Monthly Archives: April 2010
April 24, 2010
LowCal 250
On Saturday, April 24th, I rode in the LowCal 250 rally, an 8 hour bonus rally in San Diego County.
A motorcycle bonus rally is kind of like a scavenger hunt. At the beginning of the rally, you get a list of locations and their point values, along with details on any special restrictions, or extra points if you visit a combination of related bonus locations.
My buddy Doug has ridden in a bunch of bonus rallies, like the Land of Enchantment in New Mexico, the Nevada 1099, and others. We were talking about rallies a few months back, and when I told them they sound like a lot of fun, he highly recommended starting with the LowCal 250 in San Diego.
Craig Chaddock, the leader of the group of riders I joined up with in last year's Yank the Weenie ride, is the Rally Architect, and really knows his stuff. This is the third edition of the LowCal, and Doug rode in the first two - placing second last year.
Craig sent out the bonus locations, including a few extras, and without the point values, earlier in the week so we could load them into our GPS's and/or mapping programs.
I rode down to Carlsbad after work in the late afternoon on Friday, checked into the Motel 6, then headed down to meet Craig, Doug, his friend Gary, and some other riders at Giovanni's for a pre-ride dinner. My buddy Peter P. was there, and Ken Meese, one of the upper crust of multi-day, long-distance rally riders, and Rally Master of this year's LowCal.
I'd been exchanging e-mails about the route for my upcoming BBG with Doug and some other experienced riders in the last few days, so I brought in print-outs of the three routes so Doug could see them in the flesh. Peter and Ken had a good look, and agreed that my final revision met all the criteria for a good, safe, efficient ride. Dinner was great, and we left around 8:00pm to our respective overnight spots.
On Saturday morning, I drove the 16 miles from the Motel 6 to BMW Motorcycles of San Diego, the rally headquarters. I had a couple of donuts until they were ready to hand out the final bonus packets, and gulped down some much needed coffee.
When I got the original bonus locations earlier in the week, I was intrigued by a bonus in Vidal, a tiny hamlet in the desert between Blythe and Needles. When I got the official bonus packet, the point value for Vidal was 42,000 points or so. The problem was, there was a hard-and-fast 250 mile limit on the day's riding, with a hefty penalty for every mile over the limit.
When I first read the rules about the 250 mile limit, I thought I read that there would be 100 point penalty per mile over 250. After some quick calculations, I determined that a round trip to Vidal would be 520 miles, or 270 mile over the limit, or 27,000 penalty points. 42,000 minus 27,000 would be around 15,000 -- probably good enough to win. The only question was: could I do the 520 miles in the strict 8 hour time limit. I knew I could.
Peter and I started discussing a joint trip out the Vidal, and spent a couple of minutes seriously considering it. Luckily, before we got too far along with the plan, I decided to re-read the penalty provisions, and found that my first reading was wrong. There was a 100 point penalty for every minute past the 8 hour time limit, but the over-limit penalty for mileage was 150 per. At 150, the trip to Vidal no longer made sense. I apologized to Peter for leading him astray, if only for a couple of minutes.
Using a print-out of the overall map of the bonus locations, I wrote in the point values for each location. My son Jason had lent me his netbook for trip planning, but I wound up just using my Zumo to creates routes, using the pre-loaded POI's along with the master map with the point values. I played around with a few different options, and quickly settled on a route -- after making a critical mistake, which we'll come back to later.
My initial route was a clock-wise loop, going up to the northwest first, then looping around to the east, then the south, and finally back west to the barn. First up though was an odometer calibration run of about twelve miles. I left just after 8:00am for my odo run, and while I was out I thought more about my route. Just before I got back to the dealer, I decided it would be best to use my same basic loop, but to run it counter-clockwise instead. This would use the morning miles to get the more rural locations in the southeast corner of the county, and leave the more populated areas for the afternoon. If I was running late on time, I knew I could blast down I-15 to make up some time.
The 8-hour clock started when I left for the odo check, so I quickly re-entered the route in a counter-clockwise version into my GPS, and headed out, first to the south. On the way to the first bonus location, I made a quick decision to add a bonus to my list -- the Bell Hotel, in San Diego's Skid Row. I noted the SDMC section against public urination from the sign on the side of the building, took a photo for posterity, and headed west to the Bell Middle School.
Bell has a nice LED sign out front, but the bonus was to list the contents of the old, sign-board sign further south in front of the campus. This sign was noticeably empty, so I wrote that down on the score sheet, and took a few photos for verification.
The next bonus on my route was the Eagle Peak trail head, in the east county back country. For some reason, my GPS routed me north, then east to the bonus. While this required a five-mile-in, five-mile-out turn-around on a dirt road muddied by the recent rains, it wound up being a good thing. The alternate route used by most of the other riders for this bonus came up from the south, and required a hairy water crossing, which I'm very glad I missed.
The bonus required listing the number from a county survey marker, and I literally spent ten minutes looking around for a two- to three-foot high post with the info. I finally found it, about two inches high at ground level, just like the score sheet said...
Next was the Santa Ysabel mission, which went quickly, then the Happy Buddha in Chihuahua Valley. There's a big property on the north side of Chihuahua Valley Road where a number of large buddha statues are standing. The largest buddha, with a big happy face, looks out to the south over the valley.
The Wildomar Bell, between Murietta and Lake Elsinore, hasn't been rung in many years. The bell at the Pala Indian Mission was interesting.
My GPS led me astray on the way to the Flying Leatherneck Museum, but the guard at the north gate to Miramar let me make a u-turn to get back on track.
I pulled back into BMW Motorcycles of San Diego a little after 3:00pm, with plenty of time left, but no more miles. The final odo check, with corrections, put me at 249 miles for the day (which didn't include the miles for the odo calibration run).
I checked and re-checked my score sheet, and turned it in around 3:45pm, thinking I'd done okay, but nothing spectacular. Since this was my first real bonus rally, I was hoping for a finish in the top half.
Craig and Ken did the scoring, and revealed the error I made in the morning. Normally my reading comprehension is better.
There were thirteen different bonus locations marked as "bells" -- the Bell Hotel, Wildomar Bell, Bell Middle School, you get the idea -- and there was a special 1,000 point bonus for getting a certain number of these 'bell' bonuses. When I first read the details of this bonus, I understood that you had to get all of the "bells" to claim the thousand points, and I knew it wasn't possible to get them all and still be under the 250 mile limit. It turns out that you only needed seven of the "bell's" to get the thousand points -- and I had gotten six. If I hadn't made that mistake, I could have easily re-routed to get another 'bell', been a little more careful with my miles, and bagged the thousand points, plus the points of the extra bonus itself.
After everyone came in, we had a nice barbecue dinner provided by the BMW dealer (a class act all around), and Craig and Ken announced the final results. I was shocked to hear my name announced as the fifth place finisher - just off the trophy positions. (If I hadn't messed up the bell bonus, I could have been third...)
Doug rode with his buds Gary and Josh, and they had a great day, but had a problem with one of the bonuses and were down the list. My friend Richard (Fairlaner) was in a group that came in just behind me.
I talked with Doug, Gary, Josh, NealSanDiego, and some others for a while, and then it was time to pack up and go home. I made good time on the way home, and pulled in before 9:00pm, tired but satisfied.
Click for a larger view
Click here for an interactive route map
April 9, 2010
Random fact of the day
After the big RIF last year at work, I inherited responsibility for the soda machine - a vital caffeine lifeline to the software developers at my office. It doesn't take much time - about 5 minutes a week - and at 35 cents each it's good for morale, so I don't sweat it, in spite of my overly lofty job description. A guy from the main office in Orange County brings the sodas I need once a week, so all I have to do is load it up and do the monthly accounting.
There was a big run on Diet Coke this week, and the regular delivery is delayed until Monday, so I had to bring in an emergency 12-pack today on my FJR. I looked around for some bungies to tie the box down to the stock rear rack, but couldn't find any. On a whim I decided to test the box in the right saddle bag to see how many I'd have to pull out to make it fit - and was somewhat surprised that the box fit inside as is.
In the past I've loaded up two one-gallon containers - a milk and an orange juice - in one saddle bag, so I knew they were big. I just didn't think they were that big.
April 8, 2010
Performance Vector Multi-Lens Eyewear
It's not always easy to find good quality sun-glasses that fit comfortably under a full-face helmet. A few years ago, I stumbled on the Vector Multi-Lens Eyewear set at the local Performance Bike shop, and they quickly became my first choice for riding glasses. They come with three sets of interchangeable lenses - dark, clear, and amber - along with a sturdy case. They fit well under my helmet, and I've ridden 20-hour days with no distortion or eye-strain.
I like to always ride with glasses on, in case I need to raise my shield -- to clear fog on cold days, or cool down on hot days. When the sun's up, I use the dark lenses, and in the dark I wear the clear lenses.
I've had three or four pairs over the last few years. They hold up pretty well to the abuse I give them while riding, but over time the dark lenses become too scratched to be useful. My current set is on its last legs.
Last weekend, I got an ad for the sale going on through the end of the month at Performance, and saw the Vectors were on sale for $19.99 - a great bargain for quality glasses with interchangeable lenses. I was nearby today at the vet for a check-up on my son's cat Smidge, and stopped by to pick up a new pair.