The ABTOR for 2020
In about 2002 I invented an event called the ABTOR. This came about through requests from Cycle Barn customers (where I worked at the time), regarding the annual “Oyster Run.”
The “Oyster Run” is held on the last Sunday of September every year, (except this year) and is a mass migration of some 15,000 motorcycles to Anacortes. It is sort of a shorter and milder Washington version of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I had some customers who had been there and done that and wondered if we could not do something else that involved more riding.
The Oyster Run does appeal, at least at first. The first time I went it was a wondrous spectacle of more motorcycles than you will see at any other event in this state, I’m pretty sure. There are bikes of every possible brand, vintage, style, and description, plus a few contraptions that pretty well defy description. There is no organization outside of the town of Anacortes, and you get there pretty much by any route you choose. The first year I went I set off with a customer and just rode in a meandering manner north, until we ran into a large group of motorcycles, and then simply followed them. A lot of the attendees tend to stop often at a bar and have a beer and some, (no points for guessing) oysters. I don’t drink on a motorcycle, and don’t care for oysters, so my riding partner for the day and I hop-scotched from group to group until we reached the spectacle. The first dark cloud was that I don’t enjoy riding with people who have been drinking much of any amount of alcohol. The second was that I saw four crashes on the way into Anacortes, which was more than I had seen in my 35 years or riding to that point. The second year I went with a small group of three or four, all of us with wives on the back. As Susan rarely rode with me, that made it special.
By the 3rd year I was ready for something else, and eagerly accepted the requests of the customers. My Cycle Barn Sport Bike Club was growing by leaps and bounds, and sport bike riders are usually not fond of large masses of metal moving relatively slowly. What I created was named the ABTOR, which was an acronym for “Anywhere But The Oyster Run.” The initial route was conceived by Mark Ramirez, at that time stationed at the submarine base on Hood Canal. He knew the roads well, and come up with a route so spectacular I never actually knew where I was for most of the day. Over the next decade I made small adjustments to the route until it was pretty much perfect. It was always one of the highlight rides of the year.
Ironically, this one route and one event brought about virtually all of the crashes I ever had to deal with in 14 years of leading customer rides. There were, if memory serves, five of them. Four of them occurred when a group of “fast guys” passed me (which was OK) to go off and play. What was happening was that someone who was new to riding but thought they were highly skilled would follow a group made up of those who actually were highly skilled, and pain and financial suffering resulted. Fortunately, the injuries from these incidents were not disastrous. A broken forearm was the worst. After a few years I started telling riders they were welcome to pass me, but if they did not, they were more likely to not crash. The other crash was a gentleman riding two up on a Triumph Rocket III who hit the brakes a little too hard in a corner, and that one resulted in a broken rib and a collapsed lung.
All of these incidents happened within two miles of each other on one particular road – DeWatto Road. I began to have a phobia about that road. Eventually a customer mentioned that if I reversed one looped section, the most problematic corner would change from a decreasing radius downhill corner to an increasing radius uphill corner. Brilliant! Never had a problem after that.
We will gather at 9am and a bit on Saturday at the Edmonds Ferry terminal for the next sailing and be off for a grand ride. You are invited to join, but you might want to copy the route directions below. Sometimes a lot of people show up for these things and the usual line is “I’ll just follow Dave.” That works for a group of up to ten or so (with some tricks I have developed) but once past 15 it becomes impossible, even with someone volunteering to ride sweep at the end.
On the other hand, it is a peninsula. Getting lost is sometimes the way to have a better adventure!
True, this year it will be on a Saturday, and actually on October 3rd rather than at the end of September, but let us not quibble.
ABTOR Route Directions
Edmonds ferry
- 104 off the ferry (Becomes BOND RD)
- RIGHT on NW LINDVIG WAY
- LEFT on VIKING WAY
- RIGHT on SHERMAN HILL RD.
- LEFT on CLEAR CREEK RD.
- RIGHT at HALF MILE RD (flashing yellow light)
- LEFT at OLD FRONTIER ROAD
- RIGHT at WESTGATE RD (white fence with flags)
- LEFT at OLYMPIC VIEW
- RIGHT at ANDERSON HILL RD
- RIGHT at SEABECK HWY – Seabeck-Holly Rd
Pause at Seabeck
- LEFT at DEWATTO RD W
19. RIGHT at BELFAIR-TAHUYA ROAD
20. LEFT onto North Shore Road
21. RIGHT at LIGHT on SR 3 to fuel– Belfair
22. RETURN on SR 3 to LIGHT
23. STRAIGHT onto OLD BELFAIR HIGHWAY
24. LEFT at DEWATTO ROAD
25. RIGHT at T DEWATTO ROAD
26. RIGHT at SEABECK HOLLY RD
Lunch at Seabeck
27. LEFT at ANDERSON HILL RD
28. LEFT at OLYMPIC VIEW
29. RIGHT at WESTGATE RD
30. LEFT at OLD FRONTIER RD
31. RIGHT at HALF MILE RD
32. LEFT at CLEAR CREEK RD
33. RIGHT at SHERMAN HILL RD
34. LEFT at VIKING WAY
35. RIGHT at NW LINDVIG WAY
36. LEFT at BOND ROAD to ferry
100 miles – ferry to ferry
Copyright 2020 David Preston
I’m a firm, positive, guaranteed, genuine, absolute….maybe.