Thursday, November 8, 2007
Friday, 26 October 2007
Salt Lake City, UT to Riverside, CA
Today I rode from SLC, UT to Riverside, California. I woke up feeling much better & to clear skies. I left SLC at 6:30 heading west towards Wendover, NV and the Bonnieville Salt Flats. The ride out of SLC was chilly, and I had a strong cross wind to deal with after I cleared the last mountain range.
I thought it would be neat to visit the place that so many world speed records have been set over the years. So out on the Salt Flats I went, pictures taken, soaked in the moment (only a moment as temps were only in the 40’s).The surface was very loose, making it difficult to ride on. I ventured out a mile or so and snapped this picture and headed back to the access road.
After breakfast and gas in Wendover, I went south on 93A through barren northeastern region of Nevada. I rode for close to a 100 miles without seeing anything. No traffic, no houses, no nothing!! There were a couple of nice curvy sections, but only with triple digit speeds.I continue to be amazed at how well this motorcycle handles, even full loaded (maybe overloaded) at speed. I was able to run fairly hard through these couple of sections with not so much as a bobble.
Route 93A ran into 93, then down to I-15. The beginning of 93 was a pretty enjoyable section with decent curves up and over a couple of short passes.It then flattened out into just straight, open, (and boring) road the rest of the way to I-15. Once on I-15, I continued west through Las Vegas (at rush hour), which I survived.Between Vegas and Riverside, the pace continued to pick up. A more accurate description would be that I-15 between Vegas and L.A. is a 250 mile drag strip! I rolled into Riverside, CA & my brother-in-law’s house around 8:30p, just 90 mile short of my final destination in San Deigo.
Mr. Garmin reports 3422 miles on the odometer. So I managed 13 states & 3422 miles in 5 days, not too shabby for my first true long distance ride. The FJR performed flawlessly and is now showing just over 40,000 miles on the odometer.
I hope you enjoyed this, as I thoroughly did. Now I’ve 52 days of Recruiter’s School to survive. My return trip will be a much more direct, southern route across I-10. I plan to attempt an IBA 50cc for the return. More on that as time nears. Thanks for tagging along. -wr
SC, GA,AL,MS,TN,AR,OK,KS,CO,WY,UT,NV,CA