Re: Over the Top and Back Again, SS1000 ( very long )

[KEGLER916@xxxxxxx]

Mark,
     Well done! I traced your trip paragraph by paragraph with my faithful 
Rand McNally. I have simular goals and hope to achieve half of what you did 
in a couple of weeks when I head off to the Deals Gap area.
Ron Dixon
Lake Worth, Fl
00 Red ST   80 miles

<< Over the Top and Back again, my personal SaddleSore 1000. This is an 
extremely
 long post, and I apologize to those that my deem it a waste of bandwidth.
 
 Who am I, Mark Dieck I live in Mesa, Az ride a Y2k Sapphire Blue Sprint ST.
 
 Opted to start my SS1000 at the Mobil station just down the street from my 
house.
 Fired up the bike, had already done a walk around on the bike, tire pressure,
 chain, oil, water, etc., everything looking good. Couple of miles down to the
 mobil, fill up with gas and note the start time. Ooops the pumps at Mobil 
don't
 time stamp their receipts. Mosey in to the store, pick up some snacks and 
use the
 credit card, now we have a time stamped receipt.
 
 The first leg of the trip was from Mesa, Az, part of the greater Phoenix
 metropolitan sprawl, down to Tucson, Az.  The route included about 10 miles 
of
 surface streets, up onto I-202 for about 10 miles, before catching I-10 for 
the
 run down to Tucson. The morning air was nice and cool and traffic was light,
 settled into a 95 mph pace as indicated by the speedo on the bike. A little 
over
 an hour later hit the north side of Tucson and the expected light traffic. 
Catch
 the junction for I-10/I-19 with no problems and get headed east on I-10, 
first
 stop is planned for Wicox, Az.  Pull in for gas just outside of Wilcox, at 
0822,
 with 203 miles down.  No problems with the bike, though I have to admit that 
I had
 a tough time getting comfortable on the bike. Not really sure why. Fill up 
the
 bike, clean the visor on my helmet, take a check around the bike, everything
 looking good, time to get going at 0838, 16 minutes off the road not bad.
 
 The next leg of the trip has me headed towards Las Cruces, NM, on I-10. 
Maybe it
 was just early morning achiness or something, since when I get back on the 
freeway
 the bike feels great underneath me, just like you want it to. Look down at 
the
 speedo, cruising along at 105-110 on the speedo and feeling great.  Very 
light
 traffic on the freeway, and perfect weather conditions, lets let it go and 
get
 some miles put away while I am feeling good. Ride into the west edge of Las 
Cruces
 about 1030, and find the junction for I-25 north with no trouble. I don't 
know
 about others, but when I am on a trip I always like to catch my fillup as I 
am
 leaving a city rather than entering. Anyway the ride into Las Cruces is
 uneventful, the 207.6 miles are covered in 2 hours 13 minutes. Take some 
extra
 time at this stop to catch a snack and drink, and to call home and let my 
wife
 know where I am and that everything is ok. Back on the road at 1115, and 
headed
 north towards Albuquerque.
 
 So far on the trip I hadn't been passed on the road by anyone, but just 
leaving
 Las Cruces a small pickup passed me and settled in front of me. No problem, 
just
 gave me someone to pace off of as they were running 100-105 on my speedo. 
This leg
 of the trip was the proverbial PITA, had crosswinds coming from the west at
 estimated 25 mph, with gusts up in the 30â??s.  The winds were really pushing 
the
 bike around. After about an hour it became evident to me how much extra 
effort is
 required to ride in those conditions. Everything on my left side was 
starting to
 ache from the unbalanced riding position required to keep the bike and myself
 stable in the wind. Fortunately traffic was light and other than the wind the
 road/weather conditions were excellent.
 On the first two legs of the trip, I had averaged about 45 mpg. Running up 
the
 hill from Las Cruces to Albuquerque and fighting the wind my gas consumption 
went
 to 40 mpg. This caused me a bit of concern as I started watching for gas 
stations
 coming up on Albuquerque, but managed to roll in at 1337, and put 5.157 gals 
into
 the tank. Thank goodness I didn't have to go much further. At each of the 
stops I
 got some rather amused looks from people as I cleaned off my visor using the
 windshield cleaning tool at the stations.
 
 Back on the road, by 1350, making the run thru Albuquerque to catch I-40 
westbound
 for Flagstaff, Az. Hoping that the wind will abate as the run from 
Albuquerque to
 Flagstaff is across the top of a plateau with nothing to break up the wind.
 Looking back, I should probably have taken a bit of a rest break in 
Albuquerque to
 relax the neck muscles some. Still no navigation problems as I catch the I-40
 junction and head west. The wind isn't showing any signs of abating, and
 unfortunately it is still coming primarily from my left side, so no relief 
for the
 muscles.  This leg of the trip was probably the least enjoyable of all. My 
muscles
 were really aching, the bike was being pushed around by the wind, and I was 
way to
 far away to have started thinking about have completed my journey. This was 
where
 the only mechanical problem with the bike occurred. Sometime during this 
leg, the
 left side screw that holds the plastic overlay for the indicator lamps had 
worked
 loss and fallen out. The right side screw looked like it was still securely 
in, so
 the overlay wasn't going to fall out, so I pushed on. Passed thru Gallup, NM 
which
 is about 25 miles east of the Az/NM border, that gave me a very needed lift. 
I had
 been watching the billboards and had a gas station picked out about 20 miles 
into
 Az. Had a good run from there into Chambers, Az pulling in at 1620 with 
another
 199.8 miles behind me. At this point I, in spite of my aching neck, I was 
feeling
 very confident that the trip was going to be a success. Had the poorest fuel
 mileage on this leg, guess the wind was really making a difference, 38.7 mpg.
 
 Heading back out with a bit of energy from the snack and stop, but also with 
a bit
 of trepidation as I realize it is another 100 miles or so to Flagstaff 
across the
 open with the wind blowing.  Oh well, noone ever said it would be easy. This 
is
 where some trip planning bore fruit. The distances between stops for the 
last two
 legs were the two shortest on the trip which made them much less strenuous. 
The
 winds were still there all the way into Flagstaff, but now I was on home 
turf in
 some ways, and the prospect of filling up in Flagstaff and then being on the 
last
 leg gave me some extra energy. Made the run into Flagstaff and turned south 
onto
 I-17, catching a gas stop about about 15 miles out of Flagstaff. At this 
point I
 had been on the road 12.5 hours and had ridden 977 miles according to my 
odometer.
 One more leg and I would accomplish what I had set out to.
 
 This leg is where not setting an alarm to wake myself up came into play. I 
had
 hoped to make the entire trip in â??daylightâ??, starting out in the early dawn 
and
 finishing at dusk. It was now 1845 and my finish point was a solid 2 hours 
away,
 with at best an hours worth of daylight left. I had wanted to make the run in
 daylight, as I have not augmented the lighting on my bike and the stock 
lights
 really donut cut it, IMO. Back on the road, no longer on the top of the 
plateau,
 and with a change in direction the wind is no longer causing me problems. My 
aches
 are not aching as much, or at least I am not noticing them as much. I am on
 familiar roads, having made the run up to Flagstaff many times, and other 
than
 having some minor concerns about finishing in the dark, am very confident of 
the
 outcome. The run down the hill from Flagstaff to Phoenix is thankfully 
uneventful,
 the traffic here was the heaviest of the trip, but still would be considered
 light.  Work my way thru Phoenix and head towards home, taking the same 
route that
 I take home from work every day. The last 10 miles or so on surface streets. 
Have
 you ever wanted a red light to stop you?  Well at this point I did, I just 
wanted
 to stop the bike, put my feet down and rest. Even if it was just for 30 
seconds. I
 have driven that stretch of 10 miles several thousand times, and have only 
made
 the entire stretch without a red light maybe twice. Well, I would have 
welcomed a
 red light, but not a single one, green all the way back to the same Mobil 
station
 that was my start point for my end point.
 
 Eleven Thousand One Hundred Twenty Four miles in Fourteen Hours Forty Eight
 Minutes. My saga was complete with a fill up, and coke for celebration and 
to get
 the obligatory time stamp. The 2 miles home seemed like they took forever 
and yet
 no time. My mind was racing replaying back the entire ride. I was pumped 
that I
 had done it, yet very spent by the effort.  Oh, the reason I have titled my 
ride
 Over the Top and Back Again, is that as I was riding I noticed that I went 
over
 the Continental Divide while heading towards New Mexico, and then then came 
back
 over.
 
 It has now been 48 hours since I started and 33 hours or so since I 
finished. As I
 think back on the trip there are things that I would do differently and 
lessons
 learned. I will try to post those in the future.
 
 Thanks to those that read this.
 
 Mark Dieck
  >>

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