This is why they call them "Adventures!"

February 5, 2006
Total Miles: 275 miles or so

Click map for larger image

I wasn’t able to leave the house until well after 1pm, but the day was so beautiful that I couldn’t justify not going somewhere. Besides, the GS was finally kitted out the way I wanted it and I was ready to test it. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I knew of no parties and had no personal interest in the game, so it was a good time to spend time alone with the BMW. I swung through Kirkland to see if mbspeed could do lunch but alas, it was too early for him to get out of work. So I figured that I head to the eastside, check out Snoqualmie Falls and then come home.

The GS with new bags and bars	The view early on in the ride

I don’t know the eastside very well and ended up meandering through roads whose names I recognized but was unfamiliar with the roads themselves. The sun was shining, the mountains were cloaked in fresh snow and the roads were dry and clear. I followed the valley through Duval and Carnation, finally reaching Fall City and the base of the road leading up to Snoqualmie Falls. This is a nice, but much too short, road. I reached the falls in no time, parked the bike and took a couple of pictures. The plan was to take lots of pictures today and this was a good start to it. I walked past a guy wearing full BMW gear and we smiled at each other as we passed. As I returned to the parking lot I looked for his bike but didn’t see it. It was only 3:30 or so: much too early to return to Seattle. Instead, I went back down to Fall City, looking for a side road that had been recommended. I didn’t find it, but had a fun time looking. So much fun that I turned around and went back up to the falls again, but this time I kept on going. Back roads meandered to Northbend and then they stopped, spitting me out onto I-90. With the sun at my back I decided to head towards Snoqualmie Pass. Not more than a couple of miles later I lost my motivation and took the next exit to turn around and just go home. As I exited, I saw a BMW come from the side and get back onto I-90, heading towards Snoqualmie Pass. I guessed that this was the same rider I saw at the falls and, lacking anything else to do, I gave chase. I popped back onto I-90 and headed east. It didn’t take long to catch up and he took the next exit. I also took this exit, a very obvious move as there is absolutely nothing worth exiting for once you get this far out on I-90. The rider stopped at the stop sign and waited for me. He smiled when I pulled and said “Nice bike”. I smiled and said “You too” – we were both on GS's, his was an 1100 and mine an 1150. He said that he was going to go back to Seattle but asked how much daylight was left. I guessed about two hours and we decided to keep on going east, which we did.

Snoqualmie Falls

I-90 was wide open and mostly dry, with occasional moisture from melting snow running across the lanes. When we reached the pass it was 34 degrees and still sunny and I had a brilliant, yet stupid, idea. Let’s hit Blewitt and Stevens Pass too! The weather was holding, the roads were clear and I knew that if we could just blast through there we’d come down the other side of Stevens just as the sunlight faded.

Jeff, my new-found riding cohort, agreed. I think primarily because he didn’t know the area and just how much I underestimated how long it would take to cover the miles. Cle Elum, the turnoff from I-90 that would lead us over Blewitt Pass, took forever to get to. I was sorely tempted to turn around then, but some inner voice kept telling me that Nahhhh, it would be fine to keep going. Besides, then I’d have to backtrack over I-90 and that sucked enough the first time over.

Blewitt Pass was indeed clear, although much wetter from snowmelt. I was pulling through the corners pretty well, mindful of shadowed areas and possible ice. However Jeff kept disappearing behind me. I pulled off a couple of times to wait for him, wondering if he was that spooked about the wet roads. I asked if he was ok and he just smiled and said yes. We finally reached Leavenworth and I was completely dismayed at how late it was. Jeff asked about stopping for coffee but I suggested that instead we hightail it over the mountains and stop once we were safely down the other side. He agreed, we finished fueling up and started up the east side of Stevens Pass.

It didn’t take too long for the daylight to disappear and I found myself losing Jeff in my mirrors again. I questioned the solidity of the water under the tires, wondering just how cold it was and if that was ice. I stopped and waited for Jeff again. Then I saw the DOT reader sign saying that "Traction Tires Were Advised 9 Miles Ahead". Hmmmm. To me the choices were to either keep on going and see how bad it was or turn around and re-cross Blewitt Pass, which I’m sure by now was getting icy as well. I kept on going.

The sign was right and about 9 miles later I was seeing actual ice on the road and then bits of snow. The snow was thin and kept to sides of the tire ruts so it wasn’t tough to avoid. Despite my slowing down for the conditions I lost Jeff again. Soon the snow took over the wheel tracks and I was cautiously rolling over compacted snow for the last 10 miles or so to the top of Stevens Pass. I kept the speed steady and slow, four-ways flashing and never had any frights. This wasn’t too bad. I reached the Pass and waited for Jeff. He eventually caught up and apologized for holding me up. I said that it wasn’t a problem; that he should go the speed that he was comfortable with. It was all downhill from here, theoretically a quick drop into lower elevations where the ice would be water once again. It was about 27 degrees at this point and night had taken over the skies.

I rolled off the pass in 2nd gear and kept to the outer lane. Snow still covered the pavement with bare patches few and far between. I lost Jeff again. I pulled over to wait for him, keeping warm with my heated gear but at the same time anxious about what could be keeping him. I waited for 15 minutes, not relishing the idea of crossing four lanes of snow to ride back up the mountain and then have to turn around and cover it again. But I didn’t want to leave him behind and couldn’t stand not knowing what had happened. I turned around and rode back up. I saw his bike about a mile later, parked on the other side but no one around. I parked my bike and walked over to see if there was a note of some kind. Just then a car pulled up and Jeff jumped out. He was going to get a ride down the mountain and have the bike towed down. He said that he had already dropped the bike twice (once on each side, just for good measure) and he didn’t know if he wanted to ride any more. He asked about the conditions further down and I said that as far as I could tell, the snow petered about just about where I had stopped to wait for him. He decided to try it again, the car pulled away and we got back on our bikes.

I led slowly down the side and promptly lost sight of Jeff again. How do I keep doing that?? I pulled off, then I thought I saw him behind me and started down the mountain again. I had just completed a rather hairy 40mph turn that is actually a bridge with some bad pavement, a slight covering of snow and ice, and pulled off to wait for Jeff again. As I sat waiting I heard a horn and turned to look behind me. About 200 yards up the road I could see that he had dropped his bike again. I ran up to him to find him ok, but not willing to ride any further. The driver of a truck who stopped to help suggested that we both arrange to have our bikes towed further down. He works at the ski slopes on Stevens and said that lots of people had been drinking there for the Super Bowl and he was very concerned about drunk drivers. He didn’t really doubt that I could ride out of the ice we were in, but he felt that a driver may judge poorly and hit me as I crawled along. It was a difficult decision, but as I looked at my bike, tank recently fixed, farkles still new and shining, I felt that I had been tempting the fates. I acquiesced and hopped into the truck for a ride to Skykomish, the nearest town, to call for a tow.

Only then did I learn that this was Jeff’s first bike, and he had only been riding since September. Talk about guilt! If I had known then there is no way that I would have suggested going beyond Snoqualmie Pass. But he was very good-natured about his falls, and seemed to be enjoying himself despite the situation. We waited in a bar in Skykomish (the Whistle Stop) until the driver showed up and then we rode with him back up to the bikes, which were now coated in frost. As the flatbed came down, so did the snowflakes. It had gotten cold and the 10 miles to Skykomish were icy. It was warm in the truck and I was getting sleepy, content not to be on the bike at this moment.

A bad picture taken from the back of the flatbed tow truck. That's Jeff standing in the bright light

We unloaded the bikes at Gold Bar, figuring that we already had paid the bulk of towing just for him to load the bikes so what was a few more miles? Well, a few more miles was expensive. Despite splitting the bill and the driver only charging to hook up one bike, my half was still almost $100. I’ll ride next time, I think.

Jeff and I exchanged information, I told him about STN and ADVRider, invited him to the movie night on Saturday and we agreed that we should ride again sometime. But next time it’ll be earlier in the day, and maybe in warmer climes. Hey, they don’t call them adventure bikes for nothing.