Basic Race Report...

This story is told from two prespectives - first and last there's Tom. Then John picks up the action in the middle. It starts out like this...

...I hate super-slabbing on a sport bike. So I refuse to pull the requisite 200 miles of straight stuff just to make a little time. I ponder to Alan, "...want to trade 150 straight for 200 twisty ones?" "Sure, why not!" he says. So, we meet in Tacoma near where I work. Pound down a half Subway, and at around 6, we're on our way. We fight the rush hour traffic to the 512 turn-off and get to Spanaway. We drone stop and go until SR 7 turns into a state route, and ceases to be an urban boulevarde. Still hitting traffic here an there, we manage to enjoy a few twisties, but mostly are held by cagers. I console myself that this is still better than the freeway. Once south of Mt. Rainier, the road opens up and we start making some time. Yes!

Quickly into Morton, we zip over to Randle for the evening's feature presentation. It's after 7:30 now as we head on to forest road number 25, and the St. Helens loop. Alan has his video mounted and ready, and we start up. Immediately, we catch a 5th wheel with a trailer, and some cars. The 5th wheel pulls over, and we hit a passing zone and dispatched those pesky cagers. As we head up, I go for over 20 minutes with no traffic, until I come up on a line of three cars. Having moved a bit up from Alan, I decide this is a good point to wait for him to catch up. But two turns later the cars pull over at a lookout, as does a Ranger coming the other direction - I am truly blessed! I take off, and indulge!

Meanwhile, documented on stunning 8 mm, Alan comes upon the turnout, with the cars, and the Ranger. Alan notices the Ranger, stands it up, but then notices the turn is going the other way, oops, better lean her over! Sorry Alan, but that piece will be annotated for the enjoyment of the World Wide Web!

We finish about 50 miles of the loop at a single lane crossing were some dam construction is taking place. We give each other the nod, and it's high five time. That was a truly wonderful piece of road, essentially devoid of traffic. After this, the road is flatter, but follows the river out and becomes wonderful sweepers, wow!

We get to Woodland at about 9, gas up, and make it to John's at about 10:30. Let's see, about 4 and a half hours on paved heaven in what would have been about 3 and half hours of pure hell. I don't think I-5 will be seeing much of my Dunlops on that run anymore!

Meanwhile from John... Friday afternoon, Tom and Alan set out from Tacoma to my place. They arrived at around 10:30 with grins and tales of their loop around Mt. St. Helens. Yes. You read correctly. Tom, not wanting to super slab it all the way south, decided to have some fun on the way down. Alan caught all the action on tape with a bike-mounted video camera! I will leave the details up to Tom to report, as I could only watch in abject jealousy as Alan swept from left to right to left, rinse, repeat.

Saturday morning: We woke early. I whipped up some hearty pancake action and we hit the road, leaving Salem at around 8:00 AM. After a boring jaunt down highway 22, we trundled through the sleepy town of Dallas. We snuck past the county courthouse and sheriff station while many a redneck scratched their heads on the side of the road, wondering why them thar crotch rockets were defiling their otherwise quiet town. Little did they know... Once outside Dallas, the fun began. The backcountry roads took us through Kings Valley. There were some nice medium speed sweepers and then a Quillcine style straightway complete with bloated road kill and deer munching on grass. I was leading the pack at a maddening pace, then, having seen the buzzard chow in the middle of the road, decided to shut it down at very illegal triple digit speeds. Tom, however, showed his true love for Akira style action and blazed around me like a madman, hitting a claimed 150+. Awed by his speed, we all grouped up and paid homage as we continued on our way to highway 20. Shortly there after, I encountered a true racing bird. A raven that was sitting on the side of the road decided to take off right in front of us. Instead of swooping left or right, he decided to fly straight ahead. At helmet level! As I slowed down to around 40 MPH, he decided that altitude was his friend after all, and left our little band behind. Making it to the 20 junction, we made a short run to the west where we connected with highway 180...

We paused for a few moments to let a frightened housewife put some distance between us and the start of the run - this road does not get much traffic, so we wanted a good clean start. Ready for the fun, Alan turned on the camcorder and we began. I led, with Sam, Tom, and Brook following in order. Alan brought up the rear to catch all the action for posterity. Any of you who have ridden highway 112 (especially before they re-paved it) know how bumpy it is. This makes it a difficult, but fun ride. Oregon SR 180 delivered an unprecedented riding challenge with elements such as dark shadowy curves followed by wide open sunshine, mid corner bumps that made us feel as though we were mountain biking, not road riding, pebbles, rocks, weeds, two one lane underpasses and an unbelievable 6 rail crossings over the Willamette & Pacific RR, which paralleled the run. By the time we made it back to Highway 20, we were all grinning ear to ear. Alan caught the whole thing on tape, so look for the digital account here...

From there, we went towards Newport on Highway 20 for six miles. We turned off at the Toledo exit and wandered through town, missing our Yaquina Bay turn off. We quickly doubled back and headed out to the 2nd round of twisties. On the first section of the run, Alan had an encounter with the high entry speed gremlins and almost utilized the escape road on a particularly abrupt, top of the hill, off camber left-hander. He quickly re-composed himself and continued on (look for that one on the tape!). After that, a wayward econo box got in our way but we quickly dispatched it. We then followed along the Yaquina bay at a leisurely pace until we hit the best part. Several tight S turns followed by faster sweepers with which to wear the edges of your tire on. This was a very smooth piece of road (smoother than the Spokane track!) Tom especially liked this section and it was his favorite part of the day. Just as we approached Newport, an ambulance raced past. We all pulled over and made an effort to slow a little. Just as we started getting back up to speed, Mr. County Sheriff drove past. He dynamited the brakes and it looked like he was going to pull us over for sure. Then I think he realized that he was supposed to be following an ambulance or something... .Whew!

We strolled into Newport and decided to go get some coffee. Most of the downtown proper of Newport is up on a hill. Having been there many times, I knew that if you just pointed your vehicle up a near by hill, you would eventually run into Highway 101. I led the gang up said random hill, which promptly ended in a T-junction with nothing to the left, and gravel to the right. So... It was time to off road it! We found a nice spot for coffee and enjoyed yummy cold caffeine goodness (except for Alan and Sam, who for some reason, felt possessed to order warm cocoa.) After we got our breath back, we decided to head south for a photo op. 20 minutes later and we were basking in the glory that is the Oregon coast. There are some good pics and video of this little section, so look for that on Tom's site too.

Leaving Newport, we headed back to along Yaquina Bay road. Just before we got to the really fun twisty part, we happened upon a Toyota 4-Runner with two young gals standing up in the back. Both were wearing shorts and bikini tops. Both were cute and it looked as if we were going to get some full frontal nudity until one of the boyfriends made them turn around and sit. With no promise of FFN, we passed them as quickly as we could. Tom blazed around, and the rest of had to suffer until we could pass. For some reason, the driver of the truck thought he could keep up with sport bikes on that section of road...

Leaving the truck behind, we hooked back up with 20, and then wandered back to SR 180. Once again, we had to let some traffic get ahead of us. When the time was ripe, I made Tom lead (evil grin) and we made it back to highway 20 without mishap. We stopped in at the junction convenience store and enjoyed a tasty beverage. While we were waiting, my cousin happened by. We said hi and were getting ready to head out when a biker chick dumped her Honda cruiser in the parking lot. Her ass-wipe boyfriend was long gone, so we helped her pick the machine up. He came back after a few and showed his true Harley riding colors by not even asking if she was OK! I think he was embarrassed that us "punk sport riders" actually wanted to help somebody. Looks like the easy rider, outlaw bikers are ass holes to everybody, not just sport riders!

We set out again towards Salem. About a mile down the road, I noticed that Sam and Alan had pulled over at a weigh station. We turned around and got the scoop. Sam's rear brake line had rubbed against the rear wheel and ruptured, spilling brake fluid all over his wheel! A few minutes before and Sam would have been in a bad place. Whew! We wiped up the oil with Alan's camera rag, but it was no use. Sam had to do a burn out in the dirt to get the rest of it off. Darn. J Oh, and in case you are wondering if we weighed in before we left, here is the breakdown of rider/bike combo: Alan 650, Tom, Brook, and Sam 600, me 550. Of course, who knows how accurate those scales are, right?

The rest of the trip to Salem went without event. We piled into the apartment, peeled our dead cows off and collapsed in front of the TV to watch what we had just done. It was great! Thanks again to Alan for mounting the camera! After a respite, I whipped up some burritos and we made our way off to 2Fast 2Furious. All in all it was a fun film. Probably better car action than the first, but not as good acting. Oh well!

Sunday morning: We woke up early again. Brook made us some tasty wheat, er, I mean scrambled eggs. We then went for a coffee. We made it out of Salem by around 9 AM. Tom took the lead on I 5 as we headed up to our decided ride for the day: Mt. St. Helens (yeah baby!). We made it to Woodland in record time (going 80 the whole way may have had something to do with it).

We gassed up and then headed East towards Cougar and the hill climb. The road through here is very fast, and speeds had to be tempered on the straights between the corners, lest we get nabbed by the fuzz for triple digit speeds and a trip to the Clark County jail. We got spread out a bit due to traffic and I caught up to Brook and Tom about half way up the hill, right as we rode into Cougar. From there, it was a heavy pace all the way up the mountain. There was moderate cycle and car traffic, but all in all, we were able to carry tremendous amounts of corner speed on the seemingly endless S curves that make up that mountain climb. We stopped at the junction of 90 where I had planned to maybe peel off and head back home. Alan caught up to us shortly after. The first part of the climb was such a workout that I decided it best to depart good company. After some wind catching and goodbyes, I turned south. For details on the rest of the gang's trip, see Tom's Post Mortem.

As for me, the next 24 miles was the best riding I have been on since leaving the oft talked about, and never equaled Palomar Mountain in San Diego. That's right, folks, something as good as that. The pavement here was smooth, bump free, and had no patch work anywhere, unlike the second half of the run past Cougar. High corner speeds were in the low 70s and most of it was traversed around 50 MPH or so. This is, I think, the perfect street speed for twisties. Not slow and boring, but also not so fast that if you crash, they carry you away in a black bag... I started out with the intent of riding mellow back since I was alone. Well, that lasted about 2 minutes! I encountered 2 cars on the descent, and one deer on the side of the road. She bolted as I slowed down and the rest of the ride was left, right, left, right, left right, rinse, repeat. The scenery through this part was amazing. Looking at the 100-foot tall pine trees, you would be hard pressed to believe that all of this was a wasteland when the dome blew. The last 10 miles took me down to SR 14, where I battled traffic until I made it to highway 205. The trip from there was boring and does not merit any more comment. Suffice it to say, I have found my favorite ride and will be making many more trips up there this summer and fall before the weather turns. Unfortunately, unlike Palomar, those roads will become un-rideable come winter, unless I get that dual sport...

Thanks to all who came down. It was a great weekend and I am glad that we all had fun. For those of you who missed it, you were missed! I am sure we will do something similar again down here before the year is out. Try to make it!

I really felt guilty leaving John for his "boring" ride back to Salem, but looks like the next time I come down, I may take the 90 cut-off, and see what that was all about. I REALLY had a blast on the road out of Cougar up to the cut-off. But John was right, to be properly enjoyed on a liter bike, the pace must be brisk!

After the brotherly handshake, and tearful good-byes, Alan and I take Brook up for some creme de la creme around the back side of St. Helens. Alan had properly adjusted his camera and we take off. We hit the twisties in earnest, but about a half dozen in, I really blow one, using every inch of road. Entering too early, and not looking through, it was close. Brook got the up close and personal view-point as I wiped my brow. Back on it, we get back into a rythm, and really start ripping it up. About 10 miles in, we hit this banked, 3rd gear 140 degree sweeper where about 20 people are gathered. Brook and I both flat out nailed it... Let's see, out of body experience coming up here...ooooh, look at those guys, wow they are good! Getting back into body now...

We wind our way up to a turn off that leads up to a look-out over the blast zone. Brook and I wait for Alan as more cc's do get you up the mountain faster! We get up to a view-point, dismount and ponder the destruction. I let Brook know he's missing a hell of a good snow-board down, should he wish to climb this mountain, he goes hmmmm! The sky starts to drip, so we gear up and head out. That's all the moisture we would feel the whole trip though.

Once in Morton, we fuel up and eat, still having a couple hours to home. I count the RVs we would have to pass... Once they got into double digits, we roll. Catching them quickly, they are dispatched in earnest, and we take in some sweeper time on hwy 7 south of Mt. Rainier. The traffic gets thick though when we get close to the park, and we have to tolerate numerous strings of cars. While Brook and I try to lay still and pounce on every opportunity to pass, Alan starts dropping back. We hit a choice section on hwy 7, but are left behind several cagers. Meanwhile, Alan has dropped back well over a half mile by now. Then in a burst of speed, he catches up, having enjoyed most of the twisties provided by the gap. There are some brains in that youth after all - nice move, sonny.

Tired of this crap, it's liter time - gotta stretch them legs. I find a gap, and make some holes, towing Brook along in the wake. We clear the clutter and enjoy 10 miles of exquisite sweepers before we are left out on the flat heading in to Spanaway. Once back out on I-5, I give Brook the c'ya pat, and Alan and I branch off towards big P.

My Trip-2 says 822 miles since the fill-up in Spanaway on the way down. Easily, 500 were in the twisties. I'm getting pretty spoiled as each of these latest weekends is placed in my top-5 or so all-time rides. It's great to be living such a rich and rewarding life. Thanks John for the hospitality and that wonderful lead down the Oregon SR 180, one of the scariest I've ever been on! 2 Fast was a lot of fun also. All in all, a cheap weekend that was priceless.

2 Fast, 2 Furious...