Motorcycle

oh, and

stuart updegrave — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:50:00 GMT

for those of you what are following my uw employment misdeeds -- it seems to be on hold(ish) at the moment, though they seem interested in me. the recruiter wants me to let her know if i start considering other options. so, i've got that going for me, which is nice.

the beginning of a great adventure

stuart updegrave — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:45:00 GMT

i'm currently in a small crappy motel room in coos bay, oregon, on day two of a whirlwind motorcycle trip. i'm aiming to be in marin county by early afternoon on friday, for a long weekend gathering organized by my friend carla.

it has thus far been an exceedingly wet trip. i got a good soaking near olympia, and then again from longview almost all the way in to portland (i stopped there to visit keri and adam). when i got there, i immediately took a hot shower and had adam fix me a cup of tea to warm up. i had to wring water out of my gloves. lots of water.

this morning i got a late start, after helping keri out with a little tech problem she was having at work. and, joy of joy, it started raining again almost as soon as i got on my bike -- more of the hard rain.

disclaimer: if you don't want to read about scary things on my moto trip, skip the rest of this paragraph. i ended up on I-205 for a few miles, and had the completely terrifying experience of being hit in the face by a sheet of water thrown up by the car in the next lane, for what seemed hours but was probably only ten seconds or so. i immediately released the throttle but didn't brake (i couldn't see anything, so wasn't aware whether there was someone close behind me), and as soon as that car was past i drifted as far right in my lane as possible, nearly onto the shoulder, as there were several more cars zooming past me.

by the time i got off the freeway, i was drenched. wet golden retriever.

next time i stopped, i decided to try another layer -- i put on my cheap raingear underneath my riding armor. of course, this worked like a charm. the rain stopped almost immediately! i kept the raingear on, however, until i hit the coast. it was totally blue-sky sunny as i pulled in to lincoln city, where i stopped for chai and chocolate and shed the raingear before continuing south.

it's been a really long time since i've been on the southern oregon coast. i'm not entirely sure i've been on the whole stretch until now, honestly -- i thought i had, but don't remember travelling the stretch from florence to coos bay before. there were several cool bridges along the way, which i feel i would have remembered. i like bridges, see. but they freak me out a bit. i'm finally learning to like crossing big tall bridges on my bike. i think...

even with all the rain thus far, i'm really pleased i decided to ride instead of flying to SF. i like the way that everything falls aside for a while when i'm riding. and, while it would be great to have company, i've come to realize that i enjoy these solo motorcycle trips. wonder where my next will take me?

it is lovely to be on 101 on a motorcycle -- there's an enjoyable inconstancy to the weave of the road across the landscape that is incredibly appealing on a motorcycle. in other words, lots of fun twisties! climbing up and down the hills jutting out into the ocean is fun. definitely moreso with proper caffeine levels.

tired now, must sleep. more later, probably. hopefully with photographs.

MT days 9/10: Quinault -> Sequim -> Seattle

stuart updegrave — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 15:16:00 GMT

MT days 9/10: Quinault -> Sequim -> Seattle

Yesterday morning, I headed north from Quinault, not really sure where I was heading. The road heads nearly due west to the coast from where I spent the night -- it's much nicer to drive west in the morning than late afternoon (as I have found myself doing on multiple occasions this trip).

Once 101 hits the coast, it turns north through a thin finger of Olympic National Park. I pulled off at Kalaloch for a little look-see at the pretty coast and the frolicking weekend vacationers, then continued northward. Not much later, the vehicle ahead of me slowed down as some critter capered across the highway -- from the gait, I'm pretty sure it was a brown bear cub!

I considered heading in to the Hoh, but decided against since I was a little low on gas. I suspect there's gas to be had on the road, but didn't think I had 50 miles in me if I made the wrong bet.

After stopping in Forks for a fill-up, I decided to head out to La Push, on the Quileute Indian Reservation. Pretty road, ugly destination. Well, that's not entirely fair. If I could have erased the dingy buildings and all the garbage on the streets in the town, the view is quite lovely -- several big pretty islands just offshore.

There were several places along the way where I could have stopped for hikes, but one again concern about my personal belongings on the bike won out. Next time I do this, I need to have my stuff -- any of it strapped on, at least -- in a backpack so that I don't feel so restricted.

After heading back to 101, I decided on another spur -- this time out towards Clallam and Neah Bays, on Hwy 113 then 112. Fantastic moto roads! I passed probably 75 riders heading east. I stopped at a little tavern just past Clallam Bay for a break, where I discovered that there was a disabled vets group ride out to Lake Ozette this weekend, which is why so many riders were headed back. After a little rest, I decided to wing it around and start heading eastward (but I want to ride this again, and next time plan to head all the way to Neah Bay / Cape Flattery, and down to Lake Ozette (either of which would have added another hour or more to yesterday's ride).

I took 112 into Port Angeles, which is a little unfortunate as it doesn't have any views of Crescent Lake. I was going to ride the little spur road that connects 112 and 101 via Crescent Lake East Beach, but they'd just freshly surfaced it -- with the gravel-and-oil so typical out here -- so I bailed and headed on into P.A.

Which, being not the loveliest town, was merely a brief zip through on the way to Hurricane Ridge -- another wonderful moto road, 18 miles of super twisty climb, up and around a northern spur arm of the Olympic Mountains. Up at the top, possibly the most awe-inspiring view of the entire trip -- the heart of the Olympics laid out before me, seeming close enough to touch.

Being up there -- seeing the ridges and valleys and glaciers -- was inspiring. I want to start hiking again, to figure out some way to overcome the pain in my ankle. I miss being in the mountains, feeling so small and meaningless compared to the forces at play there. I've let excuses get in the way for a long time now.

While coming down, I realized the time had come to head for home -- after 9 days out, my body is sore and tired. I'm looking forward to my bed, my wife and friends.

But not quite yet; I didn't have that ride in me, so I stopped for the night in Sequim.

Today, I had a pretty uneventful ride from Sequim to Bremerton, where I stopped for a lovely lunch visit with my friend Elizabeth. Since I had to wait a while for a ferry, she took me to Scenic Beach State Park, just past Seabeck, which was a nice place to sit and talk and chill -- great views of Hood Canal, The Brothers (on the east face of the Olympics) and more.

I'm writing this while sitting on my motorcycle on the ferry into Seattle, views of Rainier and Baker ahead of me, gradually disappearing as I get closer to town.

It's been a good trip, and it's good to be home.

Approaching grace

stuart updegrave — Sun, 17 Jul 2005 20:31:00 GMT

There is a certain graceful subtlety of motion possible on a motorcycle that I am only now beginning to learn. It is expressed in the subtle shift of balance: now centered, now left, now right; a dance executed by the linkage of shifts.

Fifteen hundred miles later, I feel that I am finally approaching this subtlety. This is marked by an eagerness to fly through the curves, a release of the tense anxious ball that sits in my belly at times, tricking me into tapping the brake when I shouldn't. I'm learning how to roll off the gas just enough that I'm not overriding my view, how to delicately tweak the lean -- a little more, a little less -- as I slice through mounting switchbacks, how to rock back and forth as I link up gentle undulations of roadway.

Now that I can see this way of riding, I find the moments where I slip ever more jarring -- the need to brake to pick up out of an overcommitted lean, the shove of one hand towards the earth as I roll towards the outside of a curve. These tend to happen more late in the day, as miles of road and hours on the seat add up.

I have become a better rider on this trip. This pleases me.

photos from Day of Volcanoes

stuart updegrave — Sat, 16 Jul 2005 18:33:00 GMT

thanks to Ethan, i can now post the panorama shots from the Bend -> Crater Lake -> Eugene leg of the trip. (they're pretty wide, thus the links instead of inlining them)

thanks so much, Ethan, for panoramifying and cleaning and cropping and stuff. yay!

MT days 4/5: Bend -> Eugene -> Portland

stuart updegrave — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 07:37:00 GMT

Day 4

After a relaxing and rewarding day off in Bend -- how wonderful to get to spend some time with Christine again after far too long -- I headed out Tuesday morning for what I've been thinking of as "Day of Volcanoes".

Before leaving bend, I spent a good portion of the morning getting a fantastic Thai massage from Christine, focused on fixing my ankle (she asserts that my arthritis is in essence some sort of blockage -- whatever it is, it's been feeling less generally sore and aggravated since then). As a result, I got a late start to the day; around 11AM I headed south from Bend on Hwy 97.

First stop: Newberry Crater Volcanic National Monument. The Nat'l Monument designation is new to me -- I've wanted to visit this area for years, even when it was just "Paulina Lake" to me. Thirteen miles from 97 to the first lake. Pretty boring and straight for a while, but about mile six or so it starts climbing up the outside of the Newberry Caldera through lots of fun twisties, into cooler air and through several different zones (maybe due in part or most to fires in the region?). The lakes themselves are nothing spectacular to my eye -- even a little anticlimactic -- but the ride was worthwhile. The only thing I regret is that I didn't feel comfortable leaving my bike unguarded in order to do the ¾ mile hike to the "Big Obsidian Flow" at the central point of the crater.

After dropping back down to the heat on 97, I barreled south to the turnoff for Hwy 138 up into the Cascades, headed towards one of the most anticipated parts of the entire trip: Crater Lake National Park, another of the places in the Northwest I've always wanted to see. As I climbed into the park, I gladly noted the drop in temperature -- it was probably over 90 degrees down on Hwy 97, and much much cooler up in the park (I had to stop and add a layer after a while). Even before I saw the lake itself, I was already in awe. There were several sharp ridges visible on the approach -- when I realized that they were opposing lips of the caldera, at something like 8 miles apart, I got a sense for what I was approaching. At the point where the entrance road meets the rim drive, there's a big parking lot -- I pulled in there and stopped, ready for my first view. When I crested the short climb to my first view of the lake, I was stunned. It is just breathtaking there! It was a perfectly clear day -- not a spot of cloud in sight, and the water was an amazing deep blue, like I've never seen before. There were a couple bald eagles soaring below us -- so far away and down that it took me a moment to realize that they were in fact baldies. Such a huge lake!

From there, I rode the entire Rim Drive, which is a rider's heaven! 34 miles of twisting roads, weaving in and out of forest, pullouts seemingly every 50 feet, mountain wildflowers and taller-than-me snowdrifts. Views of the lake, the Cascades, south to Klamath Lake and past to Mt Shasta … it's amazing. If you've never been, I strongly recommend taking the time to see this wonderful place.

After leaving the park, I weaved my way westward on Hwy 138, along the North Umpqua River. I haven't been on the Umpqua since probably 1992 (on a rafting trip as a trial run for a possible guiding job on the Deschutes), and had forgotten what a beautiful river it is. Even in the low flow of the summer, the rapids looked lovely, making me miss, for a fleeting moment or two, my younger days when I enjoyed the adrenaline of whitewater.

The last 20 miles or so into Roseburg were pretty tough, as I was riding due west into the late evening low-angle sun, blinding me. I think this was even worse than the intermittent patches of light and dark -- making it difficult to see the road ahead -- through the more winding parts of the Umpqua. After hitting Roseburg, I raced the fading light to get to Eugene before full dark. I have to say, passing several semis on a downhill double-curve at 80MPH is a good wake-up. Yikes!

No pictures of this to post yet -- either I need to stitch them together for the panorama or they didn't quite manage to capture what I was seeing. Suck.

Day 5

Today, I opted for a little more leisurely travel plans. Portland is only 110 miles or so from Eugene, and I've driven it many times, so I decided to see some new roads. I headed up to Corvallis on 99W, then cut west for 10 miles or so, turning north on SR223 -- which shimmies its way along the eastern edge of the Coast Range. Took that up to the turnoff for Monmouth, where I picked up 99W again. This stretch of 99W goes straight through the heart of Oregon wine country. I think that if DDO wasn't by reservation only that I would have been forced to stop. As it was, I didn't stop for any tastings at all -- but I am strongly considering heading back down that way this weekend before heading coastward.

Pulled into Portland this afternoon and ended up sitting in super-slow traffic on Powell, freshly paved with gleaming new blacktop. My bike started to overheat a bit again -- not surprising, just a little annoying. Now I'm visiting with another old friend, Keri -- and her boy Adam; her folks happened to roll into town today as well. Full house!

Next few days will be in PDX, trying to visit with some old friends and pick a few wino brains. The better to make drunken zombies with, my dear!

Tidbits …

I think I'm averaging about 50MPG on this trip, which is substantially more than at home. I normally need to fill at about 140miles in town, and currently I probably have 1-1/4 gallons left at 140mi
I've gone a little over 850 miles since I left
Streets and Trips tells me this run is in the neighborhood of 1400 miles
My last post ("a quickie") is the most-viewed since I left on my trip. Makes me wonder what you filthy people thought I might've been writing about … :)

A few things I've learned thus far:

Try to avoid riding directly into the sun when it is low in the sky.
Motorcycles are better experienced on back roads than freeways. I know, this is a “duh!“ sort of insight, but still ...
Verify that the roads you are intending to travel are, in fact, paved (I learned this one! I changed my route from Crater Lake to Eugene after double-checking and noting that the route in question actually crossed the Cascade Crest on a dirt road)
The camera on my phone should never be mistaken for something approximating a real camera. It is not. I will probably end up getting a dedicated “real“ camera if I keep this sort of thing up
I may have to design a tank bag that can hold my tablet -- and keep it powered from the battery, so that I can continually utilize the GPS
I think owning a GS could be fun … it would certainly make days like Sunday far more enjoyable!

yay for bend Euro Moto / random thoughts

stuart updegrave — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 10:50:00 GMT

On the advice of Alan (Christine's partner) I headed to Bend Euro Moto just now. Pretty empty parking lot, hope they're open...

Guy walks over, asks if he can help. I tell him I'm looking for a coolant cap for my bike, to which he replies that they're closed for the day. Bummer!

About that time, his partner comes out, overhearing this, and says she'll see about ordering one. Oh, but you're travelling? She walks inside and almost immediately back out, saying “You know what I might be able to do, since I'm AWESOME?!”. Turns out they have a used K-bike for sale. She says I can have the cap off of that bike and they'll order a new one. She's right -- she IS awesome. Wish I'd gotten her name.

The place looks mostly Ducati -- but if you're a BMW rider and find yourself in need while in Bend, you should check them out.

and now for random thoughts:

i'd love to see the turbulence pattern created by a semi trailer. i certainly can *feel* it when i pass one on the highway
which makes me wonder what my turbulence pattern looks like ...
and on a completely unrelated note, there are a ton of hotties in Bend! i'm sitting at Bella Tazza enjoying breve and wireless, and they keep wandering past. which is nice. too bad it's so damn hot here; i could never live here!

MT day 2: Yakima -> Bend (with detours along the way)

stuart updegrave — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 16:18:00 GMT

Well, I said I wanted adventure! Damn, yesterday was chock full of it. After a late-ish start out of Yakima, I pointed towards Toppenish and then south on 97 through the Yakama Indian Reservation. Pretty typical sage plains until hitting the Klickitat county line, then up into one of the mini-mountain ranges that seem abundant in eastern OR and WA. Pretty pine forests, lots of winding roads. The wind picked up quite a bit as I dropped down towards the Columbia Gorge, making me realize that it was once again time for the Red Bull (i should get money for these product placements!:).

Once into Oregon, I hurtled up onto familiar terrain -- gently rolling hills in all directions, grass or wheat fields interspersed with unworked sage / juniper hills. Down to Shaniko, where I got off of 97 for a short spur down to Antelope, which provided the first surprise of the day: 8 miles or so of wonderfully twisty road through a pretty little creek draw, with a couple sets of double- or triple-switchbacks. w00t!

(I was headed this way because I wanted to see The Painted Hills -- one of the units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument. I found out about this place from a recommendation on Tribe.net, and after seeing a few pictures decided that I should see it myself.)

Once past Antelope, the real adventure began -- I left the state routes behind for country roads. About five miles into this, I hit a point where the road turned private, yet allowed people use anyway (or so it seemed -- I'm still a little unclear on this bit) -- owned by "Young Life - Washington Family Ranch". This dropped me down through more pronounced hills, to a point where the road ummm detoured onto gravel. "Uh, hey," I think to myself "not an off-road bike I'm on here." But I wanted to get to Painted Hills, and didn't want to backtrack and go the long way 'round, so I pushed on. The detour was less than a mile, luckily. After a little while, I noticed some buildings that looked pretty familiar to me, from a trip out here in the early 90's to see the remnants of Rajneeshpuram. Well, turns out I was right! From spiritual commune to Christian youth camp.

Once I get down into the camp proper, I get a little concerned, as the *county road* turns to gravel. Uh, maybe I should check the map. Yep, seems like I'm in the right place, but I should probably confirm ... So, I talked to a few folks at the camp and found out that I was indeed on the right road -- not quite as far along as I thought / hoped, but still.

I was feeling up for adventure, so I decided to take the gravel road. I'm looking for adventure and excitement, something different from my old desk-programming-office world, right? Well, I found it. After about a mile, the road starts to climb. The guy I talked to at the camp mentioned something about "up and over a 'mountain' pass", didn't he? Up up up -- I could tell I was getting prety close to the summit, when my temperature gauge lit up. Shit, I'm going for it. That was the first *really* bad decision of the day (deciding to take the gravel road -- after talking to the camp folks -- instead of backtracking was probably the actual first bad decision of the day). About 100 yards further, I felt the familiar splash of boiling coolant on the bottom of my right thigh, telling me that it was in fact time to stop, right now.

I decided to give the bike 1/2 hour to cool off, so picked a spot in the shade of a tree, pulled out my laptop, and used the handy GPS integration with Streets and Trips (thanks to Ethan for making a compelling pitch for this), and figured out where I was. If only the maps were topo! After about 15 minutes, I noticed the clouds getting thicker and darker -- and didn't really like the idea of getting stuck out there on muddy clay roads if it started raining. Gave the bike 5 more minutes, then headed out.

Up and over the ridge -- I was probably only 1/4 mile below when I overheated *sigh* and then down down down. The bike kept heating up pretty quickly. During my third cooling stop, I realized that I'd lost the cap to the coolant tank, so I had to put on my McGuiver cap and figure out a solution. Well, I had a candy bar (yummy Scharfenberger Nibby Bar) -- I ate that, which provided me with foiled paper. That and a ziptie made a sortof halfway decent cap, allowing me to make my way further.

But wait, there's more! After a few more miles, I came to a place where the road was flooded -- not very wide, but very muddy. Cow pasture on either side, and the cows walking through had churned up the road surface quite a bit. Even better, there were several big signs alerting me that I would be entering private property, and that trespassers would be prosecuted! And to add a little nervousing humor to the situation, there were probably 30 or 40 cows along the road and in the fields, all staring at me and mooing rather loudly, with ever more agitation. Um. Well, at least the only notable bull was on the other side of a fence.

Once again, I resort to the GPS and verify that I am in fact still on the county road (there had been a few possible-but-not-likely turnoffs along the way), so I determine that the signs actually refer to the pasture on either side of the road. OK. But I still needed to get past the big muddy. There was a little area of outflow, probably only a foot or so wide, and a few incredibly weathered planks on the ground. I fashioned a mini-bridge with the planks, and walked the bike across (engine on, giving it a little gas to help things along). I didn't ride b/c I didn't trust the planks with my weight in addition to the bike. I made it across! From there on, it was mostly uneventful to Painted Hills -- a few more stops to cool down and add water.

Painted Hills is beautiful -- I highly recommend it (but suggest you take the normal paved routes:) -- I can totally see why it's claimed to be one of the most-photographed places in Oregon. These few pictures don't do it justice, but they're what I have:

After leaving Painted Hills, I head straight to Mitchell, to re-McGuiver a more secure temp cap for the coolant tank. The first place I come to is a tire shop! They have a bunch of old inner tubes tossed out next to the dumpster -- I hack one up and cut a patch out of it, ziptie it on, and call it good. All the while, I'm being highly entertained by three generations of "country girls" -- practicing some choreographed dance routines along with karaoke'd versions of female-singer country songs. It was quite adorable.

Up and over the Ochocos, down into Prineville for a gas fill and check on the coolant situation -- it was holding up just fine! The last 35 miles or so into Bend were a little more confortable, knowing that things were going to hold.

Met up with my old friend Christine and her fella Alan at the Deschutes Brewery for much-needed food and beer, then headed back to their place for the night. Today, I try to find a real cap, get coolant in again, and relax after yesterday's trying ride. Tomorrow, I'll head south to Crater Lake, and probably end up in Eugene for the night.

10 hours Yakima to Bend -- that's only about 4 more than I expected! :)

All photos from the trip

MT day 1: Seattle -> Yakima

stuart updegrave — Sun, 10 Jul 2005 03:48:00 GMT

Left Seattle around 1PM, planning to stop at MS to see if I left a charger there. Music is a cool thing. Unfortunately, the 520 bridge was closed for work, so I bailed on that plan.

Cruised down I-5 to Tacoma, then Hwy 7 south -- through some wonderfully fun twisties along the Nisqually River, past Elbe, down to Morton. From there, Hwy 12 up and over White Pass -- where it was quite cold for July. Had to stop for a little break once over the pass, as I was getting sloppy through the turns. Nothing a little Red Bulll, rest and stretching couldn't handle.

Unfortunately, not a single view of Mt. Rainier. I don't know if that was solely due to the clouds, or if it's just not visible along 12.

Downhill along the Tieton River -- lots of nice gentle weaving twists. I've known about the Tieton from my brief days as a lame-ass whitewater kayaker, but never been through that country before. I can see why it's so appealing. Low flow right now (I think it's only really run when they open the floodgates on the Rimrock Lake Dam, later in the summer.

Through Naches, into Yakima, where I rest for the night. Dinner at Barrel House -- decent, acceptable meal, but a very nice wine list. I had a couple glasses of '02 Portteus Syrah, which was most delectable.

I had a later start than I anticipated, but all in all it was a good day.

Tomorrow, down to Bend, maybe with a few side-excursions along the way. The Painted Hills area of John Day looks pretty appealing for a ride. Visit for a day or two with my old friend Christine, who I haven't seen in a few years, then on to Crater Lake.

on my way...

stuart updegrave — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 07:21:00 GMT

i'm heading out soon on my OR-WA moto trip. i'm nervous and excited at the same time. i should be posting some from the road.

back in 10 days or so.