| Author | Message | ||
     Crusty |
I ride year round, but in the winter months, my trips tend to be local and short. Even with good gear, road conditions and temperatures make riding a bit more challenging. I have a Spring Warm Up ride that I try to do every year. It consists of a 150 mile run on the Interstate to a Really Good lunch spot followed by a couple of hundred miles of some of the sweetest roads you can take a bike over. The thinking behind the ride is that the first portion allows the engine to thoroughly warm up. Running at a steady 75 - 80 MPH for a couple of hours gets everything in the engine and transmission to fully expand, grow, stretch and become happy. Potential crystallization patterns in some of the metal components get randomized, etc. Basically, it's calisthenics for the bike. The ride after lunch is to warm up my riding skills after a long winter of being careful; not cornering aggressively due to traction being so limited. Anyway, yesterday Terri and I took our Spring Ride We took the Interstate west to New York State Route 22 North to one of the best Lunch stops anywhere The Hitchin Post Cafe in New Lebanon, NY. They make a Great Cheeseburger which I got, and Terri had a Cajun Chicken wrap that she really enjoyed.  After Lunch, I just had to take a picture of the bikes. Even dirty, they're gorgeous.  Then, we did a little variation on the ride; we went northwest to Troy, NY to Brunswick H-D/Buell. I wanted to get a Pocket T. We found the shop, which was really busy. Spring weather brings out all the riders. They had a good assortment of Buells, and some apparel. However, the only Pocket T shirts in my size were O D Green or Orange, and I didn't like either color. We left there and picked up Route 2 East which took us over the Taconic Trail.  It's a beautiful ride over good pavement that is lightly traveled. We stopped at the top of the pass, and took a couple of pictures.   Then we were over the border into Massachusetts. we rode through Williamstown and North Adams and picked up the Mohawk Trail which was so much fun to ride, that we didn't stop to take any pictures. We were , however, both wearing those silly Buell Grins. After the Mohawk trail, we made one final stop at a Turn out in Turners Falls.  I love looking at the Bridge and Dam on the Millers River; though there wasn't as much water coming over the dam as I expected.  After that, it was an easy 50 miles home. The new tires felt good, the bikes felt good, and we felt good. It was another successful Spring Ride. Now, we're looking forward to a great Summer! | ||
| Ulynut |
Sounds like a nice, well deserved, long awaited ride. Congratulations to both of you from a guy who worked the whole day while seeing dozens of motorcycles speed off into the distance. I know what you mean about honing the skills after riding on cold, sandy roads all winter. It feels good to "stretch your legs" in the spring. Hope to see you guys on the road soon. | ||
| 4_pete_sake |
Crusty nice ride and photos.... is Terri on here??? love the bags on the SS I am guessing... ??? final seeing the XT is nice... you still have the X on your profile.... I am guessing due to the really cool snowy picture aspect.... cheers-pete |
