I am going to throttle back on R/C a bit after an epic April of racing or practicing roughly 5 days of every week for the last month. Going to go back to a more reasonable 1 day or maybe 2 some weeks and focus on some other things over the weekends… Like motor cycle rides around the western side of the country, camping with Kate, and other fun things.
Going to jump back in big time into R/C later this summer in prep for October though.
Just wanted to mention to my CO friends and others around who often venture out into the unknown and want some piece of mind. I just saw ACR electronics has released a newer/cheaper/smaller Personal Location Beacon. I have a SARLink from ACR and carry it with me on the bike, and camping. To me having something like this when you are hiking or away from the roads/cell towers/ or going out Solo in the backcountry while ski’n is a great idea.
On my motorcycle trip last fall, 1/2 of all my nights camping I had no cell reception at all, and looking at my Google Latitude maps that tracked my trip, I can see how major portions of my trip were entirely without coverage (5 hours out of 7 hours of riding one day as an example). Yet these PLB’s are military grade, high power, multi band, highly accurate, location devices that can get you help if you need it in a hurry. Not a bad insurance policy while out and about.
http://www.acrelectronics.com/products/catalog/personal-locator-beacons/resqlink-406-gps/
These are way more capable, and reliable than the SPOT or other consumer grade devices. You can check in and give “I am OK” emails/messages to your family as well through your trip easily just with a button click. (note that the SAR link lets you do that for 400+ times, where the Resq only is 60 due to smaller battery).
(note this is not a paid advertisement, I really find having one of these to be a nice reassurance, and now that there is a cheaper and smaller option I thought I would mention it.)
Route Planning:
After some help finding a place to camp around Salida by my friend Dusten, I think I have all the camping spots planned out now (or camping areas at least). There is a small chance that night I may skip camping and crash at the Mt Princeton hot springs. Who knows, that’s something I’ll figure out the night of, it will be a very long/challenging ride that day (Gunnison - Aspen - Salida) so I may feel more like a relaxing hot pool and a shower than camping.
Total mileage is ~ 1500mi, but its the riding time per day that is unexpectedly high for each leg for the mileage covered. Below is the mileage and expected time. Add about an hour or two onto each of those for stopping, fuel, food, etc… The low riding time and distance on Day 4 and 5 are important as those areas are places I want to explore more (around Durango and Gunnison) and also a mid trip break isnt bad.
Day 1 206 mi 4:18:58
Day 2 271 mi 5:30:01
Day 3 248 mi 5:28:55
Day 4 182 mi 3:28:30
Day 5 126 mi 2:56:50
Day 6 229 mi 5:25:09
Day 7 245 mi 6:44:46
Also I’ve found the Garmin software to be horribly off on some roads for the expected speeds. Up Col de Turini in France the GPS expected us to keep an average speed of 65Mph up the mountain. When the real speed limit was 40, and our speed was below that due to the foggy conditions. So I am curious how realistic these numbers are.
Gear:
I pulled the trigger on a rear “trunk” for the motorcycle, to hold the tent and other odds and ends I want to keep dry. I picked up a Givi E370NT Monolock case that will go right behind the MotoFizz bag.
I am also picking up a cheap heated “Bib” for the ride. Since some of the morning departures in the mountains could be in the 20 - 30F weather range I will want something to keep me a bit warm in the morning. Aerostich has a $67 electric bib that keeps the important bits warm.
Keeping comfortable in these mountains could be interesting given the wide swings of temperature and altitude.
Other Prep:
I need to do a good bit of wiring work on the motorcycle, and get the GoPro hardwire and remote trigger stuff soldered up. I should have this stuff ready to by end of next week I hope.
Other than that, I am getting more and more excited!
The route so far. I’ve chosen to not just short cut to Salida from Gunnison, but head up through independence pass. I’ve been though there before, but would love to take it on a bike! Also I know I can stop for some good eats in Aspen on the way ;)
Total distance for the trip in this configuration 1498 miles, and should cross the continential divide 4 times.
