doug5551
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2007
- Messages
- 483
- Reaction score
- 102
It was 6:00 AM on the morning of January 10. I was at the intersection of Highway 78 and 86, by the Salton Sea. I had been awake for 24 hours and riding for about 11 hours, since 7:15 PM start the night before. The sun was just coming up over the desert landscape. I had no sleep or breaks, and I wasn't going to get any. I decided that all I needed and had time for was to close my eyes for 10 seconds as I lay my head down on my tank bag.
Why, oh why did I sign up for George Zelenz's idea of a Saddle Sore 1000, which I knew going in was going to be as hard as or harder than a Bun Burner Gold???
____________________________________________________________________________________
I had really wanted to participate in one of GZ's events, and when he organized a ride in Southern California around Chuck Hickey's birthday, I felt compelled to sign up. At first, the route was going to go from Angeles Crest to Big Bear, and then down San Diego way. I spent a lot of time learning that route, but then SoCal got hit with a major snow storm, so three days before the event George changed the route to be based out of Carlsbad, CA.
The new route was 1,020 miles and looked like this:
https://mapshare.delorme.com/Consumer/V.aspx?p=tp1k2xzl
The biggest surprise at the rider's meeting was that in addition to riding one of the most difficult Saddle Sore's ever designed, we had to find and take pictures of 20 specific locations along our route and make 1 mandatory checkpoint at the middle of the ride. The pictures added extra difficulty to an already hard ride.
The first picture is of the De Luz School house:
The second is of the Lake Henshaw Resort:
Next was Agua Caliente County Park:
The San Diego Wild Animal Park:
Tamarisk Grove Campground:
The Border Patrol station at Hwy 78 and 86:
Borrego Springs Welcome sign:
Palm Desert City Limits sign:
Cranston Station sign:
Banning High School:
Mother's Restaurant at the top of Palomar Mountain:
The Palomar Observatory:
Downtown Julien:
Sissors Crossing Historical Sign:
Sunrise Highway and I-8:
Highland Valley Road and Bandy Canyon:
There were 12 starters, 6 finishers.
The finishers were Mark Kiecker on his Suzuki Sv650, Peter Perrin on his BMW RT, Meese on his BMW GT, Craig (Sandiegoland) on his WeeStrom, Me on my VFR, and my surprise riding partner, Jack Backer (sleddog), on his Goldwing.
Jack and my time was 23:53, out of the possible 24 hours. We could have stopped for the Peter Hogeveen bonus, but I am glad we did not cut it any closer. Ha Ha!!
I did great with the fatigue/fatigue management. I ended up staying awake for 40 hours in a row, from Friday morning till late Saturday night. JWhite518 had given me tips that staying up all night gets easier with practice and to moderate your diet to eat heavy the day before and light the day of the event (jet lag diet) were correct. I used 2 Starbucks double shots, which I also used on my 50CC, to help me get through.
For me, the highlight was riding it with Jack. He had told GZ that he wanted to drop out of the event because he did not know the route, and George said he could/should not.
Then at the start of the ride, he discovered that his route was backwards in his GPS, and the route was taking him South on the freeway when he knew he needed to go North, so he stuck like glue to me to the first photo location and then said pretty please can I ride with you because my GPS is not working and I don't have a clue what the route is.
Fortunatly, I really like riding with partners, and the practice I had with the GPS really made me knowledgeable about the route. I led 90 percent of the time, and Jack was a great guy and a pleasure to ride with.
I am always going to prefer to ride with a partner. When riding with a partner, situational awareness and communication are absolutely crucial to make it work.
I had five fuel stops: Ocatillo, Ramona, Borrego Springs, Idyllwild, and Julien.
It turns out my smartest, luckiest strategic decision was to top off my gas tank in Ramona. We had made good time to the Wild Animal Park, and I did not want to have gas on my mind going out to the Desert. I knew there was 24 hour gas 5 miles North of Salton City, but did not want to have to burn the time to get there and back. I asked Jack if it was OK if we stopped in Ramona and being a great partner, he said sure. The top off permitted me to go till the gas opened in Borrego at 6:00 am.
My favorite of all the roads were Banner Grade and Highway 74, the Palms to Pines Highway down to Palm Desert. My least favorite roads were Highway 243 from Idyllwild down to Banning, because it was full of dirt and cinders from the snow removal, and Highland Valley Road, because after 950 miles, it was just too technical and difficult.
Very special thanks to Sandiegoland, for reminding me to plan my gas stops; eeksnake for major tips, tricks and help with routing on a Zumo; and Jwhite518 for sharing lots of his experience and knowledge; Chickey191, your words of encouragement at the Checkpoint really inspired me and gave me the confidence to fight this ride to the finish.
The more sleep I get, the more I seem to have enjoyed this event. GZ, thanks for all of your efforts, and I suppose after I forget all of the pain, I would sign up for another of your events...
Why, oh why did I sign up for George Zelenz's idea of a Saddle Sore 1000, which I knew going in was going to be as hard as or harder than a Bun Burner Gold???
____________________________________________________________________________________
I had really wanted to participate in one of GZ's events, and when he organized a ride in Southern California around Chuck Hickey's birthday, I felt compelled to sign up. At first, the route was going to go from Angeles Crest to Big Bear, and then down San Diego way. I spent a lot of time learning that route, but then SoCal got hit with a major snow storm, so three days before the event George changed the route to be based out of Carlsbad, CA.
The new route was 1,020 miles and looked like this:
https://mapshare.delorme.com/Consumer/V.aspx?p=tp1k2xzl
The biggest surprise at the rider's meeting was that in addition to riding one of the most difficult Saddle Sore's ever designed, we had to find and take pictures of 20 specific locations along our route and make 1 mandatory checkpoint at the middle of the ride. The pictures added extra difficulty to an already hard ride.
The first picture is of the De Luz School house:
The second is of the Lake Henshaw Resort:
Next was Agua Caliente County Park:
The San Diego Wild Animal Park:
Tamarisk Grove Campground:
The Border Patrol station at Hwy 78 and 86:
Borrego Springs Welcome sign:
Palm Desert City Limits sign:
Cranston Station sign:
Banning High School:
Mother's Restaurant at the top of Palomar Mountain:
The Palomar Observatory:
Downtown Julien:
Sissors Crossing Historical Sign:
Sunrise Highway and I-8:
Highland Valley Road and Bandy Canyon:
There were 12 starters, 6 finishers.
The finishers were Mark Kiecker on his Suzuki Sv650, Peter Perrin on his BMW RT, Meese on his BMW GT, Craig (Sandiegoland) on his WeeStrom, Me on my VFR, and my surprise riding partner, Jack Backer (sleddog), on his Goldwing.
Jack and my time was 23:53, out of the possible 24 hours. We could have stopped for the Peter Hogeveen bonus, but I am glad we did not cut it any closer. Ha Ha!!
I did great with the fatigue/fatigue management. I ended up staying awake for 40 hours in a row, from Friday morning till late Saturday night. JWhite518 had given me tips that staying up all night gets easier with practice and to moderate your diet to eat heavy the day before and light the day of the event (jet lag diet) were correct. I used 2 Starbucks double shots, which I also used on my 50CC, to help me get through.
For me, the highlight was riding it with Jack. He had told GZ that he wanted to drop out of the event because he did not know the route, and George said he could/should not.
Then at the start of the ride, he discovered that his route was backwards in his GPS, and the route was taking him South on the freeway when he knew he needed to go North, so he stuck like glue to me to the first photo location and then said pretty please can I ride with you because my GPS is not working and I don't have a clue what the route is.
Fortunatly, I really like riding with partners, and the practice I had with the GPS really made me knowledgeable about the route. I led 90 percent of the time, and Jack was a great guy and a pleasure to ride with.
I am always going to prefer to ride with a partner. When riding with a partner, situational awareness and communication are absolutely crucial to make it work.
I had five fuel stops: Ocatillo, Ramona, Borrego Springs, Idyllwild, and Julien.
It turns out my smartest, luckiest strategic decision was to top off my gas tank in Ramona. We had made good time to the Wild Animal Park, and I did not want to have gas on my mind going out to the Desert. I knew there was 24 hour gas 5 miles North of Salton City, but did not want to have to burn the time to get there and back. I asked Jack if it was OK if we stopped in Ramona and being a great partner, he said sure. The top off permitted me to go till the gas opened in Borrego at 6:00 am.
My favorite of all the roads were Banner Grade and Highway 74, the Palms to Pines Highway down to Palm Desert. My least favorite roads were Highway 243 from Idyllwild down to Banning, because it was full of dirt and cinders from the snow removal, and Highland Valley Road, because after 950 miles, it was just too technical and difficult.
Very special thanks to Sandiegoland, for reminding me to plan my gas stops; eeksnake for major tips, tricks and help with routing on a Zumo; and Jwhite518 for sharing lots of his experience and knowledge; Chickey191, your words of encouragement at the Checkpoint really inspired me and gave me the confidence to fight this ride to the finish.
The more sleep I get, the more I seem to have enjoyed this event. GZ, thanks for all of your efforts, and I suppose after I forget all of the pain, I would sign up for another of your events...
