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By William "ForceOne" Pantoja. Preparation
Distance: 376 miles
Travel Time: 10 hours The skies were looking grim. Showers were predicted. That didn't stop us rolling the dice and heading out on a day trip to Windy Ridge located at the top of Mt. St. Helens. The view promised to be breathtaking if the weather turned in our favor. Little did I know the weather was going to be the least of my worries. After WCRM II 2005, I noticed my oil light blinking on when I stopped. I checked my oil and discovered it was bone dry. DrainFade had extra oil and before we left we dumped almost 1.5 liters of oil in the bike. Satisfied everything else was in order, we headed out when DT arrived to meet us. The Ride to Windy Ridge
We had decided to slab all the way down to Parkland and then take HWY 7 through Morton. We had only one day to make this trip and time was not on our side. If we took two long, DrainFade and DT would have to answer to their wives. Traffic was acceptable and we hummed along at a brisk pace making it down to Morton right on schedule. Mother Nature decided to take a pot shot at us and it had started drizzling when we got to Morton. We decided to gas up and have lunch to pass the time and see what the weather was going to do. By the time we finished, it had stopped drizzling and the roads had already dried up. Thumbing our noses at the clouds we climbed on our steel horses with the anticipation of being on FR-25 within just 17 more miles.  | | Windy Ridge route. | |
The Wreck
After we turned on FR-25, I slowed down a bit and let DT and DrainFade go ahead. I wanted to practice smooth riding around the twisties and wanted to be a little more cautious knowing that it had recently rained. Cruising down FR-25 there are a few 15 mph and 20 mph hair pin turns. I took this turn at a moderate pace and as I rounded the bend, noticed some gravel on the right side of the road so I changed my line to skirt around it on the outside of my lane. Riding down FR-25, just as I was taking this curve, were two riders on sport bikes heading the opposite direction. The second rider had decided to cut the corner and crossed over the center line clipping the rear end of my bike. All of a sudden, my bike started heading towards the center line and I quickly corrected by turning tighter--straight into the gravel. My rear tire hit the gravel and slid out causing my bike (and me) to slide across the road into the muddy ditch on the other side with the bike bouncing across my leg. I immediately got up and looked down the road--the other rider was not in sight. My new Stitch was ruined. Though nothing went through, the ballistics on my right leg were torn. I spent a fair amount of time turning the air blue with the stream of obscenities that is probably still polluting the Gifford Pinchot National Forest while I started gathering the pieces of my now destroyed right blinker and getting the bike upright. A park ranger happened by as I was trying to get the bike back up and he helped me pick it up and move it down to a small turnout in the middle of the turn. He asked me if I was alright and I explained to him what happened. He noted, with some appreciation, that I had gathered up the non-biodegradable parts of my bike that had come off instead of leaving them to clutter the countryside. I gave him my phone number and he said if he saw the riders on his way down the mountain that he would note their information and give me a call. We started the bike back up and made sure that everything (except the right blinker) appeared to be functional. Only my hip and the back of my right calf where the bike surfed on it were a little sore. After the ranger left, I collected my thoughts, calmed down a bit, and continued up FR-25 taking very slow trying to determine if the wreck had caused any additional damage. The bike seemed to perform as it did before but I noticed my front brake caliper was partially sheared off and bent down. I would have to adjust it when I stopped again but other then having to reach a little more to get at it, it was operating just fine. I caught up with DrainFade and DT a little while later. They were heading back down the mountain. They had stopped, wondering what was taking me so long when a blue Neon stopped and told them they had passed a rider that had wrecked who was talking to a park ranger. They had only just started back when we met and I pulled into a turn off and told them what happened. DrainFade was feeling guilty but I told him it wasn't his fault--I was doing just fine until the other rider clipped me. Both DrainFade and DT remembered seeing the riders and remembered that one of them had run wide on one of the corners. Looks like it was only a matter of time before those guys would cause a wreck and sure enough--I had to be at the right place at the wrong time. We took another once-over of the bike and adjusted my break caliper. Everything else seemed to be working just fine. After some discussion, we decided to continue to Windy Ridge.  | | Site of the wreck. | |
Windy Ridge
FR-99 can be ugly. DrainFade forewarned DT and me that it is common for the road to have washouts and rocks and to be extra vigilant. Indeed, there were rocks and gravel on some of the turns as we rode up but nothing that was a problem. We were riding at a sane pace to be able to see any potential surprises that may have been lurking around a corner. Even so, the road was pretty clean most of the way up. I am sure the view on the ride up FR-99 was wonderful but I had my eyes on the road and didn't see much of the scenery until we finally got to the top. It was still cloudy so our view of the lava dome was obstructed but the view was still worth the trip. I was able to shoot a panoramic view of the area--nearly 360 degrees. The entire area looked like it had been sand-blasted and now, almost 11 years later, only scrub brush had made a come back. You could still see the trees as they were following the Mt. St. Helens eruption of 1986. We listened to the last half of the park ranger's presentation of Mt. St. Helens learning that the lava dome is growing at a rate of one truckload of material every minute. I wish construction companies were that efficient.  | | Arrival at Windy Ridge. | Photo: William Pantoja |
 | | Our bikes enjoy the view--without us. | Photo: William Pantoja |
 | | Windy Ridge looking to the south. | Photo: William Pantoja |
Burgers Anyone?
It was starting to get late but we decided to get what DrainFade said were the best burgers anywhere from this little place just off FR-90. Although we had all eaten earlier, I was up for having a culinary treat. It sounded like a good way to top the day. We headed back down FR-99 and stopped briefly at the FR-99/FR-25 junction. DrainFade and DT gave me some cornering pointer that turned out to be most helpful. I was shifting my rear around and that was causing the rear tire of the bike to sort of jump around a bit. With this new knowledge, we continued down FR-25 and turned on to FR-90. A half mile up the road, we pulled into the parking lot (read gravel lot) to get our burgers. More bad news. Not only was the Burger Buddy closed, but it was for sale. So much for a couple of juicy burgers. There was a general store here so we decided to take a break regardless and a couple of folks that were sitting at a picnic table outside swapped stories with us. Although we didn't get our burgers, the hospitality and the scenery made up for it. The Road Home
It was time to start heading home. Things were looking a little grim for DrainFade and DT. This trip was taking longer then we thought. Though the accident didn't help, it added only a half hour to what turned out to be almost a 2-day trip. We briefly considered going down Hood River and staying over night but DrainFade and DT had to be at work the next day and their "24-hour flu" wasn't going to hold water if it turned into a "48-hour flu". Again I took FR-25 easy sticking with my plan to work on riding smooth rather then riding fast. DrainFade and DT stopped at a turnout at one point to wait for me to catch up and when I did, I caught them braking into a song and dance number beside their bikes.  | | DrainFade and DT off Broadway. | Photo: William Pantoja |
 | | DrainFade's gas claims two trees. | Photo: William Pantoja |
 | | The obscenities I spouted earlier settle over the mountains. | Photo: William Pantoja |
We settled into the ride continued down FR-25. We stopped in Randle to gas up and take a snack break. When I got back on my bike, I couldn't find my key. They bikes were never out of our sight and I didn't see it lying on the ground anywhere. Luckilly, I keep a spare in my tank bag and I used that. I discovered later that I had put my key in a different pocket in my tank bag. We stopped briefly in Morton so that DrainFade and DT could phone their wives and try to avert the coming storm. It was already around 4:00 pm and we still had another couple hours to go before we got home. With luck, DrainFade and DT wouldn't be grounded after this trip. In the Red
Just out side of Morton, we stopped again briefly. DrainFade's switch on his Motocomm had broken. Par for the course it seemed. We were about to head back out and DrainFade thought my bike sounded like it was rattling. DT and I checked it out and it turned out to be little rocks in the fairing. The rattling disappeared as we got back on the bikes when I noticed my bike was overheating. The temperature was just in the red. Everything sound fine but we let the bike cool a little and the headed out down HWY 7. We didn't get far when the needle creeped firmly into the middle of the red and we pulled over. We decided find a better place to check out the bike since we had stopped in a small turn out on a hill. We found a road that had been blocked by k rails and that looked like the perfect place to stop. Thinking that the thermostat was probably toasted because the bike was running otherwise fine, we started tearing it apart. The thermostat appeared to be working after all and checked the fuses. All of them, and specifically the fan fuse, were fine. Next we checked the coolant--bone dry. The bike had boiled it all off. DT sacrificed his bottled water and we finished checking out the rest of the bike. No leaks anywhere. It didn't make sense. Could I have been riding the little Ninjette too hard? We put the bike together and it finally seemed to be cooling just fine. I knew we had to fix the bike or I'd end up being DrainFade's bitch for the rest ride home. DrainFade and DT let their wives know what was up and that we were going to be running even later. After all was said and done, we crossed our fingers and continued on HWY 7. The bike seemed to be cooling itself as long as I stayed under 9,000 RPMs. Above that, and the needle would start creeping up. Keeping my eyes on the temperature, we finally made it home just in time for the needle to touch the red again. It seemed to hold its temperature on the freeway but when we got back onto surface streets again, it was difficult to keep it below 9000 RPMs. I let the bike cool a little at DrainFade's house for a while and then rode home. After arriving, the needle was kissing the red again--in only 1.3 miles it had risen from a quarter to just red. Something was definitely wrong with the bike or my riding style.  | | DrainFade examines my thermostat. | Photo: William Pantoja |
 | | DrainFade and DT nurse the Ninjette back to health. | Photo: William Pantoja |
Monroe Kawasaki
The next day, I called Monroe Kawasaki after finding almost no information on the Internet related to the EX250 overheating. Even so, there seemed to be a difference of opinion--some said the bike should never overheat, others said riding at 70+ mph for long periods would cause it to overheat. The only thing anyone seemed to agree on was that the EX250 will burn off oil if driven for long periods at higher RPMs. Monroe Kawasaki seemed to agree with the first group--the engine should not overheat unless it is hot out in stop-and-go-traffic. They said as long as air is moving across the radiator, it should be fine. I will have to bring it in for a diagnostic. The jury is still out on what might be wrong with the bike and it looks like I will have to see what the mechanics at Monroe Kawasaki say when I take it in. Hopefully it won't be terrible news or inexpensive to fix. For the time being, my ability to go on the Ocean Shores trip later this month is in jeopardy.
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