Two Green lights, reliving memories of 33

[Thruxton71]

The Velocettes were resting today, it was the Suzuki DRZ-SM's turn for a ride. The Moto Guzzi V7 Sport was shifting again, and the 1970 Daytona showed up, along with the Miata driver. Another wonderful day sent us up highway 33, this time with Wolf's bar and grill in mind.

For years and years Tom Wolf, a semi retired Biology professor, owned and managed a lone cafe, once known as 'the pine mountain inn', later known as 'Wolf's grill', near the summit of Highway 33 (https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news ... /563542987) (https://advrider.com/f/threads/pine-mou ... 3.1324986/) before it descends into Cuyama valley.

When I first started riding in Ojai, our group of Velocettes and other old British motorcycles would, weather permitting (there were very few exceptions to this criteria, except for ice covering the road), ride to Wolf's to enjoy the bad food and poor coffee. In the winter it was usually bitterly cold, and Tom would say that he would not start a fire in his old stove unless the beer next to his bed was frozen.

For a brief shining moment there was a cook, 'Albert', who would have a baking sheet of fresh hot cinnamon rolls on the counter when we walked in, the fire in the pot bellied stove warm and welcoming. But that didn't last.

We rode again toward this destination, not with any expectations, but to enjoy the ride. i followed the steady pace of the Moto Guzzi and Triumph, relaxing into the magic carpet ride of the DRZ. Upon reaching the construction that will never finish, we encountered a green light, flowing through the torn up pavement and re-entering the flow of 33 without breaking rhythm. After another series of organic convolutions over and around the hills and valleys that make up the terrain of the Los Padres National Forest, we come upon Wolf's.

Dismount, remove helmet and ear plugs, now I can hear. And what do I hear? The current owner and Tom's daughter, Debby Nelson and her extended family, were actively working on the place. There was a shiny new metal chimney sticking out of a new roof, which spoke of renewal, not decay, and raised a little hope that there may again be a meeting place in the wilderness around us for food and hot drinks. Debby came out and offered us water, explained what their plans were, and offered us a tour of the interior.

It has been over a decade since the Triumph rider, the Miata, and I have set foot inside this storied establishment, and while it is still under repair, being inside brought back a rush of memories which we shared with the current owner. Stories like those above, about the times we interacted with her Dad. She broke out some photos of him, surrounded by money stuck to every surface (a tradition.. which was violated when vandals broke in and cleaned the place out).

While it doesn't look like it will be back to business as usual soon, it was heartening to see people trying to breath life back into the establishment.

We left finally, I followed again, and the weather on road conditions were as good as it gets on 33. Sure, the road is slipping apart in places, and yes, there are were some rocks in the way, but... and this is huge, we hit the green light on the way down as well.

The Triumph wave us by, and was slow in catching up. It turns out that some bug or another got under his gear, and under his shirt, and he had to stop and disrobe, after which the bug flew away. At least it wasn't a wasp or yellow jacket.

Breakfast at Don Lalos in Minor Oaks, then home, where I spent a lot of time extracting my 1970 Daytona from the 'I don't run well enough to ride' corner, moving my 'Never ran correctly since I spent way too much money buying it' Velocette Thruxton up to the work bench, replacing the 'Always gets you there, doesn't need to be on the bench' Velcette MAC. Later that day I rode the Daytona over to the Triumph Daytona guy's house, who is going to try to figure out where all the electricity in the battery goes when I leave it off the tickle charger. I think this is related to a tuning problem it has, but I am probably wrong (see earlier write up on my debunked theory on why my MAC electrics don't work).

From Ojai..

[Tetge]

Your massive audience enjoys your posts, but, I still think that you ought to get a GoPro and put some videos on youtube for posterity.

[SonicVenum]

Are you calling me massive?

[Tetge]

Are you calling me massive?

No, as you still talk of another Mustang in your future, and, massive people can not fit in Mustangs.

[SonicVenum]

I feel massive right now, but I'm working on it. Even at my massivist, I think I still fit in the modern Mustangs. They are much roomier than the old New Edge models. The exception is the Recaro seat option on the GT350R. Those are too narrow for my back to fit in comfortably.

[Tetge]

I feel as if there is less room between the top of my head and the roof in the 2017. But, I like to sit up as high as possible to see over the long hood and to have the best view out. The seat rack appears to allow the seat to go back far enough so that i do not use all the travel, so that is OK, I expect. The Recaro seats, and, in fact, most sports type seats, are always uncomfortable for me, and I would never want them. I sort of squashed the seats of the Terminator into submission, but, it was so fun to drive that I never cared about the seat. I am not all that impressed with the 2017 standard seat, but, since I hardly drive these days, and never road race, it is fine.

As a side note, I had the seat adjusted to perfection the one ill fated time that I went to Famoso, but, I never thought to put my helmet on to see how it worked. And, when I got to the staging lane, I had to lower the seat way down to allow the helmet to clear the roof, which torpedoed all my practice at trying to shift with the MT82 that was almost impossible for me to shift to begin with. Add in a slippery track and an additional inability by me to work the line lock feature, and the evening was a total disaster. And, even with my years of experience at having my expectations crushed, I still went into deep depression, from which I never recovered, as I have not drag raced since. It was that bad...........

But, I still wonder about the head room, as the same upright driving position in my prior Fox Body cars never created any issues with my helmets.