Toecutter
What would DoG do?
Remember this one?
Basically, starting at my place, to Merced, over Sonora Pass, back over Monitor Pass, then through Lodi to Bodega Bay, south to San Ysidro, then to Barstow and ending up at a gas station in a little town called Traver, 1509 miles from home.
I want to give a shout-out :clapping: to Skyway, and huge gratitude for providing me the inspiration to do this ride, based on his SS1K last year, where Bluestreek and I joined him to stop by all 21 missions in California. Approx. 1060 miles and no lallygaggin', completed in 22 hours and 15 minutes.
A couple of good lessons came from the experience:
1. This route is NOT a group ride. I picked up another forum member (LD virgin tagging along for an SS1K) in Merced, and together, we took longer than one would alone, for various reasons. Solo is the ONLY way a rider would have a chance to complete this ride as a BBG. Maybe not even then, but I wanted challenging, and challenging I got. I aborted due to being far enough off pace that I would have to push harder than I wanted to have a chance of success. I wanted no part of going all out, then coming up an hour short at the other end. The good news is that the other rider got his SS1K, and in under 18 hours along pretty much the same route. :yahoo:
2. The best laid plans of mice and men didn't take into effect the freakish weather that was thrown our way. There was wind (in mass quantities), rain, snow, fire, smoke, fog and flying rocks. The wind was the worst for me. What a psychological beat-down that shit was....When it's blowing rocks off the sides of mountains, you know it's windy. My V-Stream windscreen (and Cerulean plastic) is probably in sad shape. I'll know more once I get the bike cleaned up. At our fuel stop in Walker, we both almost had our bikes blown out from under us. Best to keep rolling in those conditions, but running out of gas sucks too!
3. The northern portion of this route (from Merced) would make a great group ride, with a stopover in Bodega Bay, then head north and return along Hwy 36 or some such deal. I'll let the Nor-Cal group get that one figured out....
4. Skyway's hydration kit rocks! I filled my CamelBack and left it in the luggage pod, to refill the reservoir if needed, rather than strapping it on. I wish I'd have bought two! I'd just switch the hose from one side to the other once one went dry. A real relief on the back not carrying that water backpack.
I'm gonna go for it again, in the fall, once the summer traffic and road construction winds down for the season. I think I'll cheat it up a bit by leaving a couple of hours earlier (like 4am) to put me through the Bay Area before rush hour. I hit Oakland yesterday at 4pm and when I bugged out, my GPS display said I was off the pace by 26 minutes. It might have been more like an hour by the time things opened up, and aborting seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I'll be back!
If anybody else wants to give it a shot, PM and I'll email you the MapSource route I worked up. This would make for an interesting rally event! Is it October yet?
Edit to add - This bike is one bad ass LD platform! Almost not fair, especially with some minor modifications.
Well, I was right. Yesterday, 570 miles in, I waved off and cut for home, defeated in my first attempt at the following route:
Basically, starting at my place, to Merced, over Sonora Pass, back over Monitor Pass, then through Lodi to Bodega Bay, south to San Ysidro, then to Barstow and ending up at a gas station in a little town called Traver, 1509 miles from home.
I want to give a shout-out :clapping: to Skyway, and huge gratitude for providing me the inspiration to do this ride, based on his SS1K last year, where Bluestreek and I joined him to stop by all 21 missions in California. Approx. 1060 miles and no lallygaggin', completed in 22 hours and 15 minutes.
A couple of good lessons came from the experience:
1. This route is NOT a group ride. I picked up another forum member (LD virgin tagging along for an SS1K) in Merced, and together, we took longer than one would alone, for various reasons. Solo is the ONLY way a rider would have a chance to complete this ride as a BBG. Maybe not even then, but I wanted challenging, and challenging I got. I aborted due to being far enough off pace that I would have to push harder than I wanted to have a chance of success. I wanted no part of going all out, then coming up an hour short at the other end. The good news is that the other rider got his SS1K, and in under 18 hours along pretty much the same route. :yahoo:
2. The best laid plans of mice and men didn't take into effect the freakish weather that was thrown our way. There was wind (in mass quantities), rain, snow, fire, smoke, fog and flying rocks. The wind was the worst for me. What a psychological beat-down that shit was....When it's blowing rocks off the sides of mountains, you know it's windy. My V-Stream windscreen (and Cerulean plastic) is probably in sad shape. I'll know more once I get the bike cleaned up. At our fuel stop in Walker, we both almost had our bikes blown out from under us. Best to keep rolling in those conditions, but running out of gas sucks too!
3. The northern portion of this route (from Merced) would make a great group ride, with a stopover in Bodega Bay, then head north and return along Hwy 36 or some such deal. I'll let the Nor-Cal group get that one figured out....
4. Skyway's hydration kit rocks! I filled my CamelBack and left it in the luggage pod, to refill the reservoir if needed, rather than strapping it on. I wish I'd have bought two! I'd just switch the hose from one side to the other once one went dry. A real relief on the back not carrying that water backpack.
I'm gonna go for it again, in the fall, once the summer traffic and road construction winds down for the season. I think I'll cheat it up a bit by leaving a couple of hours earlier (like 4am) to put me through the Bay Area before rush hour. I hit Oakland yesterday at 4pm and when I bugged out, my GPS display said I was off the pace by 26 minutes. It might have been more like an hour by the time things opened up, and aborting seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I'll be back!
If anybody else wants to give it a shot, PM and I'll email you the MapSource route I worked up. This would make for an interesting rally event! Is it October yet?
Edit to add - This bike is one bad ass LD platform! Almost not fair, especially with some minor modifications.
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