| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
So I'm sending out daily journals to the family, because... you know... for some reason the thought of me riding on strange mountain roads with a whole lot of people that like to go fast, 500 miles away from home, doesn't sit to well with them. I figure I'll copy my journals here for you all to read. March Badness 5: Day 1 What a day! And NO! That’s not necessarily a good thing. My day started at Waffle House in Columbus at 6:00 AM sharp. I met up with 4 others from Columbus, and one guy from Cleveland (he left at 3:30 AM! That’s nuts!). It was dark and around 43 degrees, not too bad, but add to that a lovely mix of mist and rain, and that makes for a very uncomfortable morning ride. The weather map showed the rain to Lexington, not to bad, a couple hours and we’ll be clear of it. To bad they were a bit off. Lexington is where it changed from misty rain, to full on thunderstorm. The first two hundred miles of (freeway) riding today were entirely in the rain. It seems there isn’t enough rain gear in the world to protect against two hundred miles at 70 MPH in the pouring rain. Every one of us ended up soaking wet, despite full rain suits. This led to FREEZING COLD! But whatchya gonna do. It’s never a good thing when you’re looking forward to bed, when it’s only 9 in the morning. After two hundred miles, the sun came out, and we shed our rain gear, to eventually dry off (mostly), and thaw out. Our first scheduled stop was at the Buell dealership in Maryville TN. Many people were planning on riding down to the event today, and the dealership is right on the way, so they set up a lunch for us. We arrived to find probably 30-50 Buells! WAY more than expected. This helped build the morale that had been completely depleted by the rain. Next stop (now with a group of… we’ll say 40) was the Dragon. It lay directly between the dealership and the event campground. This was NOT to be a high speed dragon run, seeing as how all our bikes were completely loaded down with camping gear, but it was still a BLAST! KillBoy and some other photographers were out, so there should be some good pictures of the run. From the Dragon, we proceeded on to the campground. About 2 hours of riding some VERY twisty mountain roads. This is when we were all entered “SHOCK” mode. Last year we arrived at the exact same time, and we were the first ones here for the weekend! About 4 people were camping Thursday (with everyone else showing up Friday). This year, the campground is already nearly COMPLETELY FULL! With the majority of people STILL not showing up till Friday, this year’s event is going to be HUGE! Now is when things get fun… Like undoing your rain covers on your gear, to find that it didn’t help so much. Nearly EVERYTHING is wet. The sleeping bag and laptop were about the only things completely dry (luckily they happen to also be the two most important things). Bummer, but, whatchya gonna do. I set up the tent, mattress, and sleeping bag, and spread all my clothes out in the tent so they could dry off a bit, then we went into town to get some dinner. Seeing as how it was the first meal any of us had had all day, it seemed like the greatest meal in history. We headed back to the campground were I finally got to change out of the riding gear, and here I sit, on the front porch of the big red lodge, playing on the internet in the middle of NOWHERE in the beautiful mountains of northern Georgia. The day itself was a success for sure. No scares and no bike issues AT ALL! That is a GREAT thing! But it’s just a bummer how wet everything is. I’m betting there is a washer a dryer around here somewhere though, so tomorrow I hope to throw all my clothes in there to freshen them up. The weather from here on out is supposed to be great. Can’t wait for tomorrow! But for now, I’m ready to curl up in my 0 degree mummy sleeping bag, and sleep like a LOG. Sorry for the two page long summary, but check out the slide show of Day 1 pictures! I hope this link works: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 04251367856/show/ | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Thanks! Keep them coming for those of us who can't be there. | ||
| Spdkls |
looks like a ton of fun. i'll be in north carolina on vacation in a couple of months. i just might need to do that run. | ||
| Us_uly |
Nice Post! Keep it up. | ||
| Buellfighter |
Thanks Mike! | ||
| Kurbennett |
Fantastic! | ||
| Peeping_jon |
Thanks Mike, Riding with you guys in spirit. Staying dry that way. Really wish I was there. Keep posting, some of us will be waiting to see the fun. RIDE SAFE Jon | ||
| Xb9 |
Wish I was there! Say Hi to Wolfridgrider for me. You guys have fun and play safe! | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Hello Again! Xb9, Wolfridgerider say hey, and that know you're thinking of him made gave him a warm a fuzzy feeling inside. Ok, journal 2... March Badness 5: Day 2 Slept great last night. It couldn’t have gotten much below 50 degrees, perfect! Woke up to overcast. The group was split today, with half staying around here in Georgia, and the other half heading back up to the Smokey Mountains, and the Dragon. I was persuaded into going back north. We took the scenic route…. Which turned out to be the foggy and rainy route. I left the rain gear in the tent this time too, but I did wear the heated vest, so at least I did stay toasty warm, albeit wet. By the time we reached the Dragon, the weather had become beautiful, and many hours were spent riding up and down following different people. I had a chance to follow quite a few different people, including one guy on a brand new Buell 1125r Superbike. I CANNOT wait for the pictures from that trip to be posted online. There should be some EXCELLENT ones. The ride back from the Dragon found more misty rainy crap. But I was warm. Yesterday totaled about 550 miles. Today was somewhere around 300. The Buell Semi-Truck was here to greet us when we got back, with a line of brand new Buell’s waiting to be ridden. Weather says 30% chance of rain for tonight and tomorrow. By this time last year, I had gone through a crank seal, 2 quarts of oil, and a rear tire. So far this year, the bike is working marvelously. It is handling great, and running very strong. These tires are great on wet and dry, and they seem to be wearing very well. I may actually make it home on the same tires I left on. We had a couple guys in our group go down today, but everyone was able to get up, pick up the bikes, and keep on riding. If you’ve got to go down… that’s about the best outcome you could ask for. I believe both incidents were due to some gravel in the roadway mid-corner. >>>More details than the family got<<< The dragon was awesome. I put my newly acquired skills from Mid-Ohio into good use, and my first run I successfully got the knees down... A lot. I followed a black 12r the first time, it was a FAST run. Then I met up with jimduncan and followed his sparks for a run. But then we caught up with NoRice. It looked almost synchronized. All three of us, tightly packed, throwing the bikes into the corners. There should be some amazing killboy shots. Jim's beautiful custom painted XB12, No Rice's amazing orange 1125r, and then my old dirty tuber... how that happened I don't know, but I want it to happen again! I'm still not very fast in the right handers. It's engrained into my skull from Ohio that "RIGHT HANDERS HAVE GRAVEL!" Also the fact that most all of them are completely blind doesn't help. Daily Pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/721576 04288781806/show/ | ||
| Captain_mark |
Thanks for keeping us jonesers informed. Wish I were there. Maybe next year. Tomorrow riding from orlando to venice florida. Should be fun but flat. be good, and keep up the posts, very cool. | ||
| Lost_in_ohio |
Thanks for the pictures mike, maybe some day. | ||
| Corporatemonkey |
Thanks for sharing. Look forward to more. | ||
| Bad_karma |
Thanks for the pictures, you guys running Wolf Pen Gap or Blood Mountain? Also add a run on Hell Bender if you go back to the Dragon. Wish I was there. Joe (Message edited by bad_karma on March 29, 2008) | ||
| Themagster |
Surfing curves in Georgia, TN - some of the best there is. Agree with Bad-karma, Wolf Pen Gap is a must. Also, running south from the Wolf is 348-Richard B Russell Scenic Highway towards Helen, GA, one of my favorite rides in North Georgia. Thanks for posting the journals and pics - it's great to see the fun others are having while you dream of your own upcoming (Florida to Texas Hill Country) adventures. Happy Trails | ||
| Mxer83 |
Thanks for the pics Mike, Wish I could be there!! had a blast down there last year | ||
| Court |
That 1125R in copper is cool and i really like the Uly with the bag inserts painted to match. Have fun and keep teh tales coming! Court | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Yes, keep it coming for those of us at work and trapped on the left(out) coast | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Hey Cityslicker - how come we don't start some kind of meet and greet ride thing out here? We got rain too ya know! We also have stuff like Lolo Pass, Mount Hood, The Gorge and lots of other great rides. | ||
| Panhead_dan |
That was a nice ride! (even if I had to do it from a pc.) Thanks for posting Mike. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Quick update today, because I’m leaving my internet connection. Today is an absolute bummer. Woke up to fog, took a shower, and came out to find sun! I left the tent open, with the towel on top to dry, and came over to the registration tent to sign up for some demo rides. Well, in the time it took to sign up, some black clouds came over the mountain, and the torrential downpour commenced. After an hour or so, I barrowed a rain coat and took off towards the tent to attempt to seal it up. The front 12” were pretty well soaked, but I grabbed my rain gear, and closed it up, and headed back to the lodge. It’s been 4 hours now, and the rain has yet to stop. I just headed back to the tent to see how it is fairing, and found it’s dripping inside about as much as it is outside. So everything is officially wet. That was the last straw. I gave in, and was preparing to make the call to the family in South Carolina to see if I could head over to there place a day early. Problem was, in order to use a phone, I had to ride 10 miles. Not so excited about that. But about that time I was invited to stay with a group in a cabin about 10 minutes from here. WITH a garage, with plenty of room to set up the tent and everything to dry it out, AND a clothes dryer! The only thing they don’t have is an internet connection, which explains this early journal. Also, as soon as I’m done writing, I’ve got to go pack up and get over there. The sooner I’m there, the sooner I get DRY CLOTHES ON! You have no idea how excited I am for that. I have two options for tomorrow, they will depend almost entirely on the weather. If we actually get a nice morning, then I’ll stick around and ride some. But if it’s rainy, I’ll probably back up my gear and head over to SC. So that’s all for today, there should be another update from South Carolina tomorrow. Some pictures attached: http://flickr.com/photos/mikef5000/sets/7215760430 2359979/show/ | ||
| Panhead_dan |
Note to self: Motorcamping can be challenging without a very large blue tarp and about 40 bungie cords. Some of that waxy fire starter stuff might be good too. Sorry to hear about the wet Mike but thanks again for keeping us posted!! That dude is hardcore. I don't care what anybody sez. | ||
| Mikef5000 |
HAH! Before my final Journal entry from down south... I have to post this comparison picture:  | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Final Journal from down south… I’ll start this by saying that the cabin I slept in was amazing, and I truly appreciate the hospitality from the guys there. Today we woke up to thick fog, that apparently hadn’t dispersed from the afternoon before. Apparently that overcast that you probably were experiencing, was floating right around 3000 ft, the same as our cabin. I hung around with the guys and slowly gather my now dry gear back up, and eventually got the bike all loaded again. By noon, I decided to head straight to Greenville to meet up with family, instead of head back to ‘the gathering’ to see what was going on. It was still foggy at the cabin, but almost as soon as I started down the mountain the fog disappeared, and the roads were about half dry, enough to have a little bit of fun on the ride, despite the heavy gear. I wore the full rain gear again because of the fog and overcast, but never ended up finding any rain (first dry day!) Although today’s ride was by far the coldest, I believe it was in the mid 40’s, but I’ll take that over rain in a heartbeat. Made it to Greenville without a problem, the bike ran perfect for yet another day. I love it. As usual, my stay in Greenville was fantastic; way more than necessary. I greatly appreciate everything. Tomorrow will be the long ride home. I most likely will be taking Rt. 23 straight north, but if by chance the sun is out, and the forecast is good, I may make a side trip up a bit of the Blue Ridge. It also may depend on how well I wake up. It looks like there is a wave of storms headed through the whole area tonight, but hopefully they dissipate for tomorrow. For now though, I have a big comfy bed, with big comfy blankets calling my name; it’s amazing I’ve resisted this long. I only took a couple pictures today, so it’s not worth making a slideshow with them. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get some good pictures of the ride home, and I’ll add them to today’s. Good Night All! -MF4 |
