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Mark and Chris - A Rider's Story
By Mark
Posted on Aug 8, 2007

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Rob (Birdman) asked me to give him a little bio on how Chris and I got into riding; so, blame him!

After dirt bikes (I bought my 1st bike, a Suzuki 80 before I got my license and stripped it for dirt) and ‘other peoples’ (OP) bikes in high school; I bought a Kaw 900 the day I left the USN and left Lemoore NAS at 4:11pm on Nov 30. I was going home to Santa Barbara and knew the route by heart so I wasn’t worried… big mistake; I froze my butt off. As my only transportation the 900 was great and I rode it all over SoCal. Started college and met Chris walking back to the motorcycle parking area after our evening English class. We married a year later and sold the bikes and bought a VW; so it was OP bikes again for 25 years. Luckily Chris’s brother Dan had multiple bikes for all those years! Then when my CRX had 286,000 miles on it (and just would not die!) I decided I had had enough and started looking for a new vehicle. The choice came down to a Miata or a motorcycle and the MC won. I knew I liked having a bike that was comfortable for long rides; but, after Dan’s Duc I knew the cruiser/twin world wasn’t for me. I looked at the Beemers and was almost ready to buy; but, didn’t like their repair records (or costs! (Remember that 286k on a CRX!). I read a lot of bike comparisons and found one comparing the ST1100 to the BMW (don’t know which one now) and the Kaw Concours. I was sold.

So in 2001 Cycletrader helped me find an ’01 in Scottsdale with 7400 miles which we picked up for $7500. I was the 3rd owner… I wondered if I had made a mistake; but, I was committed. After a couple of months driving it on a permit I took and passed the driving test the 1st time (you gotta remember this is a 650lb bike: dry!). Chris and I started doing long day trips 200-400 miles and loving it.

In less than 6 months the kids told mom and dad that if we were going to ride they wanted us on 2 bikes (just in case). Kids you have to love them; especially when they tell you to buy another bike! So we used Cycletrader again and bought a 2nd ’01 with 7400 miles for $7500 over in CA and I rode it home. Matching bikes… cute…

Then the fun began! Every Saturday and sometimes Sunday too we rode. We were averaging 2000 miles a month; over to Palomar for a weekend; over to Pearblossom to ride Angeles Crest with Dan. Then again we headed over and up the coast to WA (by way of Mil Pieterro, Cutty Rd, with a day from Milpitas over Sonora Pass and back through Monitor Pass and Ebbitt’s pass and another day riding the Santa Cruz mountains) for a wedding.

We found a group of other Honda ST riders on the net and they had events where you met and then took off riding the twisties with small informal groups (3 to 7 people). Minden NV for the Sierra passes (again! It was a blast). San Luis Obispo; Hwy 33, and Hwy 1 again! Yeah! Golden CO last year; by way of Mexican Hat, Telluride and Ouray, with a quick run over to Eureka AR for a weekend of riding. Next week after a guy gets here from Lafayette LA Saturday; the route will be Redmond WA (by way of Angeles Crest, Hwy 33, Hwy 1, Hwy 128, Hwy 96, Crater Lake, Mt St Helens, Mt Hood, and Mt Rainier). After 3 days of riding with the 180 people that will attend I’ll come back but, I haven’t decided the route yet. Let’s see: Hell’s Canyon, Lolo Pass, Beartooth Pass, Escalante Parkway or back through the Sierra’s, or the coast again? Decisions, decisions, decisions…

The long weekend trips seem to creep up on us. Last month there was another wedding in WA; but, due to time constraints we couldn’t go the coast so we decided on a quick trip up and back.

Here is that trip report -

Thursday:
Morning breakfast was a couple of kashi bars and water.
We left at 3am and rode I 10 to Blythe where we turned north.
95 is a pretty 2 lane low desert hwy to Lost Vegas. LV was quick and crowded.
93 is a pretty 2 lane high desert hwy. Ely is an okay lunch stop.
We really started having to clean our visors after getting to Idaho (not many bugs in the high deserts; but, where there is water...)
We stopped for the night in Nampa ID at 9:30: 1009 miles
Notes:
It takes a *lot* longer to ride 2up than to ride with 2 bikes!
We saw at least 7 STs on Thursday and none for the rest of the trip.
Don't plan on a long evening ride when your route turns into the afternoon sun.
Friday:
Morning breakfast was in Baker ID after leaving Nampa at 5am.
Hwy 82 is pretty; the Snake river and then mountain passes.
hwy 84 is pretty too; the Cascades are really pretty!
On and off intermittent rain (really light) started after we got through the Cascades and since traffic was moving we never really got wet.
Arrived in Bellingham at my nephews for dinner at 2pm: 566m.
Notes:
Bugs! Rain washes some of them off... I didn't need to stop and clean my visor after we got to the coast!
Another way to you know you might be in a red neck area is if the restaurant bathroom has old hunting magazines on the back of the john!
Saturday and Sunday:
Wisiting, wedding, more visiting and I think I note a pattern... My brother invites me to weddings and then makes me cook.. all day Saturday prepping for Sunday and on the grill Sunday... And he has more daughters!
Monday:
We decide I-5 would be faster than those old 2 lane hwys...
Treo is set for rattle and we don't get started as early as we wanted... 5:01 take off.
Breakfast somewhere in Washington.
5 hours later we enter Oregon.
5 hours later we enter California.
We stop in Coalinga CA at 10pm: 1050 miles.
Notes:
I-5 is NEVER faster and it is ugly and boring.
The bugs on the rest of the trip have nothing on the bugs in CA!
Tuesday:
No alarm and we leave at 6:30am.
I5 is still ugly.
hwy 58 is pretty going through the mountain passes; but, it is not a 2 lane.
When hwy 58 is 2 lane it is not very pretty desert.
I15 in Barstow is really ugly.
I10 is not much better.
We got home at 8pm: ~575 miles.
Notes:
Don't skip a breakfast just because you think you'll be fine.
A truck bbqing itself in the high desert stops traffic for over 2 hours.
2 hours will back up a *hugh* number of semis on I10.
Lane splitting through them (when they opened 1 lane for passing the hulk) is... let's just say 'interesting'. The only vehicle that pulled over to block was a semi from OK who pulled right onto the center line from the left lane. The truck on the right put its blinker on and the OK moron pulled just a smidgen to the left in reaction and we were through. A couple more times I stopped waiting for 2 semis to pull just a bit a part; but, no others were jerks.
The high desert isn't too hot as long as you have; mesh gear, wet vests and a breeze, even for 2 hours at 109F.
Driving East in the afternoon in the desert is *way* better than driving East in the morning. The sun behind you makes a big difference.

Last weekend we went Mesa Verde and had a great time.

Here is that Trip Report

Chris, Jack and I started late Friday afternoon for CampSTOCweST; this would be Jack's 1st long ride as a passenger. I gave him the job of taking photos as I didn't want him to be too bored.
As we headed out Hwy 60 East through Superior and Globe the temp dropped and the ride was very pleasant. The cars thinned out after Globe and the Salt River Canyon was almost empty; so, Jack got his 1st real feel for riding tight curves. He did great; but, he did learn he needs to hang on even when he's taking pictures!

We made it to Show Low and stopped for dinner just as a thunderstorm started to boom. The hostess and waitress said that it had rained all night Thursday. hmmm... we hoped that it would be local to Show Low.
After dinner we headed North to Holbrook where we would pickup I40 East. The rain stopped and we didn't see any live forest critters (Chris saw 2 dead javalina).
On to I40 East and as the light faded we could see a solid wall of thunderstorms to the north east. I thought the road would take us south of the storms; but no such luck, we followed the road as it turned and aimed directly for the storm center.
The rain started just after it got completely dark and if you have driven or ridden I40 you know we were in the midst of a solid stream of semis. All of them were sending bow waves of water out as a mist as the rain got heavier the mist because more solid.
By the time we got to Gallup we were wet... no... really I mean *really* wet!
We checked in to the Days Inn and as expected the rain stopped so we unloaded and got into our room. We hung our gear and hoped it would dry by morning.
It did and it didn't...
The mesh was fine; but, our Elk and Deer skin gauntlets weighted about 12lbs each! We didn't have any other gloves so we put them on knowing they'd dry on the road.
Hwy 491 north takes you through reservation lands; pretty and desolate. Jack took pictures (you'll have to ignore the telephone polls (please! ) and they were much improved over Fridays (few Friday pictures survived his early deleting before I told him to hold off and we'd see if we might save some).
We ate breakfast in Cortez at 8am and rode the short distance to the Mesa Verde entrance. The 'Federal Lands pass' which used to be the National Park pass now costs $80 (but with WeSTOC coming I bought it); it covers 2 motorcycles (both riders must have signed the card).
From the entrance you climb in a zigzag staircase right on the edge of the mesa to the top with the views getting better and better.
A short distance after reaching the top we dipped into a draw and I saw tents; so, we pulled in and found a 'base camp' tent site. These sites come with 2 cots and a lantern and we rented a 3rd cot for Jack.
After getting all our gear setup we decided to see the park as I didn't want to overtax Jack's patience... He had really been a great passenger; but(t), I noted he was moving as if a *portion* of his anatomy was tired of sitting...
We rode the parks winding roads through beautiful canyons, up and down the sides of mesas until finally getting to Far View where you can buy tickets for the 'pay-site' cliff dwellings.
We decided the loop tour would be more fun than getting on and off the bikes with the associated gearing up and down and walked back to the bikes.
And I looked to the East and saw... A huge, and I mean huge storm cell covering the entire horizon. We agreed that we ought to go back to camp as the 1st drops starting hitting us.
The rain became heavier and heavier as we rode back through those canyons and mesas; but, now we could see very little of them... And our gear, which had completely dried, got completely soaked again!
I stopped to get some gas for my stove and Jack and Chris went to buy lunch supplies. We got back into camp just before the lightening and thunder started blasting the mesa tops surrounding the camp. By the 7 seconds to a mile from the lightening strike to the thunder the strikes were virtually on top of us with some flash/booms and many in the 3 second time frame. The rain became torrential and then it started hailing. We had the tent flys open and pea size hail was bouncing all over and into the tent. Then we noted that it might have been smart to have trenched *around* the tent!!! As the water started covering the floor I 'trenched' a route to the door; which the water from outside used to flow 'down' into the tent! I quickly scuffed another 'down' and to the back of the tent.
We settled down and watched as the hail turned back to rain eating turkey/cheddar rolls and drinking a nice Ravenwood Shiraz.
After what seemed to be an hour we went back to the store for more supplies (a very short walk from the camp site) and found the entire parking lot and store jammed with people. There had been a slide and the only road in and out of the park was closed! The people were jammed in what had been a completely empty store; but, I didn't note any short tempers. We took our time getting more food due to the long lines and soon the call came that the road was open and the store and parking lot emptied. We went back to camp and (due to the wine consumption) decided to while away the afternoon watching the intermittent showers roll across the mesa tops.
Sleep came early as it had been a long ride the evening before and an eventful day.
We broke camp on Sunday and geared up for the ride home; the route out of the park had the telltale signs of the slide cleanup but the surface had been washed mostly clear of the mud.
Breakfast in Cortez again and then on to Hwy 260 West to AZ.
All the roads and scenery showed signs of the storms passing all the way into Keyenta (just over 100 milesj); it had been a very wet Saturday.
We got gas in Flagstaff at the 1st station I saw; I didn't know how fast I would use gas riding an extra 140lbs of boy on the back. I took a gallon more than Chris; we usually use almost exactly the same amount of gas when we ride together even though Chris is on an ST1300 and I'm on my ST1100.
As we geared up we heard... yup you guessed it(!) more thunder.
We had discussed staying high and taking Hwy 487 South to Payson and Hwy 87; but, the thunder convinced us that staying high might not be advisable.
As we rode with heavy Sunday (back to Phoenix from a weekend in the mountains) traffic the rain caught us yet again and our gear, which had dried again, was soaked for the 3rd day in a row.
The ride was uneventful and we finally exited the mountain storms for the heat of the valley. We stopped a rest stop and put on our wet vests before getting overheated.
We arrived home at 3pm.

Would we do it again?
You betcha! It was a great trip! (if just a tad wet )

My ST1100 has over 57k on it now. Chris’s ’01 had a slight issue with a semi making an illegal left turn at about 31k and morphed into an ’05 ST1300. I found it on Cycletrader with 494m on it in IN and rode it home in 2 days (1986m) it now has over 30k on it.

I have done five (5) 1000 mile plus days; Chris has done 2. We find that we don’t do them to get recognized as an Iron Butt Association rider; but rather, to get someplace so we can ride the twisties.

Hope to meet you on the road!
Mark