Hectic schedule getting ready for the trip. Everyone was lining up last minute business or trip prep items. Julie and I took Ursula to Frank Kapralik's funeral visitation and I was worried that I would be late for the trip departure. Fortunately, Jeff and Tom had last minute business so I had plenty of time to finish packing. The items that were missed will no doubt reveal themselves at the most inopportune time.
For the trip, Tom ordered a dual axle trailer and spent months customizing it to carry 6 bikes. His work paid off in spades when the trailer performed perfectly - without incident. Can't ask for more. Jeff acquired a GMC Suburban with was perfect for pulling the trailer and holding five motorcycle drivers and their gear. By sharing driving duties, we made the trip in 30 hours. Steve Reinschmidt, a great individual, arranged for us to store the Suburban and trailer and helped us set up the gear. He even accompanied us to the start of the Pikes Peak ride.
We were tired. There is only so much sleep that one can get in the vehicle on the road. 2 hour interrupted naps don't count as rest, so when we finally started riding, everyone was a bit off. Balance was off, thought process was off, heck, even balance was off. But why let something like that interrupt a trip to the top of Pikes peak, an 14,110 summit, that is still covered in snow.
Off we went, starting slow, then building momentum and passing cars when the opportunity presented itself. The road rewarded us with a very steep first section, overlooking the approaches to the mountain. One really gets an appreciation, that this mountain really juts up as a peak in the middle of a plain. The world is relatively flat (well, rolling hills), approaching the mountain, and bang - this 14,000 foot peak pops up right in the middle. When we hit the steep sections - there was no passing. The name of the game was "behave" and survive. Parts of this mountain are sheer cliff and the road had to be carved out of those sections. On a bike, one couldn't fully appreciate the splendour of the vistas, because the bike goes where you point your eyes. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, the drops were 800 feet, which was deadly enough - here the drops were eternal. I found myself hugging the yellow line "just in case". The rise on the roads was incredible. On a switch back, the radius of the turns were as steep as possible - really, so tight, that a car could barely negotiate the turn. On a fully loaded bike, that means first gear, crank you head around to "see" your line, bank the bike over hard and crank the throttle. Just to make live a little more interesting, throw in a bit of gravel, kicked out by vehicles that were a little to long, or snow melt (or both at once), and yeah, it gets technical. Jeff overheated his clutch on the ride up - it's that steep.
This is definitely not for beginners, but that is what we came here for. In prior rides, we experienced similar conditions at any time - Grandfather mountain in the Smokies, Tail of the Dragon etc. but this road combined them all. Ironically, this is the dream that drove me to purchase the F800GS, only the other tours were on unpaved roads just like this i.e. engineer pass, which is on our route, but will not be ridden since our group is only road oriented. I'm thinking that without some more experience, I could not imagine riding a dirt road with this profile unless there was another experienced rider along. This road also traversed the variety of terrain that one experiences on a the Engineers pass, I get a real feel for the area. Even more amazing than the views, was the fact that bicyclists were riding to the top.
On the ride to the top, I noticed that my breathing was becoming more laboured and mouth was dry and parched. The effects of altitude are unbelievable. At the top, we were all grins and giggles, but everyone noticed right away that they were dizzy as soon as the helmets came off. Everyone was a bit pale in the face - something new for each rider. In fact, everywhere on the top, once could see people suffering in varying degrees from the altitude. Later in the restaurant, there was one boy who was so sick, he was hiding his head under his hoodie and could not get up from the table. Tom (in true ride leader form) - very wisely suggested that the parents call a paramedic (there were many on top) to administer oxygen.
The top has some spectacular vistas so we watered up, ate protein bars for sugar (an effort to ward off the dizzies) and wandered off to take some shots. The views of the plains to the east, and mountains to the north, south and east gave us a hint of the rides to come. The snow was still 6 feet thick up here - way cool.
I started to get a bit too dizzy and started getting concerned about having enough acuity to safely manoeuvre the bike back down the steep roads, so I let the guys know that I was heading down. The lack of sleep and inadequate acclimatization, combined with thoughts of blacking out on that road, combined with a weird pain in my lungs/shoulders said - enough. I missed the group motorcycle shot by the 14,000 ft peak sign, but safety first, head down. On a few stops on the way down, the views were spectacular. The few photos do not adequately reproduce the splendour of the vistas, so this is one of those times that remain locked in our memories - and this is just the first day. At the mid mouton check point, rangers were testing brake temperatures and telling motorists to pull over for up to 30 minutes to let their brakes cool. The motorcycles were just waved through. They know that a high compression bike doesn't need a lot of brakes to safely get down a steep hill (chock up one more point for motorcycle touring)
I'm amazed that the park does not provide more warnings about the effects of altitude on children and elderly at the gate, plus provide more information about the availability of oxygen for those who really feel sick. We have been to every "mountain" in the east, none of which are this high, and received better information. On Grandfather Mountain, the motorcyclists had to sign a waiver due to risk of falling from the steep switchbacks - here - nothing. I guess that's one of the differences between the cultures of the east and west.
When we all finally met up at the bottom, everyone as BUSHED. The lack of sleep, combined with hunger and altitude meant - straight to the closest model and recover with meals and a well deserved sleep. Hell, for all of us, sunday night would be the first sleep in bed since Thursday night - aren't we dedicated to our sport.
We found the Eagle Fire Lodge, compete with Loft, master bed room and pull out couch with a fireplace and hot tub for a romantic getaway - not. Lots of room for our gear. The desk clerk recommended the Ute Bar and Grill, which apparently has been in business since 1938. We took the bikes (no beer for dinner - we had a 12 pack back at the Eagle). This is a no helmet state, so 4 of us said what the hell, lets go naked (no helmet, but fully clothed). I still cant believe people touring on Harleys, Aspencades, sport bikes and everything in between, in t-shirts, jeans and their hair blowing in the wind. It's OK to take the risk for a short ride through town to get dinner, and in this case, the discomfort of the wind in your unprotected face was less than the pain of pulling the full face helmet over our sunburnt parts.
The Ute looked good - a frontier looking bar with wood interior, a pool table and cluttered with mountain stuff. Place was busy and we were looking forward to a great meal. They had buffalo burgers on tap, and - this is buffalo country, so we were excited about real mountain food. The first warning came when the Jeff asked the server what she preferred, the buffalo burger, or his favourite, a philly steak. She told him that she hasn't tried the buffalo burger but at other places, she prefers the philly. My altitude oxygen starved brain, that hasn't had a decent sleep since thursday night said "whoa" - this server hasn't tried either the house specialty or philly steak - i guess asking here the chef's favourite meal is out of the question, this must be her first work week. OK, so the warning flags were up. We order 3 buffalo burgers, a philly steak and Josh's chicken fried steak (boy had a craving).
Warning #2: server comes back with a "sorry, kitchen is out of buffalo - OK if we make that regular burgers" (fresh, juicy Angus). I am now thinking, what can the kitchen make that can't be fcuked up and order a salad and a soup. Dave takes the burger offer and Tom orders the Philly. He and I are eyeing each other because the decision to skip the other restaurant option, which was the Swiss Chalet - not the Canadian chicken chain, but a restaurant specializing in organic food, it was starting to look like we made a baaad choice with the Ute.
The salad comes with fresh baked croutons, crispy with a slight butter taste, and I'm thinking, maybe I was wrong. The beverages arrive, diet cokes, a coffee for Dave (he was unable to feed his caffeine addition for the entire day and was getting the shakes) and Josh gets the beer (he was riding bitch on Jeff's bike)
I ordered an unsweetened iced tea and it had a funny taste. One more try, and it dawns on me - the unusual taste is cold coffee. Think, think, think - they made the iced tea in the Bunn coffee machine. Dave has a funny look on his face - "this is the worst coffee I have ever tasted - it doesn't even taste like coffee". He returns the coffee for a coke. Have you ever heard of coffee so bad that you need to return it?
Then comes the food - Tom and I had the soups delivered first. It was a dark broth with stuff floating in it - couldn't fully tell what that stuff was since the broth was so dark. I give it a swirl with the spoon and fear starts setting in, waiting for Tom to take the first sip. He does and hesitates, but he is hungry so he tries some more. His face is not convincing me that this is edible, but I try a sip. The broth is definitely beef, but very strong tasting. Maybe the chef has a unique taste experience for us so I try one of the things floating in the soup. It's a piece of onion and I saw a chunk of carrot, but it was shrivelled - how do you shrivel an carrot in a soup? Finally, the red thing turns out to be a slice of red pepper, only the flesh of the pepper is gone and only the curled skin remains. This soup has been sitting in the soup pot for weeks in order for the ingredients to get in this condition. No wonder the broth tasted so strong. That's it for me but I didn't want to kill the meal for the others so I keep my mouth shut.
They Philly's look OK and they come with commercial, batter dipped fries - can't screw those up. Everyone digs in, has a bite and then the shit bomb explodes.
Josh's chicken fried steak is floating a pool of white sauce, that is probably four, water and salt. He utters and Ughh - can't eat this. Jeff is enjoying the fries and passes me a chunk of steak since I'm not eating my soup - (he takes care of everyone) - but he is commenting that the meat seems cold. Tom has the same experience, and I know from the little soup he ate that he is equally unhappy with with his Philly. Dave crowns them all when he spits his mouthful on the plate. "This burger is still frozen in the middle".
No doubt, the anticipation of a great first meal on the trip was dashed. This wasn't just a bad meal, it was a failure of epic proportions. Even chef Ramsey wouldn't take this place on, and his show made me aware of what goes on in poorly run kitchens. We agree to pay for the meal, not make a fuss and leave. We call the waitress for the check and she realizes something is wrong and then proceeds to tell us that the chef is been a bitch all evening and that other customers have been complaining about their food as well. When she returns, she tells us that the meal is comped and apologizes for the service. I'm just worried that someone has gotten food poisoning since I'm imaging poorly handled food, poor hygiene practices that always thrive in badly run kitchens.
We jump on the bikes to find an edible meal and settle on the Gypsy Brick Oven pizza, where the dough and toppings are freshly made. Finally, a decent meal.
We get back to the Eagle, enjoy some beer and chat it up with our neighbour, who is vacationing with wife and kids. He is third generation steel pedal guitar maker - his granddaddy founded the company, that boasts big name country stars as customers. His kids are 7, 13 and 16, but both he and and his wife looked no older than Josh ..... Hmmm. But, this is what makes travel fun.
Today - no idea where we are going. Pictures will be posted when I can.
For the trip, Tom ordered a dual axle trailer and spent months customizing it to carry 6 bikes. His work paid off in spades when the trailer performed perfectly - without incident. Can't ask for more. Jeff acquired a GMC Suburban with was perfect for pulling the trailer and holding five motorcycle drivers and their gear. By sharing driving duties, we made the trip in 30 hours. Steve Reinschmidt, a great individual, arranged for us to store the Suburban and trailer and helped us set up the gear. He even accompanied us to the start of the Pikes Peak ride.
We were tired. There is only so much sleep that one can get in the vehicle on the road. 2 hour interrupted naps don't count as rest, so when we finally started riding, everyone was a bit off. Balance was off, thought process was off, heck, even balance was off. But why let something like that interrupt a trip to the top of Pikes peak, an 14,110 summit, that is still covered in snow.
Off we went, starting slow, then building momentum and passing cars when the opportunity presented itself. The road rewarded us with a very steep first section, overlooking the approaches to the mountain. One really gets an appreciation, that this mountain really juts up as a peak in the middle of a plain. The world is relatively flat (well, rolling hills), approaching the mountain, and bang - this 14,000 foot peak pops up right in the middle. When we hit the steep sections - there was no passing. The name of the game was "behave" and survive. Parts of this mountain are sheer cliff and the road had to be carved out of those sections. On a bike, one couldn't fully appreciate the splendour of the vistas, because the bike goes where you point your eyes. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, the drops were 800 feet, which was deadly enough - here the drops were eternal. I found myself hugging the yellow line "just in case". The rise on the roads was incredible. On a switch back, the radius of the turns were as steep as possible - really, so tight, that a car could barely negotiate the turn. On a fully loaded bike, that means first gear, crank you head around to "see" your line, bank the bike over hard and crank the throttle. Just to make live a little more interesting, throw in a bit of gravel, kicked out by vehicles that were a little to long, or snow melt (or both at once), and yeah, it gets technical. Jeff overheated his clutch on the ride up - it's that steep.
This is definitely not for beginners, but that is what we came here for. In prior rides, we experienced similar conditions at any time - Grandfather mountain in the Smokies, Tail of the Dragon etc. but this road combined them all. Ironically, this is the dream that drove me to purchase the F800GS, only the other tours were on unpaved roads just like this i.e. engineer pass, which is on our route, but will not be ridden since our group is only road oriented. I'm thinking that without some more experience, I could not imagine riding a dirt road with this profile unless there was another experienced rider along. This road also traversed the variety of terrain that one experiences on a the Engineers pass, I get a real feel for the area. Even more amazing than the views, was the fact that bicyclists were riding to the top.
On the ride to the top, I noticed that my breathing was becoming more laboured and mouth was dry and parched. The effects of altitude are unbelievable. At the top, we were all grins and giggles, but everyone noticed right away that they were dizzy as soon as the helmets came off. Everyone was a bit pale in the face - something new for each rider. In fact, everywhere on the top, once could see people suffering in varying degrees from the altitude. Later in the restaurant, there was one boy who was so sick, he was hiding his head under his hoodie and could not get up from the table. Tom (in true ride leader form) - very wisely suggested that the parents call a paramedic (there were many on top) to administer oxygen.
The top has some spectacular vistas so we watered up, ate protein bars for sugar (an effort to ward off the dizzies) and wandered off to take some shots. The views of the plains to the east, and mountains to the north, south and east gave us a hint of the rides to come. The snow was still 6 feet thick up here - way cool.
I started to get a bit too dizzy and started getting concerned about having enough acuity to safely manoeuvre the bike back down the steep roads, so I let the guys know that I was heading down. The lack of sleep and inadequate acclimatization, combined with thoughts of blacking out on that road, combined with a weird pain in my lungs/shoulders said - enough. I missed the group motorcycle shot by the 14,000 ft peak sign, but safety first, head down. On a few stops on the way down, the views were spectacular. The few photos do not adequately reproduce the splendour of the vistas, so this is one of those times that remain locked in our memories - and this is just the first day. At the mid mouton check point, rangers were testing brake temperatures and telling motorists to pull over for up to 30 minutes to let their brakes cool. The motorcycles were just waved through. They know that a high compression bike doesn't need a lot of brakes to safely get down a steep hill (chock up one more point for motorcycle touring)
I'm amazed that the park does not provide more warnings about the effects of altitude on children and elderly at the gate, plus provide more information about the availability of oxygen for those who really feel sick. We have been to every "mountain" in the east, none of which are this high, and received better information. On Grandfather Mountain, the motorcyclists had to sign a waiver due to risk of falling from the steep switchbacks - here - nothing. I guess that's one of the differences between the cultures of the east and west.
When we all finally met up at the bottom, everyone as BUSHED. The lack of sleep, combined with hunger and altitude meant - straight to the closest model and recover with meals and a well deserved sleep. Hell, for all of us, sunday night would be the first sleep in bed since Thursday night - aren't we dedicated to our sport.
We found the Eagle Fire Lodge, compete with Loft, master bed room and pull out couch with a fireplace and hot tub for a romantic getaway - not. Lots of room for our gear. The desk clerk recommended the Ute Bar and Grill, which apparently has been in business since 1938. We took the bikes (no beer for dinner - we had a 12 pack back at the Eagle). This is a no helmet state, so 4 of us said what the hell, lets go naked (no helmet, but fully clothed). I still cant believe people touring on Harleys, Aspencades, sport bikes and everything in between, in t-shirts, jeans and their hair blowing in the wind. It's OK to take the risk for a short ride through town to get dinner, and in this case, the discomfort of the wind in your unprotected face was less than the pain of pulling the full face helmet over our sunburnt parts.
The Ute looked good - a frontier looking bar with wood interior, a pool table and cluttered with mountain stuff. Place was busy and we were looking forward to a great meal. They had buffalo burgers on tap, and - this is buffalo country, so we were excited about real mountain food. The first warning came when the Jeff asked the server what she preferred, the buffalo burger, or his favourite, a philly steak. She told him that she hasn't tried the buffalo burger but at other places, she prefers the philly. My altitude oxygen starved brain, that hasn't had a decent sleep since thursday night said "whoa" - this server hasn't tried either the house specialty or philly steak - i guess asking here the chef's favourite meal is out of the question, this must be her first work week. OK, so the warning flags were up. We order 3 buffalo burgers, a philly steak and Josh's chicken fried steak (boy had a craving).
Warning #2: server comes back with a "sorry, kitchen is out of buffalo - OK if we make that regular burgers" (fresh, juicy Angus). I am now thinking, what can the kitchen make that can't be fcuked up and order a salad and a soup. Dave takes the burger offer and Tom orders the Philly. He and I are eyeing each other because the decision to skip the other restaurant option, which was the Swiss Chalet - not the Canadian chicken chain, but a restaurant specializing in organic food, it was starting to look like we made a baaad choice with the Ute.
The salad comes with fresh baked croutons, crispy with a slight butter taste, and I'm thinking, maybe I was wrong. The beverages arrive, diet cokes, a coffee for Dave (he was unable to feed his caffeine addition for the entire day and was getting the shakes) and Josh gets the beer (he was riding bitch on Jeff's bike)
I ordered an unsweetened iced tea and it had a funny taste. One more try, and it dawns on me - the unusual taste is cold coffee. Think, think, think - they made the iced tea in the Bunn coffee machine. Dave has a funny look on his face - "this is the worst coffee I have ever tasted - it doesn't even taste like coffee". He returns the coffee for a coke. Have you ever heard of coffee so bad that you need to return it?
Then comes the food - Tom and I had the soups delivered first. It was a dark broth with stuff floating in it - couldn't fully tell what that stuff was since the broth was so dark. I give it a swirl with the spoon and fear starts setting in, waiting for Tom to take the first sip. He does and hesitates, but he is hungry so he tries some more. His face is not convincing me that this is edible, but I try a sip. The broth is definitely beef, but very strong tasting. Maybe the chef has a unique taste experience for us so I try one of the things floating in the soup. It's a piece of onion and I saw a chunk of carrot, but it was shrivelled - how do you shrivel an carrot in a soup? Finally, the red thing turns out to be a slice of red pepper, only the flesh of the pepper is gone and only the curled skin remains. This soup has been sitting in the soup pot for weeks in order for the ingredients to get in this condition. No wonder the broth tasted so strong. That's it for me but I didn't want to kill the meal for the others so I keep my mouth shut.
They Philly's look OK and they come with commercial, batter dipped fries - can't screw those up. Everyone digs in, has a bite and then the shit bomb explodes.
Josh's chicken fried steak is floating a pool of white sauce, that is probably four, water and salt. He utters and Ughh - can't eat this. Jeff is enjoying the fries and passes me a chunk of steak since I'm not eating my soup - (he takes care of everyone) - but he is commenting that the meat seems cold. Tom has the same experience, and I know from the little soup he ate that he is equally unhappy with with his Philly. Dave crowns them all when he spits his mouthful on the plate. "This burger is still frozen in the middle".
No doubt, the anticipation of a great first meal on the trip was dashed. This wasn't just a bad meal, it was a failure of epic proportions. Even chef Ramsey wouldn't take this place on, and his show made me aware of what goes on in poorly run kitchens. We agree to pay for the meal, not make a fuss and leave. We call the waitress for the check and she realizes something is wrong and then proceeds to tell us that the chef is been a bitch all evening and that other customers have been complaining about their food as well. When she returns, she tells us that the meal is comped and apologizes for the service. I'm just worried that someone has gotten food poisoning since I'm imaging poorly handled food, poor hygiene practices that always thrive in badly run kitchens.
We jump on the bikes to find an edible meal and settle on the Gypsy Brick Oven pizza, where the dough and toppings are freshly made. Finally, a decent meal.
We get back to the Eagle, enjoy some beer and chat it up with our neighbour, who is vacationing with wife and kids. He is third generation steel pedal guitar maker - his granddaddy founded the company, that boasts big name country stars as customers. His kids are 7, 13 and 16, but both he and and his wife looked no older than Josh ..... Hmmm. But, this is what makes travel fun.
Today - no idea where we are going. Pictures will be posted when I can.
Just for the record, clutch problem on Jeff's bike was caused by the air trapped in the brake fluid! Air pressure in higher elevations is similar to pulling a vacuum. Besides air bubbles expanding, hydraulic oil actually holds gas and will expel it. Another valuable lesson was learned.....change your brake fluid and bleed your hydraulic system more often!
ReplyDeleteAfter changing his brake fluid and bleeding the entire hydraulic system, bike performed like a champ!