Tuesday, June 1. 2004
Memorial Day Ride Wrap up
the short version: it rocked. i'm hooked. i can't wait to go again. it was perfect.
----
Day 1
----
I woke up at 7:15 to a dark, overcast sky. I rolled my bike into the driveway in the rain and attached my relay contraption for my tankbag. Then I carefully attached my tankbag and tailbag and attached my camping gear to the tail bag. Then a short ride down to Chevron to fill up and then on to Eric and Dawns… where I ended up about half an hour late.
Kris and Dave were there, along with Scott, Eric’s next door neighbor. Dave offered to change my fork height before we left, so while they wrenched on my bike I had a donut and hung out with the wives. With the forks reset (which made the bike handle way better for me), they turned their attention to the sub-par job i did in affixing the bags to the bike. A couple of bungee ties later, we were on our way up I-80 to Kamas.
Kamas was pretty cold, so I put on another layer and my rain pants for wind protection. At about 8000 feet, we ran into a layer of frost and snow up wolf creek canyon. It was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it, especially not while holding onto handle bars. Right after we topped out, we stopped because everyone with their electric vests, heated hand grips and other thermal toys were worried that little old me was going to freeze to death. I was a little cold, but not horrible. I did take the opportunity to put on some warmer gloves I had brought, but they weren’t very good to ride in because they were so thick. We ended up in Duchesne.
After wolf creek came Indian School, which I had never ridden before. All of the corners were big sweepers, and we spent a lot of time in top gear. I fell behind because I was still in sharp corner mode, but soon changed my brain around and caught up. Wow the canyon chasers are fast!
Indian School emptied out into Price, which I actually recognized from my numerous trips to Moab and Green River. We got on highway 6 and headed north for a bit, then into Scofield. In Scofield we hit snow and hail, and crazy winds. When we finally stopped at the ONLY gas station in Scofield, we met up with Clay, who had been there for 2 hours waiting for us.
We were all a little hungry, so we ordered some food. The woman at the gas station showed Eric the machine to make the burgers, and Eric cooked us all lunch. Everyone complained about how cold it was while I was shedding layers to stay cool. Every time they’d unplug their electric vests, they’d shiver. I laughed. Though Clay did offer me some winter gloves from his GS, which I gladly accepted. After some nice, greasy cheeseburgers we all got on the bikes and headed thru Huntington Canyon.
Huntington Canyon was a blast! Nice and quick, but a little cold. The gloves from Clay really made the difference. I didn’t notice at all, but everyone else was shivering at the next gas stop. We fueled up and took 72.
72 was amazing! Twisty and solid, with nice predictable corners the whole way through. On the way in through Loa we saw a red Hawk GT for sale out front of a restaurant and all pointed in amazement. Our ride emptied out into Torrey, which is where we were spending the night. We pulled into the camp ground and everyone dismounted with a sigh of relief. 400 miles on a bike is no easy task, but it was worth every ache in my back
We unloaded the bikes, set up camp and waited for Loretta and Danny. Dave’s cell had a message saying that he was having bike problems and may be late. We decided to give up and go get some dinner at Café Diablo when we ran into Dwight and Amy. They were down there totally coincidentally to do some hiking and take some photos. Since Clay and Scott had an extra slot on their reservation, we invited them to stay with us, and they agreed.
We all went to Café Diablo and waited for about 45 minutes (on top of the 90 minute reservations we placed earlier). During the wait, Danny and Loretta showed up. It was really nice to see them, as we were worried about them traveling with bike problems, not to mention that I haven’t seen either of them in like 6 months. Dwight and Amy gave up and went back to camp to get some food. Right after they left, we were seated.
Danny regaled us with stories of fouled plugs, stripped screws, amazing mechanics and concerned park rangers. It was quite an adventure, but that’s the point of a sport touring trip, right? We all ate some amazing food and talked about the riding of the day, what was in store for tomorrow and everything else under the sun. After dinner we went to bed to get a jump on the next day’s festivities.
I curled into my new sleeping bag, on my new pad, in my new tent, and finally understood how camping can be fun. I was warm, dry and comfortable. I fell right asleep and awoke warm, well rested and ready to tackle the day. And oh what a day it was.
--------
Day 2
--------
Torrey is nesteled right where 72 stops and 12 begins. It isn’t much of a town, but that was a nice change of pace. We got up, got into our gear, and got some breakfast at the place next door to the camp ground. It took about an hour to get our food, and it came out in little waves. I was, of course, the absolute last one to be served.
Then Danny started his bike to find that it was running badly again, so they stripped the bike down to the carbs and had a look. They discovered that the airbox wasn’t seated on the manifold, and looked like it hadn’t been in years, along with a fuel pressure hose which was off for approximately the same period of time. Dave and Danny developed cardboard shims from a 6 pack of Cutthroat and we buttoned the bike back up. It started right up and ran great!
With fuel in our tummies and the bike ready to go, it was time to go see what all this fuss was about highway 12. I must say, I was in no way prepared for it. Beautiful corners everywhere! Up, down, left, right, shuffle, repeat. It was amazing! We stopped after a short section called the Hog’s Back, which was merely a twisty road suspended on a razor’s edged platform. Each side dropped hundreds of feet. It was a little unnerving, and I did it all in first gear. I stood on the side of the road amazed, talking to a couple on a Goldwing from Chicago. Everyone got back on their bikes for a short ride to our lunch destination.
When I got on my bike, I was convinced there was something wrong with my handlebars. They just didn’t seem right. Then, in the middle of a left-hand corner on a sheer cliff, my left clip-on pushed itself independently from my forks! I steered with the outside bar and flashed my brakes at Danny and Loretta who were behind me. When Danny pulled up to see what I wanted, I pulled my clip-on back and forth for him. We stopped on the side of the sheer cliff and tightened my clip-on down, freaked out a bit, and caught up with the others for lunch.
We stopped for lunch at the Kiva Coffee House. I had a great little bagel sandwich and we talked about riding, loose clip-ons and where to go next. We decided that Zion is a bad idea, and we instead took 12 a little farther into town and got gas while ogling Indian jewelry. Then we turned around and took 12 back to the Burr trail. We rode the Burr trail down as far as it was paved. It was a little 2 lane road with no lines painted. It was sort of rough and bumpy, but fun, with amazing scenery.
We took some pictures at the bottom and headed back up the canyon. I followed Kris up the canyon and really enjoyed her riding style. She was smooth and fluid. She makes it look so easy and carefree. One day I’ll ride that well.
The Burr trail took us back to 12, and we took that home. On the way back I hit a couple of tar snakes on the road in a hard right hander that caused me to slide my rear tire for the first time. The first one was a lil odd, the second really freaked me out. I got back into the swing of things (tho a bit slower) and got to the gas station just as my gas light came on. 161 miles before the light! I guess they put 5th and 6th gear on this bike for a reason, eh?
The gas station had a little go cart track set up out back, and being the big kids we are, we all got tickets and piled into the cars with all our motorcycle gear on. 7 of us in carts that went maybe 6 MPH was pretty amusing, but not too exciting. I followed Loretta and Kris around the track 3 laps on the exact same line before they finally were goofing off so much I managed to get around them. Danny passed me and the girls in short order, and Dave came up from the back with this look of determination on his face. He even managed to get passed danny on the last corner and take the checkered flag! Boy those carts would have been fun with some bigger motors
After our mini track day, we went back to camp and got changed into civies and went back to Café Diablo for some food. More stories and great food happened. Then back to the camp site where we started a fire and hung out talking about all things embarrassing and silly. Danny taught us some a really dumb campfire game (*ahem* I can do the stick dance, stick dance, stick dance...), and then followed it up with a great one called “Mafia”. Then we dissected Danny and Dave’s dreams for a bit and went to bed.
-----
Day 3
-----
I woke up in the AM a little sick and dry. After moving around for a bit and chomping some Halls before breakfast (which was just as late and spread out), I was feeling much better. We said goodbye to Dwight and Amy, and then to Clay and Scott who had a couple more days of sport touring planned, and headed through Loa for home.
We stopped in Loa to see a man about a horse. Or was that a redneck about an abused hawk? The sign said 1500 OBO, and when Eric went into the restaurant he found the owner wasn’t there, but lived down the street. He got on his bike to get him while Dave checked the hawk out. It needed some body work but was mechanically top notch.
The owner, Robin, showed up in his beat up pickup with yellow shorts, 3 pairs of underwear, wool socks, slip on shoes and no shirt. He told us stories of how he’s never checked the valves, how he set the bike down for a neighbor kid and told the story of how if the kid could pick it up, he could ride it. Then he explained that he wanted 1500 for it and there were people in town ready to pay that so he couldn’t go any lower.
Dave fired the bike up and it came to life so fast it startled us all. It ran really well and the exhaust seemed to heat up at the same rate. Eric took it for a ride and it sounded amazing! He said it ran really well and we checked it out a little more only to find that things all seemed in top shape for being fathered by the current owner who couldn’t say 3 words without the need to pick at some part of his body unsubtly.
Now the bike was a steal at $1,500, although it needed a little work. So Dave went ahead and started listing all the work it needed with pricetags. $100 for valves. $40 for plugs. $120 for a chain and sprockets. Robin said he knew all that was needed, and he had done some work to the bike himself. Then he made the mistake of telling us he bought the bike for $1,000. It was like sharks on blood.
Dave and Eric did a tag team number on him, and in almost an instant he was agreeing that $1,000 was a fair price and that he’d take a check right then and there. gasp a hawk for a grand?! Looks like Dawn has the perfect starter bike! They agreed to come back for the bike the following day, and went to Robin’s house to get the paperwork all sorted.
Robin lead Eric, Dawn and Dave (on the hawk) to his home where he had all sorts of animals, including goats. Aparently, they not only do an excellent job of mowing (and fertilizing) the grass, but to quote the man, “they’re good eatin’ too!” He gave Eric and Dawn the hawk toolkit, manual, an oil filter and a complete sticker kit, along with the title. They gave him a check that was too small for actual market value, but more than fair for the town of Loa. Everyone wins!
After the business for the day was finished, we got on the road and ran into a herd of cattle being herded down the highway. We got in the middle of a bunch of cows and slowly worked our way through. It was sort of scary to see these huge animals just stare at us on our bikes. All they would have to do is nudge us and we’d be trampled. But we made it and took the journey home!
We skipped most of Fish Lake and just got up to 72. Then up to Price where we missed almost all of the traffic. Then up Indian School (where I was pretty damn fast if I do say so myself). Then the long way to Wolf Creek. I followed Dave thru wolf creek and had an absolute hoot! Following his lines, braking and gas made for an enjoyable ride quite a bit faster than I could have ridden on my own line.
We hit traffic on the last few miles of wolf creek, and emptied into Kamas and then into Park City, where we stopped for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays to have one last meal on the road. Down 80 we all went our separate ways, and I left Eric and Dawn at the exit from the highway.
Over 3 days and 1,000 miles we managed to break, fix and buy bikes. We took corners too fast, too slow and just right. We told stories, and made new ones that will be told to unbelieving new friends in years to come. We met friends we planned to, and ran into friends completely by surprise. We had an adventure. And through the cold, the wet, the heat, the wind, the sickness, the early mornings, and the long days in the saddle… the only thing I would change is the part where we had to go home. Well, and maybe the part where I slept in my tent alone
Day 1
----
I woke up at 7:15 to a dark, overcast sky. I rolled my bike into the driveway in the rain and attached my relay contraption for my tankbag. Then I carefully attached my tankbag and tailbag and attached my camping gear to the tail bag. Then a short ride down to Chevron to fill up and then on to Eric and Dawns… where I ended up about half an hour late.
Kris and Dave were there, along with Scott, Eric’s next door neighbor. Dave offered to change my fork height before we left, so while they wrenched on my bike I had a donut and hung out with the wives. With the forks reset (which made the bike handle way better for me), they turned their attention to the sub-par job i did in affixing the bags to the bike. A couple of bungee ties later, we were on our way up I-80 to Kamas.
Kamas was pretty cold, so I put on another layer and my rain pants for wind protection. At about 8000 feet, we ran into a layer of frost and snow up wolf creek canyon. It was beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it, especially not while holding onto handle bars. Right after we topped out, we stopped because everyone with their electric vests, heated hand grips and other thermal toys were worried that little old me was going to freeze to death. I was a little cold, but not horrible. I did take the opportunity to put on some warmer gloves I had brought, but they weren’t very good to ride in because they were so thick. We ended up in Duchesne.
After wolf creek came Indian School, which I had never ridden before. All of the corners were big sweepers, and we spent a lot of time in top gear. I fell behind because I was still in sharp corner mode, but soon changed my brain around and caught up. Wow the canyon chasers are fast!
Indian School emptied out into Price, which I actually recognized from my numerous trips to Moab and Green River. We got on highway 6 and headed north for a bit, then into Scofield. In Scofield we hit snow and hail, and crazy winds. When we finally stopped at the ONLY gas station in Scofield, we met up with Clay, who had been there for 2 hours waiting for us.
We were all a little hungry, so we ordered some food. The woman at the gas station showed Eric the machine to make the burgers, and Eric cooked us all lunch. Everyone complained about how cold it was while I was shedding layers to stay cool. Every time they’d unplug their electric vests, they’d shiver. I laughed. Though Clay did offer me some winter gloves from his GS, which I gladly accepted. After some nice, greasy cheeseburgers we all got on the bikes and headed thru Huntington Canyon.
Huntington Canyon was a blast! Nice and quick, but a little cold. The gloves from Clay really made the difference. I didn’t notice at all, but everyone else was shivering at the next gas stop. We fueled up and took 72.
72 was amazing! Twisty and solid, with nice predictable corners the whole way through. On the way in through Loa we saw a red Hawk GT for sale out front of a restaurant and all pointed in amazement. Our ride emptied out into Torrey, which is where we were spending the night. We pulled into the camp ground and everyone dismounted with a sigh of relief. 400 miles on a bike is no easy task, but it was worth every ache in my back
We unloaded the bikes, set up camp and waited for Loretta and Danny. Dave’s cell had a message saying that he was having bike problems and may be late. We decided to give up and go get some dinner at Café Diablo when we ran into Dwight and Amy. They were down there totally coincidentally to do some hiking and take some photos. Since Clay and Scott had an extra slot on their reservation, we invited them to stay with us, and they agreed.
We all went to Café Diablo and waited for about 45 minutes (on top of the 90 minute reservations we placed earlier). During the wait, Danny and Loretta showed up. It was really nice to see them, as we were worried about them traveling with bike problems, not to mention that I haven’t seen either of them in like 6 months. Dwight and Amy gave up and went back to camp to get some food. Right after they left, we were seated.
Danny regaled us with stories of fouled plugs, stripped screws, amazing mechanics and concerned park rangers. It was quite an adventure, but that’s the point of a sport touring trip, right? We all ate some amazing food and talked about the riding of the day, what was in store for tomorrow and everything else under the sun. After dinner we went to bed to get a jump on the next day’s festivities.
I curled into my new sleeping bag, on my new pad, in my new tent, and finally understood how camping can be fun. I was warm, dry and comfortable. I fell right asleep and awoke warm, well rested and ready to tackle the day. And oh what a day it was.
--------
Day 2
--------
Torrey is nesteled right where 72 stops and 12 begins. It isn’t much of a town, but that was a nice change of pace. We got up, got into our gear, and got some breakfast at the place next door to the camp ground. It took about an hour to get our food, and it came out in little waves. I was, of course, the absolute last one to be served.
Then Danny started his bike to find that it was running badly again, so they stripped the bike down to the carbs and had a look. They discovered that the airbox wasn’t seated on the manifold, and looked like it hadn’t been in years, along with a fuel pressure hose which was off for approximately the same period of time. Dave and Danny developed cardboard shims from a 6 pack of Cutthroat and we buttoned the bike back up. It started right up and ran great!
With fuel in our tummies and the bike ready to go, it was time to go see what all this fuss was about highway 12. I must say, I was in no way prepared for it. Beautiful corners everywhere! Up, down, left, right, shuffle, repeat. It was amazing! We stopped after a short section called the Hog’s Back, which was merely a twisty road suspended on a razor’s edged platform. Each side dropped hundreds of feet. It was a little unnerving, and I did it all in first gear. I stood on the side of the road amazed, talking to a couple on a Goldwing from Chicago. Everyone got back on their bikes for a short ride to our lunch destination.
When I got on my bike, I was convinced there was something wrong with my handlebars. They just didn’t seem right. Then, in the middle of a left-hand corner on a sheer cliff, my left clip-on pushed itself independently from my forks! I steered with the outside bar and flashed my brakes at Danny and Loretta who were behind me. When Danny pulled up to see what I wanted, I pulled my clip-on back and forth for him. We stopped on the side of the sheer cliff and tightened my clip-on down, freaked out a bit, and caught up with the others for lunch.
We stopped for lunch at the Kiva Coffee House. I had a great little bagel sandwich and we talked about riding, loose clip-ons and where to go next. We decided that Zion is a bad idea, and we instead took 12 a little farther into town and got gas while ogling Indian jewelry. Then we turned around and took 12 back to the Burr trail. We rode the Burr trail down as far as it was paved. It was a little 2 lane road with no lines painted. It was sort of rough and bumpy, but fun, with amazing scenery.
We took some pictures at the bottom and headed back up the canyon. I followed Kris up the canyon and really enjoyed her riding style. She was smooth and fluid. She makes it look so easy and carefree. One day I’ll ride that well.
The Burr trail took us back to 12, and we took that home. On the way back I hit a couple of tar snakes on the road in a hard right hander that caused me to slide my rear tire for the first time. The first one was a lil odd, the second really freaked me out. I got back into the swing of things (tho a bit slower) and got to the gas station just as my gas light came on. 161 miles before the light! I guess they put 5th and 6th gear on this bike for a reason, eh?
The gas station had a little go cart track set up out back, and being the big kids we are, we all got tickets and piled into the cars with all our motorcycle gear on. 7 of us in carts that went maybe 6 MPH was pretty amusing, but not too exciting. I followed Loretta and Kris around the track 3 laps on the exact same line before they finally were goofing off so much I managed to get around them. Danny passed me and the girls in short order, and Dave came up from the back with this look of determination on his face. He even managed to get passed danny on the last corner and take the checkered flag! Boy those carts would have been fun with some bigger motors
After our mini track day, we went back to camp and got changed into civies and went back to Café Diablo for some food. More stories and great food happened. Then back to the camp site where we started a fire and hung out talking about all things embarrassing and silly. Danny taught us some a really dumb campfire game (*ahem* I can do the stick dance, stick dance, stick dance...), and then followed it up with a great one called “Mafia”. Then we dissected Danny and Dave’s dreams for a bit and went to bed.
-----
Day 3
-----
I woke up in the AM a little sick and dry. After moving around for a bit and chomping some Halls before breakfast (which was just as late and spread out), I was feeling much better. We said goodbye to Dwight and Amy, and then to Clay and Scott who had a couple more days of sport touring planned, and headed through Loa for home.
We stopped in Loa to see a man about a horse. Or was that a redneck about an abused hawk? The sign said 1500 OBO, and when Eric went into the restaurant he found the owner wasn’t there, but lived down the street. He got on his bike to get him while Dave checked the hawk out. It needed some body work but was mechanically top notch.
The owner, Robin, showed up in his beat up pickup with yellow shorts, 3 pairs of underwear, wool socks, slip on shoes and no shirt. He told us stories of how he’s never checked the valves, how he set the bike down for a neighbor kid and told the story of how if the kid could pick it up, he could ride it. Then he explained that he wanted 1500 for it and there were people in town ready to pay that so he couldn’t go any lower.
Dave fired the bike up and it came to life so fast it startled us all. It ran really well and the exhaust seemed to heat up at the same rate. Eric took it for a ride and it sounded amazing! He said it ran really well and we checked it out a little more only to find that things all seemed in top shape for being fathered by the current owner who couldn’t say 3 words without the need to pick at some part of his body unsubtly.
Now the bike was a steal at $1,500, although it needed a little work. So Dave went ahead and started listing all the work it needed with pricetags. $100 for valves. $40 for plugs. $120 for a chain and sprockets. Robin said he knew all that was needed, and he had done some work to the bike himself. Then he made the mistake of telling us he bought the bike for $1,000. It was like sharks on blood.
Dave and Eric did a tag team number on him, and in almost an instant he was agreeing that $1,000 was a fair price and that he’d take a check right then and there. gasp a hawk for a grand?! Looks like Dawn has the perfect starter bike! They agreed to come back for the bike the following day, and went to Robin’s house to get the paperwork all sorted.
Robin lead Eric, Dawn and Dave (on the hawk) to his home where he had all sorts of animals, including goats. Aparently, they not only do an excellent job of mowing (and fertilizing) the grass, but to quote the man, “they’re good eatin’ too!” He gave Eric and Dawn the hawk toolkit, manual, an oil filter and a complete sticker kit, along with the title. They gave him a check that was too small for actual market value, but more than fair for the town of Loa. Everyone wins!
After the business for the day was finished, we got on the road and ran into a herd of cattle being herded down the highway. We got in the middle of a bunch of cows and slowly worked our way through. It was sort of scary to see these huge animals just stare at us on our bikes. All they would have to do is nudge us and we’d be trampled. But we made it and took the journey home!
We skipped most of Fish Lake and just got up to 72. Then up to Price where we missed almost all of the traffic. Then up Indian School (where I was pretty damn fast if I do say so myself). Then the long way to Wolf Creek. I followed Dave thru wolf creek and had an absolute hoot! Following his lines, braking and gas made for an enjoyable ride quite a bit faster than I could have ridden on my own line.
We hit traffic on the last few miles of wolf creek, and emptied into Kamas and then into Park City, where we stopped for dinner at Ruby Tuesdays to have one last meal on the road. Down 80 we all went our separate ways, and I left Eric and Dawn at the exit from the highway.
Over 3 days and 1,000 miles we managed to break, fix and buy bikes. We took corners too fast, too slow and just right. We told stories, and made new ones that will be told to unbelieving new friends in years to come. We met friends we planned to, and ran into friends completely by surprise. We had an adventure. And through the cold, the wet, the heat, the wind, the sickness, the early mornings, and the long days in the saddle… the only thing I would change is the part where we had to go home. Well, and maybe the part where I slept in my tent alone
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