Mines Road week five, heavy traffic edition!
As I rolled in to the Starbucks parking lot at 8:50am I was happy and surprised to see my Hot Lava and Ultramarine brethren already waiting for me! I was not expecting anyone else to come out since nobody had replied or thanked my post, so that was a pleasant surprise. Nice to have some "regulars"!
We got started and came upon a decent number of cyclists on the beginning canyon section, and as we progressed, oncoming traffic as well. Fortunately everyone stayed in their lane this time around! I was surprised at the increased amount of random cars out at this hour, since the last 4 weeks didn't have nearly this amount of traffic.
Despite that, I got in some really good driving in the initial canyon section. I tried to practice "momentum driving" where I would carefully watch my throttle inputs so that I could take each corner without using the brakes. I believe this results in a slightly lower overall speed, but it's quite enjoyable once you get it right and get into a groove. I felt like I was doing a great job of reading each corner and applying smooth throttle and steering inputs to not have the yellow TCS light come on, despite some rough mid-corner bumps. This is one of the first times I can remember thinking that all my Mines Rd driving was finally paying off.
Later on in some of the single lane sections I was going at a faster pace, faster than some of the birds apparently! I saw several of them flying out of my way, and then it looked like one collided with my driver's side headlight! Immediately after that, I saw a large puff of feathers hanging in the air through my rear view mirror. Not my first bird on Mines and won't be the last.
Getting into some of the blind hairpin sections, the oncoming traffic again proved to be a hassle and somewhat dangerous/risky. I'm not sure there's any perfect way to navigate those blind single lane sections. It's definitely a reminder that you aren't the only one on the road and that other drivers/riders love this road as well.
As we approached The Junction, I pushed harder. Braking later, and attempting to carry more speed through the corners, much to the dismay of my protesting TCS light. I tried to really work my OEM brake pads to see what they were capable of. I feel like they do what they are asked of them, but I'm still not a fan of their lack of initial bite. I will be happy to move to a more aggressive pad in the future.
We arrived at our stopping point and started chatting. About 5-10 mins later, the hills were suddenly alive with the sound of FA20 as we heard the distinct sound of UELs approaching. Turns out it was a DGM BRZ that had wanted to join the drive but arrived late to the meetup point! Nice to meet another fellow owner that I've not seen before at any drives. Great looking car!
Took a few photos and then the group split up with two going Del Puerto and @
driggity and I heading back up Mines. Unfortunately traffic seemed to be the theme on the return trip as well, with plenty of oncoming cars and trucks. Then a little later, we got stuck behind the dirtiest and slowest Porsche Carrera 4 I've ever seen. This thing was seriously crawling.
At first I was excited and thinking "Oh wow, another enthusiast out enjoying the road!" but then I watched how they were driving and quickly realized they had no idea what they were doing. They were riding the brakes through the corners, going over the center line, and most frustratingly, would not let us pass.
Eventually what felt like 10+ minutes later they finally did pull off and let us go past. Not sure why he waited so long to do so though. I think some chemical reaction happens once a slow car finally gets out of your way. I immediately downshifted into 2nd gear and brought the car up to 6,800rpm through the next several corners. I learned at this time that my exhaust sounds great when you let off the accelerator at ~7krpm. Very exotic! I went hard and ended up leaving @
driggity in my dust at this point. Sorry about that!
So anyway, this drive definitely had it's highs and lows. Maybe I will have to consider an earlier start time in the future if this level of traffic keeps up. We'll have to wait and see how it goes next week!