[ST] rallye review (long)

[Matt Knowles <matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I started this last night after I got back home and just as I got to day 8,
my computer locked up. So I'll try it again.

Day 1: Left Ferndale and headed east via Hwy 36, which has easily become my
favorite motorcycle road in the whole world. Good pavement that
continuously curves and goes up and down, little traffic, no cops, and
wonderful scenery. Oh did I mention there are 300 miles of it? Then I head
south on 89 to Truckee where I spent the night at one of my clients, The
Richardson House Inn.

Day 2: Rode Hwy 50 to meet up with the rest of the NorCal gang in Fallon.
Going through Reno at 12 noon the temp said 55 degrees. On a sunny day in
June? Keith (on the sole RS for the whole rallye) showed up first, followed
shortly by Blake and Paul. We then road out 50 to Ely, attracting the
attention of the cops twice. The first time we were pulled over for doing
85 but fortunately escaped without having to sign our names. Very
interesting that the GPS units said we were doing around 75 (in a 70 mph
zone). Later that day while looking for a place to stop and have ice cream,
an oncoming office waves at us to slow down. We were doing 22mph in a 25
mph zone. Maybe the red bikes don't really go faster, but they sure have
the cops fooled. Reminded me of that new Toyota commercial. The temp never
cracked 60 degrees all day and for the desert in summer, that is about
30-40 degrees below normal. At one point I looked sheepishly at the others
and asked if they had their electric grips turned on. Thankfully I wasn't
the only one.

Day 3: More of Hwy. 50. And more, and more. Doesn't this road ever end?
Well fortunately around 8:00pm it finally ended at the motel in Montrose.
There are a few curves on 50, but by the time you hit them you forget how
to turn the bike. There are also only 3 other vehicles on 50 but invariably
you find them going very slow in the curvy sections.

Day 4: The NorCal gang is joined by Adam, Shon, and Dan. Highlight of the
day and of the rallye was riding Hwy 65. One of those roads you have to
ride once for the road and a second time for the scenery. Being a
photographer, I found it a hard choice.

After the ride we lined most of the bikes up for a group shot. Most of us
were praying that a gravity storm wouldn't strike because we really didn't
want a demonstration of the domino effect. It didn't help that the bikes
were parked on a slope, and that mine was at the end of the chain. Well,
there was Scott's VFR after mine, but no one would have cried if that one
fell over. :^) If you noticed in the pictures a big gap in the middle of
the line up, that's not because someone left before I took the picture.
Rather it was because no one wanted to park next to the Sprint (the old
model) since it leaned at a very precarious angle.

Day 5: I have to apologize to everyone in our group for the detour to
Teluride. See I had visited Teluride back in 1985 and found it a very
interesting and beautiful spot. Unfortunately in the next 16 years the
Hollywood elite also discovered the town and proceeded to ruin it. Now it's
just a bunch of condos. To make matters worse every flying insect in the
western United States was attending some type of convention in Teluride.
Picture a riding through a rain storm, only instead of rain drops, the sky
is filled with bugs. That's what it looked and sounded like. Then throw in
some road construction to make for a really miserable ride. On one hand we
were going slow enough that most of the bugs bounced off instead of
splattering themselves all over the bike and rider, but on the other hand
it prolonged the experience. After having bugs fly into the helmet and
crawl down my jacket, I was ready to pass the pilot truck and deal with the
consequences later.

As if all that wasn't enough, while we were going through the bug storm, my
bike started doing a Bonneville impression, meaning that it wanted to be a
twin rather than a triple. A minute later it was back to normal and I
wondered what that was all about. Later the temp gauge flat lined and I was
starting to wonder if my bike was coming down with Boo like symptoms. I
began hoping I could make it to Competition Cycles where we were going to
stop anyway.

I tried enjoying Hwy 141 and fortunately the bike behaved the rest of the
way. 141 was a great ride; another great road and spectacular scenery. At
one stop Paul treated us to several full bore fly by's. This being my first
chance to hear the triple as a spectator, I was impressed. And Paul runs
the stock pipe! Hopefully by now you've checked out the pictures I sent,
but I wish someone had captured a sound file to go with it.

We made it safely to Competition where their crew took great care of us.
Blake and I had the necessary work done while the rest of the gang went on
to do an encore of 65. What they found was that my bike was severely low on
coolant. No signs of leaks, smoke or contaminated oil though, so where it
went was a mystery. I began to suspect the abilities of my local mechanic
but later events pointed to the bike as being the culprit.

Made it back to Montrose just in time for dinner, or so we thought. As we
rolled up Dan told me that the caterer arrived early and everyone already
ate. I figured he was joking so I played along. My surprise when I went
into the conference room and everyone is already chowing down. Lisa, Greg
and Jack kept us entertained. Thanks guys, and also many thanks to everyone
else who helped organize the rallye. You did a great job. I know the bugs
weren't your fault.

Day 6: After saying good bye to everyone I start on my solo trip back home.
Reread day 3 to get an idea of what today was like. Except temperatures
were back to normal, meaning 95 degrees.

Day 7: Arrived in Reno for lunch to find it raining ash in town. Good thing
I wasn't planning on staying in Truckee on the way back. Instead I drive up
395 to Susanville. I arrive at the Super 8 and stop to check out their room
availability and rates. There appeared to be better deals in town so I go
back to the bike to find that it has pissed coolant all over the ground. So
I go back in and tell them I'll take the room after all, I'm not going
anywhere for awhile. After a short swim to cool down physically and
mentally I strip the bike and see no sign of leakage anywhere. The
reservoir is empty though so I fill it and then take the bike for a ride to
go get dinner. Everything is ok but I notice that the bike is also low on
oil so I make a note to stop at Kragen in the morning.

Day 8: Drive a few blocks to Kragen to get the oil. Come out and find the
bike has pissed again. So once again I strip the bodywork and find out that
coolant is coming from the overflow tube on the reservoir. It only seemed
to leak when the bike was turned off and it was cooling down so I hoped it
would be safe to ride. An hour later I stopped for gas and everything was
ok. Another hour later and I stopped in Red Bluff to buy something for my
wife so I wouldn't return home empty handed (Never a good thing after being
away for a week. I've learned a few lessons in my 20 years of marriage.)
After parking the bike it immediately pours coolant out onto the ground. By
now I figure the reservoir is probably empty again so I figure I'm safe to
make it home. Still not sure how it is managing to do what it's doing, but
I'll take it into the dealer and have them check that while they're doing
some other work on the bike. The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful
other than one corner on 36 where cresting one hill I expected the road to
turn left and was really surprised to see it was a right hander. No way to
make the turn, I concentrated on getting the bike stopped before I ran off
the road and into a wire fence. Thank god for the ST's impeccable brakes.
Worst blown corner I've had in a very long time and I really felt
embarrassed, but also glad I did it on a sparsely traveled road. Later in
the day I had another chance to test my braking skills when I was coming up
on a slower moving car. I was following a bit too close since I was waiting
to make a   pass when the driver noticed some pedestrians she knew. So
without signaling or pulling over, she steps on her brakes so she can have
a chat, right in the middle of the road. For a split second I worried that
my bike might not be the only one pissing today. But once again the brakes
did what they were designed to do and once I gained enough room I screamed
around her and continued on my way. An hour later I pulled into my garage,
ending my trip of 8 days and over 3 thousand miles.

Minor bike problems aside, it was the first tour of mine in a long time
that didn't end in rain or snow, so I consider it a big success. Not once
did the rain suit come out, and if you knew my complete touring history,
that is a major miracle.

Thanks once again to everyone who helped plan the rallye, and to everyone
who came out and enjoyed it. It was great putting faces to names and I wish
this world wasn't so damn big so that we could have a rallye everyone could
attend.


Matt Knowles - matt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://home.earthlink.net/~mattknowles
Aesthetic Design & Photography - (707) 786-4643
http://www.aestheticdesign.com



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