Broomfield CO to Green River WY

Posted on July 17, 2005 by Freejack

404.8 miles

I’d spent the evening getting the bike packed and ready to go. There was just the morning gear and I’m ready to head out. Rita had the car packed and she was heading up 25 to 80 and was going to meet me in Green River. After putting the cats in the car, I headed off to get gas and reset the starting mileage. As I got to the 136th street bridge, I spotted Rita behind me while waiting at the light. A wave and that’s the last I saw of her until we met at Green River.

I was riding pretty comfortably on 25 north intending on making the left into Ft Collins to take Poudre Canyon. At one point, a BMW convertible and a pickup passed me at a high rate of speed. After making the turn into Ft Collins, I got up to the light before the railroad tracks and there were the two. Pickup in the left lane and BMW in the right. I got behind the truck. The BMW was slow at the light so I swooped in front of him and made the right turn after the tracks. He seemed a little put out by the move and tried to keep me from getting in front of him when the road went to one lane. He peeled off at the bypass and I continued on.

It was a nice day for a ride, a bit chill but beginning to get warm. I stopped at the Conoco at the corner of 287 and 14 (Poudre Canyon Road), filled up and took a break. I screwed around with the phone since it seems to have stopped working. I’d used it before but now I couldn’t hear Rita when she called. She could hear me though. I had the GPS set up as well and was keeping an eye on the info; particularly speed since my speedo appears to be off by a little.

The first part of Poudre Canyon around Stove Prairie Road is a great ride. Nice twisties and little traffic. As I reached the cliffs and got into the sweepers, it started warming up a bit but I was able to go a little faster. I was also able to start passing cars which was more difficult in the beginning.

It was early enough in the morning that my shadow stretched a few feet in front of the bike. It was cool seeing my shadow head into a turn just before I did and shifting left and right through the turn.

I passed Profile Rock and Elephant Mountain (which looks like the head of an elephant including the trunk). As I approached Cameron Pass, I could see some snow a hundred feet or so up the hillside and a nice profile view of Mt Richthofen.

One of the things I’ve been learning about sport-touring is that when you see a good picture, you should turn around and take it. You’re never in so much of a hurry to try and capture a piece of beauty. In addition, you should try to get your bike in the picture. After all, everyone gets pictures of Mt Richthofen. How many have a picture of a Hayabusa? (Does that taillight look a little bright? {foreshadowing; hinting of things to come} 🙂

There was a group of folks hanging out at Cameron Pass waiting on the restrooms. The guy (who had one arm) asked me if I was cold. While it was a little chilly since we’re at 10,276 feet, I said I was reasonably warm in my Aerostich.

After taking a break I hopped back on the bike and headed down the other side, Mt Richthofen off to the left looking very imposing in its grandeur.

The ride back down wasn’t at the speeds that I’ve gone down before due to several RVs backing up traffic and little opportunity to pass until we reached the valley floor. In Walden I parked next to a large group of cruiser riders that included a GSXR in red and black and an FJR in silver grey. I chatted with the guy next to me and found they were down from Cheyenne and heading by Steamboat Springs and Craig before heading back home.

I also intended on a similar path but continuing on past Craig so I bid them farewell and headed off. While I was at the station, I looked at the map and found a little non-highway road over Buffalo Pass that looked interesting. The pass is in Routt National Forest and appeared to be a dirt road. I figured, what the heck. I can ride a dirt road and the motel isn’t a long distance away so when I got to the turnoff at Hebron, I made the right and headed off on an adventure.

A couple of miles before Routt the road turned to a hard packed dirt road. Not horrible but still an interesting ride. I stopped at the entrance to Routt for a pic and then a few feet farther for the signpost to Buffalo Pass.

The coolness in the air, the smell of the pine trees and wildflowers were just outstanding. Especially the pine. It was heavy and made me want to stop right there and set up camp. The road itself wasn’t too bad until the last few miles. A sign warned of dips but they were actually humps. And on the other side of the humps were gullies where the water ran across the road. At the first one I spotted a deer on the right side of the road. I startled him so I slowly rolled backward for a better look and he bounded off into the forest. As I headed up I came over a hump and there was a pretty deep gash in the road that I hit pretty hard. From them on I took it easier but I still hit some pretty hard.

As I approached Buffalo Pass, I passed a snowfield on the right with mountains in the distance. The recent hot days at home made seeing snow somewhat of a novelty so I stopped to capture the memory.

Buffalo Pass wasn’t clearly marked but there was a campground at Summit Lake with quite a few cars. On the other side of the lake, the road continued on down to Steamboat Springs but the condition was significantly worse. I got a couple of shots but they don’t really portray just how bad the road was. It was pretty clear the traffic coming up from Steamboat Springs was causing all the rough roads. There were lots of rocks, ruts and potholes in the dirt road. I was able to keep it reasonably stable but there were a few bumps that were pretty hairy. Plus at one point, I drove between the narrow space between two rocks. I was sure I was going down there but managed to keep it upright.

Meanwhile, I had the iPod playing and was curious about the music selection. I kept hearing the same tunes over and over and they were pretty slow. The past couple of days I was setting up the tunes and cleaning up the lists on the Mac. I still had too many to fit on the iPod though. I plugged it in and the external drive would grind away then pop up an error; too many songs for the iPod. This happened a couple of times and I didn’t pay much attention to it figuring with all the noise, it was just copying as many as it could. I’d deleted a couple of hundred songs from the beginning of the original list that I didn’t want to listen to on the road. Quiet slow songs that just weren’t appropriate for riding. Turns out iTunes deleted all the songs off of the iPod in preparation to copy but didn’t delete the songs I didn’t want to hear. So I ended up with three hundred or so songs that I really didn’t want to hear on the road. Talk about annoying 🙂

So I got down to Steamboat Springs threading my way through the roads. I followed the GPS until I got to 40 and headed west. I was going to hit the gas station but gas was running at $2.64 so I continued on down to Craig. I rolled through town then back until I found the station with the best price and filled up.

I checked out the route. I was going to take 40 south of Dinosaur National Monument and then 191 up in Utah but I was hooked on the side roads. They didn’t seem so bad so I decided I would take 318 up to Dutch John and then catch 191 up to Green River. So I made the right at Maybell and headed off yet again. The road was pretty nice then I got to a fork where 318 to the left was still paved and 10N was packed dirt. It took a few minutes but I finally decided to take 10N. It was a nice hardpacked road and I was able to get to 70 in places 🙂

Up ahead there is Irish Canyon. A sign at the entrance says that Irish Canyon was named for three Irishmen who robbed a Rock Springs saloon and stopped to consume part of the take in the north end of the canyon. A long way to go before taking that drink. I hope it was worth it 🙂

The road through Irish Canyon was a bit gravelly but I was able to move along pretty well. The wind was blowing down the canyon pretty stiffly. I got to the other side without incident. On the other side the wind was blowing pretty hard. When I got to Wyoming the road immediately changed to pavement and I was able to pick up some speed.

I’d loosend my ‘stich to get more air but with the wind I was ballooning up even with the vents being open.

I stopped at a Phosphate processing plant and zipped up the stich. When I got to Rock Springs, I spotted a Harley behind me. When I got to the light, he pulled up next to me and we chatted until the light changed. I headed up to gas up and called Rita. She made it to Green River at 3ish and got our room.

After we got together, she said her ride up 25 and down 80 wasn’t a big deal except for one incident. See, we brought the cats along this time because they were getting a little odd when we went away on trips. So she’d been parking the car in the shade when she hit the rest stops until she got to one where there wasn’t any shade. She left the car running but took the remote so she could get back in the car. However, she found out that the remote doesn’t work when the car is running. Probably to prevent accidental unlocking of doors while the car is moving. So she couldn’t get back in the car and of course it was running. She tried to call me but I wasn’t in any service areas so she couldn’t reach me. She was going to contact a locksmith when a couple of guys from Colorado offered to help. The one guy unscrewed his car antenna and was able to slip it down and roll down the window enough to unlock the door. Good thinking there guys.

We had dinner at Don Pedro’s Family Restaurant; a Mexican food place. The food wasn’t too bad but a little blah. Not quite up to some of the places we’ve eaten at.

Posted in 2005 - Pacific Northwest | Leave a comment

March Ride South of Denver

Posted on March 5, 2005 by Freejack

Broomfield(1) to Lodo’s(8) south to Palmer Lake(11) and Home(15)
258.1 Miles

The previous weekend was such a nice ride down the new Central City Parkway that I wanted to make the run again. On top of that, the Mile High Busa Owner’s group wanted to make a run. Excellent. I combined the two wants and had a great day of riding.

149 Miles

First, a quick note. The mapping software doesn’t know about the Central City Parkway so it picked a different route. I actually came out a little east of the Mt. Evans exit and had to make a short run west on 70.

I advertised briefly that I planned a morning ride up 72, down 119 and on the Central City Parkway with a possible run up to Echo Lake. Followed by a ride down the Evergreen Parkway into Morrison. I posted this ad to two forums. The sport-touring.net board and the milehighbusaowners board. The last time I advertised for riders, I got a grand total of me. But I’d advertised a day earlier so I really didn’t expect much of a turn out. This time I expected maybe one or two others so I bailed out of the house at about 7:45 since the meeting place was pretty close by. Even so I got there at 7:50 and had to hang out after topping off my tank.

By 8:10, the designated departure time I had my riders. Here, let me show you a picture.

That’s right. Me again. Oh well, no big deal. I wanted to try some of the turns at my own speed anyway 🙂

Posted in 2005 - Ride to Echo Lake, Motorcycle Trips | Leave a comment

Changing a Headlight

Posted on September 29, 2004 by Freejack

The fricking low beam headlight on the Suzuki blew out a couple of days ago. I went to the dealer and picked up a replacement light.

I checked the service manual for the procedure on changing the bulb but there wasn’t anything there on it. I checked the Owner’s Manual and it was there. Simply remove the three fasteners, pull off the plug, pull off the rubber protector, pull off the spring, replace the bulb; being careful not to touch it. Sounds simple?

It took a bit to get the fasteners out. I couldn’t get them out. Finally I got the back two out and realized there were six to remove and not three. Ah well, I pushed up on the front four and popped them enough to grab them with a pair of pliers and pull them out. I only broke one so I’ll have to replace it.

After getting the lower cowling off, I reached up and felt around for the back of the light. You see, there isn’t enough room to actually see what I’m doing. I got the plug off and the protective rubber ring but couldn’t figure how how to remove the spring. It wasn’t obvious by feeling it and since I couldn’t see it. So I grabbed a small mirror and tried to figure out how to remove the spring. Fortunately it looked like it was held in with a screw. Now all I have to do is get in there with a screwdriver. I grabbed one of my small computer screwdrivers and tried to maneuver it in.

After a bit, I figured I wasn’t going to be able to get in there without removing the dash on the top so I broke out the hex drivers and removed the dash. I checked with the service manual first and discovered something. If you push on the center of the fastener, it’ll just drop right out. That needs to be in the owner’s manual.

I got the dash unscrewed but couldn’t get it off. It was lapped in with the lower dash panels. I tried to slide it or remove it but it seems to be mounted to the side panels. So, look over the book and begin removing screws so I can remove the side panels. It’s not too bad, a hand full of screws all the same size which is good. The GSXR I had before had two sizes to remove the side panels. So I finally get the panels off and lay them out on the grass.

Note that I also took off the windshield.

Now that I can access the screw, the spring pops off and the light bulb comes out without a problem. I carefully replaced the bulb with a good one and put it back in. Unfortunately the spring doesn’t want to go back in and without being able to get two hands in the cramped space, I don’t know what to do.

I know, I’ll remove the front cowling. A quick look in the book and I just need to remove the mirrors, the bottom fasteners (which I already removed to get to the lights in the first place), and the six screws (three on either side) that hold the side panels to the bottom of the cowling which I’ve also already removed.

However, it’s not cooperating. The bottom comes off of the air tunnels but there’s something holding on real tight up top. And I can’t find any screws holding things down. After a bit, I decide to take a break before I break something.


Ahh but finally I figure out that the mirror mounts are holding the cowling in place and I gently pull each side off of the mounts. Unfortunately the piece that holds the right side of the windshield and the fastener for the right dash breaks off but I get the cowling all the way off. Note: the bottom right side has a small silver piece of plastic that seems to be missing from the bottom left side (it’s a darker strip on the left side). The spring seems to not need to have been unscrewed. Nowhere in the Owner’s Manual or Service Manual does it say “the spring is held in on the left side and you just need to pinch it to release the bulb”. Of course, a mechanic who’s probably seen lots of these would know. So I screw the spring back in and fasten it on the left side and put the rubber thing back on and plug in the wiring.

So I call Rita and have her pick up some plastic Testor’s glue so I can put it back together. In the mean time, I screw the spring back in place and put the light back together. Once Rita arrives, I glue it back on and clamp it in place with a spring clamp. Here’s the bike after all the front plastic has been removed.

While I’m waiting on the plastic glue to dry, I put the rest of the bike back together. For the fasteners, I pull out the center pieces and put them back in the respective holes. I push in the centers until they’re flush. The rest of the bike seems to go back together without much fuss. I still need to get the mirror out of the engine compartment where it fell and I put the windshield back on. There must be a trick in getting the rubber grommets back in the openings but it’s just a pain to me. I tightened the center screw and the right side dash panel and it’s all back together until the next time the light blows.

Then I’m taking it to the dealer!

Posted in Maintenance | Leave a comment

Trip to Pick Up Rita’s Bike

Posted on July 27, 2004 by Freejack

July 27th to August 2nd
3154 Miles

Rita had been searching for something that’d work better than her Honda Shadow. She’s not getting the hang of riding the bike and wants to get a trike. After weeks of searching, she found one on e-bay that we liked the look of. A nice looking 1980’s era Goldwing trike (1200cc). It wasn’t beat in to submission and had some 40k miles on it which wasn’t all that bad. It was in Dayton Ohio so we planned a trip out to pick it up. Rita was ready to ride it back and she’d sold her bike (although it was still in the garage until the buyer finished her riders class).

I also decided to attempt to complete my first Iron Butt SaddleSore, 1000 miles in 24 hours by riding to Evansville Indiana.

In Ohio, I got directions back to the hotel.

It was 10:30 or so and I needed to check out of the hotel before noon so I asked one of the sales guys what would be the best directions to get back. He said we were fairly close and it’d just take 20 minutes or so and gave me the directions.

Go back out to Steels Corner Road and make a right turn. Go all the way down to the end of the road and make a left. Within 400 yards or so will be Bath Road. Make a right and follow Bath road. It’ll get a little twisty but keep following the signs. Eventually you’ll get to Ghent Road. Make a left. A little ways down the road splits at a fork. Take the right fork. You’ll cross under Route 77. Just a bit down from there is Route 18. Make a right and you’ll be just a block from the hotel.

Excellent. I repeat the directions just to make sure I get them right and head out on the bike. I have to get our gear packed up and head back to the dealership so we can head out.

I make the right turn with no problem and follow it down past a stop sign to the end and make the left turn. Within a short distance is Bath Road and I make the right turn there. A little ways down Bath takes a right off the “main” road but I follow the directions. It comes back out on Revere Road which is also Bath Road. I make a right there and cross under Route 77. So far so good. I get to a light and the road is North Cleveland-Massillon Road. I continue on until I get to the end of the road. Hmm, this is Allard road and he didn’t say it’d end and I’m sure I didn’t pass Ghent Road.

Ok, make a left and follow it around. I pass under an obvious freeway and decide that I need to find an on-ramp figuring I’ll get back to my hotel one way or another. I make a right turn and see the freeway again. I can see a rest area farther down the freeway and make a left after going under the freeway. While I did cross another street, I decided to continue on and hit Route 303. There were several cars going right so I figured I’ll follow them.

When I got to a smallish town I saw a sign that said Route 271 to the right so I made the right turn and headed towards the on-ramp. I was running low on gas so was hunting for a station. When I didn’t find one before hitting the freeway I decided that I had enough gas to get to a station on the freeway and headed off. I figured that I’d get to either Route 77 or Route 71 which was the road I came to town. I could then just find exit 218 which was Route 18 and simply head back to my hotel.

I followed 271 south until I got to the Route 94 exit where there was a station. I pulled in and gassed up. While I was there, I asked the lady behind the counter how to get to East Market Street and Route 77. One of the guys asked which hotel and said that I just needed to follow Route 94 until I got to the Sheetz station. That was Route 18. Make a left and go down to Route 77. My hotel will be just past the underpass on the right.

A little distrustful, I went ahead and headed down Route 94 and made the left. About 10 minutes later I was at the hotel. It was 1pm and the phone was ringing. You know you’re supposed to check out at noon? Yea yea. I got odd directions from the guy at the dealership. I’ll be out as soon as I get packed up. Rita also called looking for me. I explained that I was following the directions from the guy and didn’t find the Ghent Road turn.

I went down, paid for the room and started to head out. I stopped, pulled in and asked the lady what the best and quickest directions to the dealership. She said to head to Route 77 and get in the left lane. Follow it around to the left. Get off at Route 8 and head north. At the Steels Corner Road exit follow it down to State Road and you’ll be at the dealer.

I followed her directions and was back at the dealership in 20 minutes. I found the guy and told him what happened. He looked puzzled and asked if I saw the light and the police station. I said yes but that it was Clevelend-Massillon and not Ghent Road. He apologized saying that he didn’t think it went out that far. Apparently Clevelend-Massillon changes to Ghent Road farther towards town.

That was an interesting ride.

Posted in 2004 - Picking Up Rita's Bike, Motorcycle Trips | Leave a comment

Ride to Nederland

Posted on July 25, 2004 by Freejack

Now that I have the new bike, I wanted to take a short but nice ride to see how she feels but without giving me the opportunity to push the corners and wipe out. I am a careful rider but it is a new bike.

At 10am I got my gear together, including wet weather just in case. I have a comm system so I plugged in the cell phone so Rita can contact me in case of a problem and plugged in the iPod for some tunes. I find that tunes lets me focus on what I’m doing and not be distracted.

I headed out from Broomfield down to 287 and up to Louisville. The day is beautiful and the perfect temperature for a ride. I got on 42 and then 36 and finally made a left on Canyon Road. They’re tearing it up but the bike seems to handle it without any dancing.

As the road turns into two lane, I find myself behind a line of 5 cars a full sized van and a truck pulling a horse trailer. Perfect. This will keep me at a good speed and I won’t be tempted to push the bike. Exactly what I expected.

There are a few cotton ball clouds on the ride up. The rock formations look great and it looks nice and cool under the trees. The river is running a bit higher and there are plenty of cars parked on the side of the road.

The curves are nice and being able to concentrate on the bike and how it feels in the curves is welcome. From the rains, there’s a bit of sand on the road but very little in the curves. The bike seems very solid and there’s none of the slight wobble I get on the 750, probably because of my size.

At the first “keep right except to pass”, I’m not really paying attention and maintain my position. A few cars pass the horse trailer and the rest of us move up. At the next “keep right”, I’m watching and follow a car who is passing the horse trailer. Now there’s just the one car in front. At the first place where I can pass, I zip by and she does zip. In a few minutes of enjoying a little faster ride I’m up to the first cars that passed the trailer. A few minutes of riding behind them and there’s another passing zone. Zip and I’m by again, just in time to pass the dam. A few more nice turns and I’m in Nederland down to 35 and then 25. A stop at public parking to stretch my legs and enjoy the sun.

There’s about a 10 to 1 ratio of cruisers to sport bikes riding through town still I wave to the guys as they pass.

I check the bike out and all seem well, she’s not even breathing hard 🙂

I get suited back up, get on and head out of the parking lot. At the entrance there’s a bunch of sand and the rear slides a bit as I leave. I make a right and head up the hill. There’s a Jeep in front of me that nicely pulls aside after the first turn. I wave after I pass and begin the ride up. It’s still a very nice day and there’s no reason to break out the wet weather gear. Blue sky and cool breezes. Perfect riding weather.

After a few miles, I find the left turn for Rt 72 and make the turn. While there is some traffic coming towards me, there’s no one in front or behind. The road is freshly paved with the little splotches of yellow indicating where the center of the road is. The sand is in the road, in places quite wide swatches of it but still none in the curves.

The railroad bed is to my right and I recall the track crossing coming up ahead. Sure enough, there’s the 35 mph and then the 25 mph for town and 15 to cross the tracks. A look and a nod to a biker parked on the side of the road and I’m through town and up the hill. I come around and down to the bottom again. On the way up, I see a cop sitting on the right side pointing up hill and behind the 30 mph sign. He eyed me on the way by but I’m doing 30. As I get up to the hairpin and out of his sight, I wave down the next two vehicles I see and continue on.

Now I’m getting on the tighter turns and discover a few curves with sand and the back end does a tiny slide. Lots of property for sale. Must have realized how cold it is when living at the top of a mountain 🙂 I get to the top and see several bikes parked at the restaurant including a few sport bikes.

The ride the rest of the way down the hill is as nice as the ride up 119. Wider turns, new pavement and little traffic. I come out to the plain and open her up just a little. At the intersection of 93, I make the left and head on down. The car in front of me is poking along so at the first chance I begin to pass. I guess he realized I was passing because he began to accelerate. A tiny bit of acceleration and I’m by him and back in the lane (look down and I’m at 110 !), slow back down and slowly catch up with traffic. At 128, make the right turn and head back home.

At the light where I make my left, there’s a guy on a custom and we chat briefly before the light changes. Gas up at the station and pull in to the garage.

The bike seems to be pretty nimble to me. It’s a lot more stable in the curves than the 750 is, again it may be because of my size vs the two bikes. I seem to be a bit farther over the front of the 750 than I am on the ‘busa. I also notice that my feet are able to comfortably get on to the pegs. I have to lean the 750 over a tad to get my foot on the peg. It’s worse when I have my JR pants on especially with the quilted lining. As far as the ride, it’s a _lot_ smoother both on the flatland and in the mountains. I’m looking forward to a longer trip.

Speaking of a longer trip. Rita has purchased an old Goldwing trike (1200) from a dealer in Ohio. She’s taking the train to Akron and I’m going to take a bike. We’ll meet there and we’ll drive back together. I’ll be leaving bright and early Wednesday morning.

Excellent 🙂

Hope you enjoyed your day as well.

Posted in 2004 - Ride to Nederland, Motorcycle Trips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Poudre Canyon Ride

Posted on June 12, 2004 by Freejack

Pre-check The night before the trip, I checked the weather channel. Both for the local weather but also the weather in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The low in the park was to be 30 degrees with a high close to 60. I figured I should have my Gerbing’s on for the ride in to the mountains. I also topped off the tank in the bike as well as checking fluids, air pressure in the tires, chain both for correct tightness but for sufficient lubrication. It seems to be running a little hot so I checked the water. There doesn’t seem to be an easy way to see the level so I removed the tail section. Everything seems to be ok so I put my tail bag on the back and pulled her back in to the garage. I printed out the first part of the route, from Broomfield to the get together point and then to Granby. I grabbed Rita’s tank bag and put the maps in the compartment. I also went to my touring bag and grabbed the tire repair kit, first aid kit, electrical kit and tool kit. Since the tool kit was for the Harley and the GSXR is a metric, I also grabbed a 12mm wrench and the two hex keys to remove the plastic from my bike. The bags also give plenty of space to shed gear if it’s warmer than I thought. Rita’s Joe Rocket tank bag is large enough that I can rest on it while riding giving some relief to my arms and wrists.

1 Saturday morning. At about 5:30 I wake up. The alarm is set for 6am so I roll back over and then every few minutes I wake up again. Finally at 5:55 I’m up, alarm off and getting ready. I’m scheduled to leave no later than 7am so that I can be at the rendezvous point in plenty of time. Even though I have a map, there are times that I get a little turned around and spend an extra few minutes wandering. I grab my Gerbing’s gloves and jacket liner, ensure I have the thermostat, cell phone and camera, back the bike out of the garage and take off.

The morning is pretty nice, some clouds in the mountains and to the north. Partially cloudy otherwise. It’s light out but the sun’s not up yet. The advantage of living on the plains. I hop on 25 north and get in to the flow of traffic. It’s not too bad and most folks are courteous enough to move to the right as I come up behind them. About half way to Fort Collins another bike is in my rear view mirrors. I wonder if he’s going to the same place I’m going. After a bit, he’s not there any more. As I get to Fort Collins, someone is behind me again. He stays behind me until we get to a big right turn. I’m going straight and he’s turning to the right. That’s when I notice that Rt 14 is a right turn. Ok, so I roll out and come up behind him (cutting off a pick-up; “Sorry”). Somehow we got on the wrong road. We’re going straight just as we see a bike head to the right. We go forward, make a right go down a block or so and then stop for a sec. He’s trying to ask if I’m going to the HSTA ride but I’m not able to hear him well. He leads off and we make a left back on to 14. I swear it looks like we’re heading in to the sun but he keeps on going and we see a Rt 14 7 miles sign.

2 Eventually we get to the left turn, unfortunately we’re in the right lane and there’s a SUV next to me. Slow down to get behind her but she’s slowing down too. Oops, she’s making a left at the same turn we are. I slow and let her in. No sense arguing with a SUV :-). I pull in to the Conoco station and remembering the group ride credo: Always fill up when you have a chance, which goes along with: Always pee when you have a chance credo. I fill up and it’s 7:48am. Man, I must have been really traveling on 25. The lady in the SUV apologizes about making the left in front of me. “No problem; better to let you go than argue with a big truck :-)” I finish filling up and roll the bike up to the lot and park. Jim is riding the Aprilla, the guy who was following me and who I followed to the station. A few minutes later, Matt arrives on a V-Strom. Will and Tom are there. There is a yellow Ducoti, a BMW, another Ducoti (Desmondia) and Dave on a red bike. Annnd, I can’t recall the rest or the names of the other riders or the bikes (this is why I write this all down 🙂

We decide to hang out until 8:35, just to catch any stragglers. No one else arrives so we saddle up and move out. It was advised that the rapids were high and there would be lots of rapid riders out. We might have to make our own passing lanes. Since we’re on pretty fast bikes, we should be able to take advantage of shorter straight-aways and places were we had sufficient visibility to go around where a car might or should not do it. Anyway, while we were waiting, I pulled out my Gerbings pigtail and gloves. By the time I was totally geared up, I was the last one out of the lot. One truck got in front of me but they were nice enough to pull over and let me go by. That was pretty much what happened all the way up. Most people were nice enough to pull over as best as they could.

Now I have to say, this is my first time doing any canyon carving on the Suzuki so I’m happy to be in the back, in case I slow everyone down. Fortunately either I was going at a good speed or we were going slower than necessary. I was able to keep up most of the way on the way to the first stop.




Posted in Colorado | Leave a comment

New York Wedding

Posted on October 26, 2003 by Freejack

=== Sunday departure ===

It was drizzling a bit on Sunday as I followed Rita and Jasmine down 495 to Huntington and Rita’s brother’s house. The nice thing on the GSXR is the bit of protection from the elements. While we rode on wetish roads and through a couple of showers, my pantlegs were basically dry when we got to Phil’s house for brunch (meet and greet, say goodbye to everyone, a couple of family pictures and bail). Very nice though.

We got everything together. I was going to follow Rita out of New York since her and Jasmine were more used to the best ways out. She hit AM 1010 for traffic and we headed to Jerico Turnpike for a gas-up and a new 9-volt for my communications system.

A right on Jerico and stop for gas. From there we headed to rt 110. They didn’t have a battery so after we turned on 110 we stopped at a Radio Shack. I plugged in and had Rita call me on the cell to make sure it was all working. Cool and we’re on our way.

110 S to the Northern Parkway and we head west. This is a much nicer road with good smooth curves and lighter traffic. Rita’s moving quickly, apparently to get out of town as soon as possible.

Most of the road is pretty nice. Rita’s changing lanes and I’m right behind her. From time to time someone moves between us. If I can’t see Rita, she may hit an offramp and I’ll be heading downtown so it’s slide over, pass and get behind her again.

Keep going until it turns into Grand Central Parkway. We come around until we’re next to La Guardia Airport. Now this part is a little tough for me to follow since I was following Rita and she was following signs to The Triborough Bridge.

Near as I can figure, we got on to 278 and looped around onto the Triborough Bridge. That loop was particularly bumpy. I jockied as we went around a corner and merged from two lanes into one. As we approached the toll, I indicated to Rita that I wanted her to pay my toll so I wouldn’t have to stop and maybe lose her. After a couple of pantomines (which probably looked funny to the surrounding folks; maybe not, being New York 🙂 she finally got what I was trying to pass on although they never did get the pantomine for “call me!” (mimic talking on phone).

Anyway, we followed FDR Drive up to 95. More interesting traffic 🙂 Coming onto 95 Rita jumped two lanes to the left to get on the expressway which of course I wasn’t expecting. I managed to follow her without getting wiped out. In a few minutes I saw plenty of places to cross over to the expressway and just at the river we merged back together with the local lanes so the scare was for naught.

A blast across the Hudson and we were on the other side. After about 20 minutes I saw the signs for the first service area. We pulled in to get our bearings and make sure we were all still going in the same direction 🙂

Once we hit the bathrooms and grabbed a soda, we got back to our respective vehicles. I got all plugged back in and had Rita call me to verify connectivity. Once on the turnpike I hit the gas and moved on down the line. This was the first time I regularly slalomed through traffic. A regular hooligan. I took advantage of most opportunities, nothing too insane though.

Rita was using an earpiece while in New York (the law) and had put it into her lap. Unfortunately it negated the hang-up caused by closing the phone so her and Jasmine were chatting, singing along with the music and generally being annoying since I couldn’t really hear more than a word or two now and then.

So I kept on boogieing down the road. I caught up with a guy on a cruiser who promptly did crazier things in traffic and slowly left me behind. While I was doing some hooliganism, I wasn’t trying for “game over”. At one point I pulled into a service area for gas. Unfortunately the line was too long so I kept going back into traffic.

A few minutes after that Rita put the earpiece back in and discovered that she had been talking to me for a while 🙂 I found out where she was and that I was about 5 miles ahead of her. I pulled into the next area and got gas. I saw her pull in and when I was done, I parked in front of her car and hit the restrooms. I found them inside of the hotdog place and got one for myself.

We bailed again and headed south. An hour or so later, I pulled into the service area around exit 7a to get gas. Rita was about 5 miles behind me again and said she wasn’t going to but Jasmine decided she needed to hit the restrooms so she pulled in again.

While I was waiting for the idiot gas jockey’s, a German lady and her friend pulled next to me and said she had gotten turned around at 7a and was there a way to head north again. I had to tell her to head south to the next exit and loop around again. There wasn’t a way to turn around.

I got my gas and hit the station for the restrooms.

We hit the turnpike again and headed south. We saw a couple of signs that said we should take exit 3 or 4 to avoid delays at the end of the turnpike. We talked and agreed to take advantage of the advice. I took exit 4 and hit 295 south. It wasn’t a bad ride but it was a bit slower and there were lights and construction but I think it worked out. Maybe exit 3 would be better next time.

Anyway, I connected back up with 295 just before the Delaware river bridge. I got to the toll booth and paid the guy (chatting on a cell phone and collecting bucks 🙂

I boogied down 95 and paid the toll again before getting into Maryland.

We stopped at the first Maryland service area to get gas. There were a few idiots stopped in the various bottlenecks. Frustrated, I went by them, considered parking next to another biker but kept going around. Encountered some woman on the wrong side of the road. I pointed to the right and she looked 🙂 then moved over. I got back to where I was before and then parked in the lot. I called Rita to see where she was. She didn’t answer the phone the first time. The second time she picked up. She was at the pumps in front of me. I told her I was waving at her (and did). They parked next to me and we hit the service area.

On the way out, I stopped and chatted with the biker. He was heading for New York after being in DC. I laughed and said we were heading for DC after being in New York.

We hit the road again. I didn’t think we had a toll after the JFK bridge. Rita was concerned she’d have enough singles to get through.

On the way south there was a couple of mile slow down as we approached 695. It moved pretty quickly after that until after the Fort McHenry Tunnel. Once through there was a two mile backup as we approached 695 again and then once more as 95 went to three lanes.

We pulled into the service area south of 32 and hit the bathrooms again. As I came out, Rita pulled in next to me. They went inside and I was approached by a guy with a sob story. “We’re heading south and hit a median strip and broke our radiator. I got it fixed but now we don’t have money for food and gas. Can you spare anything?” Well, since I won 80 bucks at the costume party I went ahead and gave him 20. A long time ago I’d been in a similar situation (brother flipped the air cleaner cover and rain got into the carbs; slept in the car keeping feet in dirty clothes to keep warm).

Rita and Jasmine came back and we headed south. Rita was going to go around DC and I wanted to head down New York Ave and down 395. I asked her to call me in about 30 minutes. The rain had started lightly. The farther south we went, the heavier the rain came down until I was on New York Ave and the rain turned back to a drizzle. The roads were nice and wet though.

I followed NY/50 down until I got to the 395 turn and Rita called. She was at exit 9 and how was I doing? Well, I told her about the rain and where I was and said to call again when she got to Springfield.

On the next cycle of the light I made the left and headed into the tunnel. As I got to the other side, I saw the 395 cutoff and made the turn coming out onto 395 south exactly at the place I normally get on 395 when leaving work. I know where I am.

I move into the left lane, across the 12th street bridge and then the 14th street bridge. Of course HOV is closed so I take the regular lanes south. Traffic is moving quite well considering it’s Sunday and there’s water on the road. I can see brake lights ahead though as I approach Braddock Road (south of Springfield) and take the exit. I follow Braddock down to 638 and make a left. About this time Rita calls. She’s past Springfield and is just getting on Braddock Road. She’s basically right behind me.

I make the turn onto Lorton Station Blvd, cross Lorton Road to Rt 1 and make a right. I take the 95 exit and decide it’s still too busy so stay on the ramp and get off at 123. Left on Old Bridge, left on Minnieville, left on Darbydale, right on Eastman, right on Evansdale and I’m home.

About 5 minutes later Rita and Jasmine show up and we’re home.

Posted in 2003 - New York Wedding, Motorcycle Trips | Leave a comment

New York Wedding

Posted on October 23, 2003 by Freejack

=== Thursday Departure ===

Man, that was different.

We were invited to New York to attend my niece’s wedding. A very nice affair (some would say “perfect”).

I know how the ladies are. “We’re leaving at 5” which turns into “I still have to pack” and then, “we have to eat real quick”, to leaving at 6 or even 7. Uh-uh. I decided that I’d bail from work at 4 and meet them there. It’d give me a chance to make another ride and try the Gerbings on the Suzuki.

It turns out that I had enough time in that I could leave at 3:30. I also found out that Jasmine (Rita’s daughter) was leaving _work_ at 5 and expected to meet Rita at her place in Fairfax. And so it begins 🙂

We were staying overnight at a friend of Jasmine’s in NY. I had maps of Long Island so I could get to her house. I boogied out and on to 395N. A short wait for Pennsylvania Ave (someone on a silver BMW cut in next to me and ahead of the waiting traffic) and then a wait for the light at 295.

I intended on hitting 95N so I could stop at the rest area past Scaggsville Road so I went up 295 to 495. A loop around and up a couple of exits to 95N. So far the ride’s pretty nice. Traffic is moving pretty well as we expected lighter traffic for a Thursday night.

I made it to the first rest stop and called Rita. She was just leaving the house. Ok cool. Again on 95N and move smartly north.

My footing was a little unsure at the tunnel in Baltimore. Remove glove, remove wallet, give money, put change in wallet, put wallet back, put glove back on, accelerate.

At the second Maryland service area I stopped, got gas, took a break and called Rita. She was at Jasmine’s house getting the rest of the stuff together. It was 6pm.

There was a guy (Jim) there from NY heading home from Deals Gap. He had a bigger bike, something like a Valkyrie; not a v-twin. I didn’t sound like a Boss Hoss but it was a big bike. On one of the turns at the gap he misjudged and went off the road. The bike hit the soft earth and stopped throwing him over the top. No injuries and the bike’s a little scratched up.

Since he was heading for Long Island himself, he wanted to know what my pace was. I waffled a little and asked him how fast he was going. He said about 85 and I backed off. Sorry. That’s probably a little faster than I wanted to go thanks. He said “cool” and took off.

I got back on and took off. Delaware toll booths, Jersey Turnpike and on north. I was moving right quickly. I was passing cars at a good clip and kept low to reduce drag. Generally I stayed in the right lane since traffic was pretty light. At one point I passed a group of cars and a truck with a car behind me. While I probably wasn’t doing 90, I was moving. At the front of the cars I moved back to the right and a Jersey State cop blew by me, *whew*.

At the service area at around exit 7 or so, I stopped again, got a little gas and called Rita again. They were just hitting 495 and heading around.

When I got off the bike and unplugged, I started feeling the cold pretty quickly. I called Rita and chatted briefly then went inside and got a soda and a bag of mini-Oreos, just a quick snack 🙂

When I got back on the bike, I apparently shorted out the fuse for the Gerbings and didn’t realize it until I was on the road. While it was cold, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be.

I made it to the next exit with no problems and picked up a pack of fuses. I changed out the fuse with no problem and got back on the road, nice a toasty again 🙂

Just before 287 I stopped briefly on the Turnpike shoulder and verified what my next exit was supposed to be. Rt 278 not 287. Good thing I checked 🙂

I kept moving until the 278 exit. On the offramp as I came around the turn (van in front of me so I wasn’t “moving”) there was a gigantic tire swallowing pothole and I hit it. Hard enough that the front end shook and I almost lost it. I smelled tire air at the tollbooth but a quick check (f#ck the guys behind me) showed no apparent damage. Must be the ambient Jersey air 😉 I complained about the pothole and the attendant agreed.

Moving right along, I headed up 278. As I came into view, I could see New York all lit up. Quite stirring. Really. It was all lit up, multi-colored. I actually waved at it 🙂 sort of a greeting.

After the Verrazano Narrows bridge was the real challenging part of the ride. The roads aren’t the best and several times I “jockied” or got up on my knees and rode out the bumps. In addition the drivers were crazy. Going across multiple lanes to exit. All in all it was quite fun 🙂

I made it up to 495 and headed east. Again the roads weren’t the best in some places. I hit a stretch of ground up road and others that were quite bumpy. Traffic was better though. I stopped at 16th Ave and gassed up. I called Rita and she was at the Delaware Bridge.

I got back on 495 and headed on down. Earlier Rita had said that Kristen wasn’t getting home until 1am or so and that I’d have to find a place to wait for Kristen to get home. Well, it was cold and I was a bit tired and didn’t really want to wait around for several hours. Rita agreed and said that if I could find a place to stay (not like the place in Charlottesville if you recall the previous report 🙂 I should get a room.

So up around exit 46, I found a Holiday Inn. A quick stop, $150 for the night, and I moved on 🙂 He was nice enough to point me at a Howard Johnson’s down the road a bit.

I missed the turn and went right instead of left. After a bit of wandering I came back and found the HoJo. $100 for their place. It’s amazing what you’ll put up with. It was about 10:30 and still 2 1/2 to 3 hours before Kristen came home. Ah well, we’ll stay here. I chatted with the security guard(!) and dropped my stuff off. I called Rita and told her where I was.

I found out later that Kristen (and Gale, her mom) were a bit upset that Rita and I didn’t stay with them. Jasmine did stay though. Bit of a misunderstanding on my part I guess.

Posted in 2003 - New York Wedding, Motorcycle Trips | Leave a comment

Ride to Westminster

Posted on October 10, 2003 by Freejack

Ah, another ride report.

This time there is a bit of a difference and a first for Rita.

The first difference is that Rita planned this trip entirely. She even had the maps. The plan was to head up to Pennsylvania and see the Corn Maze. We were also going to York to see the Harley fabrication plant and on up to Hamburg.

On Friday, Rita paged me at class and said that if I got out early, we could head up to Pennsylvania Friday instead of Saturday. Fortunately, classes typically end early on the last day and this one ended at noon, so I hopped on the bike and headed home.

Oh, this past week I’ve been driving the Suzuki to class in Herndon. The ride from Dale City to Herndon has been a nightmare. Upwards of 2 hours in stop and go traffic. Thursday and Friday I got the ride home to an hour by going south around Manassas.

Rita has already packed her stuff up on her bike. I emptied my tail bag and put the rest of the stuff into it. I put my tennis shoes and Rita’s chaps into my tank bag, mainly to give me some support. Riding with Rita is an endurance test since the Suzuki is made for speed. Riding it at 4k to 5k RPMs when red line is at 13k RPMs can be a task but my Harley’s in the shop waiting on a part.

So by 1:30 we’re out the door. Rita’s on her Honda VLX and I’m on the Suzuki GSXR. I want to boogie since it’s kinda early. Hopefully we’ll miss some, if not all of the traffic out of town.

There were no problems until we got to the light before Rt 50. All week they’ve been tearing up that stretch of road and I know Rita’s not happy riding on it, so at the light, I tell Rita to hit the right lane. The left two lanes have been ripped up and the right’s been ok. Unfortunately they’ve finished paving the left two lanes and have ripped up the right lane. Ah well. Fortunately Rita seems to have handled the ride without panicking.

So we continued on until we got past Old Ox Road when traffic started backing up. We’re sitting there and I commented to Rita that we could just stop and eat, waiting on traffic but we miss the last turn so we just kept going.

In a few minutes, we notice an SUV pull past us on the shoulder and stop. A quick look and I see the cop that had pulled him over. Rita went “*woo hoo*” and the cop smiled as he got out. I thanked him as he commented that he would at least take care of this scofflaw.

Now we’re watching the two in the car in front of us. When the driver drops a butt, I put my foot on it as we went by, putting it out. A minute or so later, the passenger drops his butt and Rita puts it out with her foot. I smiled since she didn’t see me put out the first one.

We make the left turn onto Rt 7, still in a bit of a backup. We finally get up to the right turn onto 15 and we’re off. In a minute I see the sign for “WHITE FERRY”, presumably White’s Ferry. The day is gorgeous and the scenery is very nice. Traffic is moving nicely. It’s getting a little late and I haven’t had anything to eat since breakfast.

We cross over the Potomac and I make a right at Point of Rocks. A brief stop on the side of the road and we decide to hit the MARC lot just ahead.

We stopped and walked around, resting up and grabbing a snack. Rita ran down to the station on her bike to see if it had a bathroom but no such luck. “It’s boarded up,” she says.

We discussed if we wanted to follow 28 south to hit White’s Ferry, a stop she wanted to make or continue on Rt 15 north. We finally decided to continue on Rt 15.

We packed up and headed to the exit. I watched traffic and made the left just as I saw a car crest the hill. I watched the mirror as Rita pulled out after me. Of course I had hit the gas so I pulled to the side to wait for her to catch up as I had done a couple of times before (like missing a light where I pulled over and waited for the light to change).

After a moment I noticed traffic slowing down, then slowing down in both directions. At that point my heart starts beating faster and with a sense of urgency I U-turn and head back realizing that she’s gone down. As I get to the spot, a large panel van has pulled out to pass and was heading straight for me. I slowed to let him go and then pulled into the short turn lane into the MARC station.

Rita’s leaning on the guardrail with a woman hovering over her and three guys are trying to pull her bike out from under the end of the guardrail. I see that Rita’s ok and help the guys pull the bike up. They were on the left side so I went onto the right side, grabbed the right handlebar (and brake 🙂 and a piece of frame by the rear tire and pull it standing and half-way out before realizing and letting go of the brake. It’s up and out at that point, “I’ve got it, I’ve got it. Thanks.” Someone says to block traffic so I can roll the bike into the MARC lot. I realize that I should roll it into the MARC lot and proceeded to roll it across the street, parking it next to mine.

I head back to Rita, taking off my helmet and checking her out. I don’t remember if I thanked everyone or even anyone but I appreciate the help and a big thanks to all right now.

Anyway, Rita says she’s a little dizzy. After a moment we hobble off to the other side of the road. A quick check of her bike and I ride it into the lot. I went back and got mine and then the rest of the gear and check Rita out.

She has a small scrape on her elbow and a bigger one on her knee. The boots seemed to have protected her foot just fine (nice scrapes though) just as the jacket protected her upper body.

We spend about 30 minutes just making sure she’s ok. I check over her bike. The windshield is pushed back. A little pull in the other direction and it *pops* back into place. Her left peg seems to have caught the most damage with her front fender pretty scraped up. There doesn’t seem to be any other damage at all. After checking all the connections and the radiator, I put in the key and ride it around the parking lot. A quick left onto Rt 28 and then back into the lot. Her bike seems pretty sound.

She sits on it and finds the mirror really out of whack. I pulled out the tools and straightened it all out. We talked for a few minutes, to make sure she’s ok and ok with continuing. She seems to be up for it so off we go again.

Most of the time, at intersections particularly, I’ll tell her to go when _she’s_ ready and I’ll follow. There are times that I go ahead of her, not very many. This time I tell her to go and I’ll follow.

There’s a bit of a backup at Rt 15, a semi making a left. We finally get close enough that we follow the other cars and drive up the shoulder to make the right turn.

I’m amazed and happy that she feels up to continuing. I’m also checking every time we stop to see if she’s ok.

We get up to the 340 merge and pick up the pace. Since we’re falling behind, we decided to hit Rt 70 up to Rt 75 at New Market. Weirdly enough, New Market and Mt. Airy are where I spent my last year at home. As we’re traveling up Rt 75, we pass Fox Rest Court, which brings back memories.

My brother and his friends were in the back of dad’s pickup with me driving. We were up at the school and they’d picked some corn from the field. They were throwing it out the back door of the camper shell when they banged on the window. Speed up! There was someone chasing us! As we came over the hill, I make a sharp right into this construction area, now Fox Rest Court. It turns out that him and his friends had thrown an ear of corn at a passing truck, destroying the turn signal, left fender and windshield. It also turns out that the guy must have got our description since the cops were waiting for us when we got home. Dad’s insurance paid for the damage but we got a lecture.

Anyway, a few miles down the road and there’s Linganore on the right. When I went, it was Linganore Jr./Sr. High. We made a right and pulled into the parking lot. It looked like a game was going on. We stopped for a few minutes and then headed out since it was getting late.

We continued on to Libertytown, still light out and becoming cool. As I’m heading down 75 through town, Rita’s not behind me. I thought she’d stopped at the turnout and I turned around to see what’s up.

As I come around the turn, there she is coming in my direction. I pass and pull into the church parking lot to wait for her. A minute or so later she comes up and said her bike had stopped. Puzzled, I checked out her bike but it was running and I couldn’t see any problems (leaks or anything). I checked the connections but it all seemed ok.

We checked out the map and decided to turn back and head up Rt 31 instead of continuing on 75. I had to tell her though. Rt 31 was where my high school girlfriend used to live. We were going to pass her place. No biggie, I was curious though.

So I’m scoping out the road, not even sure I’ll recognize it when there it is, 8 or 10 rusting cars out front. I pulled over at the bottom of the hill and told Rita that there was the house.

So. We continue on 🙂

About 5 minutes down the road, Rita’s stopped again. I turned around and headed back. She’s sitting on the side of the road trying to start her bike. It’s trying but not catching. I check out all the connections again, check for leaks or anything and everything seems to be ok. “You got me, this problem’s beyond me here.”

At that moment, I checked her odometer. 90 miles. Too soon to run out of gas, but what the heck. I flip her to reserve and have her try it again. After a few trys it kicks over. Out of gas. Must have been the congestion on the way here. We laugh and head out in search of a station.

In New Windsor we find a 7/11 on the other side of town and fill up. 2.2 gallons for her, 2.7 for me.

Now it’s dark and really getting late. We continue on towards Westminster.

As we get into town, we see a Best Western to the left. A right turn, loop around and a left into the shopping center just past it as I realize it’s a convention/catering center and doesn’t seem to be open.

We stop. I went into Safeway to hit the bathroom and then check the phone book outside the store. I followed a kid out who then followed me to the phone. “Hey man, if I give you the money, would you buy me some Skoal?” “No”. The pages in the phone book that had the motel listings were torn out.

I went back to Rita who then went in to the bathroom. I tried calling Jasmine (her daughter) to check on motels but there was no answer. When Rita came out she had two things. She had spoken to Jasmine who was at the Cher concert and that her leg was more injured than she first thought.

There was a giant knot on the inside part of her leg next to the shin and it was pretty big.

Rita spoke to someone inside who mentioned a Boston Inn just up the road. A quick call and we were on our way. As we came down into the main street, I saw a Days Inn on the left. A quick right turn to tell Rita and we headed over to get a room.

After getting a room, I pulled her bike into the back parking lot and took everything out of her saddlebags and my tank and tail bag up to the room (third floor). We checked out all of her injuries. Her elbow was going to have a nice bruise as will her shin. Her knee has a nice sized scrape and is probably the one that bothers her the most since walking causes it to hurt.




She decides we need to go to dinner but isn’t going to walk so she got on the back of the Suzuki (something she said she’d never do) and we headed out for dinner.

When we got back, I went out to Giant and picked up some aspirin, a cold pack, an Ace bandage and a soda for me.

We spent the rest of the night watching TV and checking out her injuries.

The next morning we rolled out of the room at around 10am and headed up to Denny’s for breakfast. We discussed the ride and decided that instead of continuing on, we’d pick a good route and head home. The rain forecast for Sunday in Pennsylvania was a big part of the decision but Rita’s injuries were another.

We checked out the maps and decided to hit 77 west to Hagerstown, making a left at Rt 11 on down towards Luray Caverns. Heading home from Rt 11.

Of course, the first turn on Rt 31 and we missed 77 (it’s marked Uniontown Road and not Rt 77). A quick peek at the map and I see that 75 north from New Windsor will also get us to Rt 77 so we keep going.

We make the right onto 75 (found that 🙂 and then a quick right onto 84 north, a nice little swing up and down a hill. It’s a nice little road that ends fairly quickly. I roll up to the stop sign at Uniontown (coasting next to a bicyclist). Still no sign for Rt 77 and it says Middleburg Road so I shrug and make the left turn.

There’s a real nice steep downhill and up that I speed down and then slow and watch Rita run down it. A bit down the road and we pass a scenic river, but no place to stop. There are some nice turns and even nicer canopied roads.

As we approach Thurmont, I’m seeing more and more yard sales. Just about every house is having a yard sale. Entering Thurmont, I pull into a church parking lot with a bunch of other cars (and others parked on the street). They wanted 5 bucks to park so I waved that I was just turning around. One of the kids taking money yelled over to his dad to look at my bike. He must either want one or dad has one 🙂

I pull off and look at the map, just making sure. Rita pulls up and I point where we’re going. She boogies up 550, still having trouble making u-turns. I u-turn and stop at the sign. After a moment I pull past the church parking lot again and stop on the side of the road waiting for Rita. She shows up and we head through downtown Thurmont.

Turns out we hit right in the middle of the Catoctin Colorfest Arts and Crafts show. No wonder there were yard sales everywhere. There was a bunch of people walking around and the streets were packed up to the 550 turnoff. On the other side of Rt 50 there were a bunch of cars parked on the streets.

Fortunately we headed into the Catoctin Mountain National Park Scenic Loop. It was a very nice ride with twisties and few people. We pulled into the park visitors center and took a break. After that we headed into Cunningham Falls State Park. Unfortunately there wasn’t any information on distance to the falls at the gate and I didn’t want to pay 5 bucks to find out Rita wouldn’t be able to see it.

So we turned around and went back to Rt 77. Since we were on Catoctin mountain, there was a nice little run down the other side.

We headed down until we got to Rt 64, Smithsburg. It wasn’t clear on the map so we continued on. When we got to Rt 60, we were definately not sure where we were at. I couldn’t find out anywhere we would have hit 60 until we were actually in Hagerstown. So after a short right on 60, we turned around and headed south to Hagerstown.

When we got to Hagerstown, I kept an eye out for Rt 40. Unfortunately there weren’t any markings for 40 (and we missed Rt 11 south by just a couple of blocks), so we kept on going south. 60 turns into 65 (and we encountered more of the ground down roads, which Rita handled just fine) and eventually passed Rt 70 and made it to Rt 68. A quick right and in 10 minutes or so we found Rt 11 south.

We crossed the Potomac at Williamsport and headed into West Virginia. It was still a rather nice ride. In Berkley County we passed a nice stone house on the left. I pointed it out to Rita and as we passed, we noticed a couple that looked rather hippy like, on the porch working (Berkley – hippy; get it? 🙂

At one point, we passed the Frederick Fairgrounds where a bunch of bikes were parked. One guy pulled in behind Rita. When we got to an 81 turn off, he pulled up, said “hi” and headed out to 81. He was on a nice looking orange custom.

It was while we were heading south that I began to really experience pain in my arms from the riding style. Mainly in my shoulders but in my forearms a little as well. It was getting to the point where I was having to stop more often to take a break.

So we ride through Winchester and make the left onto Rt 17. A few miles down the road and we pass 340 and a sign for Summit Point. Hey, now I know where it is 🙂

A couple of miles before the Paris turnoff, we stop again for a break. This time on the side of a turn-off on Rt 17. After a couple of minutes of stretching and poking at the map, Rita says that a truck has pulled up behind us. Turns out a couple of good samaritans stopped and asked if we needed a hand. They had been at the Fairgrounds for a chili cookoff and had their Hog member shirts on. We said thanks and that we were just taking a break. We waved as they left.

We made the right turn on 17 and headed to 66 East. I stayed behind Rita, mainly because I didn’t want everyone looking at me as blocking traffic. See, Rita isn’t doing much faster than 55 in the right lane 🙂

At Rt 234 in Manassas we make a right. At the first light, I open up my bike and boogie on down. I slow down to let Rita catch up and we head to the left on Percell Road. A nice ride down to Dale Blvd and then home.

A nice little 280 mile ride with lots of cool roads and interesting activities. Rita’s bike seems to be ok but I’ll take it in to the dealer; one for the 600 mile check-up and two to go over the bike making sure no hidden damage exists.

Posted in Maryland, Virginia | Leave a comment

Schelin Family Reunion

Posted on September 27, 2003 by Freejack

My brother organized a family reunion for Saturday and he lives west of Richmond. Rita wanted to go out on her new bike for a weekend ride and to get familiar with it.

She broke out Streets & Trips, turned off Interstates/Toll Roads and mapped out an interesting back way to his place.

The get together was scheduled for 1pm so we bailed at 11am, figuring that it takes me a little over an hour to get there.

We headed south on Rt 1 until we got to 208. We turned right and headed for Morton’s BMW where I picked up a Cellphone cable for my Autocomm, which worked just fine; for listening. I don’t normally use the mic so it wasn’t in the right position for speaking.

Anyway, we got back on Rt 1 and headed south. Rita was ahead of me and missed the 603 turn. I went by her and we turned around and headed back. A quick left and we were back on track.

Lots of nice canopied roads with comfortable twisties and not much traffic all the way to my brothers.

At Ladysmith Road (Alt Rt 1) it wasn’t clear what road it was so we made the indicated right turn until we saw the Ladysmith Road sign. A half mile later we stopped for gas and drinks on the corner of Rt 738.

After that we took 738 and headed south. We missed the Church Road turn off (I swear that we didn’t pass it) and went into Teman instead. Rita had to cross some old railroad tracks and did quite well.

We ended up on Beaverdam Road but on the wrong side of the tracks. We headed right and over the same tracks again. There was a flagman on the tracks and the lights were flashing. He waved us through and Rita had to go over tracks again.

Another couple of blocks and we were back on track. Another cross over railroad tracks and we were on our way on Beaverdam Road south.

We crossed over Rt 33 and continued on. We were on Spring Road and were looking for Pinhook Road. Unfortunately the map didn’t say that they were connected by Vontay Road. Another double-back and we were on the right road.

A left turn into his development and a slight, but scary run down his freshly graveled road and we were there. At 3:15pm, over 4 hours after we left.

At around 5:30pm we bailed and headed to Charlottesville. It was about an hour ride on 250. As we approached Charlottesville it was getting dark. Rita can’t ride in the dark (license and vision issues (depth perception)) so we pulled in at the second motel (missed the first one). $57 for the night for a “contractors” motel (per the desk lady) and because there was a game at UVA.

I’ve been at some seedy motels but this is the first literal flea-bag. It was a “smoking” room as well so it reeked. Unfortunately it was too dark for Rita to ride any more or we might have bailed and looked for a better place.


We walked up and down the street looking for a reasonable place to eat and ended up at Giant picking up a couple of microwave meals and a package of Giant Deli chicken wings and a can of Glade Neutralizer spray.

When we got back we realized we didn’t have any towels so I stopped at the desk and picked up a set.

Since there was a rain storm, we watched the lightning and enjoyed the rain.

In the morning I stopped by the desk to give them the key to the room and let them know about the fleas. She had to think for a minute and finally said that the previous tenents had a dog, a rabbit and a “large snake”.

We stopped at a Bagel place for a quick bite but we were looking for the Buddist Biker Bar. Unfortunately we missed the bar while wandering around town and eventually ended up on Rt 29 south of 250. Rita decided that the traffic into town was nuts and we decided to continue north.

There were quite a few lights on the way out of town. We eventually made it to Rt 33 and made a right turn heading towards Barbourville.

At Barbourville we made a turn into the center of town. I decided to continue on to the other side and found the Barbourville Winery and Ruins. We pulled in just to visit and because I wanted to see the ruins.

We pulled up into the visitor’s parking and found a nice shady tree to park under. Unfortunately it was at a sideways incline so after parking I had to back Rita’s bike in.

We spent about 90 minutes looking over the visitor’s center, checking out the history of the winery and touring the ruins of the original house. The house was designed by Jefferson for VA Governor Barbour. It was built around 1813 and it burned down (how does a brick house burn down? 🙂 in 1888 (years are from memory and may be plus or minus a few years).



We bailed at around 2pm. Rita couldn’t get the bike upright so I had to back mine in to my spot and help pull it up. We headed back out to Barbourville, made a right and headed down Rt 33 to 15 and then north. In Orange we stopped for a soda. I wanted to stop by the Harley place but didn’t really have a good reason to do it so we continued north to Warrenton.

We turned off at 522 intending on heading towards Sperryville for lunch but it was getting late so we stopped for lunch in Culpepper. The place was pretty dead. We walked around and eventually hit a family seafood place and had a late lunch.

We decided it was getting late and instead of making the Rt 522 turn, we went up Bus 15 back to 15N and Warrenton. We were specifically going to a shop (45 Main Street) that specializes in crystals and stones. The Rt 15 turn into downtown was a fairly tight right and left curve and Rita over shot the curve and went over the double-yellow. We discussed it when we stopped in front of the store. We parked on the street a few doors down and headed upstairs.

While walking around the shop, the lady behind the counter asked if we were riding (we’re in our leathers 🙂 We discovered that she (Crystal) rides a 750 Nighthawk and that she and Linda (the other lady there) are computer geeks so we chatted about bikes and computers. They may even be on the dc-cycles list now.

After Rita picked up a couple of stones, we headed back to the bikes. I made a U-Turn and pulled to the side waiting on Rita. She made a right into a parking area and came back out to the stop sign, making a left and catching up with me.

We went back out to 643, made a left and headed south on Rt 15/29 to Rt 17. A left turn there and we headed up to Rt 28. We made a left and then a right at Nokesville to Aden Road.

Since it’s a nice long and quiet road, she blew by me! I passed her and opened up the Suzuki (well, not too fast) and waited for her at the stop sign.

She got in front of me and we headed towards 234. About half way to 234 I ran out of gas and had to put my bike on reserve. No problem though, lots of gas left for the 10 minute ride the rest of the way home.

A right on 234, a left on Minnieville, a right on Cardinal, left on Eastlawn and then Evansdale and we’re home.

I dropped off my keys so Rita could get in and I went to the gas station to fill up.

I asked Rita about the ride and the only complaints were about some of the longer straight rides.

Carl and Rita

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