Spud Run 2002 - Part 2

We all got a good night's sleep after pouring over the maps. The final route was planned out and the four of us were really ready to get on the road. It seems like I'd just closed my eyes when the alarm went off.....yes, I could hear it through the ear plugs! Lucky for us the rain was NOT pouring down, and we were ready to get geared up and on the road. Uh oh....Duncan reports that Elaine's back tire has a whopping 8 pounds of pressure. Gear off, and time to inspect the tire. We lifted Elaine on to her centerstand and rotated the tire....what's this innocent piece of gravel doing here? The innocent piece of gravel was actually a very sharp and sinister piece of gravel and had punctured clear through. Before my trip out, I had purchased a tire repair kit from my local Suzuki dealer. This kit used a neoprene phillips screw as a plug, and why not try it out? I handed the kit to Mike and Duncan who both mumbled something under their breath about finally screwing Elaine.

I didn't catch all of it. After the screw job we tested the patch, and it was no joy. Little bubbles under the spit. So off to the convenience store to attempt to find a local bike dealer open on a Monday. Yea right. What bike shop is open on a Monday? In Corvallis, OR? The minutes ticked, and believe it or not, Duncan was able to find a local Honda dealer open and ready to help us - but he had no tires in stock that would fit the old girl, so he'd have to plug the tire. The NEW rear tire with less than 1500 miles on it. Doesn't it always go that way?

Two+ hours later we rode away...but not before we ordered a new rear tire from Chaparral to meet us at the Rockin' Rottie for replacement on Friday. Skies were again dark and foreboding, but we were finally on our way, with a warning from the dealer NOT to exceed 55mph for the first day and 75mph for the rest of the tire's natural life. Oh boy, mother nature sure has a way of keeping you honest, doesn't she? Undaunted by this minor setback, eastward the four of us headed, at a blistering 55 miles per hour....with increasingly dark skies in our view.

After a short stop, were now ready to head east on Highway 20, just out of Sweet Home, OR ready to climb the grade to Cascadia. The blackest, most foreboding skies of the trip were directly ahead of us. Time to don the rain suits and suck it up. Sure glad I brought one for the trip. Our most experienced rider Rick took the lead, as we ascended into the mouth of the dragon. First a little rain, then...what's this? A bit of hail? The bit of hail turned into a LOT of hail and heavy rain, followed by a flash of lightning and an immediate BOOM! Close. Another! And another! The hail was actually starting to hurt through the rain and riding suits and I was glad that I had earplugs; the hail was actually echoing in the helmet! Visibility is now down to about 20 feet, and even less with the fogging of our glasses and face shields! Frantic attempts to wipe the shield proved useless as the fog, hail and rain almost completely obliterated the view. I could barely make out Rick's tail light and tried to follow in the trail his red VX was now leaving in the accumulating hail. The two single headlights in my rear view mirror proved that Duncan and Mike were still hangin' in there. What's this I feel? Now how could my crotch be getting wet through this one piece rain suit? Oh, and it IS cold! The rain and hail are now penetrating through the velcro and zipper in the rainsuit AND the little vinyl mittens on my gloves.....and I am starting to get cold as we continue up the hill, wiping our visors, dropping our glasses on the bottoms of our noses and just trying to stay in motion. The gloves are completely drenched. My crotch is soaked. Damn.

By the time we crested the summit, the precipitation had nearly stopped and we all pulled over to the rest area to review the last twenty minutes. It was confirmed that we ALL suffered from the wet crotch syndrome, some worse than others...right Rick? The soaked gloves were now useless in the 40 degree temps and I was glad that I'd packed my summer gloves. They were light, but at least they were dry. We were really lucky that the rain was light as we descended from the summit down to Sisters, OR with a final destination of the night being Prineville, OR. We stopped in Sisters for lunch and a drying out period. After taking off our riding suits, either all four of us wet our pants through the lightning and hail storm, or none of our rain gear held out. I prefer to hope for the latter. How nice it was to warm up for a little while while Duncan told jokes to the cute waitresses. 

That Duncan. Although we had only travelled 120 miles, I decided to fill up the SV to see what kind of mileage it got through the storm. Two point one gallons. Not bad.

We continued to our destination for the night with heavy cloud cover and always threatening skies. By the time we made it to Prineville, the rain was starting up again, but was fairly light and we were eager to gas up and dry out our clothes and gear for the next morning's ride.....

We were up early Tuesday morning....(well three of us, anyway) and Mike, Rick and I discussed our plans for the day. Clouds still covered the sky, but they did not appear to carry much precip....a little while later, Duncan emerged and we geared up for the next ride. We didn't have a firm final destination for the day, but knew we'd be well into eastern OR by sunset. Mike had planned out some great routes and we were ready to rock. We headed east on SR26 and had breakfast in Mitchell, OR. From there on is a blur, because Mike led us through some of the most beautiful scenic country and winding roads any of us had ever witnessed. The roads were nearly devoid of traffic, dry, fast (well, except for poor Duncan) and the scenery was so spectacular it was hard to keep eyes on the road. We did and ended up in La Grande, OR for the evening. The hotel had a hot tub and it was wonderful to get that core temp back up to normal. Mike, Duncan and I saw the new Star Wars Clone War movie, and after the movie Rick joined us for dinner at Denny's. Civilization. Ahhh...

On Wednesday morning I decided that I was going to slab it home in I84 and get home before Kathy left on her own Miata rally in British Columbia. The guys decided to head north through Enterprise, Wallowa Lake, through Hell's Canyon, Idaho and spend the night in Cambridge, ID. Sure was nice to get home to Kathy and prepare the Rockin' Rottie for Spud Run I.