Post Ride Thoughts

The Past and the Present

Some of the places I rode through I had visited many years ago, like Jackson Wyoming, Leadville, Colorado, Monument Valley, and Zion National Park.  Then there is St. Louis, where I grew up.  All these places have experienced a huge amount of development and population increase.  To me, they don't seem quite as nice as I remembered them.  Would I like to return to this earlier time?  Not without some of the modern technologies that made this trip more enjoyable, and probably even possible.  The Garmin Zumo, netbook computer, cell phone, and of course the internet; all were essential to my success and enjoyment of this ride.  One of the biggest benefits of this technology was to keep me feeling connected with friends and family during the trip.  Rather than spending lonely nights in motels by myself, I would spend hours updating this blog, checking weather along the route, or visiting my favorite motorcycle web sites.  Then there was ordering the new fuel pump and getting it shipped, checking the price of a replacement fairing, and finding a Lowes to get another can of chain lube. 

The motorcycle itself was so much better than what I would have been riding in the old days.  Other than the fuel pump problem the bike ran flawlessly despite having over 70,000 miles when I started.  You can't imagine how comforting it is to be confident that each morning when you suit-up and press the starter button the bike is going to start and run fine all day. 

The Gear

I have been planning this ride since about last February or March, and choosing the gear and accessories I felt I needed to have a successful ride under all the conditions I expected to encounter.  Most of it I already had, and had tested over time on other rides.  Most of it worked well, but some not so much.  In the outstanding category was the Givi hard luggage cases that proved to be rugged, waterproof, and easy to mount and dismount from the bike.  In fact, all my luggage worked well.  The top bag that I mounted on the seat behind me was part of a Cortech sport bag system, and it stayed secure and held my rain gear, Teva sandals, and some tools plus a spare helmet face shield.  The magnetic tank bag is a simple bag with only one compartment, but it is expandable and could be quickly removed when getting gas.  In it I kept cameras (video and still), my cell phone, Ipod, other pair of gloves, damp rag in a baggie to clean bugs off my helmet shield, and sometimes my heated vest and some energy bars or M&Ms.  The Senna SMH10 intercom also worked perfectly.  The batteries lasted all day on even the longest day, the sound quality with the Ipod was great, and the bluetooth connection with the Zumo allowed me to know about upcoming turns without taking my eyes off the road, which was important when riding through towns with traffic.  In theory, I should have been able to make and receive phone calls while riding, but I never quite got that to work.  I really didn't have much reason to do it anyway, though.   The grip heaters and Gerbing electric vest were absolutely essential to making this trip possible.  There is no way to keep warm when riding all day in temps in the 40s without electricity.  You are just not creating enough heat sitting still in the breeze, so that eventually cold will seep in and get you chilled. 

In the category of things that didn't work so well, I would say top of the list was my earplugs.  I had a great pair of earplugs that were washable and easily inserted that I had been using for at least a year, but I lost one of them on a ride last spring.  Despite buying several pairs that looked the same, none of them worked; they were painful and did not block wind noise as well.  So for this trip I used Hearos, which are expandable foam plugs that have to be squeezed and then inserted into the ear.  It takes some time for them to then expand, so I would have to wait before putting my helmet on.  If I didn't wait, or get them just right, I would often bump them out of place when putting my helmet on and then have to stop, take my gloves and helmet off and re-do the whole process.  It was irritating.  The Hearos also cannot be cleaned and have to be replaced after a day or two, so I had to bring a lot of extra pairs.  When the earplugs where properly in place, though, they worked well.   Another maddening problem was rain getting on the inside of my helmet shield.  The rubber gasket at the top of the eye port did not fit flush with the shield when it was closed, and would allow water to get inside the shield.  There is nothing you can do about this while riding except get used to looking through droplets on the inside of the shield, and I hate having my vision obstructed.  I tried fixing the problem by buying some RTV silicone and applying a strip of it to the rubber gasket, and it helped, but was not 100% effective.   I already mentioned in my blog that my boots and gloves leaked in an all-day rain.  My boots are pretty old Joe Rocket boots that are not made anymore, and they were repaired before the trip, so I guess that was partly my problem, but the gloves were fairly new and expensive Cortech

How well did this old man hold up?

I have been asked if I would do it again.  I think what is really meant is; did I enjoy the ride and think the trip was worthwhile?  The answer to this is a definite yes.  However, as to whether or not I would do it again, I'm not so sure I could.  I was really lucky in a lot of ways.  The weather was generally good, and I had no serious problems of any kind.  However, age is definitely creeping into the equation.   I think I will consider this ride to be the climax of my riding career.  I had a good match of declining physical capability compensated by lots of experience, wisdom, planning and luck.  That match may not happen again. 

What's next?

The riding season is winding down for the year.  I still plan to do some day rides on the street and on my dual sport bike when the weather permits.  I also use my bikes to run errands even when it is raining.  My next bucket list ride is the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route, but that will have to wait until next summer.  I may periodically update this blog just for the heck of it, but probably not too often.

Back On The Bike

No, not that one, this one, my huffa puffa bike:

And, yes, I have definitely lost some fitness.  I did one of my shortest and easiest routes but still finished with rubbery legs and short of breath.  The time, though, was not as slow as I thought it would be, so I guess I'll get it back soon enough.

Comments

I'm getting more information from backchannel sources that people have tried to post comments on my blog but can't get it done.  Some are young tech-savy types, and not just old farts who don't know how to use a computer.  I think Google has made it too difficult in an effort to prevent spamming.  So here's my solution; now that I am home, you can email me at my normal email address gjurban@wildblue.net.  If you don't mind the comment being made public, I will cut and paste it here.  If you don't want it to be public, let me know.  Also, if the comment is about a specific post don't forget to say which one.

From Ray Berg:

Glad to see you made it home safe. Man, what a trip, nice blog!

From Joyce Ingersoll:

Carolyn gave me your Blog address in the Birthday Card she sent me.  WOW!!!  What a trip!  I've read every day's blog (sometimes a day or two behind) and really enjoyed reading about your adventure.  Any other plans for the future on your "Bucket List"?

Actually, Joyce, there is another ride on my bucket list.  I want to ride my dual sport bike on the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route.  That's a 600 mile, mostly dirt road route from Oregon to the Canadian border.  Too late to do it this year, though.  Next summer. 

From Lynda Juneman:

I enjoyed your blog as you went along!  I am so glad that you were able and willing to do something that had such great meaning for you.  It will remain a treasured memory I’m sure.  Do you plan another?

Lynda; see response to Joyce above. 

Bucky wrote:

I just discovered your blog by way of RiderForums.

Great ride report. I envy your being able to take the time.

I started riding four years ago at age 57. I have put about 30,000 miles on my '06 Ninja 650R like yours. My riding time is almost exclusively within 100 miles of northwestern South Carolina.

I am no where near as experienced a rider as you, but have enjoyed the bike quite a lot. I write a blog about my experiences called Bucky's Ride http://buckysride.blogspot.com/

I have recently started an exercise program, both aerobics and weight training. See posting Fitness -- Weight for Me

I also once lived in Russellville, KY, around twelve years ago. Unfortunately I did not
recognize those you met on the road.

Keep up the blogging, and riding.

Bucky

Home

Wow, what a ride!  8,267 miles, and a month and a day of being gone from home.  I'm safe, I didn't get sick, the bike ran well with no breakdowns, and I saw some fabulous country and rode some really Good Roads.  I think it was the culmination of my motorcycle riding life. 

Sure enough, there was no WiFi in the motel in Heppner: 

Before I get into the last two days of riding, I want to take some time to acknowledge a good Samaritan who I failed to mention earlier.  On the first day of my trip, when the bike was quitting on me and I thought it had something to do with being low on fuel as well as a hot day, I stopped at the Cant Ranch not too far west of John Day to see if I could bum some gas.  The Cant Ranch is a historic old ranch that has been preserved by the National Park Service as an example of early 20th Century sheep ranching.  There was a man in a Park Service uniform standing by his truck apparently getting ready to go home from work at the ranch site.   I described my problem as asked him if he had any gas that I could buy/bum from him.  He said he had no gas, but there was a mini-mart selling gas just eight miles further down the road if I thought I could make it.  He also said he would follow me there to make sure I was OK.  I asked him if he was going that way anyway and he replied that he actually lived eight miles back in the direction I had come, but he wouldn't abandon me.  So he followed me 16 round-trip miles out of his way to make sure I made it.  The bike quit on me twice on the way, but each time it started back up and after I got gas it ran fine until the next time it got really hot in eastern Colorado.  I don't even remember if I thanked the guy, as I was so caught up in my fear that my trip was looking like it might be over before it even got started. 

It just so happened that I modified my route home two days ago and ended up going by the Cant Ranch exactly one month after I had passed by before.  I thought it would be great if I could stop in and find the guy and properly thank him and maybe even get his picture for the blog.  Unfortunately, he was not at work that day, but I think I now know his name and it's Scott.  I left a card with my blog address on it, so Scott, if you read this, please know that I really appreciate your help and kindness. 

I spent Sunday night in Winnemucca, Nevada and then headed out early Monday morning on some more desolate roads in Southern Oregon.  It started out fairly mild, but soon became colder, windy and cloudy.  It stayed that way until I got near Burns, when the clouds went away, but it was still cold and windy.  I don't think it got above the mid 50s all day, and since it had started out mild, I had put away my balaclava and rain pants, and didn't want to stop to dig them out.  By the time I got to the motel in Heppner I was getting pretty chilled. 

I also had some deer encounters, for the first time on the trip.  The first one was a single deer that I saw as it was getting on the road just in front of me.....a big, healthy critter.  I had to get on the binders hard and I startled her so that she ended up running down the road in front of me.  Pretty scary, but at least I saw it in time to do something about it.  The next one was as I was nearing Heppner and it was late, with lots of shadows.  This single deer was in the shade and I didn't see it until it turned and ran away from the road.  This was more scary, actually, because it was just luck that it ran away from the road and not onto the road, in which case I wouldn't have had time to do anything.  The next encounter was just outside of Heppner where a group of about five deer were standing in the road.  I saw them from quite a distance and it was no problem.  So, all you deer hunters.........get with the program and kill, kill, kill. 

Today was the coldest start on the ride......30 degrees and heavy frost on the bike.  However, I rigged for it and had a relatively short ride home, so it wasn't bad.  At least it wasn't raining, which is very likely at this time of the year.  Also there was no wind in the Columbia Gorge, which can be a real hassle when heading into it.  A hot bath at 2 pm when I got home sure felt good, though. 

Speaking of the gorge, I stopped to take this picture of it. I sure live in a pretty part of the country. 

This is the odometer reading after getting home.  That's a lot of miles for a motorcycle, but it runs great and doesn't use any oil.  I'm going to 100,000. 

Tomorrow I'll get started on a summary of my thoughts about the trip.

Where Did Everybody Go?

There are many places that I've been on this trip where there are too many people.  But there are still some places in this country where there are hardly any people.  Those are the places I rode today.  After I left Hurricane I stopped at a Lowes in St. George (more about that later), and then headed up towards Nevada Hwy 50.  This road was billed  by Life magazine in July of 1986 as the "Loneliest Road in America". It wasn't all that empty, and was far more scenic than I expected.  I had been on parts of it on the west end of the state near Fallon, and it was bleak desert.  The eastern part was greener and more mountainous.  The original plan was to ride it all the way over to Reno for an overnight stay, but I got to looking at a map and found a road that AAA denoted as a scenic highway that went from Austin to Battle Mountain......Nevada route 305.  I decided to take it to check the scenery and also to make some northern distance and avoid the congestion around Reno.  Let me tell you, route 305.......now that's desolation!  How desolate was it?  In 85 miles a total of 12 vehicles passed coming towards me; eight cars or pickups, three eighteen wheelers, and one fifth wheel travel trailer.  I encountered no vehicles going my direction.  How desolate was it?  Check it out:

I also took a picture of this abandoned ranch house.  It looked really old.  If only the walls could talk.

About the stop at Lowes:  It seemed to me that the bike was getting more buzzy during the last couple of days, but I couldn't think of a reason why it should and thought maybe it was just the nature of the pavement.  Then last night as I was pulling into the motel parking lot and going slow, I felt that the chain was definitely not happy.  I have been lubing the chain every day at the end of the day's ride, but I have been using a new chain lube that I had not used before.  My normal lube is a Dupont Teflon general purpose spray that I buy at Lowes.  Lots of riders use it.  Lots of lubes do the job of lubing the chain, but what makes the Dupont stuff so nice is that it doesn't fling off the chain onto the rear wheel, fender, swingarm, etc. However, before this trip I found some other Dupont stuff at Walmart that said it was actually for motorcycle chains, so I thought it might even be better.  Wrong. So this morning I used my Zumo to locate a Lowes near Hurricane, and it found one in St George, which I was going to go through anyway.  I stopped and got the old kind of lube and did a thorough lube job in the parking lot.  Big difference; I got my smooth running bike back for the rest of the day.

I rode 527 miles today, the longest day yet.  It wasn't hard; the roads were pretty straight and fast, and I guess I'm getting used to long hours of seat time.  At any rate, by doing that mileage and taking that northern route up Nevada 305 I have got back on schedule and expect to be home on Tuesday.  Tomorrow I plan to spend the night in Heppner, Oregon.  There is only one motel there and I have stayed in it before, but I sort of doubt they have WiFi.  If I can't make a post tomorrow, I'll do a catch up post and a summary after I get home.

Surrounded by Savages

Oops, PC Mode Failure.  I mean Native Americans.  It's alright, though, all they were trying to attack was my wallet, which I'm pretty good at protecting.......especially when it comes to buying jewelry. The highlights of the day were Monument Valley and Zion National Park, with some curvy bits in-between.  The trouble with places like Monument Valley and most of the country I was in today, is that the vistas are so grand it's hard to capture them on film...........er, pixels?  But I gave it a try and here are some of the results:

 The telephone polls in the foreground give an idea of the size of this formation.

This next one was shortly after entering Zion:

The sun was setting and often shining in my eyes.  That, combined with the traffic on the weekend, made for a cautious go of it on the way up to this tunnel:

This used to be a two-way tunnel, but for some reason they have made it one-way, and I got there just after they closed it for my direction.  We had about a 10 minute wait.

I was the second in line and that car in front of me is some kind of high-dollar Porsche.  The road down on the other side of the tunnel is the best part, with some major switchbacks.  Naturally, that Porsche was going to show that motorcycle how to do it, so we had a friendly romp down the hill.....still with a good degree of caution in consideration of the looky-loos parked alongside the road.  However, there was no way I was going to stop to take pictures and let some of the cars who were waiting in line behind me catch up.  So, no more pictures, sorry.  I think Zion is one of the most spectacular National Parks I have seen.  Carolyn and I have been there several times when we lived in California, and there are some fond memories of camping and hiking there.

I tried taking some helmet-cam videos while riding through Monument Valley, and I'll work on processing them tonight, but I got a late start on this post due to the fact that I had to walk a mile from the motel to find a beer in this Mormon town (Hurricane, Utah).  Such are the hardships of travel.

Both Carolyn and I have heard from people who have tried to post comments and found it so difficult they gave up.  I know it was hard for me the first time, and I don't remember how I did it.  I remember having to use my screen name of McRider and also entering a capcha.  Perhaps Karen or Mike can post a comment telling people how to post a comment.  Never too late, I guess.

Tomorrow I start heading north by northwest towards home.  I really fell behind schedule today and will probably need to add a day.

I did get a short segment of helmet cam video on YouTube.  It only took a couple of hours to upload 30 seconds!  Anyway, it's not so hot.  My eyeballs can swivel a lot further than my head.

Back on the Good Roads

Boy did I find some good roads today, but the scenery almost outdid the curves.  It started out pretty flat and desolate north and west of Amarillo, and this is how desolate the road was at times:

However, I did meet a bunch of cowboys herding cattle down the highway, so I turned around and took this picture of the group.  I said it looked like a family affair, and the guy told me it was three families.  Being a school day and some of those kids looked school age, I don't know if maybe they were home-schooled or what.  At any rate they were probably learning more practical things than they would at school.

I went over a pass towards Taos and it got really good.  The Aspen trees above about 5 thousand feet are in full color and the road had some really nice sweepers with no traffic.  It took me awhile to get my groove back after that day of straight lining the freeway.  I took a couple of pics of the Aspens, but the full effect was hard to capture as they were golden patches all over the mountains.

I had planned to stop in Taos for a snack and to plan the rest of the day, but after walking into a restaurant and waiting to be seated, I turned around and walked out.  Taos was just too much.  Too much touristy crap, too many people, and too much highbrow for me in my biker mode.  It's a shame because I really liked the history of the place and the home of Kit Carson.  

Just after I left Taos, I came upon this gorge unexpectedly.  It was the Rio Grande Gorge, apparently the same river that makes a border between US and Mexico.  

Not very far after than I came upon this weird building: 

This was just the first of a whole community of similar structures.  There were dozens of these alien looking things that are homes for people who belong to Project Earthship.  I looked up their website.  Check it out: http://earthship.com/

I was headed for Chama, NM, which was my planned overnight stay.  I had modified my route from the original stop at Farmington NM because I didn't think I could make the distance which was 490 miles.  However, I was now back in the rural West, with few towns and high speed limits, plus I had a time change that gave me an extra hour.  So I ended up at Chama at 3:30 in the afternoon, which was too early to stop for the day.  Problem was the next lodging opportunity was in Farmington, which was another 110 miles.  What to do, what to do.  I went for it.  Some road construction slowed me down and by the time I got near Farmington I was a whipped puppy.  I found a Super 8 in Bloomfield, which is ten miles short of Farmington and called it a day at 6:30 pm (actually 7:30 by the time I started on).  I rode close to 500 miles and hadn't had a drink or a bite to eat, other than a small bag of M&Ms, since breakfast at 6:30 am.  Couple of beers and a burger never tasted so good.

On the way to Chama I went over a pass that was above ten thousand feet.  There was snow alongside the road and here's some proof:

Beam Me Across Oklahoma, Scotty

Confession time.  I rode Interstate 40 almost the whole day today.  And you know what?  I sort of enjoyed it.  It was kind of like a day off.......set the throttle for 75 mph and sit back and listen to music.  Even Oklahoma City wasn't too bad, although the freeway pavement in the city is cracked and uneven most of the way.  Traffic was surprisingly light on the interstate.  My past experience with I 40 was that it is loaded with trucks, but for some reason it wasn't like that today.  The distance was about 480 miles and I got to my motel about 5:30 pm. after starting about 8:30 am.

Oh, and those temperatures I feared in the morning?  Piece of cake.  It was 30 degrees when I got up and about 32 when I started riding, but I did some preparation that actually made me feel warmer than the previous day.  The main things that made the difference was that I wore my rain pants over my leathers to act as a windbreaker and give a little more insulation to my legs. I also wore a long sleeve polypropylene undershirt under my normal cotton henley riding shirt.  The most benefit, though, came from wearing a balaclava under my helmet.  It's made for motorcycling, so it's thin enough to fit under a helmet and has a long neck part that completely stops any cold air from reaching my neck.  With my electric vest and grip heaters on, I was actually toasty.  My winter gloves may not be as waterproof as I expected, but they are certainly warm.

Western Arkansas and Oklahoma, up until I got west of Oklahoma City, was some pretty nice country with plenty of trees.  After that it just got flatter and dryer.  I took only one picture for the day; the frost on the bike's seat in the morning:

I promise to do better tomorrow, as I should be getting into some more interesting area northwest of Tucumcary NM.  I'll be heading towards Four Corners and its another long day.  If I don't make the intended mileage, I'm getting into the area where spending extra time will be worthwhile.

Annapolis MO to Booneville, AR

I found some good roads today in Southeast MO and Northern AR, but it was a cold, windy ride.  Temps never got above mid 40's until late afternoon.  I stopped for lunch and a warm-up about noon and decided it just wasn't going to warm up, so I got my jacket lining out of the luggage and zipped it into my jacket.  I had already been using the electric vest and grip warmers, but the jacket lining added some warmth to my arms.

The best road in Arkansas was hwy 7, which runs south out of Harrison.  It is a lot like the Blue Ridge Parkway in that it runs along the mountain ridge tops.  It maybe not be quite as scenic, but there was little traffic and the speed limit was 55 mph.  I saw a lot of bikes on the road and those were about the only motorcycles I saw today.

I fell a little short in my distance today.  I could have gone further, but I searched my Zumo for lodging and there was none in the direction I wanted to go, so I'm staying here in Booneville, Arkansas.  Since tomorrow was supposed to be a really long day already (485 miles), and now I have about 35 to make up, I'm seriously thinking of jumping on Interstate 40 to make up time and get across Oklahoma.  I don't think there are any good roads in Oklahoma anyway. If I do the interstate though, it would mean riding through Oklahoma City, which I don't look forward to.  But riding the two lanes with all the small towns packed so close together makes for slow going.  I stick pretty close to the speed limit when in towns and it has saved me from a ticket several times.

With a long day ahead I should get an early start.  Trouble is, the forecast for 9 am, which is actually later than  I would like to start, shows a temp of 40 degrees with a wind chill factor making it feel like 35.  That's going to be marginal, even with my warmest gear.  Oh well, I didn't sign up for the easy way.

Kingston, TN to Annapolis, MO

I rode the Devil's Triangle again on the way out of Kingston yesterday, and it was a good thing that Carolyn and I had ridden it the day before, because the coal trucks were out in force on the weekday.  Having been on the road the day before, though, I knew that the section of road between the mine and the processing plant was not too long, and that there was a lot of good road after that, so I just took it easy and waited behind the trucks until I got the road to myself again.  I mounted my helmet cam on my helmet for some of the route and I will try to upload them to YouTube, but it's a slow process.

Yesterday the weather was about as perfect as it can get.  Today......not so much.  I stayed overnight at nephew Mark's house in Russellville, KY where I had a nice visit with Mark and his son Jon who is also a motorcycle nut (motocross), so we had lots to talk about.  The forecast was not so good for today, and it was rightly so.  It rained all day except for the first couple of hours.  It was also quite cool.  A couple of times I saw 48 degrees on the thermometer, and it was usually about 50.  I arrived at nephew Tom's house with wet hands and feet, but the grip heaters saved the day again.  Tomorrow promises to be better, if somewhat cool.  What a contrast from those 95 degree days at the start of my ride.  I may have to break out the heated vest.

While at Tom and Beth's I got some much needed maintenance done on the bike.  Tom and I changed the oil and adjusted and lubed the chain, and then he broke out the pressure washer and we gave it a much needed clean-up.

Here's a pic of Carolyn and I after our Devil's Triangle ride:

I'm still learning to deal with the navigation recommendations that my Zumo makes.  It sometimes sends me on  strange routes, especially through towns.  Here is one of the roads I ended up on yesterday.  I went by it twice because I thought it was somebody's driveway.

Then there is this gravel road which is part of the route to Tom's house.  Not the fault of Zumo.

At least it wasn't dusty since it had rained all day.

While I was at Mark's house last night he showed me the website of an outfit that takes pictures of people riding the Dragon, and we found a couple of me.  These are about the only pictures I have of me actually riding the bike:

I do have a short segment of video from the Devil's Triangle. It was actually just a "place holder" to keep the camera from shutting off, which is does if not put into the record mode in15 minutes.  So the road wasn't all that interesting at that point, but I did get a shot of an oncoming coal truck.  If you look carefully you can see he is over the double yellow into my lane.  That pretty well spooked me for blind right-handers after that, and you can tell it from the way I'm riding around the rest of the right-hand turns.

  Tomorrow I head down into Arkansas on what looks to be some good roads, but I have a long day of 435 miles.

Stay in Kingston

Carolyn's sisters and daughters have come from all parts of the country for her mother's 90th birthday, which we celebrated Friday.  Carolyn took all the pictures on her camera, so I can't post any, at least until I can find a way to transfer them to this computer.

I do have an incident to report that you may find hard to believe........Carolyn's sister Christy backed into Carolyn's rental car while it was parked in the grass at the edge of the driveway.  Our siblings are out to get us.  The damage was slight, but the car was almost new and it could still cost a bunch to fix it.  We are dealing with insurance again.

We are staying at a B&B quite a ways out of town and the place sure is nice.  I go from hard traveling to living in luxury.  Here are a few pics of the place, the Woodland Cove B&B in Kingston, TN:

The lake is Watts Bar lake and it is huge.  I believe you can go 70 miles on it by boat.

The sun room where breakfast is served.

They have a canoe, paddle boat, and kayak for use by guests, so Carolyn and I took the canoe out and explored the nearby part of the lake.  

Tomorrow its back on the road for both of us.  Carolyn will drive to St. Louis to turn in the rental car and stay with my brother and sister in law before flying out on Tuesday, and I will head back to Russellville KY on back roads to stay with nephew Mark.  In my previous post I mentioned that I bailed on my planned ride of the Devil's Triangle, but upon checking the website and my Mapsource software, I found that the Devil's Triangle is not very far from Kingston and sort of in the general direction I was planning to go tomorrow.  I modified my route to include it so it looks like all boxes will get checked after all.  The weather forecast for the next few days looks perfect.

Carolyn and I went for another ride this afternoon and we did the Devil's Triangle.  Pretty neat road.  I think I'll do it again tomorrow anyway.

A Throw-Out Day

I was heading for the mountains to ride the last of the classic rides I planned to do back here, called the Devil's Triangle http://www.devilstriangletn.com/.  It was raining like mad and the clouds were so low I knew I was going to be riding in fog as soon as I gained some altitude, when I crossed a freeway with an on ramp that said "Knoxville".  That was all it took and I bailed on the planned route.  So I rode 90 miles of freeway (oh, the shame) in the rain and got to Kingston about noon.  I guess having only one rain-out so far is not bad.  I did have time to get my new rear tire mounted today instead of tomorrow.  The one I was replacing had 5400 miles on it and still had quite a bit of tread left, but not enough to get me home.

 The shop that did the tire change had an interesting rig for raising the bike:

While waiting for the tire to be changed, I was looking around the shop and saw that they had the same Shinko tire that I had ordered on line and brought to the shop.  Their cost for the tire was $140 plus tax.  My cost from Chaparral Motorsports was $96.62 including shipping and no tax.  They charged me $50 to install and balance the tire, so I guess one way to look at it was that you can buy your tire on line and have them install it for less than buying the tire from them.  (I'm sure they charge something for mounting the tire even if you bought it from them).  Good reasons for buying on line and learning to mount a tire yourself.

A Way Better Day Than Expected

The forecast for most of the area I was going to be riding today was for rain; as much as 90% probability.  It seemed to rain all night and was raining when I got up.  But techno-nerd that I am, I got on the computer and checked the radar image for the area.  It appeared the storm was moving northeast and the trailing edges were not too far away to the southwest.  So, using my Garmin software I planned a modified route that would take me back the way I had come on a road paralleling the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I started out in the rain with full rain kit, but it quickly became mist and then just wet roads.  Unbelievably, it wasn't long before the sun came out and I even had to open my jacket vents at one point.  The modified route turned out to be a good one, if somewhat shorter than originally planned.  That's OK, I needed a short day to get some bike maintenance done and get some rest.  I ended up getting to my destination, Johnson City, TN about 4 pm.  The autumn colors in the sunshine were really impressive and the roads were scenic and curvy........what more could a guy ask for.
Here are some pics from the day:

Another view of the same tree.  It is already losing some leaves.

Bucolic country views:

I have a couple more videos to show you.  The first is the last one I took on the Tail of  the Dragon.  You probably noticed that on the first video I came up on a truck pulling a trailer at the end of the video.  I actually did that three times, and after the first time when I saw he either couldn't or wouldn't pull over and there was no way to pass, I did the old motorcyclist trick and stopped to let him get ahead of me so I could ride my own pace for awhile until I caught back up.  In the following video I catch back up again, but he lets me by.  For you moto heads, be sure to turn up the volume.  Even though I have the stock exhaust and it's very quiet, you can hear the acceleration, shifting and braking.  I like it even though I was there.

The other video is a short segment of Mark and Stacy when we were first starting out on the Dragon.  You can hear the Harley chugging away.

Turning Point

Well, I've gone as far as I'm going to go.  Tomorrow I start on the return ride home.  I'm staying in Roanoke, VA tonight, which was not quite as far as I planned to go up the Blue Ridge Parkway, but even so I rode until after 6 pm.  It was a pretty rainy day and I gave the rain gear a good test.  Some of it worked and some not.  My waterproof boots were not.  I was afraid that would happen after I got some loose stitching repaired at a shoe shop.  The shop stitched through the waterproof inner lining.....I doubt if they had any choice....and I think that is where the leaks happened.  My rain pants and jacket worked well, even after I removed the mesh lining from the pants last night.  The mesh was catching on my boots and I couldn't get the pants on without taking the boots off, which doesn't work when you are already standing on wet ground.  I am on at least the third iteration of rain gear since I moved to Washington, and none of it is without fault, although the jacket comes close.  I first tried a one-piece suit, which makes sense, but a pocket would form in my lap when sitting on the bike and that pocket would fill with water right where the zipper was.  The final straw was when I rode for a whole day in a hard rain and arrived soaking wet from the waist down.  Then I tried a two piece suit but the jacket was a pullover type and I couldn't get it over my leather jacket by myself, which wouldn't work on this trip.  So, I bought another zip up jacket and use the same pants from the other set; the ones I removed the lining from.  Some day I am going to find some rain pants that have a leg zipper that comes at least to the knee so they are easy to get on over boots.  I have some really nice waterproof winter gloves, but here's the problem with them:  They are a gauntlet type glove, which keeps cold air from going up your sleeve, but in a heavy rain like I encountered today, water runs down the sleeve of the jacket and gets under the gauntlet, eventually soaking the glove.  Lucky for me I have grip heaters, so even when the glove is wet it is at least warm and wet.

Enough with the gear review, how was the ride?  It was another Good Road but in not so good weather. I think I was a bit harsh with my fellow humanoids in last night's post.  I realize that I am riding in an area noted for its spectacular fall colors in the prime time for that color to appear.  It would be like going to Mt. Ranier in the middle of July......there are going to be crowds.  Today, because of the rain, the crowds were gone, and although the colors were muted they were still spectacular.  The pics don't do it justice, but here are a few:

The road itself was good; not as curvy as yesterday, but curvy enough to be interesting, especially with wet pavement.  I got my Ipod going for the first time in several days and that thing is a real pick-me-upper.  When my energy level is dropping towards the end of a long day, all I have to do is plug in, turn on, and tune in.  Instant riding high.

I did manage  to upload one of the Dragon video segments to YouTube late last night and here it is: (remember to full-screen it)

Been There, Done That, Got the T-Shirt

Today was a long but great day.  I rode from about 8:30 to 7 pm, but only covered about 320 miles.  The day started when Carolyn and I met Mark and his friend Stacy at the local breakfast place in Kingston after they had ridden over from Russellville the previous day and spent the night in Kingston.  Mark and I are examples of contrasting riding styles.  He rides a Harley with semi ape-hangar bars and loud pipes, and he wears the chopper kit complete with chaps and Nazi helmet.  How such a nice guy can look so bad-ass is a miracle to me.  I, on the other hand tend towards the practical long-distance sport touring bike and gear.  Check us out:

We rode the Cherahala Skyway that I mentioned in the last post, and then got over to the Dragon.  Anybody who rides a motorcycle for any length of time.....especially a street motorcycle......knows about the Tail of the Dragon.  It's claim to fame is 318 curves in 11 miles.  There are several websites devoted to it, but here are a couple if you want to read more: http://www.tailofthedragon.com/ and http://www.tailofthedragon.com/maps_dragon_road.html

I was shocked at how many riders were gathered at the resort that is at one end of the road.  I expected that on a Monday in October it would be relatively empty, but not so.

The parking lot:

Including this crashed bike (the little note on the tank is a for-sale sign):

And this bad Harley dude:

One of the landmarks is the "Tree of Shame" that has lots of parts from crashed bikes hanging from it.

And the three of us:

I took some videos while riding the Dragon, but they take so long to process and it's late and I'm tired.  Maybe I'll get it done tomorrow.  But long story short, the road pretty much matches it's reputation.  For my buddies back in Woodland, it's a lot like Green Mountain road, but longer and without the houses and driveways.  I happened to hit a spot where there wasn't much traffic ahead of me; only one guy towing a trailer who really blocked me, so I would stop and let him get ahead for a ways and then take off again.

After the Dragon we worked our way over to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  First, though, we plodded through the Great Smokey Mountain National Park.  This looked good on my Garmin software when planning the route, but the reality was not so good.  It was beautiful.......and that was the problem.......there were TONS of looky-loos poking along at less than the already way too slow speed limit.  If I have any criticism of the roads back here it is that the speed limits are too low, passing zones are rare, and there are TOO DAMN MANY PEOPLE.  Once we got on the actual BRP, there was much less traffic and the pace picked up.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and appreciated the amazing fall colors, but I was living in it, not having to try to get a peak through the windows.  I took this picture of my Zumo, which shows what a good GPS route looks like:

The day ended on a misty, rainy note as we neared Asheville, NC.  I stopped to put my rain suit on, so naturally, it quit raining.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, though.

Oh, I almost forgot; the T-shirt: