Post by Yotes65 on Jul 23, 2010 11:06:08 GMT -7
OK... this is a bit long. Most Photo's were taken by Mark... Enjoy Reading
AZRatPack & Friends
SaddleSore 1000
October 11th, 2008
AZRatPack & Friends
SaddleSore 1000
October 11th, 2008
From: Circle K, 701 East Bethany Home Rd, Phoenix, AZ (South East Corner of 7th STREET and Bethany Home Rd)
To: Circle K, 701 East Bethany Home Rd, Phoenix, AZ (South East Corner of 7th STREET and Bethany Home Rd)
Estimated Driving Distance: 1090.2 Miles
Estimated Time: 19 hours, 8 minutes
After thinking about it for some time, I'd finally go on my first SS1000. It all started one night at the monthly AZ Rat Pack Bike Night that the Phoenix Based RAT’s (Rider’s Association of Triumph) hold at the George & Dragon II in Tempe, AZ. One of our fellow riders, Jeff had just returned from a business trip out to the East Coast, one of the Carolina’s I believe. Since this was an extend business trip, Jeff had elected to ride his 1999 Sprint ST out and back. As Jeff was spinning tall tales of his trip, including covering 1000 miles in one day, someone else had mentioned he should had submitted his information for the Iron Butt Association’s SS1000 ride.
Jeff went online to gather more details about the requirements for such an adventure. Much to Jeff’s dismay, he realized he would not be able to submit any part of the trip for the certification requirements. After thinking about it for a few days, Jeff decided to post up on the AZRatPack.Proboards58.com to see if anyone else would be interested in riding with him to receive their SS1000 Certification. During my daily forum reading, I came across Jeff’s post. Immediately I thought Hell Yes, I want to go. Now keep in mind, I’ve only met Jeff once which was a few days before at our Bike Night/Dinner. Jeff seemed like a good enough fellow… So I responded to Jeff’s post that yes, I would indeed be interested. Before we knew it two other riders jump on the band wagon, Mark and Peter. Both of which I have ridden with before. Jeff had also posted the invite on SouthWestRides.com.
Our next step was to figure out which route we wanted to take as well as when. I’d quickly take out the good ‘ol laptop to calculate a route. I had recently purchased Microsoft’s Streets & Trips Software to plan an adventure of riding from Phoenix, AZ up to the Arctic Circle and Back. Which is still in the works to be accomplished at a later date… hopefully in the next 5 years before Global Warming takes over.
Back to the originally schedule program… I’d quickly come up with four possible routes. Two of the routes involved multiple states and two of the routes were solely in Arizona. I’d posted all four routes up for others to provide their two cents and basically a vote. Myself, I’d loved the third route which included a ride from Phoenix to Payson, from Show Low down the SRC to Globe, and a trip North on Hwy 191, aka Devils Hwy, from Clifton all the way to I-40. I think it would have been a blast to travel these three roads during a SS1000.
The conciseness of our small group as well as many others that were following the thread was the third option would be a bit much. Jeff preferred to use either one of the two multi state routes, the more states we could cover, the better. Myself, I was indifferent as to which route we ride. I knew that I could cover a more adventurous route on my own at a later date. The route we opted for would cover Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, and back to Arizona. Once we decided on the route, the project sort of died down a bit. For some odd reason, no one talked about a date and the days started rolling by… finally Jeff popped in and decided that Saturday, October 11th, 2008 would be the perfect date for he has to go to San Francisco for a month long business trip. So then the 11th it would be. Now the ride is starting to pick up steam.
We decided it would be best to meet before the ride to hammer out a few details and to get to know each other a bit. During this time frame, Peter had recruited two others to join us, Bill & Alfred. I’ve ridden with Bill a couple of time. However I had no clue who this “Alfred” was. Peter vouched that Alfred was a great guy and would fit right in with our group. Jeff posted on both forums that we would gather down at the George & Dragon that is located Uptown Phoenix, not to be confused with the Tempe location. We left the invite open to anyone who would like to join us to discuss the ride or even just give us crap. Being the clown that he is, Peter decided to bring his Video Camera to make a Mocumentary about our little adventure. The first meet included Jeff, Peter and me. A few minutes later a young lady carrying her helmet walked up to our table and asked if we were the “Nut’s” going on the SS1000. We all started laughing and asked her to join us. She introduced herself as Callie and mentioned that she has not committed herself to the ride yet. However she would like to learn more about what we were going to accomplish. Later that evening when I returned home, I’d found out from the SouthWestRides Forum that another rider, Eric was hoping to meet us at the G&D to discuss the ride. Unfortunately Eric did not find us that evening. This ride is really picking up steam. We are now up to seven, possibly eight riders.
Now that we have decided on a route and a date, we needed to secure some Volunteers to serve as our Starting & Ending Witnesses. In addition, we needed to decide and a Start Time and calculate our Gas/Food Stops. I head back to the PC to modify the options within the MS Streets Software to plan stops for gas every 100 or so miles. To maximize our riding time, we would use these gas stops for our rest stops as well. Using the recommended spots that software spitted out, I came up with a set of scheduled stops. According to the software, if we were to leave at 5:00 AM, we should return around a quarter past Midnight. This sounds very doable. After posting asking for Volunteer’s, we were amazed at the number of folks willing to help us out, especially getting out of bed early enough to serve as the starting witness. We quickly make arrangements with Russell (AZRatPack) and Kent (Sport-touring.Net) to server as our starting Witness. For our Ending Witness, we make arrangements with Michael & Arthur (both AZRatPack members). Now all that is left is the ride itself!
Our group decided to meet one last time before our ride. By this time, Callie has opted out of the ride which secures the group at seven riders. We decide to meet at the same spot as before, the G&D in Phoenix, on the Wednesday before the ride. Six of the seven riders are able to make it. Unfortunately, Alfred was not able to attend. During the meet, I passed out copies of the forms required by the Iron Butt Association, along with 8.5 x 11 map of the route, an envelope for the gas receipts required to verify the ride and an Emergency Contact List… God forbid that we need one. Better Safe then Sorry. We talked about all sorts of stuff and made sure no one had any questions. We were all comfortable with what lays ahead of. Said our Goodbyes and went our separate ways, all looking forward to Saturday Morning. Are we out of our minds? Only time will tell.
Friday night before the ride, I made sure that I had everything packed, camelback filled, clothes laid out for the next morning, and checked to make sure that all last minute details were covered. I’d check the forums one last time to see if there were any PM’s from anyone with any issues. No PM’s, No Issues. Double checked the cell phone to make sure I had everyone’s information entered correctly. Just as I was about to head to bed, my cell phone rings. I’d looked at the Caller ID and its Jeff. I’m thinking “Crap, I hope he is not calling to cancel”. I answered and Jeff asks what time I plan on getting up. I start to laugh and said 4:00ish. He asked if I could call him when I get up, just in case he oversleeps. Of course I’ll call…
Wow, 3:50 AM comes awful early for a Saturday morning. I get up as quietly as possible to avoid waking the Misses and getting the kids (three dogs) rallied up. Slip into my gear and off I go. It’s still pitch black as I roll down the 51 to head to our designated meeting spot on 7th Street & Bethany Home Road. Off to the East I think I see flashes of Light. Maybe I’m not quite awake yet. I quickly arrive at the Circle K. To be honest, I do not remember who is already there. I believe Kent (one of our start Witnesses) and Mark were already there. Shortly afterwards, Jeff pull’s in, then Peter, Bill, Alfred, Russell (other Witness) & one of Russell’s friends. Some where along the line, Eric arrives as well. As Jeff dismounts his bike and removes his helmet, he asks if anyone else notices the Lightning to the East… the direction that we are heading. Jeff has always been vocal that he had no intention of riding a 1000 miles in the rain. Most of us figure we would miss the grunt of the approaching storm. Oh boy, we were ever so wrong…
We introduce ourselves to Kent for this is the first time I’ve had the pleasure of meeting the Stanger who was willing to get out of bed this early to serve as our Starting Witness. What a Guy! Everyone fills up with petrol, get our paperwork Autographed and a few have one last smoke. We go over the first leg of the route making sure everyone is on board and knows where our first meeting spot will be located at in Payson, AZ. We gather for the obligatory Group Photo.
From Left to Right:
Eric, Bill, Jeff, Marty, Mark, Peter, and Alfred
We all Saddle up and head out on our little adventure. It is still pitch black as we head down Bethany Home Road towards the 51 Freeway. We take it South to the 202 East Freeway. Which we take to Mesa and exit onto Country Club – Hwy 87. We cruise North on the Beeline Hwy (Hwy 87) all the way up to Payson. The first leg of the trip is pretty much un-eventful. There are a few Twisties/Sweepers that some of us open it up a bit as we wind up the hill. The Joy of riding to Payson in the Dark of Night is something… well, I think Special. I’ve never been one that could handle the Short Twisties/ Technical Riding. I blame it on my lack of skill as well as age. My body has way too many aches these days. I prefer riding my Sprint ST on the open wide Sweepers. Anyway, back to the ride… I have ridden Hwy 87 many times between Phoenix & Payson, mainly during the Daylight Hours. Riding Hwy 87 in the Dark changes the whole experience. Some folks have this road memorized like the back of their hand. Not I and every turn is exciting. There was a bit more traffic then I expected at this hour on a Saturday Morning. Before we know it, we are approaching Rye, AZ. Rye is just a few miles South of Payson and is a favorite spot for DPS to hang out to catch those like ourselves enjoying themselves a bit too much. Apparently it is still too early for DPS to be set up. We cruise into Payson and turn onto Hwy 260 East to head to our first Gas stop. I forgot to tell the gang that the Giant Gas Station is not quite visible from the road until you are right on top of it. However, I did mention that it was only approximately one mile from where you turn onto Hwy 260. Mark, Eric and I turn in first. A few minutes later Peter, Bill, and Alfred go flying by noticing the Gas Station at the last second and have to turn around. A few minutes later, our designated Sweeper Jeff pulls in.
By now there is enough Sunlight to take some decent photo’s. We all gas up, fill out our paperwork, collect our receipts, take a few photo’s and BS a bit. I explain about the next leg on the way to Slow Low and explain the next stop would be the Mavrick Gas Station on the corner of Hwy 60 & Hwy 77. I also remind everyone to “Smile” as they pass the Speed Camera that is located in Star Valley, just a few miles to the East of Payson.
The ride to Show Low is un-event until we get to Heber, AZ. As we approach Heber, we see the Storm from the South moving quite quickly towards the North. It starts to rain, not much mind you; just enough to make one questions whether we should pull over or not. Myself, I elected not to pull over. I wasn’t too far from Show Low and figured I would be out of it quickly enough. The rain didn’t last long, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. By the looks of the road, the majority of the storm has already past thru this area. As we continue heading across Hwy 260 we are hit with some strong cross winds. Some were strong enough to sweep you into the other lane. Thankfully there wasn’t too much oncoming traffic. What really did bite was getting stuck behind traffic. The amount of water that the vehicles were kicking up was far greater then what we drove thru a few minutes earlier. A majority of us were able to maneuver around traffic and avoid the shower. We soon arrive in Show Low. We turned left onto Hwy 60, cut thru traffic and construction and soon arrive at the Mavrick Gas Station. We all pull off to fuel up, fill out the paperwork and rest for a few minutes. We talked about the last stretch and everyone is asking me why I didn’t pull over to don my Rain Gear. Laughing I said I wasn’t getting that wet. I also pointed out if someone needs to stop, please stop. That is why Jeff was the Sweeper, to stop with anyone if they needed to. If Jeff needs to stop, he would get someone’s attention and have them stop with him.
We talked about our next schedule stop which be the Fuel Express along Hwy 89 right after we exit I-40 in Flagstaff. We survey the skies to check out the approaching storm and try to determine if it would be a wise idea to don our Rain Gear. Pretty much everyone but I slips into their Rain Gear. As I watch everyone, I keep thinking “Why are you putting your rain gear on? We are going to miss the storm.” Then I figured what the hell. I might as well put my gear on. I no more get my jacket on and the Clouds open up as if someone turned the faucet on. Holy Cow, what a freaking down pour it was. Of course, with all of us being the Smart Guy’s that we are, we continued to dress into our rain gear outside in the rain. Not one of us thought about heading into the gas station where is was nice and dry. Nope, being the idiots that we were, we continued to stand outside in the rain.
From Left to Right:
Eric, Bill, Jeff, Peter, Marty, and Alfred is over messing with his bike. Mark is the Photographer
After approx 10 to 15 minutes, we realize that the rain wasn’t going to let up any and we decide to mount the bikes and continue with our Ride. Within a matter of minutes we were out of the rain. Next thing we knew, we were in Snowflake, AZ. A Beautiful Small Town in Arizona. Having past thru here earlier in the week on a Scouting Ride, I knew there were a lot of hiding spots for the Local LEO’s. Just to make sure I kept everything at a decent speed while traveling thru town, I’d picked out a car to follow. Once we reached the other side of town, we passed the car we were following. I do not know how many of you are familiar with Hwy 77 after one leaves Snowflake… if I had a large enough cargo net to strap myself to my bike and a few bungee cords to keep the handlebars in line, I could have taken a nap on the way to Holbrook. There were many times that I wanted to open it up to see how fast I could get the ‘ol Sprint going. However I decided to keep it down to a respectable pace… at least what I thought was a respectable pace. As we approach Holbrook, we are stopped by a train running thru town so we take a small break as we wait.
As we wait for the train to pass, I glance over to the West and surveyed the Dust Storm that I saw on the Horizon. I’ve noticed it for the last 20 miles and it had concerned me. I leaned over to ask Bill what he thoughts were and if we should stop in town to discuss it. Bill shrugs his shoulders and we decide not to stop. I’d pointed out to those right behind me that we would be turning right past the train tracks onto Hopi Drive and take that down part of the Old Route 66 and get onto I-40 a few miles down the road. As we drive down the road, I noticed that quite a few shingles were torn off of the roofs, possibility from the Wind/Dust Storm that we were riding into. Hmmmm, what are we driving into?