The Springer Flinger   Oct  10-11,1999

Trip Report:

A bunch of the guys from the Sabmag list were getting together in Johannesburg, CA for what was to be known as the Springer Flinger. It was named that because the guy organizing the ride was Pete Springer.

I talked Chris into giving me a kitchen pass and letting me go since buying the bike I had only been on one or two rides, by myself. And one thing I wanted to do was enjoy group riding, instead of only riding the bike back and forth to work.

So I loaded up the bike on Friday and I was to meet another newbie Larry Link at the In-N-Out near route 66 and I-15. Larry and I met up and Larry had his son Brian with him. After eating, we took of going north on the 15 until we came to the 395 turnoff. Johannesburg is on the 395, another 70 miles from where we jumped off the 15.

We pulled into the hostel around 4-4:30 pm. And found that a few of the guys were already there. More pulled in later. We wound up with a pretty good group by the time everyone arrived.

The next morning, Michelle, the hostel owner, made breakfast for us. We then prepared for the ride. We were soon off on my first adventure with a group ride. and what an adventure it was. After picking up Rand and Lucy in Ridgecrest and gassing up, (where Karen lost her footing and slipped with her bike and both hit the ground in slow motion. We set off to tour the desert wasteland. Our first stop was a place called Fossil Falls. To get to it from the main road, it required you to ride about a ½ mile or so on a dirt/crushed lava rock road. In some places it was like riding on ball bearings! We were all able to get there in one piece. It was a pretty interesting place; the water had worn down the lava flow at one point and it was quite deep. After the view, we saddled back up to ride out. I heard later that our host had lost it and dumped his bike along the way. I don’t know if this was the first for him, but over the years, Pete has managed to drop his bike a number of times! …;-)

Next was a ride over the mountains. Now it had been a number of years for me riding through mountains, even though I was commuting between Palmdale and Pasadena for 5 years, and 3 of those years was on a motorcycle riding the Angeles Crest and Forest highways. The last time I did that was back in early ‘92, at least 7 years ago. Needless to say, I was a little slow going over that mountain, plus I didn’t trust my (bias-ply) tires at all. At one point I was at the tail-end when Guy motioned me to go around him. Not long after that I saw a big dust cloud behind me. Sure enough, Guy had slid off the road right into very loose dirt (like sand) several inches thick.

I turned around to help him up and by the time I got there, he had already picked up the bike. A couple of the others showed up and did a few minor repairs and he was able to continue to ride to our next stop. There, someone found a 2X4 and they went to town straightening out everything they could. Thank goodness, no real damage was done. Guy did fine the rest of the trip.

We went over a pass and back down the other side into the little town of <name?>. Lots of good twisty roads and by the time we were leaving there, TB had set in and my poor butt was hurting. I even put the gel pad down, but it didn’t do any good. Gel pads aren’t what they claim to be! They get hard when you sit on them!

It was getting late and we were all getting tired, so we made a beeline to the hostel. Some faster then others! ;-) I just took my time at a nice semi-fast pace. We all made it back to the hostel in one piece and had a great ride. The rest of the evening was telling lies and eating & drinking….soft drinks for me...;-)

The next morning we headed out, all the So Cal folks in one group. They asked me to lead. What a mistake! They didn’t realize I would ride at the posted speed limit. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to go that slow!...lol So, after a few miles, they all started passing me and they haven’t asked me to lead since…;-)

In San Bernardino we parted company and I headed south by myself. It was very hot going through the Temecula area (above 110) but I had to stop for gas, so I stopped to eat also. (And I moved there [Murrieta] in Sept 2002!) I made it home an hour later and was glad to have made the ride. But I had to rework that saddle! I had a real bad case of TB.

See all the pictures: Springer Flinger October 1999 Pictures