Blaze thru Oregon '10

Nice! I was there in december and will be there again in August....I gotta say that white and blue gen 2 is one of my all time favorites!
 
yea, Eric did a great job on his gen 2. You oughta see it in person.. pics just don't do it justice.
 
Thanks for all the comments guys.
I started doing this ride 8 or 9 years ago.. we had less than 10 riders until '06, then it started growing.. this year the count was 21. It can't get much bigger than that, the town we stay in only has so many beds.:laugh:

There are so many killer roads over here to ride on, the challenge is to fit in as many of them as I can in a 2.5 day ride. This year the total miles were just a tad less than 900.

I can't take credit for any of the photos, they were taken by guys that know what they are doing..

Again, it as great to meet and ride with Keith (skydivr). We gave him a little taste of NW backroads for sure! He did find out he's not a fan of tar snakes or gravel....:laugh:
 
Wow. Living in Southern Oregon I would sure like to know when you do the ride next year.

Tired of riding alone.:please:

This particualy ride is by invitation only. At the moment it's full and you'll have to wait until someone dies to get in. We now fill every bed available. The Ranch is limited to the number of people they can feed as well.

Thing to do is drop MJN a PM and ask to be put on the waiting list.

Great Ride! Good Peeps! Wonderful Food! Best Riding in the country with lots of roads equal to or better than Deals Gap!
 
I love skydivr's lid....whats the make and name of it please!

That's a Suomy Spec 1R Extreme Bostrom 05. Kneedraggers.com may still have some. They fit tight so buy it one size larger than what you normally wear - you'll thank me.
 
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You may have seen some of my original post here:

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/general-bike-related-topics/134506-guess.html

We won't talk about who I had to kill...This post may take a while/multiple posts/edits because there is so much to say about how GREAT a trip I had and the camaraderie, friendship and hospitality of a great many people to help make this happen, but I'll try...

Tufbusa (my mentor/advisor/track coach and all-around bud) worked on me about 6 months to try and get the time and wherewithall together to make this ride and scrounged me an invite (thanks for taking a chance on me Mark!). Tuf told me all I had to do was show up; he graciously provided the use of his 08, 1400 mi spankin new Black beauty Busa. I was hoping to fly out early and do a trackday with him, but that just didn't work out with job and wife, so I flew out last Thursday to SEATAC after shipping part of my gear to him via UPS last week.

It's great to see SteveO at the airport when he picked me up. First thing I notice out of the airport is that it's about 65 degrees (after just having a week of 90/90 in Nashville, it was a welcome relief!) Second thing I notice is the mountains...simply breathtaking. We went up to SteveO's house, and then over to his ladyfriend Teresa (Scootergirl)'s place to eat dinner with her, his son Troy (who Tuf is very proud of and can ride the crap out of a bike) and his girlfriend. Teresa killed the fatted calf we had an AWESOME dinner (you rock girl!). Not only is she an awesome hostest, she also rides a gixxer 1K! She was trying not to cry she was so dissapointed she wasn't going too (work conflict).

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After dinner we head back to Tuf's house and prep bikes. I have a GenII and a Gixxer 1K also so I'm familiar with both bikes. SteveO's got a set of Cortec Saddlebags that fit the Gen II PERFECTLY (HIGHLY recommended) and with a few tie-downs, I strap my bad over the top and put my tank bag on and we are ready to ROCK...

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From the back (never felt the weight at all just a little difficult to climb on/off...Notice the brand-new set of BT016's he put on for me too...

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The next morning we get up, and after the mandatory cup of Starbucks (you have no idea what the level of effort Tuf will go thru for a Starbucks!), we pile on and head EAST...pick of SteveO ready to rock (Notice I'm the "mule" hauling all our gear)..

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First place he takes me is to Mt. St. Helens. Unbelievable that a) the whole top of this huge mountain blew off 30 years ago, and b) that I am actually seeing SNOW. Oh yeah, it's still smoking, too. SteveO took waaaay too many pics of me (figured he'd break his camera for sure) and video, but I got a few on my iPhone.

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I grabbed a fir tree cone to take home to my Daughter..

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At the top we shot pic and video of each other :laugh:

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What a Southern boy like me didn't know, is that Washington (I assumed it was all forests and mountains), once you get over to the east of the mountains, has quite a bit of farm/orchard land that looks flat like Kansas (except with moutains in the background); vast mesas with agriculture and cattle, great roads with big sweepers and tight corners clearly marked, some blind and some not with big dropoff's on the sides. The roads are all made of asphault from volcanic rock; the grip is awesome but it eats the daylights out of tires (in 1600 miles that brand new set of tires were pretty much done). Where the heck I am I have no clue, but it sure was a sight to behold.

We spent the first night enroute to our final destination in a hotel. and after another latte (SteveO would die without his coffee!) we head out again. Ended up down by the Columbia River somewhere to meet up with Mark (MJN) and a bunch of other riders. The Columbia River is WIDE (7 miles in one place) and runs fast and apparently is the home to a lot of water sports. We'd go around one turn, and there'd be wind surfers; around the next corner there'd be wing surfers...A mulitude of sports (water/motor/climbing) all in one place. The temps are a relief and a break from TN heat/humidity.


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We ride down to some town, and meet up with Mark and his crew. After the proper introductions, we head out again into OR. It's much dryer here and hotter, but the views are awesome. There are miles of roads, sometimes flat with 5 mile or more straightaways that you can see all the way thru (if you every wanted to make the 200mph club, this could be the place)

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Canyons with big twistys or sharp ones, all clearly marked. I guess I should mention now that ALL these guys can flat out ride me into the ground...just call me 'pokey' I could not keep up.

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Once we get to our final destination (top-secret location) we meet up with a bunch of other riders, to include Board members Rich (BA Busa) who rode all the way from the SF area (800+) miles the night before, and Eric (Dr E) who has that awesome white/blue paint job. Both guys just as nice and welcoming as they could be.

Mark, and Rich (and those custom bags):

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We spend the next 2 days riding all over this area. I've got some GoPro Video (used mount on my helment the entire time), but not sure of it's quality yet. SteveO has plenty of video and pics, to include following MJN down a 40 mile stretch of road at a 'spirited' pace. Got served dinner (steak both nights) and breakfast (fresh farm eggs, real bacon, scratch biscuits and muffins) both mornings by our hosts (TASTY).

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Road back out and stayed with one of the riders on Monday night. Tuesday SteveO took me up the side of Mt. Ranier on the way back, and flew out for home Wednesday. Can't believe I'm COLD and seeing SNOW...

at Chinook Pass

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At Paradise, the highest place you can drive. Mt. Ranier is covered in clouds so we never saw most of the mountain...

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and big trees...I collected another cone for my daughter from this tree that was probably a thousand years old...

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Great discription of another wonderful ride with MJN. I have lots of video and will soon edit and burn to a dvd so you'll have something to show your friends for years to come. I think you'll be talking about this ride with your buddies in the Old Folks Home one day :laugh: Hopefully, many years into the future.

I'm pleased to see you had a great experience of our hospitality and beauty of the Great Northwest. It is a unique place in this vast land of ours. I am sure this won't be your last trip to smell the fresh scent of evergreen trees, wheat fields and horse manure :cheerleader:

I am disappointed you couldn't make the track school but there will be another time. The day was cut short at mid-afternoon when the goofy guy crashed into the flaggers station. So maybe it worked out for the best!

We all enjoyed your company.

Thank you for being such a gracious guest!

And just so no one gets the wrong idea, you ride just fine my friend!

At least when you weren't watching the waitress! :moon:

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Cool thread...nice pics!

So Rich (BABUSA) hasn't dropped off the face of the Earth. Amazing :poke: :moon:


Dr. E's bike is frigging awesome! :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing Mark....you can tell it was good times for all. One thing though.....this doesn't look like the Bubba I know :whistle:

:laugh:

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