RMR Pre-Rally (Preview)(Spoilers)

[crashmasterd]

Caution: Spoilers ahead.

Spent the day scouting part of the pre-rally route. These are all roads I've rode before, but haven't rode in a long time. Anyway, here is the relevant part of the route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Wi...a=1,2&t=h&z=10

The Pre-Rally will head east and North from Randle, but I headed west and south for the easy ride home.

So I had planned to wake up early, and get on the road by 7:00 or so. This did NOT happen. For various reasons I didn't get out of the house until 9:30. When I headed out it was just cool enough where my perforated jacket wasn't quite comfortable without a second shirt under it, but I knew it would be hot later in the day. Since I knew it was 100+ miles on the route, I planned on fueling up in Carson. It's about 12 miles from home.

So I get there, and f***! Ass! ****! I forgot my wallet at home. Had to turn around had retrieve it. Bastard. Now I feel like an idiot.

Thirty minutes later I'm back, fueling up my bike. No problems. It's a gorgeous day, sunny with little puffy clouds. Not going to be too hot. It's Friday, so the roads aren't too crowded. At the pump next to me is another bike fitted out with camping gear, California plates, and a gopro camera on the guy's helmet. Just as I get done, this guy comes over and asks me if this road goes through, and can he get to Seattle from there?

The guy's name is Tomer, and he's from SoCal on a 16 day tour of the West Coast. Since I'm going the same way he is for part of the way, we decide to ride together for a while. He's a good guy.



We started from Carson ("A" on the map) and headed north. About 18 miles in starts Oldman Pass, one of my favorite roads. It's pretty smooth, extremely twisty, and little or no traffic. I passed one car at the bottom, and three bikes coming down the 6.5 mile stretch. Otherwise we didn't see a single person. All uphill and pure joy.

On the plateau at the top of the pass I missed the turnoff and we went about 2 miles before I realized it. Just wasn't paying attention to the signs. Turned around and made the Curly Creek cutoff then stopped at the viewpoint. I've posted pics from here before, but here's another with the proper attitude.



The Street performed flawlessly. I even scrubbed off about half my disgraceful chicken strips (still a little bit there.) Most of Oldman pass I did in 2nd Gear, it's so damned twisty. Tomer was suitably amazed when we came out at the viewpoint. It kind of sneaks up on you.

At the Viewpoint was a German girl taking a survey of vacationers for some college program. She was kind of cute, but nothing to write home about. I spent ten minutes filling out her survey and staring at her boobs while Tomer took pictures. Then we were off again.

The road from the viewpoint until Northwoods is not quite as twisty, but still entertaining. It is, however, a bit rougher. At Eagle Cliff we hung a right and headed up north on Hwy 25 towards Randal. Highway 25 is almost as entertaining as Oldman Pass and is a lot longer. It's about 24 miles of nice curvy shit to the cutoff to Windy Ridge Viewpoint. There's a few rough spots (mostly broken asphalt, but not really potholes. It's covered in snow for 8 months of the year) but mostly it was a lot of fun. We passed a fair number of bikes because it's a popular route, but not hordes. Mostly Hardleys, with a fair number of BMW's. I saw one Thruxton and an Aprilia too, and a scattering of Dual Sports.

The spur from Highway 25 to Windy Ridge viewpoint is a 17 mile ride one-way. The road is very twisty, and about half of it is in great condition. When you start getting to the upper elevations though it gets a little rougher and there can be unexpected gravel or rocks on the road. However, the road itself is stunning, with great views all the way up. A greater danger is tourists who insist on driving at 15 MPH, or stopping in the roadway to take a picture of a lake. Stupid, because there are viewpoint parking lots every 500 yards it seems.

We stopped at the only viewpoint with a building and talked to the staff. Apparently this was the very first day it's been open this season. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was still snowed in and gated. Unusual for the end of July.

Finally we rode up to the last viewpoint, Windy Ridge where you can see four mountains: Mount Rainer to the north (Barely. Didn't take a picture.)

Mount Hood to the south (Very hazy today)



Mount Adams to the east



and Mount Saint Helens right in your lap.



From the parking lot and bathrooms the best viewpoint is maybe 200 yards up a long steep stairway. A daunting climb, but we did it. You can also see all of Spirt Lake from up there:



We climbed back down, telling lies to everyone we met coming up about how easy the climb was, talked to a hot MILF with long black hair and pretty eyes halfway down, and stood on shaky legs sweating in our leather. It was pretty warm, but not hot. After regaining our strength we started riding back down to Highway 25. It was uneventful.

From where the Windy Ridge spur cuts off of Highway 25 to Randle ON Highway 25 is about 20 miles. Without a doubt this was the nastiest part of the ride. The road was paved, but in poor condition. Not a lot of potholes, but some HUGE cracks in the asphalt and some very uneven bits and bad repairs. I about got kicked out of my seat on more than one occasion. The road would be 20 miles of epic curves if it were in better condition. As it is you spend your whole time looking out for bumps and cracks. And one crater you could lose a VW bug inside. A big old sink hole.

In one place the road has been washed out and you have to cross a one-lane bridge Its pretty impressive.



Pulled into Randle, stopped at the ranger station for a minute, then fueled up. It had been exactly 120 miles from fuel stop to fuel stop. Technically the Eagle Cliff Store has fuel about halfway through, but I wouldn't depend on it. Then we headed West to I-5, where Tomer headed North to a Hotel in Olympia and I head south towards home. It's 160 miles from Randle to my place that way, but it's an easy ride down I-5 and up 14. The Forrest Road from Carson to Randle is fun, but by the time we got to Randle we were both exhausted. Of the 120 miles from Carson to Randle (including the Windy Ridge Spur), perhaps 75 or 80 are pretty technical twistys.

Tomer videoed a good portion of this mess and says he'll post it when he gets home in a few days. He's got my email. If he's good as his word I'll post a link here.

Cheers!

~Crash

[Uncle Dude]

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[Chewie.]

Nice Doug. I'm looking forward to it.....jonesin' in fact

[cheapbastard]

damn crash, you're a lucky mofo, beautiful part of the country you live in mang.

[Chewie.]

^ people never appreciate where they live. This is not a criticism......its just a fact......North Cackalacky is one of the most beautiful parts of the world.

[crashmasterd]

I have no doubt. It's just a pity about all the Cackalackians. I hear they're cheap.

[DirtMcGirt]

nice ride hommie


btw did this guy ever realize how close he was to taking a drug induced nap and waking up chained to a philippine boy chained to a radiator in your moms basement?...lucky sob

[jarhead]

Biff is doing what I did, when I got my divorce from my first wife, I quit my job (Hated it with a passion) jumped on my DL 1000 and headed Northwest with no plans. Some of these pics will look very familar.

http://s593.photobucket.com/albums/t...view=slideshow

[crashmasterd]

Yup! Same place. Sometimes Divorce does wonderful things for us. It was the impetus for me to buy my Speed Four, which in turn caused me to buy my Speed Triple.

Some of those pictures look like the North Cascades Highway. I'm gonna have to do that again. Maybe next summer.

[doug]

amazing stuff, i really need to get out more