The Three-Flags Classic

[Phil Tarman]

Re: The Three-Flags Classic

End of Day 3: Walla Walla, WA

Miles for Day: 555

Total Miles on Bike: 91,839

Miles for year: 9,612

Total for 3 Flags Classic trip: 2,970

3 Flags Total: 1,855

A short day today...only 555 miles. My GPS had said it would be 10 hours driving time and it was almost exactly ten hours driving time. Since it was a short day, I didn't leave the motel till 8:30, got gas, then went to a Perkins for a real breakfast. I decided not to ride US-30 to Boise and just hopped on I-84 with its 80mph speed limit (and a 30mph) headwind. Those two things played hob with my gas mileage. I only got 37mpg between Twin Falls and Boise. But riding up to McCall was great. Riding ID-55 to McCall was great. Somehow I managed to be the first vehicle out of every passing zone and every town. Passing would have been nearly impossible because of the holiday traffic heading back to Boise. From Horseshoe Bend I was following the Payette River. It was a great road with fleeting glimpses of kayakers and rafters. After Smith's Ferry, the pace picked up a bit until I got to McCall with all of its traffic and tourists. I stopped there to make an important purchase -- Imodium AD. One dose seemed to have fixed me up.

At New Meadows, I turned on to US-95 and that was almost completely the end of traffic. My GPS was showing a couple of gas stations near both Oxbow and Brownlee Dams and if I put off getting gas till there, I'd get all the way to Walla Walla without having to make another stop.

The station at Brownlee Dam didn't have gas. The station at Oxbow Dam didn't have pumps! But they'll be getting them soon. Fortunately there were two gas stations 17 miles down the road in Halfway, OR. That was almost as big a relief as the Imodium!

From Medical Springs to Union, the sun was in my eyes when it wasn't behind trees or rocks. There was a strobe effect that was annoying. Still I made good time and could see well enough to spot the doe and one of her fawns cross the road in front of me. Sure enough, there was another fawn and it really, really wanted to get across the road and be with its momma. I stopped and waited till it worked up its nerve to cross in front of me. From Le Grande to Elgin, there was quite a bit of traffic and two Goldwings passed me doing about 80. I caught up with them in Elgin and stayed with them across the Blue Mountains. That stretch of road was great. New pavement, not much traffic, and sweepers that could be easily taken at speeds of 50-75mph. We got to the hotel here in Walla Walla 45 minutes before check-in stopped for the day at 8PM.

I've eaten and, once more, I'm going to bed!

 

[EX Winger]

LOL, I sure do agree with that, and rest area facilities can be just as sparse and in places there are no trees to hide behind!!But I thinkyou are already aware of this!

Eldon

 

[Phil Tarman]

The Three Flags Classic, Day 4: Harrison Hot Springs, BC

Miles for Day: 507

Total Miles on Bike: 92,346

Miles for Year: 10,120

Total for Three Flags Classic trip: 3,477

Three Flags Classic Total: 2,362

A magnificent day! I rode through the Palouse, crossed some mighty rivers, rode below Grand Coulee Dam, saw some of the best of Canada, and got here at about 6:15. There had been a bad motorcycle accident on BC-7 between the Sumas/Abbotsford border crossing and nearly 100 riders were still at 9:00 when registration was due to close. They extended closing till 10PM and riders were still coming in a few minutes ago. The rider who was killed wasn't one of the Three Flags riders.

I'll post more tomorrow and put up some more of the pictures from the trip...if I ever wake up.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I never got back to the report yesterday. At the banquet last night, I was only 43cc's away from winning the award for the smallest displacement bike on the Ride. The winner was a guy on a 650 Burgmann (which has 638cc). He told me he was embarrassed about winning that award. His wife had ridden five 3 Flags Classics on a 150cc Honda scooter, but she quit riding a couple of years ago and flew to Vancouver and rented a car. They were spending the rest of the week just messing around the area.

My stats for the day:

Total Miles on Bike: 92,755 miles

Total Miles for Year: 10,528 miles

Miles for Day: 410

Miles on Three Flags Trip: 3,887

The highlight of the day was having dinner with Coyote Chris and Frosty. They'll be leaving in a couple of days for the Reno Air Races. Wish I could do that with them!

I'm spending the night at Frosty's and finally am able to wash some clothes.

Thanks, guys! Frosty even gave me a glass of wine that wasn't adulterated with stove fuel!!

 

[Coyote Chris]

Don't want to beat a dead horse but listening to Phil tell this story to Frosty and I at supper last night, I gotta say when we hit 50, a good baseline workup at our doc's office and a treadmill test for future reference is a great idea. Then, as the years go by, if things start to change, you can catch lots of things early and be on top of the situation if you have the baseline tests. Many BP meds have major side effects but many of my friends have found good docs that modify the meds and dosages till they get a combo that works for you. Glenn was no lightweight and had symptoms earlier in the day but thin folk too can have undetected problems lurking....I think it is better to know the issues before hand. Many times in the patrol there were "medical emergencies" where the driver with the issue hit an innocent, be he/she be a pedestrian or other driver.
We are not alone out there. I know meds have changed my life dramatically for the good....
Chris the big pharma poster boy loading up his mobile pharmacy for Reno tomarrow...

Glenn's unfortunate passing should be a reminder to those of us NT 700 riders who are no longer spring chickens, that a visit to a cardiologist for a serious check up just might be the best motorcycle safety precaution we can take.

Kind regards

Hugh

 

[banjoboy]

A quote from George Burns: 'We can not avoid getting older, but we can avoid getting old.'

Terry

 

[Phil Tarman]

Update on my Three Flags Classic Trip:

After I got to Bozeman last night, I walked across the street to Famous Dave's for some delicious brisket, corn on the cob, and grilled pineapple. When I started to pay, I realized my wallet was in my riding jacket back across the street at the Comfort Inn. So I walked twice as far as I had planned, but it was good for me.

After I got back to the room the 2nd time, I took a shower and got ready to post an update and realized that my computer was still in the bike. So, I just read and went to bed. I had a great night's sleep and got an hour or two more than I would have if I'd had the computer in the room.

After spending the night with Frosty (Joe Forstie) and getting my laundry done, I headed east for Coeur d'Alene. Spokane is a really nice city and Coeur d'Alene is a beautiful place, too. I had a good (if short) visit with my friend who's the county planning director there. It was good to see him and hear from some of his co-workers how much they appreciate him and his leadership. He'd been fired by the City of Fort Morgan and the comment I heard after the fact was that he was "hard to work with." My observation from having served on the City's Airport Board was that David's biggest "problem" was that he did things "by the book." I think what made him hard to work with was the fact that he wouldn't cut corners or do favors for insiders.

After I left him, I needed some breakfast and I found a great place. Chris and Joe, you guys need to do a ride-to-eat to Jimmy's Down the Street in Coeur d'Alene. I had a great breakfast and for the second time on my trip really enjoyed the family sitting next to me. Twice I've been next to big families where the parents and kids (from 2 up to teen-agers) were enjoying each other and made eating "with" them delightful. Way too often, "parenting" seems to consist of someone hollering at their kid to "Stop that! Shut-up! I'm going to give you a whipping!" The family in the Outback in Twin Falls and in Jimmy's in Coeur d'Alene give me hope!

This morning I spent about three hours riding up MT-86 NE of Bozeman, looking for my old buddy from Casper's place. No joy, but what a great ride. The place that was most likely Steve's had had quite a bit of tree growth since Google ran their photo car up the road. And who'd-a-thunk-it...I saw two guys practicing POLO right across the road.

It was 1PM by the time I got back on to I-90 eastbound. It was a beautiful day and my GPS said I could be home between 10:30 and 11:00. That sounded like a pretty good idea until I got to Douglas, WY, and called Joanne to tell her I'd be there tonight. She told me it was raining pretty hard and had been for quite a while. Riding in the dark, in the rain, after riding 500 miles didn't sound like that good a deal to me, so I decided to stop in Douglas. But there were only two hotel rooms in the whole town. One was a King Double Suite. The other was a King Jacuzzi Suite. Both were priced at $260l, but the manager was willing to let me have them for only $209.

I came south 75 miles to Wheatland and am in a very nice, very clean Motel 6 for $60.

Total Miles on Bike: 93,750

Total Miles for Year: 11,524

Total Miles for Trip: 4,882

I'll post some pictures Saturday or Sunday.

 

[Phil Tarman]

I slept very well last night, had a great breakfast across the street from the Wheatland, WY, Motel 6, got gas and rode all of 133 miles home. It's good to be back with my sweet wife in our new house.

I'll get around to posting pictures soon. Honest.

Total Miles on Bike: 93,884

Total Miles for Year: 11,657

Total Miles on Trip: 5,015

 

[EX Winger]

Phil,

I am glad you are home and I know how good that feeling isIt sounds like you really had a good time on 3 flags for the most part.

eldon

 

[Phil Tarman]

I did have fun in the Three Flags Classic, Eldon. The SC-MA has been doing it for 39 years and they've really got a well-oiled machine. Great volunteers at all the checkpoints, smooth check-in at the start, good pre-ride meal, and a good finisher's banquet. The "Ride to the Fence" was a guy's idea that they thought maybe 10-20 people would respond to and it turned out that nearly 150 of the 275 riders took part in that. The two-nation biker's club (both sides of Nogales) showed up and really supported it, the city manager, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the Chief of Police, and about four of their moto-cops (on their BMWs), plus folks from Homeland Security, the Border Patrol, and others I'm probably missing, all their to welcome us.

The Mexican bikers led the people who'd thought to bring their passports across the border and back and then we ate breakfast in about three different Mexican restaurants. I was at a Mexican seafood restaurant and it was different, but delicious. Three of the motocops ate with us and I told them they ought to do the ride next year; they could be ambassadors for Nogales. They were already thinking about it and were planning on talking to their chief about letting them do it on the police bikes. That would be fun.

There was also a lot of swag: a really nice looking plaque that I'll take a picture of before I post stuff, a belt buckle, a cap, stickers and pins, etc. The route sheets were good. All-in-all, it was worth the $275 fee. I'll probably do it again.

 

[banjoboy]

I'm sure you and your wife are glad you are home, safe and sound. Sounds like quite a ride.

Terry

 

[JohnC]

I am thinking about doing the Three Flags Classic next year.

I need to work on building my daily mileage though. My second day out of Dallas to Spearfish (NatSTOC), I ended up doing a 600+ mile day. It just about wiped me out.

A good point about the FJR. I find the stock seat on the '13 to be . . . not uncomfortable. And the previous owner had installed MCL risers. This is the first bike ever that I have been able to ride without getting sharp pains between my shoulder blades after a few hours.

 

[Phil Tarman]

It was a fun ride. The longest day was the first. We left the hotel in Tucson at 4:20AM; I arrived in Torrey at 8:15PM. Almost 16 hours start to finish, but I did spend 1:45 at Gregg's accident site and then close to an hour at the Trading Post at Cameron, AZ, north of Flagstaff.

Interestingly enough, I had less discomfort after riding four days than I did when I started. That had been true for me last year on my Epic Ride as well.

 

[EX Winger]

Phil,

With a $275.00 price for entry fee I would imagine that by the time you figure your cost from home to event and home again you are into it for around $2,000.00 including fresh tires and service to start the trip. Do you have your complete trip expenses figured out yet?Your figures from Denver area with miles etc would probably be quite similar to doing it from the North Wet!

Eldon

 

[Phil Tarman]

Eldon, including hotels, meals, gas, it probably was between $1500 and $2000. I haven't figured the costs exactly.

 

[JohnC]

Look at it this way, Phil. It gets you out of the house.

 

[Phil Tarman]

It was a great ride, John, and worth every penny.

 

[wphillips007]

John, you are right in the need to work up to the higher mileage days. My first 1K in 24 was very tough; my second 1K in 24 was a piece of cake. My first 1500 in 24 about killed me; my second 1500 in 24 was not that bad. It's that you not only get your body used to riding long distances but you learn from all your mistakes and how to do things better or faster. That is the reason that the IBA requires a person to have done the 1500 in 24 before attempting the 100CCC. In fact, I found the 100CCC to be very tough and I probably was able to finish it only because I had two 1500 in 24 under my belt. So its a learning and building experience. With your years of experience you should have no trouble working up to the long mileage days. I had on my bucket list the Border to Border in 24 but that is not going to happen anytime soon - if ever. I'm now having to live out what I just wrote you - to increase my endurance of just walking further each day - and I'm happy with my progress - and my future. Wendell