lostboater wrote:
Since my schedule did not allow met join the race this year, I had the "race for one" from FLA to Calif on the LX150...and back. Then I went crazy and bought the GTS250 and rode it from Calif to FLA.
In my opinion there was no real challenge riding the 250. It was great, but nothing like riding the LX150. Riding the LX was challenging to man and machine and there was not even schedule to keep.
That said, I admire all of those, no matter what they ride, who enter the race. The real hero and winner in the Cannonballrace are Bagel and the others who put it togather. That is a moumental task and deserves a great round of applause.
Mmmn. This is a conversation that's been rehashed about a million times, but I'll say a few words anyway:
Yes, the GTS is a much more capable machine. It's faster, more substantial, etc. It's a lot "easier" to handle expressways, long stretches of highway, etc.
The thing that kept the "real challenge" is precisely what you were missing in your "race of 1" - the schedule mixed with the other riders. The competition kept it MUCH harder to just "ride". Ignoring the wide open road states (e.g., Indiana, Kansas, where I actually swear I fell asleep on the road once or twice for at least 20-30 mins out of exhaustion), you should have seen the pack. Colorado, Utah, California, etc. We'd start out at the beginning of the day, Joel Jess Patrick Rich and myself, and it'd be tight tight quarters. Each of us would be gunning for first position, and either someone's bike was able to push harder, someone's riding was able to push harder, someone physically had to give (e.g., "shit I need to pee so bad [or shit]"), etc. It became largely about the rider against other riders than the rider against the machine. But at the pace we kept, we also tested the machine. Belts snapped, variators chewed threw oil pans, exhausts blew, exhaust
studs snapped, etc. The competition kept it a challenge. Without it, it'd be no different than just cruising to a friend's house that just happens to be 3500 mi away.
Jester prepared the best, in those regards, to any of us. Joel manned through in unfathomable ways. I had a habit of leading leg 1 then succumbing to everything from gas, pee, hunger, to my bad knees and back. Rich fought a bike that fought him harder than we challenged, I believe, and kept up so well it's ridiculous (and he and I were VERY narrowly grouped for 4th & 5th place, with him taking a slight lead on the last day where my transmission shit itself).
I dont' think anyone would argue that the GTS isn't more than capable of doing the trip, and that at your own pace it's a relatively easy endeavor. That was not the case with us, though, and we clawed and bit at each other so much that we pushed each other to do things we didn't think us or our bikes could.
That's what I took away, and that's the biggest thing I can offer those who say the GTS is too easy. And it is too easy... as long as you don't have other skilled riders keepin' as much of an eye on the clock as you are
That said, I'm more than cool with ditching it. Hell, this year, the Ruckus will show people what it's capable of.