Two weeks ago I led a small tour group through the Trinity Alps in Northern California. It was two days of beautiful, twisting pavement, with stretches of open road and countryside that feed your soul.
The ride over the Etna pass on Sawyer’s Bar Road was everything we hoped for. Not a fast ride, but a backroad that lined and snaked its way through a wilderness canyon along the North Fork of the Salmon River. If you go, watch out for oncoming traffic on this narrow road, as there’s scant room for two vehicles, sometimes barely room for more than one, and not every truck or car you meet will be on their half of the road when you come around blind corners. Make sure to pull off at the summit and take in the views!
Our first day was refreshingly cool, even offering us some short summer showers, but the second day was hot – upper 90’s hot! We pulled off for a stretch break and I calculated we still had 2 more hours of riding, but I could see that we were inching close to that place where your body starts telling yourself you’re overheated, exhausted, and starting to get barn sour.
To our good fortune, we discovered we had pulled off next to a beautiful wild blackberry patch, and we enjoyed the berries with gusto, as they offered us a perfection in ripeness and sweet flavor that one can’t get at the grocery store.
In the process of our berry fest we realized that a small stream was nearby, cascading its way down through the rugged terrain, crossing under the road, then through the far side of the berry patch. This was our saving grace for the afternoon!
The youngest in our group, Micah, took it upon himself to forge a path through the berries and made it to the streambed. We all took off our shirts and tossed them down, where he collected and soaked them in cold stream. One by one he tossed them back, after which we each wrung them out ever so slightly over our heads. We then put our cold, wet shirts back on, followed by our moto jackets with mesh airflow.
As soon as we pulled out it was one big halleluiah! Old fashioned radiator right there – air blowing through the jacket against our wet shirts, cooling our bodies by the minute. Because we kept our jackets on the shirts didn’t dry out immediately and the cooling effect lasted about 30 minutes. At our next gas stop we bought extra water bottles and doused our shirts again.
Of course, there are cooling vests you can buy made just for moto touring, and those will give you a little longer cooling session, but if you don’t really want to spend the money on more gear and find yourself fading fast on a hot day, this is the trick, trust me. The key is to have extra water you can spare, and to also have a summer mesh style moto jacket so air can flow through, yet keep the shirt from drying out too quickly. We were thankful on this day to have come across nature’s provisions of just those things we needed.
Enjoy your rides in this panoramic world, taking the backroads and less traveled routes that rejuvenate the mind and spirit. Just remember in extreme weather conditions to be prepared and adjust accordingly, even if it means changing up your itinerary, as it’s never worth the risk to keep riding if your body and nerves are exhausted.