Tag: Triumph Daytona

Three Flags Classic: Day 2

The second day of the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally would take us from Gallup, New Mexico (where we stayed the first night of the tour) to Grand Junction, Colorado.  You can catch up on the ride by reading our prior blog posts here:

The 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally:  the Intro!

The Three Flags Classic:  Day 1

And with that, let’s get to Day 2!

Day 2 of the 2005 Three Flags Rally. Good times. Great roads. Gorgeous scenery. A grand ride in every respect!

To continue the adventure, we were up early and we rolled out of Gallup, New Mexico on a beautiful day.  The bikes were running great and Marty and I were in high spirits.  It’s hard to put into words what it feels like to be on these kinds of rides.  You’re out in the world, on a powerful motorcycle, seeing things worth seeing.   It’s a great experience and a great feeling.  Everything just seems better to me when I’m on a motorcycle ride.  I sleep better, the food has better flavors, the people are friendlier, the bikes feel stronger, and on and on it goes.  You need to experience it to really understand it.  You folks who ride the big rides know what I’m talking about.

We spent very little time on the freeways on the Three Flags Rally. Most of our riding was on magnificent roads like the ones you see in the photos below.  The folks at the Southern California Motorcycle Association who planned the ride did a fantastic job.

Another cool shot on the road in New Mexico. That’s Marty and his K1200RS BMW, with my Daytona in the background. Marty still owns the K1200RS. It has 144,000 miles on the clock.
Another Daytona shot in New Mexico. That’s Shiprock in the background.

If it seems like there are a lot of pictures of my Daytona here, well, I guess there are. I loved owning the Daytona, and the more I rode it, the more I liked it. For a cool story on how I came to own this bike, check out this blog entry I wrote a few months ago.

A few miles up the road from this location, we crossed into Colorado. This was my first time in Colorado, other than passing through the airport in Denver a few time on business trips.  But those stops don’t really count…a layover in any airport could be a layover in, well, any other airport.

Mesa Verde, Colorado. Wow…this was a great ride!

Marty wanted to stop in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  I had never heard of the place (I don’t get out enough, I guess), but I was up for it.  Marty was a very easy guy to travel with and he didn’t have many preferences.  He was a judge (that is to say, he’s the real deal…a Superior Court judge), and he told me that he didn’t want to make any decisions on this ride.  Where we stayed, where we stopped to eat, and all the rest were up to me.  I think that’s because Marty was paid to make decisions all day long.   Making decisions was his job, and he wanted a break.    So when he asked to hit Mesa Verde, it was about the only time he expressed a preference on where to go, and I was all for that.  It was a good move.   Mesa Verde National Park is an impressive place.

The ride up to the top of Mesa Verde (it literally means “green table” in Spanish) was awesome.  It’s a multi-mile climb to about 8500 feet, and the vistas are incredible.  You can see clear into New Mexico from the top.

All of the above, as you can see from the photos, was grand.  But the main attractions at Mesa Verde National Park are the ancestral Pueblo Native American ruins.   That part of the Park is almost beyond belief.  It’s real Indiana Jones stuff.

Ancient Indian cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. If you’ve never been to Mesa Verde National Park, trust me on this: You need to make the trip. Watch for the next issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine…it’s got all the good info on where to stay, where to eat, and more.

Mesa Verde is a very interesting National Park.   I liked it so much that Sue and I took a road trip there last summer to explore the area in more detail.  I’d been thinking about it in the 14 years that have elapsed since the 2005 Three Flags Classic.  I wanted to see it again and bring my wife so she could see it.   The Native American cliff dwellings are amazing and the scenery is magnificent.  I have a story coming out on Mesa Verde in the next issue of Motorcycle Classics magazine.  It really is a special place.  Marty made the right call on this one.   Hey, he’s a judge.  The guy makes good decisions!

After Mesa Verde, we rode through heavy rains along the Dolores River and stopped in Telluride, Colorado.  The sun came out just as we entered town.   The ride along the Dolores River in Colorado was beautiful even in the rain.   We were having a grand time.

Downtown Telluride, washed clean by a torrential Colorado rain.

We had a checkpoint in Rangely, Colorado. It was a great experience.  I had a conversation with a guy named Pat (a BMW GS rider), and it turned out he lives one street over from where I live in California.   I mean, think about that: Here we were, probably 1300 miles from So Cal, two guys strike up a conversation, and it turns out we’re practically neighbors (but we had never met before this ride).   What are the odds?

Good buddy and GS rider Pat, a fellow Californio, at a checkpoint in Colorado.

We made Grand Junction, Colorado, where we would be spending the night, and we reconnected with our friends at the hotel.  Dinner was great, and then the rain started again.   I felt like taking more photos after dinner and I wanted to play with a couple of new toys.  I had just purchased an ultra-wide Sigma 17-35 lens and I wanted use it.  I had also purchased a Sunpak MiniPro Plus tripod for the trip.  It looked like it was going to be a good idea, but it was a bust. One of the legs broke off halfway through the ride, and I threw the thing away.  I almost never travel with a tripod any more.   They’re just too bulky, and I can usually find something to steady the camera for evening shots.

Our bikes, parked in the rain at the hotel in Grand Junction, Colorado. I used the 17-35 Sigma for this shot, and my uber-cheap tripod (before it broke).

That wrapped up Day 2 of our Three Flags Classic ride in 2005.   It was a great ride.   We were two days into it and we had already ridden halfway across the United States.   Out tally so far was two countries and four states.  We still had several more states and another whole country to go.  It was magnificent.

There’s more to come on this grand adventure, folks.  Stay tuned for Day 3!

Three Flags Classic: Day 1

A full day, Day 1 of the TFC05 was. 700 miles, two countries, and three US states. Good times and a great start!

Tijuana is where the 2005 Three Flags Classic started, and in order to start from there, we had to get there.  Marty and I both live near Los Angeles in southern California, and we had both ridden in Baja before, so getting to Mexico was not that intimidating.  But it was still a 140 mile ride for us and it still involved crossing an international border.  We rode down the afternoon before our departure, allowing sufficient time to find and check into the Tijuana Grand Hotel.

I was a bit nervous that day.  Yeah, I had done a number of big rides already, but for this one, I knew that I would be on the road for two weeks and that we would cover about 5,000 miles.  I also knew part of it would be hot, part of it would be cold, part of it would be sunny, and parts of it would most likely be wet.  I would be right on all counts.  I just didn’t know (yet) just how right I would be on all counts.

We arrived in mid-afternoon and walked around Tijuana a bit.  In those days, crossing the border into Mexico was probably the easiest border crossing you might imagine.  There were no stops, no visa required, no questions to answer…no anything.   All there was to it was riding under a sign that said Bienvenidos A Mexico, and trying not to drop your bike riding across a line of monstrous Bots dots (you know, those polished metal hemispheres the size of a large grapefruit…they were designed to slow vehicular traffic, and they worked).  Just like that, and we were in Old Mexico.

We found Tijuana’s Grand Hotel, we checked in, and we walked around downtown TJ a bit.  It was fun.  Goofy photos, and more.

Tijuana, the starting point of the Three Flags Classic. This was the view from our room in the Tijuana Grand Hotel.
Yep, Tijuana. Just making sure.
A sculpture in Tijuana.

We were having a good time, but what was really on our minds was the 3:00 a.m. departure the next day.  We were both a bit nervous about that.   To leave at 3:00 a.m., we’d have to get up at 2:00 a.m.  I briefly thought about staying up all night (after all, getting up at 2:00 a.m. would practically be the same thing), but I decided to turn in early and do the best I could to get some shuteye.   I might not have bothered…I was too nervous to really sleep well.  I knew we would be covering about 700 miles the next day, I was afraid I would oversleep the next morning, and I usually don’t sleep well the night before a big a trip.  I was in bed for maybe 5 hours that night, but I probably only slept for 45 minutes.

Whooping it up the night before our departure in the Grand Hotel in Tijuana. We would all be on the road at 3:00 a.m. the next morning. Can you picture almost 500 motorcycles at the border crossing at that hour!
We had an excellent buffet in the Grand Hotel the night before we left. We were on the road for 12 days and we never had a bad meal.

The next morning, well before sunup, we were off.  Normally, even back in those days, the border crossing re-entering the US in Tijuana is difficult.  Picture this…nearly 500 motorcycles idling north into a crowded but huge border station.  There were maybe 15 lanes heading north, but only two were open at that early hour.   All of our bikes were in those two lanes, with maybe 20 cars in front of us.   But the US border officers were efficient.  They opened several more lanes and motioned for the bikes to move into the newly-opened portals.   We were across the border in minutes.  It could have taken hours, so this was a big deal.

Once we entered the US, it was north on I-5, and then east on I-8, which we would follow well into Arizona.  It was still dark out, and we rode directly into what would soon be the rising sun.  It was cool, but not cold.   Life was good.  My Triumph was purring (or growling, depending on throttle position…nothing sounds as good as a Triumph motorcycle).  There were literally hundreds of motorcycles, and all were fellow Three Flags riders.   We were alive, out in the world, riding motorcycles in one of the world’s greatest motorcycle adventures.  We already had knocked down two of the Three Flags, and the sun was still hiding below a distant horizon.   This was good stuff.

The first checkpoint, in Holbrook, Arizona.

Our first checkpoint on the Three Flags Classic would be in Holbrook, Arizona.  Marty had done this before, and he knew the drill. I followed his lead.  I was lucky to be riding with a much more experienced motorcyclist.  It took away any anxiety.  It was a good feeling.

More Three Flags riders in Arizona. There were quite a few Harleys in this event. This is on the road to Payson.
Marty and I in Arizona on the first day of the event.

Shortly after we stepped up to get our event passports stamped, we experienced a severe rainstorm. We were delayed at the checkpoint for about an hour.   I didn’t care.  Covering the remaining miles that first day would take what it would take, as would the miles on the rest of the ride.  Yeah, we had to make the checkpoints.  But we were doing well.  My Triumph was running well.  Marty’s BMW was the Rolex of motorcycles, and it always did well.

After hitting the first checkpoint and after the rain stopped, we continued our ride and crossed the state line into New Mexico.  Wowee…what a day:  Mexico.  California.  Arizona.  New Mexico.  Two countries.  Three states.  All in a single day.  We stopped to take a few photos, and I was loving it.  My Nikon N70 35mm film camera was doing its thing, and I was working it.  I was seeing grand sights and and I wanted to capture it all.  I had two lenses with me…the old first generation 24-120 Nikon lens, and a 17-35 Sigma wide angle (which was actually a pretty decent lens).   Our bikes were magnificent…both 1200cc road-burning four-cylinder monsters, both with visually-arresting yellow paint themes, and both capable of stratospheric speeds and arm-stretching acceleration.  Both bikes could easily top 160 mph.  We could (and at times during the Three Flags we would) cruise for long stretches at speeds well over 120 mph, knowing adventures like this were what the engineers in Bavaria and England had in mind when they designed these motorcycles.  Great bikes, great company, great roads, and great scenery.  It was an awesome show, and we were the stars.

We covered 700 miles that first day, which would be our highest mileage day for the entire Three Flags Classic.  The guys who organized the 3FC05 had it wired.   The first day was the big mileage day, and every day after that the miles would decrease a bit.  It was a well organized event.  Hit the checkpoints, see what you want to see along the way, stay wherever you want, but hit the checkpoints.  It’s a great formula, and it made for a great ride.

That first night, we stayed in Gallup, New Mexico.  I’d never been there before.  Gallup, New Mexico.  On a motorcycle.  Wow.  The next day, the adventure would continue.  I couldn’t wait.

Hey, read the prequel to this great story here!  And would you like to know more about that dynamite Daytona 1200 I rode in the Three Flags Classic?  That story is here!

The 2005 Three Flags Classic: The Intro!

Feel like going for a motorcycle ride? How about the Southern California Motorcycle Club’s Three Flags Classic?

Headed for Canada…nope, we were not draft dodgers. We were riding in the 2005 Three Flags Rally! That’s Marty on the left and Joe on the right.

This is one of the best motorcycle runs in the world, spanning (as the name implies) three countries: Mexico, Canada, and the United States. My friend Marty and I, along with 457 other motorcyclists, rode the Three Flags in 2005. It was the 30th Anniversary of this grand event, and it was a hoot.

The Route

What a run this was! We rode our motorcycles from our homes to Tijuana (Mexico), Gallup (New Mexico), Grand Junction (Colorado), Driggs (Idaho), Whitefish (Montana), Calgary (Canada), Penticton (Canada), Portland (Oregon), Roseburg (Oregon), Davis (California), and back home…a 12-day round-trip sprint spanning just under 5,000 miles.

The map. GPS? We don’t need no stinkin’ GPS!

It was a grand ride. Speeds ranged from slogs through traffic to a few times when we cruised at speeds north of 130 mph. Temperatures ranged from ungodly hot to subfreezing. We had sunny days and we had rain. It was grand. I’ll do my best to tell the story with pictures and words, and you’ll have to imagine the rest. Did I mention that it was a great ride?

The Bikes

Marty rode his K1200RS Beemer (with close to 100,000 miles on it when we left) and I rode my ’95 Triumph Daytona 1200 (the only Triumph motorcycle in the entire event). At the banquet in Calgary, Charlie Coyner (the event director) announced that there were 218 Hondas (most of these were Gold Wings), 90 Harleys, 90 BMWs, 34 Yamahas (mostly FJRs), about a dozen Suzukis (mostly DL1000s), about a dozen Kawasakis, and one Triumph.

Yep, one Triumph, and that was me!

The Equipment

I used my Nikon N70 film camera with just two lenses (the 24-120 Nikon, and the 17-35 Sigma). Yep, in 2005 I was still shooting film. The photos were okay…not as good as I would be able to do in later years with my Nikon digital cameras, but not terrible, either. Hey, you go to war with the Army you have, and in 2005, that was my trusty old N70.

Other gear included included Joe Rocket pants, jacket, and gloves, a Firstgear rain jacket, a Gerbing electric jacket (it was worth its weight in gold as we continued north), an HJC helmet, Haix boots (from Australia; they are wonderful!), a Nelson Rigg tank bag, and Oxford saddlebags.

The Guys

That would be Marty and me, and four other guys we rode with who were part of the Brown BMW First Church of Bob. Everybody but me was on a Beemer.

Did I mention I was the only guy in the entire Three Flags Rally on a Triumph?

Most of the time it was just Marty and me. The other three guys were off riding their separate ways, but Marty and I rode together for the entire trip. Marty is a retired Superior Court judge. At the time, I was heading up Layne-Christensen’s western US water treatment business sector. Marty told me about the event and I wanted to go. You had to pay for tickets and hope  your name was drawn, and ours were not. I thought that would end it, but nope, Marty told me that happens. You just wait and some of the guys who had been drawn would be selling their tickets, that’s what occurred, and Marty and scooped up a couple.  Then I had to ask my boss at Layne for two weeks off, and I thought that would kill it. But nope, he was a good guy, too, and he told me I should go for it. (A side note: Layne was in the drilling business, too, and when those Chilean miners were trapped underground a couple of years later, this same guy ran the drilling project that reached and retrieved the miners…how’s that for “genuine good guy” credibility?)

So, we were off. But I don’t want to force feed you through a fire hose and try to cram the entire 5,000-mile Three Flags Rally into a single blog.  We’ll present this story in six or seven separate blogs. This is just the first one…the introduction…something to whet your appetite, as they say.

Stay tuned!