Texas to California Marathon Trip A Big Success

How did anyone ever get anywhere driving the old Route 66? The road twisted and turned through rocky mountain passes.

I was standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona,
what a fine sight I did not see;
there was no girl in a flat bed Ford,
nobody even slowed down to take a look at me.
I was "Taking It Easy" however, just like the Eagles described in their song, years ago.

Some of the other riders have some good pics and a video of yours truly on the PCH1, but I haven't got them to load yet. More later.

Thanks again to all who helped me prepare for this trip !!!

Really good pics. I am so jealous of you getting to see how beautiful this country is.
Glad you all made it back safe.
Grant.

Thanks for the story and pics. Roy

My hats off to you on the little 650, I would be intracktion or a brace for my back the 1st day. Way to go. I have ? though how many mies do you think you were getting a gallon. I know you change the spocket on your bike so its going to be different from mine, but still curious.

The standard gearing on my KZ650 CSR was 13 & 33, with a 630 chain, and rear tire size 130/90-16.
I recently am running a 14 tooth front sprocket, still retained the 33 tooth rear sprocket, and am running a rear tire size of 140/90-16.

I am using a smaller than stock front tire, so the odometer reads about 4% too fast. I have verified this with a GPS.

So after factoring in this odometer error, my average for the entire trip was 50.2 MPG, with a high of 57.8 and a low of 41.4. It really depends on the speed we ran and whether there was a headwind on not.

Some time ago I had experimented with an even higher gearing of 13 and 26, but the 650 just doesn't have the torque to run at fast highway speeds without loading the engine too much.

One more photo.

Awesome! Thanks for the pics.
How many miles a day did you guys ride and how did you feel the next day riding?

I plan on riding my bike to Moto GP from Chicago! I did it in my car one year going to Seattle from Chicago and down the coast in two weeks I put well over 7k on my car. That was pretty rough, sleeping in my car because most places don't allow pets. I am going the southern route to Arizona to stop in and hang out with OMR and my ex and my wife's friend who lives there. You can ask OMR about those fine females. Then to Laguna Beach to see my brother and up the coast to stay at TP Tri's place and then back home. My wife will be driving in the car as she is prego and hopefully I will have at least a couple of takers to ride with so that we can have a great time with the sites and watering holes along the way.

If any of you guys are up for GP let me know, maybe we could coordinate.

Here is our mileage schedule for the 9 days:
Houston, TX to Fort Stockton, TX = 504
Fort Stockton to Tucson, AZ = 557
Tucson to Malibu, CA = 525
Malibu to Redwood city, CA = 403
Redwood city to Napa, CA = 81
Napa to Barstow, CA = 431
Barstow to Gallup, NM = 538
Gallup to Weatherford, OK = 609
Weatherford to Houston = 514

We stayed on schedule for the entire trip, except for the second day. We encountered some very high winds and rain in Arizona and part of the group did not make it to Tucson the second night. We stopped in Wilcox, AZ. Got up early the next day and rode 684 miles to Malibu, to get back on schedule.

Each day I had to jump start myself with several cups of coffee. After about 5 days, I noticed that my right side cheek seemed more uncomfortable than the left. Then I realized that my wallet was the source of the problem. Felt kinda stupid about this. Carried it in a jacket pocket after that.

I have a throttle lock, so that I can give the right hand a rest occasionally. My knees would get rather stiff. I would put my feet up on the engine case guards to change position. (Need highway pegs). Would sit sort of side saddle part of the time. Also would occasionally stand up on the foot pegs and ride along for a few minutes to stretch out. I just knew that some policeman would think that I was trying to do a wheeie.

Basically, Anything over about 300 miles a day got to be really old. We had to keep our speed higher than the 650 was comfortable with to keep on schedule. What an experience !!!

Wow. But it was worth it I am quite sure. The most I have ridden in one day was 600 miles then 400 on the way back. I was beat a little for a few days. lol Going around Lake Michigan about 1200 miles and see how it goes from there. That must have been an awesome trip! :woohoo: I know I completely enjoyed my drive after I got out of Iowa. Such a long and monotonous state to drive through. The coast absolutely rocks.
Well, I have all but resigned myself to doing it on the bike. Trying to talk a few friends to make that trip with me for company and safety.
Thanks for the feedback. Awesome pics.

trick shit my man ...trick shit