Too Damned Hot!

[FredE]

I hope everyone has a safe and fun WFO journey. The Wifey and I will not be attending this year.............I cancelled our room reservations this morning. We've just returned from the USGP in Laguna Seca (and visiting friends in Sonora on the way back to Portland), and it was BRUTAL - to put it mildly. We are debilitated from a week's worth of 105+ temperatures, and the prospect of another week of similar conditions is just not feasible for us.

I would like to take a moment here to urge everyone to be very careful out there. Above all, stay hydrated - DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

 

[SkooterG]

Sorry to hear you won't make it.

You did know that you coulda spent just about the entire weekend in the air conditioned hotel and still had a great time?

 

[FJRJeff]

I hope everyone has a safe and fun WFO journey. The Wifey and I will not be attending this year.............I cancelled our room reservations this morning. We've just returned from the USGP in Laguna Seca (and visiting friends in Sonora on the way back to Portland), and it was BRUTAL - to put it mildly. We are debilitated from a week's worth of 105+ temperatures, and the prospect of another week of similar conditions is just not feasible for us.
I would like to take a moment here to urge everyone to be very careful out there. Above all, stay hydrated - DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

+1 on the water, or better still, Gatorade.

 

[twowheelnut]

They're droppin' like flies, it seems. Just got a call for my two riding mates... They chucked it in too. Don't wanna deal with the heat, either. Oh, well, I gotta loose a few pounds, so I figger the sauna that is the Great California Valley will be worth it!

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

They're droppin' like flies, it seems. Just got a call for my two riding mates... They chucked it in too. Don't wanna deal with the heat, either. Oh, well, I gotta loose a few pounds, so I figger the sauna that is the Great California Valley will be worth it!

I test rode my evaporative cooling vest for two hours yesterday from 5pm (hottest part of day at 109) til 7 (ending temp was 105). $28 well spent. I felt fresh after the ride instead of spent. Nice.

I had better clarify. I was wearing the vest, not riding it. I was riding a motorsikkle.

 

[Warchild]

Pity... it appears some of these guys must not have seen chickey's WFO Scouting report that indicated it is a good 10+ degrees cooler on the eastern slopes of the Sierras than it is in SoCal.....

And like SkooterG alludes to.... it's about 68-70 degrees in the Nevada Room! :lol:

 

[FJRJeff]

They're droppin' like flies, it seems. Just got a call for my two riding mates... They chucked it in too. Don't wanna deal with the heat, either. Oh, well, I gotta loose a few pounds, so I figger the sauna that is the Great California Valley will be worth it!

I test rode my evaporative cooling vest for two hours yesterday from 5pm (hottest part of day at 109) til 7 (ending temp was 105). $28 well spent. I felt fresh after the ride instead of spent. Nice.

Did it dry out there any? The humidity was so bad on Sunday, my vest didn't do crap.

Or maybe it did and I couldn't tell.

 

[boardsNbikes]

My FJR is still in the shop for crash repairs but I'm still heading up to Reno although in the Camry

 

[chuckh]

Pity... it appears some of these guys must not have seen chickey's WFO Scouting report that indicated it is a good 10+ degrees cooler on the eastern slopes of the Sierras than it is in SoCal.....
And like SkooterG alludes to.... it's about 68-70 degrees in the Nevada Room! :lol:

It may still be hot West of the Sierras, however, it looks like our temperatures are easing more quickly then the forecasts have predicted over the past few days.

Spokane, WA is a good 7 degrees cooler today then predicted and I see the same trend in Reno, with a current temperature of only 93. I know it's early (12:45 PM PST) but it is 10 degrees cooler then the weather forecast.

I'm hydrating now and will be heading down tomorrow morning.

 

[FredE]

You did know that you coulda spent just about the entire weekend in the air conditioned hotel and still had a great time?

Yes, we thought about doing that...............but we wanted to spend time on the bikes. I work for the Postal Service, so there's no changing your vacation dates. There are too many guys competing for the same time - so our annual motorcycle trip is now. We've waited all year for these two (USGP & WFO) events, and now venues/mother nature have conspired to make it too punishing to be enjoyable for us. Who'da thunk that Laguna would be so hot? There's simply no precedent for it.

It's the back-to-back nature of the events that's so daunting. We checked the weather between Portland and Reno for the event (WFO) duration............right around 100 (+ or - depending where) degrees. After the previous week in even hotter conditions, we believe opting for cooler temps is the sane & safe thing for us to do. We'll be riding the Oregon & Washington coasts...........zero percent chance of precip, and temps in the 60 -70 degree range.

We hate to miss out on all the fun (enjoyed ourselves IMMENSELY last year), but there's always next year.

 

[slapnpop]

And, when registering, just what DID you expect the weather in Reno to be at the end of July?

Just curious...

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

And, when registering, just what DID you expect the weather in Reno to be at the end of July?
Just curious...

Not many people can fully remember the ass kicking 100+ degree temps can give you unless you've experienced them recently. Their trip to Laguna must have been unbearable. I swear by my camel back loaded with ice and now my evaporative cooling vest is here and has already proven very beneficial. It is important to be prepared with the right equipment for heat, and their ride on the Oregon and Washington coast sounds wonderfully refreshing.

That said, I gots some people to meet in Reno!

 

[epoche]

Have 2 days travel from Southern Arizona through Vegas and out north across Death Valley and I'm Stoked for the ride and the whole WFO-5 Event.

Seat bag will carry frozen and fresh water. The Camel Back is full of ice cubes in the freezer waiting to be filled with water in the early morning. And the evaporative vest is in a plastic container soaked in water in the refridge. On the road at 4:15. Will be cooling off in Santa Fe Station in Vegas by 3. Then an early start Thursday and cooler clines , hopefully, as we get some elevation gains.

Forcast for Reno is 97 on Friday and 94 on Saturday.

 

[sparkysfjr]

:yahoo: Leaving Vegas tonight or early Wed. morning(3a.m.) to beat the desert heat. Truly hot is when the low temp. for the day is above 80. Sunday night @ 8:30 p.m. it was still above 110 and the low for the day was 90, plus the humidity is up (monsoon season), but still no rain. Still gotta cowboy up and ride. See ya in Reno. :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

[madmike2]

Forcast for Reno is 97 on Friday and 94 on Saturday.

Don't forget the forecast for thunderstorms on Sunday! :blink:

Forecast for Sacramento:

Wed...63/104

Thurs.62/101

Fri......59/97

Sat.....59/97

Sun....58/89

Mon....58/90

The North Valley could get warmer by a few degrees, but after Wed. it won't be near the "killer" temps of last weekend. It'll still be pushing 100 on Thursday for the Hwy 49 portion of the Big Dog ride.

 

[Coyote]

I test rode my evaporative cooling vest for two hours yesterday from 5pm (hottest part of day at 109) til 7 (ending temp was 105). $28 well spent. I felt fresh after the ride instead of spent. Nice.
I had better clarify. I was wearing the vest, not riding it. I was riding a motorsikkle.

What kind of gear, if any, were you wearing over vest? I'm trying to stay away from wearing mesh gear, especially on spirited rides. I haven't tried the vest with my Aerostich gear, so no clue whether it helps or not.

I'm teetering on wimping out (MotoGP got to me too). :dribble:

 

[madmike2]

Okay guys, on a serious note. The heat can and will kick your butt. Nobody knows our body and how much you have already endured. Coming from Portland after getting home from Laguna? I think I'd be well into Fred's camp as there isn't any shorter or cooler route...we're going to miss you guys.

Coyote, since the room is paid for and you have a 3-4 hour ride...maybe you can hook-up with Highlander and ride over with him. You could always forego the "Big Dog" ride...maybe take a shorter morning ride around Tahoe or??? Most of us haven't seen you since your mishap and have missed you on the Norcal rides. If you can....and I'm planning on seeing you in Reno....

This is one of the main reasons I decided to NOT go to the races this year. I figured it was too much for this, uhm, senior person's stamina. At one point earlier this year I rode 5 or 6 weekends in a row, including some longish (for me---I'm no Iron Butt guy) rides. I needed to take the last 2 weekends off.

Missing the first Owners Meet where Yamaha and vendors are showing up? I dunno? If this is a harbinger of good things to come as the community grows it'd be a rather difficult thing to admit you didn't ride 200 miles to attend. Kinda like, "Well, I had tickets to the first Honda Hoot, but I figured...this ain't goin' nowhere. I can always go next year...." Ooookkaaayy! :blink: OR, "Well, some friends had tickets to the Woodstock Music Festival but we decided it would be too crowded." (I know of that very scenario.) Okay, this isn't going to be anywhere near THAT scale, but its going to be great, so Come On Down!

 

[FredE]

And, when registering, just what DID you expect the weather in Reno to be at the end of July?

I fully expected it to be hot. What I didn't expect was to be coming off a week's worth of 105+ temps during our Laguna trip. As noted in my previous post, the prospect doing back-to-back super-hot tours was what prompted us to cancel. Had the Laguna Seca Moto GP trip gone off normally, we'd be on our way to WFO tomorrow morning. Since this is our one motorcycle touring vacation this year, we'd like to actually enjoy some of it...................not just survive it.

I'm not trying to convince anybody not to go to WFO. I just wanted to say sorry we wouldn't be there to enjoy all the fun, and ask everyone to be sure to be SAFE in the hot conditions.

 

[Ric in Sac]

Mid-90's as the high won't be too bad at all. Just do you riding early and hit the swimming pool after 2:00 p.m.. I doubt that the temps will even reach 90 degrees before 1:00 p.m.. I was at Laguna Seca both Saturday and Sunday. It was pretty brutal but I always knew I had a swimming pool to look forward to. With 20-20 hindsight, I should have worn my Sahara cool vest during the race. The problem was finding water to soak it in.

Saturday we showed up and all the free water fountains were not operating allegedly due to a "broken" water main. It was 102 degrees and water was $4.00 a bottle. The operators put a lot a persons health at risk and the poor medics couldn't keep up with all the heat stroke issues going on. Somebody should have been locked up for "felony stupid".

They wised up on Sunday. Water was $1.00 a bottle and the medics were so angry they were giving it away. The record high for this track was 87 degrees until Moto GP showed up this last weekend.

Anyway, Reno will be a piece of cake after this experience.