i didn't take the number/quality of pics mik did, but i'm posting anyway. some of these are repeats, i'm sure, and some are just plain non-sequiturs.
here's the obligatory pic i took of my bike just before leaving town:
i left louisville, ky, wednesday at 8a est, and rode over mostly wet roads for several hours. i stopped to change socks in the middle of ohio, because my boots had taken enough road mist to become saturated. i put plastic bags over sock feet and then put my boots back on. in west virginia, i finally entered the storm system i'd been behind for many hours, and had to put on the rain suit. latex gloves over leather gloves looked funny, but kept my hands dry. i got into the gettysburg, pa, area around 9:30. 600 miles.
i hung out with the family for a few days, then left for new york friday
afternoon:
the weather was nice, and the trip up i-81 to binghamton was mostly
uneventful, except for a phone stop when my bike fell over. luckily it
mostly fell on me, and suffered only a bent clutch lever and gearshift
lever. a guy stopped to use the phone after me, and had some vise grips,
so i was all set in a few minutes. i got gas in binghamton, and noticed
a fairly magic number on the odo:
i also saw a neat old truck while i had the camera out, and decided
to get a pic of it:
i left binghamton around 8p, and shortly thereafter the sun set. it
was quite cold for the remaining hour of travel, but i was anxious to get
to dick's, so i didn't bother to stop to change gear. i arrived in oneonta
sometime after 9p, and met dick, pat, and max (mik), who were all very
welcoming and friendly. we were later in the living room talking, and saw
what looked like a ninja ride by. then it doubled back, and we went out
to meet the rider, who was mark. he had just slid off the edge of the same
corner i almost missed earlier, and lost a bit of plastic. he was pretty
cool about the whole situation, though; i would have been a wreck after
just tossing my bike, and then having almost-stangers working on it with
me. here's a shot of pat, dick, mark and max looking over the damage, and
the finished temp repair:
after some more tea and conversation, we went to bed. wes, shelly and alex arrived later that night; they too were slowed down a bit by the sudden cold.
the next morning we suited up and started our day of riding with breakfast
at vern's diner. i took a pic of dick's dog, taz, before we left; i love
that face. we saw a buell when we got to the diner, which i also shot.
we rode through some beautiful new england countryside, around mountains
and lakes, and stoppd in several towns. here's a pic of a stop we made
a local kawi dealer about an hour before meeting jennifer (gammagir1):
we met gamma another town away, had lunch, then came back over the same
mountain road, and stopped for gas. we later made another stop at a mountain
overlook, to get some official trip portraits:
we did some more riding around the mountains and some ny city reserviors.
dick guided us through all varieties of road, with some tight twisties
and 70 mph sweepers included. the day growing long, we stopped for a bit
by a reservior lake, and relaxed for a while. then mark left for home,
and the rest of us headed back to oneonta for dinner. we got back to dick's,
and some of worked on our bikes for a bit. alex got a chain adjustment,
and wes put on a new countershaft (15-tooth) sprocket:
we stayed up late talking about bikes and other topics, and shared some of jen's good canadian chocolate and maple candy; others had what i am told is quite tasty canadian beer.
after a good night's sleep, we packed up and enjoyed another vern's breakfast. we rode to pat's house, and she joined us for the rest of the afternoon on dick's 1100 suzuki. we followed dick along some more fantastic roads, including a very twisty hill path that we had to run twice. after lunch, wes, alex and shelly made their way back north, max went east, and the rest of us went south back toward oneonta. i then broke off near i-88, and started my trip back to pa.
the trip back was fine, and included a small adventure when i came to some road construction gridlock that went on for miles. no problem, the ninja and i split lanes of slow- and non-moving traffic for what seemed like twenty minutes; i only had to stop a couple of times for cars changing lanes, some juxtapositioned 18-wheelers, and a vacation dad that park his car in the middle of the road so i couldn't pass him (i eventually got by).
i went to sleep promptly after reaching gettysburg, and left first thing in the morning. weather was great (but hot) on the way back to louky, but the dry mountain roads that were previously tedious in the wet were a blast now that they were dry. made it home in 12 hours, including two hours worth of stops (lunch, gas, etc); not bad for a 250cc bike doing 600 miles along largely secondary roads.
in the end, i rode 2164 miles in five days. i averaged 64 mpg over the entire trip, with my best fuel economy reaching 67 mpg when riding through the twisties with the group, and worst at 61 mpg when riding at very high speed on the freeway. a good-sized luggage pack and tired rider (discouraging a tuck position) reduced mpg, no doubt.
i had a most excellent adventure, the highlight of which was the gathering in new york, of course. i was very impressed with all of the individuals i met, and with the riding skill of everyone in the group. i learned quite a bit by riding with such a conglomerate, and look forward to another such event next year.
thanks again, everyone. gap in two months!
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