Roll Call: SSA Fecta - A season's worth of rides all packed into one day

288RR · July 12, 2013, 05:45:39 PM

Well work got in the way for me, I will miss out.

GreenMachine · July 12, 2013, 05:53:58 PM

Thank you 288 for letting us know. Sorry you have to work, but maybe given the torturous nature of this ride, it'll work out better for you.

See you on the next ride!

GreenMachine · July 13, 2013, 05:06:28 AM

Good morning Fecta riders!

Tahoebrian5 · July 13, 2013, 07:26:12 PM

Hope you guys have a great ride.. Everybody that is except for GM for the va jj remark. May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your nether regions. Other than that, have a great ride.

GreenMachine · July 13, 2013, 09:31:56 PM

What-choo-mean? $:-\$ Well is it clean?

Made it. Door-to-door almost exactly 15 hours, but that includes an hour we took for lunch in Foresthill.

Only a few miles farther than anticipated. But that might just have been wheelspin.

Thanks for putting up with Dub and I, BMWsportrider. You really had your hands full with that machine on the tight twisty roads. You're welcome to join us anytime. You're a great sport! Hope you made it back and are resting up. I know I am and need to. Phew! Still buzzing, but I'm going to crash as soon as that settles down.

It all worked out. By 2:00 PM we were in Downieville having covered a little over 300 miles. Roads dictated slower speeds, but as predicted, the afternoon leg of the ride averaged slightly faster, taking 7 hours to complete the remaining 330 miles.

I'll post up pics some other time. But the conditions today were fairly good. I was surprised by all the law enforcement vehicles however. Right from the get-go, from VC all the way to our return route into Quincy. We even had one shadow us for about five miles on hwy 70. Dub said he hit his yellow lights as he finally passed us, but I wasn't looking. I was just glad he finally focused his attention somewhere else.

288RR · July 13, 2013, 09:42:21 PM

Sounds like you all had a good time, glad your all back safe. Im going to have to do this ride next year for sure.

dub · July 13, 2013, 10:46:53 PM

564 miles for me. There were a lot of LEOs, but luckily no performance awards.

btw, GM, your port side tail light has failed.

GreenMachine · July 14, 2013, 08:07:34 AM

Thanks Dub. They do that all the time. I'll have to buy some extra bulbs.

Glad you made it home safely and hopefully not too much after dark. Here are the pics from yesterday.

BMWsportrider and I, 6:20 AM in Virginia City. A nice cool clear morning for a ride. Oh poor BMWsportrider didn't know what he was getting himself into.

Not pictured - It was one of those moments where you see something and wish you could have had the camera ready. Our not pictured meet-up in Meyers. BMW and I arrived about 15 minutes earlier than I had told Dub. So I texted him that we had arrived. A few minutes later he came blasting into the Chevron, Super-Moto style. Mr. Mad-skillz.

BMWsportrider coming in off of WWS. He and Dub waiting at 11 Pines goat trail after just completing WWS. Bumpy road ahead.

Half way point. 2:00 PM in Downieville. Hydration and ice cream break. The section from Foresthill back to Downieville was the hottest portion of the trip. It was otherwise quite cool. BMW had had enough by then. He got his distance break-in and then some. Dub however was just the opposite. "Let's keep going." Hey, you're preaching to the choir.

Oh and thanks Dub for going after BMW in Foresthill. The formality of me reassembling all my riding gear would have taken far far too long. I still owe you an ice cream bar or an old withered up apple or something.

Taking a break for a bite to eat and more hydration after completing the northern most portion of the SSA Fecta. Was almost temped to go inside the lodge and have a beer with all the unsuccessful fisherman. They were really hamming it up inside. Dub and I were hamming it up outside. Darn, we should have ridden beyond our intended route so we could have taken in the Oroville Lake suspension bridge. It was only another ten or so miles farther down.

Final break of the day - La Porte Road. Didn't realize this was an official wagon trail. Ironic story on the plaque. Read it. Even back then the difference between a companies successful bid and what they actually received from the job, was substantially different.

dub · July 14, 2013, 11:20:25 AM

Wow, I really must have been tired after this ride. I went to bed about normal time for me and slept straight through until 11:00 this morning. Can't remember the last time that happened.

GreenMachine · July 14, 2013, 02:53:03 PM

You got up early! After posting I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I ate breakfast and pounded some vitamins. Still couldn't keep awake, so I settled down for a nap. Boom. It's 2:50 PM.

GreenMachine · July 14, 2013, 04:24:19 PM

Gentlemen and woman. Your plaque.

Tahoebrian5 · July 14, 2013, 09:00:45 PM

Nice job fellow fecticians!

GreenMachine · July 15, 2013, 09:19:31 AM

Okay, I'm snapping back to reality and the fog is out of my eyes. What happened? Oh yeah, Dub and I completed the SSA Fecta! How cool is that!?

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WWS that early in the morning, without another sole on the road, was pretty spectacular! Next time, if there is another next time, and I hope there will be, I'm going to go back for one more lap. I could do that road over and over again all day long.