1044 Miles and 43.7MPG
History
Several months ago, I was asked if I'd like to attend a Colorado FreeWheelers meeting. It's held every third Thursday at Fay Myers south of Denver. That's of course the first problem. Fighting with traffic to get south of Denver held little appeal no matter what the organization does. I also fail to attend the Colorado SAGE meetings when I have to fight traffic to attend. The second is a matter of time. It's not a waste of time per se, but it's time I could be doing other things that appeal to me.
So while I checked out their website, I didn't see much activity on their forums and if you check out the rider's standings, I didn't see much riding being done either so the group didn't seem to fit in with my own riding style.
A week or so ago, Herb (this is Herb: )
Herb commented that he was going on the Colorado FreeWheelers 1000-in-24. The group plans out a 1000 mile route, does a pre-run to check it out. Prints up a "passbook" with directions (the map is on the back of the provided t-shirt), notes of interest (construction, gravel roads, etc), and emergency phone numbers in case of a problem on the road.
I was interested, but only if I could get my bike ready in time. I needed a new chain mainly. I bought it from Motorcycle Superstore and even though I paid for the chain to arrive on Friday, it didn't arrive until Tuesday so I only had one more weekend to get it mounted. Then I had to get a chain tool since I was unable to attend a maintenance party. I got it done on the previous weekend and after checking with Rita (for scheduled weekend activities), I let Herb know I was able to go.
Herb asked if I'd be willing to ride with him. Just so you know, I'm really a loner and prefer to ride by myself. A lot of it is just being able to change things on the fly, stop when I wanted, and bail if necessary due to time or conditions. But since this was a set route and the purpose was to complete it in 24 hours or less, I thought it'd be cool to try it with a riding partner so I agreed.
Pre-ride: 1am
Friday I hit the sack after getting the bike together; tail bag and tank bag along with the associated gear. I set the alarm for midnight and by 8pm I was in bed going to sleep. At 11:45pm, I woke up, took a shower, finished getting the gear put away and at 12:30, I was on the road and heading south. Now the pre-ride check began at 1am with the start of the ride running between 2am and 4am. Herb was one of the safety guys who checked the bikes and signed passbooks (start time and mileage for anyone attempting an IronButt certification). So we were going to be starting a bit after 2am.
I got there, got signed in, picked up a hat and pin (t-shirt to be mailed later due to being a walk-in), paid my money and headed out to check out the bikes. I didn't see anyone taking any pics so I pulled my camera out and tried to get some pictures of the beginning of the event.
While walking around, Matt from the Colorado Honda Sport Touring Association mailing list spotted me. We'd exchanged a couple of e-mails on the list. We chatted for a few minutes about his Honda (Nighthawk I think) and his adventures on his web site.
I walked around looking for decent shots and changed the settings on the camera to get a good picture. Of course, I had to set the camera down so there were some interesting shots of blurred people and stationary bikes. I saw a pretty good picture of someone parked on the side of the road on one of the bike sites and the cool thing was the taillights of the passing cars being captured by the camera. These are somewhat like this, but of course with blurred people. Check out the Harley with the blue highlights.
I tried setting the camera on the ground for a pic. The results are about what you'd expect.
Setting the camera on a trash can. Much better exposure.
As 2am rolled around, the group leader got up and advised everyone about the rules, caution about not riding beyond your abilities, stopping if necessary, and of course, reminding everyone about the emergency numbers and to call if you decide you can't make it and are stopping in a motel. He also reminded everyone that in addition to three receipts, you needed to get the gate receipt from Custer State Park and a receipt from Devil's Tower. A receipt from the Devil's Tower Trading Post was acceptible. I got a pic from the platform after he spoke then got ready to roll.
On the road: 2:20am
We left Fay Meyers and hit the gas station for the starting receipt. Herb's on a Yamaha Venture (1995 I think he said) and I'm riding my Suzuki Hayabusa. Herb and I discussed our riding styles and figured we'd be stopping about every 125 miles or so. I figured that was a comfortable break time, about every 90 minutes or so and Herb's bike only had a range of about 160 miles. I've ridden an entire tank once and it's no picnic. I can do about 175 before I start getting twinges so 125 to 150 is actually a good range.
Route 25 north was pretty quiet and fortunately the road closures weren't happening. We'd planned on stopped north of Cheyenne for the next gas stop. We were going to communicate but my Autocomm has been acting up and while I could hear, I wasn't able to communicate. Although I could interrupt the music by blowing into it so it was working, no one could hear me. I fiddeled with the connections and the squelch, nothing seemed to work.
It was warmish in Denver but as we got out of town and towards Wyoming, the chill started to kick in. We passed a few bikes and were passed by others. An event that occurred a lot in the next 20 hours. In Cheyenne I was planning on breaking out my Gerbings gloves and plug it all in but I saw that Herb continued on to 85 and we headed east. After about 20 minutes, I decided to pass and see if I could get Herb to pick up the pace a little. It was very dark and pretty much the only other riders were from the group. After a few minutes though, Herb was flashing his lights. I slowed down to let him pass but he just slowed behind me. Herb needed to know how far it was to the next town with a gas station. Since I'd gone this way just a couple of weeks ago, I thought the next gas was in Torrington which he didn't think he could make. We decided then to head back to the last gas station in Cheyenne.
On the way back, we stopped briefly on the side of the road and I got this shot of a bike heading towards us.
We got to the station, filled up and I plugged in my Gerbing's Jacket and gloves. It was a little fumbly due to the cold but I got together and we headed out again.
We got to Torrington and made the necessary left onto 26 then stopped for fuel at a little closed but self-serve station. We decided to hunt for a breakfast place either here or in Lingle and we also stopped to take a break at the next station. We got back on the bikes and headed on to Lingle.
As we're heading north in 85, the dawn was breaking. Just a little light to the east gradually spreading out. There was quite a bit of low lying fog even at one place where we had to drive through it. The weird thing was the lack of traffic. It was all pretty light for several hours. After the sun came up and burned off a bit of the fog, we were tooling down the road when I spotted several miles of straight away. I hunched down and throttled it up. Since the bike was in good shape, I wasn't thinking about something going awry. The last couple of times I'd done this, the rear was on its last legs or the chain was going. Something that kept me from opening her up. Herb said I just blew by him but I wasn't going all that fast at that time. At the end of the straight away, I slowed down and he caught up giving me a thumbs up as he went by.
We got to Lusk without seeing any eating establishments and stopped at a gas station to fill up. There were a couple on another bike and a couple of more bikes arrived after we were done filling up. I snagged a Hostess Apple Pie while I was there and Herb snacked on some stuff he brought along. After I moved my bike over to where Herb was, Bob showed up for some gas as well. He's riding a big Honda Goldwing. Herb introduced him and we all chatted briefly before heading out.
Our next turn was a Mule Creek Junction. I was behind Herb as we approached it. I hit my turn signal and watched as Herb kept going. I chased him down and got him turned around. I found out later than he had zoned out and was just following the road. We followed 18 east towards Hot Springs South Dakota. We passed into South Dakota without a Welcome sign but with warnings about passing law enforcement and helmets. At a fork for 89 north to Custer, I stopped to check the directions. There was a couple of guys on bikes that had made the turn and were stopped. Herb arrived and I verified that we were going to Hot Springs. He agreed and I headed off. Later the guys went by as we filled up and I recall seeing them when we were filling up in Lusk.
Route 385 north from Hot Springs was pretty cool and turned to gravel when we got to Wind Cave National Park. The fine pea gravel which makes such a fine road surface. Fortunately there were tracks where cars had pushed aside the gravel so it was pretty clear. I still was careful on curves making sure I followed the line. I'm guessing Herb was having a bit more trouble. I stopped every few minutes to make sure he hadn't gone down in the gravel waiting after curves until he arrived in my sight.
We got to Pringle and made the turn onto 89 north. When we got to the turn for Custer, I wasn't 100% sure of the direction so sat there momentarily until Herb arrived and we made the right instead of left. I'm always doing that. We got to another decision point, 16a went north and 16 went west. After a brief thought, I got behind a vehicle with a couple of young ladies riding in it. When the light changed, I had to beep the horn to get their attention. We blew by them after the light and headed north on 16. Next turn, 87 east.
Herb wanted to stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial to get a couple of pics. We spotted the turn and stopped at the entrance. We didn't want to go in. I'd already seen it and Herb just wanted a pic or two. We got our pics and the guy at the gate was nice enough to let us in in order to turn around at the next cut through.
On our way out of, we passed the two guys on the bikes as they stopped to get pics. We made the right turn and headed north again.
I must say, the organizers of this event picked some fine riding roads. I'd been down them before but on the Harley, not really made for carving corners. Going down 87 to 16 had some really awesome curves. Not too sharp (mostly) and they let me really enjoy riding the Suzuki.
As I came down the other side, really really enjoying the curves, I pulled in to a large paved area and waited for Herb to catch up.
I was doing that a lot during the twisties. I'd ride ahead enjoying the curves and scenery then wait at the end of a curve or on a straight away. With the power of the Hayabusa, I could cut a curve and pass the slower tourists without breathing hard and be able to totally enjoy the corners. Herb would find a longer place to pass and catch up.
The organizers warned us to be careful of animals, especially in this area. They'd encountered buffalo and the mules, which would block traffic. We were cautioned that we should be careful in passing these places since cars could and would stop. They'd taken 2.5 hours to traverse this loop with all the tourists so we needed to be careful.
After getting back on 16 east, we hit a couple of the corners and then stopped at the grocery store for a break. I grabbed a soda and Herb snacked out of his bag. We talked with a couple of other folks on the same ride.
This was the coolest part of this organized adventure. There were probably 50 bikes on the ride, but we weren't all together. There were small groups of riders. A couple of solo or two up riders and several two or three person ride teams. It was excellent that we were able to stop, spot a bike or two, see the Colorado tags and realize they were doing the same thing we were doing. We could chat from a common point of view. I was really impressed with this. It was a lot of fun without being overbearing.
After the break, we continued on up the next mountain. Again, some really cool twisties but since it was getting later, there were more tourists on the road. The worst ones were the buses on the 10 and 15 mph curves. Nothing like having half a bus in your lane and the space getting smaller and smaller.
At the box canyon at the top I pulled in and there was a family getting pics. I looked around without seeing the way out and was figuring I'd missed the turn when the guy with the camera pointed to his right (my left) and I was able to exit. I gave him a friendly wave and continued on. There were a couple of good camera spots for pics of Mt. Rushmore, but they were all on the road and I hate just stopping and blocking traffic so I kept going. At a scenic point, I pulled in to wait on Herb. I told him that I was waiting for him periodically (which he knew of course) and let him know that he was certainly able to stop where he wanted to get a pic and I'd just wait on him. Of course, if it took too long, I might have to double back to make sure he was ok.
...continued