Winter BBG Ride?

[OldKneeDragger]

All this talk by Detrich-R1, Harry Biker, Nick_Ninja and others is not helping one bit when there is snow on the road... The Moab Trip is a great proposal and South Eastern Utah is a unrecognized charm of beauty and great riding (albiet the unmarked Utah hiway patrol in their SUV's and PU's...). I've spent a lot of time riding roads in that area as it was day rides from Farmington where I used to live. I'd love to join you if I can get the time off.

However, what about us poor working stiffs that just don't have much time to spare (I've already commited the bulk of my time off for a ride to Alasak this summer)? A ride that would surely cure the wintertime blues would be a BBG. Think about it, only 24 hours long and 1500+ miles. Anybody interested in joining? witnessing? or simply cheering? As Detrich-R1 has been saying, better sooner than later. A ride like this is best done when it's cool, but dry pavement. Undoubtedly there will be a warm weekend before the middle of March that would work.

This route has very little overlapping road on the loop, some carefully chosen 2 lane with out a lot of traffic, and some doses of freeway to makeup some miles if needed. The problem areas to deal with would be getting through Phoenix on east Baseline toward globe and the traffic around Santa Fe. A little thinking and we can work that out as well.

Microsoft Streets & Trips puts this at 1575 miles, just barely enough for the BBG...

[Harry Biker]

I'd definately witness you. Name the place & time & I'll be there.

I did one of these last year during the 50cc,(I know, the Big Dogs would never combine an IBA ride w/ another, but I was a newbie) 1532 miles w/ an average overall time/speed of 63 mph. One TOUGH ride!! You clearly have a great range on your new bike & should be able to get more mileage.

My current feeling is to do some of the rides I have not done yet such as a SS2K, B2B, BBG3K, etc. There are also 2 rides in particular the Coast to Coast Insanity, or the Sunrise to Sunset Insanity, where only 1 rider has completed either of these rides. I'd like to do the CCI & break the current record. This ride is from Goose Bay Labrado to San Ysidro California in under 5 days.

What is your planned start date for your Alaska trip? Can you roll 5/28 or 5/29? Are you still ok with Hwy 1 en-route?

[OldKneeDragger]

I've done the BBG before (three times) but they were never documented and thus don't exist. I attemted the BBG3K in the Blister but the tire gave up (to the point I was throwing sparks from the metal cords) and I had to trailer the bike home

This ride is more out of boredom than any desire to hang the paper on the wall...

The Alaska ride is going to be for pure fun... I'll probally wait till the last minute to decide the actual departure time and route. Highway 1 sounds very interesting, it's been about 25 years since I did that on a bike (an old Z1) and at the time, there were several parts of the highway closed due to land slides.

[towneh]

greetngs okneedragger,

looks like some challenging terrain in that loop!!! i'd be glad to witness but i'm holding out my limited time for other rides i haven't done yet.

i fall in the same category (i.e. long distance noobie...) as Harry. i did a bbg the same stretch of highway, same weekend, same circumstances.... i'm verifying my fuel stops for Tijuana to Coutts b2b-insanity; a distance of 1460 miles.

the Busa is a new sled to me so i'm using a range of 150 mi with a variance of 10 percent. Harry has the right bike for the Alaska rides; I just blew a fork seal on the local, tame roads (no wheelie/stoppie). I hate to think of the damage those roads would gen up there.

tell me when and where for the witness,
henry

[Dietrich_R1]

Giddy-UP!!!!!

Dietrich

[GSL]

Hey OKD,

If you do this ride March 6 or later, I'm in if ya want a tailgunner. If not, I'd be glad to swing by and witness your start or finish.

Cheers,
Will

[Dietrich_R1]

If you need a place to crash, I've got a spare room.

[OldKneeDragger]

Crash on a BBG doesn't sound quite right to me Thanks for the offer though. This is still very early in the planning, most importantly the weather and the timing needs to be right for doing the mountain passes.

[Harry Biker]

GSL's, "Da- BOMB!"
One day when,(ok if) I grow's up.........I wanna be a stud just like you ya BIG DAWG!

[GSL]

Yeah, I would think that the mtn passes will make this ride a bit extra challenging. A BBG is hard enough without those extra, er, uh, "performance" issues. I also don't think that even a catnap along the way is an option. Anything less than perfect conditions will turn it into a BB instead of a BBG, for me, at least.

I do have a friend in Flagstaff, so I can get up-to-the-last-minute weather/road reports for the AZ high country.

Hey Harry! When'r we goin dirt riding again?

[Harry Biker]

Soon as I get's me a new back! Which may be as early as 2/16/04! Then a little rehab & I'll be skipping in no time. Next time we will cross over Tin Cup! Been awhile since I've been ascared- Say howdy to your DRZ mama for me.

One dirt ride I definately want to do was written up in Rider 6-9 months ago by Clement Salvadori. He basically took our type a scoots from Can to Mex over the continental divide via dirt & did not say it was too technical. Which does not apply to you- you could ride the trip on your back wheel to avoid any potential boredom, but it'd work just fine from me!!

If the weather's half way decent this weekend or the next we should hook up @ the Hungry Bear to shoot the sheyite. You come too Old Knee so we can talk more about THE RIDE!

[GSL]

I'd be up for hookin up at the Hungry Bear or wherever this weekend. We'll be in Reno next weekend, dirt and dune ridin...

Hey, speakin of that Border to Border off road, we're working on a new Ironbutt dirtride. Border to Border, all-dirt (except as needed to cross borders) in ??? amount of time. Senoir Kneebone said he'd let me set the time requirements once we've done some more scouting. I'm hoping that we can do it in 36 hours and be IBA respectable. Start in El Paso, run up thru NM, eastern CO, eastern WY and eastern MT. Will probably scout some this year and set a rally date for 2005ish. Scoutin will be half the fun (ok, maybe most of the fun)!

What's up with the back?

Oh and, if your early June looks open (although I see you've already penciled in a B2B), I'm in on the MTF trans-Canada, east to west, with a lap around the Cabot Trail before the starting gun. Open invite to all who have at least a SS2K under their belt.
http://www.bsu.edu/web/00amleduc/mtf/TC/TC04.htm

[Harry Biker]

Oohhhhhh, a B2B-dusty butt sounds outstanding to say the least!!

As with several other places...I've wanted to do the Cabot Trail for some time now and am familiar with the MTF's Trans Canadian & UCC coming up this June. I actually had the time off to run the UCC South to North & REALLY wanted to do this ride with all the support they'll be having w/satelite phones/trucks/Barbque on the 11th in Fairbanks etc. Also, started getting paranoid with the thought that the feds might shut down the haul road due to recent terror crap.Except, my little girl was getting upset with the thought that I'd be gone for ~ 3 weeks! . so I bailed.

Anyhoo, if I start to get the sense that "ahem" people that now say that want to ride this summer but just -can't -quite- pull the commit trigger, I very well may opt for the Trans/CAN. seein as how I'm on vacation for the perfect amount of time to hit the start 6/2 & the banquet 6/6. In fact, I could roll out of Denver as early as 3pm 5/27 & don't have to be back @ work until 6/9. Hmmmm. When are you heading out of the woods?

Technically I have a grade 2 spondylolisthesis with complete pars defect w/ severe bilateral spinal stenosis/radiculapathy,(for our medical bikers & I know you're out there.) L5 will be welded,(fused-internally fixed) to S1 & a new shock,(disc-part synthetic @$3K for 5 ounces like an Ohlins) will be placed @ L5-S1 anteriorly,(I asked for some lippo @ the same time-not likely to happen though) Plus I may gain an inch as the doc re-aligns the vertebrae. Yippee kai yae!

[Harry Biker]

Will are you doing the TCG or the TCQ?

[Harry Biker]

breaker.. breake for that GSL, ya still got yer ears on there good buddy?

Would that be a "gold" attempt or the more sedate "quest"? Seems to me the "gold" is like doing a SS4K in only 3 days! Yikes!! I for 1 would be like Spidey's little jumper, Italian Grey-Hound in the land of Tibetan Mastiffs.

Anyhoo, let's rain check that breakfast you were buying this weekend till some of the white stuff goes away.

[GSL]

Hey Harry,
Sorry to bail on the conversation. I went out of town for a conference and left the laptop in dry dock.

I'm planning to attempt a TCG (under 75 hours). I will fall back on the 90 hour version if the scenery around Lake Louise tempts me to slow down and smell the roses (and take some pictures). My current plan is to leave CO the afternoon/evening of May 26. I'm prolly gonna B-line it straight across I-70 and visit my parents just south of Pittsburgh for a day. Then take a zig-zag pattern up thru PA, NY, and New England before a loop around the Cabot Trail (time permitting). I haven't fully roughed out the mileage to know if that works or not. Visiting the folks is definitely gonna take precidence over riding the Cabot Trail.

Once across Canada, I hope to take at least a day to ride around in BC, before turning south. Again, I still gotta map out the entire thing and do a reality check.

Roger on the b-fast.

[OldKneeDragger]

Mind if I join you hard core guys for breakfast? What time do you normally get there? Sure sounds cold

[towneh]

it would appear that they are 'bagging-it' (i.e. it's a no-go).
Harry said "Anyhoo, let's rain check that breakfast you were buying this weekend till some of the white stuff goes away". and Will replied"Roger on the b-fast".

but here is somthing to get the juices goin... henry

[GSL]

Hey OldKneeDragger,

If ya want to get together sometime, I'd love to chat some about this BBG. Detailed type stuff that's sometimes easier off-line. Like what bike ya taking? Average speed? Top speed? Have you pre-ridden all parts of the loop? What's your gas stop strategy? etc. etc. etc.

If I go, I'll prolly take the beemer (heated grips, extra outlets, more comfort and stuff). Which means I won't be breakin any speed records and can usually get 280-300 miles out of a tank, so fewer stops. Not sure if that makes us compatible riders or not. I typically find that about 1 in a 100 people are compatible riders for LD riding.

Anyway, most of my weekends are shot for the rest of February. About the only time I could get together for b-fast is tomorrow morning or Sunday, the 22nd.

Cheers,
Will

[OldKneeDragger]

GSL, I too would like to hook up with you and Harry again sometime... Tomorrow I need to run down to Farmington for business so it might be the 22nd As you point out, LD riding is tuff to do in a group. I really prefer to ride by myself but it is fun to have others riding the same route, just not together. I've rode all the roads in the BBG suggestion many times before and they are good roads without a lot of traffic (except on the freeways around Phoenix).

I've done the BBG several times, and always on back roads with some twisties thrown in to keep it fun. One of rides should have been documented but wasn't for reasons I don't want to discuss here

The ride today was a nice leasurely 6 1/2 hour ride, 450 miles...had 17 miles of dirt road along the top of New Mexico which you would have enjoyed. The roads were new to me and I had a blast. I was on the FJR today getting about 220 miles per tank (my zx12 only goes about 175 miles without the fuel cell).

[GSL]

Nice loop for a winter ride! I love that stretch of road between La Junta and Kim. Certain times of the year, the road seems to move "on it's own", as the tarantulas cross back and forth.

Cheers!

[Harry Biker]

Ya'll wanna shoot for the 22nd for some chow @ the H-Bear?
I'm only showin up via 2 wheeler so I'll keep my fingers crossed re: road conditions. It'll take me ~ 90 minutes to get there, so how's 10:30 grab ya?

[GSL]

Works for me.

[Harry Biker]

I'm still planning on chowin @ the Bear, so unless the wx turns to crap I'll see you there @ 10:30-ish.

Anyone else that wants to meet to eat we could hook up @ Panera or similar, & then roll South