Sport Bikers turn Bouquet Canyon Road into their own private raceway

Today I was riding with my friend Kevin up to Bouquet Canyon Reservoir when we became concerned enough for our safety that we pulled over to the side of the road and stopped.

What was making us nervous?

This:

Earlier, these guys passed us doing at least 80 mph on our way into the canyon. Riding two abreast, they came pretty close to us, but not so close that we felt in danger. A funny smell filled the air as they passed through, and Kevin said it was likely that these bikes were using a special race fuel that burned hot and left a vapor (he likened it to the smell at the old Saugus Speedway during a race).

Anyway, we thought that was all the excitement for the day until about 40 minutes later when we heard them coming again, decided to pull over and wait for them to pass us on the southbound side of the road (we were headed north). It’s a good thing we did, because these guys were using the full width of the road to race, MotoGP style, and came within two feet of us while cornering a particular tight part of the canyon. If we hadn’t pulled to the side of the road, it’s likely they would have hit us.

Thirty minutes after that and they again passed us! This time I was ready and recorded the video above.

It was obvious they were racing up and down the canyon for at least two hours this morning. They even had a spotter on a bike who was reliably 5 minutes ahead of the rest. The spotter had a radio on him and was likely communicating with the rest of the racers about the condition of the road.

The situation was so bad that we tried to call the Sheriff’s Station but we couldn’t get a signal on our mobiles. I felt relieved when I saw a US Forrest Service Law Enforcement vehicle on Bouquet but the officer ignored our attempts to wave her down, and she just kept going.

Later as our ride ended, we talked to a resident of north Bouquet Canyon Road who said that motorcyclists are constantly racing up and down the canyon at all hours of the day and night. He said he was worried about his kids and pets being to close to the road  and mentioned how the bikers would hold competitions in the middle of the night to see who could ride the canyon the fastest. He told us law enforcement occasionally came out and busted people, but the problem remained.

YouTube confirms this; Bouquet is apparently a favorite canyon road for moto racers; there’s dozens of videos of riders pushing 100+ mph on the narrow, two lane road.

All this on a road where just two months ago, a cyclist was killed by a drunk driver. These motorcycle riders are recklessly endangering themselves and all other users of the road; they’re treating it like a racetrack. Law enforcement needs to go up there on the weekends and arrest them! We don’t tolerate it when kids race each other in cars on Soledad; we ought to treat motorcycle racers the same way.