The ranger manning the gate at West Yellowstone took a picture of me saying she had never seen a bicycle on a motorcycle. I drove through the park to Pebble Creek where I got the last tent site. Set up camp and immediately went out on the bike in search of wildlife. Found a fresh pile of big bear poop on the trail but no sign of the bear. Tomorrow first light will be with the naturalist.
View from Pebble Creek Campground
I started out early today in order to get a good campsite near Yellowstone. I made good time through the high dessert of Oregon and Idaho. In the afternoon the wind picked up as it does in these parts. Mostly it was a tail wind, but as the road turned north it became a crosswind and I had to hold on. At the Craters of the Moon Nat. Monument I pulled over and removed the seat post to lessen my profile a bit and it made maybe a 10% difference. But now I know I can sustain riding in up to 40 mph crosswinds without incident.
The mtn. bike attracted some attention in Shoshone, Idaho from a boy who knew of Maverick bikes, I was tempted to take it down and let him ride it, but time was of the essence at that point.
I pulled into the first forest service campground I came to just west of Yellowstone, and got the last site on the Clark Fork of the Snake River. What a gorgeous setting, roaring river, bedrock sticking out of the ground all over, moon coming up, nice sunset….
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| 2011-08-11 |
While I live in an equally gorgeous place, the Mendocino Coast. This environment just speaks to me. I know every insect noise, bird chirp, deer snapping twigs as they walk… I got the bike out and road for about an hour experiencing these sounds like I never left.
So there I am, yes that is a worried smile on my face…. What will the art critics think? How is the color composition? Too much Blue/Green? I think the circles are assembled nicely though. Will I frighten or attract bears with this arrangement.
Actually I am worried the whole thing might come apart at the end of the alley. But too late for that now, its time to hit the road, not literally hopefully.
So begins another odyssey of mine, possibly the most ill conceived, given the amount of time I have put into it…. very little. For instance did you know it is about 3000 miles from Yellowstone to Homer, Alaska? I didn’t until a few days ago. I just got out the maps and started estimating days on the road based on the mileage statues they print in the upper corners of maps. No wonder no one is coming on this trip with me!
Anyway I am supposed to be talking about the first days’ journey….
I left my lovely wife Taylor with more that some trepidation. Number one I dearly love her and it has been getting harder every year to leave her on these trips as I start missing her after the first few days. Also she has a new business that is keeping her too busy and I have been helping out, but now I will be gone a month. I am worried about wildlife on the road and in my campsites at night. This is the first time in a long time that I will truly be in bear country night after night. And then there is the bike and all its accoutrements. And, one of Taylor’s most important employees has become ill and cannot work for a few weeks. Taylor and I talked all this over a lot of course, and decided that plans have been made and I should go anyway.
So I am carefully making my way out of town, getting used to the two up feel of the bike with the bicycle hanging off the back, feeling somewhat guilty, wishing I had a normal wife like all my friends who would never let them leave under such circumstances(not really, but it sounds good). When I start to notice that the front wheel is shaking the bars moderately from 35 to 45 mph, then disappears… hmmm. I try not to notice for awhile, but hwy 20 out of Ft Bragg does not tolerate fools, and this morning, I am one. So with the head shaking but not too bad that I have to stop. I make it over the grade and it does not happen again as I am going faster than 45. I am lulled into complacency.
Later on 20 as the corner tighten again as I start climbing the Sierras, I start thinking about last year in eastern Kentucky, something similar happened. It started out mild and go worse and worse until I almost had tank slappers going everytime I had to come to a stop. Now I am worried. Will this get worse? I pull over for gas and decided to go as far as Reno and get it diagnosed.
In Reno it is Hot August Nights which is a huge gathering of classic cars, muscle cars, bikes, girls, you get it. So the town is packed. I can’t get my bike looked at, shops are closing. I call Taylor and tell her the bike gods are not in my favor today or maybe for the trip, I might have an out, she can just ask me to come home and all this trouble and trepidation will be behind me. Then a nice young man hands me a slip of paper with a number of someone who can help. Blast!
The nice folks at Reno Motorsports pull my front wheel see that its in perfect balance(thank you I did it myself) and that there is no unusual wear or broken cords, so… we figured it must be just all that weight hanging off the back in such a flexible fashion, harmonics or something engineering wise hey Clancy?
So with a new sense of confidence and now urgency I got back on I80 and headed brazenly east toward bear country. I have decided to brake and accelerate rapidly from 35 to 45 to minimize the shaking and the resulting cupping of my tire. It needs to last until my scheduled appt. at Yukon Yamaha in Whitehorse.
By the way the bicycle rack is made by a guy named Garrett of 2×2 Cycle Racks in Chapel Hill, NC. Look him up if you too want to have the best of both worlds at your disposal. My bike did not fit without some modification as it is a Maverick and has a very different fork than most mtn. bikes. My standard mtn. bike and road bike fit perfectly. I will let you all know how it holds up over the next month.
I am sorry to anyone who found this boring and/or self indulgent, I had great fun writing it in my crappy hotel room in Mcderrmit, NV on the Oregon border. Until next time.
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| 2011-08-10 |
I road up to Portland with my good friend Ricky Racer and met up with my sister Andrea and her husband Cory. Enjoyed the twisties in California up to Etna the first day, then mostly I-5 the rest of the way to Portland. There is a very nice twisty section from Shady Grove to Canyonville that bypasses the slab that is well worth the trip.
I leave next Wed for a month of riding in the Rockies that will ultimately end in Homer, Alaska. This is all uncharted territory for me and I am really excited and more than a little nervous about the trip. I have got to go now and start packing.
