PNW 2003 Rally

[Madness]

I would like to thank Denny and Glenna once again for hosting another fantastic rally this year. I hope the group had a great ride to the coast today. I really wish I could have gone along.

I left what was left of the group this morning after our marathon breakfast and started home at 10:45. Took the slab to Longview, then took a new road to Vernonia, then just started choosing routes on the fly to Salem to make a quick stop to see my daughter and family before heading for home. Arrive just after 5pm.

I had a great time meeting back up with everyone from past rallies and meeting some new faces and bikes.

The ride to Rainier was one of the most exhilerating I've ever been on. The day looked like it might be a wet one, but it turned out perfect on the mountain.

I will try to get a ride report done, and photos posted sometime this week.

[Dennyz]

It is 10:15pm Sunday night, Glenna and I stopped by the computer to get caught up on our e-mail. One last XS-XJ PNW 2003 thing to do.

"We thank all that attended and made the rally a great success"

I will post more after some much needed sleep.

[Mike Hart]

Big thanks to Denny and Glenna Zander for being 'repeat offenders' - hosting more than one rally.

Great ride to Mt. Rainier, and other rides, and Saturday tech day saw lots of bikes get improved, lots of carbs were tweaked into shape, and there was a small/short spirited ride where some folks tried out others' bikes.

Denny had great pins, and trophies for awards. There were several new faces there, and it was great to see familiar ones too.

I put on 2175 miles starting on Sat Aug 9, with a short 90 mile run home on Sunday - without leaving the state!

More later...

[Dennyz]

Still no rally report. Gary decided to make another run around Mt St. Helens and I just had to go. What a fantastic road. We went 147 miles (out and back) of increadable twisties. I now have a lot of flat spots ground into my crash bars and exhaust collector.

Now I am too tired again. I will try for tomorrow.

P.S. all you with pictures need to get them (links) posted to the forum.

[jkorn]

Thanks

I too would like to thank Denny for a great week-end and wonderful hospitality. I now have shop envy for his wonderful setup. This was my first ride with this great bunch of xs owners. What a time. I look forward to many other rides with the group.

The ride around Rainer was a blast. While the road was just a LITTLE rough in places I know we all loved it. A couple of the machines came home a little rough around the edges.

I would be nice if we could get some of the local riders together in Sept for a one day fall ride.

Thanks again Denny, Jeff

[Steve Linderman]

PNW Rally

Hello...from the "Newbies"

As one of the newest members to the Xs 1100 O.G.
I would like to say "THANXAMILLION" for the wonderful weekend of friendship and frolic.
Denny-n-Glenna THANK YOU!!!
And we mean that with ALL sincerity...
The rides were awesome !! the race around Rainier was a BLAST!!
The ride down the Coast was one for all times.
For those who mised it... (Sunday) we picked up a "new" rider (in Westport, WA) on a Beemer 1000, she's from Kansas...but now lives in OLYMPIA.
Her Famous qoute "I'm finally glad to ride with a group that likes to PASS cars"
I told her to "stick with Denny"
I think we passsed several thousand over the weekend!!

Mo-n-I met some WONDERFUL people...I got to "tinker" on her bike (Sat) THANKS TO YOU JEREMY !!!
And she now idles at 1000, not 2500!!
The syncroniser helped a buncha' people!! and the color tuning was the "soup d'jour"
We are here for the duration !!
To all those who attended...Mo-n-I would like to thank each-n-everyone for making it a "weekend to remember"
Thanks especially to all those who came from afar to attend (this is your part Rob-n-Gary)
And Jeremy...Mo says thanks for helping her close a few mouths at her job...( I wouldn't let her ride it 'till it was 'fixed")
She WILL ride it to work tomorrow (Thurs.)
And the silence will be deafening!!!

Glenna...someone at work asked Molly if she had a "Chick Bike"
What do you think?
That BIG BLACK(shiny) MISSLE...is "CHIC"...not "CHICK" Right?
Help me out here...
I will try to post pics (HA!)
IF Mike will help (right? Mike?)

Either way...Ride on...
MO-N-STEVE (more to follow)

"I don't wanna pickle, I just wanna ride my motorsickle"
(Arlo Guthrie cir.1963)

[Mike Hart]

I'm taking off for California (4th time this year!), so I'd better get something posted here before I go...

Friday we rode up Mt. Rainier (Tahoma) - on the way there, we spotted a hack rig off the shoulder - it was Rob Mills (rockjok) and Hoover in the Yamabago:


Saturday was a lot of fun - six of us set out for some local twisties, Gary was on Deano's FJR1300, Jeremy on my Bandit, me on Jeremy's sweet-running XS, plus Denny, Glenna, and Steve Linderman. But the theme of the day was TECH.

Lots of carbs got floats adjusted, color-tuned, synchronized, and other miscellaneous bike work was done.

Ken Daniels (ratbyk) adjusting his floats:


Jeremy Sells, Dennis McLaughlin and Jim Middlestadt pull Dennis's (Skinnybiker's) carbs:


and put em on the bench: (Dennis, Jim, Jeremy)


Jeremy did some horse trading and installed a Tkat F/B:

Note the tread on that front tire - very modern, almost looks like a radial - they are Pirelli Sport Demons, they felt great, I'm putting those on my XJ next tire change.

Saturday night around the fire pit after dinner was the awards ceremony. I think Deano was a little embarrassed to win the Best Bike trophy - he said "all I did was buy it.." but hey Deano, you got the votes required, so there. Sorry, I don't have pix, maybe someone does, there were a lot of cameras there.

It is always such a great pleasure to see Denny and Glenna, rally or not, but especially at their rallies, they do such a great job of entertaining and making everyone feel at home, not to mention the great facilities! Thanks again, everyone had a great time.

Rumor has it that there was post-rally riding as well - I'm sure Gary will post something when he gets home about his adventures with Jeremy and then Denny on some fine twisties. Gary showed up a little after 11am today, I helped him load the Bandit on his truck, pack up his mountain of gear, and he set out for Spokane and points waaay east at about 1:30.

It was really great that Gary went to all the effort to make the long drive both ways to come see Washington and meet many of the PNW biker scum. He put on over 3000 miles on PNW roads, and I'm thinking he had a great time - I sure did.

[Madness]

Well, it was another great PNW Rally. Many, many thanks to Denny and Glenna for hosting another outstanding biker bash. It was great to see those on the list that I’ve met at previous rallies and it great to meet the ones that I’ve never met before.

All in all the weather cooperated with us. It was a little iffy Friday morning with the light rain. We stopped and had breakfast at the local IHOP and by the time we were done things had dried out and warmed up quickly once we got closer to Rainier. What a great time riding around this magnificent mountain!! We met up with Rob (Rockjok) and his sidekick Hoover just before we got to the park. Rob had ridden his XS with sidecar and Hoover all the way from Montana. The roads around Rainier have to be the most fun I’ve ridden. They weren’t the smoothest though. Lots of spots, which couldn’t be seen, were slightly sunken. This wouldn’t be too big of a deal unless you were haulin’ a** trying to keep up, or catch up to the group in front. After a short stay at Paradise we were off to Sunrise. Wow, I thought the ride to Paradise was great, but the ride to Paradise really showed off the scale of how huge this mountain was. The waterfalls, the canyons, the different vistas around every corner made it hard to keep an eye on the road in front of you. We took a nice long break at Sunrise to stretch and take in the view of the mountain and the surroundings. The views on the way up were breathtaking. I never realized it was this beautiful up there.

The ride down was just as fun. Dennis (Skinny Biker), was in front of me and I knew he was getting tired of doing the Superman every time he hit one of the many bumps in the road. We were had a car in front of us when the group in front of us passed the car on a straight section I pulled around Dennis and passed the car doing around 70mph. Good thing Dennis decided to stay back because I hit one of the sunken spots which bottomed out the front end of my bike. I knew I hit hard, but didn’t realize how hard until our next stop for gas and I noticed my front fender had scraped my Jardine headers!! The ride made it worth it though.

Saturday was tech day with several carbs getting pulled and/or adjusted. It’s always amazing how much better these bikes will run and sound with just slight tweaking of the carbs. Some of the group went out for a spirited ride around the area with a few swapping bikes before we all settled in to hit the keg hard and enjoy some fantastic BBQ’d chicken cooked up by John Korn. After dark we all gathered around the fire pit and Denny gave out the awards to Deano, who’s new FJR was voted group favorite. Rob from Montana for longest distance ridden. And to Gary from NY who drove longest distance traveled to the Rally.

Sunday was departure day for most of the group. I stayed long enough to have breakfast with who were left before they took off for a ride to the coast and I jumped on the slab for the ride home.

Another great Rally has come and gone. This has been a great riding year for me. I’ve been from California, to Washington, to Idaho, and to several parts of Oregon I’ve never ridden before. I’ve seen some beautiful places and met and ridden with some fantastic people. Lot’s of riding time left this year, but I’m already looking forward to the next.

I'm still working on getting pics organized. Will get link posted ASAP.

[Madness]

Photo Link to PNW '03

I finally got my photos uploaded. Here's the link:
PNW '03 PHOTOS

[jkorn]

Guys

While we were resting at Sunrise I was talking with one of the group, but can't remember who. It's that old age thing. They mentioned that they used to have a Kerker on their XS but removed it. Just wondered if they would want to sell it....

If I can figure out how to post pictues I will post mine of the weekend.

Jeff

[Geezer]

Originally posted by jkorn
Guys

While we were resting at Sunrise I was talking with one of the group, but can't remember who. It's that old age thing. They mentioned that they used to have a Kerker on their XS but removed it. Just wondered if they would want to sell it....

If I can figure out how to post pictues I will post mine of the weekend.

Jeff

You're not the only one. I asked him the same question but like you, I have CRSS (can't remember **** syndrome) and can't remember his name either. I never forget a face but that's not helping me here.

Geezer

[sixtysix]

The party is over....

I guess since I have arrived safe at home the party is now officially over for me! I will have to unpack in the morning then fill in the gaps in the ride reports......until then

[Madness]

Gary,
Glad to hear you made it home fine. I was a pleasure to meet you at PNW '03. From your ride stories I think you got a pretty good taste of our great PNW area.

Hope to see you at another Rally.

[sixtysix]

Well, I have been to the west, a magical place where XS's (and XJ's and even Bandits) are allowed to run free. If anybody else from the east makes this pilgrimage, read the section in the owners manual on 'prolonged high speed operation' .

I need to especially thank Denny and Glenna, Mike Hart, Jeremy Sells, and Bill Bowman for actually taking me in to thier homes and treating me like family. For somebody on the road for 3 weeks it was certainly better than Motel 6! Also I need to thank Deano for offering to let me try out his beautiful FJR, letting somebody you just met ride your new bike with less than 900 miles on it, is definitely XSive!

You guys really know how to throw a party, it was nice meeting all of you and somehow I will need to make it out west again. I could list everybodys name but I might forget one, anyway there wasn't a stinker in the bunch (which is usually the case with these rallys).

I put 5825 miles on my truck and amazingly put 3440 miles on my Bandit. Not too bad for a wimp who brought the bike out in the back of his truck .

On the way home I stopped in Sturgis, SD...T-shirts are cheap the week after the 'other' so called rally they have there and a quick stop at Mt. Rushmore. Half of Montana is covered in thick smoke, you had to have the headlights on most of the time, I felt sorry for the guys on bikes.

Anyway I still need to write up the coastline run and two Mt. St. Helens runs so stay tuned!

[sixtysix]

Well the Sunday run down the coast was fairly uneventful. Nice scenery and nice people.

First stop was Westport:



Where we ran in Julie, who seemed rather Xsive even on the lowered BMW R1150R, she rode with us the rest of the day and didn't complain even when we went '5 over'



At one point Denny passed a long line of cars.....I am sure he was way over '5 over ' anyway a cop was coming right at him so I did not pass....luckily the cop didn't seem interested in us at all !

We ran along Willapa Bay and the Pacific Ocean then turned inland. Here are some of the shots along the way:







Later, Jeremy and I peeled off for Portland, we missed the ferry and the other bridges were closed...so we had to take the interstate. I wish I still had the camera out, crossing the bridge into Portland at dusk was breathtaking.

Here is a linked photo of Portland at dusk:

Image (c)2003 by Andrew Hall, PortlandBridges.com

I guess the rest of the crew ran into traffic and they may have a story or two to tell......about the cop and the motorhome.