Last rally this year, I promise. I am leaving Thursday morning for the starting point and will be riding the rally Friday - Sunday. A couple of links are included below if you want to follow along. Pictures and a writeup will follow...
Big Money Rally group Spotwalla page - this link will take you to a group map showing all riders in the rally who agreed to have their Spot position shown. I am starting in Eureka, CA and the label for my Spot should be "051". I believe this page will be active starting at 4:15 am on Friday morning (rally start time).
BMRx Standings - this link will take you to the BMRx standings page. Each triangle is shown with standings within each group. I am in Triangle A.
Tim's Spotwalla Page - this link will take you to my personal Spotwalla page. The map is active starting Thursday morning at 6am and will be active through Monday evening when I plan to return home.
This rally involves riding to 3 separate mandatory corner bonus locations which are known in advance. Finisher status includes hitting all three bonus locations and using the 2 mandatory rest bonuses. Optional bonuses, which will not be released to riders until 1 hour before the rally starts, are not required to reach finisher status but will improve individual standings.
Cheers!
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Saturday, August 27, 2016
HW3 Rally & A Few Dams, Too
Just got home from a long week on the road for the How the West Was Won rally in Grand Junction, CO. Rally Master Justin did a fantastic job putting on a very nice event. The rally was as challenging as you wanted it to be and covered some fantastic motorcycling roads.
I took advantage of having a few extra days on the return trip to visit a few more dams. I am going to try to capture the rally experience from the perspective of a novice (that would be me). I benefit from a supportive family and some experienced friends who are willing to share their wisdom.
First things first - the rally pack. Sent out about a week in advance so that we could do pre-ride route planning before showing up, if desired. I took advantage of the time to digest the bonus locations and make some decisions based on a few constraints I imposed on myself:
- No dirt. I don't like dirt much anyway, but even less on my 900+ lb bike. So I immediately eliminated bonus locations that required riding a significant distance on dirt roads.
- Finish! A rider had to ride at least 1150 corrected miles, score at least 5,000 points and return to rally central by 2pm on Sunday.
- I wanted to do well. I had ridden BMRx the year before with a goal of finishing and no worries about points. I wanted to be a little more aggressive this year, and that factored into my route planning.
- Take advantage of the rest bonus. A period of up to 4 hours that starts between 10pm and 2am, the rider can actually gain points by making use of the rest bonus.
Here's what the initial map looked like after I coded up the waypoints. Each symbol represents a bonus category (frowny faces are bonus locations requiring dirt roads). Category was important because if you got credit for multiple locations within a category you could get a multiplier bonus. For example, ride to 2 in a category and get 2x points, ride to 4 and get 3x points. This was important as the higher scores would likely make use of the multipliers.
I decided to approach the route by focusing on one category, maximizing the number of locations on my route, and then looking for ways to double up on other categories near the route. After trying several categories, I zeroed in on dams. I found a reasonable route that visited 6 dams with a possibility for a 7th if time permitted. I was also able to visit 4 locations form 2 other categories. My route is shown on the map below as the red loop.
Great, so now I had a route of roughly 1350 miles. What's next? Research! A couple of dynamic categories were in the rally pack. One was to find names of presidents (first, middle or last) on DOT county name signage, and the other was to find signs with letters to spell out "How The West Was Won". Both categories provided good points and couldn't be ignored. I used Google Maps Streetview to look for the signs in advance along my planned route. I figured that knowing where to stop would reduce my stress while riding. It worked well for me.
Next up, where's the gas? I knew going in that my range would limit my progress, especially if I had to double back for a gas stop. So I looked at my route and planned a gas stop about every 200 miles. 2 things became evident - it was a very good idea to plan ahead, and I need an aux fuel tank. Maybe for Christmas...
Friday was pretty chill. We had to present our bikes and paperwork for inspection and perform a roughly 25 mile odometer check to get a correction factor. Very few motorcycles have accurate odometers, and since this rally required a minimum mileage to finish and used mileage as a possible tie-breaker, the rally master had to be able to correct odometer mileage to actual mileage. A rider dinner and meeting wrapped up the night and then we were on our own again.
I learned that alone time before the rally start is bad. I resisted the urge to tweak my route because I felt I had done enough to make it rideable, but it wasn't easy. Sleep came fairly easily for me but the alarm seemed pretty early :)
Saturday morning and the rally master wants us lined up at 5:30 for a 6am start. We have breakfast at 5am pretty much together and I have to admit I am a bundle of nerves. I am not familiar with how the rally will be started and am nervous I will mess it up for myself or someone else. I have asked other riders about how it will work and it seems pretty straightforward, but until you do it yourself...
It is still dark at 6am with sunrise about 30 minutes away still. We make it out to the parking lot and I am pretty sure I haven't forgotten anything. I made my lists and checked them twice, so am trying to not get wrapped up in second guessing myself.
Before you know it 6am arrives. The starter gets everyone going one at a time and we are all headed in different directions. With a group this size it is inevitable that several riders will follow the same route, at least initially, and I find myself with a small group initially. To calm my nerves a bit I slow down and watch them gain some separation. It is not the last time I remind myself to ride the plan. Not surprisingly, a very nice sunrise is all it takes to bring me back to center.
Drink water, I remind myself. Dehydration causes a lot of discomfort while riding, and water loss is tricky to monitor because evaporation happens rapidly. I had rigged a small cooler with a 3L Camalback bladder and some blue ice to make it easier and it worked like a champ. I plan to look at more permanent solutions for future rallies. Problem number 1 of the day - the cooler interferes with opening my trunk, and I plan to work out of the trunk all day. A small adjustment solves the problem.
My first bonus comes quickly and so does problem number 2...a wrong turn! But it was short lived and teaches me an important lesson - it is better to briefly stop and sort it out than to keep riding and dig yourself in to a bigger delay. A bit of frustration and I am off again.
Down the road a bit and I arrive at the only dirt riding I will encounter all day. It is short and well marked and not really a problem. I do encounter another rider on his way down from the location, and the surprise almost results in me dropping my bike. That would have been a major bummer!
My route winds down western Colorado to northwest New Mexico, over to northern Arizona and then up to Utah before returning to Colorado. Lots of 2 lane state highways with good speed limits and light traffic keeps me on my target pace of roughly 50 mph overall. Doesn't sound like much, but with the large number of stops for bonus pictures and my Goldwing's somewhat limited gas range, 50 will take me to my desired rest stop between 10 and 11 pm. I did take advantage of a few recreational picture opportunities.
Lots of elevation changes throughout the rally - from around 5400 feet in Grand Junction to a couple 11,000 feet passes and lots of 6,000+ feet riding. I extracted the elevation detail from my GPS to show the variations. The numbers are hard to read, but low is about 4,000 feet near Glen Canyon Dam and the peaks are up at 11,000 feet on CO-550 in western Colorado.
A fairly uneventful nighttime ride up through central Utah takes me to my rest bonus stop a little late on my desired timeline but still well within the window. Why late? Eat. I did well for lunch and snacks by eating along the way without a stop - I brought Powerbars and trail mix, and had plenty of water. I didn't get hungry until around 7, and then I couldn't think about anything else. I grabbed a couple cheeseburgers and chowed down next to my bike in the parking lot to save time, but that time spent meant it was a little bit later, a little bit darker.
Nighttime riding isn't my favorite. My vision isn't what it used to be and I haven't upgraded my lights, yet, so my progress was slower than I had planned. I still used the full 4 hours, but now left my hotel a little later on Sunday morning. That pretty much eliminated the possibility of riding up to the 7th dam. I might have made it...but chose to ride my plan. It was interesting to reflect on those stops that were not "efficient", and wonder if improvement would have given me the time I needed. My finishing position would have been 4 or 5 spots higher if I had gone to that dam. Damn.
As it turned out I arrived about 90 minutes early and had a much more relaxed scoring experience. A quick milkshake and then I went to welcome other riders.
Here are some things I learned (or relearned?):
- If the rally master gives you the rally pack early, use the time to plan your ride. Many rallies do not afford the rider that option - the pack is delivered the night before the rally or even as late as 1 hour before the rally starts. A different skill to be sure.
- Drink water early. Make sure you drink enough. Even 3L wasn't enough each day.
- Understand your route so that when your stupid GPS tries to send you off the edge of the world like a lemming you can insert some logic and ignore it. I had learned that lesson before and was able to apply it this time.
- Don't sweat the small stuff. How will the rally start? Small stuff - you'll have help. Dressed with enough layers - not small stuff, go ahead and sweat that detail.
- Plan gas stops. This was a huge stressor that I managed to remove entirely by knowing where and when I would be stopping for gas. Didn't have to fiddle with the GPS to search along my route because my route already had the stop. My route notes also indicated about how far I would have to go on a tank so I knew how much throttle was available. The Wing gets good mileage up to about 70mph. After that I think I could watch the gas gage drop.
- Make a plan for eating. I'm not sure how this works, yet. Clearly my plan was not good for me. I wouldn't suggest a sit-down meal while on the clock if you are trying to push it, but clearly a diet of powerbars didn't do it, either.
All-in-all I was happy with my ride. 32 hours, about 1350 miles, 19,300+ points and a 9th place (out of around 50 riders) finish. And that was my first time riding in Colorado and New Mexico, too. Here's my route from Spotwalla. If you compare it to my planned route, you should find it nearly identical.
After the thrill of the rally and a good night's sleep, it was time to head home. I chose to take 3 days and take a path that would visit the remaining dams from DamTour - I have never captured all 20 in the 7 years I have done that ride, so it was important for me this year. I was looking at about 2,000 more miles spread over 3 days and really didn't want the final day to be a long one, so days 1 and 2 were pretty long. I managed to visit all 6 remaining dams and made it home on day 3 in time for dinner.
I took advantage of having a few extra days on the return trip to visit a few more dams. I am going to try to capture the rally experience from the perspective of a novice (that would be me). I benefit from a supportive family and some experienced friends who are willing to share their wisdom.
First things first - the rally pack. Sent out about a week in advance so that we could do pre-ride route planning before showing up, if desired. I took advantage of the time to digest the bonus locations and make some decisions based on a few constraints I imposed on myself:
- No dirt. I don't like dirt much anyway, but even less on my 900+ lb bike. So I immediately eliminated bonus locations that required riding a significant distance on dirt roads.
- Finish! A rider had to ride at least 1150 corrected miles, score at least 5,000 points and return to rally central by 2pm on Sunday.
- I wanted to do well. I had ridden BMRx the year before with a goal of finishing and no worries about points. I wanted to be a little more aggressive this year, and that factored into my route planning.
- Take advantage of the rest bonus. A period of up to 4 hours that starts between 10pm and 2am, the rider can actually gain points by making use of the rest bonus.
Here's what the initial map looked like after I coded up the waypoints. Each symbol represents a bonus category (frowny faces are bonus locations requiring dirt roads). Category was important because if you got credit for multiple locations within a category you could get a multiplier bonus. For example, ride to 2 in a category and get 2x points, ride to 4 and get 3x points. This was important as the higher scores would likely make use of the multipliers.
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| Bonus locations with category applied. |
I decided to approach the route by focusing on one category, maximizing the number of locations on my route, and then looking for ways to double up on other categories near the route. After trying several categories, I zeroed in on dams. I found a reasonable route that visited 6 dams with a possibility for a 7th if time permitted. I was also able to visit 4 locations form 2 other categories. My route is shown on the map below as the red loop.
Great, so now I had a route of roughly 1350 miles. What's next? Research! A couple of dynamic categories were in the rally pack. One was to find names of presidents (first, middle or last) on DOT county name signage, and the other was to find signs with letters to spell out "How The West Was Won". Both categories provided good points and couldn't be ignored. I used Google Maps Streetview to look for the signs in advance along my planned route. I figured that knowing where to stop would reduce my stress while riding. It worked well for me.
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| Example of a city name DOT sign - I used the letter "T" for one of the words. |
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| Another word bonus sign - turns out "W" was one of the more difficult letters to find. |
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| The president category - had ot use a county sign. This also illustrates one of the challenges of riding at night! |
Friday was pretty chill. We had to present our bikes and paperwork for inspection and perform a roughly 25 mile odometer check to get a correction factor. Very few motorcycles have accurate odometers, and since this rally required a minimum mileage to finish and used mileage as a possible tie-breaker, the rally master had to be able to correct odometer mileage to actual mileage. A rider dinner and meeting wrapped up the night and then we were on our own again.
I learned that alone time before the rally start is bad. I resisted the urge to tweak my route because I felt I had done enough to make it rideable, but it wasn't easy. Sleep came fairly easily for me but the alarm seemed pretty early :)
Saturday morning and the rally master wants us lined up at 5:30 for a 6am start. We have breakfast at 5am pretty much together and I have to admit I am a bundle of nerves. I am not familiar with how the rally will be started and am nervous I will mess it up for myself or someone else. I have asked other riders about how it will work and it seems pretty straightforward, but until you do it yourself...
It is still dark at 6am with sunrise about 30 minutes away still. We make it out to the parking lot and I am pretty sure I haven't forgotten anything. I made my lists and checked them twice, so am trying to not get wrapped up in second guessing myself.
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| About 50 bikes all lined up for the start. Everyone double checking everything. |
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| Sunrise over the Rocky Mountains on Saturday morning. |
My first bonus comes quickly and so does problem number 2...a wrong turn! But it was short lived and teaches me an important lesson - it is better to briefly stop and sort it out than to keep riding and dig yourself in to a bigger delay. A bit of frustration and I am off again.
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| Bonus locations were scouted out in advance and described well in the rally pack. |
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| My only dirt riding for the day to get this one. |
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| Monument Valley - a bonus stop and one of my favorites. |
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| Looking over Silverton, CO from a bonus stop at roughly 10,000 feet. |
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| Looking over Silverton, CO from a bonus stop. |
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| Elevation for the entire 32 hour rally on my route. |
A fairly uneventful nighttime ride up through central Utah takes me to my rest bonus stop a little late on my desired timeline but still well within the window. Why late? Eat. I did well for lunch and snacks by eating along the way without a stop - I brought Powerbars and trail mix, and had plenty of water. I didn't get hungry until around 7, and then I couldn't think about anything else. I grabbed a couple cheeseburgers and chowed down next to my bike in the parking lot to save time, but that time spent meant it was a little bit later, a little bit darker.
Nighttime riding isn't my favorite. My vision isn't what it used to be and I haven't upgraded my lights, yet, so my progress was slower than I had planned. I still used the full 4 hours, but now left my hotel a little later on Sunday morning. That pretty much eliminated the possibility of riding up to the 7th dam. I might have made it...but chose to ride my plan. It was interesting to reflect on those stops that were not "efficient", and wonder if improvement would have given me the time I needed. My finishing position would have been 4 or 5 spots higher if I had gone to that dam. Damn.
As it turned out I arrived about 90 minutes early and had a much more relaxed scoring experience. A quick milkshake and then I went to welcome other riders.
Here are some things I learned (or relearned?):
- If the rally master gives you the rally pack early, use the time to plan your ride. Many rallies do not afford the rider that option - the pack is delivered the night before the rally or even as late as 1 hour before the rally starts. A different skill to be sure.
- Drink water early. Make sure you drink enough. Even 3L wasn't enough each day.
- Understand your route so that when your stupid GPS tries to send you off the edge of the world like a lemming you can insert some logic and ignore it. I had learned that lesson before and was able to apply it this time.
- Don't sweat the small stuff. How will the rally start? Small stuff - you'll have help. Dressed with enough layers - not small stuff, go ahead and sweat that detail.
- Plan gas stops. This was a huge stressor that I managed to remove entirely by knowing where and when I would be stopping for gas. Didn't have to fiddle with the GPS to search along my route because my route already had the stop. My route notes also indicated about how far I would have to go on a tank so I knew how much throttle was available. The Wing gets good mileage up to about 70mph. After that I think I could watch the gas gage drop.
- Make a plan for eating. I'm not sure how this works, yet. Clearly my plan was not good for me. I wouldn't suggest a sit-down meal while on the clock if you are trying to push it, but clearly a diet of powerbars didn't do it, either.
All-in-all I was happy with my ride. 32 hours, about 1350 miles, 19,300+ points and a 9th place (out of around 50 riders) finish. And that was my first time riding in Colorado and New Mexico, too. Here's my route from Spotwalla. If you compare it to my planned route, you should find it nearly identical.
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| My HW3 route from Spotwalla. |
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| Dinosaurs are everywhere in northern Utah and Colorado. Including outside city hall in Dinosaur, CO. |
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| Did a little more rose sniffing along the trip home and stopped and state borders. |
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| Flaming Gorge Dam - the one I let get away. |
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| Flaming Gorge NRA - excellent riding, beautiful scenery. |
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| Wyoming! |
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| Ah, Idaho. |
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| One of my dams - Palisades Dam outside Idaho Falls. |
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| Lots of wildfires along my return route, unfortunately. |
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| Lots of wind outside Idaho Falls. At war with tumbleweeds. |
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| I was like 8 for 8 on sunrises this trip :) |
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| At Wild Horse Dam - I think I found the olympic diving pool. |
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| Up in the mountains outside Bend, OR. |
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| Cougar Dam - #20! |
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| Cougar Lake |
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| Looking downstream from Cougar Dam. |
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| The return trip home - some dams on the road, some required a trip. |
Friday, August 19, 2016
Grand Junction, CO
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| Home to Grand Junction, CO |
Friend Bill and I saw good weather all the way out here - perhaps a bit warm at times, maybe even hot once in a while. Mostly around low 90s with occasional trips north of 100. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to stay reasonably comfortable even when really hot. I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time at 100, but it didn't drain me, either. Stay hydrated - even more important when speed limits are 80mph! I have a Camelbak bladder that I put in a little cooler with a couple blocks of blue ice - it kept the water cool all day, at least until I had exhausted my 3 liter supply!
I had a couple route ideas in my head, and one of them was to the south where I would expect it to be hotter. It is the route I would rather ride, and my experience with the heat over the last few days convinced me it was the way to go. I may regret it Sunday, but that's the plan.
The trip wasn't all boring - the section from Provo, UT to interstate 70 on US-6 through Price, UT was very nice. I would ride that again.
Today's agenda is pretty limited. We have a rally tech inspection for our bikes this morning, a short ride to verify odometer readings and then a dinner and rider meeting this evening. The rally starts at 6am Saturday morning - follow along if you want to see the craziness!
A few have asked about the odometer check and why we do it. This rally has both a minimum number of miles required for finisher status (1150) and a tie-breaker based on miles ridden, and motorcycle odometers are historically inaccurate (in the generous direction), so the rally master has elected to compute the error and apply a correction factor to each rider's final odometer reading.
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| Sunset in Twin Falls, ID Tuesday evening. Smoke or dust? Not sure. |
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| You have to be prepared for road construction when you travel during the summer. It wasn't too bad. |
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| Road construction does remove our air conditioning, though :( |
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| My first time riding in Colorado! Had to stop. |
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| Our scenery for the last couple of hours of the ride. We rode between rain showers all afternoon without seeing a single drop fall on us :) |
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| Same state line, selfie time. |
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
Next Adventure - How The West Was Won
Headed out on my next riding adventure this week for the How the West Was Won rally out of Grand Junction, CO. This rally is a bit different than my normal riding for the Big Money Rally. It is a fixed time - only 32 hours start to finish - as opposed to the BMR's January 1 - Memorial Day window. So instead of picking my riding windows with consideration of day of the week, this rally will be completed, rain or shine, over 32 hours from Saturday morning at 6am to Sunday afternoon at 2pm.
Read more about the HW3 rally here.
Start and stop location is Grand Junction, CO. We received our rally packs with all bonus locations a week and advance and can have all ride planning done before ever showing up at the hotel.
I am leaving for Grand Junction on Wednesday morning and taking 2 days to get there. Friday is a down day with bike tech inspections and an odometer check followed by a banquet and rider's meeting.
I can't publish any information about the rally package - my route planning is pretty much done and will include roads in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. I am pretty excited about the area we will be riding - many of the areas are new to me.
I have created a page where you can follow my progress if you desire. It updates every 5-10 minutes. I also created a separate page for the period of the rally. Both pages will track my progress during the rally, but the rally page excludes all the boring riding to get there and get home. Links below, but they are to active until the ride starts.
Here is the link to my Spotwalla page for the entire period.
Here is the link to my Spotwalla page for just the rally (Sat at 6am to Sun at 2pm).
I will also try to post some pictures along the way. Probably not too much real time during the rally - my initial leg ride plan is tedious and I will not want to waste a lot of time.
Read more about the HW3 rally here.
Start and stop location is Grand Junction, CO. We received our rally packs with all bonus locations a week and advance and can have all ride planning done before ever showing up at the hotel.
I am leaving for Grand Junction on Wednesday morning and taking 2 days to get there. Friday is a down day with bike tech inspections and an odometer check followed by a banquet and rider's meeting.
I can't publish any information about the rally package - my route planning is pretty much done and will include roads in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. I am pretty excited about the area we will be riding - many of the areas are new to me.
I have created a page where you can follow my progress if you desire. It updates every 5-10 minutes. I also created a separate page for the period of the rally. Both pages will track my progress during the rally, but the rally page excludes all the boring riding to get there and get home. Links below, but they are to active until the ride starts.
Here is the link to my Spotwalla page for the entire period.
Here is the link to my Spotwalla page for just the rally (Sat at 6am to Sun at 2pm).
I will also try to post some pictures along the way. Probably not too much real time during the rally - my initial leg ride plan is tedious and I will not want to waste a lot of time.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
New Bike Update
The most common comment I have heard since moving to the Wing is "You don't look old enough to ride that bike." WTH? I know the bike has a reputation as a car on wheels, but seriously, it is a lot of fun to ride, too. I have been out several times now and put about 1,300 miles on the odometer including a bit of riding in hot weather. So far, so good. The challenge remains handling the weight at low speeds, but practice has made me more comfortable.
My next biggest concern so far has been how it would feel to ride in hot weather. The Wing has a massive fairing that effectively blocks a lot of wind flow. I used to bake pretty good on the FJR at anything above about 95F, and a lot of that heat was thrown off the motor. The Wing seems to manage the heat pretty well. I rode through eastern Washington last week with temps hovering around 100F without issue (at least until I stopped!). The single biggest improvement over the FJR is that the Wing cooling fans push air forward out the front of the bike and away from the rider. Pure genius!
Here's some pictures of recent rides. I have a couple of rallies coming up in August and September, work permitting. August will find me out in Grand Junction, CO for the How the West Was Won (HW3) rally, and September finds me in the PNW for the second edition of BMRx. If you ride and want to have some fun in September, take a look at BMRx (link below). I did it last year and it was a blast!
Here's a link to the BMRx rally website.
I will post more as my rallies get closer.
My next biggest concern so far has been how it would feel to ride in hot weather. The Wing has a massive fairing that effectively blocks a lot of wind flow. I used to bake pretty good on the FJR at anything above about 95F, and a lot of that heat was thrown off the motor. The Wing seems to manage the heat pretty well. I rode through eastern Washington last week with temps hovering around 100F without issue (at least until I stopped!). The single biggest improvement over the FJR is that the Wing cooling fans push air forward out the front of the bike and away from the rider. Pure genius!
Here's some pictures of recent rides. I have a couple of rallies coming up in August and September, work permitting. August will find me out in Grand Junction, CO for the How the West Was Won (HW3) rally, and September finds me in the PNW for the second edition of BMRx. If you ride and want to have some fun in September, take a look at BMRx (link below). I did it last year and it was a blast!
Here's a link to the BMRx rally website.
I will post more as my rallies get closer.
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| A visit to Bumping Lake Dam with my alien buddy. He might have to leave in November :( |
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| Sometimes you come around a corner and have to stop. |
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| My favorite of the day. Looking over Tipsoo Lake to Mt Rainier in Mt Rainier National Park. |
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| My ride. |
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| Obligatory Wilson picture :) |
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| Rafting trip over the holiday weekend. |
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| I even got to try my hand as guide. We didn't die. |
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| Holiday weekend camping trip. |
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Why Would Anyone Buy One of These Things?
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| My New Ride :) |
I will admit I have pined for a Goldwing for quite some time now. I always thought that was where I was headed, but also thought it was still a ways down the road. My recent road trip proved to be the tipping point. So now I begin the next chapter of my riding on a Goldwing.
Too early to give any meaningful impressions. Slow speed maneuvers will take some time to get used to. It was barely noticeable at highway speeds, though. The bike feels very nimble for something this big. As I learn the quirks and mannerisms of my new bike I will post some of what I learn. Until then, I will unapologetically enjoy my plush new bike :)
Monday, June 13, 2016
A Vegas Ride Recap
My week long ride to Vegas was a great time. All told, including my return trip home, I managed to ride about 4650 miles in 7 days of riding. 1173 of those miles were in one day on my return trip home (my second IBA SaddleSore ride). I rode through rain, wind and plenty of sunshine, and made my way through 7 different states, 1 of which was a new riding experience for me. My ride went from about 75 feet below sea level in southern California to well over 7000 feet in Arizona. Absolutely crazy to think about all the extremes I enjoyed.
Highlights and lowlights? Definitely a couple that will stick for a while.
- Lowlight was riding through the Sacramento area at dusk and into the evening. Think rainstorm with small bugs near rice paddies and you have it about right. First time I have needed to stop during a ride to clean my visor and headlights!
- Riding towards Lake Havasu City was awesome. Some great scenery, great roads and lots of sunshine with pleasant temps made it great. Riding near Lake Havasu at sunset (after having been frustrated by my lack of efficiency all day) really helped reset my ride, too.
- Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend and Valley of Fire State Park in one day riding to Vegas was almost awesome overload! I really need to spend more time in that area and explore more of the bounty of awesomeness.
I made it home after a never-ending ride on Memorial Day. Jeannette and I spent the weekend in Vegas doing some sight-seeing and attending my motorcycle rally banquet. I think it was good for her to see that there are plenty of other people out there just as crazy as I am! We had a chance to sit with other couples and talk about their experiences - very nice.
I had a decision to make. I could split the ride home up into 2 manageable days and get home sometime Tuesday afternoon, and probably avoid most of the holiday traffic, or I could grind it out and ride all the way. The shortest route from Vegas to home actually goes through eastern Nevada, part of Idaho and northeast Oregon before hitting Washington. It is not intuitive when looking at a map, but the lack of roads present few options. The actual shortest route would have saved me about 50 miles but went through the heart of Oregon, including Bend, and in to Portland and Vancouver. Traffic would have sucked. As I looked over the route I began to think that it was a much better route traffic-wise, and I might be able to make pretty good time with favorable speed limits and light traffic in the middle of nowhere. For those of you who don't get out much, speed limits on 2 lane state highways in Nevada are usually 70mph, and interstate limits in Nevada and Idaho are 75-80 mph.
Here's my route as I rode it. I left preparing to go all the way if possible and accomplish an IBA sanctioned ride more than 1000 miles in less than 24 hours) and started keeping track of my mileage and gas receipts. The first part of my ride was the same no matter which option I chose, so I decided to play it by ear and see how traffic treated me. Turns out I didn't see more than 10 cars for over 200 miles and was making great time. In fact, I continued to make great time all the way to Ellensburg and was on track to be home at a reasonable hour until I hit traffic over Snoqualmie Pass.
Proviso lessons learned riding in Nevada prompted me to stop more often than normal for gas. Kind of like bathrooms - see one, use one - when riding out there. Traffic picked up a bit but still moved along at the limit when I reached the interstate in Idaho and on in to Oregon. Oregon has recently raised interstate limits to 70 mph (welcome to the 21st century), so that helped also. Many long-distance riders will avoid riding in Oregon because of lower than normal speed limits.
Having reached 1,000 miles I decided to stop in Ellensburg (central WA) for a longer stop for dinner and to stretch out a bit. Ellensburg is about 2 hours form home normally, but traffic was really heavy going over the pass on a holiday weekend and I was sitting through stop-and-go traffic for about an hour before it loosened up a bit. Even with that delay I managed to make it home before 10pm.
More pictures can be found in my Flickr album linked here.
Not much going on in the way of riding for the next couple months. I have a rally planned in August near Grand Junction, Colorado, and a few more dams to visit this summer. I'll post more when I get something to write about!
Highlights and lowlights? Definitely a couple that will stick for a while.
- Lowlight was riding through the Sacramento area at dusk and into the evening. Think rainstorm with small bugs near rice paddies and you have it about right. First time I have needed to stop during a ride to clean my visor and headlights!
- Riding towards Lake Havasu City was awesome. Some great scenery, great roads and lots of sunshine with pleasant temps made it great. Riding near Lake Havasu at sunset (after having been frustrated by my lack of efficiency all day) really helped reset my ride, too.
- Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend and Valley of Fire State Park in one day riding to Vegas was almost awesome overload! I really need to spend more time in that area and explore more of the bounty of awesomeness.
I made it home after a never-ending ride on Memorial Day. Jeannette and I spent the weekend in Vegas doing some sight-seeing and attending my motorcycle rally banquet. I think it was good for her to see that there are plenty of other people out there just as crazy as I am! We had a chance to sit with other couples and talk about their experiences - very nice.
I had a decision to make. I could split the ride home up into 2 manageable days and get home sometime Tuesday afternoon, and probably avoid most of the holiday traffic, or I could grind it out and ride all the way. The shortest route from Vegas to home actually goes through eastern Nevada, part of Idaho and northeast Oregon before hitting Washington. It is not intuitive when looking at a map, but the lack of roads present few options. The actual shortest route would have saved me about 50 miles but went through the heart of Oregon, including Bend, and in to Portland and Vancouver. Traffic would have sucked. As I looked over the route I began to think that it was a much better route traffic-wise, and I might be able to make pretty good time with favorable speed limits and light traffic in the middle of nowhere. For those of you who don't get out much, speed limits on 2 lane state highways in Nevada are usually 70mph, and interstate limits in Nevada and Idaho are 75-80 mph.
Here's my route as I rode it. I left preparing to go all the way if possible and accomplish an IBA sanctioned ride more than 1000 miles in less than 24 hours) and started keeping track of my mileage and gas receipts. The first part of my ride was the same no matter which option I chose, so I decided to play it by ear and see how traffic treated me. Turns out I didn't see more than 10 cars for over 200 miles and was making great time. In fact, I continued to make great time all the way to Ellensburg and was on track to be home at a reasonable hour until I hit traffic over Snoqualmie Pass.
Proviso lessons learned riding in Nevada prompted me to stop more often than normal for gas. Kind of like bathrooms - see one, use one - when riding out there. Traffic picked up a bit but still moved along at the limit when I reached the interstate in Idaho and on in to Oregon. Oregon has recently raised interstate limits to 70 mph (welcome to the 21st century), so that helped also. Many long-distance riders will avoid riding in Oregon because of lower than normal speed limits.
Having reached 1,000 miles I decided to stop in Ellensburg (central WA) for a longer stop for dinner and to stretch out a bit. Ellensburg is about 2 hours form home normally, but traffic was really heavy going over the pass on a holiday weekend and I was sitting through stop-and-go traffic for about an hour before it loosened up a bit. Even with that delay I managed to make it home before 10pm.
More pictures can be found in my Flickr album linked here.
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| My ride from my Spot tracker. |
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| Final ride stats. |
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Las Vegas - My Ride So Far
After updating on the first day I gave up trying to think of something witty while pretty well exhausted from full days of riding. Posted a few pictures on Facebook I had taken along the way. Jeannette joined me in Vegas for the weekend so I finally have little time to update my ride.
Big picture, I rode my planned route with few exceptions. I left Washington last Sunday, made my south with stops in Medford, OR, Woodland, CA and Barstow, CA before turning more east. The last two days of riding were spectacular in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. I made it to Nevada on Friday late afternoon in the heat of the day. Here's the ride mileage so far:
Day 1: 650 miles - Home to Medford, OR with a lot of back and forth across the interstate for bonus stops. Can't really say there was a highlight this day - I have ridden these roads several times before.
Day 2: 537 miles (1187 miles total) - Medford to Woodland, CA with side trips to see a few dams in southwest Oregon and northwest California. Highlights included Trinity Dam and Shasta Dam stops. Lowlight included riding through central California rice paddies at sunset. The bugs were like rain. And they are still on my bike :(
Day 3: 564 miles (1753 miles total) - Woodland to Barstow, CA with a lot of riding along the Sacramento River, a trip out to the middle of nowhere, CA for a bonus and dinner at In N Out. The side trip was exciting because it was 25 miles of open range cows (and their associated droppings on the road). Once I arrived and snapped my picture I quickly realized the road led to nowhere and had to backtrack through the cows and poop. Needless to say, it was slow going. Turns out that cows have the same horrible survival instincts as deer and will run directly in to you path when spooked.
Day 4: 576 miles (2330 miles total) - Barstow to Lake Havasu City, AZ by way of Yuma. Finally the trip gets more interesting. I have ridden the area around the Salton Sea before so was ready to just get it out of the way. Knowing I had a long day ahead of me I was eager to get an efficient start but struggled to get any momentum. Seemed like every stop lasted twice as long as it should have and I got a bit discouraged. There is always a plan, however, and the early morning snafus resulted in my arrival at Lake Havasu at sunset for some spectacular sights! Always keep the faith.
Day 5: 482 miles (2812 miles total) - Lake Havasu City to Flagstaff, AZ. My shortest planned day had me start near sea level in Lake Havasu City and make my way to over 7,000 feet in Flagstaff for the night. Crazy, especially when you consider there was never really anything I would consider a "mountain pass" to make the elevation gain. Just a long steady climb up and up and up. The scenery was fantastic and I enjoyed the entire ride. Only one small mishap while I was putting on my rain pants and almost got robbed, but a State Trooper showed up at the right time. Story will be shared over a beer upon request.
Day 6: 662 miles (3473 miles total) - Flagstaff to Vegas. Highlight segment of the trip with planned stops in Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend and along the outskirts of Zion and several other state and national parks. Unbelievable! Knowing i wanted to get to Vegas before dinner to meet up with Jeannette, and that this was my longest planned day, I left my hotel at 3:30am and headed north for Monument Valley. No traffic and i got the just after sunrise. The stop at Horseshoe Bend is a must-see if you are in the area. Relatively simple hike out and back, and a few people to contend with, but the vistas are so worth it. I made it before Jeannette, too :)
I'll write more about our Vegas adventure (it's not done, yet) when I get home. I have panned my return trip to make the shortest mileage, which has me going north through Nevada into Idaho and then west through Oregon back to Washington. I have a plan to complete my second IBA sanctioned endurance ride, but also have scoped out hotels along the way incase traffic or my aging body disagree. I'll still have the same Spotwalla page if you care to follow along. My plan is for a 4am start, but we'll see how I feel after our trip out to Zion today.
Instead of putting more copies of the same pictures in this blog entry, here's the link to the Flickr album I have been updating.
Tim's Big Ride Adventure!
That's it for now I think. More to come after I get home.
Big picture, I rode my planned route with few exceptions. I left Washington last Sunday, made my south with stops in Medford, OR, Woodland, CA and Barstow, CA before turning more east. The last two days of riding were spectacular in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. I made it to Nevada on Friday late afternoon in the heat of the day. Here's the ride mileage so far:
Day 1: 650 miles - Home to Medford, OR with a lot of back and forth across the interstate for bonus stops. Can't really say there was a highlight this day - I have ridden these roads several times before.
Day 2: 537 miles (1187 miles total) - Medford to Woodland, CA with side trips to see a few dams in southwest Oregon and northwest California. Highlights included Trinity Dam and Shasta Dam stops. Lowlight included riding through central California rice paddies at sunset. The bugs were like rain. And they are still on my bike :(
Day 3: 564 miles (1753 miles total) - Woodland to Barstow, CA with a lot of riding along the Sacramento River, a trip out to the middle of nowhere, CA for a bonus and dinner at In N Out. The side trip was exciting because it was 25 miles of open range cows (and their associated droppings on the road). Once I arrived and snapped my picture I quickly realized the road led to nowhere and had to backtrack through the cows and poop. Needless to say, it was slow going. Turns out that cows have the same horrible survival instincts as deer and will run directly in to you path when spooked.
Day 4: 576 miles (2330 miles total) - Barstow to Lake Havasu City, AZ by way of Yuma. Finally the trip gets more interesting. I have ridden the area around the Salton Sea before so was ready to just get it out of the way. Knowing I had a long day ahead of me I was eager to get an efficient start but struggled to get any momentum. Seemed like every stop lasted twice as long as it should have and I got a bit discouraged. There is always a plan, however, and the early morning snafus resulted in my arrival at Lake Havasu at sunset for some spectacular sights! Always keep the faith.
Day 5: 482 miles (2812 miles total) - Lake Havasu City to Flagstaff, AZ. My shortest planned day had me start near sea level in Lake Havasu City and make my way to over 7,000 feet in Flagstaff for the night. Crazy, especially when you consider there was never really anything I would consider a "mountain pass" to make the elevation gain. Just a long steady climb up and up and up. The scenery was fantastic and I enjoyed the entire ride. Only one small mishap while I was putting on my rain pants and almost got robbed, but a State Trooper showed up at the right time. Story will be shared over a beer upon request.
Day 6: 662 miles (3473 miles total) - Flagstaff to Vegas. Highlight segment of the trip with planned stops in Monument Valley, Horseshoe Bend and along the outskirts of Zion and several other state and national parks. Unbelievable! Knowing i wanted to get to Vegas before dinner to meet up with Jeannette, and that this was my longest planned day, I left my hotel at 3:30am and headed north for Monument Valley. No traffic and i got the just after sunrise. The stop at Horseshoe Bend is a must-see if you are in the area. Relatively simple hike out and back, and a few people to contend with, but the vistas are so worth it. I made it before Jeannette, too :)
I'll write more about our Vegas adventure (it's not done, yet) when I get home. I have panned my return trip to make the shortest mileage, which has me going north through Nevada into Idaho and then west through Oregon back to Washington. I have a plan to complete my second IBA sanctioned endurance ride, but also have scoped out hotels along the way incase traffic or my aging body disagree. I'll still have the same Spotwalla page if you care to follow along. My plan is for a 4am start, but we'll see how I feel after our trip out to Zion today.
Instead of putting more copies of the same pictures in this blog entry, here's the link to the Flickr album I have been updating.
Tim's Big Ride Adventure!
That's it for now I think. More to come after I get home.
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Day 1 - Medford, OR
I got an early start this morning because I knew it would be one of the longer days mileage wise. Also, since it was supposed to rain I decided to allow for more time off the bike to dry out and warm back up. It worked out well and I managed to pull in to my hotel by 8pm. It was a good days of riding but the clouds and rain made for few pictures. I was able to visit a couple new dams and a few of the bonus locations were at interesting places. Oregon has a lot of covered bridges and my ride took me past several of them today. Many of the covered bridges are historic and not functional any more, but you can drive across a few still.
Today's mileage - right at 650 miles. 2 pairs of gloves - hopefully they both dry out tonight - and everything else held up to the rain just fine.
Here's my trip link again. Day 1 is there and you can choose the data you want to see. Click on the ride name in the upper left and select "Adjustments". That will allow you to choose how much data you want to see. My Spot transmitter updates every 5 minutes.
Monday is a bit shorter day mileage wise, but quite a few more bonus stops along the way. Hoping to get to my hotel by 8pm again to catch The Voice final. :)
Today's mileage - right at 650 miles. 2 pairs of gloves - hopefully they both dry out tonight - and everything else held up to the rain just fine.
Here's my trip link again. Day 1 is there and you can choose the data you want to see. Click on the ride name in the upper left and select "Adjustments". That will allow you to choose how much data you want to see. My Spot transmitter updates every 5 minutes.
Monday is a bit shorter day mileage wise, but quite a few more bonus stops along the way. Hoping to get to my hotel by 8pm again to catch The Voice final. :)
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| One of many functional covered bridges in Oregon. |
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| One of two dams in Oregon I visited - this one is Fall Creek Dam. |
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| Another covered bridge - this one was a bonus location and was a picture match. |
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| Visited an airport in Oregon and found this cool mural. |
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| Dorena Dam. |
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| Snapshot of my trip today. Was hoping for a better average but hard to do with so many stops. |
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