TL;DR I rode, a lot. Video and map at the bottom.
Earlier this year I picked up the Butler Nevada map, on a slight hope that there was a twisty road in Nevada that I didn't already know about. Turns out, they did find some. One in particular caught my eye, the road going from Elko to Owyhee was marked both red and gold, being their best of the best and the bestest of the best roads. I had been along that road last year when I visited Wild Horse State Park - but had stopped short of the gold section! Must go back!
Later, as I was thumbing through my Spotwalla page, I noticed that there were still quite a few paved roads in Nevada that I hadn't ridden on. Some I'd been on in the truck, but that's not the same. I plotted a rough route out that would hit all those areas and came up with a fairly workable Saddlesore (being a route that is 1000+ miles). Along the route was the road to Owyhee, so bonus!
Then, a few weeks ago, I decided that one epic way to commemorate my Ninja making the big milestone of 100,000 miles would be to include the moment in an IBA certificate ride. So, I needed to time this where my odometer would reach 99k just before a (preferably) long weekend. As luck* would have it, my truck is broke and gee, I've been commuting on the bike since. Hello mileage!
So, now I had a plan!
Mapped out a blended SS route that would get me on roads that I hadn't ridden before, take me to Owyhee because I hadn't been there before (and I like saying the name - Owyhee! The word is an early spelling of Hawaii), and put enough miles on the bike to roll the odometer over as I have never seen that before!
Friday, I got my witness, got my bike battle ready, and got myself mostly prepped from the first long ride this year. 5am would come early.
Saturday, I was up and at the gas station 15 minutes later than I wanted so I missed breakfast. I had a tight time schedule to keep if I was going to get a gift for a friend, so I had to be on the road as soon as possible. The first leg of the route, from Fallon to Mill City, is so routine by now that the sun rise was the only thing of note during the whole time. I did try to capture or hack a few Ingress portals at the gas stops and one was at the Trucker's Chapel just behind the TA truck stop.
Leg two took me over to Elko where I found an ethanol free pump at the Maverik station. Since I get all these notices from AMA on the evils of ethanol I decided to take a shot and filled my tank.
Leg three, up to Owyhee, started in a mildly twisty road just outside Elko before straightening up and cutting straight north through the long valley. At Wild Horse State Park, I worked my way around the reservoir and entered into Owyhee River Canyon. The road was freshly oiled and was inky black as it snaked through one of the most beautiful canyons I've ever ridden. This is truly a gem! It wasn't technical but I did need to focus as the road just flowed along the river. Had to keep the full recording of just the canyon
here. Coming out the other side led me to Mountain City and then Owyhee. Short gas stop, I was still thinking I could make my destination. But glad to have come up here and interested in coming back.
Leg four, back to Elko. Awww, have to do the canyon again. Shucks.
Leg five would take me from Elko to McGill along a road I had only partially done. Secret Pass is a place where the Ruby Mountains and the East Humbolt Range meet, forming an interesting little canyon with some neat geology. The road wraps around the south side of the Rubys, offering a new perspective, and also was my 500 mile mark to do a quick once around to make sure the bike was still running well (she was). But as I turned south again on 93, the wind began to push back and it was a fight to maintain my speed at anything resembling forward movement. Sadly, because of the fight, about 5 miles outside McGill, my bike sputtered once and I rapidly pulled over, coasting to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Bugger! Well, I did need to change out the old gas in my spare canisters anyway, now works!
Leg six was from McGill down to Hiko. Been down the east side of the Schell Creek Range but never fully down the west side. So, off I go! Hey, there's gas in Lund, must keep that in mind. Passed through that town and continued down the valley, passing through some beautiful scenery, and generally admiring parts of Nevada that I hadn't seen before. I rode through a place called White River Narrows, really awesome scenery and (I later learned) one of the highest concentrations of petroglyphs in Eastern Nevada! I will return! Sadly, my delays throughout the day had put me too late to get my gift and so just went straight to the gas station.
Leg seven was heading up from Ash Springs to Tonopah, a leg I've done more times than I could count. Only this time some dorkus had planned this ride to be at sunset - going across the ET Highway and the numerous black cows that wander freely across the road. Joy...
Leg eight finally got me turned pointing homeward. But now I had less that 200 miles before my odometer did whatever it was going to do. Reaching Luning I was down to 15 miles, so a small jog out and back left me at the rest area with a mere .2 miles. I scooted around the lot, probably to the annoyance of those who were trying to sleep, but eventually I caught the reset on camera!
I can see the craiglist ad now - Female owned, garage kept, low miles...
Since I had reached my 1000 mile goal in just under 18 hours, I wasn't in too big of a hurry to finish the 110 miles home. Took my time at the rest stop just chilling, then again took my time in Hawthorne hanging out at the gas station, took a nap about half way home in a dirt pull off, and finally rolled into the starting Maverik around 2:14am.
21 hours, 1117 miles, with a bunch of new roads ridden, and reached a mileage goal that I've been stoked on reaching for quite awhile.
Link to original page on YouTube.
*and if you are mechanically inclined, my truck is for sale: http://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5761359283.html