Author Topic: St Helens ride? (Read 20322 times)

tacoman · « **Reply #30 on:** May 20, 2005, 02:48:13 PM »

I think there's a couple others taking that route too. See you tommorrow, are you meeting at the McDonalds?

Steve · « **Reply #31 on:** May 20, 2005, 03:10:56 PM »

I'd love to be going with you guys, but I have a little thing up my sleeve

. I think you'll understand when I post after I get back. I see the weather is looking good for the northern plains. I hope the weather is good for you. Have a safe, fun time! Pics please.

Steve

Red01 · « **Reply #32 on:** May 20, 2005, 07:53:43 PM »

Quote from: "tacoman"

See you tommorrow, are you meeting at the McDonalds?

Sounds like that's the plan - I'll be coming down with Bobcat. Looks like he's gonna make it a weekend ride, but I'm just in for Saturday.

tacoman · « **Reply #33 on:** May 20, 2005, 08:03:16 PM »

See you there, weathers looking up.

Red01 · « **Reply #34 on:** May 20, 2005, 09:41:45 PM »

It's looking up for the destination - but may be getting a little wet getting from up here to your area... we're still forecasting scattered showers tomorrow up here in the North Sound area.

Red01 · « **Reply #35 on:** May 22, 2005, 02:10:04 AM »

Well, I made it home safe and sound... got back a couple hours ago. What a long, LONG day! Up at 5am for a 6:15 departure. Rendezvous #1 at 6:45, #2 at 7:30, #3 at 9:30 and #4 (the "main" one) at 11:00. Had lunch and a long BS/photo session before finally getting on the road a little after 1pm. Enjoyed the hell out of FS25, despite it being damp, with frequent frost heaves and moss stripes... the this altitude, spring was just starting - in fact, we had to pass on the Windy Ridge part of the ride as the road was still closed due to snow or maybe they're afraid fo people getting too close to the mountain and having it go off on them... though the current snow level is lower than the road.

~30-35 miles before we got to the end of our route, it started to rain, but since the possiblity was in the forecast, everyone seemed to be prepared... the part that sucked for me was riding the slab back home for 5 hours in the pouring rain - AND getting stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in downtown Tacoma and again just south of Seattle by the airport when a 4-car pile-up stopped the freeway.

Tacoman - no offense intended when I didn't stop at the gas station with you and the others. I just wanted to get the trip in the rain over with ASAP and I still had 3/4 of a tank. If I would have stopped, I would have had to stop again as I was >200 miles from home when you guys pulled in @ Woodland.

tacoman · « **Reply #36 on:** May 22, 2005, 05:51:26 PM »

Just finished a post a M-S. No problem on taking off at Woodland, I was just about to follow as i had the same "get it over with" mentality. I should have warned you about I5 thru Tacoma. It ALWAYS backs up around the dome on weekend afternoons, is this where you got stuck? Fed Way has a ton of construction right now. Wasn't the rain south of Chehalis brutal? With all the rain, spray, and a covered face shield, I couldn't see 50 ft in front of me. Going slow was worse. I finally sped up to about 80 and it would blow all the drops off. My hands were absolutely numb, my gloves are better suited to gardening than wet riding. I did bring a spare though. Stopped at a truck stop, used the hand dryer to warm up and soldiered on home. A good ride!

Red01 · « **Reply #37 on:** May 23, 2005, 04:10:27 AM »

Yup, that's where I got stuck. I know what you mean about it always being slow thru there, but I don't know the area well enough to take any kind of bypass.

I tried the hand drier bit in one of the rest stops - but it didn't do much good. A couple minutes in that crap and they were soaked again, so I just used my grip heaters so I could have warm, wet hands.

I did get a few small breaks in the rain though - the first two were in Seattle when I jumped on the Express Lanes and there's two stretches where the Express Lanes are under the main freeway. The other one was for ~10 miles right after I left the freeway and headed west. What was weird was that 10 mile stretch was totally dry, even the dirt in the farmers fields was dry. Then, just as quickly as I'd found the one dry spot in western WA, I had to turn south to my end of the island and the rain resumed.

tacoman · « **Reply #38 on:** May 23, 2005, 02:57:10 PM »

A good bypass around the tacoma dome and federal way is to get on hwy 512 again. Follow it thru Puyallup and onto hwy 167. You can either cut back to I5 or merge onto 405. Glad you made it home safe, when you can't see and your hands are too numb to work the controls (hey, you have heated grips) it gets a little scary out there. Good ride and it was good to finally meet you in person. Again, sweet pass on that delivery truck in those twisties by Alder Lake.

Red01 · « **Reply #39 on:** May 23, 2005, 03:44:54 PM »

I actually thought about 167 - but it can be a real crap shoot. I've been stuck on it when it make the slowdown in Tacoma seem like a 4-way stop on a deserted road. While the delay in Tacoma seemed to take a long time, it was mostly because of the weather that made it seem eternal.

tacoman · « **Reply #40 on:** May 23, 2005, 05:44:15 PM »

This was the 2nd worse weather I ever got caught in. The worst was last year on Chinook Pass. Same type of weather but about 15 degrees colder with snow mixed in the rain. Water seeps in everywhere, up into the helmet, down the collar, up under the waistband, and up the from the ankles. Oh well, the earlier part of the day was a blast and worth it.

Red01 · « **Reply #41 on:** May 26, 2005, 10:02:53 PM »

Photos pirated from dpontiac1 of M-S.

Randle, WA - where riders from the north, south and east met for the day's fun (and misery).

A break at the turn off to Windy Ridge - which was still closed for snow, which explains why we're stopped in the middle of the road.

An organized shot of the 10 Bandits and the Busa we allowed to tag along. On a clearer day, you would be able to actually see Mt. St. Helens just bhind the ridge that was the horizon on this gray day.

From left to right
Mike (mobilemike), Ed (Ed Caswell), Fred (Bandit Freddy), Matt (bobcat), Jeff (bulldog), Brian (steelheader), Paul (Red01), Dan (dpontiac), bandit newbie, Jim (tacoman), and Mike (Irish Bandit)

tacoman · « **Reply #42 on:** May 27, 2005, 02:39:35 PM »

A good time. If its cold and cloudy you get empty roads. This weekend the weather looks great but that road will be clogged with tourists and RVs.

Red01 · « **Reply #43 on:** June 01, 2005, 08:01:53 PM »

dpontiac came up with another pic I thought was worth sharing: