Studio711.com – Ben Martens

Saturday (7/24) was the perfect day for our ride, if not a little bit warm. It was sunny and around 85 degrees. While I thought we might get a few riders from other area churches, it ended up being a group of four from Calvary: ScottK, DougW, FrankL and myself.

We met at the Safeway in Enumclaw and rode clockwise around Rainier, stopping in Packwood for lunch and gas. Paradise was our main sightseeing destination, but we stopped at Box Canyon and Reflection Lake along the way. Paradise ended up being so incredibly crowded that we didn’t stay for much more than a bathroom break.

By the end of the day, I had put 250 miles on my motorcycle and temporarily flattened my back side. We couldn’t have had a more beautiful day to do it though and I look forward to doing this again in the future!

The panorama at the top of this page is the view from Reflection Lake (it’s more impressive if the water is still.) The seven most recent pictures in the Rainier motorcycle ride gallery are from this trip.

UPDATE Tuesday 7/20: We’re still far enough out that the weather forecast could change, but given the streak we’ve been having, I feel pretty confident that we’re going to have a beautiful day. Current forecast is sunny and mid-80s. It sounds like there may be as many as 10 bikes on the ride! Remember that we’re meeting at the Safeway in Enumclaw at 9:45am. We’ll meet right by the gas station so we can all fill up. I drive a black 09 Kawasaki Concours14. If you’re going to be late, please call or text me (contact me ahead of time if you need my cell phone number), otherwise we’ll be heading out at 10am sharp. Also, my wife is no longer planning to come along (if that makes a difference to any of your potential riders.)

Summer is approaching and that means it’s time to hit the road on the motorcycle! I’m organizing a ride for all the area WELS churches. Of course everyone is welcome, but I’ll be spreading the word by sending mail to the churches.

We will meet on Saturday, July 24 at 9:45am at the Safeway at 152 Roosevelt Ave, Enumclaw, WA. At 10am, we’ll head east on Hwy 410 around Mt. Rainier to Peters Inn in Packwood for gas and lunch. From there we’ll drive to Paradise and then continue west and north to Hwy 167.

Join us for a leisurely cruise through beautiful scenery along fun, twisty roads on your cruiser, sportbike, trike, large moped or anything else that has less than four wheels and can go at least 65mph. The longest stretch between gas stations will be just over 60 miles. Be sure to pack money for gas, lunch and the park entry fee ($10-15.)

A map of the ride is included below or visit Bing Maps for a more details view. The mapped route is 173 miles and should take about 4 hours plus stops for food, gas and pictures so I expect it to take most of the day.

Leave a comment here if you’re planning to come. If we have bad weather, this post will be updated with a decision by 7am on the Saturday morning of the ride.

Whether this is your first group ride or your fiftieth, we hope you can join us! Bring a friend!

Every year a group of riders gets together to ride through the enormous fields of Tulips north of Seattle. This is the 9th annual ride but it was my third and Tyla’s second. On Friday night, I was pretty sure we weren’t going to go because the forecast looked bad, but on Saturday morning I got up and decided we should give it a shot. I’m glad we did!

We left the house in a light drizzle, drove through sun, and then arrived under clouds at Tulalip where we met up with the 52 other motorcycles. We left with a police escort to block the intersections and keep the group together (thank you!) and made our way to Tulip Town. While we were there, it rained a bit, but nobody minded too much because there was an indoor area to grab a bite to eat.

After browsing what was left of the tulips (we missed the prime blooming period), we headed west on Hwy 20 and then south down the length of Whidbey Island. The sun came out and gave us some gorgeous views as we crossed Deception Pass. We pulled up to the Clinton/Mukilteo Ferry just as it was arriving so we didn’t have to wait more than 5 minutes to board.

All in all it was a fantastic day. I’m so glad that we decided to give it a shot! We took the new video camera along and Tyla took some video from the back seat. I haven’t had time to edit it together yet, but Jeff Henshaw, the ride organizer, put together a nice video. He has a helmet mounted camera which worked quite well. Bonus points if you can pick us out in the video. I’ll give you some hints: at 2:15 we’re getting off the bike and at 3:50 we’re the second bike to go past the camera.

I posted eight pictures in the photo gallery and you can see Jeff’s pictures on the ride’s web page. In the picture from the ferry, you’ll notice that we picked up the official t-shirts. The profits went to a Haiti relief fund and a local Tulalip tribe charity for kids.

Hopefully the photos are adjusted correctly. It occurred to me after I finished all this that i haven’t done any color correction on this fancy new monitor yet. I’m really happy with the way this photo and this one came out. Hopefully they look good on your end too.

Thanks to Jeff for organizing another great ride! We are already looking forward to next year. This may have even encouraged me to start up my own group ride. Stay tuned!

I bought my black 2009 Kawasaki Concours 14 ABS one year ago this week. In honor of that event, I decided to check out the 2010 model and see what they changed. It’s the third year of the Concours 14 and they made quite a few significant improvements.

• Traction control
• Coactive-braking technology which links front and rear brakes (can be turned off)
• Fuel economy assistance mode to improve mileage by about 25% when cruising on the highway.
• Blue color (they still offer black too)
• Redesigned side fairings to redirect exhaust and keep the rider cooler
• Heated handgrips
• Tank bag hooks
• Side mirrors were raised
• Larger, redesigned windscreen which is supposed to reduce turbulence around the helmet

A lot of these things would be nice to have, but if I had to pick two I’d pick the new side fairings and the fuel economy mode. I might stop by the dealer to see if the fairings are compatible with the 2009 bike.

But do I really have buyer’s remorse? Nope. You know what the 2010 model doesn’t come with? The 5000 miles of good memories I put on my bike in the last year.

I’ve driven the road from Bellingham to Mt. Baker a few times, but it has always been in the winter with skis on top of my car. On Saturday, I did it on the motorcycle.

BenH and I met up at Denny’s for breakfast. Tyla joined us too since it was right by her apartment and then headed off for a day of shopping. Ben and I pounded the pavement all the way up I-5 and then headed east on 542. It’s a fantastic drive and a great motorcycle road. Once you get up to the Heather Meadows base area, you can continue past up to Artists Point. Skiing there in the winter, I had no idea there was a road there. A mile or two through some incredibly tight switchbacks (don’t take your RV) take you up to the top of Artists Point where you are greeted with a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains.

This is the earliest that the road has opened in a while. It usually takes them until later in the year to clear out all the snow, but due to the low snowfall last winter and the hot weather this year, it went faster than normal. You could still see spots where the plows had carved through drifts 6-7 feet high.

We hung around for a while at the top, took some pictures, watched kids sledding, and wished we had brought skis. You could get in a football field or two with about 100-200 foot drop. Nothing serious but not bad for July and August.

On the way back, we made a minor deviation and cut down US 9 to US 20 and then back down I5. It’s about 10 miles shorter than going through Bellingham and I think it’s a little quicker.

At a gas station in Burlington, we met a couple guys who were traveling the country on their bikes. They have been gone for a couple months and one of them was from Kokomo, IN (the Indiana license plate sparked the conversation.)

All in all, it was another great ride. I love the feeling you get after a long ride when you feel completely in tune with the bike. It really makes me want to take a long multi-day trip.

I was also reminded how much safer it is to ride with another biker beside you. We rode almost 250 miles together and then split up for the last 10 miles. In that 10 miles, I was almost hit three times. Two people on the highway merged halfway into my lane before they saw me and then somebody tried to make a left turn into me coming off a side street. I know we’re small and hard to see, but it’s summer. Please double check those blind spots. And if you see a motorcycle approaching in your rear view mirror, make sure you know where they are before you change lanes. If you don’t see them, don’t assume they turned off.

Photos are available in the photo gallery.

On Sunday, I hopped back on the bike for another ride. I recovered surprisingly quickly from the 440 miles on Friday. This ride took Tyla and I down to Mt. Rainier. It’s a very nice ride covering mostly two lane roads and then a very nice windy road up to Sunrise lookout. There was heavy traffic, but not as much as I was expecting considering the holiday. Plus, traffic always seems lighter on the motorcycle since it is much easier to pass.

The view from the top was outstanding. We took our time at the top having lunch, a snowball fight, and a walk through the nature center.

It was a great day for the ride, and I hope that it’s just the start of our Mt. Rainier adventures for the year. I want to take the car back next time and do some hiking either from Sunrise or one of the other entrances.

That wrapped up a 600 mile weekend on the motorcycle for me. On those two rides, I went from sea level to above 5000 feet twice, saw three different active volcanoes and numerous alpine lakes, watched roaring rapids with rafters and a 100+ ft waterfall, had a snowball fight and sweated in near-100 degree weather. Seattle positively rocks. The more time I spend here, the more confused I am about why the entire country doesn’t live here.

Photos are available in the photo gallery.

Not only did I survive the ride on Friday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I took almost the exact route that I talked about in the post on Friday. The only deviation was that I took US 97 Alt right through Chelan to check out the lake. Impressions from the ride:

• I have now been through all four east/west mountain passes in Washington over the Cascades. Highway 20 (the northernmost pass) has the best scenery. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I can’t wait to go through again! The pictures do not do it justice. You could easily spend a whole day stopping at each lake (there are lots of dams along the river) and relaxing.
• It was HOT (upper 90s) on the east side of the Cascades. I tried riding with no coat for a while, but that didn’t last long. I think it was cooler with the coat on because it kept me in the shade. At some temperature, the increased wind speed actually makes you hotter instead of cooling you off. It’s a giant convection oven. That’s my theory anyway.
• This motorcycle is awesome. I got a number of compliments/questions when I stopped for gas. In particular, I get a lot of questions from taller riders who are curious what modifications I made to the bike for comfort.
• I was able to go about 100 miles per run (that number decreased toward the end of the run.) I was able to stretch out my knees fairly well, but there was no rest for the butt. I think I might try biker shorts next time to see if that makes any difference.
• I got great gas mileage. Normally I get in the very low 30s around town but I averaged over 40 for this ride.
• The AutoCom system I put on the bike is marvelous. I had music for the whole ride. It was an eclectic mix of Jason Mraz, Little Big Town, Flobots, The Hush Sound, and a few others. The audio highlight was listening to Preston and Steve’s Drunk Day podcast from last Thursday. Best morning show ever.
• The audio system performed well even with the ear plugs that I wore for the entire trip. I had to turn up the volume, but in the end, I think I heard the sound better than without the earplugs. The plugs took out much of the wind noise and the audio made it through nicely.

The total ride was 440 miles and I covered it in exactly 10 hours. I don’t think I could have done it much faster as I kept all my breaks to a minimum.

I can’t recommend this ride enough! However, take two days to do it if you have the time and it will be even more enjoyable. There is so much to see!

Photos are available in the photo gallery.

Ever since I arrived in Seattle with a motorcycle, I’ve been told about the Cascade Loop. It covers some of the most beautiful roads in Washington, but it’s also a big trip for one day. Today, I set out to conquer the loop.

You can see my basic route below. The actual Cascade Loops includes a run down Whidbey Island, but that would make a big day even bigger and I’ve traveled that road many times anyway. The highlight of this ride is going to be the northern stretch along Highway 20. That 5500 foot high pass is closed all winter long, and I’ve never been there.

The route is about 450 miles. I average about 50mph on long trips due to the need for frequent stops so that puts me at 9 hours. Factor in some extra sore muscles from a full day on the bike and I’m hoping to tackle this in 12 hours. I’m planning to Twitter my progress along the way so you can watch for updates on my feed.

I’m still undecided about whether I will come back through Stevens Pass or Snoqualmie Pass. Stevens is more scenic and gets me out of the hot weather on the east side of the mountains. Snoqualmie is 70mph interstate. I’ll make the call when I get near Cashmere. Interestingly it’s only 1 mile extra to go through Stevens than Snoqualmie, but I expect it’s about 15-30 minutes longer.