marndo
07-20-2005, 02:23 PM
Call me crazy, but I went a whole week without riding and come Friday I was going nuts! So, its 6pm Friday night, the wife and daughter had plans for the whole weekend, so I look over at her and say, “hey, you mind if I go for a ride?” To which she says, “sure, when are you coming home?” to which I say “uh Sunday?” She says “well.. ok but be careful.” One hour later I’m heading up the superslab attempting a 340 mile night run through the desert to campsites just south of Big Pine on the 395, yeeehhaaaa!!!
Getting ready to go was easy, my entire rig is always loaded and goes on the bike in a few minutes. I needed to print a number of campsite directions as well as some backup options should I get lost or not be able to make the entire distance in the middle of the night. I’ve wanted to go to Yosemite for some time and since I had my National Parks Pass from my last ride and had an excuse to go. Also, the idea of making Friday night slab runs to places far and away was something I wanted to try. I’m not one for long range planning so needed to know if weekend rides in the 1000 mile range was a) doable, and b) enjoyable. I ventured into this plan with reservations and was not going to push myself should I get fatigued. Luckily, I got plenty of sleep Thursday night and did only an office day of work so was pretty well rested before heading out. I also bought me a cramp buster at the local Cycle Gear heeding HMR’s advice.
I left the house at 7pm and was going through Temecula with nary a traffic jam. This is good. The only slow down was just before the Cajon Pass and I only lost a couple minutes there. I-15 was not too busy and the run up to the 395 went easy. Once on the 395, things got even better. Less traffic allowed me to run with my high beams on and I honestly don’t know why anyone would want more light than what these bikes put out. There is no way I can out run these lights. I gassed up once and grabbed some fast food at a Burger King near at the 14-395 junction. Half way and I was alert as ever and having a blast cruising through the desert in the middle of the night. Pulling off routinely to rest and enjoy the clear star filled sky was a blessing. It was a little chilly between San Diego and Temecula but once I was in the high desert the temperature was perfect, not too hot and not too cold, just right. And best of all, zero wind the whole way, in fact the only wind I hit the whole weekend was a short 1 hour run. The motorcycle gods were good to me this weekend. Of all the preparation I did for this ride, the best thing I did was buy an $8.99 velcro style cramp buster. This thing made a huge difference in eliminating any throttle hand fatigue.
I stopped at a rest stop after Lone Pine to get some accurate distances to the 3 or 4 campgrounds I knew of. I passed a few in favor of the one I thought would be the best, closer to Yosemite thus maximizing my night run but not too far that I felt fatigue would start to be a problem.
I pulled into the Taboose campground around 2am, still alert and fresh. A group of folks must have just arrived as they were setting up camp and had a huge bonfire going. I had plenty of light! I setup camp at the first available site just near them and the fee station, and right next to a swift running creek. Made a quick cup of tea, ate a snack and promptly passed out until 6am. There is nothing like the star filled clear desert skies.
http://www.silentadventures.com/images/motorcycle_images/071505_Yosemite/100_1654.JPG
My tent is a 2-man one and all my gear, and me fit into it easily with room to spare. I just wish they made bigger sleeping pads for large people like me. My tent is also very easy to setup with fully sleeved pole guides. I can usually set it up in less than 5 minutes without the rain fly as I did this night since the weatherman said no rain and the skies showed no sign of rain. The rain fly was at the ready in case things did get wet though.
more to come later, gotta get back to work now...
Getting ready to go was easy, my entire rig is always loaded and goes on the bike in a few minutes. I needed to print a number of campsite directions as well as some backup options should I get lost or not be able to make the entire distance in the middle of the night. I’ve wanted to go to Yosemite for some time and since I had my National Parks Pass from my last ride and had an excuse to go. Also, the idea of making Friday night slab runs to places far and away was something I wanted to try. I’m not one for long range planning so needed to know if weekend rides in the 1000 mile range was a) doable, and b) enjoyable. I ventured into this plan with reservations and was not going to push myself should I get fatigued. Luckily, I got plenty of sleep Thursday night and did only an office day of work so was pretty well rested before heading out. I also bought me a cramp buster at the local Cycle Gear heeding HMR’s advice.
I left the house at 7pm and was going through Temecula with nary a traffic jam. This is good. The only slow down was just before the Cajon Pass and I only lost a couple minutes there. I-15 was not too busy and the run up to the 395 went easy. Once on the 395, things got even better. Less traffic allowed me to run with my high beams on and I honestly don’t know why anyone would want more light than what these bikes put out. There is no way I can out run these lights. I gassed up once and grabbed some fast food at a Burger King near at the 14-395 junction. Half way and I was alert as ever and having a blast cruising through the desert in the middle of the night. Pulling off routinely to rest and enjoy the clear star filled sky was a blessing. It was a little chilly between San Diego and Temecula but once I was in the high desert the temperature was perfect, not too hot and not too cold, just right. And best of all, zero wind the whole way, in fact the only wind I hit the whole weekend was a short 1 hour run. The motorcycle gods were good to me this weekend. Of all the preparation I did for this ride, the best thing I did was buy an $8.99 velcro style cramp buster. This thing made a huge difference in eliminating any throttle hand fatigue.
I stopped at a rest stop after Lone Pine to get some accurate distances to the 3 or 4 campgrounds I knew of. I passed a few in favor of the one I thought would be the best, closer to Yosemite thus maximizing my night run but not too far that I felt fatigue would start to be a problem.
I pulled into the Taboose campground around 2am, still alert and fresh. A group of folks must have just arrived as they were setting up camp and had a huge bonfire going. I had plenty of light! I setup camp at the first available site just near them and the fee station, and right next to a swift running creek. Made a quick cup of tea, ate a snack and promptly passed out until 6am. There is nothing like the star filled clear desert skies.
http://www.silentadventures.com/images/motorcycle_images/071505_Yosemite/100_1654.JPG
My tent is a 2-man one and all my gear, and me fit into it easily with room to spare. I just wish they made bigger sleeping pads for large people like me. My tent is also very easy to setup with fully sleeved pole guides. I can usually set it up in less than 5 minutes without the rain fly as I did this night since the weatherman said no rain and the skies showed no sign of rain. The rain fly was at the ready in case things did get wet though.
more to come later, gotta get back to work now...