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Lamble

Lamble

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Unchained and closer to the edge, follows up on Unchained across the USA, where I discovered I had vertigo.
I start out tomorrow to see if I can conquer it.

www.roughguidesintouch.com/lamble
The ethos of Unchained remains-no stopping at anywhere that isn't a unique service, exceptions being ATMs and petrol stations, where I can buy water too.

The ride will take me from north of Seattle down to Death Valley,CA, then across to MT Evan's, Brekinridge area in Colorado, before either a I've got it licked ride back over the Cascades, or an I've failed miserably ride around the bottom of the Cascades.

Remember, I'm also after those strange thoughts that come into your head while riding, be they profound insight into life, or just total twaddle. Please send them to me for, Unchained across the synaptic gap.
 
Death Valley-phew what a scorcher

I'll have the blog info up tomorrow about today's ride to the bottom of the USA.
Quick question...I used a helmet video camera and the pics are okay, except like a pillock I fixed the camera so the buttons were easy to get to and have shot everything sideways, so it looks like I've slide down the valley on my bum.
Anyone know how to rotate video 90 degrees, other than to put my computer on its side?
 
Up and over.

Bad weather in Colorado forced a change of plan. Torrential rainfall was making Colorado too trecherous for a ride up mountains, so I stayed in the California/Nevada area and rode the passes in the Sierras, topping out at 9,600 ft, which although not the 12,000+ I was looking for, did start from a lower level (Colorado's base elevation being considerably more thatn the -200ft of Death Valley, so I'll claim a personal record. Plus in my contest with vertigo, which this was about, I faced several steep edges and came good.

I'm now going to lie flat for a few days and get my equilibrium back in order.
 
Steve

I've just come back from a 3-month US trip when I rode up both Mount Evans (14,260ft) and Pikes Peak (14,110ft), and with gravel for the final third, NOT recommended on a heavy road bike, as well as Badwater (282ft below sea level) in Death Valley. All three places were sensational to experience. :thumb
 
hi-low

Paul Rochdale said:
Steve

I've just come back from a 3-month US trip when I rode up both Mount Evans (14,260ft) and Pikes Peak (14,110ft), and with gravel for the final third, NOT recommended on a heavy road bike, as well as Badwater (282ft below sea level) in Death Valley. All three places were sensational to experience. :thumb
Click to expand...

Paul,
Well I did the Badwater thing but Mt Evans and Pikes Peak will need to wait until I have a courage tablet.
I can do high, but find edges bring on vertigo. What I hope, when I finally get to Colorado's Rockies, is that as Colorado's base level is thousands of feet above sea-level, that my 9,600 from a 2500ft base will stand me in good stead, although I've seen Pike's edges and they look devastatingly steep.

Well done to you on your ride though.
 
Steve

Mount Evans was OK with tarmac all of the way to the top but it's quite easy to look too much at the drops and get transfixed by them. My Pan European refused to tick over at the top as the air is so thin.

Pikes Peak is a bit lower and has lots of tourists up there. There's also a narrow gauge railway to the top. 2/3 of the way up, the tarmac stops and the gravel begins. Pretty compacted gravel but with a washboard beneath, pretty loose gravel on the hairpins. Again it wasn't the unprotected edges that was scary but the gravel, a heavy touring bike and my short legs. Shear stubborness got me to the top and down again. Heavy plant was working on the road near the top too.

I've already done Stelvio and Mont Ventoux, but others on my 'mountain passes to climb' list are Cime de la Bonnette (2802m) in France and Pico Veleta (11,148ft) near Granada, Spain.

Paul
 
Death vally

Nice to hear that the old place is still going, have they put the roads back?
got washed away in 2004! honest. Any one going to the vally do take lots of water and DRINK IT, also visit scotty's castle a very worthwhile call,
.Dave oily GSD.
 
Dave

What happened to the roads? I rode through Death Valley in 2002 as well as this summer and the roads were immaculate. Certainly put our poorly repaired bumpy efforts to shame. I still didn't get to Scotty's Castle though. It was just too damned hot to really want to go anywhere. Badwater was amazing though, and there was even a trickle of a pool at the end. About 95% salt I think. Up on the rocky cliff was a painted maker showing actual sea level. Certainly one of THE places to visit before you die. :)
 
Fresh Oil

The road was under repair when I was there two weeks ago and the Fresh Oil sign was up.

Badwater was bad, at 8:30 am it was 120 degrees and the white salt was glaringly blinding. I must say most of the road was okay, although the road across to the western side was the usual compressed stones and very dusty.

The best bit of Death Valley rd was the Artists loop, in my opinion, oh and the bit back up into the higher cooler altitudes on route to Shoshone.

I videoed the ride, but the helmet camera took a slip sideways, so it all looks strange.

Tioga Pass' 9600ft was the highest on this trip, although reading my route from the Unchained Across the USA ride from May-July I seem to have passed over a 12600 ft pass near Cimarron, New Mexico, so that's my record, although I don't recall any particularly scary edges and precipises.
 
Death vally.

Sorry about the delay in replyijng, early in 2004 they had very serious flash floodimng (honest!) which totally destroyed the road through, we went approx
Sweptember and it had only been repaird as far as badwater. If you call at the Furness Creek Inn they had photos in the reception area. I know it's 'ot
but Scottys castlet really is worth as visit. Scotty's grave is on a hill above the castle we reckon he walked up there and it killed him (nearly killed us!)
so they buried him there. ( to save carrying him down again?).
When you go take some sun block!.
Dave GS.
 
Paul Rochdale said:
Steve

I've just come back from a 3-month US trip when I rode up both Mount Evans (14,260ft) and Pikes Peak (14,110ft), and with gravel for the final third, NOT recommended on a heavy road bike, as well as Badwater (282ft below sea level) in Death Valley. All three places were sensational to experience. :thumb
Click to expand...

I have been to Badwater on my old trusty K100RS in 1990! Fantastic!!! Unfortunately I didnt go beyond Badwater because of road block due to storm damage. Storm in a scorching hot Death Valley eh? I almost breached the road block in order to ride the whole length of the 70 mile long valley but decided not to risk it on my own but then I was caught by a scary violent storm whilst making my way out of Death Valley up the mountain pass towards Las Vegas in the late afternoon. Torrents of rainwater dumping rocks as big as a football on mountain passes and flash floods rushing down from mountains from a 20 minute storm to deal with on my bike! Eventually a bulldozer rescued me and several stranded motorists from hell and I was then able to continue riding to Las Vegas where I got reunited with my group of riders who escaped the storm by leaving the valley 3 hours earlier because of the heat! I wonder what might have happened had I ignored the road block down the valley!

Did you have any bad experience in USA?

Mike
 
Death Valley

bmwbikeruk said:
I have been to Badwater on my old trusty K100RS in 1990! Fantastic!!! Unfortunately I didnt go beyond Badwater because of road block due to storm damage. Storm in a scorching hot Death Valley eh? I almost breached the road block in order to ride the whole length of the 70 mile long valley but decided not to risk it on my own but then I was caught by a scary violent storm whilst making my way out of Death Valley up the mountain pass towards Las Vegas in the late afternoon. Torrents of rainwater dumping rocks as big as a football on mountain passes and flash floods rushing down from mountains from a 20 minute storm to deal with on my bike! Eventually a bulldozer rescued me and several stranded motorists from hell and I was then able to continue riding to Las Vegas where I got reunited with my group of riders who escaped the storm by leaving the valley 3 hours earlier because of the heat! I wonder what might have happened had I ignored the road block down the valley!

Did you have any bad experience in USA?

Mike
Click to expand...

It's something that living in the UK I'd not experienced before, that sudden and extreme change in weather. Plus, somehow, weathers seems bigger here.
And there's different weather conditions. I holed up in New Mexico just east of Albequerque for seven hours, due to a sandstorm and a firestorm, not what you get in Colchester.

By the way, I'm starting a website for all of those rinkie-dink places that you find when riding, so if you've got any from your travels, please send them to recommendations@unchainedworld.com
 
"Bad experiences in the US?"

Torrential rainfall on the freeway near Houston. The roadlines disappeared and I had to ride by simply looking at the tops of the trucks. Even their rear lights had disappeared in the spray. After an hour or so I somehow found a slip road and as my useless ex-Police Gortex non-waterproofs let me down, I found a cheap motel and gave up riding for the day.

There was a similar deluge on a freeway in Minnesota when the road disappeared in a load of spray and I had to ride using the car roof tops as markers. Scarey!

Tyres wore out on Tucson AZ after a mere 7,000 miles. It's all very well staying off the ulta-smooth freeways, which I tended to do, but the superb minor roads were as abrasive as hell and will a heavily loaded touring bike and the high temperatures, I could almost see the tread reduce day by day. Also getting new tyres fitted is not like the UK where a trip along to Watling Tyres and half-an-hour later they are fitted and balanced. In the US, each state has a different purchase tax so it's much cheaper for a dealer to order their tyres by phone from California. I also found a rear wheel bearing had gone but got that fixed.

Other than that, the US was a dream.

My favourite city is now San Diego, wonderfully cool after the searing heat of the desert. No2 is still Boston (very English) followed by San Francisco. I used to really like SF but there seems to be a heck of a lot of junkies and down-and-oUts begging on the streets these days.

High points? Almost too many to mention, but I'll try -

1. Seeing a black bear cross the road ahead of me on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
2. The site of the Battle of Little Big Horn.
3. Mount Rushmore.
3. Sitting Bull.
4. Seeing the bison in Yellowstone NP.
5. Mount Evans and Pike's Peak.
6. Rocky Mountain NP.
7. The Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Durango.
8. Helicopter flight into Grand Canyon with champagne picnic.
9. Staying under canvas at Camp Curry in Yellowstone NP.
10. Death Valley, Badwater and Stovepipe Wells.
11. San Diego and visiting an aircraft carrier, the USS Midway.
12. San Antonio and the Alamo.
13. Chevrolet Corvette production line and museum at Bowling Green KY.
14. Williamsburg VA.
15. Meeting a family friend in NY and visiting the old bar in the city, McSorleys Ale House.
16. Finally arriving home after 15,219 miles.


Check out http://groups.msn.com/FROMSEATOSHININGSEAANDBACK
 
Any unchaineds?

Paul Rochdale said:
"Bad experiences in the US?"

Torrential rainfall on the freeway near Houston. The roadlines disappeared and I had to ride by simply looking at the tops of the trucks. Even their rear lights had disappeared in the spray. After an hour or so I somehow found a slip road and as my useless ex-Police Gortex non-waterproofs let me down, I found a cheap motel and gave up riding for the day.

There was a similar deluge on a freeway in Minnesota when the road disappeared in a load of spray and I had to ride using the car roof tops as markers. Scarey!

Tyres wore out on Tucson AZ after a mere 7,000 miles. It's all very well staying off the ulta-smooth freeways, which I tended to do, but the superb minor roads were as abrasive as hell and will a heavily loaded touring bike and the high temperatures, I could almost see the tread reduce day by day. Also getting new tyres fitted is not like the UK where a trip along to Watling Tyres and half-an-hour later they are fitted and balanced. In the US, each state has a different purchase tax so it's much cheaper for a dealer to order their tyres by phone from California. I also found a rear wheel bearing had gone but got that fixed.

Other than that, the US was a dream.

My favourite city is now San Diego, wonderfully cool after the searing heat of the desert. No2 is still Boston (very English) followed by San Francisco. I used to really like SF but there seems to be a heck of a lot of junkies and down-and-oUts begging on the streets these days.

High points? Almost too many to mention, but I'll try -

1. Seeing a black bear cross the road ahead of me on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
2. The site of the Battle of Little Big Horn.
3. Mount Rushmore.
3. Sitting Bull.
4. Seeing the bison in Yellowstone NP.
5. Mount Evans and Pike's Peak.
6. Rocky Mountain NP.
7. The Million Dollar Highway from Ouray to Durango.
8. Helicopter flight into Grand Canyon with champagne picnic.
9. Staying under canvas at Camp Curry in Yellowstone NP.
10. Death Valley, Badwater and Stovepipe Wells.
11. San Diego and visiting an aircraft carrier, the USS Midway.
12. San Antonio and the Alamo.
13. Chevrolet Corvette production line and museum at Bowling Green KY.
14. Williamsburg VA.
15. Meeting a family friend in NY and visiting the old bar in the city, McSorleys Ale House.
16. Finally arriving home after 15,219 miles.


Check out http://groups.msn.com/FROMSEATOSHININGSEAANDBACK
Click to expand...


You must have some unchaineds that you can recommend then.:thumb2
 
Paul Rochdale said:
"Bad experiences in the US?"

Torrential rainfall on the freeway near Houston. The roadlines disappeared and I had to ride by simply looking at the tops of the trucks. Even their rear lights had disappeared in the spray. After an hour or so I somehow found a slip road and as my useless ex-Police Gortex non-waterproofs let me down, I found a cheap motel and gave up riding for the day.

There was a similar deluge on a freeway in Minnesota when the road disappeared in a load of spray and I had to ride using the car roof tops as markers. Scarey!



Check out http://groups.msn.com/FROMSEATOSHININGSEAANDBACK
Click to expand...

Oh, this reminds me of my solo riding across Texas (sea of fields, fields!) in 1990. During my 600 mile ride, I was caught in an amazing downpour in the late evening. I could not see anything but the rear lights of juggernauts and used them as a guide to maintaining my direction at 90mph. Why 90mph? I wanted to get out of the massive rain belt, the quicker the sooner to get out of it! My old K100RS was brilliant in that sort of weather at high speed. That day was so hot I didnt wear my leather jacket so got completely soaked but as soon as I arrived my motel, I was literally dry!!!
 
Suffering from the wind!

As I'd appeared to have chosen a route down the tornado corridor, in tornado season (good planning eh?) I picked up a radio over here in the US that's tuned into the Gov't weather station and gives localised warnings and alerts as you ride.
As I said earlier, it ain't like the UK or European riding over here. It's very big weather, very rapid and intense and can be very long too.

I had 45 minutes rain in 47 days, all on day one. I did however have a sandstorm, a plague of crickets, forest fires, wind gusts that made you get off and expect to see dorothy and toto go flying pastOh, yes and I hit 128degrees on an average day in Death Valley.

It depends when and where you go and what altitude you are at too.
 
Absolutely. You can be amongst the snow over Tioga Pass and in the Mojave Desert within a few hours. The difference in temperatures at the different altitudes have to be experienced to be believed. An utterly amazing place. We left Stovepipe Wells in DV at 8am when it was 104f and started to climb towards Tioga Pass and Yosemite. Within two hours the temp had dropped 20 degrees.
 
Tioga party

I rode Tioga Pass as a means to overcome vertigo and succeeded. I didn't expect it to get worse coming out of Yosemitie (turning North at the gates). There's a wiggly sod of a cliff hanging road that caught me out and it wasn't until I reached the bottom that I realised I could hold my breath for 36 minutes.:eek:
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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