White Stag – 2005

In January 2005 I decided to start the rally season as early as possible to gain more rally experience before the IBR in August.  Having heard about the White Stag rally for several years a post appeared on the ldrider email list from Tom Almassy promising a riding rally this year.  I planned to enter almost immediately.  At the time Oregon was experiencing its worst winter weather so far, freezing rain, snow, and generally very cold temps.  I hoped it would clear by the weekend of the WS.

In November I had been able to talk Eric Vaillancourt into riding with me to LA for a hot dog at Pink’s for Dean Tanji’s Bite the Weenie RTE.  For that ride I took no time off from work buzzing south to LA and back north in 2 days with Eric.  I thought perhaps, once again, I could talk him into riding south for the White Stag.  A couple of emails later (that was easy) and we were all set.  Eric was going to borrow my old, original fuel cell again and we would head out the last weekend of January.

Several emails were exchanged discussing weather and routes.  Plan A had us riding south to CA89 out of Shasta City to Susanville, Reno, Fallon and US-95 south to Beatty, NV and the Stagecoach hotel and casino, the rally base.  Plan B, should the weather make the A route unworkable, was to ride south to Bakersfield and make our way over the mountains to Beatty through Death Valley.

Fortunately for us the weather in Oregon warmed and the snow and ice melted.  Eric arrived at my place in Stayton, per plan, at midnight Thursday the 27^th.  We headed out to catch I-5 just north of Albany with the goal of making the Stagecoach before the 7:00pm Friday rider’s meeting.

Travel early Friday morning on I-5 was uneventful and we made our first gas stop in Ashland just to top off and be carrying a full load over the Siskiyous.  In Ashland the rain had begun and I just felt that once we cleared the pass the dark skies would open up, so we donned our rain gear.  Good plan.

Clearing the Siskiyou summit, which was still slightly above freezing, the rain came down hard enough that I was glad for the rain gear.  I had not considered that we would have any further problems on I-5 as, generally, if the Siskiyous are clear and free of snow the rest of I-5 would be also.  I was surprised later as we approached the long climb from Weed to Shasta City to see a lighted sign flashing “Chains required”.  We motored on until the highway department had closed the interstate down to one lane inspecting vehicles for chains as the snow began to fly.

Now a bit worried I pulled up next to the highway worker manning the checkpoint and asked specifically if we could make it on motorcycles.  He quickly assured me that we could make it no problem and waved us on despite the parked rigs and cars all either waiting or chaining up.  I felt better and Eric and I continued south.  I did not feel better for long as the snow began adhering to the road surface, at first a slushy mess but soon very frozen with an icy base.  We attempted to follow ruts but even those had been packed and were slick and icy.  As Eric’s headlight got smaller I pulled off at a bad spot, but the best place I could find that allowed me to stop somewhat safely, and we discussed continuing.  We went on deciding to get off at the first exit that looked promising for a place to stop.

I have to mention that at every attempt to slow down the ABS kicked in beating my foot and hand in a rhythm that I did not expect at these extremely slow speeds.  Glad to have it I was.

Finally we were able to maneuver to an exit only to find the snowplow had turned around at the top and to continue meant deeper snow.  The promise of stopping kept us going down the only single track rut available right through the center of small Shasta City.  Spying nothing open we continued until we were forced to decide getting back on I-5 or turning around.  After another discussion we decided to continue south hoping the snow would clear.  As it was we were able to bypass the dreadful conditions at a much slower speed through town without the risk of being run down by a chained up rig going 45mph.  The snow was slushy again, less packed, and soon began to clear as we dropped in elevation.

Our speed picked up until we were cruising along at 50mph down the hill through Dunsmuir.  Another pucker moment occurred as we crossed the bridge at the bottom and the pavement color and consistency changed mimicking frozen snow and ice in the dark.  At our speed it would have been disastrous.

By now it was somewhat after 5:00am and we continued our southward journey in the continuing rain.  Still tense and tight after negotiating the snowy conditions we made an unplanned stop and grabbed a bite of breakfast while we let the dawn brighten the day.  We also took the opportunity to shed the rain gear now that the rainfall had subsided.

Back on I-5, now in full daylight, feeling a bit refreshed and more relaxed we made good time through Sacramento our brief respite allowing us to miss the major morning rush in both Sacramento and Stockton.  After refueling near Stockton we trekked southward until Bakersfield.

At Bakersfield we left I-5 to swing east following CA-178 through the Kern Canyon along the Kern river toward Lake Isabella.  I had no idea what kind of road this was and as the rain began to pour once again we rode twisties best left to dryer times.   178 is tight, narrow, and technical and in the driving rain with a fair amount of traffic was more than enough to keep two riders awake and on top of their game.  Soon enough the highway, if you could call it that, turns away from the river and opens up into a divided 4-lane freeway all the way to the lake.

In Lake Isabella I got off for gas and to don my rain gear once more before proceeding eastward again and starting the long climb toward the 5000+ foot Walker Pass.  Locals stated that snow was possible, even probable, so with that in mind we made tracks hastily but with care.  Nothing to worry about as the only evidence of slick conditions was the remnants of sand in the shady corners.

Reaching CA-14 we turned northward to catch US-395 and eventual junction with CA-190 into Death Valley, eastward again.  We made quick work of DV, rode over Daylight Pass, and dropped into Beatty arriving at the Stagecoach Hotel and Casino just a bit after 5:00pm.

Eric and I quickly checked in, unpacked, showered, and headed for the bar and a coupla beers with our names on them before attending the mandatory rider’s meeting at 7:00pm.

Tom Almassy and Jeff Fisher, WS originator and rally planner respectively ran the meeting and handed out rally packs with route sheets/bonus locations.  This year’s format was a 12 hour rally with two options.  Vaguely similar to the ’03 IBR we had two choices, a Valium route consisting of fewer miles and more, lower scoring bonus locations and aViagra route consisting of bigger miles but higher scoring bonuses.  The catch was a Viagra route required making the major bonus for any other bonuses to score.  (Later on this would become the key that doomed us.)

After a couple of steaks in the casino restaurant Eric and I headed back to the room for planning.  I offered to ride the rally with Eric since I had the radar detector, a GPS, and this was his first rally.  I was the experienced rider with a crash during the Utah 1088 last year under my belt.  (I did finish that event on my totaled ’03 FJR to finish in the middle of the pack).  Yeah, I was experienced all right.

We got down to business and began to plan.  Looking over the bonuses and route options it became obvious (at least to our dim witted, road tired brains) that a Viagra route would be a winner.  We could either go north to the Gerlach area, southeast to the Grand Canyon area, northeast to Wendover, NV, west to Ojai and Widder, or to some other impossible to reach in the time allowed place.

North was cold with snow possible across 6000 ft passes.  Southeast, predicted the Weather Channel, would be very wet.  We deemed Wendover and enough other bonuses to far away to score.  We chose to head west toward Widder in Ojai, CA.  It was fated; I already had Widder as a waypoint in my GPS.  Our route plan was a loop taking us south to Barstow, north to Maricopa, and over the mountains into Ojai.  This plan left us an escape after reaching Ojai if time became critical.  Good plan, or so we thought.

Friday night it rained like a son of a bitch.  Sleep was easy.  Saturday morning we practically jumped outta bed at the crack of 4:00am to find it had dried overnight.  We were quite ready for the 5:00am start and after recording ODO mileage we elected to wait until 5:15 to pick up an easy gas receipt bonus in Beatty before heading south on US-95 for Barstow.

Short, cold miles down US-95 we headed southwest on NV373/CA127 before catching I-15 in Baker.  On the way we passed George Zelenz at FJR nominal and he hooked his caboose on the train into Baker.  At Baker we left George as we continued our Viagra route to Barstow.  At Barstow we scored another gas receipt and found CA58 and headed northwest through Mojave and Tehachapi to eventually find Maricopa on the western side of I-5.  In Maricopa we recorded another gas receipt for a large bonus and noted that we were doing quite well for time.  Uh-oh, this is going too well I thought as we headed southwest out of Maricopa on CA-166 to CA-33.  Not even a mile up the road we passed a temporary sign, CA 33 closed.  Route plan A was slipping out the window.  We went back to the station in Maricopa and inquired, sure enough the road was closed due to rockslide.  We put plan B into action.

Heading back east we pick up I-5 to go over the Tejon Pass to CA-126 to CA-150 another route into Ojai.  At Santa Paula we turn north on CA-150 to find “Road Closed – Open to residents only.”  WTF!!??  Two routes tried, neither of which would get us to our mandatory destination of Widder in Ojai.  Time was now our biggest concern. We did not have enough time left to try the only other route into Ojai.  We promptly took a couple of Polaroids of the road closed sign in hopes of scoring anyway.

Now we just needed to hightail it back to Beatty and the finish.  Even that was in question if we had any further difficulties.  Quickly back, once again, to I-5 we head south to find CA-14 which we hoped to ride all the way to the CA-178 cutoff for Death Valley to the Daylight Pass and Beatty.  At least this part of the plan worked.

After making the turn onto Daylight Pass we had time once again on our side so I stopped to take some photos.  Leaving the side of the road I followed Eric feeling that we were now home free.  Almost immediately we rounded a bend to be hit full on with radar from an oncoming officer.  We saw brake lights in our mirrors and kept looking for headlights behind us.  I think in the bend we got lucky and the officer could not get a reliable lock.  We passed another oncoming officer setting off my V1 later in a 45 zone but he did not turn around either.  Luck beats good any day.

As the wind began to howl Eric and I unloaded, tallied, and turned in our paper work with notes begging for points.  All for naught.  Later at the banquet the winning rider, we learned, had talked his way past the CHP to be allowed to traverse the closed roads around Ojai.  He deserved to win with an A+ for persistence and perseverance.

Swag was raffled, prime rib eaten, and brews quaffed before we hit the pillows for another short night.  We spent a few minutes searching for Eric’s cover that had blown away.  Time to get up and head home would come very soon though, so we hit the bed.

Sunday morning we had agreed to leave in the 5:00-6:00am range making it actually closer to 6 than to 5.  Back through Death Valley we rode for the third time and again over Walker Pass to Kern Canyon and Bakersfield.  The morning air at 5000 feet was cold and clear and we soon sailed on dry roads into Bakersfield and a breakfast appointment at the Buttonwillow exit on I-5.  The day was sunny, warm, and bright, a far contrast to our weather starting out on this trip.

The rest of the ride north was uneventful as most of the CHP had taken the day off except north of Redding.  We passed Shasta City in the daylight and crossed the Siskiyou summit just after dark. OSP were also off duty and I cruised into my driveway at a little passed 9:30pm

Thanks to the organizers and helpers of the White Stag, Tom Almassy and Jeff Fisher in particular and Chuck Hickey and Lisa Landry as well.  It was great to see friends and old acquaintances and to meet new folks also.  I would rather spend time with riders than just about any group other than my immediate family.

I learned a lot at this rally and hope to put what I learned to good use in future events.