Spring 2003 Death Valley Ride
Note: More pictures are available here courtesy of Carl.
The alarm/radio turned on about 5:20, waking me for the final time Friday morning. It was still raining, but not as hard as it was at 3:30 when I was awakened by the sound of rain on roof. I turned off the radio, got up, washed, dressed, and packed the toiletries I'd just used. The now full saddle bag liner was stored in the left saddle bag. Everything else was packed Thursday night.
I opened the garage door and picked up the newspaper before putting on my gear. There's less rain than 20 minutes ago; a good sign. I've plenty of layers so should be nice and warm. Rain gloves are the last bit of gear to put on and I'm off. I'm riding alone by intent this year. A few people have asked me for my route and I've shared it with them, but I don't really expect anyone to join me. That's fine.
The traffic on 101 is light before 6:00 AM. The first leg, my house to Hollister, is uneventful. 101 is wet as light showers follow me to breakfast. I seem to have outrun the showers by the time I hit Ca 25 into Hollister. It's dry when I arrive.
I told a few people I'd be at the Cozy Cup between 7 and 7:30. At 7:25 I have one more cup of coffee on the off chance that someone will join me. Nope. Coalinga is only 90 miles and there's still plenty of gas in the tank. I don't bother getting gas in Hollister. The rain caught up with me when I was eating breakfast. This leaves the tar snakes on the northern end of Ca 25 slippery. I reduce the pace a bit. 25 and 198 are great roads, even in the rain.
I stop for gas in Coalinga and then wheeled the bike over to the parking area for a rest break and a cup of coffee. The rain has stopped but the ground is still wet and slippery. That's not all that's slippery: as I go to put my bike on the center stand my boot slips and the bike, not yet on the stand, lurches forward and then falls to the right. Damn. Some bystanders helped me get the bike on the side stand so I could assess the damage. A scratched valve cover and mirror assembly seem to be the result.
Fred was kind enough to provide extra pictures of the damage once I got to Stovepipe Wells.
