| Author | Message | ||
     Hughlysses |
Well, I'm sitting here bored tonight, so I thought I'd post a report on my trip to March Badness IV at the Two Wheels Only (TWO) motorcycle resort in Suches, GA earlier this year. I had previously attended MB II 2 years ago. This would be my first long ride on the Ulysses I'd purchased last December, so I was really looking forward to it. Suches is about 320 miles away from my home in South Carolina. I thought I was gonna lose my mind if I didn't make this trip. I had planned to go to MBIII last year, but a last minute deal killed that. This year, work had been a bear, my wife had to leave home a day earlier for a funeral, everything was just going to hell. I ended up working late the night before I was leaving and it took me steadily working until 11 PM to get my gear together and ready to go on the bike. Man, Friday morning I was SO glad to get the bike loaded and out on the road. There is no feeling quite as good as hitting the road on a motorcycle and leaving your troubles behind, if only for a few days. I always find it REALLY hard to stop and take photos on a long trip, so the photos of the trip up are a little sparse. Here's my first stop for gas in upstate SC near Laurens, about 150 miles from home.  The bike was performing flawlessly, I was very comfortable after ~2.5 hours, and it wasn't raining. OTOH, the temp was about 10 degrees colder than predicted and I was a little underdressed. I gassed up, went inside and got a cup of coffee, and sat down long enough to warm up. Before I left, I put on an extra long-sleeve T-shirt under my jacket and that made just enough difference. ~100 miles further, I stopped at the Georgia welcome center just across the Georgia state line.  I followed I-20 a few miles further to highway 78 and exited north. I passed a gas station right off the interstate and noticed a Suburban towing a trailer with a couple of Buells on it (the FIRST I'd sighted in ~270 miles). The lady gassing up the Suburban threw me a wave so I tooted the horn and waved back; I later found out this was Ulywife. For some reason, there isn't anything close to a straight route from this side of Georgia to Suches. I've tried about 3 alternate routes and it seems there are 8 or 10 turns no matter which way you go, and navigating a map taped to your airbox cover isn't the easiest thing in the world. Well, I missed a turn and wound up about 20 miles off course, but as a result I found this cool place:  I did a little on-line research on the Tallula Gorge, and found out it used to have a spectacular waterfall which was slowed to a trickle by a hydroelectric project in the early 1900's. I'd like to come back and check this place out further sometime.  A quick check of the map and I got back on track to Suches. Friday afternoon, I pulled up to TWO about 4 PM and checked out the Buell demo bikes lined up across the street:  After looking around TWO for a few minutes, I figured I'd better find my lodging, which was courtesy of C3 for the weekend. OK, another missed turn, a long side trip down a road which turned to gravel (including dropping the bike while trying to do a 180 turn), temp now up to ~80 degrees F, and I'm sweating. Stopped at a gas station and got directions (had to backtrack a couple of miles), made the right turn and found C3 Central:  Man, this was a nice place, and the C3 folks were great. I've known Rubberdown for several years, and I'd met his friends U4euh (Jim) and Pete at MBII. I really enjoyed meeting the other C3'ers while I was there. Saturday morning, we headed back to TWO. Here are my Uly, Pete's Yamaha cruiser, Rubberdown's BMW HP2, and U4euh's XB9S:  Later in the day, we headed over to highway 129 and took a side road to a cool waterfall.   Here, U4euh performs a feat of amazing balance:  Arriving back at TWO, the parking lot is getting full:  That was it for my photos on Saturday. That afternoon, I went on a Wolfpen Gap Road/129/60 loop with M2nc and Ft_Bstrd. We saw quite a few Buells out riding around and passed at least one GA law enforcement official while we were doing a brisk pace. We were all expecting him to turn around and follow, but we lucked out on that one. Sunday, the Buells were lined up for test rides but the weather looked REALLY iffy...  Unfortunately, Buell doesn't allow test rides in the rain so Sunday was a wash out. Judging from the folks I saw, there were a lot of disappointed would-be Buell test riders in the area. I never did get the full story on this...  The weather got steadily worse, the wind picked up, and the rain started. I figured things weren't going to get any better, so I headed out. ~15 minutes later, about half-way up Wolfpen Gap Road (the twistiest road in Georgia), I stopped for a photo:  The rain didn't get too bad, but it drizzled on and off for the rest of the day. My gear all proved 100% waterproof, except for my gloves which gave up after about 4 hours. Luckily the temps were in the low 70's so I didn't have a problem with cold hands. Gas stop in Clayton, GA:  From Clayton, I took Warwoman Road over to highway 28. I took a left turn heading north into NC, and went as far as this overlook for a waterfall south of Highlands, NC:  The fog was really heavy and the rain was pretty steady. It makes for a pretty ride, but not it's not exactly relaxing. NC's section of highway 28 was repaved just last summer, so it's great. SC's section of 28 was repaved 3 or 4 years ago, so it's very good too. GA's section in the middle (only 10 miles or so) OTOH hasn't been repaved in a LONG time and is criss-crossed with tar snakes that are slick as eel snot in the rain. I could feel the tires slipping and then regaining traction on every hard turn. The Pirellis gripped REALLY well, but it was pretty stressful riding. Here's 28 at the NC/GA line after I turned back south. Note the tar snakes on the GA side:  Here's the entrance to Warwoman Road:  A few miles after I entered SC, I took a side trip to Stumphouse Tunnel. This is a partially completed railroad tunnel that was started as part of the Blue Ride Railroad prior to the Civil War. There were 3 tunnels in SC, several in GA, and a bunch in NC. The railroad went bankrupt and the project was never re-started after the war. During WWI, nearby Clemson University (my alma mater) produced blue cheese in the cool confines of the tunnel. It's a pretty neat place:  Here's a look out of the tunnel:  I took back roads eastward across northern SC and finally made it to the south side of Greenville about 4 PM where I crashed at a Holiday Inn for the night. Monday, I stuck to backroads for most of the day as I headed south. I stopped for one last photo at this cool old store near Swansea, SC:  I made it home about 4 PM Monday. Altogether, I'd put about 800 miles on my nearly new Ulysses and had enjoyed every minute of it. The Uly flat railed in the twisties and was far easier to ride the distance than my old S3; I couldn't have picked a better bike. How many more days until MB V? | ||
| Rotzaruck |
Hugh, thanks for the story!! I did my durndest to get there, but things just kept going afoul. I've enjoyed all the different tales about the event, and hope to make it one of these days. I think there aren't any direct routes to Suches from anywhere. It's not so far as the crow flies from my house, and I can go up and back down, or down and back up, almost the same distance either way. You have to go to several somewhere elses, to get there. Thanks again Ed | ||
| U4euh |
Great write Hugh! I still havn't had time to do anything with my pics either. Great seeing you again, as the 1st time, it was a Blaaaast |
