Here are some additional thoughts (pardon my grammer/spelling in advance 'cause I don't give a crap):
1. Us "East Coast" or "Southern Riders" think the Dragon/Cherahola is "Mecca" for sportbike riding, but we are in severe denial. Consider the Dragon is 11 miles and, what, 311 curves? On that 11 miles there are also 900 other motorcycles, LEO's, Sportscars, Semi's and every other motorized and unmotorized conveyance you can think of. Out West, there are a hundred roads that are over 40 miles long with a thousand clearly marked curves and we had THE ROAD TO OURSELVES; no LEO's, very little traffic or mailboxes or houses or other cars. Lots of passing lanes if necessary. Poplulation density once you get out in the 'country' is alot different than back here.
2. West Coast people (SteveO in particular) LOVE their coffee with obsessive intensity; I spent an entire hour in Yakima following Tuf around as he fiddled with his GPS trying to find a Starbucks (I laughed and laughed) as he continued to have to turn around, tried to go the wrong way down a one-way street (with a LEO parked across the street watching him with interest), having to double back when his GPS 'burped' or the road was closed due to construction...priceless
3. The Pacific Northwest mountains are all volcanic, and all their road products are made with pumice (volcanic) rock. It makes their asphalt incredibly grippy, and also eats the daylights out of tires; several people used an entire set on our approx 1k mi trip. A downside is their gravel is also the same color (red/brown) vs. here (limestone on black tar asphalt) and it's almost impossible to spot until you are right upon it. This caused me several exaspering survivial reactions when spotting gravel while already committed to a turn and praying "please hold!". In a few cases, tar snakes, cattle guards and animal excrement (a lot of open range areas) made for some 'interesting' riding.
4. The scenery is incredible. We went from snow-capped mountains to vast mesas to tight canyons all in just a few hours. The pics we have do not begin to capture the beauty.
5. In the East, I propose we have 4 riding seasons, with spring and fall being the two 'comfortable' seasons; summer and winter neither prime seasons as both are uncomfortable. It looks like the Pacific Northwest Riders (PNR) have two seasons, but the 'summer' season is longer and more comfortable than ours. No wonder these guys can flat ride, they have a great season with great roads with little traffic or LEO worries. They could all ride my azz off and I spent a lot of time catching-up.
6. I liken the roads I rode on as more comparible to the Cherahola (long big sweepers) than the Dragon (tight 15 mph corners) although I went down one road that was a combination of both for about 40 miles (whatever that 'mountain' we climbed and went down the other side). Although, there were plenty of instances when going up or down canyons that blowing a turn (with no gardrail) meant launching yourself into a unprepared BASE jump without a parachute over a 500/1000 ft. ravine. Blowing a turn had SEVERE consequenses. Which leads to:
7. (Signage): The turns throughout the two states I rode on were clearly marked, and very consistent. Here in the East, there are turns a) not marked at all, b) a 30 MPH turn that is really a 50 MPH turn, or c) a 30MPH turn that is really a 15MPH turn - all inconsistent. On this ride, you could be pretty confident that a marked turn was correct with no big surprises once you understood what speed you could sucessfully navigate given the signage (I hear that 2X the marked speed was prime, but I could neither confirm nor deny such information).
It took me too long to get used to this; I continually found myself slowing down in blind turns that I could have accellerated thru if I had trusted the sign. I have a ton of (unfortunately) forever banned video that shows what I'm talking about, some of which I may eventually edit/post to protect the innocent.
8. This ride was very well organized and planned (hats off to mjn). Routes were planned far in advance and reconned. Riders were split off into different groups/riding styles/ability and departed at different times to keep them separated and into smaller sized groups for safety. Always had a designated lead and trail to pick up stragglers or deal with unsuspected problems. Plenty of rest stops evenly spaced for gas/food/faciliites. Had to plan gas stops because there were plenty of places where there was no/wrong kind of fuel. Our 'home base' lodging (info restricted) was first class and our hosts were very gracious and friendly. We got fed a killer breakfast (fresh eggs, scratch biscuits/muffins, real bacon, oatmeal, etc) and dinner (steaks both night with all the homemade bread, fixins/salad you could think of); I sure didn't lose any weight on this trip...
9. I cannot begin to express my appreciation to my host (SteveO) and the other board members/fellow riders on the trip. Everyone was so gracious and is very indicitive of the camaraderie of the sportbike community. SteveO a) picked me up at the airport; b) Let me stay at his house, would NOT let me sleep on the couch make me sleep in HIS bed and HE slept on his couch; c) Let me ride his almost new GENII Busa with 1300 miles and a brand new set of tires on it (just wish I'd brought it back in same condition as I left with it in...); d) Fixed me a latte every morning (remember what I said about coffee addicts?). Mark (mjn); Rich (BABusa) and Eric (Dr E) and all the other riders were very friendly and made me, the resident redneck, feel extremely comfortable/welcome...I was supposed to have the couch at our riding destination, but somehow ended up with a huge bed (still trying to figure out how that happened). I would be remiss not to mention the great welcoming dinner that Teresa (Scootergirl) made, in the middle of working her tail off, and experiencing remorse for not going along also (did I mention she also reminds me of Ashley Judd who is on my list of all-time hotties?)
All in all, a VERY memorable experience. It's already time to start trying to figure out how to politic my way into another invite (and permission from Household6). For us East Coast guys, a trip out to the Pacific Northwest comes HIGHLY recommended.
1. Us "East Coast" or "Southern Riders" think the Dragon/Cherahola is "Mecca" for sportbike riding, but we are in severe denial. Consider the Dragon is 11 miles and, what, 311 curves? On that 11 miles there are also 900 other motorcycles, LEO's, Sportscars, Semi's and every other motorized and unmotorized conveyance you can think of. Out West, there are a hundred roads that are over 40 miles long with a thousand clearly marked curves and we had THE ROAD TO OURSELVES; no LEO's, very little traffic or mailboxes or houses or other cars. Lots of passing lanes if necessary. Poplulation density once you get out in the 'country' is alot different than back here.
2. West Coast people (SteveO in particular) LOVE their coffee with obsessive intensity; I spent an entire hour in Yakima following Tuf around as he fiddled with his GPS trying to find a Starbucks (I laughed and laughed) as he continued to have to turn around, tried to go the wrong way down a one-way street (with a LEO parked across the street watching him with interest), having to double back when his GPS 'burped' or the road was closed due to construction...priceless
3. The Pacific Northwest mountains are all volcanic, and all their road products are made with pumice (volcanic) rock. It makes their asphalt incredibly grippy, and also eats the daylights out of tires; several people used an entire set on our approx 1k mi trip. A downside is their gravel is also the same color (red/brown) vs. here (limestone on black tar asphalt) and it's almost impossible to spot until you are right upon it. This caused me several exaspering survivial reactions when spotting gravel while already committed to a turn and praying "please hold!". In a few cases, tar snakes, cattle guards and animal excrement (a lot of open range areas) made for some 'interesting' riding.
4. The scenery is incredible. We went from snow-capped mountains to vast mesas to tight canyons all in just a few hours. The pics we have do not begin to capture the beauty.
5. In the East, I propose we have 4 riding seasons, with spring and fall being the two 'comfortable' seasons; summer and winter neither prime seasons as both are uncomfortable. It looks like the Pacific Northwest Riders (PNR) have two seasons, but the 'summer' season is longer and more comfortable than ours. No wonder these guys can flat ride, they have a great season with great roads with little traffic or LEO worries. They could all ride my azz off and I spent a lot of time catching-up.
6. I liken the roads I rode on as more comparible to the Cherahola (long big sweepers) than the Dragon (tight 15 mph corners) although I went down one road that was a combination of both for about 40 miles (whatever that 'mountain' we climbed and went down the other side). Although, there were plenty of instances when going up or down canyons that blowing a turn (with no gardrail) meant launching yourself into a unprepared BASE jump without a parachute over a 500/1000 ft. ravine. Blowing a turn had SEVERE consequenses. Which leads to:
7. (Signage): The turns throughout the two states I rode on were clearly marked, and very consistent. Here in the East, there are turns a) not marked at all, b) a 30 MPH turn that is really a 50 MPH turn, or c) a 30MPH turn that is really a 15MPH turn - all inconsistent. On this ride, you could be pretty confident that a marked turn was correct with no big surprises once you understood what speed you could sucessfully navigate given the signage (I hear that 2X the marked speed was prime, but I could neither confirm nor deny such information).
It took me too long to get used to this; I continually found myself slowing down in blind turns that I could have accellerated thru if I had trusted the sign. I have a ton of (unfortunately) forever banned video that shows what I'm talking about, some of which I may eventually edit/post to protect the innocent.8. This ride was very well organized and planned (hats off to mjn). Routes were planned far in advance and reconned. Riders were split off into different groups/riding styles/ability and departed at different times to keep them separated and into smaller sized groups for safety. Always had a designated lead and trail to pick up stragglers or deal with unsuspected problems. Plenty of rest stops evenly spaced for gas/food/faciliites. Had to plan gas stops because there were plenty of places where there was no/wrong kind of fuel. Our 'home base' lodging (info restricted) was first class and our hosts were very gracious and friendly. We got fed a killer breakfast (fresh eggs, scratch biscuits/muffins, real bacon, oatmeal, etc) and dinner (steaks both night with all the homemade bread, fixins/salad you could think of); I sure didn't lose any weight on this trip...
9. I cannot begin to express my appreciation to my host (SteveO) and the other board members/fellow riders on the trip. Everyone was so gracious and is very indicitive of the camaraderie of the sportbike community. SteveO a) picked me up at the airport; b) Let me stay at his house, would NOT let me sleep on the couch make me sleep in HIS bed and HE slept on his couch; c) Let me ride his almost new GENII Busa with 1300 miles and a brand new set of tires on it (just wish I'd brought it back in same condition as I left with it in...); d) Fixed me a latte every morning (remember what I said about coffee addicts?). Mark (mjn); Rich (BABusa) and Eric (Dr E) and all the other riders were very friendly and made me, the resident redneck, feel extremely comfortable/welcome...I was supposed to have the couch at our riding destination, but somehow ended up with a huge bed (still trying to figure out how that happened). I would be remiss not to mention the great welcoming dinner that Teresa (Scootergirl) made, in the middle of working her tail off, and experiencing remorse for not going along also (did I mention she also reminds me of Ashley Judd who is on my list of all-time hotties?)
All in all, a VERY memorable experience. It's already time to start trying to figure out how to politic my way into another invite (and permission from Household6). For us East Coast guys, a trip out to the Pacific Northwest comes HIGHLY recommended.
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