1 A 500 Mile Day Ride Fri May 29, 2020 7:39 pm
Two Wheels Better
Moderator
With restrictions on 'unnecessary' travel being lessened (not that they were ever really enforced in Washington state) and the desire to torch a few tanks of cheap gasoline, cast my eyes over some different terrain, and clear out a few lingering Winter cobwebs, I set out to do a lap round several of the snow-capped mountains round my adopted neighbourhood of the green and lovely Pacific North West. With beautiful weather on tap in the forecast from last weekend and for the next several days, and with me still out of work (since the 20th of March), I rolled the freshly serviced K1300GT out to the end of my street, looked both ways in indecision, and turned right.
With an eye towards riding the pine tree-lined bypass road through the centre of the nearby, massive joint military base, Fort Lewis-McChord, I headed out to Bridgeport Way and on further south. Arriving at the entrance to Interstate 5, the traffic was clogged near the planned escape route due to bridge and overpass construction, so I simply got onto the freeway. In about two hours' time I was nearing the mighty mighty Columbia River Gorge and twisting Highway 14 on the Washington side of the border between WA and Oregon. My first stop was at the Cape Horn Lookout, about 1000 feet above the gorge. There's just a simple turn out, not much of a place to have a snack, take smoko, or move very far away from your vehicle, but the view is awfully nice.
The red GT eats the miles up, with plenty of smooth power on tap and gahd-awesome brakes, whether you're droning 'the slab' or leaning into and powering out of tights turns on a county back road, it is a sweet and stable machine worthy of the moniker, K bike. It was time for a stop, besides, I was in need of a stretch and a sip of water. My arse was sore from the bloody awful slab they call a seat. It is the real weakness of this particular series of bike. I use a Canadian-made Egli Sheep Farm seat cover, bought whilst riding above the Great Lakes through Canada back in August of 2018. I have procured a second set of secondhand seats and will be making some foam adjustments to the rider's portion.
I found a green and deserted picnic ground and park along the water, over the train tracks, for a spot of lunch I'd brought with me. I easily practice social distancing quite well when travelling solo. In fact, during the entire day I spoke to no one but myownbadself, even during the two fuel stops. The lit signs along the route yelled out in all capital letters that all trails and public areas were off limits to travellers - this authoritarian admonishment didn't appear to threaten or prevent the many walkers and hikers from parking up the road a bit from the car parks and backtracking to the many trail heads along the route. Hood River, famous for windsurfing and curiously, home to a major drone factory, was abuzz with kite and sail craft on the slow-moving and wide brown river.
Heading back out along Highway 14, due east, towards Bingen, then Klickitat and Wahkiakus, and along its namesake and snaking river on old Route 142, I soon found myself in mid-arvo, bright sunshine, a very mild westerly breeze, approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and looking at another five or six hours of riding to get home. With limited routes to take due to still-closed Chinook Pass, I decided to ride through the Yakama reservation on Highway 97, head towards the fruit and veg farming communities of Toppenish, Union Gap and Yakima, and then back along Highway 12 alongside the bendy American and Tieton Rivers, through Naches and up over White Pass where the ski area now lies dormant for another Summer. I'd had a squiz at the state's DOT website and they'd recently announced that the wonderful, motorcycle friendly Cayuse Pass had opened for the season.
Retreating snow at the junction of Highway 123 (Cayuse Pass) & Highway 410 (Chinook Pass), The road takes you down down past lofty 14,400' of snow-covered Mt Rainier through Rainier National Park towards Greenwater and Enumclaw, known colloquially as Enumscratch. The map says about 460 miles but the bike's odometre registered 491 miles, done in nine and a half hours, stops included. I definitely torched a few tanks of premium, which despite my repeated and persistent urgings, still delivered an average of 45.6 mpg (US). I used the entire throttle range and how many cars did I overtake today? "All of them!"
Arriving home well before darkness had set in, this was the temp still in the shade of the back garden.
A good day for a ride.
Check the map out...the Google Gods say ride!
With an eye towards riding the pine tree-lined bypass road through the centre of the nearby, massive joint military base, Fort Lewis-McChord, I headed out to Bridgeport Way and on further south. Arriving at the entrance to Interstate 5, the traffic was clogged near the planned escape route due to bridge and overpass construction, so I simply got onto the freeway. In about two hours' time I was nearing the mighty mighty Columbia River Gorge and twisting Highway 14 on the Washington side of the border between WA and Oregon. My first stop was at the Cape Horn Lookout, about 1000 feet above the gorge. There's just a simple turn out, not much of a place to have a snack, take smoko, or move very far away from your vehicle, but the view is awfully nice.
The red GT eats the miles up, with plenty of smooth power on tap and gahd-awesome brakes, whether you're droning 'the slab' or leaning into and powering out of tights turns on a county back road, it is a sweet and stable machine worthy of the moniker, K bike. It was time for a stop, besides, I was in need of a stretch and a sip of water. My arse was sore from the bloody awful slab they call a seat. It is the real weakness of this particular series of bike. I use a Canadian-made Egli Sheep Farm seat cover, bought whilst riding above the Great Lakes through Canada back in August of 2018. I have procured a second set of secondhand seats and will be making some foam adjustments to the rider's portion.
I found a green and deserted picnic ground and park along the water, over the train tracks, for a spot of lunch I'd brought with me. I easily practice social distancing quite well when travelling solo. In fact, during the entire day I spoke to no one but myownbadself, even during the two fuel stops. The lit signs along the route yelled out in all capital letters that all trails and public areas were off limits to travellers - this authoritarian admonishment didn't appear to threaten or prevent the many walkers and hikers from parking up the road a bit from the car parks and backtracking to the many trail heads along the route. Hood River, famous for windsurfing and curiously, home to a major drone factory, was abuzz with kite and sail craft on the slow-moving and wide brown river.
Heading back out along Highway 14, due east, towards Bingen, then Klickitat and Wahkiakus, and along its namesake and snaking river on old Route 142, I soon found myself in mid-arvo, bright sunshine, a very mild westerly breeze, approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and looking at another five or six hours of riding to get home. With limited routes to take due to still-closed Chinook Pass, I decided to ride through the Yakama reservation on Highway 97, head towards the fruit and veg farming communities of Toppenish, Union Gap and Yakima, and then back along Highway 12 alongside the bendy American and Tieton Rivers, through Naches and up over White Pass where the ski area now lies dormant for another Summer. I'd had a squiz at the state's DOT website and they'd recently announced that the wonderful, motorcycle friendly Cayuse Pass had opened for the season.
Retreating snow at the junction of Highway 123 (Cayuse Pass) & Highway 410 (Chinook Pass), The road takes you down down past lofty 14,400' of snow-covered Mt Rainier through Rainier National Park towards Greenwater and Enumclaw, known colloquially as Enumscratch. The map says about 460 miles but the bike's odometre registered 491 miles, done in nine and a half hours, stops included. I definitely torched a few tanks of premium, which despite my repeated and persistent urgings, still delivered an average of 45.6 mpg (US). I used the entire throttle range and how many cars did I overtake today? "All of them!"
Arriving home well before darkness had set in, this was the temp still in the shade of the back garden.
A good day for a ride.
Check the map out...the Google Gods say ride!
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"How many cars did we pass today?" "ALL of them."
1977 R75/7-100, '93 K11/K12 Big Block, '93 K1100RS, '95 R100 Mystic, '96 K1100RS, 2 x '98 K1200RS, '06 K1200R & '09 K1300GT