2021 Pashnit Touring on a Hayabusa
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How does a Fly and Ride trip work?
Do you have secure location to ship a bike to, then just get a ride to there from the airport?
A friend and I have talked about it for a few years, we could take a week or so off no problem, but don't have time to make 2 cross country trips to and from the west coast to Va.
Any info and details you could share on that?
Do you have secure location to ship a bike to, then just get a ride to there from the airport?
A friend and I have talked about it for a few years, we could take a week or so off no problem, but don't have time to make 2 cross country trips to and from the west coast to Va.
Any info and details you could share on that?
Six, two of the riders on this particular tour of Southern Oregon were fly-n-ride, Onson & Rich are old friends that came from PA & NY. They flew into San Francisco and took an Uber to local rental facility. They both rented from Eagle Rider. Onson is really short, he rented a Yamaha MT-07 and Rich rented a BWM GS700. We do not recommend renting (ever) very large motorcycles for these rides. BWM RS, K16s, Harleys are often overwhelmed by the tight twisty backroads that are common here. We do not recommend cruisers (of any kind) for these rides, either.
You can ship your bike to CA, I have had riders do that, but it's about $500 and only makes sense if you're going to be here a week-or-so to balance out the cost of shipping vs renting. Riders have also shipped their own bikes to local moto dealers who are willing to take the bike and hold onto it until rider flys in. Riders have also stored bikes in CA and commuted from UT, TX and CO that ride regularly with us.
Furthest I've had riders come for these rides is one riding down from Canada, rode on tour and turned around, and she rode back to Canada. So building these motorcycle tours into the middle of your moto-vacation is common also.
You can ship your bike to CA, I have had riders do that, but it's about $500 and only makes sense if you're going to be here a week-or-so to balance out the cost of shipping vs renting. Riders have also shipped their own bikes to local moto dealers who are willing to take the bike and hold onto it until rider flys in. Riders have also stored bikes in CA and commuted from UT, TX and CO that ride regularly with us.
Furthest I've had riders come for these rides is one riding down from Canada, rode on tour and turned around, and she rode back to Canada. So building these motorcycle tours into the middle of your moto-vacation is common also.
Every time I’m wandering around rural southern Oregon, I feel as though I’ve time warped 30 years backwards. Turned on the radio on a recent visit to Southern Oregon and Casey Kasem Top 40 Countdown was playing Loverboy Turn me loose. Told ya.
How small is Powers, Oregon? There’s a high school here and the senior class has 5 students. FIVE. The sophomore class has TWO. It’s tiny. But… there is a logging road over Mount Bolivar, known as NF3348 that is paved that creates a fun loop. And it’s an awesome single lane road paved over the range.
Headed south out of Powers, the road seems quite nice as first
That didn't last long. Single lane logging road.
How small is Powers, Oregon? There’s a high school here and the senior class has 5 students. FIVE. The sophomore class has TWO. It’s tiny. But… there is a logging road over Mount Bolivar, known as NF3348 that is paved that creates a fun loop. And it’s an awesome single lane road paved over the range.
Headed south out of Powers, the road seems quite nice as first
That didn't last long. Single lane logging road.
Cool, thanks for the info.
I've only wanted to do a Pashnit tour for a decade or so now, so we'll see what next summer looks like then.
I think the cost of shipping vs renting would work better.
There’s always that moment on a motorcycle tour where one of the riders will approach me and ask when’s the next fuel stop? Not far, I assure. About 20 miles, I say. Hmmm, I’m not sure if I can make that they always retort. It’s actually another 28 miles to fuel. 20 is about the same as 28, give or take 8 miles, right?
But what I do know in advance is our loop is 160 miles, and the bikes in my tour group can all make that range. But most riders are not used to riding around on fumes, it’s uncomfortable, unpleasant, and worrisome. Tell ya what, I say, you ride in front of me, I’ve got extra fuel on my bike. Plus, the Hayabusa has a large tank. If you run out, I’ll top ya off. Good? That reassures them, and off we go on our 28-mile trek.
All the bikes made it just fine, and my extra fuel remained intact. But it does illustrate how easy it is to ride considerable distances in rural Southwest Oregon and need to pre-plan your fuel stops. We’ve made the assumption in previous years that a town marked on the map surely would have fuel, then arriving to discover it closed back in 1983.
But what I do know in advance is our loop is 160 miles, and the bikes in my tour group can all make that range. But most riders are not used to riding around on fumes, it’s uncomfortable, unpleasant, and worrisome. Tell ya what, I say, you ride in front of me, I’ve got extra fuel on my bike. Plus, the Hayabusa has a large tank. If you run out, I’ll top ya off. Good? That reassures them, and off we go on our 28-mile trek.
All the bikes made it just fine, and my extra fuel remained intact. But it does illustrate how easy it is to ride considerable distances in rural Southwest Oregon and need to pre-plan your fuel stops. We’ve made the assumption in previous years that a town marked on the map surely would have fuel, then arriving to discover it closed back in 1983.
Do you all worry about riding in smoke from fires? That would cause a real reaction in my asthma.
Everyone reacts differently to the smoke. It doesn't bother me at all. However, one of the riders opted to wear a N95 mask while wearing their helmet as we got near the wildfires. Not for covid, but for the smoke. We knew the smoke was there well ahead of the ride, so none of this was a surprise. I'm also not going to cancel a planned motorcycle tour due to smoke or wildfires, I'll simply reroute around them which I had to do with this ride.
The good news is most of these fire zones you can ride in and out of within an hour or two: we're traveling 250 miles a day. So on previous years, we could ride in and out of the smoke zones.
This was a fire along Highway 299 in NorCal from about 10 years ago. As bad as it looks, we could ride in and out of the smoke zone in an hour or two.
What is different though in recent years due to the California drought that's been going on since 2012 is the mountain forest in CA is so dry, in some places in the Sierra Nevada (especially the Southern Sierra) every third tree is dead.
So in Oregon you get a wildfire burning three months (Jack Fire on north side of Crater Lake) and has barely made it to 24,000 acres which is about 37 square miles. There is rain here, and the forest is much more healthy.
The Caldor Fire burning at the same time due east of Sacramento burned 219,000 acres in 30 days, or 342 square miles in 1/3 that time and 10x the square area. The difference is wildly dramatic. The point is you can't escape the smoke anymore, we can't just ride in and out, and you see that in these photos over the last two years. You simply have to adjust to it. There are multiple wildfires in CA burning all at the same time. If you need to wear a mask while riding, that's what you do to keep riding.
Caldor Fire near Lake Tahoe in August 2021
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Reaching the entrance to Crater Lake. The rim is at 7100 feet.
I held the optimism that if we got high enough, we'd get above the clouds. We're at 7100 feet. Isn't that high enough. Nope.
The caldera was shrouded in smoke and we couldn't even see the water 1000 feet below.
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