WCBC 1st Annual Charity Poker Ride

Group pic of WCBC!

Today was the first annual West Coast Biker Chick Charity Event supporting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Whew! Long title, eh? It was a poker ride that raised over $1,000 for our charity. There were awesome prizes for the worst and best poker hand as well as a live band, free food, karaoke, raffles and lots of free stuff. We even had a blood donation truck come over and a few vendors. I thought there would be a larger turnout but our event was the same day as another fundraiser, which drew a very large crowd. On the other hand, both clubs - our sister club ECBC, East and West Coast Biker Chicks had the Leukemia charity event the same day and same time, but opposite coasts. Kinda cool.

This was my first official day off where I didn't go to work all day! 5 weeks of working everyday 10-16 hour days. So even though I didn't get to sleep in, it was a great day and I got to ride my bike, saw some friends I hadn't seen in a while and even won a few items in the raffle.



Director and Asst Director of WCBC - Carrie and I

  The event took place at the Anaheim-Fullerton Harley-Davidson store. It was such a great day out - nice and sunny... and even sunburn! Since I'm the assistant director of WCBC, I thought it mandatory that I attend our biggest charity event of the year. We had all our members show up, help out and everyone did such a fantiastic job!

Sushi Shack - painting complete

It's been an on-going process of cleaning since we got the place last month. We've been putting in between 10-12 hours daily for 3 weeks straight now. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. All the equipment was caked with a blend of grease, old oil and dust which makes for lots of scrubbing. Couple friends of mine have volunteered to help clean and paint! What a godsend! They've put in over 80 hours helping out.


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This is the hallway "before" pic.



I also wanted a mop/ broom closet. I had 3 storage closets side by side - 3 separate doors but all connected. My friend Wendy, built me a wall so my cleaning chemicals won't be stored with the paper/ plastic products. I think she did a fantastic job! Without knowing it was an open space prior, you would never guess it was just built. And she painted the inside so every thing matches and is a very clean looking white color.



Wendy in the process of building a wall.



Wall installed and in the process of being painted white.




Sushi bar and far wall - painting complete.



Sushi bar wall painting complete.

Dining side wall - painting complete.

Hallway doors for office, restrooms and storage - my friends Stacy and Wendy did all the restaurant painting and did a great job!

Wendy painting the ceiling and back wall.

Painting complete.

 The restaurant colors before were green, yellow and white walls. I liked the colors and thought it contemporary but wanted my restaurant to be more cozy and a bit on the dark side. The colors I chose were brown. Two different tones - a dark cocoa and a lighter tan to offset the darkness. All the green and white walls were replaced with dark. The yellow walls were replaced with the lighter tan. Dad wasn't much of a fan of my color choices but I was quite insistent so of course, I won. And to be truthful, I think it looks even better than I imagined.

We left the ceiling the same color. That task would have been very difficult and luckily, there was a wood border to help separate the colors. We kept the original light fixtures which helps with the contemporary/ modern look I'm trying to maintain.  

The photos will be changed out by the end of the month. We also kept all seating and tables.

One of the "before" photos but the yellow wall portion has already been painted the light tan.

The hallway "after" photo. I wanted to keep the colors but invert them making the larger portion tan. Since it is a small enclosed space I thought the lighter color would help not make it so cave-like. I don't want to scare the customers from utilizing the restroom! The storage doors, I kept the tan color to help blend in. I was thinking 9 doors in one hallway can be alittle intimidating and I didn't want customers getting frustrated by not being able to locate the restroom facilities.  

In the hallway, my plans are to have a community bulletin board. Here, people can post their charity fundraisers, business cards, etc. That board will be between the 1st and 2nd door in the photo above. Then the larger wall between the 2nd and 3rd door will be my "Wall of Honor" and "Wall of Humiliation" where it will also be a bulletin board but with photos of customers in their success or failure in the sushi eating contest. Yes, I will be having a sushi roll contest so for all you local fans, bring your empty belly and prepare to be stuffed!

So finally the painting is complete. Dad and I patched up all the holes in the walls and painted the kitchen. It's now a very bright and clean looking white color. The refrigerators and freezer is clean - although we are having some difficulty in maintaining the temperatures so we're monitoring them and hoping it will be an easy fix. Most of the pots and pans are clean as with the storage racks. There's only a few more things to clean before we can start shopping for our dishware, then onto our food products. The place is really shaping up!

Sushi Shack

I have the greatest news! This project I've been working on has finally come to fruitation... I guess, most of you know I've been wanting to open my own restaurant for some time now. I signed the paperwork last week and just received the keys today!

There's a lot of work to be done but most of the place is furnished/ built out - lucky me! So all I've got to do is scrub all the equipment clean and purchase some minimal equipment. This place went out of business 3 months ago and the previous tenants left it a huge mess.

This will be the sushi bar area.

Dining area

Sushi bar

Need to start scrubbing!

I own a huge thanks to my parents since they have helped in making my dream come true. I learned my lesson with the last restaurant in teaming up in a partnership, which proved to be a huge disaster. My Father is even coming out to be my Sushi Chef, and help start up the place.

Located in Gardena, California I'm naming the place Sushi Shack and I'm hoping to open by mid/ end of July. My best friend is helping me by becoming my Front of House Manager in charge of waitstaff and I will be in the back on the hot stoves cooking up everyone's meal.

I'm really looking forward to this new adventure! I'll post more pics once we've cleaned up the place. I'm hoping to do some cosmetic improvements - paint and some artwork. It'll be a minimal store transformation. The permits to open are what take the longest and most have already been filed.

65th Annual Greenhorn hosted by the Pasadena MC

Roadtrip!!!

Yes, it's been quite some time since I've blogged last. There just hasn't been much news. Being a square is quite boring! Living for the weekend then being disappointed when the motorcycle ride cancels due to the rain. I've thought about moving and returning to the trail but there is just something that keeps me grounded here in LA... the friends that I've made here are great! Having an awesome support system is what I missed when traveling and now that I have it here, it makes moving difficult. So here I am chugging away with a boring stationary life with an occassional fabulous roadtrip. Anyway, let me continue on my story...

(A week before the ride, I had the brilliant idea of "updating" my traveling style with a GPS system and music. I had been using a tank map bag but soon realized I had been outdated. A friend of mine helped me with the electrical and install my car GPS on my bike, which of course is removeable. The speakers didn't arrive in time for her to help me so she talked me through it on the phone. My handlebars ran out of space so I velcro'd the music applifier to my tank. This way it could be removeable. The speakers are bolted in place on the handlebars.)

The Pasadena Motorcycle Club (PMC) is the oldest motorcycle club in California. Every year they host a top secret ride and call it the Greenhorn. This year was the 65th annual event. What they do is advertise the Greenhorn as the "mutha" of all rides - which is an arduous 2 day ride to who knows where. They tell you the mid-point and recommend a hotel but everything else is secret until the morning of the ride. Some friends did last years ride which was all the backroads to Las Vegas and back to Southern California. They were so pumped about it, I decided I would do it this year.


This year, PMC recommended hotels in Coalinga, California. From there, we could speculate what backroads we would take. The event registration began at 7AM, last Saturday morning May 14th. Of course, I had pre-registered and was up by 4AM, since I had to load my bike and the start point was an hour from my house. I had never been to the store where the start point was so I wanted to be sure and have plenty of time just in case the unexpected occurred.

I rode with my motorcycle club - West Coast Biker Chicks... it was only the 2 of us. But some other friends rode with another motorcycle group and there were 12 of them. At first, I wanted to ride with my friends but 14 people makes a really long line; hence, slower traveling and stopping would be a long affair just for a photo opportunity.

So as soon as we checked in, my fellow WCBC, Wendy and I took off. 715AM our ride began... and what an adventure! It was also a poker ride so at every check-in we got a poker card and they had raffles. At first, I looked at the map and realized we had checkpoints due in 2 hour increments. This is to verify we were following the route correctly and to pick up a poker card. Then I saw the time of the last check-in... 5PM and approximately 300 miles later and thought (seriously) what kind of sissy ride is this? I'm used to competition riding 1,000 miles in 18 hours or teaser rides of 100-250 miles with various motorcycle groups and making a day out of it since it's mostly about hanging out with other women bikers. I was thinking that this crazy short ride and it's suppose to be the best ride of my life?

Our checkpoints were approximately every 100 miles and since we left almost 2 hours early, we knew we would make our time and get to our hotel early; hence my disappointment in stopping in the middle of daylight. I have not ridden Central California before except on the Interstate. But we only were on the I-5 for just a few miles and all of it were country roads that had the most amazing views of lakes, farm land and vineyards. We took our time since it was just the 2 of us - stopping for pictures, lunch and slowing down and enjoying the scenic views.

We went over several cattle guards, bumps and potholes... the roads were not well kept but that's probably what added to the charm of the ride. That last cattle guard, we went over had a huge bump that I could not avoid. And I went too fast over it bottoming out. I felt something hit my leg and I thought maybe something broke off my bike but I didn't want to stop. If I did stop, there would be nothing I could do anyway with the lack of civilization and minimal tools. All I could do was keep going and hope for the best.

We did get to our hotel around 430PM, and I must admit I definately must be getting old. That little 300 mile scenic route wore me out. Of course, I had been up since very early and was so excited about the ride that I slept only 3 hours the night before. So if you count riding from my house it had been almost 11 1/2 hour day with 350 miles down. As we parked, I noticed I was leaking oil... yes, I must have bottomed out one too many times. But luckily, one of the bikers that was on the ride checked it out and said I blew my left shock. I'd still be ok to finish the ride and oil will continue to squirt out. I would just be uncomfortable since one side of my bike would not have shocks. And I won a raffle prize... a Harley-Davidson zippo lighter. Way cool, although I don't smoke.



(Dry water crossing that we rode over. No water.)

(My Harley-Davidson packed with my overnight back, which made the perfect backrest!)



(I don't even recall the roads we were on except they were all backroads of Central California.)




(More country roads - we saw baby and adult cows who all waved to me with their tails. Everywhere I turned cows were waving at me. Kinda freaky but of course when cows lift their tails to wave, stuff exits their backside... not so cool... but perhaps we just scared the poo out of 'em with our loud bikes!)

 

(We were in awe of the country-side.)

Day 2 was my favorite as far as scenery. It was a bit uncomfortable due to the blown shock and my back was killing me going over each bump, pothole and more bottoming out. But there were more water crossings with actual water! And due to the night rain, the road was damp... in some areas there were rocks in the road as with mud. One of the PMC riders slid on some mud and dumped his bike. His bike was alittle scraped up and he was okay but needed a break. There were so many people in a rush to get to the next checkpoint. We were passed by several bikers and we didn't understand the rush since we were lolligagging stopping for photos, riding really slow to enjoy the scenery.


(This ride had everything - mountains, country, vineyards, olive farms, cows and longhorns.)



(With all bike rides, you cannot forget about the elements - it was cold in the mountains and cloudy skies brought rain.)

(There were so many lakes I had not even heard of before! Amazing sights!)

(So picturesque! PMC did an awesome job researching this route.)

(My fellow WCBC, Wendy - yes, we had to cross a few low water crossings. This was the deepest and in my opinion the most fun part of the trip!)

(As I gunned my bike through, I realized I went to fast and it looked like I was parting the water! As soon as the water hit my pipes, steam billowed although it's difficult to see in this picture. I only wish I had this on video! Luckily, we both made it through upright, first try.)

(So many curves, switchbacks and hills - this is by far the best ride I've ever gone on!)

(There were several miles of tree canopy that I thought was just an awesome sight!)

(Meeting up with the 101 in Morro Bay)

We were riding so slow and took a leisurely lunch in Morrow Bay that we were actually running alittle behind schedule. You can't beat fresh seafood - we had fresh clams in a bouillabaisse that was delicious! We soon made up our time by speeding at 80mph in some straight aways. I won't be surprised if I get a speeding ticket in the mail or something. I hope not. We made it to our final checkpoint at 430PM. There were still several riders out and they extended the checkpoint hours but I know my 12 friends were so far behind schedule they skipped the checkpoint and went home. And it started to rain. But then again what kind of biker roadtrip would it be without rain?

As far as sissy ride, I take it back. I was beat. Total mileage 753 miles in 22 1/2 hours of riding time, extended over 2 days time.

(On the very first day, we went over so many potholes, bumps in the road, cattle guards - it was unbelievable! After that last cattle guard, there was a huge bump in the road and I took it too fast. I blew my left shock and oil spurted every where. Of course, I didn't notice this until we got to the hotel in Coalinga. I bottomed out several times and the last one, I knew did some damage but I couldn't figure out what and we didn't stop to check it out. One of the fellow bikers we saw on the road checked it out and said it was my shock. No more comfy riding but I'd be able to finish the ride and buy new ones or get these ones re-built when I got home.)

In the meantime, I have the option of getting my shocks re-built or just purchase new ones. After 10 years, I think these shocks have served me well. I noticed with 10 year old bike, things are starting to fall apart from age. Some friends have told me to trade in and get a new one but I'm particularly fond of this bike and we've had many awesome roadtrips together.

Time is passing quickly

Time flies when you're having fun! Whew. Again, my apologies for not being as up-to-date as I possibly can. Since the beginning of the year, I've been involved in two projects that are time consuming yet very cool fun.

The first being I'm looking for a new restaurant. I've found several but last minute plans seem to fall through unexpectedly. Still on the hunt and am excited about my new place... location, location, location... and it seems as if all the good spots are taken. But I've been figuring, arduous hunting does not make a difference if there is nothing available. Which means, I've reserved my search for built-out restaurants with little or no construction for conversion and I've had to expand my ideal search area because built-outs are difficult to find.

Second, the East Coast Biker Chicks have expanded out West. Thus, a friend of mine was asked to become the director of the West Coast Biker Chicks motorcycle club and down the chain, I've become the assistant director. It's an all-women's motorcycle club now a national non-profit organization. We've been having recruiting/ membership drives, advertising to get our name out to the public and we just completed our first biker chick night that went very well. Next up is our club fundraiser for our charity - Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which is researching and hunting a cure for blood cancer patients which is occuring on June 25th in Orange County, Southern California.

With this new motorcycle club, we've been having alot of events and rides. The SoCal weather hasn't been cooperating too much with rain and flooding... which we've had to cancel quite a few of our rides. This weekend will be our first actual and official club ride in the Santa Monica mountains. I'll be leading this ride and will be sure to post pics because the view of the ocean is quite fabulous! Now the weather is starting to be nice, we have many more rides for this coming year. It's quite exciting to see a new organization take fruit and grow.

WCBC

We are official! West Coast Biker Chicks.

I just added on the official news release below:
Saturday January 15, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Lucky Belcamino, the Founder and National President of the East Coast Biker Chicks Motorcycle Club is proud to announce that their newest sister organization called the West Coast Biker Chicks Motorcycle Club has been incorporated today. This momentous and historic signing of the new organization was witnessed by the new Boston Chapter director Joan Kaskiewicz, along with 12 other members of ECBC and WCBC out in Las Vegas Nevada at the Red Rock Harley Davidson. Lucky has been in negotiations with the new organization director Carrie Kuehn for about 6 months and is very excited about the national exposure this will bring to the originating club and future West Coast opportunities.

Currently ECBC has 4 chapters operating in Northeastern Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Maine and the largest and original chapter Boston. This newest club allows women across the USA to share the love and freedom of the open road and camaraderie, along with the sisterhood and networking that we all share as biker chicks.

As of this past summer ECBC was filmed for the purposes of a reality TV show called “Biker Chicz” and is in the post-production stages which will includes 8 members of the original Boston chapter. Block Head City owner Edward Winterhalder is the executive producer of “Biker Chicz” and has written many biker oriented books which can be found worldwide. Furthermore, Lucky has been featured in the newly released book entitled “Biker Chicz of North America”, which includes 21 other influential biker chicks across the nation written by Wil DeClerq and Edward Winterhalder.

The Chapter Director of WCBC, Carrie Kuehn out of Fullerton, California brings a lot to the new organization as she has been riding motorcycles for 25 years and also runs and maintains a biker chick oriented web page called realbikerchicks.net. She will have a crew of officers including Lauralee “Freedom” Conklin (also featured in Biker Chicz of North America) who will assist in recruitment in Northern California, Devyn Langevain out of out Las Vegas who will be heading up recruitment in the Las Vegas area, along with a core group of other officers for the new chapter including Assistant Director Eli Enokizono, Sergeant-at-Arms Wendy Fischler, Secretary Sue Yelle, and recruiter Michelle Hayden which all were contracted today as well. With these women in place Carrie and Lucky are confident that it’s just a matter of time before their membership will explode.

This brainstorm to expand out West was initiated by all of the exposure and popularity of the East Coast Biker Chicks due to numerous multi level media platforms including Matty in the Morning (#1 rated morning talk show in the country; KISS 108 Boston), Boston Channel 5 TV, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Lawrence Eagle Tribune, Rainbow Times, Helmet Hair Magazine, YouTube, Block Head City, Citizens News Laconia NH, and the Rolling Thunder Magazine. Also, ECBC member Anne Marie Concemi who was nominated by Lucky for a makeover on TLC’s hit reality show “What Not To Wear” hosted by Stacey London and Clinton Kelly visited Boston over the spring of 2009 and surprised Anne Marie and the ECBC’s by awarding “Annie” her makeover which aired on the TLC network March 2010.

For more information on the upcoming reality TV series you can visit: http://www.bikerchicztv.net/
Visit our Official Chapters:

Boston- http://www.ecbcmc.com/
Pennsylvania- http://www.ecbc-nepa.org/
New Hampshire- http://www.ebcb-nh.org/
Maine- http://www.ecbc-maine.org/
West Coast Biker Chicks- http://www.westcoastbikerchicks.com/

Happy New Year! 2011

I hope everyone has a wonderful 2011!

Time sure is flying by! There hasn't been much news on the homefront. Haven't had much of a chance to travel hence, no blog updates. The weather is SoCal has been very wet - I guess that comes with the rainy winter season. I'm hoping for good things this year and definately more bike rides!

Stay safe and keep the shiny side up!

Puffer fish

Whew, it's been a while since I last wrote! It has been very busy and I'm not sure how time has gone so quickly! Since September... well, my mother came to visit for almost 2 months so no wonder why time has passed. We spent alot of time shopping and of course, we went on a road trip to Vegas and Palm Springss. It was nice and relaxing perhaps even on the boring side. We shopped, hung out pool-side and you can't forget about gambling!

I've been wanting a pet animal for some time now. Either a dog or cat but I figure my place is small and not pet friendly. But mom suggested I get an animal to relax a bit and for it to persuade me to stay home more instead of out riding my motorcycle all over SoCal. (She is definately not a fan of motorcycles!) I really don't want to clean up after any animals and feeding the thing? Well, lets just say I'm glad I have plants since I only remember to water them once a week, if that.

We went to Chinatown and I saw the cutest fish ever. It looks like it's smiling at you whenever it looks at you. I've always wanted a puffer fish ever since I was a kid so I bought 2 since one would probably be lonesome and I figured two can keep each other company. We got a starter aquarium and in went the fish. They looked really bored with each other and mom suggested I get 2 more. One big happy family... yeah not quite.

The original 2 are figure 8 puffer fish. I named the Puffer and Puffy. I should have done more research before purchasing the second 2 since these are green spotted puffer fish, which I named Shiny and Sinky. Supposedly the green spotted are very aggressive and it's suppose to be 1 puffer of any kind to 10 gallons of water... you can say the small space made them enemies from the start. But in actual the figure 8 puffer is way more aggressive. Puffer bit the fins and tale off of Puffy and eventually Puffy died even after being segregated for recovery. Shiny and Sinky kept getting their fins bitten but knew to swim out of the way or at least try to. Then Shiny and Sinky got some sort of bacterial infection that took almost a month to get rid of.

With a new huge tank, I ended up getting a Chinese albino algae eater to help keep the tank clean. Al sure does a good job cleaning! He's got his fins bitten but he's also a fast swimmer and knows to fight back. Now that Shiny and Sinky are well, I placed all 4 fish in the same tank and of course Puffer nipped tails within just a few minutes. Unfortunately, I had to segregate them so Puffer currently has his own tank and the others live happy ever after.

For the green spotted you can tell when they are happy or stressed. When happy, their head is iridescent - hence, Shiny's name. Sinky was named because well, when I got him home he kept sinking to the bottom of the tank. His belly was black but after a few days it turned white. When stressed, they turn black. They are all fascinating to watch since they all have different personalities. You can tell though, Shiny is my favorite.




Puffer - Figure 8 puffer fish... he swims so fast it's difficult to get a photo without being blurred!



Al - albino Chinese algae eater. He keeps the tank sparkly clean!



Figure 8's - Puffer and Puffy... RIP Puffy.

Puffer eating his meal of blood worms.



Green spotted puffer fish - Shiny and Sinky.

Brenda Fox

In March 2009, I went in for a doctors appointment and a few days later, I received a phone call from the nurse saying I may have cervical cancer and I needed to get a biopsy. There were a few cells that were of concern. And after going for a check up every 6 months, and being negative each time the medical team said I was probably ok and cancer free. During that time of waiting and the check ups, I just remember thoughts of what I must do and priority lists, like a bucket list of stuff I should accomplish. And I was glad my dream of restaurant ownership was taking place - this has been my dream since being a kid. Since then, a lot has changed and being cancer free I've become passive in following my dream. I actually wrote a blog on it that I will publish later.

Since then I've been more cognizant of cancer awareness programs and fund raisers for research. There are a lot! A few months ago, I met Flo, a woman from Canada that created the Conga, which is a Canadian & United States joint effort in raising funds for cancer. The event is annual and the crowds get larger every year. This year the ride was a success and the amount raised was over $35,000! I was fortunate to meet her, her best friend Judy, and brother Eric - the three of them rode their bikes from the rally point in Wyoming all the way to Los Angeles! They visited with us for a few days then rode on back to Canada. Total, they were on the road for about a month - what an awesome ride!

During the Conga visit, I met another woman Brenda Fox. A friend of mine had told me she had cancer... had... I assumed Brenda was in remission and doing well. Brenda is such a fascinating person - and she rides totally like the wind! She took us for a ride around Mulholland Drive in the Santa Monica mountains. My friend Carrie, that introduced us is the only other woman I know that enjoys riding curves, fast. Most of the bikers I know think Carrie rides too crazy and gets nervous around her. I like riding with people that know how to handle their bike and I was just totally impressed with Brenda. Even though I was trying to keep up and I thought I was going fast Brenda was gone and Carrie was right behind her. I'd round a curve just to see Brenda and Carrie go around another curve. Amazing! Truly amazing, I wanted both of them to keep on riding so I could just watch them ride around the curves super fast.

But the reason for today's blog is Brenda's cancer. It's not in remission like I thought. She's still has it. I didn't know she was in bed for one whole year. The cancer almost killed her...and two years trying to recover... she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. It's been a tough road to recovery for her but she's making it. I have this link, yes I know it's another fundraiser but this is for a really good cause. October 2 is a cancer declaration day Livestrong 2010, where people from around the globe can urge for better treatment, more research funding and care. Part of your donations will be given to Brenda for her medical treatment. Please donate what you can  http://starride.net/brendafox/

Thank-you.

Iron Butt Bun Burner Gold

Since last year, I've been wanting to complete another mini Iron Butt ride. I was thinking since I completed the Saddlesore 1,000 mile ride in 24 hours, that I should move on to bigger competitions. Thus the Bun Burner idea was born... 1,500 miles in 36 hours.  Then a fellow biker friend said she'd like to try the Bun Burner Gold which is 1,500 miles in 24 hours and better yet all in the state of California, which is a different competition.

We just hadn't had a matching schedule to make this a reality until this past weekend. For one of my vacation weeks, I flew to Washington state to pick up the rest of my belongings from my parents home and drove it back to Los Angeles. My father came with me and I had thought he was going to stay for 3 weeks but after 3 days he wanted to go home. With this 3 week unexpected freedom and having the weekend off from work, my friend and I discussed going. Then another biker friend who had never gone on an Iron Butt wanted to join.

I had prepped my bike a few days before - she got the works done... as much as I think I ride, I've come to realize that my bike (named Gray because of the color) doesn't get out too much. As a 2001, Gray only has 30,000 miles on her. I had the 30,000 mile service done with complete oil change, brand new front and rear tire, new front and rear brakes - the first time I've ever changed the brakes! It was a good thing I took Gray in because I didn't even notice my rear brake light was out. I had told the mechanic I was doing this competition and asked him if 3 days was enough to fix everything. I think he was so excited about this competition for me, that he wanted me to break in the new tire before I left on Saturday. Dropping Gray off on Tuesday evening, the mechanic was super fast and Gray was ready to pick up Thursday morning.

The 3 of us - Boo, Judy and I -  decided to leave early Saturday morning and for sure complete the 1,000 mile Saddlesore ride within 24 hours... and if we felt up to it and had enough time left to ride another 500 miles within that same time frame. If worst came, we decided we would get a hotel and finish the remaining 500 miles the next day... as long as it was within 36 hours - and that would definately not be a problem!

Since this would be my second Iron Butt, I wasn't as anxious and actually slept 4 hours, which is about average these days. The last ride I was so excited I couldn't sleep and only napped 2 hours before the ride. I had completed it in 18 1/2 hours, which is about average timing according to the Iron Butt forum. But with this 4 hour sleep and having two other buddies to ride with, I thought it would be no problem at all. Boo had mapped the route following Interstate 5 all the way South to the California and Mexico border... exit 1B the ride all the way up to the California and Oregon border... exit 796 at Hilt. We decided to leave my place since there was a fuel station and easy access to the Interstate. That receipt print out began our ride... 4:33AM Saturday... so we had to be finished with the ride at 4:33AM Sunday... or at the very latest 4:33PM Sunday.

I had purchased some new clothing attire with the new bike I got last month. You can't really wear Harley-Davidson stuff while riding a Ninja so I got textile jacket and pants for riding this bike. I debated whether to ride with Harley leathers which have been tried and true or the new textiles. In the end, I decided to wear my new helmet I got last year with the cool sun visor and the leathers. I didn't want too many new variables that hadn't been long distance road tested and I wanted to be familiar with my equipment.

Boo figured out the gas stops should be around 7 minutes long and no longer than 10 minutes per stop in order remain on schedule. So we would gas up, hydrate, snack and restroom break all within that 10 minute time frame. She had made the gas stops roughly every 120 miles since my bike empties quickly. I must have felt a bit rushed since I forgot my wallet at home. It was a good thing our first stop was only 2 blocks from my house! I had to return home and fetch it.

Of course, the iPod was ready to go too. Now, I haven't had time to change the songs since I uploaded it over 3 years ago. And I really don't use it much since I haven't found time with this new job for gym time. Anyway, almost the entire ride to San Ysidro I was thinking what the heck kind of music is this?!? OMG! Some music was good classics but some wow! I didn't think my music taste has changed much over the years but perhaps they have abit. Course, it was either listen to the whistle of the wind in the helmet (I thought it was fixed but apparently not) or listen to music, so music it was. Then after a while the tunes kinda just grew back on me with the likes of squeaky high pitched women singers No Angels, Britney Spears, Evanescence, etc and lots of techno. The only worry I had was I would get bored in silence. The iPod's battery life is about 14 hours so if we completed the ride in 24 hours, I would be riding in silence for the remaining 10 hours. My best thinking and brilliant ideas have come from long rides and inspired by music. But these days I'm not sure if I have enough active imagination and thoughts to tide me over for that time frame. I haven't had much time to daydream these past few years... just no time after moving to LA.

Anyway, our next stop... San Ysidro near the Mexico border... It was a bit chilly out and I was glad I chose the wear my leathers. I wished I had bundled up a bit more but knew it would get warm once the sun came up. I went ahead and took lead but Boo took over once we got near the border. I didn't know the exact location of our stop and the Interstate split between I-5 and I-805. Usually around 1/4 tank, I get nervous and begin searching for fuel but I trusted Boo enough to know we would make it to our destination plus I had about a 1/2 gallon of emergency gas in my saddlebag. 6 miles before our scheduled fuel stop, I ran out of gas. Yup, there we were chugging along then all of a sudden no power. I knew it would be a close call but I figured the reserve tank would get me there. So the debate was should I honk and notify the others I'm out of gas or hurry and switch to reserve? No honking... and no switching to reserve... clumsy me, my glove got caught twisting the reserve valve and by the time my finger got free, the girls were long gone. Then I found out I don't have a reserve! The motorcycle manual states my tank is 4.9 gallons and holds a reserve of .9 but that's not true. But now that I think about it, my reserve valve could have been switched along time ago and perhaps I've forgotten to return the switch? I'll actually have to go check. Anyway, pulling over to the side of the road, I was quite thankful I brought emergency fuel - enough to make it to the next gas station.

After San Ysidro, we would be traveling North. Seemed like an easy thing to do... stay on I-5 and keep going. Traffic was quite foul around LA and we lost about 10 minutes. Almost every stop we were about 10 minutes behind schedule. Now this Bun Burner Gold, it seems like everyone that has completed has come within 15 minutes of that 24 hour mark, so we knew it would be a close call and it was quite pertinent to stay on track. Eventually the traffic cleared and we made up for lost time going alittle faster since the legs were shorter. I came close twice more on running out of fuel. I was nervous but I knew I had back up. At one point we were almost half hour ahead of schedule!

We had made a pact to remain together. Anyone could call off the ride, if safety became an issue. Come to find out one of the women was having bike problems in San Ysidro. Maybe I wasn't listening but I didn't become aware of it until several hundred miles later. She had added some sort of additive when we re-fueled and it seemed to have helped her bike performance.  In hindsight, had we known of the throttle problems were going to be that bad we could have called it off when we were still in SoCal. The throttle continually worsened and by the time we got to Hilt, the bike could only go 50mph. with some unexpected bouts of going 80mph.  The exhaust was horrid smelling like the gas was not combusting correctly. Thankfully, we had plenty of time and less than 50 miles to finish the 1,000 Saddlesore. We actually went 1,144 miles in 16 hours 35 minutes. At least we got one ride pin and will have to attempt the Bun Burner again.

We made it to Hilt, CA... the very last exit before you get to Oregon. This was our turn around point to return to LA. We arrived at 7PM and was quite lucky! They were just shutting down and we were their last customers. Not to fret, if they were closed we would of had go 20 more miles to the next fuel stop.

Only 2 pumps in Hilt, CA. Last customers of the day.

We ended up spending the night in Willows. We thought rest was needed and maybe Boo's bike would recharge and be ready to go in the morning. We didn't know what was wrong with her bike - she checked the air filter and spark plugs. It was good we packed over nighter clothes just in case. And I was glad to bring the cell phone charger. We used up alot of phone battery trying to contact any truck rentals and even hotels! There was some local race and lot of the hotels were booked full. I'm so glad I have this cell phone... it truly was a life saver as far as finding hotel phone numbers via the Internet, instead of driving to each hotel checking on vacancy.

 

We were also lucky one U-haul location was open until noon. Every single moving truck place was closed on Sunday. We had to return 30 miles north to Corning but we made it, putting along at 50mph. It took over 3 hours to load and tie down the bikes. We were all wondering why we weren't feeling so good also... but it was because we hadn't had a decent meal since the night before and on the dehydrated side. By the time we had lunch and hit the road it was past 1:30PM and we were worried traffic would be horrible.

Quite the mess huh? But we got the bikes all tied down... until there was a test hard brake check which the side wood slats broke letting the back bike crash into the two front bikes. My bike (front right bike)got the brunt of it with a dented in fender and a foot long scratch on the left saddlebag. Judy's bike (front left bike) somehow did not get a scratch even though Boo's bike (back middle bike) had the foot peg stuck under the fender.   

Boo (left) and Judy (right)

Boo was really lucky. It was a good thing her throttle had problems. Imagine having the rear tire blowout going 50-80mph, in the dark and on a mountain! Yes, that would be a bald tire and that's the actual fabric inside the tire showing. And imagine still having to go 600 miles on that bald tire. All I can say is wow! As much as the broken bike was a hassle, perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

So we got the U-haul and check out the door panel. Do those moving boxes look real to you? OK well maybe I'm just more gullible than everyone else. It was my turn for the junk food run while someone else filled gas and the other one checked the tie downs on the bikes. I came out of the store and missed the U-haul. When I left the U-haul the back door was open and the bikes were showing. When I returned, in my delirium, I thought those boxes were real and wandered in circles looking for the truck not realizing it's just a picture on the door...yeah, I could probably dye my hair blond and get away with it at times (if you follow blond stereotypes). Actually, I thought they pulled out and was hiding around the corner and magically another U-haul took that gas pump...until Boo stepped out from the vehicle asking me what I was doing. But to my credit, there really were quite a few U-hauls on the road.

South of Sacramento, there was a fire on the side of the road... rubber neckers almost caused a few accidents applying their brakes at the last moment. I later learned this fire was about 750 acres... it was really smoky.

It took about 8 hours to get back to Los Angeles. It took another 1 1/2 hours to unload the bikes. Fortunately, friends of mine were in Sacramento returning to LA, so they trailed behind us the whole way in their vehicle and helped unload. 3 others arrived to help also. I was home by 1145PM and was glad to finally be home. What a weekend! Perhaps, I'll attempt the Bun Burner Gold before the year is out... I'm just not quite sure of my work schedule and cooperating weather. If not this year, then next year... we had made plans to attempt again in June.