Author Topic: Best way to spend a workday...  (Read 4169 times)

Offline Red01

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Best way to spend a workday...
« on: April 24, 2005, 05:11:34 AM »
...don't go to work - go riding instead! :beers:

Bobcat contacted me earlier in the week and asked if I could play hookie on Friday. The cards were in my favor as the airplane I'd been working on for the last three weeks or so delivered on Thursday and we weren't scheduled for a new one until Monday.

We decided to ride the N. Cascades Hwy (SR20) over to Winthrop for lunch. For those not familiar, Winthrop is ~160 miles from where Bobcat & I call home. The beauty of this road is, not only does it wind wonderfully thru the Cascades, it does not readily connect any major metropolitan areas. It can get clogged up with RV's, but it's still early enough in the year that if you leave the west side in the morning, you won't have to deal with much traffic going over - and practically nothing coming back! (Sundays, coming back can be a different story though.)

The fun of SR20 starts in a sleepy little company town called Newhalem. There's not much in this town but a few blocks worth of homes, a general store and a visitors center for the hydroelectric dams on Ross and Diablo lakes. Not even a gas station! The residents of Newhalem all work for Seattle City Light, the owner of the dams.

Here's a couple of shots of our bikes in Newhalem in front of the visitors center. You can see the powerlines coming off the dams in the background.





We wound our way to the top of Rainy Pass where we stopped for a photo op with the snow. Not a lot of opportunity for these kinds of shots on this route. When snow starts to fly in the fall, they don't bother keeping this road open since it's not a major connector. They don't bother to plow it until they think the snow is done. Fooled them this year though, they had it open for a couple weeks and a snowstorm hit, followed by several more weeks of snow and closed the road for almost a month. It just recently opened back up again.



As you can see in the above pic, the sky wasn't too pretty up there. The forecast said possible thundershowers, but luckily, that didn't come pass.
(It turned out to be blue sky beautiful on the return trip.)



After the photo op, we continued down the other side and on into Winthrop where we had lunch and discovered another guy I work with having lunch with his riding buddy.

After lunch, we decided to explore some of the backroads around Winthrop. Who needs a V-Strom?







After we finished out little backroad exploration, we headed back to the other side of "the hill." We stopped at the Diablo Overlook and instead of taking the usual west-looking pictures of the lake, Bobcat decided to snap one looking east, toward the heart of the Cascades.



...as well as north. (The lake would be visible if you were to look down from the railing - but since it's several hundred feet down to the water, it obviously doesn't show here.)



For those who missed posts from any of last years SR20 trips, here's the westward view from the overlook - taken last June.



* Credit for all the above photos goes to Bobcat
. . . who's too much of a lurker to write a trip report.  :monkeymoon:
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Banditboy600

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Best way to spend a workday...
« Reply #1 on: April 24, 2005, 09:40:14 AM »
Awesome pics..............glad you had a good time.  Was it cold?  I thought your buddy Bobcat has a Hayabusa?  The photos look like he is riding a sliver B12.. :?:
Kevin R
'02 Bandit 600S (sold)
'05 FZ1 silver

Offline terrebandit

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Best way to spend a workday...
« Reply #2 on: April 24, 2005, 09:41:13 AM »
What AWESOME beauty out there.  I lived in Umatilla and Portand OR for a short while and those photos brought back some memories.  Thanks for sharing.

Dave
My Bandit(s) -click here  >={{{*>
2000 B12S "Good Ole Bob"
____ o7o____o7o ___Ride Safe!

Offline Red01

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Best way to spend a workday...
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2005, 06:40:42 PM »
Quote from: "Banditboy600"
Awesome pics..............glad you had a good time.  Was it cold?  I thought your buddy Bobcat has a Hayabusa?  The photos look like he is riding a sliver B12.. :?:


I wasn't cold... I was wearing my JR Alter Ego jacket, the fleece liner from my old JR jacket and a sweatshirt. Left my heated liner at home and never turned on the grip heaters. I was perfectly comfortable. Bobcat had his heated liner and heated gloves plugged into his bike, but I don't know how high he had the troller turned up. I didn't have a termometer along, but I'm guessing the temps were in the 40's at the top. It was in the mid-70's at the bottom, on both sides.

Bulldog/Jeff is the guy who traded his B12 (a red naked '01) for a HappyBus. His wife, 911Girl/Gina, still has a 1G B6 though. Bobcat/Matt rides the silver B12S in the picks above.

Dave - if you're ever out this way again, be sure to let me know and I'll show you the scenery firsthand.

Actually, the invitation is open to anyone from the Alley that finds themselves in this part of the world.
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Bobcat

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« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2005, 07:36:14 PM »
I took the pics. That means you have to do the writeup.

Every time I ride 20, especially when there's no traffic, I'm reminded why it is the best road in the state. Nothing else can touch it.

Thanks for the good time.

Offline Red01

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« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2005, 07:46:10 PM »
Hmmm... didn't seem to work that way for our 4-day ride last June.
I took the lions share of pics and did the write-up, too...  :stickpoke:

And you're the guy who's a professional writer.  :boohoo:
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Bobcat

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« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2005, 08:54:57 PM »
Quote from: "Red01"
Hmmm... didn't seem to work that way for our 4-day ride last June.
I took the lions share of pics and did the write-up, too...  :stickpoke:

And you're the guy who's a professional writer.  :boohoo:


i cant write werds fer sheet.

Offline Steve

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« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2005, 10:23:38 PM »
Looks like it was a great ride! That's a fine looking bike you have there Matt! The high mt pipe looks fine also, and that color, isn't that "Soundbarrier Shattering Silver?  :banana:   :banana:   :banana:

Steve

 :stickpoke:  :bigok:
Primer Grey b12S

Offline Red01

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« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2005, 06:52:14 PM »
Quote from: "Steve"
and that color, isn't that "Soundbarrier Shattering Silver?


I thought is was called primer gray...  :stickpoke:
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)


Offline Steve

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« Reply #9 on: April 25, 2005, 11:51:52 PM »
Love it!!!  :monkeymoon:  :thanks:
Primer Grey b12S

Offline Bobcat

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« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2005, 02:02:43 AM »
Quote from: "Red01"
Quote from: "Steve"
and that color, isn't that "Soundbarrier Shattering Silver?


I thought is was called primer gray...  :stickpoke:


Like I told you: because there's no paint, my bike weighs 13 lbs. less than yours. That's like 3/10ths in the 1/4.

Probably also explains the gas mileage difference, huh?  :grin:

Offline Red01

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Best way to spend a workday...
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2005, 03:56:09 PM »
Quote from: "Bobcat"
Like I told you: because there's no paint, my bike weighs 13 lbs. less than yours. That's like 3/10ths in the 1/4.

Probably also explains the gas mileage difference, huh?  :grin:


 :duh: ...and here I was thinking it was because I outweighed you by 40-50 lbs...
Paul
2001 GSF1200S
(04/2001-03/2012)
2010 Concours 14ABS
(07/2010-current)