4 Seasons In One Day

[vanion2]

I love the word "adventure" because it hides all sorts of sins. The sins, of course are redeemed in the end and the heroes emerge triumphant bathed in glory otherwise it wouldn't be and adventure and it wouldn't be worth the journey. Well this "adventure" actually started before this day ride was scheduled even to begin. It started off with the cardinal sin of working on your VFR the day before a ride.

It was supposed to be a 30 minute oil change and chain adjustment. That was until I discovered that both my nuts to the R&G frame sliders had been cross threaded by a local motorcycle shop the last time I had the fairings off. 30 minutes turned into 1.5 hours of cursing, wrenching, and having to pull the cross bar completely off the bike leaving me in a teary eyed state and profound feeling of loss thinking I, the host, the one who had been counting the days to this event, the one who had dreamed the whole thing up, would be unable to attend. Think of a small child waking up Christmas morning, running down the stairs to the living room only to find no presents, no tree, no family waiting, and you get the idea of how I felt while holding that rod of steel with a frame slider stuck on one end next to my VFR. No. This nightmare belongs to someone else. Not me. I had waited way too long for this and I wasn't giving up that easily. I pulled off the left fairing, did the oil change, adjusted the tension on the chain, carefully taking my time and making sure everything was done in the right order, with the right amount of oil, everything snugged down with the right amount of torque. Then I got out the hammer, the long screw driver and by God I got that cross member back in place, snugged down the one nut I had been able to break loose and a total of 2 hours later stepped back to look at my VFR in the late afternoon sun ready for one more adventure.

(Needless to say I will be contacting R&G and ordering a new rod and a pair of nuts to rectify the situation).

That accomplished I spent the rest of the evening with prepping gear and watching my 13 month old baby girl trying to walk around in a grassy field with sandals on for the first time.

I woke the next morning RTG (Ready To Go). I checked the weather and saw clear skies, cooler temperatures up north, and winds in the forecast. Nothing I wasn't used to in the spring time in New Mexico so I pulled the bike out of the garage, but on the side cases, put on my layered gear, and turned just in time to see a hummingbird fly up from the grass in my front yard and head up into the tree in the early morning sun just shining over the tops of the mountains to the east. It teased me with thoughts of what other things of beauty I might see by being in the right place at the right time on today's ride and so I headed off to the meeting point with a feeling of excited anticipation and a smile on my face.

I arrived at Einstein's right around 8 am and sure enough Tim (rangemaster) was already sitting at a table waiting when I got there talking with someone sitting at the table next to him as the stranger was admiring our bikes. I ordered a light breakfast and sat down where we proceeded to talk about something near and dear to us. VFR's. I know...shocking right? I told him about my misadventures of the previous day and he slyly pointed out his new rear tire that just happened to be spooned on a 8 spoke rim he had scored off of ebay for $120. Shortly there after I heard the whine of cams chains and the rumble of a V4 as Paul (ZiaVFR) pulled into the parking lot. I hadn't seen him in a while since he had work and family events keeping him busy so we got to talking for about 10 minutes before I got this tingly feeling in my left thigh. Turns out it was my cell phone alarm telling me it was time to hit the road so we headed over to the 3 generations of VFR's and mounted our respective rides for the day:

Our first leg of the journey was a short stint east on I-40 to North 14 where we took a nice relaxed pace through the valley that runs just west of the East Mountains of Albuquerque. It was a bit on the chilly side and I was starting to regret bringing my perforated leather jacket as even with the full liner it was a bit too chilly. I would later come to regret it even more but more on that later. All ready there were some gusts coming from the west making things "interesting" but nothing too bad until just a couple of miles before 344 it ripped the map holder off my tank bag and sent it flying over my shoulder. ZiaVFR was riding sweep was kind enough to rescue it for me and I just shoved it in my tank bag for simplicity.

Onward we trekked and right at 344 was a steady stream of cyclists turning off N-14. From that point on there was a non stop stream of cyclists coming from Santa Fe riding in the other lane. At first I thought this was no big deal but then we started running into the traffic that was also coming from the north rather inconveniently riding in our lane trying to pass all the cyclists. At one point there was a full sized motor home blocking our lane entirely. Shame on us for daring to ride in our own lane I guess. Turns out that that morning was a major annual ride and I can believe it because I had never seen so many cyclists on the road in my entire life. Needless to say we were about 30 minutes behind schedule by the time we reached Santa Fe. I tried contacting Echo, who was waiting for us in Pajoaque but I learned the hard way that I could hear next to nothing coming from my G4 paired to my LG Spectrum II via bluetooth. I will need to investigate that further but I can honestly say I was very disappointed by that (No. It wasn't the volume as I had both on max).

Once on 599 the roads were clear and we cut around Santa Fe to 84 and up to Pajoaque where Echo was patiently waiting for us at the Chevron next to his black 6th Gen. The three of us topped off our tanks, tested the facilities and caught up with Echo since the last time we had ridden together had been almost 2 years ago. I don't know what it is about VFR riders but it was no effort on my part to keep everyone together as everyone was so easy going. Echo knew the route we were taking pretty well so we knew the roads were clear and clean before we even got there. I was lead the whole way with my trusty Zumo 450 making me look like I knew where I was going and so off we went. For me new roads were awaiting and even though we were about 30 minutes behind that concern ended once we met up with Echo as there were no more time tables to be kept after that. It was time to just ride.

We continued north on 84 and turned east on 76 and rolled through a couple of little villages at easy speeds. Nice tall, green trees lined the road intermixed with old trailers or small adobe buildings gave it a very rustic feel but when as the elevation climbed it all fell away to nice rock formations and a view that just goes beyond description. I could see the snow capped mountain tops near Santa Fe to the south east and the looming mountains to the north in the Carson National Park. It was then I also noticed we were heading into darker clouds and even though the morning was getting late the temperatures were falling. Echo, having ridden this more more than a couple of times, had warned me he was going to sprint ahead and wait for us at Chimayo and so off he roared with that lovely V4 sound while the rest of us continued our nice leisurely pace up the road enjoying the vistas that kept appearing around every corner. I couldn't stand it any longer so I pulled off on a nice shoulder and got everyone to line up the VFR's just south of Chimayo.

Looking south:

Looking west:

Looking southeast:

We got back on the road and not 2 minutes later we caught up with Echo who had began to wonder what happened to us. Once we cleared Chimayo we continued on 76 and dropped right into a nice forest road that made me think I was riding in Colorado. Plenty of curves, nice scenery, chilly air, darkening skies, and a big smile. I was happy to be alive and just enjoying the ride. Every time I looked in the rear view mirror I could see 3 sets of lights behind me and the forest was alive with the rumble of V4's. I don't care what you ride but no other pack of bikes could ever sound that great and we didn't have to run straight pipes and scare every forest creature for miles to establish our presence either.

We got to the 518 turn off and stopped for a 5 minute rest so I pulled out the camera and took advantage of the scenery for some nice shots.

The gratuitous 8 spoke rim shot with some VFR's heads facing 518 (a road for another day).

And the picture at the top of this report is facing east and the direction we would soon be headed. In fact, no sooner had I snapped a couple of pictures than it started snowing on us. We decided it was definitely time to get on the move to keep ahead of the late spring snow fall. It took us all of 5 minutes to get ahead of the precipitation with it turning to rain just before we broke free. To the south of the road ran a nice stream and to the north was the wall of the mountain. Aside from the bitter cold it was everything I had been craving. Church was on. The therapist was in. I was like a sponge, just soaking it all in. If you could see through my helmet you would have seen me smiling like a fool just having my mind blown with all the spots I wanted to stop and go exploring or places to just sit next to the stream or lay on the grass at the same time smoothly leaning into one turn to lean into the next just enjoying the feel of the bike, the feed back of the road and the smell of the forest. I even forgot I was supposed to be cold or slightly wet. I was free of it all.

The stream disappeared and the speed limit picked up so I stepped up the pace as we continued on what was now 518 as the scenery opened up a bit. We were still following the mountain to the north but to the south and east it was opening up. Still beautiful it was the type of place I would gladly buy a couple of acres at just so I could build a small get-a-way for the weekends when the snow melted. Then we started heading north and the east side of the road fell away below us. I spotted an over look and caught everyone off guard by quickly pulling into it pulling everyone out of the sprint mode we were in. I felt bad but the shots were worth it.

Where we were headed:

Where we came from:

Looking east:

Then we got back on the road and Echo sprinted ahead to "scout the way" for us. At first I was going to attempt to keep up but then let off when I came to realize this was a new road to me and I was starting to push my comfort zone. I wanted to enjoy this ride way too much to let my silly pride get in the way so I settled back into a comfortable pace and just enjoying leaning it through the turns.

We caught up with Echo in a small town called Mora where he was going to turn around and head back home as planned. I had planned on doing lunch in Las Vegas but I spotted a restaurant right next to the gas station we had stopped at called the "50's Diner". The parking lot was pretty full of cars and it was just after 12 pm so I asked if there were any objections to a small change in plans (I like being flexible like that). There was no hesitation from anyone so we parked in the lot and next thing I know Echo decided to join us instead of heading right back. There was only one table available when we got there and it was a pretty nice place to eat if you ask me. The service was friendly, the food was excellent, and the only issue I had was when my server told another waitress to take my malt to the "cutie" she took it to a 3 year old girl in the table next to us by mistake. We all got a good laugh out of that once it was all sorted out and Zia ended up buying my lunch because the diner's credit card machine was down and I had forgotten to pick up some cash before heading out. No worries as on our next ride his lunch is on me (coughJemezRuncough).

This time Echo said his good bye's again and really did head back into what looked like a nice storm but later I found out he made it home chilled but otherwise safe and mostly dry. Rangemast, Zia, and I continued down south on 518 to Las Vegas where we stopped and topped off our tanks, let our significant others we were still alive and intact and then headed for I-25 west to turn south on 3. Turns out that 3 starts off as a nice dirt road that the Zumo 450 was kind enough to warn me about but if you go to the next exit not even a mile up I-25 it is paved all the way down. Google map fail. Zumo 450 win. If you ever want a really windy road running next to the Pecos river to the west and some stunning striated, rock walls to the east for an out of the way adventure then this is the road you want to take. It was unexpected that the road would be this stunning. Even the pavement was practically new. There were no shoulders, no pull offs (unless you count drive ways), grass was everywhere growing naturally (remember, this is New Mexico we are talking about), tall trees with green leaves, so many different shades of green, I felt I had gone back east and the stratus of the rocks, the technical requirements of the road. Why haven't I ever heard of this road before? All the way down to the village of Villa Nueva it was a purely golden ride. This was the first and only turn off I could find and it doesn't even come close to showing you what we saw.

At this point is was quite warm. In fact instead of being in the low 50's we experienced in the mountains it was the low 80's where we had stopped. I kept most of my layers on though because I knew once we hit I-40 it would be head winds and high speeds. On we continued down 3 and once we cleared Villa Nueva there was a nice set of twisties to climb up to the plateau where it got pretty much straight and some what dull. More of the usual desert scrub and sand that I see every day. But crazy harsh cross winds kept things lively enough to pass the time as we worked our way down to I-40. There we pulled over for the last time and said our respective good byes. As Tim said, none of us expected to experience 4 seasons in a day so the title of this report is credited to him.

Then it was into the head winds and the brutal assault of passing 18 wheelers at 80 mph while trying to keep the wind from shaking me off my bike for about an hour. By the time I got home I was shell shocked from the wind but when I walked into my house my 13 month old baby came walking towards me with a big smile on her face and I felt nothing but completely relaxed. I can hardly wait for the next one.

Thanks for joining me on that adventure Echo, Rangemaster, and ZiaVFR. It was truly a pleasure and thanks for letting me know you all made it home safe. Until next time.

[2thdr]

Very nice write up so far!

[Switchblade]

Thanks for the report and nice pix's ...

[vanion2]

Thanks guys...I hit the wrong button by accident so the rest is finished now.

[Switchblade]

Left Oaklohoma City on I-40 headed west to Great Sands Dunes National Park in Co. on the VFRer and hit 40mph+ cross winds and turn around to dangerous. The worst part was when a tractor trailor would pass and break the wind and then you would have to anticipate the amount lean need to stay on the road .

[vanion2]

Spring time here is like that almost daily. You get used to it after a while but the pucker marks never go away.

[Polarbear]

Thanks for this report. Pics do show the potential for amazing scenery and I, too, really enjoy the differences in temperature during a ride.

C

[vanion2]

I just ordered a RAM mount for my HD camcorder so in the future I may be able to expand beyond just pictures. I have a Contour helmet cam but forgot to pack it sadly.

[ZiaVFR]

Excellent report Shawn! You always take great photos and come up with great words to discribe the ride. I did try some video but very shakey and hard to watch so will be working on a different mount for the future.

I am already excited about the next ride.

Zia / Paul

[Dutchy]

Great ride with great friends and memories and pictures to boot!......

Can think of only one activity more fun than that

And there will be no pictures to show for sure...

[vanion2]

Can think of only one activity more fun than that

And there will be no pictures to show for sure...

For once I thank you for not posting pics of that event.

Zia...it's easy to get great shots when you have so many sexy bikes together in one place.

[Yokel]

Loved it! Thanks for the report!

[donnykaboom]

i love an empty road and a crowded house reference