White Pine Fever

[OrangevaleFJR]

One question: Who the hell had time to stop and take pictures while on this ride?

I seemed to have time for two pics during the 24 hours. One was while I was riding at the speed limit (so the camera wouldn't be ripped from my hands) to snap a curious GPS reading involving averages......but haven't included it for public consumption.

The other was my last 20 miles coming back into town. I was on deep gas reserve, had about 30 minutes until my time limit, and wasn't going to get any more highway miles in. It was just too beautiful to pass up and I had time.......unless I was going to gas up and try and use my extra 10 minutes racking up miles at 25 mph.

Damn! I could have gotten 4 more miles in!!!!!

Clicky here for a nice sunrise. Otherwise all my pics are before or after the run.

You see, having a pillion photographer is valuable...she is experienced with high speed camera holding and can always use two hands ;-)

Thanks for the sunrise!

Being invited to a event of this magnitude was a huge honor for me, so performance was in the forefront of my mind. It was a one shot deal, so I tried my best to come up with the goods, this time out fortune and glory (and lots of luck :clapping: ) were on my side.

Seems like Warchild knows how to pick em! Great showing Skyway!

 

[Toecutter]

Does one tend to get drowsy about 4 am when maintaing 84 mph average speeds? I mean, more or less than while doing about 75?

 

[Warchild]

One question: Who the hell had time to stop and take pictures while on this ride?

Only had time before the event to snap off a few photos.... here is WFO-5 Check-In Coordinator Lisa Stevens discussing the farkles on her new 2006 FJR with George Zelenz:

Unfortunately, since I had an abbreviated ride, I didn't take many photos.

Sadly, I had neither the time nor resources to replace my rear Pilot Road on the Blackbird prior to the White Pine Fever, and the tire had just completed a very tough Utah 1088 Endurance Rally at the end of June.

I departed at 6:25 am and ran at a *more* than 2K-Day pace all day myself. But after 1000 miles, it was obvious that if I was to continue, I'd have patches of cords showing before the end of the event... and I still had 800 miles to ride home! :angry2:

So... I called it after 1000 miles, returned to Ely well in time to have dinner with the GateKeepers.

 

[Ignacio]

Does one tend to get drowsy about 4 am when maintaing 84 mph average speeds? I mean, more or less than while doing about 75?

I didn't think so. My +4+2 CB windshield does a pretty good job at smoothing out that air flow at those elevated speeds. I think the chilly morning air in the last 1/2 hour to Ely was the more tiring than speed.

 

[Warchild]

Does one tend to get drowsy about 4 am when maintaing 84 mph average speeds?

I find that when I'm tired at 4AM and just miss hitting range cattle by about 3 feet (black cows on black asphalt, cattle that you never see until you were upon them), I wake right up, and am good-to-go afterward.... :blink:

 

[skyway]

Does one tend to get drowsy about 4 am when maintaing 84 mph average speeds? I mean, more or less than while doing about 75?

I didn't get sleepy at all, insanity for 24 straight hours. I also agree with the animals at night thing. Around 3.30am just before passing Mr & Mrs Stevens in the opposite direction, I came upon a very messy fresh deer strike right in my path. All I had time for was a quick push of the bars to avoid getting a free red paint job. :bad:

I also heard of a rider getting multiple bird strikes right on the helmet visor. :dribble:

Another thing that keeps you awake at night is being at a gas pump in the wee hours, and SkooterG appearing from nowhere in a rather elevated frame of mind. :lol: We compared mileage, my jaw dropped, eyes grew large, and I knew right then that he stood a good chance to do something very special.

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks for the congrats everybody. Even you Slap!

A huge thanks to Warchild and Bob Hall for putting on this event and sending an invite my way. I cannot even begin to describe how grateful I am for that. I really owe Warchild and Georgie Z (beeroux) a tremendous amount of thanks. They have both been mentors to me, getting me hooked on this crazy long distance riding, and teaching me much. (But I think they would agree they still have a ways to go!)

This was such a fun event, and I had a great time. Some serious, hard core riding going on here. I was so goal oriented, driven, and motivated, that I never got drowsy for the whole 24 hours. Running at the edge is a stress and adrenaline packed ride, but it keeps you alert. But..........the crash is huge! About 30 minutes after finishing and coming down off my rally high, I crashed hard. I have never been so fried after a 24 hour rally. No mental functioning left.

A big congrats to Matt, George, and especially Ian. What an accomplishment for Ian. His first ever BBG, and he went BIG. All had great rides and by getting on the *short list*, earned quite the accomplishment.

And congrats also to Art, Lisa, and Tobie. Good rides all around.

Nevada...................

I thank my lucky stars there are still places like this left on this planet. I have lived out west for several years now, in Kalifornia, Wyoming, and Arizona. I have travelled all over, but there is no place like Nevada. I discovered the desolate 2-lane highways of Nevada about a year ago. They will cleanse your soul and lift your spirits. Seriously, everybody needs to take a trip and ride The Lonliest Highway, US50 and the Extraterrestrial Highway, NV375 at least once in their life. Word. You will simply be amazed. Especially all you midwest and eastcoasters. You simply have no idea.

I remember first meeting Skoot in Idaho (WFO3), he'd just finished his first SS1000, or was it a BB, can't remember, the sense of achievment he had was electric. He's moving on - great job Skoot. tel

Thanks for the memory tel. I did a SS1000 and a BB1500 on the way to WFO-3. And yep, I was pretty damned proud of myself back then. I caught the bug bad. That was such a great trip/weekend. That's why I always tell the newbies to enjoy that first SS1000, as they will have fond memories of it for the rest of their life.

Tom and Rosie Sperry rock!

Yes they do. Always a pleasure seeing them at a rally.

Will be very interesting to see if any of these FJR's ever develop the dreaded tick...

Dale's been telling Skooter his has been ticking for what? a year now? Hasn't seemed to slow him down much....

Two years. It was at WFO-3 that he declared mine a ticker. But I don't believe him. I think he is purposely trying to F*** with me. For a little more detail on the story, see my post most of the way down in THIS THREAD.

Before last weekend my furthest ride to date was around 1030 miles, as until now I had never attempted a BBG. I had planned to shoot for the BBG on this ride, but since I was making good time I decided to keep pushing.
Being invited to a event of this magnitude was a huge honor for me, so performance was in the forefront of my mind. It was a one shot deal, so I tried my best to come up with the goods, this time out fortune and glory (and lots of luck :clapping: ) were on my side.

Well freaking done Ian! Bravo Zulu!!!! Your wife should be proud. QUITE an accomplishment.

Any of you guys run w/o a fuel cell?

I believe Doug Banfelder on his 03 FJR was the only one without a fuel cell. More than likely one of the reasons he was time barred. Even though Doug did not make it back to the finish line in time resulting in a DNF for the event, I am pretty sure he racked up 1600+ miles to qualify for a BBG. Doug finished the last Cognoscente event - Blister, which was a group BBG3000. Even so, this will be his first BBG1500. As an aside, Doug has over 100,000 miles on his 03 FJR. Regardless, you can believe I will be harping on him to get a fuel cell!

To my knowledge, the sole FJR that did not have an aux fuel cell was the Lisa Steven's relatively new 2006 FJR.

I thought Lisa had a fuel cell? I believe Tobie was pointing out how it was dripping gas out the overflow due to uhhh.....somebody's overfilling it. (Ooops! Don't think I was supposed to say that.)

 

[twowheelnut]

Okay, I'll ask: Besides the general, '2k' distance mentioned, what were the actual mileages achieved?

 

[SkooterG]

Okay, I'll ask: Besides the general, '2k' distance mentioned, what were the actual mileages achieved?

You're SO fired!!!!

I am tempted to put your post count back below 1000 for that infraction. Then you wouldn't be able to attend your own meeting!

 

[Toecutter]

Okay, I'll ask: Besides the general, '2k' distance mentioned, what were the actual mileages achieved?

Note: For obvious reasons, we are not going to discuss the actual details of White Pine Fever in a public forum, nor will participants discuss them even in private email. Please don't bother to ask them. However, if you see someone wearing a White Pine Fever rallyshirt at a future gathering, you can certainly ask them questions if you like (though they may or may not answer them).

Patience, Grasshoppa. WFO looms! Your answers await.

 

[twowheelnut]

Oh. Some posts I kinda skim through... sorry. And putting me back to 1000 posts would do little more than saving me a wad of cash, so, thanks in advance! :lameasswinkysmiley:

:grin: (and I just might burn that New Yorker!)

 

[Bounce]

I find that when I'm tired at 4AM and just miss hitting range cattle by about 3 feet (black cows on black asphalt, cattle that you never see until you were upon them), I wake right up, and am good-to-go afterward.... :blink:

You got that **** right! On the way to Gerlach one time, I headed west out of Winnemucca and had barely cleared enough "town" to hit my PIAA 910's. As soon as they fired up there was a Hugh Jass black bovine standing sideways... across the entire road it was so big. Absolutely NOTHING to reflect light back at me because of it looking toward the side. Good light is critical for making good SAFE time at night in the Nevada Outback! (Something a wise counselor taught me early on in my endurance career.)

 

[Groo]

Is the "cattle on the road at night in Nevada" commentary also valid for I-95/80? That's how I was planning on leaving Reno in the O'dark thirty hours of the night on Sunday...

 

[SkooterG]

Is the "cattle on the road at night in Nevada" commentary also valid for I-95/80? That's how I was planning on leaving Reno in the O'dark thirty hours of the night on Sunday...

No.

But............. I-95?!?!?!?!

Actually, it's not all that bad on the rural two laners either. After crossing most of Nevada last weekend, the only road I saw cattle on was NV375. And it least it's so straight and deserted that you should see any problems with more than enough time to react. Especially with some good aux lighting.

 

[Warchild]

Is the "cattle on the road at night in Nevada" commentary also valid for I-95/80? That's how I was planning on leaving Reno in the O'dark thirty hours of the night on Sunday...

No worries; range cattle are pretty uncommon on I-80 through Nevada.

Deer and Kamakazi Jackrabbits are another story, however.... :blink:

 

[Groo]

No.
But............. I-95?!?!?!?!

I-95, Reno to KC, just a touch over 1500 miles. BBG and SS2K (once I get to Dallas). Get my butt home.

 

[SkooterG]

Here's a good photo of the FJR Crew at White Pine Fever:

(Minus Doug Banfelder as he hadn't returned yet)

 

[Groo]

Back again... see below...

Seperated at birth? You decide.....

 

[Warchild]

Hmmmmmm...... musta been a bad hair day for me here...... :lol:

 

[SkooterG]

Ok Warchild and Iggy, where did yer posts go?

Dang, ya gots to be quick around here!