I wanted to do a long ride. I thought I'd ride the Sabre down to the house in Juno Beach. In the past I've used the Amtrak Autotrain. The last time I rode to Florida, it was the winter break of 80/81. The bike was a 1980 BMW R100RT; I pretty much stuck with I95, it was terrible. As it turned out it was the coldest winter on record for Florida, it snowed in Miami! No kidding they had snow flurries. It never got above 45 degrees in Key West while I was there. To say the least I froze all the way down and all the way back.
This time I'll be riding a 2000 Honda Shadow Sabre 1100. The beemer had a full fairing with lowers and hippo hands (large hand enclosures for the end of the handlebars). The Sabre has a 3/4 windshield. I'll be riding the early part of October instead of January. Instead of trying to go full speed down I95 I'm plotting a course down the Appalachian mountains south. I'll try to stay on secondary roads that will most likely have speed limits in the 50 to 60 mph range. I hope I'll find this a much more pleasing experience with the fall leaves and mountains as a backdrop.
I was originally going to leave the second week of October due to some social obligations; the EDC Crab Feast was scheduled for September 28. Kari and I usually travel over the Columbus day long weekend, this year her new job doesn't give her that day off. I now intend to to leave on Sunday September 29. I'll actually leave early in the day and shoot around 495 before there is any traffic. This will cut a little time off my usual route of heading over to 29 up to I70 and down into the mountains, all to avoid 495.
My intention is to do between 250 and 300 miles a day. I expect to leave each day fairly early in the morning, but possibly after rush hour according to my location.
I am concerned about the seemingly early fall and cooler than normal weather. A quick survey of the western routes showed that the East side of the mountains is about 5 degrees warmer than the West side. As I intend to camp at least half the nights I'm out there, warmer is better than cooler. Camping will cost about $35 per night, I expect to be on the road 5 or 6 nights. Camping expense would be $210. However if I spend three nights in a hotel at $70 per night would be a total of $210 with 3 camping nights $105, for a total of $315.
For food I intend to take some breakfast food and snacks. I expect I'll eat lunches and a few dinners on the road. Actually, with my 250 mile days I hope to breakfast in camp leave early. I expect to be at the next camp early in the day, probably around 2 or 3 pm. This leaves me time to set up camp and ride around seeing the sights. I'd have a nice dinner and return to camp. Lunches should be no more than $5 at fast food spots. Dinners should be in the $20 area. So, Luches $30 total. Dinners 5x$20, $100 total, with a grand total of $120.
The boys (college friends) and I just took a ride out and through Skyline drive. Although we hopped on 81 a few times we stuck mostly to secondary and country roads. My gas mileage on the bike shot up to 45 mpg. I attribute this to the new clean plugs I put into the bike before leaving. I'm going to calculate my total mileage at 1200 miles this is about 200 more miles than heading straight down I95. I'll calculate my MPG at 35, and the average pricee of gas at $3.60; this brings me to a total gas expense of about $125.
The cost for the trip should be Lodging, $315; Food, $120; Fuel, $125 grand total $560
The next pages will be the proposed trip log.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Almost 500 miles on Skyline Drive and the back roads of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland
The actual mileage was 998 miles. I'd changed the oil just before leaving, thus new the starting mileage.
I was very happy with how the bike ran. The only issues I had were my right "Switchblade" highway peg loosened up. I could use just the peg but if I put the heel stirrup down the peg would shift down with the weight of my foot. We stopped for gas, I purchased a cheap set of SAE Allen keys, again. These pegs and the highway bars are the only SAE components on the bike. Oddly, not even the highway bars are completely SAE. There are four bolts two of the bolts go into the frame and need longer metric bolts. The other tow bolts are to clamps and use supplied SAE bolts.
I never got around to tightening up the peg. The other issue was that I was hearing a bit too much clatter from the engine. I checked the oil, I was at the lower end of the stick, a pinch below the low level. We stopped and I bought a quart of oil and a nice little long spout funnel, great for carrying on a trip for topping off the oil. I new I was a pinch short on oil when I changed it. I had a solid 3 quarts of oil, I then added about 2 ounces of MMO. When I checked it it looked OK. The bike is supposed to take 3.3 quarts of oil with an oil change. Apparently, I drained a bit more than that. Of course, when I stopped I checked to make sure I didn't have any leaks at the oil filter or drain bolt, all was fine.
My route was Annapolis to the park and ride on route 32 to meet Kurt and Per, 44.6 miles.
From there we were supposed to go to the south/east side of Whites Ferry and take it across to the Virginia side. What I didn't know was that when Kurt sent me the itinerary he listed the address of the far side, the Virginia side. The GPS dutifully took us to the bridge that would lead us over the Potomac and to the far side of White's Ferry. I stopped at a gas station on route 15, short of the ferry because I was baffled. Kurt new the problem. HMMM, oddly, I just checked my GPS for recent navigation points, I plugged in, 24801 White's Ferry Rd.Dickerson, Maryland 20842, which is the MD side. I suppose that it was faster to do the Virginia route than go back roads to the MD side.
We ended up going out route 70 and taking the turn off down 340/15. This looks like it took us through Leesburg and Haymarket down to route 29/15/211. This took us another 31miles to this turn onto 211, my mileage would have been 81 miles.
We then travelled along 211 into Sperryville to meet Chris. Another 37 miles for a total of 111 miles for me. A riding note here; this route along route 211 was excellent riding. It was a mostly concrete two lane highway that gave views of the mountains. We travelled at anywhere from 50 to 70 mph. This is the way to ride! Skyline Drive is okay except that you travel at 35 mph, always in fear of hitting deer or park police, that guard the speed limit diligently, as well they should. A high speed impact with a deer on a bike is likely deadly for all.
We had lunch at the Thornton River Grille ( http://www.thorntonrivergrille.com/ ). I had a very good Bleu Cheese Burger, they also had the only beer I care to drink Pilsner Urquell (http://pilsnerurquell.com/age-gate ). It was moderately priced $10 for the burger $5 for the beer.
We then hopped up onto Skyline Drive and headed South. We went all the way down to the Rockfish Gap entrance/exit just outside of Waynesboro, a leg of about 75 miles, bringing my total up to 186 miles.
We looked for a bar but really didn't find anything palatable nor did we see a hotel that was acceptable. Kurt and Per had a friend staying up in Harrisonburg, home of James Madison University. We headed through Waynesboro to Route 81. I absolutely hate 81, it's busy, it's full of big rigs; if you're doing the posted speed of 70 mph, you're going slow. We took 81 up to Harrisonburg and got off to mosey through town at 25 mph and see the sites. It was getting to be 5pm and kids were heading out to dinner and Saturday night happy hours.
Per and Kurt found a "Tilted Kilt" sports bar listed in Yelp, we found our way to a mall location, I was very disappointed; I don't like malls, especially when I have stuff out on my bike for easy pickings. The trip was roughly another 40 miles, my total 240 miles ( I know my averages don't quite add up in this trip log, google says it was 240).
The Tilted Kilt is a typical T&A sports bar. I've never found the ladies at Hooter's to be all that enticing. However, this Tilted Kilt had JMU to draw from and the ladies were very attractive. Our waitress was getting her master's and was well endowed, but not overly so. The food was typical bar food; I had a scottish steak sub, so so.
There was some debate over the hotel. Per had a grudge against Motel 6, I don't know what it was, but I can understand there are places that I just won't patronize. We had past a Budget Inn on the way to the Tilted Kilt, it looked shabby at best. I knew we were in trouble when we walked into the bery strong smell of curry, and the little Indian lady could barely see above the counter top. I'd had a poor experience at an Indian owned hotel on a trip to the Northeast. I don't mean to sound racist, different cultures have different acceptable practices.
On my trip to the Northeast, it was probably a budget inn; they advertised WiFi, which is a must for me and a free breakfast. I check the hours of the breakfast, I was told 6-9 am. I showed up at about 7:30 and there was no breakfast. I was told that all the other patrons, all the relatives living on the second floor had eaten, since I hadn't showed up, they cleaned up.
At the Harrisonburg location we were shown our rooms by the male owner. I asked about ice and he said he would bring us bags of ice. We'd gotten three rooms and each of us had different tastes in beverages but all required ice. I headed up to the office and was met by the owner with three tiny little bags of ice, it looked like gelding day on the farm. There was about a half a tray of ice in each bag. The rooms all had window air conditioners that were not on when we went in. It had been a 90 degree day, the rooms were hot. I swore that the little dorm friges were just painted cardboard boxes with little lights inside. I won't fault them for that, most hotel fridges are marginal. The beds weren't too bad.
We pulled chairs out into the breezeway and started drinking... until 2:30am! I haven't been up that late in years.
In the morning, we sadly got back onto 81 and headed North. I think we hopped off to get on Route 11 which parallels 81. This was a nice little farm road that let us move at a respectable 50ish. We cut off on 259 heading Northwest through the Shenandoah Forest. I was then surprised that we were going to head through Wardensville WV.
My uncle Stu grew up in Wardensville, his brother was the town sheriff. As we passed through I saw the cattle gate that heads down to his cabin and deer hunting property. We wove along heading over small roads and towns until we finally had to get back on 81 to get to Martinsburg. About another 120 miles, 350 miles for me.
Heading Northeast we found a bypass to get us over to Route 40 in MD, through Antietam and on to
Boonsboro, roughly another 28 miles a total of 378 miles.
We then took route 40 into Frederick, Kurt and Per headed North to Glyndon; Chris and I headed more south, he to Ellicott City, me to Annapolis. Chris took me down 144, which is Old Frederick Pike. I then took 32 south all the way to where it intersected 97, which I didn't know. Google shows the route to be 476 miles. By my odometer I was very close to 500 miles. We had a few back tracks and minor lost spots, they might have equaled 25 miles.
These are the roads I want to take to Florida next month. Roads that let me go 50 to 60 mph with out the heavy truck traffic or high speed wind buffeting.
I was very happy with how the bike ran. The only issues I had were my right "Switchblade" highway peg loosened up. I could use just the peg but if I put the heel stirrup down the peg would shift down with the weight of my foot. We stopped for gas, I purchased a cheap set of SAE Allen keys, again. These pegs and the highway bars are the only SAE components on the bike. Oddly, not even the highway bars are completely SAE. There are four bolts two of the bolts go into the frame and need longer metric bolts. The other tow bolts are to clamps and use supplied SAE bolts.
I never got around to tightening up the peg. The other issue was that I was hearing a bit too much clatter from the engine. I checked the oil, I was at the lower end of the stick, a pinch below the low level. We stopped and I bought a quart of oil and a nice little long spout funnel, great for carrying on a trip for topping off the oil. I new I was a pinch short on oil when I changed it. I had a solid 3 quarts of oil, I then added about 2 ounces of MMO. When I checked it it looked OK. The bike is supposed to take 3.3 quarts of oil with an oil change. Apparently, I drained a bit more than that. Of course, when I stopped I checked to make sure I didn't have any leaks at the oil filter or drain bolt, all was fine.
My route was Annapolis to the park and ride on route 32 to meet Kurt and Per, 44.6 miles.
From there we were supposed to go to the south/east side of Whites Ferry and take it across to the Virginia side. What I didn't know was that when Kurt sent me the itinerary he listed the address of the far side, the Virginia side. The GPS dutifully took us to the bridge that would lead us over the Potomac and to the far side of White's Ferry. I stopped at a gas station on route 15, short of the ferry because I was baffled. Kurt new the problem. HMMM, oddly, I just checked my GPS for recent navigation points, I plugged in, 24801 White's Ferry Rd.Dickerson, Maryland 20842, which is the MD side. I suppose that it was faster to do the Virginia route than go back roads to the MD side.
We ended up going out route 70 and taking the turn off down 340/15. This looks like it took us through Leesburg and Haymarket down to route 29/15/211. This took us another 31miles to this turn onto 211, my mileage would have been 81 miles.
We then travelled along 211 into Sperryville to meet Chris. Another 37 miles for a total of 111 miles for me. A riding note here; this route along route 211 was excellent riding. It was a mostly concrete two lane highway that gave views of the mountains. We travelled at anywhere from 50 to 70 mph. This is the way to ride! Skyline Drive is okay except that you travel at 35 mph, always in fear of hitting deer or park police, that guard the speed limit diligently, as well they should. A high speed impact with a deer on a bike is likely deadly for all.
We had lunch at the Thornton River Grille ( http://www.thorntonrivergrille.com/ ). I had a very good Bleu Cheese Burger, they also had the only beer I care to drink Pilsner Urquell (http://pilsnerurquell.com/age-gate ). It was moderately priced $10 for the burger $5 for the beer.
We then hopped up onto Skyline Drive and headed South. We went all the way down to the Rockfish Gap entrance/exit just outside of Waynesboro, a leg of about 75 miles, bringing my total up to 186 miles.
We looked for a bar but really didn't find anything palatable nor did we see a hotel that was acceptable. Kurt and Per had a friend staying up in Harrisonburg, home of James Madison University. We headed through Waynesboro to Route 81. I absolutely hate 81, it's busy, it's full of big rigs; if you're doing the posted speed of 70 mph, you're going slow. We took 81 up to Harrisonburg and got off to mosey through town at 25 mph and see the sites. It was getting to be 5pm and kids were heading out to dinner and Saturday night happy hours.
Per and Kurt found a "Tilted Kilt" sports bar listed in Yelp, we found our way to a mall location, I was very disappointed; I don't like malls, especially when I have stuff out on my bike for easy pickings. The trip was roughly another 40 miles, my total 240 miles ( I know my averages don't quite add up in this trip log, google says it was 240).
The Tilted Kilt is a typical T&A sports bar. I've never found the ladies at Hooter's to be all that enticing. However, this Tilted Kilt had JMU to draw from and the ladies were very attractive. Our waitress was getting her master's and was well endowed, but not overly so. The food was typical bar food; I had a scottish steak sub, so so.
There was some debate over the hotel. Per had a grudge against Motel 6, I don't know what it was, but I can understand there are places that I just won't patronize. We had past a Budget Inn on the way to the Tilted Kilt, it looked shabby at best. I knew we were in trouble when we walked into the bery strong smell of curry, and the little Indian lady could barely see above the counter top. I'd had a poor experience at an Indian owned hotel on a trip to the Northeast. I don't mean to sound racist, different cultures have different acceptable practices.
On my trip to the Northeast, it was probably a budget inn; they advertised WiFi, which is a must for me and a free breakfast. I check the hours of the breakfast, I was told 6-9 am. I showed up at about 7:30 and there was no breakfast. I was told that all the other patrons, all the relatives living on the second floor had eaten, since I hadn't showed up, they cleaned up.
At the Harrisonburg location we were shown our rooms by the male owner. I asked about ice and he said he would bring us bags of ice. We'd gotten three rooms and each of us had different tastes in beverages but all required ice. I headed up to the office and was met by the owner with three tiny little bags of ice, it looked like gelding day on the farm. There was about a half a tray of ice in each bag. The rooms all had window air conditioners that were not on when we went in. It had been a 90 degree day, the rooms were hot. I swore that the little dorm friges were just painted cardboard boxes with little lights inside. I won't fault them for that, most hotel fridges are marginal. The beds weren't too bad.
We pulled chairs out into the breezeway and started drinking... until 2:30am! I haven't been up that late in years.
In the morning, we sadly got back onto 81 and headed North. I think we hopped off to get on Route 11 which parallels 81. This was a nice little farm road that let us move at a respectable 50ish. We cut off on 259 heading Northwest through the Shenandoah Forest. I was then surprised that we were going to head through Wardensville WV.
My uncle Stu grew up in Wardensville, his brother was the town sheriff. As we passed through I saw the cattle gate that heads down to his cabin and deer hunting property. We wove along heading over small roads and towns until we finally had to get back on 81 to get to Martinsburg. About another 120 miles, 350 miles for me.
Heading Northeast we found a bypass to get us over to Route 40 in MD, through Antietam and on to
Boonsboro, roughly another 28 miles a total of 378 miles.
We then took route 40 into Frederick, Kurt and Per headed North to Glyndon; Chris and I headed more south, he to Ellicott City, me to Annapolis. Chris took me down 144, which is Old Frederick Pike. I then took 32 south all the way to where it intersected 97, which I didn't know. Google shows the route to be 476 miles. By my odometer I was very close to 500 miles. We had a few back tracks and minor lost spots, they might have equaled 25 miles.
These are the roads I want to take to Florida next month. Roads that let me go 50 to 60 mph with out the heavy truck traffic or high speed wind buffeting.
Monday, September 9, 2013
How soon we forget. Of course, part of it is that I'm working on four bikes, all different.
This work was done on September 5, 2013. Something happened to the post, it got frozen and wouldn't update.
It's only been a year since I changed the oil and filter. I could find the oil drain plug fine. But, I had to look in the book to find the damn filter location. And, as is often the case in the books they show you a picture, they don't show you if it's front or back, left or right side. Thankfully it's an external spin off filter.
The oil and oil filter got changed. I came up a little short on the oil. The book says 3.3 quarts I had a solid 3 quarts on hand and about 6 ounces of MMO (Magical Mystery Oil) which many people swear by. Although, when I got out on the road riding hard it seemed like things were a little noisy. I stopped and got a quart of oil and added about a half quart which may have been a little too much. The bike seemed to quiet down a bit.
I changed the final drive oil with 80W90. Although, the book calls for 80W, I couldn't find any 80W.
Both front and rear brake fluid were changed.
It's only been a year since I changed the oil and filter. I could find the oil drain plug fine. But, I had to look in the book to find the damn filter location. And, as is often the case in the books they show you a picture, they don't show you if it's front or back, left or right side. Thankfully it's an external spin off filter.
The oil and oil filter got changed. I came up a little short on the oil. The book says 3.3 quarts I had a solid 3 quarts on hand and about 6 ounces of MMO (Magical Mystery Oil) which many people swear by. Although, when I got out on the road riding hard it seemed like things were a little noisy. I stopped and got a quart of oil and added about a half quart which may have been a little too much. The bike seemed to quiet down a bit.
I changed the final drive oil with 80W90. Although, the book calls for 80W, I couldn't find any 80W.
Both front and rear brake fluid were changed.
Thursday, September 5, 2013
September 5, 2013 First Rear Brake flush and fill. First spark plug change
A day of misadventures. I wanted to perform some standard service on the Sabre, change the oil, change the final drive oil, flush and fill the brakes, flush and fill the radiator; no biggie right?
As it turned out it became a biggie. I was in Florida a day longer than I thought I was going to be, very enjoyable, but, I got back mid day on Wednesday. I spent the rest of the day trying to get the GL1000 back together, well the back wheel and brake. Which I did, but without the brake pads. And then when I was ready to move the wing out and the Sabre in, I found that the front wheel of the wing was locked. No shuffle last night.
I'd forgotten that I had an eye appointment at 10:30 am. We haven't gotten new medical cards yet; I called the Dr's office to see if the statement of coverage would get me my exam, they said yes. Of course, when I got there they said no. I'd held off on working on the Sabre. I'd held off going grocery store. No half the day was shot.
By the time I got home it was over 80, too hot for me to work outside. I was able to get the rear brake flushed and filled. The fluid didn't look as bad as the Wing's, but it didn't look good. This makes me wonder about the rear drive. I'm not worried about the oil, I changed that and the filter a year ago, I don't think I've put 1,000 miles on the bike in a year.
I also changed the plugs. I bought Champion 810's, they're a buck or two cheaper than NGK's. The only thing that's a little funky is that the champion's need a 17mm socket instead of the 18mm for the NGK's, which is what's on all the other bikes.
The old plugs were NGK's but they weren't the plug that's recommended for the bike. All the books say NGK DPR7EA-9, the bike had NGK DPR6EA-9 in it. These plugs are speced for a cold climate, that's 5 degrees and below. We haven't had that kind of cold in many years. It could be that when the PO went to find plugs he couldn't find the 7's and bought the 6's. I certainly don't think it woulld have been bad for the bike. The poor brake fluid and wrong plugs make me wonder about how well the bike was taken care of.
For tomorrow, the front brakes, rear drive oil, crankcase oil and filter. The press was on to be done by tomorrow. I'm riding with the boys on a long ride down Skyline Drive. However, some of the guys couldn't make it until Saturday, I get an extra day to get my work done.
As it turned out it became a biggie. I was in Florida a day longer than I thought I was going to be, very enjoyable, but, I got back mid day on Wednesday. I spent the rest of the day trying to get the GL1000 back together, well the back wheel and brake. Which I did, but without the brake pads. And then when I was ready to move the wing out and the Sabre in, I found that the front wheel of the wing was locked. No shuffle last night.
I'd forgotten that I had an eye appointment at 10:30 am. We haven't gotten new medical cards yet; I called the Dr's office to see if the statement of coverage would get me my exam, they said yes. Of course, when I got there they said no. I'd held off on working on the Sabre. I'd held off going grocery store. No half the day was shot.
By the time I got home it was over 80, too hot for me to work outside. I was able to get the rear brake flushed and filled. The fluid didn't look as bad as the Wing's, but it didn't look good. This makes me wonder about the rear drive. I'm not worried about the oil, I changed that and the filter a year ago, I don't think I've put 1,000 miles on the bike in a year.
I also changed the plugs. I bought Champion 810's, they're a buck or two cheaper than NGK's. The only thing that's a little funky is that the champion's need a 17mm socket instead of the 18mm for the NGK's, which is what's on all the other bikes.
The old plugs were NGK's but they weren't the plug that's recommended for the bike. All the books say NGK DPR7EA-9, the bike had NGK DPR6EA-9 in it. These plugs are speced for a cold climate, that's 5 degrees and below. We haven't had that kind of cold in many years. It could be that when the PO went to find plugs he couldn't find the 7's and bought the 6's. I certainly don't think it woulld have been bad for the bike. The poor brake fluid and wrong plugs make me wonder about how well the bike was taken care of.
For tomorrow, the front brakes, rear drive oil, crankcase oil and filter. The press was on to be done by tomorrow. I'm riding with the boys on a long ride down Skyline Drive. However, some of the guys couldn't make it until Saturday, I get an extra day to get my work done.
Monday, August 12, 2013
The Next/First Big Trip
When I was in school I bought a 1980 BMW R100RT. At Thanksgiving my family asked what I was going to do over the Christmas break? I replied, "I'm riding my bike to Key West". It turned out to be the coldest winter on record. It snow flurried in Miami! When I was riding past Richmond, I swore I was going to pull into a cheap motel and lie about the trip. I made it to Key West, the warmest it got was 45*. I froze the whole way down and the whole way back.
I'm planning another trip to Florida by bike. Over the past couple of years I've taken the bike back and forth using the Autotrain. Every year I take a trip in September because my wife virtually lives at the office for the Federal Government end of year. This year she has a new job, it may be different. I still intend to take a trip. Since I need to get the bike down to the Florida house I thought I'd ride it down. I've decided to take and leave the Sabre down south. I would then be free to work on both the K100 and the GL500 throughout the winter.
When I've taken the bike on the Autotrain I've packed for a point to point trip; meaning the stuff on the bike is what I needed when I got down to Florida. On this trip I intend to camp over the course of a week trip. I intend to only ride about 200 to 250 miles a day. I'll set up camp early, then take a look around the area.
The Route
I don't really even like driving on 95 and other big highways, I hate riding the bike on them. I've decided to head west out to Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't think I can handle riding the whole way at 40mph; I'll probably hop off from time to time to make some time.
The first leg shown in the map above is from Annapolis to the entrance of Skyline Drive in Front Royal Virginia. As much as I dislike 495 I intend to leave early on either Saturday or Sunday, traffic should be very light. Google shows it as 109 miles about two hours. It's another 22 miles to the Mathews Arm campground. For a total of about 130 miles. The park maximum speed limit is 40mph. The 22 mile run should take a little less than 1/2 hour.
I'm planning another trip to Florida by bike. Over the past couple of years I've taken the bike back and forth using the Autotrain. Every year I take a trip in September because my wife virtually lives at the office for the Federal Government end of year. This year she has a new job, it may be different. I still intend to take a trip. Since I need to get the bike down to the Florida house I thought I'd ride it down. I've decided to take and leave the Sabre down south. I would then be free to work on both the K100 and the GL500 throughout the winter.
When I've taken the bike on the Autotrain I've packed for a point to point trip; meaning the stuff on the bike is what I needed when I got down to Florida. On this trip I intend to camp over the course of a week trip. I intend to only ride about 200 to 250 miles a day. I'll set up camp early, then take a look around the area.
The Route
I don't really even like driving on 95 and other big highways, I hate riding the bike on them. I've decided to head west out to Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway. I don't think I can handle riding the whole way at 40mph; I'll probably hop off from time to time to make some time.
Monday, September 10, 2012
The Skyline Drive Ride
I think only NASA puts in as much time and effort into weather study for their events, as we did for the ride to Skyline Drive. The issue was that of course we didn't want to ride in the rain but we did want to ride. September and October are pivot weather months, the heat of summer is leaving and winter is coming in. You never know if it's going to be hot or cold. This can create very intense storms. No matter how you look at historical weather trends, you really can't see what's going to happen until two or three days before an event, at least on the East coast. It takes about three days for weather on the West coast to travel east and hit us. During that time weather can build or dissipate. In our case two systems joined up in the mid-west to create a larger more intense front that was due to hit the DC-Baltimore area. The question was, "when would it hit"? As it turns out it hit Saturday evening making the ride to Skyland on Skyline Drive a great ride.
Although, the original invite list included seven people, three people couldn't make it. We had Billy "Reb Boy" R., Chris V., Kurt Z., and me Rick. We were coming from different parts of the metro area, Kurt in Glyndon MD, Me in Annapolis MD, Chris in Ellicott City MD, and Billy in Frederick MD. I think Kurt and I had the farthest to travel Billy the least. My trip would have been much shorter if I'd followed the google/gps route through DC. However, we all dislike 495 and riding though DC so I decided to extend my ride and meet Kurt just off route 70 at the Sykesville exit. We would then meet up with Chris and Billy later on.
I'm currently riding a 2000 Honda Shadow Sabre VT1100 C2. Kurt rides a 2012 Honda Goldwing 1800 the Cadillac of bikes. Chris has a gorgeous 1997 BMW R1200 RT (a bike I would love to own) Billy owns a classic mid 80's Harley Davidson. His is a wild bike. It got it's Rebel paint job from the guy who paints Jay Leno's bike(s). The historic license plate sports "REBBOY". The bike has what I think is called "open pipes", it's LOUD; you don't want to ride to closely behind Billy or you go deaf. As it turns out Kurt and I didn't end up meeting Chris and Billy until we were all inside the park.
We had originally planned to meet at White's Ferry on the Maryland side and continuing on to the Northern entrance of Skyline drive at Front Royal Virgina. With the bad weather moving in we jointly decided that getting to our rooms at Skyland as early as possible was prudent. For the most part we all took Rt 70 out to Frederick, South on 340 to Front Royal and then on to the Drive to mile marker 41.7. We got to Skyland at about 1:30pm which was a good thing as the rain started about an hour after we arrived. Our rooms weren't ready when we checked in so we decided to go down to the pig roast and get something to drink and eat.
They were having a wine and beer tasting along with the pig roast. Chris and Billy chose beer. Kurt and I aren't much on beer and local wine aint the greatest as I've found out from other tastings. We'd each brought a bottle of our favorite libation. Chris brought a bottle of Jose Cuervo Oak Cured Tequila, Kurt brought a bottle McClelland’s Single Malt Scotch, I brought my old favorite, plain old Mount Gay Rum. Billy eschews ruining the fine lines of a classic motorcycle and opted for carrying nothing on the bike and drinking what is available locally. Kurt and I each got a cup of ice and headed back to the bikes to dip into the private reserves.
The food at the pig roast was good. There was of course the roast pig, meat and veggie chili, corn on the cob, corn bread, and various slaws. The entertainment was provided by a local Blue Grass band. The dining experience became difficult as the storm rolled in and flipped paper plates and toppled cups. It was time to get into the rooms.
Chris volunteered to scale the mountain and get the keys from the main office to our rooms. I was very impressed by his efforts. Considering that he scooted right past the Japanese Assault team that established a base camp at the pig roast to mount ascent to the top of the mountain. They were part of peak bagging party. After, White Mountain in Vermont, Mt. Rainier in Washington, and Denali in Alaska, this was their last and most difficult climb. I think they were somewhat delayed by the local wine and beer and trying to sing Karaoke show tunes to the traditional beat of Blue Grass music. And, perhaps my memories of these events was somewhat clouded by Mount Gay Rum. But I know Chris did get the keys.
Our rooms had balconies that faced West and we could watch as the storm bands passed over the western peaks and the valley below. We of course had more libation as we settled in. We'd noticed that the band had stopped. (The assault team seemed to be passed out under the picnic tables) We were told that the band would continue playing up at the bar at the top of the mountain. Many of us wondered aloud why there was no cable car installed like they have in the Alps. I opted for hopping into the back of a pickup truck going up while the other guys did an unassisted, rope-less climb.
More to come
Although, the original invite list included seven people, three people couldn't make it. We had Billy "Reb Boy" R., Chris V., Kurt Z., and me Rick. We were coming from different parts of the metro area, Kurt in Glyndon MD, Me in Annapolis MD, Chris in Ellicott City MD, and Billy in Frederick MD. I think Kurt and I had the farthest to travel Billy the least. My trip would have been much shorter if I'd followed the google/gps route through DC. However, we all dislike 495 and riding though DC so I decided to extend my ride and meet Kurt just off route 70 at the Sykesville exit. We would then meet up with Chris and Billy later on.
I'm currently riding a 2000 Honda Shadow Sabre VT1100 C2. Kurt rides a 2012 Honda Goldwing 1800 the Cadillac of bikes. Chris has a gorgeous 1997 BMW R1200 RT (a bike I would love to own) Billy owns a classic mid 80's Harley Davidson. His is a wild bike. It got it's Rebel paint job from the guy who paints Jay Leno's bike(s). The historic license plate sports "REBBOY". The bike has what I think is called "open pipes", it's LOUD; you don't want to ride to closely behind Billy or you go deaf. As it turns out Kurt and I didn't end up meeting Chris and Billy until we were all inside the park.
We had originally planned to meet at White's Ferry on the Maryland side and continuing on to the Northern entrance of Skyline drive at Front Royal Virgina. With the bad weather moving in we jointly decided that getting to our rooms at Skyland as early as possible was prudent. For the most part we all took Rt 70 out to Frederick, South on 340 to Front Royal and then on to the Drive to mile marker 41.7. We got to Skyland at about 1:30pm which was a good thing as the rain started about an hour after we arrived. Our rooms weren't ready when we checked in so we decided to go down to the pig roast and get something to drink and eat.
They were having a wine and beer tasting along with the pig roast. Chris and Billy chose beer. Kurt and I aren't much on beer and local wine aint the greatest as I've found out from other tastings. We'd each brought a bottle of our favorite libation. Chris brought a bottle of Jose Cuervo Oak Cured Tequila, Kurt brought a bottle McClelland’s Single Malt Scotch, I brought my old favorite, plain old Mount Gay Rum. Billy eschews ruining the fine lines of a classic motorcycle and opted for carrying nothing on the bike and drinking what is available locally. Kurt and I each got a cup of ice and headed back to the bikes to dip into the private reserves.
The food at the pig roast was good. There was of course the roast pig, meat and veggie chili, corn on the cob, corn bread, and various slaws. The entertainment was provided by a local Blue Grass band. The dining experience became difficult as the storm rolled in and flipped paper plates and toppled cups. It was time to get into the rooms.
Chris volunteered to scale the mountain and get the keys from the main office to our rooms. I was very impressed by his efforts. Considering that he scooted right past the Japanese Assault team that established a base camp at the pig roast to mount ascent to the top of the mountain. They were part of peak bagging party. After, White Mountain in Vermont, Mt. Rainier in Washington, and Denali in Alaska, this was their last and most difficult climb. I think they were somewhat delayed by the local wine and beer and trying to sing Karaoke show tunes to the traditional beat of Blue Grass music. And, perhaps my memories of these events was somewhat clouded by Mount Gay Rum. But I know Chris did get the keys.
Our rooms had balconies that faced West and we could watch as the storm bands passed over the western peaks and the valley below. We of course had more libation as we settled in. We'd noticed that the band had stopped. (The assault team seemed to be passed out under the picnic tables) We were told that the band would continue playing up at the bar at the top of the mountain. Many of us wondered aloud why there was no cable car installed like they have in the Alps. I opted for hopping into the back of a pickup truck going up while the other guys did an unassisted, rope-less climb.
More to come
New front tire for the Sabre at 45,000 miles
While I was cleaning the bike about two weeks ago, I noticed that the front tire seemed to have some dry rot spots on the side walls. When the bike was inspected in February (2012) they said that the tread wear was close to replacement at 2/32, the replacement depth being 1/32, it wasn't a ding on the inspection check list. I decided that with the ride to skyline drive coming up I should probably replace the tire. The rear tire was replaced along with the rear brakes and rotor during the inspection at 42,000 miles.
Like many leasure riders I don't ride the bike that much. Kari and I ride it to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, which is a total of 8 miles. I like riding the bike I just don't like the hot weather. This summer was hot. If we had a cool morning or evening I would hop on the bike and do a little ride down bayridge which leads out to the bay. Again, a ride of only 6 miles.
The longest rides I've done were from the Sanford/Orlando autotrain station to our house in Juno Beach, about 180 miles. I took the bike down in February and brought it back in May. While in Florida I did some short rides into the interior of Florida to Lake Okeechobee, and then some short rides up and down the beach road. I don't really use the bike for a daily ride down there either. As most people know, Florida is jam packed with "the ancient and infirmed". Driving/riding in the heavy trafficked areas like Ft. Lauderdale and Miami is as bad if not worse than driving the DC beltway in rush hour. Fortunately, from West Palm Beach North things aren't quite that bad. And, from our area Juno Beach/Jupiter North things really slow down. Mostly because our area isn't as commercialized as further south. We don't have big hotels on the beach, actually we don't have any hotels on the beach. In Juno/Jupiter we only have 3 hotels, Best Western, Hampton Inn, and Holiday Inn Express. They each have about 50 rooms. So ours isn't a big "destination" vacation spot.
Like many leasure riders I don't ride the bike that much. Kari and I ride it to the farmers market on Saturday mornings, which is a total of 8 miles. I like riding the bike I just don't like the hot weather. This summer was hot. If we had a cool morning or evening I would hop on the bike and do a little ride down bayridge which leads out to the bay. Again, a ride of only 6 miles.
The longest rides I've done were from the Sanford/Orlando autotrain station to our house in Juno Beach, about 180 miles. I took the bike down in February and brought it back in May. While in Florida I did some short rides into the interior of Florida to Lake Okeechobee, and then some short rides up and down the beach road. I don't really use the bike for a daily ride down there either. As most people know, Florida is jam packed with "the ancient and infirmed". Driving/riding in the heavy trafficked areas like Ft. Lauderdale and Miami is as bad if not worse than driving the DC beltway in rush hour. Fortunately, from West Palm Beach North things aren't quite that bad. And, from our area Juno Beach/Jupiter North things really slow down. Mostly because our area isn't as commercialized as further south. We don't have big hotels on the beach, actually we don't have any hotels on the beach. In Juno/Jupiter we only have 3 hotels, Best Western, Hampton Inn, and Holiday Inn Express. They each have about 50 rooms. So ours isn't a big "destination" vacation spot.
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