PNW Ride on New Year's Day

[Greg Field]

If any of you are up for a ride tomorrow, a bunch of us are riding from Seattle to Neah Bay.

 

We leave my house in Seattle at 0800. (I can give address/directions for those who haven't been here before.) If you want to show up early, we'll have high-octane coffee and bagels and cream cheese/fruit or wheaties or something. Or you can meet us at the ferry terminal. We're catching the 8:35 to BAINBRIDGE ISLAND. This is earlier than originally planned because while looking at the map, it occured to me that if we left earlier, we could take some great alternative routes on the way back, such as Hood Canal, if we made good time and wanted more riding.

 

Please be gassed up and fooded up to ride. It's about 145 miles from the ferry terminal to Neah Bay. I'll go with the will of the group on whether we go to Neah without stopping or not. Bring a bottle of water and snacks. Bring a camera. Bring a cell phone if you have one. Bring a spare tube if you have tube-type tires. Bring slug repellant.

 

I've been working on some "rules" for such rides because when the weather gets better, we could have droves of riders from the Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiasts (VME) joining us on these formerly Guzzi rides. What do y'all think of the following rules?

 

1) We do not ride as a group, necessarily, but we are all in it together. Some will ride faster and some slower, and that's perfectly OK. At every turn onto a new road, everyone waits until the last person has caught up. This doesn't mean we'll be waiting at every intersection. Follow the main flow of the road to major turnoffs marked on the map we'll give you. We'll be waiting at the major turnoffs.

 

2) You are expected to stop if the guy in front of you breaks down. If you are second-to-last, keep an eye out for the rider behind you. This does not mean you have to stay with the broken-down rider forever, but you should stop, try to help, assess the situation, and then assist in letting the leader know. You can do this by calling on the cellphone or continuing to the next stop to let the ride leader know of the breakdown.

 

3) If you do not catch up in a reasonable amount of time, we will send someone back to find you. Because of this, we ask that if you stop for photos or a smoke or whatever that you do it quickly and make an effort to catch up. If you decide to turn around and leave the group for whatever reason, pull over and let someone know who will be continuing on the ride. If you pull over, the others will assume you have broken down. If you are just stopping for a break or whatever, clearly let following riders know they can continue on without you by waving them by. If you wave everyone by, though, and your bike subsequently will not re-start, it may be some time before we realize you are not with us any longer. We go places where there may be no cell coverage.

 

4) It is expected that you ride at your own pace. If you want to pass, do so only when you can do it without endangering the passee. If you pass the leader, remember that you are expected to stop at the next turnoff and wait for the group. The other side of this coin is that if you know you ride slowly, please keep unnecessary stops to a minimum so that the group is not unduly held up at the next turn.

 

5) We do not have a chase truck. Please make sure your bike is ready for the ride. If you do break down, we'll assist in any reasonable way in getting YOU home. We may or may not be able to assist in getting the bike home, depending on circumstances.