The Pacific NW Road Riders (PNWRR) had the sixth annual running of the Ice Cycle Run on November 29, 2009. This is third year I have participated. The weather was supposed to be fog in the morning turning to partly sunny in the afternoon. The usual destination for this RTE is the Olympic Club Restaurant in Chehalis, WA.
One group was planning on meeting up at the Fauntleroy ferry to catch the 8:35 AM run to Southworth. There ended up being four of us; George, Doug, Dean an I. I rode Brutus over early enough to stop for some coffee and a pumpkin scone at the closest Starbucks.
The ferry ride over was uneventful and we started a back roads route to Chehalis for the planned 12:00 RTE. I’m glad the lead rider, George, had the route programmed into his GPS because I would have had great difficulty making all the turns and cutbacks to pick up all of the twisties that we rode without electronic help. I had my Zumo trip log set up so I was able to capture all of it.
There is no way to get an embedded map to show all of the detail so I will just provide the file “Ice Cycle Run 2009.gpx”. Just right-click and do a “Save As” to copy it to your computer. It 
contains routes, both out and back, as well as tracks.
The ride started out overcast but fairly dry until we got down to the Purdy area. From there until just before we got to Chehalis we were running on damp or wet roads and through drizzle to light rain. That put a little ‘damp’er, pardon the pun 
, on aggressive cornering but it was still a nicely spirited ride. We were occasionally teased by a peek at the sun. We ended up riding the 135 miles to Chehalis without any rest stops.
Pulling into Chehalis the sun was finally breaking out. We arrived at the Olympic Club a couple of minutes before noon. We lucked out and got parking spots right in front of the Olympic. As it turned out several other groups of riders were participating in the Ice Cycle Run and everyone was pulling in about the same time.
Though it wasn’t planned the way it turned out everyone was directed back to the Green Room and we ended up pretty much filling it. 
If it had just been our group there would have only been about eight of us. I had a Club sandwich and one of the house brews and we all had a good BS session while we ate.
I don’t remember when we got up to leave but I am guessing it was about 1:30 PM. During lunch our four rider group had agreed on a long loop back through Morton, Eatonville, Enumclaw and Hobart for the route back. We picked up one additional rider who wanted to ride with us a good deal of the way.
The homeward route wasn’t filled with quite as many turns and cutbacks as the outbound trip. In spite of that we ended up on some roads that I had certainly never been on. The weather and roads were dry for the whole trip home.
We rode about 110 miles back to Enumclaw and George pulled over to see if anyone wanted to take a short break. I still had gas in my tank so I didn’t feel like taking a break 
. So I said my farewells and finished up the remaining 35 miles to home. I even got home with a little daylight left 
.
It was another successful if un-icy Ice Cycle Run. 
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I installed a set of LeoVince SBK Header Pipes and a Touratech Engine Guard Extension last weekend. I was also going to install Hyperpro 3D shocks but I ran into a problem with the rear shock. 
The McCruise cruise control vacuum actuator sits in the space where the hydraulic reservoir on the shock needs to go. After communicating with Klaus at EPM Performance, I am sending the shock back so he can convert it to a hose mounted reservoir. After dealing with two different broken bolt issues during my mod and maintenance session, I also decided to wait on installing the front shock until I get the rear shock back.
The LeoVince stainless steel headers are light weight, look very nice and went in without any fuss. They are a stepped header design and the fit and finish are excellent. They measure 45mm in diameter at the exhaust port, step out to 50mm in the down tube area and finally out to 54mm at the collector. The muffler came off without any problems and the header drawing that comes with the headers is more then adequate to figure out how to install them. The area where the catalytic converter was located is now neat and uncluttered. I haven’t had time to do a decent road test yet, 
though I don’t expect any startling improvements. I’m still using the stock muffler and I don’t have any plan to change that out in the future. The ride around the block and the seat of the pants says there is improved low end grunt. The exhaust sounds a little different though it is hard to quantify. I guess it sounds throatier and slightly louder.
On more of a maintenance topic, I was having increasing problems with the McCruise cruise control. 
Over a period of time the cruise control started to deactivate on it own and the problem eventually got to the point that I couldn’t get it to set. I went through all the diagnostics procedures and there was only one thing that wasn’t eliminated. There was something wrong with the wheel speed input. I examined the McCruise sensor that is mounted on the right front brake caliper. About all I could see was that the sensor wasn’t perfectly aligned with 
the magnets that were installed in the heads of the right brake rotor bolts. I moved the sensor and reduced the gap between the sensor and the magnets. Now everything is working as it should again. The obvious conclusion is that the sensor has been moving so I tightened the hardware as much as I was comfortable with. I am going to add an inspection/adjustment of the speed sensor alignment to my regular maintenance regimen.
I updated the table in the “I Think I am Finally Done” article to include these additional modifications.
JD
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Marty and Cheryl of the Northwest Adventure Riders posted a ride to Timberwolf Mountain on the forum. I have been a member of the Yahoogroup for a while and I had met some of them for a breakfast at RMC in Renton once. I had yet to hook up for a ride with them but I had choices for this particular Sunday. I could ride to the Oyster Run in Anacortes, which I have been to many times, and swap sweat with 200,000+ bikers or ride a dualsport ride to some places I have never been and meet some riders I have conversed with but never ridden with. That’s a no brainer for me so I planned to meet up with them at the suggested location of McDonalds in Bonney Lake around 9:00 AM.
I pulled into the parking lot and before I could get my helmet off Marty and Cheryl pulled up and parked next to me. We made introductions then went into McDonalds. I think I just had a McLatte and we sat and chatted for a little while until Jay pulled in. Then we were four. A short time later Dennis pulled in. This was the first ride with the group for Dennis as well. He had just bought a brand spanking new KLR650. As it turned out I was the only rider with a bike larger than 650 cc. We waited until a little after 9:00 AM and it was decided that it was unlikely anyone else was coming.
We mounted up and headed East on Hwy 410. It was prearranged to stop in Enumclaw to meet up with two other riders, John and Dan. That’s Doctor Dan for the benefit of those in the NW Adventure Riders group. Those that needed gas filled up at the Arco station and then we were back on Hwy 410 on our way to road FS70. The parking area just off FS70 was the last meeting place that people could hook up with the group. When we got there nobody was there so we pushed on.
Rather then do a blow by blow of our routes I have created the GPX route file Timberwolf Lookout.gpx. Just right-click and do a “Save As” to copy it to your computer.
Rather then run out FS70 we ran down to FS72 then up and over to FS70 just to see some lesser seen territory and to spend less time on pavement. We also took the high road FS7030 route over the pass to the east side rather then take the Naches Trail. Some of the high road was new territory for me especially coming back down to FS19 on the East side. We stopped at one of the campgrounds for a little break. It was 1:00 PM and we were discussing the plan for the remainder of the ride. We still had a lot of riding ahead of us and not everyone might want to get home all that late. John decided that he needed to head back so when we got to Hwy 410 he headed West and the rest of us headed East.
We stopped at Whiskey Jacks so folks could buy food, drinks and gas if needed. I had fueled up before leaving home and with 8.7 gallons I could do the whole ride without refueling. We discussed the options for getting out to Timberwolf Mountain. We could take Hwy 410 down to Nile or look for an off road route from Cliffdell. Off road won out and we back tracked on Hwy 410 about half a mile to pick up FS1706 and FS1600. This route also takes us to Nile where we get onto FS1500 to head out to Timberwolf Mountain.
The weather was beautiful but the dust was a little bit of a problem during this last portion of the trip. We had been playing follow the leader pretty well up to this point in spite of folks laying back to avoid the worst of the dust. Near the final turnoff to Timberwolf the last two riders thought they had missed a turn and doubled back. This put them several minutes behind the main group. I went back to make sure they didn’t need any help and got about 1/4 mile when I met them coming up the road. They told me what happened and they took off as I was turning around. I had the advantage of a GPS that was doing a pretty good job with all the trails we had been riding so I managed to stop at the Timberwolf turnoff that they just went tearing by.
They didn’t see the riders just a little up the turnoff nor did they hear the honking horns. Jay took off after them and the rest of us ended up on Timberwolf Mountain. About ten minutes later everyone was again reunited. Considering all the twists and turns we had taken during the day in the swirling dust it is a miracle this was the only navigation problem we really had.
Timberwolf is a fantastic viewpoint with a pretty impressive drop-off and the only scenic spoiler was a forest fire that was smoking up much of the Western vistas. I think it was about 3:30 PM at this point. There was some discussion on what route to take home. I had already decided I was going strait back to Hwy 410 and then run it back to Enumclaw. I think that was the general consensus though there would be more discussion after we got back to Nile.
We back tracked to Nile and eventually headed west on Hwy 410. I honked my horn as the rest of the group pulled off at Whiskey Jacks. I didn’t need fuel and I just wanted to keep the wheels rolling. We had all said our goodbyes back at Nile so there was no reason for me to stop. The trip home was uneventful and the traffic wasn’t too bad. I stopped at a favorite eatery in Renton to have a burger and a beer.
My total mileage was 292 miles and about 105 miles were off road. It was all dual track and none of it was really challenging unless speed becomes a factor. There were a few steep stretches, some washboard sections and a badly degraded road here and there but that was the worst of it. Lets just say I was keeping up with the thumpers and I am not very accomplished when it comes to off road riding. All in all a very good day.
Thanks to Marty and Cheryl for hosting a great ride. All the picture from this ride can be found in this gallery.
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This wasn’t a two wheeled adventure but I wanted to get the pictures in the gallery because this is another beautiful area in the American South West. Our friends KJ & Jackie invited us share a week with them in their Sedona timeshare condo. We flew down on August 28th and flew back on September 6th. The flight going down to Phoenix wasn’t very crowded and we managed to not have a third person in our seat row making the trip a little less sardine like 
. Our friends drove from their home in Lake Havasu City to pick us up and then we drove to Sedona.
I have broken the pictures up into several galleries by location or activity. The top level gallery can be found HERE. We did something pretty much every day during our stay be it driving around Sedona shopping or seeing the sights, a four hour Pink Jeep Tour, a one hour helicopter charter around Sedona, Meteor Crater, a walk around Jerome, Montezuma Castle, Montezuma Well, Tuzigoot, Fort Verde State Park, Oak Creek Canyon or Red Rock State Park. We also had the opportunity to visit with my wife’s cousin who lives near Prescott. She drove to Sedona and met us at the condo. We had lunch and spent some time catching up on the many years since they had last seen each other.
We certainly didn’t hit every attraction in the area and I know we didn’t see a fraction of the shops and galleries that seem to be everywhere. We can certainly see why this is a very popular area and we thank our friends for sharing this special place with us. This was my second trip to the four corners area this year and there was just so much to see and do that I still just ended up doing a sampling of them. We will definitely need to do more traveling to the region.
So after a fantastic ten day adventure we had to head back home. KJ & Jackie drove us back to Phoenix to catch our flight back to Seattle. They would have a three or more hour drive home. We did discover while we were there that there is air service to Flagstaff which would have made things a little more convenient for our friends. We got to the airport early enough that we were able to upgrade to First Class for $50 each so we splurged a little 
. It made for a comfortable flight home.
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