Sunday was supposed to be a ride from Minden, NV to Bend OR with a few stops to look at restaurants, dams and airports. I took off at 5 am with a full belly and gas tank. Thank goodness for 24 hours casino restaurants! Riding with an empty stomach and without my morning coffee just doesn't return as much fun. It was cool but not cold and I decided to leave my heated liner in the bag thinking it would warm up quickly when the sun came up. Wrong! It was fine through Reno and north a little bit, but it got downright cold as soon as I crossed into California on US-395 and the sun came up! A quick stop to change out gear and I was moving again.
I took a long route north to enjoy California's many excellent motorcycle roads. Twisty and scenic, it is probably one of my very favorite places to ride. Traffic was light and I was making very good time, even without speeding excessively. By lunch time I was at my first stop at a little place called Max's Cafe in Keno, OR, just across the border from California and in the area known as the Klamath Basin. I had enjoyed views of Mt Shasta for a couple of hours and really enjoyed the area. I continued west towards two other checkpoints, Pinehurst State Airport and Emigrant Lake Dam, and found myself pretty close to I-5. Knowing that the weather was going to be bad both days near home, I made the decision to push towards home and try to avoid Memorial Day traffic headaches.
It wasn't an easy decision. I have ridden high mileage days in the past, but always mentally prepared for the event. This time my mind was prepared for about 600 miles, and I was changing my plan and would be covering close to 900 miles. I decided to do it and made it safely home at around 10:30 pm after only 3 hours in the rain. Traffic was light and I made good time, so I think it was the way to go. It also solidified in my mind that I can accomplish one of my goals for the summer and complete an Iron Butt Association sanctioned Saddle Sore 1000 - ride 1000 miles in a 24 hour period. The event is an individual ride with documentation required (like witnesses, gas receipts, etc). If I had thought it out a little better, and had all the paperwork with me Sunday, I could have added a few miles and knocked it out! Oh, well.
So my ride is complete and it was fantastic! I saw some areas of the country that I wanted to ride through and met some really fantastic people at the rally banquet in Minden. The ride totaled nearly 4,000 miles over 7 riding days - a respectable 566 miles/day. Throw out yesterday and it was a more realistic 510 miles/day. I think a few weeks off are in order to allow my brain and bank account to recover!
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| Mt Shasta from the Klamath Basin in northern California. |
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| Lower Klamath Basin in northern California. |
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| Obligatory bike shot. |
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| Pinehurst State Airport - one of the checkpoints for a different tour :) |
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| Emigrant Lake Dam near Ashland, OR. |
2 comments:
Tim, finally got around to sitting down and reading your complete blog (instead of the FB Cliff Notes). I'm planning my yearly ride and was wondering if you just picked a general route or if you did a detailed route. If the detailed route may I ask you what you used.
thanks
Magnus
Magnus - For long trips, I usually pick a detailed route in advance. I am one of those people that likes to have a stopping point and associated campground/hotel reservation in advance. It helps me avoid riding until exhaustion sets in!
In general, I use Garmin's Basecamp program on my Mac and upload waypoints to my GPS unit. For this trip, I knew I wanted to ride out to SE Idaho to visit friends, and also knew that Reno was my ultimate destination. After nailing that down, I tried to pick roads I hadn't used before and avoided interstate riding as much as possible. Once I knew what roads I wanted to use, I started looking for towns large enough to have a hotel that would give me the "right" distance (I figured about 500 miles a day for this trip).
I have also used Google Maps to plan trips. It is pretty easy to drag your route around and you can either print out the turning directions or I think you could export as a GPS file to use in a device. On a somewhat related note, I also try to look for good local meal stops - I like Mom & Pop places over chains as much as possible. I couldn't tell you exactly where I will be eating, but I usually have a good idea of what is available and don't need to search once I get there too often.
The other advantage to using Google Maps (or similar app) is the ability to see what you are driving by. For example, I knew Craters of the Moon was a good stop so I altered my route a bit to make sure I drove on the correct road. Also found Burney Falls State Park in northern California a few years back by doing my planning.
While out on the road, I typically know what road I should be on and just ride it. I don't normally engage the GPS until I know I am somewhat close to my destination/waypoint. I don't like to look down and see the arrival time mocking me as it gets later and later because of my frequent stops!
Hope this helps. If there is something I haven't mentioned that you have a question about, let me know.
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