Team Lyle WFO Alamo - CB500X

[NevadaWolf]

I'll keep my non-Ninjette ride reports here, unless the community wants me to add them to the "Ride Reports" section.

Background: Every year, Team Lyle holds an "Alamo event" that allows riders (for the cost of a donation to the event charity) a structured ride around Nevada. The core ride is 1524 miles in 24 hours, though riders have the option of making their own ride if they want to go off-script. More info here: http://teamlyle-alamoexpress.com/2016/

This is my third year participating and the first year with the new bike. I am in no way, shape, or form, ready for an IBA ride of that level - so the option myself and my friend Greg planned was to ride to Zion, Bryce, and wherever else struck our fancy. But first, need to meet up!

Fox Peak in Fallon is the main gas station that many long distance riders seem to head to. And that was no exception as, while I was waiting, one of the Big Dogs (imho), Eric Lipps, showed up on his way down. He opted to hang out with me and wait for Greg and Mario to arrive.



First off, I should say it was windy. But not just windy - WINDY. Forecast had sustained winds of 30-40 mph with gusts from 50-60 mph. The whole way down, we were facing cross winds or head winds. At times, I was sitting on the edge of my seat with my left hand level with my chest and my right hand stretched down below me as the bike was leaned into the wind in a constant right hand turn going straight. What chicken strip?

We all headed down together, choosing to take the back road through Gabbs rather than head down the highway through Hawthorne. Slightly shorter, less traffic, and nicer scenery I think. Made it to Tonopah where my odo read 198 miles and I only put in 4 gallons! 50 MPG at a BBG pace! Whooo Hoo!!

As we were heading out towards Warm Springs, I set my speed at 75 and just clipped along smoothly. I caught up with Greg and passed him (he'd been sweep, didn't think much of that) then caught up with Mario and passed him! I'd never been able to pass Mario before but here I was motoring along. The next valley over I pulled into a dirt turn off to get some water as I was dehydrated. Mario waved as he continued on while Greg pulled in behind me. Thirst quenched, I bounced back up onto the pavement and began accelerating.

Zoom, shift, zoom, shift, zoom, pop, ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM. WTF? My revs were bouncing off the rev limiter but the bike was slowing down. Throttle? Clutch? Shifter? Engine was going nuts but still slowing down. I rolled into another dirt pull off and got off the bike to look around. Then, I saw it...



I looked back to Greg who had turned around and was in the middle of the road picking up my chain. I just stared as I had no idea what to do next as he came up to me and just had that "Well, ****" look on his face. We'd just replaced the chain with a non-o ring less than 400 miles previously and somehow the master link was lost (it was a clip style that wasn't safety wired). Chain still looked good, minus the master link, but I had no spare links so we started thinking on what to do.

My Dad is awesome enough he would bring the trailer down, but we were over 4 hours from him. AAA would send out a truck, but the nearest tow company was in Bishop (3 hours away). Eventually, we remembered that the rally comes with roadside assistance, Carl and Joannie Stark volunteer their truck every year. Make the call! "We're on our way, be there in about two hours. (110 miles)" Time to wait, but hey, took pictures!









Eventually arrived in Alamo and got a cheer from the other riders as I walked into the restaurant. I gave a glowing "Yelp" review of the tow service (First and only rescue at that point - a short lived title, alas) and settled in with my friends.

The next morning was up bright and early to cheer off the riders who were going out on their big ride while the Rallymaster, Doug, and his girlfriend, Mary, offered Greg and I a ride to CycleGear in Vegas. New chain and tool (that was on SALE!) picked up and it was back to Alamo to sit down and fix this bad boy. The only damage done was a gouge in the metal guide piece that prevents the chain from bunching up and destroying the engine. It did it's job!






Doug Barret's picture





Did a quick run around the area, picking up a photo tag challenge in the process, and let another rider try out my new fun little bike. Not the day I planned, but a super fun day regardless.







Sunday, those of us who hung back all listened to the stories and rides of those who were drifting in. Only one other issue cropped up as Allen's bike had transmission problems, but everyone made it back safe and sound and in fantastic spirits.



The charity this year is Shelly's House and we raised $1000 for them. Awesome that our entry fees go to help others in need.




Shelly's House of Salem's picture

After lunch, I turned my bike homeward, made a little side stop to see an old historic structure had collapsed, and admired an awesome sunset. I did discover that while my speedo is close enough compared to the GPS, my odo is 5% off. So while I thought I rode 199 miles back to Fallon from Tonopah, in reality is was 189. So, definitely not trusting the odo when it comes to cert rides.







It has been an amazing weekend!

[Alex]

[DEFY]

Love the write up, always enjoyable

[sharky nrk]

Awesome write up and ride.

[NevadaWolf]

Can you tell I'm finally clearing out my SD card?

Link to original page on YouTube.

[verboten1]

That new bike is not being very Honda like!

[NevadaWolf]

As I'm getting new stuff on to replace the old, mismatched, unknown stuff, the reliability is improving. Been having to use Band-Aids on issues until I could afford real repairs.

The only lingering issue is the goofy electrical stuff on my accessories, but I've not delved into that much to figure it out.