Modern Vespa

Day 3:

Started out wonderfully...left town on another sunny crisp morning with great roads twisting thru & over cedar and pine forests.

Marco, riding a lovely turquoise GT ran into a turn a bit too hot and found himself in a very rocky ditch. The bike was rideable but no longer a beauty queen. He was shaken but okay to continue....this would become a theme on day 3...

Southern Utah really is gorgeous...giant vistas with rock formations defying description....pity to roll thru there with no time to smell the roses.

Burr Trail Road....'not scooter friendly'....

But lovely. The real problem was the switch back section, rocky loose dirt and quite steep, 4 bikes hit the ground in that short stretch.

I had my turn to go down 15 miles later when descending into a wash that looked to be concrete only to find deep white sand. I guess if you have to go down, deep sand would be the choice. The handlebars had twisted so I enlisted Jess to help pull them back in line and I started looking the bike over for other damage. But time had become short, we now had 45 minutes to go 25 miles....So off we went on wounded scooters once again racing to meet the ferry crossing lake Powell. Made it on time.

Jim getting hurt made my tiny issues fade to no big deal. He is one tough MAN. Patrick did a great job under the circumstances, the stress of the day showing on his face. In looking back I should have done more to help him carry the weight he was feeling.

It was kinda somber riding away from the ferry without Patrick & Jim. Jess & I agreed to mellow it out for the balance of the day and just cruz to the hotel, there had been enough excitement for one day.

If ever there was a place that could use a good bar, it would be Blanding Utah....a dry town.

Hot....dirty...sweaty....tired and a bit worn the bikes & riders trickled into town. It had been a very tough day on bikes & riders both.

The beer never tasted so good....

R

8)

I'm always a fan of how you like to focus on 5 minutes of concern expressed to you, vs the time I spent helping you shuttle yourself back and forth and try to get your bike, including giving you several rides back and forth, probably over 30+ miles or so, after almost everyone else had taken off to do their thing, to make sure you got everything taken care of OK

Always fun. Glad I could help ya out

Jess, how often is that map redrawn?
I think it might be cached from a while ago.

The map is redrawn every time you load the page. It gets the set of locations for the topic each time.

The locations might not be coming through on your photos...

EDIT: Yep. Your photos have no location data.

+1. Patrick deserves special commendation for getting through Day 3, considering the weight that was upon his shoulders. I was torn between doing more to help and trying to stay in the race. In retrospect, I could have and should have done more.

Dude... we were hearing about your spark plug non-stop from Day Two until the end of the race.

actually not really. After the guy provided me the new HT cap I was more or less OK with it. You DID of course mention it regularly to try to get me to worry about it, so I guess that -was- you hearing about it regularly. But after that guy you brought it up more than I. My only real question I raised was whether or not I should get a new head or if there was something else I could do, which is where the timesert and helicoil discussions came from. That was basically once in an evening. But we did hear a lot about your variator and concerns about tearing through your oil pan gasket like Rich did.

Meanwhile Patrick here refers to a five minute conversation where we were sitting in a waiting room unable to do anything. And you happened to not be there.

I've got witnesses.

that's fine. Maybe they also heard the conversation start off with, 'hey Oz maybe your spark plug's going to blow up!' as started by yourself?

you can't have it both ways dude. You brought it up regularly to psych me out, and now you say you heard about it non-stop? Weird.

I'd actually venture to say that your topics of conversations were less than 5:
1 - how you had to keep Joel away from the #1 spot
2 - how you had to fix your bike for X/Y/Z
3 - how my bike was going to explode, and I should worry about even finishing since I hadn't planned as much as you

Okay, let's see if I've got this right.


Oz's spark plug = Yardsale's chair




cheers

Oh man....thats gonna leave a mark....



R

8)

To be fair, it did. But that's beside the point. Go put your humor back on. Nobody needs to see you without it.

Sorry, it ended up on the cutting room floor, just like a lot of pictures. The sparkplug had to be mentioned, it's already a theme in the story.

Let the record show that when we got to the bikes with no keys and got Jim on his way with a hidden key, Oscar did take me as passenger 1.6 miles to the gas station. Waited while I got Jess on the mobile and found out that my key was hidden on my scooter and Oscar then took me 1.6 miles back to my bike. Had the key not been there I have no doubt he would have stayed as long as needed or even finished the day with me two up.

Day 4 - really high (up)

Day 4 still

Day Four: Blanding UT to Salida CO

Day 4

Originally Posted at: http://cbr08.blogspot.com/search/label/2008%20Scooter%20Cannonball%20Run
Day 4 Photo Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feb31st/sets/72157607294244505/show/
Day 4 Photo Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feb31st/sets/72157607294244505/

My hatred for Cruise America Rental RV's has now been replaced by Duallys and Horse Trailers. I didn't think anything could beat lost foreigners in rental RVs... but horse shit and hay flying in your face sure does.

People pulling their Jeeps behind an RV is a close second.

I was glad to put Utah in the mirror. Colorado was an easy ride. All things considered. Granted we went through a southern/middle stretch. The first 150 miles it was in the 30's. My hands were numb. I am able to warm my left hand on the radiator and then ride cross handed and lean over the windshield and warm my right. Not safe but, it gets the job done. It was a fun ride once it warmed up. I left right after the morning meeting - got a head start on the day. 331 miles, almost 7 hours of riding. The last 30 miles included a climb up to over 11,800 feet.

I never thought I'd say I am looking forward to riding across Kansas. But, after 4 days of mountains, I am ready for a change.

My rear tire is wearing pretty good - bald after 1500 miles. The dealer at home assured me it would last alittle longer. I am going to try to get a new tire in Canon City tomorrow. Change in the hotel parking lot tomorrow night. Lisa's working on getting me into a dealer in Wichita or St. Louis.

Day 4:

Was nice to roll out of Blanding, even better was the bike was running well. Off across the desert on another sunny morning headed towards the southern Rocky mountains. I rode almost exclusively alone today, cannonball is like that, you can ride for hours and not see another of your fellow riders.

The bike was beginning to wear on me thou. The way I was controlling the high speed headshake was to grab the bars hard and 'lock' my shoulders so the bike had to push me too, kinda like a shock absorber. This was working to keep me on the road, but was killing my back. And it was starting to get old.

This problem reared its head on Monarch pass when in a long sweeping turn I hit a pothole and the bars started to whip around again....but this time when I grabbed them hard the rear of the bike slid out at 70+MPH. In slow motion all I could do was to try and keep the front wheel going in the right direction. How I saved it is a mystery to me. Never had a panic attack before but I think thats what was happening. I had to get off the bike, have a smoke & reboot as it were. Think I remember Jess passing me as I stood there shaking. Stopped at the next store and grabbed a beer and a Red Bull. For the balance of the ride I would never trust the bike again.

So a Piaggio Skipper is a relatively tall bike, and narrow. The seat was not what I had wanted so I shaved down the foam to move the passenger 'hump' back for a little extra room and to drop the seat height. I had shaved too much in the seating area. After a few hours in the saddle the padding under my ass would compress to almost nothing. By the end of day 4 my butt was hamburger. Searching for a restaurant that evening we passed a sporting goods store and I purchased a closed cell sleeping pad and covered my seat with first 2 layers and eventually 4 layers of comfy foam. Great improvement, but the damage was done. Gave the bike an edgy-ghetto-road warrior look.

Salida Colorado is gorgous, mostly a tourist town supporting the ski area in winter and vacation peeps in summer. They had a very old town center and it was really comforting to stroll around and take in the sights. Great dinner too.

For myself cannonball had become a genuine struggle, mostly of my own making.....and there were 6 days of riding left....

It had become an *adventure.

R

8)

*adventure
[ad-ven-cher]
-noun
1. an exciting or very unusual experience.
2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure.
3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.
4. discomfort retold at leisure.

Day 5, And then there was Kansas

Some of these photos are just spectacular! I am so envious that you guys had such a marvelous adventure. I am sure (at times) you questioned the wisdom of embarking on this trip ... but what an experience! Your poor scoots sure took a beating though!

Loving this thread!

Originally Posted at: http://cbr08.blogspot.com/search/label/2008%20Scooter%20Cannonball%20Run
Day 5 Photo Slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feb31st/sets/72157607311033586/show/
Day 5 Photo Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/feb31st/sets/72157607311033586/

Today was a good day. Pretty uneventful ride - all down hill. It was freezing cold leaving Salida. In the 20's when I got out to scooter - warmed up to the 30s, low 40s for the first hour or so.

Vespa Canon City was able to sell me a tire, liter of oil, new riding gloves (replace ones I lost in Utah) - and a new pair of winter gloves.

I did manage to lose my rain/touring jacket today. The nasty winds of Kansas worked my side bag open... and out it flew like a kite. I'll get a new one in Wichita tomorrow (hopefully). If I am lucky they can put the tire on - otherwise... I'll be doing it myself in the hotel parking lot tomorrow night. One of the guys has a bead breaker, makes it easier.

Today was 331 miles. Tomorrow is 360 miles. It looks a hell of alot longer on the map - because its completely straight.

The winds are really strong. I am going to shift my clothing bag back over the seat for tomorrow and see if that helps any.

I made a detour on my way into Garden City to see Holcomb and the farm house made famous by Truman Capote in his book "In Cold Blood". I also snapped a photo of the Finney County Courthouse (also described in the book). I was shocked at how small Holcomb was. One or two paved roads at best, the rest dirt. I'd imagine an entire family being killed today would rock that community - much less what happened in 1959.

Tomorrow will be light on the photos. Not alot to take a picture of. Plains, corn... flat lands... few silos.

Day 5? I've lost track

Day 5???

day 5:

Bit chilly up here at 7000 feet in the morning, but clear & sunny.

Jess informed me my bike had been given a name...Chucky. The name fit...like a glove.

At 6:45 I rode down the street to fuel up and when I tried to restart the bike, nothing. DAM DAM DAM DAM DAM.

Called Rolfie, he came over with the support truck with John Smith and we proceeded to find the problem in the parking lot of the gas station.

Got to watch everyone roll out of town.....Dam Dam....

Spark okay....
Fuel pump okay....
ECU okay....
Fuel injector.... dead....

Injectors for these things do not grow on trees. Well not on the trees around Salida Colorado.

Resigned myself to my first day on the support truck.....and then...

Joels dead bike has an injector...

Grabbed my cell to call his support truck and see if I could get them back here to rescue me. Since there is no cell service outside of the towns here all I could do is leave a message, but eventually got thru. They had gone to the nearest Vespa dealer(50 miles away) to shop for some bits for Joel and agreed to return west to help me out, but it would be a while before they could get here.

Then I relaxed. The day was once again on for me as I had never started, broke down before the clock began ticking....I was *lucky*.

Sat down with John & Rolf for a great breakfast, the only proper breakfast I would see in days. Spent some time checking out the scooter and preparing to get back on the road when the part arrived. When Joels crew got back I had the injector switched over and was on the bike ready to go in 9 minutes...WIN! Returned to the hotel for an offical start and off I went....3 hours behind the others but still in it for the day....WIN!

Before leaving found out Joel had broke another belt and was waiting out in the cornfields of the prarie. Rolfie had the tools & spare belt and did the work when he got to Joel, not a bad trade, injector for belt....WIN!

The ride went well, great roads, wonderful scenery as I descended the Eastern slope of the Rockies headed East towards Kansas. Did not know it at the time but this was the end of my mechanical issues, the bike performed flawlessly the rest of the way(well except for the trying to kill me part...). The seat padding I added worked great, thou my butt would complain loudly for the balance of cannonball.

Figured out if I hit potholes, etc below 70 or so the headshake was minimized so my solution was to grab some breaks before impact to get below that speed. Slowed me down a bit but things became less scary. WIN!

That extra 3 hours before leaving really helped, good meal, got to relax. Rolled into Garden City around 5 PM. What had started out as a disaster had become the least stressful day of the journey so far, and I needed that.

R

8)

Pretty much from Day Three onward. Yeah, definitely. It's something that you really have to come to grips with, that the bike is going to be sacrificed to the race. It's almost a consumable.

Jess, Did you guys keep a tally of the repair cost on the ride for each scooter?

It's best not to keep track of any costs on the cannonball. In 2006 between the bike and the trip I could have had a down payment on a house. Not a San Francisco house but enough for 90% of the houses I rode past going across the country. If you add it up you start having, what's that word? Regrets, that's it. But then you think of following JimT around a turn at 70mph while laughing at the sign that says 45, thinking "so how far can I lean this bike over" and suddenly you can't remember what that word was again.

Patrick articulated it so well that I'm not sure I can add anything more, but I'll try anyway. Frankly, there was just no time for anything like that. Even if there had been time, during the ride it was primarily the sweat of our own brows. A few people had tires changed by dealers here and there, but most of us were just taking our bikes apart and putting them back together, over and over again.

In any case, most of the costs were up-front: the bike, the tires, the variators, the belts, the GPS, and so on. Add to that trying to have a portable version of every tool you could possibly need. Then add to that the extras, plumbing an auxiliary gas tank, which usually entails buying two or three times as many parts as you actually needed in the end.

The bike I took on Cannonball was Plan B. There was a Plan A, and it cost twice as much to put together. The amount of money I spent getting Plan A together, failing, and then refocusing on Plan B was staggering.

That's not to say it has to be that expensive. If I had to do it again, it wouldn't cost nearly as much. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say.

So here's my axiom on the subject: The cost of mounting a competitive Cannnonball campaign is approximately two to three times what it would be if you knew what the @#$% you were doing.

I'm goint to start saving may qurters so I can race.

As Bobo said, there are only two things you really need to win Cannonball: a long-range gas tank and a catheter.

To that, I would add: unless you have exceptional (i.e. perfect) navigational skills, you're going to need a really good GPS as well.

I've done 5-600 miles in a day on my Harley, I would love to see what I could do on a scooter. Tour tank was on my list. I have a GPS and a will to ride

This is a really fantastic read! Excellent writing Jess. I love the pix! Thanks for sharing your story with us.

I'm a little late jumping into the game here... but here are some of my photos from day 5:

Moon setting west of Salida


Riding along the Arkansas River




Objects in mirror are closer than they appear


Big rocks


Go Kieran, go!


The high plains of Colorado


Hey look, Kansas isn't *all* flat!


Splat!


Relaxing at the end of the day in Garden City, KS



Cannonball steeds


Rob's Buddy


For the most part, it was a relatively uneventful day for me, and the most spectacular scenery and riding was behind us. Leaving Salida was pretty though, and I had fun dicing it up with smooothrider in western Kansas. However, I had to replace my variator that night, because the Polini I had been using was falling apart and I had been losing about 5 mph top speed each day, over the last 3 days. Here's the link to my blog post from day 5 with the juicy details:

http://bagelsscooterblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/day-five-salida-co-to-garden-city-ks.html

And for anyone interested, my 1500+ photos from the 2008 Cannonball are up on my flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/go_bagel/sets/72157607202465679/

I am really enjoying this thread everyone, thanks for sharing.
Bagel, I think you might have taken the coolest picture, ever, of Salida. I got stuck there for about a month one weekend in college when my Dodge Aries K broke down. I would much rather be traveling on scoots with you guys than bartering away that piece of crap!!

Day Five: Salida, CO to Garden City, KS

Day 6 maybe?

Day 6 last batch

Day 6 cont.

I actually kept track pretty good with a log, except for gas, which was on average $25 a day.

"Race Expenses"

10 Nights Hotels, taxes/fees, everything, $830
Gas (Assume 12 days, 10 cannonball, 1 SFO to Hotel, 1 ride home, $25/day), $300
Night Meals on Cannonball, $420
Day Time Meals / Gatorade, Waters, Snacks, $190
New Tire, $110
Half Way Service at Vespa St. Louis (Oil Change + Tire change, etc), $225
Misc Gear On Trip, $185

Total "Race Expenses" = $2260.00

** I chose not to room with anyone, could have cut hotel expenses in half. I also enjoyed 4-5 nights of steak and scotch. Could have ate half as much.

"Getting to the Start and Home Expenses"

Shipping Scooter from Philly to SFO: $850 (shipping + straps, gas to philly/tolls)
Airfare, $285 original fair, $250 upgrade to 1st Class (gift from family members!)
4 Days, 3 Nights SFO (Hyatt Fishermans Wharf), $745 (I made a mini, vacation out of it - never been to SFO before)
I live 4 hours from the finish, so I only had a morning ride home, no additional cost, just gas

Total "Getting to the Start and Home Expenses" = $2130

** Family gave me a 1st class upgrade. Could have stayed at cheaper hotel but I was on vacation.


Pre Cannonball:

My GTS only had 1,100 miles, aside from a brand new rear tire + oil change, I had no other service done too it. I was 100% stock.

I did not keep track of riding gear purchases specifically for the Cannonball. I estimate, approximately $1,000, between Garmin 2820 + XM Antenna, Saddle Bags, Top Bag, Front Rack, etc... Rain Gear, tire repair kit stuff.

Approximate Total, $5,390.00

I have set aside $5,000 for 2010. You can definitely do it for $3000-$4000. Hell, be slightly irresponsible, go sign up for a credit card, get a $5000.00 limit and go for it. By the time 2012 comes along, you can have it paid off and ready to rack back up!!!