I’m thinking this itinerary:
NYC. Metro
Plan B’s house
(Skyline Drive and part of Blue Ridge Parkway)
Troutville, VA
(Blue Ridge Parkway)
Cherokee, NC
(Deal’s Gap and Cherohola Parkway)
Tellico Plains, TN
(Highways)
Bardstown, KY
(Bourbon Trail)
Central Bumfuk, KY
(Back roads)
Justice, WV
(Roads)
Wherever, PA or WV
(Highways)
Home
That’s 8 nights… About right for a Thursdat departure
THE LOGISTICAL OFFICER HATH SPAKE!
So I am sitting at the bar, trying to cure my already raging hangover and hitting on the bartender’s girlfriend (:-)) A very talented artist. She said she would draw a maggot piece of art. I bought her a pizza in return.
Her version done in pen and ink, I added colors when I got home.
In case you all haven’t seen it, here is the latest Spawn of Furious:
Paige Furious, born 12/3/2012
Yes, she was born with a SERIOUS case of Adorable, but the doctors say that will fade by the time she’s our age.
Yesterday I accepted Mr. Furious’ invitation to go to his weekly power breakfast in Newton NJ. The location was the Hampton Diner off Route 206, about 45 minutes on the road from my house. When I poked my head outside to check the weather, it seemed clear that it was going to be a bike day (and I had put the Buell on the battery tender the night before), so I rolled the bike out into the brisk morning. Our outdoor thermometer stopped working so I didn’t check the temperature. It was 36 degrees F, I later learned. At the time it seemed moderate, so I wore the Aerostitch Darien with a fleece liner and a light skier’s zip neck. Regular Levis on my legs, and a pair of Held Warm ‘n Dry gloves on my hands.
Once I hit the highway I realized I had left off one crucial piece of riding gear: neck protection. Frozen sandpaper raked the exposed inch of skin between my helmet and the top of my jacket. Quite uncomfortable, but not dangerous. One of those things that you just tough it out for such a short ride.
Breakfast was great. Nothing like a cold ride to wake you up and a diner breakfast to warm you up. Nice to hang out with some of Furious’ other friends including John the Cop, Neil Who Does Not Ride Anymore, and a new guy I had not met before.
During breakfast I heard the people at the next table talk about how it was snowing at their house. Huh? Uh-oh. Upon leaving the snow had made it’s way to Newton, and I got to do my first snow ride of the season. It was just flurrying and not sticking to the road at all so safety was not a problem. But it proved once again that if you want it to snow, just convince me to ride any time between Thanksgiving and April Fool’s Day. I had taken extra care to zip and protect my neck so it was a little less harsh on the way back. The Wam ‘n Dry Held’s once again proved their value, and my hands were very warm with the handlebar electrics turned on, so Konrad can take that as an endorsement of his purchase.
A good ride for a late Fall day!
I’ve basically packed it in for riding for the remainder of 2012. I may run the bikes another Indian summer fall day but for the most part I’m done. So how could a person as tentative about riding as myself contribute to this great motomaggot site in a unique manner? Well, the answer is simple, a furious recollection. But what exactly is a furious recollection? Answer – its simply some nice ride pictures from days past with some light and non-incriminating commentary.
Let’s take a look a how this would work using Evilcade 2008 as an example. You might be wondering why I would pick Evilcade 2008 for the first recollection. Basically we were riding for enough hours that I was slightly fidgety and found myself snapping pictures while riding. This actually resulted in a lost video camera on a twilight lit highway for which there was a temperamental explosion of fury delivered to my shitty $300 velcro’d windscreen that ended up in a gas station garbage – witnessed by only a gas attendant, random mother and kids, and of course, Science himself.
Although not a picture taken while riding, this picture is one of the best for the entire trip. It’s got everything going for it; the predominate riders, the reason for riding, the motivation and the scenery.
The next photo is one which should not have been taken by the operator of a motorcycle. This is a great picture of Plan B who joined us at the beginning of the Skyline Drive. Pretty wild bike and it was a great time sharing the road on this perfect fall day.
We see here a typical sweep so common of the BRP. This is at Alder Gap around mile 251 at an elevation of ~3000FT. Great riding day.
Another similar shot but further down the BRP.
So many pictures to share…
My favorite picture from the entire trip…
We stopped for gas after what seemed like a few hundred miles at the end of the first day down to Troutville or wherever. As soon as I was ready to sit down with my coffee, Evil, the first time I met him no less, gets on his bike and says something like “let’s go you bunch of pussys”. I’m not sure that’s exactly what he said but that’s what I heard. Also, gas couldn’t have been more expensive ever and the original image quality for the particular photo was really decent.
I just got this month’s Cycle World (Nov. 2012), and in the “Roundup” section there is an article by Peter Jones entitled: “Can I Test Drive Your Personality.” In it he claims that there is an unbreakable rule among motorcyclists which makes it unthinkable for a motorcyclist to ask another motorcyclist for a test ride of his bike.
If that’s the case, then we Magotts are total freaks of biker nature. We ask to ride each other’s bikes all the time, especially if it is a new bike, or if the owner had done some performance mod, or if it’s a type of bike we don’t normally ride. Every time Scrounger adds a new farkle to his Electra Glide, I like to sample it. I’m still waiting for him to fully sort the Race Tech suspension upgrade so that I can see how it handles. This past May we pretty much all swapped bikes for the last push back from the Delaware Phoenix to the Alpine Club.
Considering how difficult it is to get a test ride from a dealer (virtually impossible!), and the truly lame nature of test rides at current bike ralleys (BMW and H-D being the only exceptions), borrowing a friend’s bike is one of the only ways to try out a different brand or style of bike.
So I say, if we are freaks of nature, then let there be more freaks! It will help the motorcycle industry.
A message to Biff from Evil Bill and Thinker, attending the BMW Oktoberfest at Hunter Mountain:
