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Meet up in Elbe at Elbe Supply Fuel Station.
54011 Mountain Hwy E, Elbe, WA 98330
Kickstands up at 9:30AM.
We will ride thru Ashford to Skate Creek road.
Then we will ride up and over the mountain and pop out on Hwy 12 between Randle and Packwood.
In Packwood we will stop for lunch at Cruser's Pizza.
Then we will ride back to Skate Creek road and hit dirt making a loop.
From Skate Creek and head thru Elbe hills ORV area eventually ending the ride in Eationville.
We will be stopping for ice cream in Eationville.
This ride will be big bike friendly.
I needed to have 2 bikes at the start, one for me and one for Dani Bunea. I met Daniel on the TransAlpina in Romania. and rode with him once before. He is living/working in Kent WA this summer. The night before, I managed to get two big bikes into one small pickup truck (my 2013 Tacoma) and lashed them down for a test ride. Kathi went out with me for a little loop to test the security of my dubious tie-down system. The bikes moved too much, so I revised my strategy that night, but didn't test it again. Luckily the new strategy worked well the next morning and I was able to drive the 2h20m to Elbe without too much drama.
I got up at 6:10am with the goal of leaving by 6:40. Made coffee, grabbed a jacket and jumped in the truck.
This is my second long ride on the new Ténéré. First here ride
I pumped up the tires on both the Ténéré and Africa Twin to 36 front, 42 rear to avoid pinch flats like the one I had on the Stampede Pass ride.
The whole day, from Vancouver to Elbe, the ride, then back home
| Time | Minutes | km | kph avg | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6:38am | 2.0 | Home | ||
| 6:40am | 132.8 | 194 km | 88 | Leaving home in Vancouver 2h13m to Elbe |
| 8:53am | 41.0 | Arriving at Elbe (population 38) unloading bikes | ||
| 9:34am | 44.1 | 43 km | 58 | kickstands up |
| 10:18am | 8.9 | View of Ranier from NF-85 | ||
| 10:27am | 20.2 | 12 km | 35 | |
| 10:47am | 1.7 | Junction of NF-85 and NF-47 | ||
| 10:49am | 12.7 | 8 km | 36 | |
| 11:02am | 8.1 | gravel lookout on NF-63 | ||
| 11:10am | 26.6 | 19 km | 42 | |
| 11:37am | 8.6 | regrouping at Davis Creek Rd and NF-63 near Randall before getting on Hwy 12 to Packwood | ||
| 11:45am | 17.8 | 18 km | 61 | |
| 12:03pm | 44.4 | lunch in Packwood | ||
| 12:48pm | 1.4 | 0 km | 9 | |
| 12:50pm | 7.5 | fuel stop in Packwood | ||
| 12:58pm | 32.4 | 31 km | 58 | |
| 1:31pm | 1.6 | wait at fork for folks to catch up | ||
| 1:33pm | 17.9 | 12 km | 41 | |
| 1:52pm | 12.8 | wait at fork for folks to catch up | ||
| 2:04pm | 32.9 | 31 km | 57 | |
| 2:38pm | 11.7 | Pictures of Mt Ranier | ||
| 2:50pm | 25.6 | 20 km | 47 | |
| 3:16pm | 23.3 | Ice Cream at Malibu Frozen Yogurt in Eatonville | ||
| 3:39pm | 20.7 | 19 km | 55 | |
| 4:00pm | 46.8 | Loading the bikes back into the truck at Elbe Supply | ||
| 4:47pm | 71.4 | 104 km | 87 | |
| 5:58pm | 4.0 | Space Age Fuel Station Travel Center Castle Rock Toutle River Rd | ||
| 6:02pm | 34.1 | 50 km | 88 | |
| 6:37pm | 0.1 | traffic jam near Woodland | ||
| 6:37pm | 36.9 | 45 km | 74 | |
| 7:15pm | back home in Vancouver 12h40m later | |||
| Moto totals | 6h26m | 214 km (129 miles) km | 67% moving, 2h6m breaks | |
| 12h40m | 8h54m moving | 607 km | 68.3 kph | 70% moving, 227 minutes of breaks |
The Dual Sport Adventure Riders' Club Ride (~130 miles of dirt)
What a day! The weather was perfect. It had rained a week earlier, so despite the heat and long summer, dust wasn't much of a problem.
I continue to be impressed with the Ténéré 700. The bike performs really well on these roads. I think the high tire pressure was not so great for traction and I look forward to fitting tubliss. The combination of high tire pressure and the crap tires on the Africa Twin helped Daniel to run off the road and drop the Africa Twin. That bike also needs Tubliss and some real knobbies.
Riding with Daniel again and introducing him to Shawn's Dual
Sport Riding Club was also nice.