Failed trip?

Ok Friends, on social media, we only post things that show us "having our best life..."  right?  Well, thought I might post about a trip that wasn't, just for what it is worth and to make me mentally process the details.

As some may know, I am a member of the AZRatpack and go on most of their rides.  Generally a good bunch, biased towards street rides, but I don't hold that against them (much.)

 

Went on their long scheduled ride to the Borrego Springs, CA area last weekend.  Did not have a great time, which was almost 100% my fault, with a few exceptions.

Here is a link to the formal ride, for those interested: AZRatpack "Borrego Springs: Find the Monster ride". 

There are a few pics there... I didn't take any worth posting, mostly because of the bad mood I was in for the majority of the trip.  Yeah, my problem, but such is life.

Background:  the weather took a turn for the hot, a few days before the ride.  Typically, one might have expected highs to be in the high 90's F (32 C.)  However, this trip, the forecast suddenly rolled over 110F (43 C). for Borrego Springs.

Further background:  I invited an "experienced" motorcyclist, who frequently reminded me and anyone else who would listen that she had 30 years of riding experience, including Sturgis rides, to ride along in the hack.  This is where things started to unravel.

We took off from GOAZ, Peoria (bike dealer/sponsor of club) around 9 am on Friday morning.  It was starting to warm up into the 90's at that point; we all had seen the forecasts, and still most of us opted for the longer, more scenic route off of the Interstate, out to Borrego Springs.  I had warned my passenger profusely about how hot it was going to be, and that covering up vs. exposure to the sun was a likely recipe for success. 

Deaf ears.  Only wears a helmet when mandated by law, thinks skin exposure is cooler than a layer of drenched cloth, etc.  So shorts and a skimpy top with no helmet, but a black dew rag.

First gas stop was Quartzite, AZ.  It was getting hot.  Saw 113F indicated on Black Betty's air temp sensor.  It reads a little high because of position, but was getting seriously hot.

Black Betty failed to restart at the gas pump. 

Just what you want on a group ride, right?  Well of course my tool kit has a jump pack, fully charged, and a custom pig tail to plug into the SAE connector, so a jump took care of things, quickly.  I kind of knew the battery was getting weak, but failed to deal with it the week before, since it was still starting ok.  

Battery was just under 6 months old, O'reilly's largest AGM ATV battery, mounted in the hack floor.

I split off from the group, over to an O'Reillys about 20 miles down the road in Blythe.  I pulled the battery, while parked in the shade at the O'Reillys. The young lad behind the counter gave me exactly zero hassle in exchanging for a new battery, under the last 3 days of the tiny, 6 month warranty.

Side note:  I put one of these batteries in the hack, to take the weight of the massive 39 lb car battery out of the trunk, about 6 months ago.  I don't think they are a decent battery, so might rig an external battery box and put the car battery back in the system, mounted between the two hack attachment points.  We'll see. 

May just add a 2nd similar battery into the system and bolt it to the floor of the hack, alongside the current battery, connected in parallel.  Decisions, decisions.  No free lunch if you want deep battery reserve capacity.

Anyway, at this point, passenger was exhibiting signs of heat stroke, so had her hang out in the AC at O'Reillys while I spent about 20 minutes on the swap.  We then headed over to a Chipoltes where she could get some food, further cool off, and soak down with ice and water.  Decision was made to add a T shirt and keep it soaked (we had an ice chest full of cold water bottles, available.)

Back on the road after an hour or so.

I stopped about anywhere I saw shade to pull over into and soak her down a bit, but shade was few and far between as we rode through the dunes, at Glamis CA.  Fortunately, she had to put a helmet on, as we crossed into CA, so that got the sun off her head, directly, anyway.  Highest indicated temp I saw was 122 F (50 C), going through the dunes.

She was not looking so great, so we stopped at a Pilot Truck stop, with a Wendy's to cool her off again.  Lot's of water, and ice, for an hour or so, then I got her to put another shirt on and fill it up with ice, in front, rolled up in the shirt.  That got us the last hour out to Borrego Springs and the Borrego Springs Resort and Spa, that had several most welcome pools to cool off in.

We had a nice dinner at the resort with most of the club:

We spent some time discussing various routes for the next day's ride, up into the mountains, none of which I was comfortable bringing said passenger on, because of the potential for heat beyond her capacity to deal with. 

I made an initial unilateral decision to leave her at the fully functional resort for the next day and take one of the longer routes with some friends.  That went over like a lead balloon, with much discussion about being dumped at the resort, instead of riding with me.

I ultimately offered an individual, short trip, up to 4,500 ft. in Julian as an option to any of the longer group rides.  This was acceptable to my passenger.  Unfortunately, I harbored a fair amount of resentment about skipping the ride with friends because a passenger was too stubborn to dress for the weather, when told what would work.

Another side note:  I was not wearing a cooling vest or riding suit, I was fine with a denim jacket and a LS wicking shirt, along with a couple of neck gaiters that I soaked down about every hour or so.  I had offered a clean one to passenger, that she refused to wear.  I also wore a full face, white helmet, white pigskin gloves and light colored tactical pants.

Next morning, we had to stop for breakfast in one of Borrego Spring's roach infested restaurants.  (I would have preferred one of Julian's roach infested restaurants, but passenger couldn't wait an hour.)  At least the large roach I spotted was friendly, as I chased him out of my pants leg.  I think he was trying to warn me that there was no paper in the restroom...

Did the ride up and back to Julian, along with the Wynona Rd, loop outside Julian, for a little additional scenery.  Ride was pleasant, Julian was full of tourists, as expected, but generally pleasant.  I just was not in a mood to enjoy it, thinking about the ride back to Phx.

There were at least three auto's on the ride, but I was unsuccessful (probably not direct enough in collaring one of the drivers, only posting on the group chat) to get the lady a seat in a car for the ride home.

With that being the case, we opted for a 4:00 am start on Sunday, to beat most of the heat, since the forecast for PHX was 115 F (46 C) high for the day.

Some of the fellow club members opted for a similar start time.  Straight blast down the I-10, back home.  I got to help a fellow club member start his BMW, when his 2 year old LiPo battery bit the dust and he found out in the morning.  It saved us a little time being able to plug the jump pack into his SAE connector with a custom pig tail that I had just fabbed up for my rig.

Passenger was cold through the desert, up until we crested Chiraco Summit and headed back down towards PHX.  Yes, I loaned her a coat.

It warmed up plenty about half way to PHX, but was tolerable until dropping her off.

I rode the rest of the way back to Skunk Hollow in peace, came home, cranked the AC and took a long nap.  Afterwards, I continued to ponder my life choices, one of which is definitely that I have made my last ride with this particular passenger.

So yeah, this is kind of a whiny rant about stuff that I should have foreseen and managed better, but as they say... "live and learn!"  Not all rides are wonderful, but most are better than a day in the office!