My 50CC – not much of a story

 

The first question is WHY?  The answer isn’t that simple. Several things had lined up just right. I bought a new bike, my wife Ann wanted to go to San Antonio; I’d never been to California and in the end because a lot of others had done it.

Within minutes of posting my intentions on www.bmwsporttouring.com other members replied with offers of help, housing, etc. – that’s when we passed the phase from thinking about going to going. So, I went on line and bought a plane ticket for Ann to fly to San Antonio and that confirmed the week I was going to make my trip.

Here is a map of my ride – pretty simple Coast to Coast:

 

The web had several accounts of the 50CC and 100CC rides and I read those. I was embarrassed to say that unlike those riders I’d not done any preparation or training for the ride. I did SS1000 a couple of years earlier on my 1100RT which I sold last year.   I just bought K1200RS from Lynn which I had to pickup in Indianapolis. I flew to Indianapolis and Lynn met me at the airport, we signed all the papers and I was on my way home on my new K-bike. The bike was very nice and soon I settled into a comfortable pace.

When I got home I started to think about the gear I wanted to be able to take on my bike. My laptop was one of the first items on the list that didn’t fit into my side cases on the bike. I needed a top case. I was also worried about the stock BMW seat so I bought an Alaskan Sheep skin to provide a little comfort. I had used it in the past and liked it. About a week before my ride I saw an ad for a Rick Mayer seat in the classified section of www.bmwsporttouring.com advertised by JR356 – I bought it and it was on my bike just 2 days before the ride. I didn’t know if it was going to be comfortable or not. I packed the top case, side cases and a dry sack full of camping gear – just in case – and was ready to go.

I changed the oil from mineral to synthetic, looked the bike over and pronounced it ready to go. I was checking the tire pressure when I noticed that there was a nail in my rear tire. As it turned out it didn’t go all the way through, it went in flat along the outer circumference of the tire. I pulled it out and it was over an inch long!  So after some soul searching and advice from others, I installed a new Metzler Z-6. I was debating if I should change the front tire at the same time, but I thought that the front was good enough for the trip.

Here is a list of some things I thought I could use:

  • Head mounted flashlight
  • Multi-tool
  • Sunscreen
  • Phone charger
  • Macadamia – Peanut M&M mix
  • Extra ear plugs
  • Spare bike key
  • Visor wipes
  • Blue tape

 

In addition I had basic bike tools, a couple of different tire plugging systems, spare gloves and a full assortment of camping gear, tent, sleeping bag, thermo-pad, whisper light stove and various camp utensils.   As it turned out I used sunscreen and nut mix – the rest of it – in particular the camping gear was dead weight!

Here is a picture of the K ready to roll:

 

 

Friday May 23rd 2008 I left for Jacksonville, FL where my 50CC ride would begin. I had plans to meet Danny (Husband), Bill (Knifemaker) and Pirate John for dinner that evening. Ft. Mill, SC to Jacksonville, FL a total of 380 miles on the interstate (mostly

I-95) was pretty uneventful. I got rained on the last 80 miles of the trip but my BMW Rally 2 suit did well. It had more venting options than I’d seen on any other suit and I was hoping that it was going to hold up in the rain. I made it to my hotel without any problems, called Danny who was going to pick me up later for the ride to the restaurant. The restaurant and in particular the company was great. Here is a picture of Laura-Lee and Danny

 

Bill, Rory and Bob (Rory and Bob were also doing 50CC but had a different ride plan than I had)

 

Dinner was great and after Pirate John, who is a designated IBR witness, signed my paper work Danny took me back to my hotel and left with a promise to guide me the next morning to the starting point at the beach and escort me through Jacksonville proper on my way out of town.

 

Saturday 24th 2008 Danny met me as promised. We rode to the beach access where I collected some of the Atlantic sand and water,

then back to the Shell Gas station to get my time stamped gas receipt to officially start my Coast to Coast in under 50 hours ride. I had 50 hours to make it to Ocean Beach in  San Diego, CA – that meant I had to be there by 7AM California time.

Did I really want to do it? Did I volunteer for this? There had to be a large prize at the end… by now we all know answers to those questions; yes – I wanted to do it, yes – I volunteered and NO – there is no prize at the finish.

 

My Zumo GPS loaded with some of my favorite music, my Sirus Satellite radio; I-Pod and Blackberry were all wired into my Autocom to provide entertainment for the next 50 hours. K1200RS has just over 5 gallons of tank capacity which meant that I had to stop for gas every 160-170 miles with about 1 gallon reserve. The 1100RT which I used to own had a larger capacity and I was thinking that frequent gas stops were really going to be a “PITA”.  As it turned out aside from a stint trough Texas, that wasn’t a problem at all and as a matter of fact it was a welcomed brake after 2.5 hours in the saddle. On the subject of the saddle – I think what you wear under your riding gear is far more important than what you sit on!  Make sure that there are no seams between your delicate baby butt and the seat, any kind of seam will irritate you to no end and possibly even end your ride.

Here is a link to great riding shorts:

http://www.ldcomfort.com/store/product.php?productid=3

 

My trip was divided into two segments, Jacksonville to San Antonio was the first day and San Antonio to San Diego was the next day. First segment of it was uneventful but a lot harder than I expected. I rode over 1000 miles in a day before and I don’t recall it being as hard. By the time I got to Texas I was tired. It was getting dark and the traffic and the arrogance of the drivers had gone up. The worse section had been between Louisiana border and Houston – a lot of construction along the way, drivers speeding around me and changing lanes a lot closer to me than I like. I was very happy to make it through Houston in one piece. At that point I had another 250 miles or so to go before I was going to stop for the night at Larry and Louise’s house in San Antonio. Larry (Whip) was one of the first to respond to my post on the Forum with the offer of a shower, bed and whatever else I needed. Did I mention that I was tired? – I don’t think I made a very good impression on Louise and Larry or any of theirs 7 dogs. After a quick shower and little more hydration I was ready for bed. My hosts didn’t object and we all retired for the day. I was too tired to sleep so I tossed around till about 6:00AM.

At that point it wouldn’t take very much to convince me to spend a few days riding around the Texas Hill Country and forget the crazy idea of 50CC. The worse part was the knowledge that my next day’s ride was about 200 miles longer!  I wasn’t sure if I could make it.

 

 

The morning of Sunday 25th 2008 came way too quickly. I wanted to leave to take advantage of all the hours I had left, but I wasn’t ready to get on the bike. Larry was looking over my bike as I was getting my gear on. He took a critical look at my front tire and said – “This one is not going to make it back” – thanks Larry – I needed that. He was right – my front tire looked like it had had it, and I had another 1260 miles to go, not to mention 3000 miles to return home. I needed something to worry about and with my anal retentive personality now I wished I had replaced the front tire back home!

Soon I was on the road again. I was feeling every one of my 1060 miles from the previous day and I was worried if my tire was going to hold and questioned if I really needed to go on.

Before my tank was empty I stopped for a coffee and breakfast break. I had a traditional ham and eggs breakfast plus coffee and my attitude had changed a little. Amazing what some greasy food can do for your attitude!  I remembered that Larry warned me about lack of available gas west of San Antonio and since I had only a 160 miles range, I needed to plan for that.  I refueled where I was and planned on buying fuel again in Ozona, Ft Stockton, Van Horn and El Paso. Soon after leaving San Antonio the speed limit went up to 80 mph so I set my cruise control and settled in to a comfortable left lean angle to compensate for the very strong winds coming out of the southwest. I was warned by Steve (who travelled this road a day earlier) that the State Troopers were in force and to watch my speed. I was hoping that going 7 miles over the speed limit would be a safe speed and so I set my cruise control at that. I met three troopers who slowed down and took a good look at me but didn’t cross the median. I figured I wasn’t worth the effort.

 

 I was told that Larry was pulled over on that same highway for 3 miles over the limit and so I felt that maybe the median wasn’t suitable for crossing over – and that’s what saved me. On my trip back to San Antonio couple of days later I saw at least 50 LEO cars between El Paso and Ft Stockton, but this time I was running 81 mph and none were interested in me!

About noon I started to feel tired again. I stopped at the rest stop, and took a 20 minute snooze on a picnic table – what a great idea that was – I’m not even sure that I actually snoozed – but laying on the table with my eyes closed regenerated my batteries. I remember reading on the IBA site to separate your fuel stops from the rest stops, I totally buy it now – a quick stop with nothing to do except rest is worth a lot. All my gas stops were very quick and busy – pull up to the pump, left glove off, debit card out, tank bag up, refuel, TAKE RECEIPT and leave. The only variation was if I needed to replenish my fluids, since my bike was equipped with two water bottles connected by a single straw I would fill one with vitamin water and the other with Red Bull (that combination seemed to worked great!) Tons of sugar in Red Bull, supplemented by macadamia nuts and peanut M&M mix kept me awake and not feeling hungry.

On the subject of hydration – it’s critical to stay hydrated – even you don’t feel thirsty you need to monitor your water intake and make sure that you are hydrated. Temperatures in west Texas were approaching 105 degrees and New Mexico and Arizona weren’t any cooler.  

I made it to El Paso during the rush hour but other than moving a little slower there were no traffic delays.  In New Mexico I received an email on my Blackberry from my debit card issuer – to contact them immediately. Someone noticed that my card was used in small gas transactions across America; I guess that’s one of the patterns they watch for with stolen cards.  Apparently, when your card is compromised it’s frequently used at a gas station to preauthorize a small gas sale.  If it goes through your bank, then thieves may attempt to use it for a larger purchase.  I should have called my bank before I left and let them what I was up to, this would have alleviated the need for an emergency call and possibly my card being shut down if I didn’t respond in a timely manner.

I continued to batter very strong winds across three states and constantly had to lean my bike to the left. That may have been a blessing since I was using the part of my front tire that had plenty of rubber left.

West of Tucson I took interstate I-8 which would take me through Sonora Desert to San Diego. I stopped at Gila Bend, AZ to refuel and called Leslie (Les-is-more) to keep her abreast of my progress. According to my Zumo GPS (affectionately known as “Road Bitch”) if I continue to San Diego I’ll arrive about 2:00am. That meant that I would have to keep Leslie and Jamie up till 2:30 – 3:00am (waiting on me) and also since I didn’t have to be in San Diego till 7:00am, I had about 4.5 – 5 hours of time to waste. I decided to continue to ride to get closer to Yuma, stop for a 3-4 hour rest and in the morning (with no traffic) continue to my final destination which was the gas station a few blocks from the beach!

According to plan, I found a rest stop that looked like a perfect place to snooze. The picnic tables were round and too small for a comfortable rest so I decided to use my sleeping pad that was packed in my dry-sack. Just as I was about to lay my pad down I saw this sign:

I wasn’t ready for the company so my third choice was sleeping on my bike. I set it up on the center stand, got my travel pillow out of my top case and tried to make the best of it -leaning on my tank bag. The winds were still very strong and I had to put my helmet back on just to keep the winds from racing around my head. I set an alarm on my blackberry and did my best to catch a little snooze. Here is the calculation I did – I had less than 3 hours to ride to my destination, I was going to allow another hour for unexpected delays, which meant I had to leave my location about 3:00 AM. I hate be late (and very seldom am I late) so the extra time I added to my travel time was going to assure that I was on time!

 

Temperatures went down to low 40’s so I put more clothes on and I left the rest stop as planned. It was a very nice ride through Sonora Desert; cool and crisp and no traffic. The night before I was told by Leslie that I didn’t need to worry about the critters on the highway; I guess the desert is not conducive to elk, deer, or others.

I needed fuel, my Road Bitch picked out a gas station ahead so I pulled in, ran my debit card, it prompted me to select grade and begin fueling; however, it didn’t dispense any fuel. There was no one at the station so I had to look for another gas station. There was another gas stop a few miles down the highway and so I took off. Again, I pulled in ran my debit card and no fuel dispensed. OK – what’s going on? – Now I’m starting to watch the clock – I still have about 50 minutes to spare.

I took my stuff off to go inside and asked the attendant for help. She said that pump is on and to try it again.  So, I went back outside to try and it was not working!  The attendant comes out looks, goes back, comes out again and asks me to move to the other side of the pump. “Tick Tock Tick Tock”. I moved to the other side – same issue – attendant is no where to be seen. OK – where is another gas station – can I make it? If I run out of gas the trip is over. About the same time a car pulled up to another pump, runs his card and refuels. WTF – no time to waste pulled right behind him and refueled. Now my time buffer is down to 15-20 minutes of extra time. I made a decision not to speed, if I got pulled for speeding – trip is over, if I have a flat tire - trip is over-  any kind of delay and all the effort of everyone involved is wasted. Now my anal retentiveness is kicking in! My worn out front tire is fresh on my mind again. Sun came up and the winds seem to be blowing harder but now I’m heading straight into it. There is 4000 feet of vertical wall just ahead of me; I need to climb and descend over the Sierras. The wind feels even stronger and very unpredictable; it come from right and left and tossed me around like a rag doll. Winds blowing through the canyons are very unpredictable, as you round the wall of the canyon it could come either from the same direction as before or from the opposite side. I’m forced to slow down!  As I kept climbing, clouds rolled in and it started to rain; the temperature feel again and now I’m cold!  My visor was getting fogged in and all the road grime on it made it impossible to see. I pulled over to clean it. “Tick Tock Tick Tock” as I approached the top of the mountain now I’m in clouds. The only thing I was missing now was traffic! Thankfully, it was Memorial Day Monday – no one was working – there was at least one thing working in my favor. As I continued to descend it stopped raining and traffic continued to be light.

 Well, I made it and got my gas receipt from the Chevron at Ocean Beach, CA with the time stamp 6:44am!!!  I made it – Coast to Coast with 16 minutes to spare. Larry pointed out that since my riding time was about 33 hours, I managed to “squander” almost 17 hours.

Here I am:

What a relief – now I needed to find Leslie’s house – I thought I could manage that.

I don’t know what I was thinking but I took no pictures at Larry’s place in San Antonio or Leslie’s house in San Diego, I also failed to get the sand and water from the Pacific Ocean – well, maybe I can do it again.

Here are some of the stats from my GPS:

Total Distance: 2375 miles

Over All Average Speed: 67.5 mph

Moving Average Speed: 72.6 mph

Moving Time: 32.43 hours

 

After thoughts:

·         Get your bike ready – anything that is questionable change it!

·         Make sure that you have your  “undergarments” situation sorted out; buy a pair (or two) of motorcycle-specific shorts

·         Be ready for whatever the weather is – I was just lucky

·         Allow yourself plenty of time for unexpected delays

·         Space your stops; every 2-3 hours on the bike worked great for me.

 

Final thought:

 

I’m so grateful to all the people I’ve met on www.bmwsporttouring.com – Danny and Laura Lee, Pirate John,  Bill, Larry and Louise,  Leslie and Jamie, Steve and Ann – my lovely wife who puts up with all my crazy ideas.

I’ll post a separate story of my ride back home, via San Antonio, Ozarks, Cherohala Skyway and the Tail of the Dragon.

The next ride is to BMW Rally in Mexico - you can get some into here:

http://www.bmwmotorradgdl.com.mx/english%20info.html

 

 

Thanks for reading my story and sharing the experience with me.  I hope your adventures are just as successful and that you share them with the rest of us.

 

Mark Schindler, BMW rider, LIFE enthusiast!

mark@badapplesonline.com
828-612-9046