Friday, May 1, 2015

DV 15 - The Ride Part 1

DV ’15 – The Ride, Section I of Lone Pine to Las Vegas
         
To read this post’s title one would think that we simply got on our bikes one Sunday morning in Lone Pine and rode to Las Vegas to partake in all the things that happen in Vegas that stay in Vegas – a destination ride like the one we’d made the previous day in getting to Lone Pine. Lone Pine was the place we wanted to be and we took mostly long straight highways to get there and made stops for food, rest, and a meet-up in a cool old mining town – destinations. I don’t discount the destination ride; I make plenty of solo destination rides and they are almost always superior to driving them. As reported, we rode along some fantastic roads with views of stormy Eastern Sierra Mountains that just cannot be as fully appreciated in a cage.

However, our Sunday ride, while it did include a destination with a specific arrival time, was anything but a simple destination – it was about the road experienced in 360os with all of our senses tuned to the pathways, the riders around us, and the vistas that we became a part of. In this post, I’ll take us up to the brunch stop but not inside.

Sue - ready to ride
courtesy of Tim Robertson
We mounted up and left Lone Pine after a quick breakfast at the Alabama Hills Café, if we are allowed to consider half a freshly made cinnamon roll breakfast. Since our one deadline was a reservation at The Inn at Furnace Creek for the brunch buffet, the roll was enough (and tasty enough) to get us there but hungry for a big meal. I stepped back from my bike for a moment and watched the others making their pre-ride preparations; stowing gear in saddlebags, strapping on luggage, hooking up GPS and phone units, checking their pockets and zipping up jackets, and doing circle of safety walks around their bikes. Having finished hers, Sue leaned up against the block wall that she scaled the evening before and soaked up the gentle rays of the sun, collecting them for our chilly ride into Death Valley.

From the parking lot of the Dow we hopped down the 395 a short way to SR (State Route or old Sign Route) 136 and along its length riding along Owens Lake, a dry lake bed, to SR 190 which took us to and all the way through Death Valley National Park. I have traveled all of these roads over my 19 years as the Microwave Radio Network Planner for AT&T using a little Jeep Cherokee at first and then a full-sized crew-cab Silverado 4X4 pick-m-up truck. There is no comparison to driving these roads for work and riding them for sheer pleasure. Don’t worry, I stayed 19 years in this position because I was able to drive roads like this and go places few people do, in particular to Mormon Peak that at nearly 10,000 in elevation provides a vista view of Death Valley seldom seen.

Tim Tarbet's gem
of SR 190...
SR 190 quickly wound us up and into the Panamint Mountains, past Rainbow Canyon, through a pass with the Argus Mountains to the south and our right, and past the Panamint Springs Resort where we were afforded a view down the highway into the Panamint Valley, across the white strip of the Panamint Dry Lake bed and a preview of the route ahead of us up into the mountains on the other side. I have never seen a photo that represented the feeling of the ride better than the one that Tim Tarbet took from just after the resort; I could define the ride that day by his photo. There are several great shots of this view but Tim’s hit the Facebook community and spread like wildfire.

The road ahead from Kevin Shaw
Carving through the hills and down into the Panamint Valley we were as tuned as a wedding orchestra; the subtle variations of tone and tempo showing up in our spacing and slightly varied lines through the curves. Our bikes lifted sand-swirls from the grains hidden in the cracks of the asphalt and they wiggled across the road like sidewinders across the dunes. Rooster tails were tossed up behind each bike and we had to adjust our positioning to avoid pitting our rides and face shields. We changed the tune to adjust to each mountain range, pass, and long straightaway that adjoined the various wilderness areas we rode through.

The crew, ready top re-mount
at Stovepipe Wells
from Kevin Shaw
We fueled up at Stovepipe Wells, home of the Badwater Saloon, and where we had hoped to pay our entry fee there but were instead referred to the visitor center in Furnace Creek, just a few short minutes shy of our scheduled breakfast stop. SR 190 passes by sand dunes that do the desert justice. While you really couldn’t get lost in them, you can drop down on the other side of the first dune and feel the need to grab your canteen. We rode through Devil’s Cornfield and hooked around to the south at the turnoff for Grapevine and Scotty’s Castle. The cornfield is born of Arrowweed bush up-croppings standing sentry duty in the Mojave. Arrowweeds taller than a person can be found a good walk in from the roadway.

Brunch was a short-hop away with a quick stop at the visitor center for Jed to pay our entry fees. I dare say that we could have easily traversed the park as we did without paying the fees. I don’t advocate that we do that at any time as the fees go to take care of the parks that we enjoy. I’m just pointing out that DV National Park could upgrade the entrance process.

Off the soapbox now and on to completing the ride, section two post…


Please, keep the iron side up.

No comments:

Post a Comment