Joined Aug 2013
34 Posts | 0+
Tacoma, Washington
Note before I get started: this is a duplication of my post on PNW Riders. A few bits and blurbs will not apply to the HS forums...But I'd still like to share it.
Start: Home @ University Place, WA
End: Home @ University Place, WA
Weather: Skies Clear, Visibility Unlimited
One of those days I wish I had a PPL & airplane for myself. It was nice being able to get out the next day (skies almost clear and minor haze everywhere) and ride on the flight deck of a C-17 while we did a local area training sortie, including a VFR flight through Steven's Pass.
Bike: White 2013 Ducati Hyperstrada
Leg 1: UP to Vancouver/Portland
I-5 South is empty at 6am on Sundays. I woke up around 5am, and spent a bit of time getting the cold weather liners into my jacket/pants, putting the clear visor on my helmet (turns out the bracket is broken...Sigh), and packing "Just-in-Case" bits into the paniers. I stopped for gas about a mile out from home in prep for the run south.
0 Cops + 0 Traffic = still going slow because it's freaking cold in the morning. My OAT gauge showed 33F just south of Olympia and climbed slowly until Portland. Even though I had all my liners plus thermals underneath, leaving the air vents open probably led to a serious chill about 80 miles in. I pushed through it and stopped just north of Vancouver for the first fuel stop of the day. The bike got a few gallons and my stomach got a bacon/egg/cheese biscuit from the gas station warming rack. The worst part about any trip I do is the 120 miles between full and low fuel light. I've heard of folks pushing their 'stradas 40 miles on the light, but there's plenty of stations en-route to keep me from having to do that. And, it gives me a good excuse at a good interval to stop for a stretch.
Leg 2: East through Columbia River Gorge
This was the fun part of the trip for me. Although I'd make excuses for why, I stopped at a good number of rec areas along the way just because I could. It's the reason I left at 6am instead of noon.
Bridge of the Gods (Toll bridge)
Dirty bike!
Shortly after the first picture I "explored" a trail that I thought was going to be tame, but wound up in large-sized, loose, crap gravel next to a railroad. Street tires be damned, I rode it like a dirt bike before having to set it down gently, saying "fuck this" to riding sideways on a gravel hill, and turned around less than 1/4 mile later. On the bit back I zoomed through some muddy puddles that I probably shouldn't have and thank god I didn't get stuck in them. Note to self: buy a dirt bike/dual sport if I want to do that again. Nevi is for touring and maintained forestry/logging roads only.
Does anyone know the person and story behind this and is willing to share?
Nevi & Mt Hood
Nevi & Mt Adams
I crossed over at the Yakima/Vancouver bend, and right on time my fuel light lit up. I knew Goldendale was just over the ridge, and I had plenty of reserve fuel to stop at a pair of scenic points to take the above four photos and still make it.
Leg 3: To Yakima
I hit Goldendale a few miles down the road and made a pit stop for fuel, food, and bladder. Leaving, I had the road north almost to myself, and passed the day's first handful of riders going the other way (I passed one person on I-84 east of Portland). At one point, a truck with a trailer was awesome and pulled over to let me zoom around in a passing zone. Hopefully my wave came off as "Thanks kindly!" and not "See ya d-bag!"
The leg to Yakima was uneventful, with an occasional cross wind that I had to lean into for a minute before it dissipated. I stopped early just shy of the city for fuel again. I could probably push to I-82 and Ellensburg so that I don't have to stop in the mountains for fuel, but I'd have to get gas anyway at home if I did that.
Posing with Yakima and Mt Rainier in the background.
Leg 4: C.WA into the mountains
The last time I did this the sun was starting to set when I was still near Ellensburg, and I only had my tinted visor on a moonless night. My memory from then is fuzzy, and I was scared out of my wits that I was going to be thrown off the bike because of something I couldn't see. Add a serious chill from the freezing temps, and I hated life.
Thankfully, this time was mid-day, I had my clear visor with tinted retractable, and it was a balmy 70F crossing the hump. Seeing the pass in the daylight for once was nice, and traffic was reasonable.
At some point I was cruising just above traffic speeds when I saw a trio of adventure riders in my mirror. I popped over for them to take the left lane and they passed me. Since we were going the same direction, I gave it a "Why not?" and sped up to fall in behind them. Note: I'm a shoddy group rider with very little experience, so my spacing tends to fluctuate when the group is accelerating/slowing. Plus my hand/wrist was starting to hate me at this point and that compounds the problem.
I don't know who you guys/gals were, and we didn't stop for gas or anything to talk before one person split at Hwy 18 and the other two around Issaquah, but if you were the group that let the little white Ducati join in for 50 miles, could you give me a shout-out? Most of the folks I know in the Tacoma/Puyallup area are sport bike riders who don't do long distance. I'd love to join in a group ride that hits 400 to 500 miles or rides all day to stop somewhere Saturday night and go home Sunday.
Because of following the group, I pushed farther into my fuel light than I intended, and stopped for gas just passing Lake Sammamish.
Leg 5: Home-bound through town
I was back by myself again, but that wasn't bad as Traffic was non-conducive to group riding. At one point, I had a VW Beetle in the HOV lane that decided to cruise control at slower than traffic speeds, so everybody was backing up behind him and the other two lanes on I-405. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're behind someone who's going slow, and want them to move so you can pass, you flash your brights? Because he was paying no attention, didn't know what I was doing, or didn't care. So I waited a bit for an opening and zoomed around them.
Passing south of Renton, I passed a big group of crotch rockets merging onto the highway. I take a second look, and they're in my mirrors. I move over to clear the left lane, and the decent-sized group goes every which way through traffic with no care for group order or traffic dynamics. Remember the mass sport ride and the Land Rover? That's what you remind me of, you're probably like "Oh, we're not like those guys," so check yourself and your ways before your hypocrite attitude gets yourself, your passenger (I saw a few ladies on the back of their bikes), or someone else hurt/killed.
Thankfully they went north on I-5 while I went south. I saw a rider in the distance and spent the stretch catching up with them. Shout out request #2: If you ride a blue FZ6 and live in Fife/Federal Way, who are you? My FZ is in need of a few parts, but you seemed like a good rider with group experience and I'd love to go riding with different groups.
*Self-imposed forum shout-out for FZ6 riders*
Yamaha FZ6 Forum Community
Badda bing badda boom and I'm back home in UP. Riding at 25-35mph feels weird when you've been zooming along at 65-85mph all day. I pulled all my gear off after getting the luggage off the bike, posted "I'm home!" on Facebook, set an episode of TV to play, and promptly (unintentionally) fell asleep on the couch for a few hours.
Now I need to watch that episode again, and gas station snacks are no replacement for real food. Anyone know any good eateries that I can stop at next time for breakfast in Vancouver/Portland/I-84 and lunch around Yakima/Ellensburg/I-90?
Start: Home @ University Place, WA
End: Home @ University Place, WA
Weather: Skies Clear, Visibility Unlimited
One of those days I wish I had a PPL & airplane for myself. It was nice being able to get out the next day (skies almost clear and minor haze everywhere) and ride on the flight deck of a C-17 while we did a local area training sortie, including a VFR flight through Steven's Pass.
Bike: White 2013 Ducati Hyperstrada
Leg 1: UP to Vancouver/Portland
I-5 South is empty at 6am on Sundays. I woke up around 5am, and spent a bit of time getting the cold weather liners into my jacket/pants, putting the clear visor on my helmet (turns out the bracket is broken...Sigh), and packing "Just-in-Case" bits into the paniers. I stopped for gas about a mile out from home in prep for the run south.
0 Cops + 0 Traffic = still going slow because it's freaking cold in the morning. My OAT gauge showed 33F just south of Olympia and climbed slowly until Portland. Even though I had all my liners plus thermals underneath, leaving the air vents open probably led to a serious chill about 80 miles in. I pushed through it and stopped just north of Vancouver for the first fuel stop of the day. The bike got a few gallons and my stomach got a bacon/egg/cheese biscuit from the gas station warming rack. The worst part about any trip I do is the 120 miles between full and low fuel light. I've heard of folks pushing their 'stradas 40 miles on the light, but there's plenty of stations en-route to keep me from having to do that. And, it gives me a good excuse at a good interval to stop for a stretch.
Leg 2: East through Columbia River Gorge
This was the fun part of the trip for me. Although I'd make excuses for why, I stopped at a good number of rec areas along the way just because I could. It's the reason I left at 6am instead of noon.
Bridge of the Gods (Toll bridge)
Dirty bike!
Shortly after the first picture I "explored" a trail that I thought was going to be tame, but wound up in large-sized, loose, crap gravel next to a railroad. Street tires be damned, I rode it like a dirt bike before having to set it down gently, saying "fuck this" to riding sideways on a gravel hill, and turned around less than 1/4 mile later. On the bit back I zoomed through some muddy puddles that I probably shouldn't have and thank god I didn't get stuck in them. Note to self: buy a dirt bike/dual sport if I want to do that again. Nevi is for touring and maintained forestry/logging roads only.
Does anyone know the person and story behind this and is willing to share?
Nevi & Mt Hood
Nevi & Mt Adams
I crossed over at the Yakima/Vancouver bend, and right on time my fuel light lit up. I knew Goldendale was just over the ridge, and I had plenty of reserve fuel to stop at a pair of scenic points to take the above four photos and still make it.
Leg 3: To Yakima
I hit Goldendale a few miles down the road and made a pit stop for fuel, food, and bladder. Leaving, I had the road north almost to myself, and passed the day's first handful of riders going the other way (I passed one person on I-84 east of Portland). At one point, a truck with a trailer was awesome and pulled over to let me zoom around in a passing zone. Hopefully my wave came off as "Thanks kindly!" and not "See ya d-bag!"
The leg to Yakima was uneventful, with an occasional cross wind that I had to lean into for a minute before it dissipated. I stopped early just shy of the city for fuel again. I could probably push to I-82 and Ellensburg so that I don't have to stop in the mountains for fuel, but I'd have to get gas anyway at home if I did that.
Posing with Yakima and Mt Rainier in the background.
Leg 4: C.WA into the mountains
The last time I did this the sun was starting to set when I was still near Ellensburg, and I only had my tinted visor on a moonless night. My memory from then is fuzzy, and I was scared out of my wits that I was going to be thrown off the bike because of something I couldn't see. Add a serious chill from the freezing temps, and I hated life.
Thankfully, this time was mid-day, I had my clear visor with tinted retractable, and it was a balmy 70F crossing the hump. Seeing the pass in the daylight for once was nice, and traffic was reasonable.
At some point I was cruising just above traffic speeds when I saw a trio of adventure riders in my mirror. I popped over for them to take the left lane and they passed me. Since we were going the same direction, I gave it a "Why not?" and sped up to fall in behind them. Note: I'm a shoddy group rider with very little experience, so my spacing tends to fluctuate when the group is accelerating/slowing. Plus my hand/wrist was starting to hate me at this point and that compounds the problem.
I don't know who you guys/gals were, and we didn't stop for gas or anything to talk before one person split at Hwy 18 and the other two around Issaquah, but if you were the group that let the little white Ducati join in for 50 miles, could you give me a shout-out? Most of the folks I know in the Tacoma/Puyallup area are sport bike riders who don't do long distance. I'd love to join in a group ride that hits 400 to 500 miles or rides all day to stop somewhere Saturday night and go home Sunday.
Because of following the group, I pushed farther into my fuel light than I intended, and stopped for gas just passing Lake Sammamish.
Leg 5: Home-bound through town
I was back by myself again, but that wasn't bad as Traffic was non-conducive to group riding. At one point, I had a VW Beetle in the HOV lane that decided to cruise control at slower than traffic speeds, so everybody was backing up behind him and the other two lanes on I-405. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're behind someone who's going slow, and want them to move so you can pass, you flash your brights? Because he was paying no attention, didn't know what I was doing, or didn't care. So I waited a bit for an opening and zoomed around them.
Passing south of Renton, I passed a big group of crotch rockets merging onto the highway. I take a second look, and they're in my mirrors. I move over to clear the left lane, and the decent-sized group goes every which way through traffic with no care for group order or traffic dynamics. Remember the mass sport ride and the Land Rover? That's what you remind me of, you're probably like "Oh, we're not like those guys," so check yourself and your ways before your hypocrite attitude gets yourself, your passenger (I saw a few ladies on the back of their bikes), or someone else hurt/killed.
Thankfully they went north on I-5 while I went south. I saw a rider in the distance and spent the stretch catching up with them. Shout out request #2: If you ride a blue FZ6 and live in Fife/Federal Way, who are you? My FZ is in need of a few parts, but you seemed like a good rider with group experience and I'd love to go riding with different groups.
*Self-imposed forum shout-out for FZ6 riders*
Yamaha FZ6 Forum Community
Badda bing badda boom and I'm back home in UP. Riding at 25-35mph feels weird when you've been zooming along at 65-85mph all day. I pulled all my gear off after getting the luggage off the bike, posted "I'm home!" on Facebook, set an episode of TV to play, and promptly (unintentionally) fell asleep on the couch for a few hours.
Now I need to watch that episode again, and gas station snacks are no replacement for real food. Anyone know any good eateries that I can stop at next time for breakfast in Vancouver/Portland/I-84 and lunch around Yakima/Ellensburg/I-90?
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