Some of the reason I rode so much during the colder months was not just because love to ride, but I wanted to get comfortable riding. I still have a long ways to go but I was ready to ride to the beach. I had a men’s retreat over the weekend and this is what I planned to ride to. It is held had Tillamook every 6 months and the weather was looking good for the weekend. In fact, Sunday was to be in the 80′s.

I made arrangements to have a friend take my stuff down in his car and waited for morning. Morning came and the ground was wet and raining on and off. I waited and watched the weather report online. It said it would dry up around 10:30 am and it started to. So I packed some personal stuff in my saddle bags and off I went.

I rode through Beaverton to Hillsboro, then up to Banks where I stopped for a quick bite for lunch. Then I hopped on to Highway 6 to Tillamook. I have driven this many times, but like any ride on a bike, the road seems different. I kept up to speed for the most part but took the corners easy. When I had vehicles on my tail I found a place to pull off to let them pass. I encountered some drizzle but nothing to slow me down.

I rolled into town around 12:30 and got settled. Over the time of the weekend I met the two others guys who rode there too. They had left at 7:30 am so they were soaked by the time they arrived. One of the guys owns a white Harley Soft Tail and the others bike is a Yamaha Warrior. Saturday night they asked if I wanted to do a short night ride. So we rode to the Air Museum and it was a cold ride.

The day of our departure, I rode back to town with them and they placed me in the middle. Now I had to keep up constantly. I did stay within my limits when it came to curves. But it was my first group ride and fun. We parted ways near Banks and as we merged with Highway 26, 10 other bikes joined us. Woohoo.

My overall experience? Very satisfying.

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