He flew up to have dinner with us on Fisherman’s Warf while we were serenaded by the sea lions (Max flew back to PHX the next day with plans to drive to San Diego on Thursday).

The ride down the PCH the next day was gorgeous. Steve, our official photographer took full advantage of Max’s well-planned photo ops. Turning east towards central CA, the temps rapidly increased to over 110∞. But the views and the curves on the Carissa Hwy (CA 58) and the promise of pool and drinks waiting for us in Taft distracted us from that. Our Canadian friends, less used to this kind of heat than us “zonies,” suffered more, I think.

Our last ride before heading to San Diego would be a superb ending to our R2R2R. It dawned hot, but we would be treated to some of the best motorcycle riding in the world: The Angeles Crest Hwy and Rim of the World Scenic Byway. Winding through mountains and valleys to elevations above 7000 feet offered many respites from the summer heat. Arriving in Beaumont, hot, tired but grinning, we were cheered by our reunion with friends old and new: Lonsmen celebrating Shaun Weston’s Honeymoon Ride (where was the bride?), JMA Officers Lauren Secular and Danny Herbst, and our South African couple the Bortz’, to name a few. Our Thursday ride to San Diego had a few sprinkles of rain and plumes of smoke from wildfires in the distance. But as we rode down out of the coastal mountains it gave me time to reflect on what we had accomplished, and the meaning of what it means to be a loud and proud Jewish rider. It was a great ending to the R2R2R and a great beginning for the R2R!