What an adventure. Getting off that GTS never felt so good. My last leg was from Hall's Landing, Utah ( dropped by to my sister camping out in a 27' trailer) to St. Augustine. I only stopped at rest stops to nap. I got in at 3:30 AM this morning.
What do they say about the best laid plans....As Dave said I was ahead of him on 97C going into Merritt, BC. Just at the peak, when in less than 5 minutes it went from drizzle, sleet, snow, to heavy snow and minus 3 degrees C. When I could no longer see and the bike had no grip at all. It was easy to figure out, when I gassed it nothing happened, I knewI was as far as I was going. I am lucky I was able to bring it to a stop without dumping it. As I applied the brakes both tire locked up and I had to put my feet down to keep it from slipping out from underneath and going over the side, me as we slid merrily down the road. I put the kick stand down and my thumb out. I was already on the time line and I could afford to loose anymore. My rally was over. I didn't know if the snow was going to stop in an hour or a week. A nice guy stopped in a van and gave me a lift and allowed me to use his cell phone, my AT&T service wasn't getting out. I called ahead and made arrangements in Merritt, about 70km away, to have the bike towed off the mountain. About 5 hours later, when I got back with the tow truck, the snow had already melted enough that I decided to ride it off. I was now a tourist.....decided to finish the ride, but out of the running. I had a great first leg. It went almost exactly as planned, except for one minor problem. I dumped the bike at 2AM down a 25 mile steep twisty gravel road going after a bonus 70 miles south; Jarbidge, Nevada, I should have passed on. As I was coming back out the one way in out road, when I slide wide and ended up on the top of a heap of gravel.... stopped dead. I put my feet down.... surprise no ground underneath them.... over she went. I removed all my 150 #'s of junk with the bike wheels sitting toward the up slope of the hill. No way I was going to right it by myself. It was pitch black so I went to sleep never expecting to see anyone for hours or maybe days.... Next thing I knew it was light and there was a National park ranger asking me if I was alive. He said he figured I was since I piled everything up so neatly along side the road after the bike went over, and he never seen anyone hurt real bad do that. With his help the bike was righted, and I was back running. I got lucky, I made it to the first check point 200 miles away, exactly on the final check in closing minute. Being a tourist in a Rally is no fun.....busted my ass on the first leg and was now stopping to admire the scenery and animals on the way to the finish. When I called the Rally master he asked me to finish the the rally, plus I had never been this far north. So I did. .......one word ( actually more than one) *#@&ing gravel and clay roads suck on a GTS. I have never seem so much road construction in my life. If you are the unlucky rider to come through on the AK Highway or Casiar Highway after they spread new gravel, mucky sand, or they have just wet down the slippery clay to keep the dust down.....it is definitely pucker time on a motorcycle. I came close to going down more than a few times. It was tough to get any time to look at the scenery when you had to watch out for pot holes. But, when the roads turned nice...it was awesome. I hate to say this...but, I was happy to see Allen and Dave at the finish, and hear that someone else caught in the June snowstorm. They might not have believed me otherwise....:>) Even with all the bad luck and only riding one out of three legs, because the first leg was heavily weighted, I held up the GTS honor. I had a great points first leg, that when combined with all the accidents and riders not finishing, I was surprised and got lucky. I squeezed out a Bronze medal finish for the GTS. I think I need some more sleep....I keep waking up every hour and trying to figure out where I am now. I know I am not riding because I have fresh underwear on and I no longer stink...:>) John "Hawke" Laurenson PS ....I had some engine fuel system trouble with the GTS that I will turn into a quiz later and see how many can figure out what the problem was. I think I have it figured out. On the way home, I ended up having to top off the fuel every 100 miles to keep the bike running. When ever I started up a steep incline it would stall out. On 6/17/02 1:58 AM, "Dave Biasotti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Gang, > Well I'm back home as of yesterday. Slept in today, for the first time > in 2 wks, which was heaven. Even though we moteled it, the typical stay > was just 2-3 hrs, quick shower and go. Almost 10,000 miles in 2 weeks > and one rear tire - it truly was a great adventure. There were 12 > finishers out of the 17 who started including yours truly. > Two of the 3 Rallymasters (both of whom were riding the event) got > knocked out of the rally by accidents. One- Jan Cutler -accident > occurred in the parking lot of a convenience store in Spokane, WA while > he was off of his bike. A truck slid into him and knocked him down. He > suffered a slight concussion and some cracked ribs. I guess we're not > safe even when we're not on our bikes. The other, Joe Zulaski slipped on > slick road from rain after collecting his last bonus in Homer and > heading for the finish. He started to slide, caught it and did a mild > high side, resulting in a fractured Scapula > and four cracked ribs. > Ironic, that coming back down thru BC this past Thur/Fri the temp was > hitting 90 degree's when just the week before we were caught in freak > snow as was John Laurenson. Turns out he was just ahead of Alan and I on > the same pass, got caught short of the summit and hitch hiked out to get > out of the weather, leaving his bike. > I'll do a write up of the trip later and I have about 56 pictures that I > need to get developed. > For now, glad to be back home, but have to go back to work tomorrow. > Also here is a forward from one of the riders who already posted some > pic's - > http://www.ofoto.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?UV=449296638864_23383735403&US=0&collid= > 88295335403 > > Pic # 24 is of John Laurenson, myself and Alan Barbic > Regards, > -- > Dave Biasotti // Fremont, CA >
