I left for Wendover Utah for the next Vetter Challenge on 8/27/14 from my home in Livermore, CA. I had only one day to work on my streamliner and I focused on improving the cooling as my moto had been running hot. I enlarged the front air intake, redid the cooling air ducting and covered the sides of the engine so that the heat would not blow back on me as much.
The changes seemed to be working well as I avoided pegging out the temp. gauge as I rode up the steep inclines on Hwy 80 into Nevada. It went into the upper third of the heat gauge but stayed there; good enough for now. I had decided to break the trip into 2 easy days rather one long ride into Utah and stayed the night in Winnemucca NV. The weather was great other than a bit of wind as I got into Nevada. The streamliner loved the high speeds as we left speed-restricted CA.
The next morning I rode the final 300 miles into Wendover and called Alan Smith. He and Ron Johnson (Canadian hypermiler) had been volunteering at Motorcycle Speed Week and they were finishing the final day of speed runs on the salt flats. Alan was rooming with Ron so I called Terry Hershner about sharing a motel room. He was on the road from Elko but would get to Wendover later that night. I met up with Alan and Ron for dinner and some bench racing. Electric Terry finally arrived later that evening. All the bikers in Wendover for Speed Week seemed to enjoy our road-going streamliners and we were barraged by questions at very stop.
On Friday we all met up with (Diesel) Fred Hayes and the other non-streamlined riders and awaited the arrival of the Vetters. Once Craig got there and unloaded we had our rider’s meeting, fueled up the motos and started the Challenge. We rode first to the entrance of the Salt Flats course for some pictures of the 6 streamliners at the signpost. Then we rode on Hwy 80 for about 75 miles at or slightly above the 80mph speed limit. Craig was definitely feeling his oats with the new taller gearing on his Helix. We encountered some winds but nothing serious. The wind forces were strong enough that they caused one the wire struts holding up my windscreen to come out so that I had to force my shoulder under it to keep it from collapsing. I fixed it at the next rest stop and avoided disqualification. We got off the freeway and onto some scenic 2 lane roads into the backcountry and then into some hills and twisty roadway on our way to Toele. It was a good test for our streamliners and a good fun ride. Kudos to Alan for scouting it out. We topped off our tanks (except for Electric Terry) and found:
We had wait for Terry to recharge his batteries to determine his energy usage and cost but suspected he had the winning result. Congratulations to the winners and all participants; everyone did great! A great ride with some great people, what’s not to love about it!
The next morning we all parted ways: the Vetters on to Colorado, the Hayes’ to Missouri, and Ron to Alberta Canada. Alan, Terry and I rode together for a bit and had lunch together while Terry recharged. Alan peeled off to head toward Idaho and I left Terry after his next recharging stop. I rode on to Reno where I planned to spend the night but found that I couldn’t get a room due to the holiday weekend. I rode on into CA and finally stopped in the boonies between Truckee and Auburn. It had been a tough ride, encountering lots of strong side winds and my streamliner does not have a very effective headlight for night riding.
After a good night’s sleep I rode home in near perfect conditions on Sunday morning. The rest of the ride was almost like a super long victory lap as so many motorists waved, took photos and video as we passed by.
It’s been a good competition season for me with a 3rd Overall and 2nd Pump Fuel placing in Mid-Ohio and 4th Overall and 2nd Pump Fuel in Wendover. Our last event will be in San Luis Obispo CA on 10/11/2014 where I should end with about the same results. Part of me is pleased with the results I’ve achieved without a lot of effort or cost but the other part of me wants to be stronger contender for a win. I don’t have the time to make any radical changes before San Luis Obispo but I need to do some serious reflection on my future efforts during the off-season.
