Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Today's blog entry will be short, as it really only needs to reflect the long ride (500 miles according to my odometer, which is actually over-reading and was more like 480 miles) from Jacob's Lake to Tuscon....

First, I was woken around 4am, as Jim got up in the room next door, once again wanting to get an early start rather than wait for the group to depart around 6am. I managed to snooze on until around 5am, when I got up, and then went to help Jim pick his bike up (it had fallen over when he got on it, probably because it's still very heavily loaded) and then fix a minor electrical fault caused when it fell. Once Jim had gone, I loaded my own bike and rode round to the front of the hotel to join the main group. When all assembled, we rode off in convoy for the first time since leaving Anchorage, a total of 14 bikes all riding in formation back across the Mable Platform and on towards Fairbanks. We stopped for breakfast after around 110 miles (2 hours) in an old trading post, and were served an excellent breakfast of eggs (2 x over-easy) and links (you should know what they are by now...) with hash-browns and toast very quickly, then filled up with fuel and on our way again, riding in a slightly smaller group of 7 or 8 across flat plains over desert-like scrubland in increasing heat, gulping cold water from my camelbak every few miles (cold because I'd filled it with ice before setting off). We crossed a mountain range, the road twisting up one side and down the other, the group once again demonstrating the perfect “biker's ballet”, breaking the staggered formation on entry to the turns, each rider following the “wide out, late in” sweep, then reforming the stagger on the straights, before repeating the change at the next turn. A stop in Strawberry for lunch (small salad and 2 very large glasses of sprite filled with ice), and onward, the heat now getting more intense as we crossed the Roosevelt dam and rode down onto the plain, with a final stop for fuel, to use the loo (2 hours in the saddle following 2 large glasses of Sprite and several gulps of cold water make for a very uncomfortable last few miles, as I got increasingly desperate to stop...) and an ice-cream (to try and cool off a little). The we rode through the desert plain, passed the prison (what crimes must a man have committed to warrant being incarcerated in a hell-hole in the middle of the desert?) and the “cactus forest”, the heat now reaching 39.5degrees C and with a wind making it like riding through a fan-assisted oven...

Just before Tuscon we could see the sky was very dark, and occasional bursts of fork lightning flashed across the sky. We stopped at a little mexican restaurant to use their car-park and re-group for the ride to the dealership where we'd be dropping the bikes off, and to remove any valuables from our pockets ready for the inevitable downpour (the idea of putting waterproofs on was quickly ignored, the prospect of a cooling shower more inviting). Within minutes of setting off again we were in a tropical storm, with water drops the size of ping-pong balls hammering at our arms, as we got soaked within seconds. Then riding through a river on the road, with water inches deep, on worn tyres, and with zero visibility, into a strange town with traffic and traffic lights (neither of which we'd seen for some time). Soon we were the other side of the storm, and drying out again in the heat, winding our way around the outskirts of Tuscon and to Iron Horse BMW. Scheduled to arrive at 6pm, we duly pulled into the car park on the dot, only to find the place deserted. After a quick discussion, we rode on to the Sheraton and checked in, a quick shower and then unloaded the bikes, removing the panniers to make the servicing easier (we'll drop the bikes off in the morning), then discover the Internet is not working, so head to the bar for a cold beer or two and something to eat...

It's been a long day, with some 12 hours riding (including breakfast and lunch stops) and brings the total trip mileage to date so far to 6,777 miles. Time to get the bikes serviced and ourselves prepared for the trip to start proper as we enter Mexico on Saturday, and then the fun will really begin..