Trip Pictures!
Total: 2114 miles
Day 1 Utah Trip (well kind of) 5/18/06 - 90 miles
I made it to Alameda, haha just an hour and a half away. Don't worry, that was the plan.
Today turned out to be awesome.
I started it out by getting a massage by my best friend in Santa Cruz...it was great. After that I headed for my office to finish my really important report that I had to finish before I left. It's been totally stressing me out. But I got it done within perfect time and was able to get it all together with no problem.
Then I headed home to put my stuff on my bike and head out. Just as I was getting ready a friend called to see if I wanted to play pool tonight. He was super excited to hear I was leaving right then and wished me well.
It really made me realize how wonderful all the people I have around me are. I got so many awesome well wishes from people within the last few days, it's been great. Even yesterday a part for my bike hadn't come in on time and the guys at the Beemer Shop drove to Marin (an hour and a half away, each way!) to pick it up so I could leave on time. Amazing.
Driving up into the mountains of Santa Cruz was amazingly beautiful.
I headed for Burlingame where I'd drop off my report to the offices in person. I got there at 5:30 so of course everyone was gone. Heading back out, two businessmen looked at me and grasping to say something said, "You look like you're ready to ride." I said, "Yup, I'm outta here." And they were gone. It was silly but already getting the friendly comments felt really good.
I then headed for Kim's house in Alameda via the Bay Bridge. Traffic was heavy and I found myself getting agro at people who drove poorly. I quickly shifted my thinking and realized I just needed to settle down and not get drawn into the energy of the city...I'd be out soon enough.
I met Kim at her house and we headed to Lanesplitters, a biker/bowling pizza joint, in Oakland. Our friends, Pat and Susan, met us there and we visited. Pat and I played on our bikes and took pictures. Pat and Kim pinched Susans boobs. It was a grand old time. I'm spending the night at Kim's and heading off early in the morning to get to Tahoe.
Day 2 5/19/06 - 310 miles
I left Kim's this morning a little nervous about the forcasted thunderstorms and rain headed from the North West. had tentatively planned to just take 80 through tahoe and just get the fuck out of Dodge. It looked like the storms wouldn't make it to middle Nevada. As I headed out 80 I was disappointed to think that I owuld miss a whole section of good roads. As I headed toward the bridge I realized I didn't have money out to pay. I saw the exit for Route 4 which my friend Pat had mentioned the night before at Lanesplitters. I thought I'd get off this exit and get my money out, look at the map and think about which way to go. But the exit didn't have a stop and I just kept going. It made me so happy to be on that road. The green hills and beautiful farms were incredible. That was where I was supposed to be. I knew it. I realized I wasn't interested in going on the route that was safest or not going because I was scared, I wanted to go the scenic route. This was an adventure damnit.
I ended up going on the back roads the whole time. I took 4 to 12 to 88 to 89 and now I'm on 50 in bumfuck Nevada (otherwise known as Fallon) at a Comfort Inn with a pool and a hot tub. I am eating at Maria's Mexican Restaurant and celebrating with a margarita.
Day 3 5/20/06 - 313 miles
I ended up watching TV last night, "What Not to Wear" and reading. When you don't have a TV it's really noticible how fucked up it is and how easily it can suck you in. There is some stupid shit on there.
Saturday morning I had breakfast at the hotel. Today I decided to stop and see things as Teotwawki advized. I definitely needed more breaks than I took yesterday. Especially on the "Loneliest Road in the Country". So out of Fallon I saw a sign for Stillwater Nature Reserve and Indian Reservation. I got a few miles in and decided to turn around. I did see a beautiful heron fly over me. The next stop was Grimes Acheological sight with petroglyphs. They were interesting and strange, very abstract. It said they may have been done as Shamanic ritual for hunters or that the hunters could have tracked game that way. Then I went on the 1st dirt road of the trip to see the "hidden cave", but the signs were unclear so I decided to turn around.
I stopped in Middlegate for gas (I almost passed it up)...good thing too or I would have been shit out of luck in the middle of no where. There was sand mountain right there which is a dirt bike track. There was just one very old pump for gas. A cute boy in a jeep said hi to me and a man on a dirt bike asked where I was headed
I took an alternate route through Eastgate off of 50. It was a nice detour and there were even some windy parts, yah. I stopped in Austin and got some gas and snacks. The wind was really picking up and blowing me all over the road. I was getting tired quickly, especially with the long straight stretches.
Just past Eureka I saw a car all pimped out with race numbers and sponsor stickers on it along the side of the road. Later in Ely the whole town was filled with fancy race cars. But the race was on Sunday and I had to move on.
I headed to Great Basin National Park. It was about 4pm and I was very tired. The first place I stopped was the Elektrolite Cafe & Inn but I didn't go in. The man asked if I needed a room, and I said I was thinking about it. I asked his rates and they seemed a little high. So I checked at the camp ground and a woman came to greet me with the most blush I've ever seen on one person. She looked like a cross between Tammy Faye Baker and Celebration from the Harry Crews book by the same name. I was a little scared by her so I headed to the ranger station to see about camping on the park. The ranger was very nice giving me alllll of my camping options. Then he took the flag down outside and asked if I would help him fold it. I hadn't folded a flag since I was a crossing guard in elementary school. I tried to head up to the park but it had already started raining up there, so I turned around and went back to the Elektrolite. It turned out to be awesome.
Inside everything was bright yellow and blue...nothing like the stark desert and the dreary buildings in the rest of the town. He had a fully stocked bar and wine list and he put me up in the "School Bus" behind the place (see photos). I had dinner there, which was delicious...a fresh greek salad with chicken and a warm bun. I also had a glass of wine and a piece of homemade apple pie. What a great ending to my secocnd day. He was also a photographer and had beautiful landscape photos all over the cafe. While there I found out he was from SF, which made a whole lot more sense. It was like having a SF experience in the middle of nowhere. Surreal to say the least.
I laid down and fell asleep immediately.
Day 4 5/21/06 - 400 miles
I left the hotel and drove up the mountain to check out the Great Basin National Park.
Day 5 5/22/06 - 75 miles
Bummed around Boulder and Escelante, road a dirt road called Hell's Backbone. Dinner with Backpackers
Day 6 5/23/06 -
Backpacking
Day 7 5/24/06 -
Backpacking
Day 8 5/25/06
Backpacking
Day 9 5/26/06 -
Backpacking
Day 10 5/27/06 - 66.6 miles
Backpacking then went to Tropic UT to get hotel.
Day 11 5/28/06 - 500 miles
Rode from Tropic to Hawthorne, NV
Day 11 5/29/06 - 400 miles
Hawthorne NV to Santa Cruz, CA
Total: 2114 miles
Day 1 Utah Trip (well kind of) 5/18/06 - 90 miles
I made it to Alameda, haha just an hour and a half away. Don't worry, that was the plan.
Today turned out to be awesome.
I started it out by getting a massage by my best friend in Santa Cruz...it was great. After that I headed for my office to finish my really important report that I had to finish before I left. It's been totally stressing me out. But I got it done within perfect time and was able to get it all together with no problem.
Then I headed home to put my stuff on my bike and head out. Just as I was getting ready a friend called to see if I wanted to play pool tonight. He was super excited to hear I was leaving right then and wished me well.
It really made me realize how wonderful all the people I have around me are. I got so many awesome well wishes from people within the last few days, it's been great. Even yesterday a part for my bike hadn't come in on time and the guys at the Beemer Shop drove to Marin (an hour and a half away, each way!) to pick it up so I could leave on time. Amazing.
Driving up into the mountains of Santa Cruz was amazingly beautiful.
I headed for Burlingame where I'd drop off my report to the offices in person. I got there at 5:30 so of course everyone was gone. Heading back out, two businessmen looked at me and grasping to say something said, "You look like you're ready to ride." I said, "Yup, I'm outta here." And they were gone. It was silly but already getting the friendly comments felt really good.
I then headed for Kim's house in Alameda via the Bay Bridge. Traffic was heavy and I found myself getting agro at people who drove poorly. I quickly shifted my thinking and realized I just needed to settle down and not get drawn into the energy of the city...I'd be out soon enough.
I met Kim at her house and we headed to Lanesplitters, a biker/bowling pizza joint, in Oakland. Our friends, Pat and Susan, met us there and we visited. Pat and I played on our bikes and took pictures. Pat and Kim pinched Susans boobs. It was a grand old time. I'm spending the night at Kim's and heading off early in the morning to get to Tahoe.
Day 2 5/19/06 - 310 miles
I left Kim's this morning a little nervous about the forcasted thunderstorms and rain headed from the North West. had tentatively planned to just take 80 through tahoe and just get the fuck out of Dodge. It looked like the storms wouldn't make it to middle Nevada. As I headed out 80 I was disappointed to think that I owuld miss a whole section of good roads. As I headed toward the bridge I realized I didn't have money out to pay. I saw the exit for Route 4 which my friend Pat had mentioned the night before at Lanesplitters. I thought I'd get off this exit and get my money out, look at the map and think about which way to go. But the exit didn't have a stop and I just kept going. It made me so happy to be on that road. The green hills and beautiful farms were incredible. That was where I was supposed to be. I knew it. I realized I wasn't interested in going on the route that was safest or not going because I was scared, I wanted to go the scenic route. This was an adventure damnit.
I ended up going on the back roads the whole time. I took 4 to 12 to 88 to 89 and now I'm on 50 in bumfuck Nevada (otherwise known as Fallon) at a Comfort Inn with a pool and a hot tub. I am eating at Maria's Mexican Restaurant and celebrating with a margarita.
Day 3 5/20/06 - 313 miles
I ended up watching TV last night, "What Not to Wear" and reading. When you don't have a TV it's really noticible how fucked up it is and how easily it can suck you in. There is some stupid shit on there.
Saturday morning I had breakfast at the hotel. Today I decided to stop and see things as Teotwawki advized. I definitely needed more breaks than I took yesterday. Especially on the "Loneliest Road in the Country". So out of Fallon I saw a sign for Stillwater Nature Reserve and Indian Reservation. I got a few miles in and decided to turn around. I did see a beautiful heron fly over me. The next stop was Grimes Acheological sight with petroglyphs. They were interesting and strange, very abstract. It said they may have been done as Shamanic ritual for hunters or that the hunters could have tracked game that way. Then I went on the 1st dirt road of the trip to see the "hidden cave", but the signs were unclear so I decided to turn around.
I stopped in Middlegate for gas (I almost passed it up)...good thing too or I would have been shit out of luck in the middle of no where. There was sand mountain right there which is a dirt bike track. There was just one very old pump for gas. A cute boy in a jeep said hi to me and a man on a dirt bike asked where I was headed
I took an alternate route through Eastgate off of 50. It was a nice detour and there were even some windy parts, yah. I stopped in Austin and got some gas and snacks. The wind was really picking up and blowing me all over the road. I was getting tired quickly, especially with the long straight stretches.
Just past Eureka I saw a car all pimped out with race numbers and sponsor stickers on it along the side of the road. Later in Ely the whole town was filled with fancy race cars. But the race was on Sunday and I had to move on.
I headed to Great Basin National Park. It was about 4pm and I was very tired. The first place I stopped was the Elektrolite Cafe & Inn but I didn't go in. The man asked if I needed a room, and I said I was thinking about it. I asked his rates and they seemed a little high. So I checked at the camp ground and a woman came to greet me with the most blush I've ever seen on one person. She looked like a cross between Tammy Faye Baker and Celebration from the Harry Crews book by the same name. I was a little scared by her so I headed to the ranger station to see about camping on the park. The ranger was very nice giving me alllll of my camping options. Then he took the flag down outside and asked if I would help him fold it. I hadn't folded a flag since I was a crossing guard in elementary school. I tried to head up to the park but it had already started raining up there, so I turned around and went back to the Elektrolite. It turned out to be awesome.
Inside everything was bright yellow and blue...nothing like the stark desert and the dreary buildings in the rest of the town. He had a fully stocked bar and wine list and he put me up in the "School Bus" behind the place (see photos). I had dinner there, which was delicious...a fresh greek salad with chicken and a warm bun. I also had a glass of wine and a piece of homemade apple pie. What a great ending to my secocnd day. He was also a photographer and had beautiful landscape photos all over the cafe. While there I found out he was from SF, which made a whole lot more sense. It was like having a SF experience in the middle of nowhere. Surreal to say the least.
I laid down and fell asleep immediately.
Day 4 5/21/06 - 400 miles
I left the hotel and drove up the mountain to check out the Great Basin National Park.
Day 5 5/22/06 - 75 miles
Bummed around Boulder and Escelante, road a dirt road called Hell's Backbone. Dinner with Backpackers
Day 6 5/23/06 -
Backpacking
Day 7 5/24/06 -
Backpacking
Day 8 5/25/06
Backpacking
Day 9 5/26/06 -
Backpacking
Day 10 5/27/06 - 66.6 miles
Backpacking then went to Tropic UT to get hotel.
Day 11 5/28/06 - 500 miles
Rode from Tropic to Hawthorne, NV
Day 11 5/29/06 - 400 miles
Hawthorne NV to Santa Cruz, CA
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
don't be sad - start making modifications to your bike and planning your next trip - a 45 litre tank perhaps?
me, i'm good. i bought a new bike last week. i've never owned a new bike before - most of the bikes i ever bought didn't even run. its a black-with-orangy-bits buell XB12S lightning and its mad as a box of spiders
my rationale for choosing a buell wasn't especially well thought out! i don't really have any time for messing around fixing bikes anymore so i needed something reliable to get in and out of work, but i didn't particularly want a japanese bike - (not that i have anything against japanese bikes, i just wanted something a bit different). something practical for traffic - so not a race bike. something reasonably fast - so not a dirt bike. something reliable and easy to live with - so not a ducati!! secretly, i yearn for a GS but i see about 10 of them every day - everybody and his granny has a GS since ewan mcgreggor went round the world on one (and also, they're more expensive than i could stretch to)
about a year and a half ago i saw a buell lightning cityX at a bike show and i was struck by its weirdness (and the fact that if i squinted a bit, i could almost afford it!). so about two weeks ago i was in a bit of a funk - so i rang up waterford harley davidson and asked if they had one - they told me they had and that they also had a ulysses (a bit like a GS) that i could test drive. so i went down and tried it - it was pretty weird. it vibrated like a tractor at low revs and the rev limiter cut the motor at only 7000rpm. but it was pretty smooth once it got moving and it made monster torque so basically i liked it
it turned out that they didn't actually have a cityX in stock, but they did have a black-with-orangy-bits lightning with a 1200cc motor and they'd do me a deal for the same price as the 1000cc cityX. so a deal was done!!
its pretty strange. when you start it, it vibrates and bounces up and down alarmingly on the side stand. and when you sit on it and hold the handlebars your eyeballs vibrate too!! its tiny and light with a riding position a bit like a dirt bike. its really quick, the handling is super-sharp and so are the brakes - and in traffic or on twisty roads its a howl! there's absolutely no wind protection though, so motorways are a bit tedious. i've done 1100 miles on it now and nothing has fallen off and it seems to be extremely fuel efficient - also, the tappets are self adjusting and the drive belt requires no maintenance at all - so it actually makes for a pretty good commuter bike
my only niggle is the fuel capacity - it only does about 110 miles before reserve
oh yeah, and the weather here has been spectacular since i got it, so its all good really!!
but i do like weird ugly bikes - loads of people come up to me and tell me its gorgeous, but i can't figure it - i think it looks fucked-up! they eventually ask me what size is the motor - and when i tell them they're shocked!! (its small as well as fucked-up!)
were you riding on the dirt on street tyres?
do boys make you stupid? or KTMs...