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- Joined
- Nov 7, 2004
- Messages
- 18,620
- Reaction score
- 6,625
- Location
- Sun Lakes & Show Low, Arizona
- First Name
- Brian
This was my third annual trip to Hollywood to "Bite The Wieeenie" at the 11th Annual event hosted by Dean Tanji. If you're unfamiliar with the name, he is the producer of Hard Miles and Hard Miles II, the story behind the 2007 and 2009 Iron Butt Rallies. If you were ever curious about what it takes to ride 11,000+ miles in 11 days while chasing bonus opportunities, you should pick up one of these videos.
Anyhow, this year was very similar to last year and the year before in the sense that it was cold and wet, although this year was the wettest by far. You think Houston or DFW traffic is bad? Try downtown L.A. freeways on a Saturday night in the pouring rain. I don't mind riding in the rain, but not in L.A., and not at night. I'll have to borrow the wife's iron so I can get the puckered seat to lay flat again.
Saturday morning at 8 am we were KSU from Chandler AZ, destination Palm Desert. After a great burger at Grill-A-Burger we jumped on 74 to ride to Idyllwild and then 243 to Banning so we could jump back on I-10 to ride to our hotel in Ontario. If you ever have the chance to ride in this area, these are two roads you don't want to miss. It can be a pain to pass at times, but the considerate drivers (usually with CA plates) will use the provided turn-outs to let you by.
Here is the area in question...
Use Google Maps or Google Earth to look at this route close up and you can see why it is so good. The elevation changes from about 150 feet at Palm Desert to over 6,000 feet so it can be chilly depending upon the time of the year. The lowest temperature I saw yesterday was 46 degrees, but there was snow (and cinders) on the road last year so you have to watch for ice in the tree-covered corners if the temps are really low.
After check-in, a shower and nap, it was time to head on in to L.A. (Montrose and La Brea). There had been light sprinkles in the afternoon while I napped, but the god of weather decided to hold his best stuff back until 8:30 pm and then he unleashed his torrents of the wet stuff. Not fun. Repeat. Not fun.
After arriving at Pinks we BS'd with the riff-raff that makes up the LD Riding Community; who had the latest farkles; who converted from HID to LED and why; who had the trickest GPS set-up; who's got the latest in fuel cell technology, and etc. It is not unusual to see three GPS units on a single rally bike and multiple lighting systems that will singe the hair on Bambi's back before you even get close to running into one of nature's greatest threats to motorcyclists.
There were a few big names in the Rally community there but many of the big dogs did not show up this year. The Iron Butt Rally rally mistress, Lisa Landry, was there with Dean and there were numerous IBR riders/finishers there as well.
We gathered about 10 pm to eat our dogs and chit chat for a while, and before you knew it, it was 1 am and time to head back to the hotel. Again, in the rain. Did I mention how much I do not like riding in L.A. traffic, at night, in the rain?
Four hours of sleep, some breakfast, pack/load, and then head back home. We left at 0830 and I got home at 1440 with a total of 866 miles under my belt and just under 13 hours in the saddle. Total moving average was 60 mph which is pretty darn good when you consider how much time we spent in the mountains.
I picked up two Riders Cup Challenge locations on the way there, obtained two objectives for the SPANK Rally while I was at Pinks, chatted with some great folks, and had two great mustard/kraut dogs and a Dr Brown's Root Beer.
A great way to spend a weekend.
No photos because I'm lousy at taking night shots, and even worse taking night shots in the rain so I left the camera in the saddlebag. If I see any of the photos that were being taken I'll link to them.
Anyhow, this year was very similar to last year and the year before in the sense that it was cold and wet, although this year was the wettest by far. You think Houston or DFW traffic is bad? Try downtown L.A. freeways on a Saturday night in the pouring rain. I don't mind riding in the rain, but not in L.A., and not at night. I'll have to borrow the wife's iron so I can get the puckered seat to lay flat again.
Saturday morning at 8 am we were KSU from Chandler AZ, destination Palm Desert. After a great burger at Grill-A-Burger we jumped on 74 to ride to Idyllwild and then 243 to Banning so we could jump back on I-10 to ride to our hotel in Ontario. If you ever have the chance to ride in this area, these are two roads you don't want to miss. It can be a pain to pass at times, but the considerate drivers (usually with CA plates) will use the provided turn-outs to let you by.
Here is the area in question...
Use Google Maps or Google Earth to look at this route close up and you can see why it is so good. The elevation changes from about 150 feet at Palm Desert to over 6,000 feet so it can be chilly depending upon the time of the year. The lowest temperature I saw yesterday was 46 degrees, but there was snow (and cinders) on the road last year so you have to watch for ice in the tree-covered corners if the temps are really low.
After check-in, a shower and nap, it was time to head on in to L.A. (Montrose and La Brea). There had been light sprinkles in the afternoon while I napped, but the god of weather decided to hold his best stuff back until 8:30 pm and then he unleashed his torrents of the wet stuff. Not fun. Repeat. Not fun.
After arriving at Pinks we BS'd with the riff-raff that makes up the LD Riding Community; who had the latest farkles; who converted from HID to LED and why; who had the trickest GPS set-up; who's got the latest in fuel cell technology, and etc. It is not unusual to see three GPS units on a single rally bike and multiple lighting systems that will singe the hair on Bambi's back before you even get close to running into one of nature's greatest threats to motorcyclists.
There were a few big names in the Rally community there but many of the big dogs did not show up this year. The Iron Butt Rally rally mistress, Lisa Landry, was there with Dean and there were numerous IBR riders/finishers there as well.
We gathered about 10 pm to eat our dogs and chit chat for a while, and before you knew it, it was 1 am and time to head back to the hotel. Again, in the rain. Did I mention how much I do not like riding in L.A. traffic, at night, in the rain?
Four hours of sleep, some breakfast, pack/load, and then head back home. We left at 0830 and I got home at 1440 with a total of 866 miles under my belt and just under 13 hours in the saddle. Total moving average was 60 mph which is pretty darn good when you consider how much time we spent in the mountains.
I picked up two Riders Cup Challenge locations on the way there, obtained two objectives for the SPANK Rally while I was at Pinks, chatted with some great folks, and had two great mustard/kraut dogs and a Dr Brown's Root Beer.
A great way to spend a weekend.
No photos because I'm lousy at taking night shots, and even worse taking night shots in the rain so I left the camera in the saddlebag. If I see any of the photos that were being taken I'll link to them.
