2008 Ice Cycle Run (RTE)

The Pacific NW Road Riders (PNWRR) have been doing an Ice Cycle Run for a number of years. This is a Yahoogroups mail list for riding enthusiasts in the Pacific Northwest. I participated on this run two years ago and decided I would run it again this year.  I haven’t had an opportunity to mix and mingle much with the group in the last two years and I wanted to reintroduce myself. 

  JD’s Route for the 2008 Ice Cycle Run

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I didn’t communicate my intension to join in on the mail list as I was planning on just doing my own thing.  I wasn’t sure how my back and shoulder were going to hold up and riding solo would allow me to ride my own pace or abort if need be.  The plan was for folks to meet at the Olympic Club in Centralia on Sunday November 30th between 1PM and 3PM for the meet and greet.  There was a group coming from Lynnwood area, a group coming from the Vancouver area and other smaller groups and individuals from points in between.

Seeing as how I haven’t been able to ride much I decided to get an early start so I could take the “long way down”.  The thermometer on our porch indicated it was 48 degrees so I decided I wouldn’t need any heated gear.  I had already prepared Brutus, my R1200GS, so I geared up and headed for the garage.  I left my home in Kennydale at around 9:00AM and fueled up at a local gas station in the Renton Highlands.  I then headed over to Cemetery Road (NE 4th) and headed East to pick up SE May Valley Road.  I then turned East on the Issaquah Hobart Road and followed it on out to Ravensdale.  

I then worked my way out to Kanasket State Park, Palmer and Cumberland.  This is about half of my normal Taco Thursday route, when I ever get an opportunity to do them.  After passing Nolte State Park the landscape opens up a little and there was an opportunity to stop and take a few pictures of the valley and Mt. Rainier.  As it turns out it would be my only chance to take any “scenic” pictures that day and the last view of any blue sky.

I continued South into Enumclaw and then made a short hop on Hwy 410 to Buckley.  From Buckley I headed South on WA-165 and then turned SW on Pioneer Way E in South Prairie.  This follows the Carbon River for a few miles and then I turned South on Orville Road E.. This follows the Puyallup River down to the berg of Electron then turns West along the North side of Lake Kapowsin.

About three mile past the lake there is a Texaco mini mart.  I hadn’t had a cup of coffee yet and this was a little shy of half way on my outbound leg.  I have stopped here on a number of other occasions.  The bar across the street is a biker hangout in the summer but was pretty much a redneck bar (no offense intended, I happen to like rednecks) the rest of the year.  I parked in the lot and pretty much had the whole place to myself.  I pulled off my helmet and gloves and went in to get a cup of coffee.  The gal running the place was by herself and she must have been bored because she followed me outside and we chatted for a while.  Well she actually needed a smoke and I was conveniently located nearby . 

We had been chatting for about five minutes when a local pulled up.  She headed back into the store and the local started talking to me about Brutus.  As it turned out he was a biker so we introduced ourselves and then talked about his bikes and then my bikes and so on and so on … 

About that time four motorcycles pulled up and stopped at the four way stop intersection in front of the mini mart.  They were talking about something, I assumed they were were figuring out which direction to go.   They pulled through the intersection, saw me and turned into the parking lot.

So here I was in the middle of nowhere and who should I run into but Randy, Fred, Roland and one other rider that were part of the PNWRR group from Lynnwood.  They were indeed trying to figure out where they needed to go and as it turned out they had lost almost half of their group somewhere along the way. 

While they were figuring out what route they wanted to take I finished my coffee.  Then it was kickstands up and we were back on the road.  I rode at the back of the pack seeing as how they were already used to the riding order they were in.

We headed West from the Texaco and then turned South on WA-7.  There are some nice twisties between here and Alder Lake.  WA-7 turns South at Elbe and we stayed on it until we got to Morton.  Somewhere along the way the lost sheep from Lynnwood caught up and we were then a group of eight.  There are just some slow sweepers along this section but it’s a pretty ride.  From Morton we headed West on WA-508.  

I think Randy wanted to  turn onto the Centralia Alpha Road but Fred either missed the turn of didn’t know it was the way to bypass Chehalis and get in couple more twisties.  Fortunately we were fine as far as time was concerned even with the stop and go on city streets through Chehalis and on into Centralia.  We arrived at the Olympic Club at about 12:45.

There was already a good number of riders parked and milling around on the sidewalk near the cafe.  I guess most folks didn’t know that a room had been reserved for the group.  Once that info got spread around the group congregated in the cafe. 

I ordered one of the house brews and it took a little while for everyone to get seated and order refreshments.  We kind of broke down into smaller conversation groups with whoever we happened to be sitting next to.  It was an informal gathering and a fun environment. 

We eventually ordered lunch and a few late comers came in from time to time.  I had a club sandwich which was pretty good.  I think the semi-official tally was 26 people.  I guess this is the largest gathering so far and it has grown steadily every year.  The good news for most folks is that there has only been one year where they actually had icicles . 

A few people started to leave around 2:00 and I got up to leave about 2:30.  It had turned into a pretty gray day but no rain so far.  I guess the folks coming from Vancouver had run in the rain most of the way.  I knew it would start getting dark around 4:30 so I wanted to get headed home.

I did a not quite direct back roads route home.  I ran WA-507, WA-702 and then backtracked part of my outbound route back to South Prairie.  Then it was WA-410, WA-167 and finally I-5 for the last couple of miles home.  Overall it was about 250 miles and it was probably good that it wasn’t much farther.  No lasting ill effects but I am still working back into a “normal” routine.  Thinks are looking good so far .