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D'Space (David's Space)June 05 20080605-Great US Road Trip continues05th June 2008 (Thursday) - From Fairmont WV back to Louisville KY
Finally made it back... we didn't have any ass left to keep riding, so while we checked out a bit of southeastern Ohio, Columbus was out.
05th June 2008 (Thursday) - From Palmerton PA to Fairmont WV
350 miles
The turnaround starts today, heading in the general southwest direction back towards Kentucky.
En-route, we visited Hershey, Pennsylvania and its local Hershey attraction "Chocolate World", featuring - of course - chocolates... .
While we were still capable and the weather still favourable, we pushed as far as we could and eventually settled down for the night in Fairmont, West Virginia.
June 04 20080604-Day with Robert Croft04th June 2008 (Wednesday) - Meeting Robert Croft
Had a great day talking to Robert Croft, the American diver who set freediving records depths of up to 240 feet on a single breath of air in 1968.
June 02 20080601-Great US Road Trip03rd June 2008 (Tuesday) - From Middletown, Maryland to Palmerton, Pennsylvania
220 miles. Visited Gettysburg. Had lunch in Amish coutry near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Rode through Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Details later...
02nd June 2008 (Monday) - From Marlinton, West Virginia to Middletown, Maryland
334 miles.
The route north today covered some old favourites from previous G-Rallies in West Virginia. Trip started east from Old Clark Inn on US 39, then north on WV 28 past Green Bank radio telescope, which also passed Bartow (Hermitage Motel), our 2004 rally site, as well as Seneca Rocks (4-U Motel), one of the fall mini-Rally sites.
We then detoured on Smoke Hole Road, which was close to yet another previous G-Rally site. This road was as tight as I remembered, and we were finally glad to emerge at US 220. We rejoined WV 55 at Petersburg, and given the time, we made haste.
A lot of "inter-slab" riding (highways) after that just to make up the time after dallying that long in the mountains... and the wrong directions received over the phone towards the end didn't help. Luckily, I had seen the map on Mapquest earlier, so that finally got us there. 260 miles.
The day started overcast. It was a long way to go so we had to use the Interstate highways to make time.
From Slade KY, started off the (Bert Combs) Mountain Parkway to Salyersville KY, then US Route 460 (US 460) on to US Route 23 (US 23) before finally getting Interstate highway route 64 (I-64) to Charleston, WV.
From Charleston WV, I-64 and I-77 merge on to a tolled highway going southeast (I-64/I-77). We got off at West Virginia Route 612 (WV 612) to get to "Mountaineer Expressway" US Route 19 (US 19) going north before getting off at Mount Nebo to head eastwards to avoid Summersville which is known for policed speed traps.
We took the Old Nicholas Road (WV 13), which turned into a single track road - *shock* - with just enough gravel shoulder for two vehicles to pass side by side. This road was interesting, running deep through the forest, and at some points, the canopy got so thick it became dark, which sometimes makes it difficult to pick out a clean path between the gravel.
Finally got on to West Virginia Route 20 (WV 20), but luck wasn't on our side... the storm we had seen approaching in the distance had finally caught up with us. Even with the raincoats on, we got a bit of a drenching.
Ride through the Monogahela National Forest on West Virginia Route 39 was great... This route rises to over 3300 feet, and offered plenty of long winding roads with smooth fast curves though beautiful forest, and winding curves as it climbed up and down with the elevation changes..
US 219 north to Marlinton was also good and we reached the Old Clark Inn in Marlinton WV. The riding day ended with 260 miles on the clock.
Old Clark Inn is nice, homey, biker friendly, free WiFi internet access.
May 30 200805-GSX1100GrallyLATEST UPDATE:
[2008-June-24] Compiled photographs of our GSX1100G Rally have been uploaded:
- http://www.esnips.com/web/200805xx-GSX1100Grally - photos before 30th May
- http://www.esnips.com/web/20080530-GSX1100Grally
- http://www.esnips.com/web/20080530-GSX1100Grally1 - http://www.esnips.com/web/20080531-GSX1100Grally - http://www.esnips.com/web/20080531-GSX1100Grally2 - http://www.esnips.com/web/20080531-GSX1100Grally-Glineup-otherGmen - http://www.esnips.com/web/20080531-GSX1100Grally-Glineup-SGP-DaveGoh - http://www.esnips.com/web/200806xx-GSX1100Grally - photos from 1st June onwards, including subsequent trip to bring Greg's bike from Slade back to Louisville It was a record Rally this year:
- 21 GSX1100G motorcycles turning up (new record) - other lesser bikes attending- 24 (new record) - Total attendence- 49 G-men and friends (new record) - Bikes trailered or trucked- ZERO (new reord) - Rally Virgins (first-timer atte- 15 (new record) - Female riders attending- 5 (new record) - States represented- 15 states: Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, Canada and Singapore - Countries represented- 3 (USA, Canada & Singapore a new record) - Longest (riding) distance to the rally- 2000 mi (new record) 4 days of gorgeous (and dry) weather, the Kentucky backroads were awesome and Lil Abner's Motel was fantastic. All in all, it was outstanding rally!
Thanks to all who shared their photos, and thanks to all our G-Men and friends for a great time!
31st MAY 2008 (SATURDAY) - GSX1100G RALLY, SLADE KY
The Great G Line-up
(and it sure was hard work pushing all these 500 pound buffaloes around)
30th MAY 2008 (FRIDAY) - GSX1100G RALLY, SLADE KY
More pictures, more G-men, more miles of great riding
Our little merry team clocked in around 160 miles of good roads today...
29th MAY 2008 (THURSDAY) - GSX1100G RALLY, SLADE KY
THE G-MEN ARE IN THE HOUSE!!!
Natural Bridge / Red River Gorge ... ain't it pretty? Beautiful nature all around riding in!
Meet, greet, kick a few tires...
May 24 200805 - Touchdown USA
27th May 2008 (Tuesday) - Make a preliminary run to Slade KY to place the supplies and logistics needed for the G-Rally. Our rally banner is now up! You can't miss us along KY 11.
24th May 2008 (Saturday) - Quiet day, bit of jet lag, a bit of riding. Got me a couple of White Castle Slyders for lunch... it's been a year since I've last had a few of these tiny burgers. Benedictine (cucumber spread) sandwiches were good too... got to try making Benedictine at home. 25th May 2008 (Sunday) - 100 mile shakedown ride from Louisville to around Bardstown and back... the good old maroon G is running as good as it ever was, and it's nice to hear the whine of the DOHC valves again. Confidence is high for a trouble-free ride this year. 23rd May 2008 (Friday) - Finally arrived in Louisville KY. The expected 23-hour trip from Singapore-HongKong-Chicago-Louisville became extended when due to some issue with the aircraft's "seat" (?) in Hong Kong, the take-off was delayed for nearly and hour and the connection got missed. The last leg fortunately had a later flight available nearly 4 hours later, but due to overbooking, a couple of passengers had to volunteer to get off the plane, compensated of course. Needless to say, happy to end the long flying day! HELLO U.S.A.!
April 17 My Great US Road Trip 2008... coming soon!Great US Road Trip 2008.
That time time of the year is coming again when I make my "pilgrimage" to the gods of the mountain roads! The tarmac beckons, the winds are calling, and soon, the G-men will ride again! This year, the annual GSX1100G Rally will be based at the L'il Abner Motel in Slade, Kentucky. see: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Pit/8858/gsx1100g/grally2008.htm
After that, it's a couple more thousand miles north and back when I will meet the Robert Croft, a US freediving legend ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Croft_%28diver%29 ), the first man to ever dive deeper then 200 feet on a single breath of air.
Really looking forward to this. More later...
April 10 20080301 Mako Sub-Aquatics 25th Anniversary Celebration DinnerMako Sub-Aquatics celebrates its 25 years of service in the diving business! A dinner event for all the Mako friends, divers, our NAUI dive leaders both past and present, was held on 1st March 2008 to have fun and mark this milestone in our history.
Links to view photos from the event:
http://www.esnips.com/web/20080301-MakoSubAquatics-25thAnniversary http://www.esnips.com/web/20080301-MakoSubAquatics-25thAnniversary2 http://www.esnips.com/web/20080301-MakoSubAquatics-25thAnniversary3 For diving courses, trips, activities, contact Mako (Patrick Leong) at http://www.MakoSubAquatics.com
For information about NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors), see http://www.NAUI.org
December 21 200712 Thailand - Mako Similan Dive Trip on DiveMaster1Dive trip on the M/V DiveMaster1. This time, the trip was launched from the pier at Tap-Lamu (just south of Khao Lak) to the sound of firecrackers to ward off bad luck. This town is also home to the Royal Thai Navy 3rd Fleet.
Sadly, I personally didn't see any mantas this year... but one single diver (and nobody else) did get a fleeting sight and photo of a big one.
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FREEDIVING/APNEA DIVING
Did some freediving/apnea diving at Koh Bon to a depth of 20 metres. Surface was a little bit rough and choppy, making it difficult to prepare. The dinghy turned out to be a lousy spot to hang on to for breathing up... the transom ladder on the DM1 proved a better spot even though it was still rough. Ears were a little sticky after a couple of days of diving already, so with the equalisation problems, 20 metres (66 ft) was about the best I could do this time. Still a good try, and some good lessons learnt for future attempts.
2007H2 US trip - June 21 - Mulholland Highway/Transverse Ranges around LA21 June 2007 Thursday - Exploring the mountain roads around Los Angeles
Decided to maximise the bad luck of being stuck in LA by exploring the mountain roads, and anything else in between. Rented a car instead o a motorcycle because renting a motorcycle was more costly, and a car was safer since I wasn't familar with the driving habits around here.
The primary route of interest was the Mulholland Highway, starting from Hollywood, till the Ventura County/Los Angeles County line. But first, I had to get to the end starting around Hollywood.
Navigating my way along the city roads from the Motel 6 along Century Boulevard in Inglewood to the eastern end of Sunset Boulevard took forever... the city is largely organised as a grid and at every intersection, there was a traffic light and it was stop-go-stop-go traffic like I had never experienced before!
Hollywood refers to a district in Los Angeles... of course for us dumb tourists, we tend to concentrate on the stretch along Hollywood Boulevard where there are pink 5-point stars embedded in the pavement, the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The strech of road isn't very long at all, and beyond that, everthing else looks around the same.
From here, between the choice of Highland Avenue and Laurel Canyon Road, I decided to take Laurel Canyon Road to get to the Mulholland Highway... and was soon gratified by the numerous twists and turns as that road climbed up the hill...
Getting on to Mulholland Highway, at least the initial stretch before it became a fireroad impassable to motor vehicles was good fun. But then to skirt around to the next segment of the Highway via Ventura Boulevard was quite boring. Once back on Topanga Canyon Road which connects to Mulholland Highway again, it was good fun again...
Stopped at the Rock Store tavern and diner... unfortunately, it is only open on the weekends. From here, we come to the most WICKED SECTION OF MULHOLLAND HIGHWAY, where it rises steeply and winds most aggressively before slowing back to its usualy pace at a scenic outlook. I could run this segment all day...
Then comes the long endurance run... all the way to the end which finally emerges along the Pacific Ocean. Along the way, it does cut across the other canyon roads, but there wasn't enough time to explore these too...
Once on the Pacific Coast Road, headed up west/north a bit where, just across the Ventura/Los Angeles county line, there's Neptune's Net, a seafood restaurant.
Then, it was back down east/south on Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu back to Los Angeles... so many great beaches... and it was also the first day of summer, so it was pretty busy with lots of good looking sweet young things... plenty of traffic...
After clearing PCH, got on to Highway 10 (East), the Highway 405 (South) (apparently also called the San Diego Highway)... which at this hour, is one great big parking lot... traffic is a miserable crawl, moving maybe a yard a minute. I had tried to use an alternate route yesterday via Lincoln Boulevard, but it took longer and was more troublesome to navigate, so I stuck to the highway, no matter how slow it was...
Getting back to Century Boulevard, handed back the rental car, I got to meet up with fellow G-Man Richard Chapin. He's a great guy... was a bit nervous initially, but warmed up soon enough.
June 21 2007H2 US trip - June 20 - Flight to ... where? ... stuck in LA20 June 2007 Wednesday - Flight supposedly to home... not - stuck in Los Angeles CA
This was supposed to be the day I fly back... not
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2007H2 US trip - June 18 - eastern Kentucky, Red River Gorge KY18 June 2007 Monday - Day trip to Red River Gorge
Went to do a recce for a possible site for NEXT YEAR's GSX1100G Rally... Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky...
(more later)
June 17 2007H2 US trip - June 15 - central Kentucky, Harrodsburg KY and back15 June 2007 Friday - riding around central Kentucky
The plan today was to head southeast of Louisville (north/west, southwest and northeast of Louisville within a 4-8 hour round trip range had been covered in earlier rides). The target, Taylorsville KY and beyond to Harrodsburg KY, and everything in between.
The plan to depart Louisville via the country roads went awry from the start. Instead of looping around Beckley Station road to join up with KY 1531, I ended up getting lost ended up emerging around Old Henry Road instead, and had to wander back using I 265 back to find KY 1531. After finding KY 1531 and then KY 155, I again I got lost. Instead of the planned route, somehow I turned off KY 1531 too soon and ended up on KY 1819 and emerged somewhere around Seatonville along US 31E/US 150. By now, I was getting a little frustrated at having to ride the highway again. Anyways, I figured I could either ride down US 31E to KY 44... but after about 10 minutes of highway riding and watching the rolling countryside go by, I needed to find a country route alternative to ease the curve withdrawal. KY 660 was the cure and soon I was following the twists and turns and emerged on KY 1391 and resumed my my original planned route along the twisty succession of KY 1391, KY 1060, KY 1251 to reach KY 44 and Taylorsville. From Taylorsville, the DeLorme Kentucky Atlas had shown a tangle or roads that run parallel to KY 44 marked as Brashears Creek Road. Initially, I thought this was a good idea, but within 10 minutes, I was getting nervous. The road soon got narrower and didn't have a middle line anymore, and it was increasingly gravelly/sandy. It was twisty alright, following the creek, but it was so narrow that I was fearing having to face a car head on and not knowing how to let the vehicle pass. Thankfully, that didn't happen during the really narrow segments, and I was determined to find the closest exit from this little hell of a road. I reached a T-junction... *damn* no signage nor hint of which direction to go... fortunately, I had brought the handheld GPS and it showed the closest main road to be southwards, so I turned in that direction. It would be another 10 agonising minutes before I finally emerged on KY 44 again via Little Mount Church Road. *phew* KY 44 lead westwards to KY 248 which skirted southwards around Taylorsville Lake. This road was surprisingly broad, apparently upgraded and still being upgraded to a dual-carriageway highway because before I reached US 62, I hit a road closure with the rest of KY 248 still being built. The detour via KY 3358 turned out to be fun. Continuing eastwards on US 62 was good fun then I needed to break southwards again, exiting via KY 1291... oh this was a whole lot of fun too! Good curvy road, reasonably good condition, hardly any traffic. Emerged on KY 53 near the bridge over the Bluegrass Parkway (exit 48). Continued southwards along KY 53... this is also a great road. Between here and Harrodsburg KY, there are three roughly parallel routes. The plan was to run up and down along all 3 routes.
So from KY 53, the first route - highly recommended by KyJohn - was KY 1586/Cardwell Road through the tiny town of Cardwell, then KY 2234/Cornishville Road to the next tiny town of Cornishville, and then KY 1989/Cornishville Road/Cornishville Street all the way to Harrodsburg and US 127. This is a country road running through rural farming areas running largely along the ridge line towards Harrodsburg. Very scenic, reasonably well maintained road, hardly any traffic, nice mixture of sweeping curves, corners, and generally can be run at top gear most of the time. Stopped in Harrodsburg to tank up on gasoline and rest. Had the Dairy Queen's ("DQ", http://www.DairyQueen.com ) new Caramel Waffle Crisp Blizzard... waffle chunks, chocolate chunks, caramel and vanilla ice cream... tasted good, but the ice cream seemed a little too soft/melted... for a Blizzard. After the break, continued on the second route... via KY 152 goes west from Harrodsburg to Springfield. This is also a good road and as a major route, pretty well maintained, with plenty of nice curves. However traffic is quite a bit more and overtaking may be a bit difficult given the straights may not be long enough to overtake on. I detoured off along KY 438 - which is not as well maintained and therefore rather slow going - to get to KY 555 briefly so that I could start from the west end of KY 53. KY 53 is really good too! Before long however, I reached the third route... via KY 390 towards Harrodsburg/US 127 again. This is also a nice road to run on. Not as challenging as the KY 1586 - KY 2234 - KY 1989 combination, but good nonetheless. With the primary goal of trying out the three routes westwards of Harrodsburg, the next task was to head back towards Louisville, and take whatever country road wherever possible. Took US 127 north to Lawrenceburg which is north of the Bluegrass Parkway. From there, took KY 44 westwards, then KY 395 towards Waddy. However at this stage, my itch to take even smaller country roads lead me to a hellish route again... detoured via KY 512 which was relatively OK, but when I turned to KY 1875 to head back towards KY 1472 in order to get back to US 60/Shelbyville Road, I again found single track and gravelly roads... *damn*. It was getting late, and I was getting frustrated. Eventually manage to get on to KY 151 to get on the interstate I 64... not my first choice, but better than another hour along single track. Detoured to Shelbyville via Peytona/KY 395, then KY 1779. Finally, I was back on US 60 westwards to Louisville and arrived back at KyJohn's in time to head out to dinner at McAlister's ( http://www.mcalistersdeli.com ) which serves in particular excellent iced tea. An awesome riding day over 250 miles! The FZ1 is also an awesome bike! June 15 2007H2 US trip - June 13 - southern Indiana, State Routes 62 & 6613 June 2007 Wednesday - Riding country roads of southern Indiana
Did a little bike riding along the country roads around southern Indiana.
However before that, I dropped by the S & S PowerSports (http://www.sspowersports.com) bike shop which on the way in Clarksville IN just after crossing the Ohio River/Kentucky/Indiana state line. Was hoping to take a look at riding mesh overpants, but their selection seemed smaller than I last remembered. Anyway, I didn't quite find anything that I wanted, so I was on my way... Basically, I got clued in to some roads using MotorcycleRoads website ( http://www.motorcycleroads.us/in.html ). The route I had in mind was the one was the one which runs along the Ohio River (pretty close to where we had been last weekend), and anything else in between. The route I chose was Indiana State Road 62 (IN 62) just off the Interstate 64 (I 64) from Clarksville IN and runs parallel to I 64 for a pretty long way, then break out south at Sulphur IN along IN 66 all the way to Tell City, turn skirt around Tell City via IN 237, up north for a bit on IN 37, then break off again on IN 145, and re-join IN 62 back east/north towards Clarksville. I also planned an optional extension up northwards along IN 37 from Sulphur IN to IN64 which also runs roughly parallel with I 64 for some way and find another way back to I 64 from there along the country roads. IN 62 is a great road! ( http://www.motorcycleroads.us/roads/in62.html ). It curves pretty nice for much of the way, and has nice long sweepers as well as tighter curves which tends to occur when there are big changes in altitude and it needs to wind up and down the ridges. It gets a little slow when it passes through Corydon, from what I'm told, used to be the old capital of Indiana. After that, it's all good again! Somewhere around Leavenworth, there is a great scenic spot overlooking the Ohio River at the Overlook Restaurant; from the parking lot, you can see the At Sulphur IN, when you enter IN 66, you'll be greeted by a bunch of warning signs... "Ohio River Scenic Byway", "sharp bends", "next 38 miles"! With warning signs like that, how can we not ride such a road! AWESOME ROAD! It's scenic and it has got a good mix of sweeping banks as well as a couple of tighter turns going up and down the slopes. After all that, the trip back was more... well... boring.
Stopped somewhere to take my first ever bite of White Castle burgers ( http://www.WhiteCastle.com )... oh, these are interesting! Their burgers are known as "Slyders", and are TINY little buns, only 1.5 x 1.5 inches (2.5 square inches), which makes them handy for kids, and adults like them too... and their cheap, just 50 cents for the burger. The flavours are relatively simple and actually quite nice, mainly from the cooked onions and slice of dill pickle, and the meat wasn't as dry, probably from the cooked onions. According to my friends, they've since added cheese burger and other stuff to their menu. I tried out the basic White Castle burger, the cheeseburger. There were another 2 that I tried which were considered "sandwiches" in White castle menu... the bacon cheeseburger and the jalapeno cheeseburger... more expensive, around double or triple the price of the hamburger, and the flavour wasn't impressive at all - I still prefer the basic hamburger. The four burgers combined were about as big as say a regular large burger, but they felt and tasted light to eat and didn't feel as greasy and stuffed after eating. Gosh these were nice!
Coming back, I decided to try an route northwards, and somehow wandered too far north on IN 37... nope, it wasn't as interesting as the map suggested, with many segments upgraded straightened and widened like highways... boring... and ended up in Paoli IN. Retreated back in a southeasterly direction on US 150, turned off south on IN 66, then continued further southwest on IN 64, then detoured on a windy little road IN 337 toward Corydon IN which would allow me to reconnect with Corydon and back on I 64.
It was getting late in the day, and with the sun coming from the west, I had to stop and take a great photo of Louisville from the I 64 bridge across Ohio River. (Thank goodness that motorcycles are small enough to hide on the shoulder on the highway - would never have been able to do it had I been in a car!)
A good day of riding! Woo hoo!!!
 June 12 2007H2 US trip - June 09/10 - Rough River Dam State Resort Park, KY09 June 2007 Saturday / 10 June 2007 Sunday - Rough River Dam
Spent the weekend with KyJohn's daughters and granddaughters down at "the Lake", created by the dam on the Rough River, southwest of Louisville. ( http://www.stateparks.com/rough_river_dam.html ). First time I've ever messed around with jet skis... It's very cold diving in the lake... the bottom is significantly colder than the surface.
Riding back from Rough River Lake, I decided to take the country roads instead of the Dixie Highway (US 60 / US 31 W). Some good stretches include KY 401, KY 84... pulling up behind the Amish in their quaint horse-drawn carriage clip-clopping along was a little weird. Eventually emerged around Rineyville, and it was time to re-join US 31W to at least get around the Fort Knox Military Reservation.
Since the route usually taken follows US 60, this excursion via the country roads brought me somewhat further south along US 31 W, so took a moment to take a picture of the famous Fort Knox US (Gold) Bullion Depositary from the highway. Also took a shot of the row of tanks outside of the Patton Museum of Calvary and Armour.
The plan was then to get a little further north past West Point KY, then cut across a route along the country roads, roughly parallel to US 44 to Taylorville KY, i.e KY 1526, KY 1319, KY 1531, and loop back via Aiken Road-Beckley Station Road. However that got cut short as it was taking longer than I had originally anticipated and it was nearing dinner time... so I hot-footed it back Louisville along the interstate highways.
Along the country roads, the handling of the FZ1 was somewhat different from the GSX1100G, so it took a while before I could take the corners comfortably. All in all, still fun riding along these country roads.
Note: Having highly detail maps is useful for planning the route since most maps tend to only feature the major routes. The DeLorme Atlas and Gazetters ( http://www.DeLorme.com ) was invaluable.
2007H2 US trip - June 07 - Louisville KY07 June 2007 Thursday - Working on machines...
Finally got round to sorting out the motorcycles after the Rally. Especially for the GSX1100G, the borrowed carburetors needed to be removed for return, cleaning the bike would not be possible once disassembly had started. Both bikes cleaned up OK.
After cleaning, the GSX1100G fuel tank was drained, the carburetors have been removed. From the earlier installation, the lesson of loosening the cable/hose binders to rotate the hoses away from the airbox made removal far easier this time. The airbox simply moved 3/4 inch back and voila, the various connections from the engine block to the carbs and carbs to the airbox slipped out easily, and once the throttle, choke and fuel lines were disconnected, the carbs were free. The bowls at the bottom were then removed to allow the remaining gasoline residue to evaporate away, so that there will be no flammable vapours when the carbs are sent back to the post office.
Now... time to play with the riding mower. It was the first time I was operating such a machine. This was basically a small tractor with a cutting blade attachment mounted below. It took a while to figure out how to get in started. Once the parking brake was engaged, the blades were disengaged, the gears in neutral, it started right up.
It also took a while to figure out how best the cut the gardens out front and back. Especially for the front sidewalk, since the cut materials were ejected out of the right side, riding forward and backward with the mower facing one direction only and the ejector facing away from the road meant no effort wasted later trying to clear the cut grass from the road surface.
June 06 2007H2 US trip - June 04 - Louisville KY04 June 2007 Monday - Louisville KY
KyJohn's hand was initially looked at by one orthopedist who decided it was too serious and needed the best guy in town for the job. He'll be admitted tomorrow for surgery...
... in the meanwhile, the follow-up after the Rally is taking up all the time... organising the Rally stuff for distribution to G-Men has taken a lot of time today... over 400 MB of photos! ... putting out the riding suits to dry... laundry ... et cetera, et cetera, et cetera... 2007H2 US trip - June 03 - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - heading back to Louisville KY03 June 2007 Sunday - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - heading back to Louisville KY
Originally, KyJohn and I had planned to take the country roads riding all the way up to Maryland after the rally... well with his injuries, this was no longer a possibility. I'm glad at least it happened while had the rest of the Louisville group around with a trailer to haul the fallen bike back and space in the car to take him too! If the two of us had been injured and stranded out there on our own, it would have been more serious.
The day started out soaking wet... it was raining, and a storms appeared to be forming off the US East Coast. While I could appreciate the need for rain given the lack of rainfall to date, it couldn't have come at a worse time for us.
I decided to put the G on the trailer because the carburetors were flooding up again, and anyway, riding back on the FZ1 - which hadn't suffered much damage - would use less fuel and therefore be cheaper. Packing the G with the 2 other motorcycles on to the trailer was a challenge, given the size of the G and its weight too! Anyway, we finally managed to get it done - in the rain, no less - and we were on our way.
We took NC 88 west all the way to US 421. NC 88 was a nice road, very wriggly with plenty of curves. Then it was north/west on US 421 till we reached I 81 at Bristol. Now, KyJohn had planned for us to ride this route on the first rally riding day... the "Snake" on 421 here around Shady Valley (as opposed to the "Dragon" on US 129 at Deals Gap) was also very challenging, though the turns were not as tight and dangerous as Deals Gap, but still fun nonetheless! It is a pity that we only got to ride it now - while going home in the rain - and not under more ideal conditions. ( map: http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&country=US&city=Shady+Valley&state=TN&zipcode=37688-5212 )
Once there, we were literally fleeing on the interstates to Louisville, along I 81 west and I 40 via Knoxville, I 75 north past London KY (where we had stayed a couple of nights ago), then I-64 west towards Louisville. We were hit several times by severe thunderstorms en-route, not the light rain, the heavy stuff. We'd get out of the rain, only to face another big storm further down the road. At one point after Knoxville, the visibility in the rain fell to less than 20 yards... I could only see the tail lights of the trailer ahead of me... while running at 65 mph!
Anyway, we finally managed to get back to Louisville, and finally settled down for the evening clean, washed and in more comfortable settings. KyJohn will be seeing the orthopedist the next day to have the wrist looked at and treated as soon as possible.
2007H2 US trip - June 02 - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - north on Blue Ridge Parkway, Prize night02 June 2007 Saturday - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - Riding day / Prize night
Today, I decided to ride with some of the chaps up north to Tuggles Gap Restaurant, around Floyd, Virginia. This time, I rode with Tim Wilson and his wife Robin and his bright yellow bubble-bee G, Jim Schmidt and our new guy Randy Hinkle.
Unfortunately for me, I soon learnt that they tended to ride pretty slow... meaning around the speed limit, but usually slower... *sigh*... this was going to be a long day - maybe I should have ridden solo again! Anyway, after the fuel stop, I took over the lead and managed to push the speed up a notch or two, still not quite what I had in mind, but it did cut the travel time by a bit.
Stopped by Mabry Mill, which presents a classic image of rural life of the time (1910-1936).
Finally reached Floyd VA, and fueled up at the Tuggles Gap Restaurant and Hotel. In their menu, the specialty items are anything that featured the word "Tuggles" in it. I decided to split the Tuggles Pie with Jim... and that turned out to be the right idea because Randy which had an apple pie all to himself was soon groaning! The pie was great, tasted very good... After lunch, we wandered around the place... It's a bit ramshackle, but Tuggles Gap also has a hotel, though it is rather small, only 10 rooms, but those didn't seem to be open.
We then proceeded back to Laurel Springs via VA 8 which climbed downwards with some really nice twists that were unfortuantely also strewn with gravel in some of the corners. Finally got back on to US 58 heading west. Until Hillsview VA, US 58 had a lot of fun twists... however after that when it merged with US 221, the route became pretty straight, even expanding to a multi-lane highway, and then become the main town road through Galax. It was driving me nuts to continue in stop-go city traffic, so after we gassed up in Galax VA, I re-routed to VA 89 to get on to the NC 18 country road.
This was the right move... besides that fact that NC 18 lead straight back to Laurel Springs and was hence easy navigation, it was also clean and well paved with plenty of nice fast curves... so after overtaking some slower traffic, I could not resist the chance to cut loose and squeeze that throttle... woo hoo... super fun, fast sweeping curves and I was mostly running at between 45 and 70 mph all the way back to Laurel Springs... what a relief after crawling for so long!
Back at Station's Inn, it was time to set up the GSX1100G line up for that big photo! Also, KyJohn had returned, and of course, everyone was glad to see him! We managed to get as many of the bikes together as possible (Wisconsin John had already left, JimmyD Recco had already chucked his G in the trailer, as well as a few others who hadn't returned from their rides just yet). Later, we managed to get a group photo of all the (remaining) G-Men.
Then it was dinner time - all you can eat buffet - followed by our prize giving in the restaurant. Of course, everyone was delighted that our master-of-ceremony rally-meister KyJohn could be there to do the honours! All in all, everything turned out as well as it could get.
The rest of the evening ended around the campfire, with most turning in early for the long ride home the next day.
Note to self: in future, ride only with people you can stand to ride with, including riding style!
2007H2 US trip - June 01 - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - south on Blue Ridge Parkway01 June 2007 Friday - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - Riding day
Most of the groups had elected to head south on the Blue Ridge Parkway, heading for Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in North Carolina. Some others had decided to look for breakfast first.
I had waited for an update of KyJohn's situation at the hospital before setting off, so by the time I wanted to go, most of the groups had already been on their way.
As we were leaving, Tim Collins and company arrived... they had been staying in Boone. He recently bought a GSX1100G, so this year, he is "officially a G-Man", not just a participant at our Rally!
MdLoneRider Tom Reid was still around, so we headed south on the Parkway. Halfway, I needed fuel, so we separated at that point.
With a full tank of gas, I continued solo to Mount Mitchell.
The views along the parkway were quite dramatic, especially the viaduct at Linn Cove ( http://www.blueridgeparkway.org/linncove.htm ). When the rest of the Blue Ridge Parkway was completed in 1967, this 7.5 mile section remained missing until 1987 due to the challenges posed in its construction.
Further south, this route leads through a number of tunnels carved through the mountains, as well as a number of big 240-degree turns, which were bold marked with a large yellow diamond hazard sign with a large "question-mark" shaped arrow, the last few of which has an additional marking of a motorcycle and the rider falling off!!! Indeed, these curves sometimes had a decreasing radius so it got tighter and tighter and without reducing speed, going off the road was a certainty and there were scars in the grass verge attesting to it! Those were fun curves though...
Finally reached Mount Mitchell. By now, the altitude was pretty high and it was cold and damp from being up in the clouds. The G was now breathing badly, perhaps the air being thinner than it was comfortable with. As one approaches the summit, the kind of foliage starts to change at a certain altitude... mostly pine trees and the scent of pine was strong, and not quite like any pine scented detergent or disinfectent I know... this is the real thing!.
At the top, the views were breathtaking. Many of the pine trees were unfortunately blighted by acid rain, with many of them losing most of their needles. Nonetheless at that immediate the moment, the visibility was not bad at, maybe 5-10 miles.
I made my way back north along the Blue Ridge Parkway to the closest exit heading for Roan mountain and more importantly, fuel. After negotiating about 15-20 minutes of traffic, I had had enough. It was already getting late, I was a long long way from Station's Inn, and at that pace, it was going to be very late before I made it back. I turned back towards to Blue Ridge Parkway and hoped to make best speed back.
As it was pretty late by now and there was a slight drizzle, the traffic was significantly lighter now compared to the sunny morning/afternoon. The temperature had also fallen quite a bit and even when it wasn't raining, it remained oh so cold! With hardly anyone in sight, I opened up that throttle and was blasting along as fast as the road conditions permitted, on some stretches, going at between 65 and 85 mph (100 to 135 kmh)... at that speed, even gentle sweeping curves that had been encountered in the morning become challenging curves... add to that the occasional turkey and deer that wandered across the road. I was cold, tired, and just wanted to get back, so double-yellow line or not, I was overtaking whenever possible...
I finally got back and happy to be warm.
Most of the G-Men had also returned from their treks. Tim Thenthorne our US Forest Service G-Man showed up... he promised to bring his wife along when he drop by the next day for our community catered dinner.
We also got to hear some good news... our rally-meister KyJohn should be getting out of the hospital by tomorrow, at least in time for our dinner! This was something to look forward to, as his presence is so essential to banding the diverse group of G-riders together.
In the evening, we once again huddled around the fire, swapping tales, as well as experience of the rides.
2007H2 US trip - May 31 - London KY to Laurel Springs NC - GSX1100G RALLY 2007 - crash!31 May 2007 Thursday - Making our way to Laurel Springs, NC - Arrival at the GSX1100G Rally 2007
Day started well... more of the Louisville group had arrived during the night and together we set out from London KY along the KY 80 Hal Rogers Parkway for 55 miles, then on KY 15 to Hazard KY. The Hal Rogers Parkway, while it is a big highway, is quite dramatic in that it is cut through the mountains.
Somewhere around Whitesburg, KY 15 continued as US 119, and then merged into US 23 before we crossed the Kentucky-Virginia state border. The next fuel break was at Wise VA before we "attack" US 58. Between here and the Virginia-North Carolina state line, US 58 has a good number of curvy sections which make for good riding, especially when it continues as the Jeb Stuart Highway and starts to climb into the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. It peaks out near Whitetop Mountain and continues there as the Highland Parkway which winds its way down from the peak.
It just before reaching White Top, disaster struck our little group... I came round the curve and found KyJohn crawling across the road. Apparently while riding roung a slight curve and dip, he had ridden over a fairly large patch of gravel in the middle of the road and the motorcycle had slid out. Very quickly, I parked the bike in the middle of the road to block the traffic from running us over. The fallen motorcycle was blocking the other side of the road already. Once John had managed to get across back to the gravel shoulder, we moved the motorcycles off the road to let the traffic back through. There was definitely some pain and injury to his left arm. His FirstGear mesh jacket did its job and the outer mesh layer and foam armour padding around the elbow had been torn off, but left the inner mesh layer still intact. The Held gloves also had some damage. We were intially worried about the blood down his face, but it was only the spectacles that had cut the skin around the bridge of his nose which bled when his helmet hit the ground, leaving a big wear spot on the front of the HJC flip-top helmet. The boots had a little scuffing, but otherwise undamaged. It was just a hard fall, and could have been a lot worse. The motorcycle took only some damage, the fairing was cracked on the right side, but other than that, it was able to start up. We figured that his riding seemed over for a while and that medical attention was needed. A lady passing who was apparently an EMT picked John up and sent him to the local Mountain Rescue station, with Jeff following. After leaving the bike safely parked on the side of the road, there wasn't a lot more that could be done, so Scott and I continued on to Laurel Springs where we would at least have access to the hotel phone line (limited/no mobile phone coverage out here). It's a shame really... we were not very far from our destination. -----
Some distance after Mouth of Wilson, we turned off on to VA 93 which continues as NC 113 when it crosses the Alleghany county line/VA-NC state line. Finally, VA 18 lead us southwards to Laurel Springs. Station's Inn Motorcycle Resort which was just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, and is the venue for our 2007 Annual GSX1100G Rally ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GSX1100G ). A good number of the G-Men had already arrived when we got there. Naturally, they were anxious when they heard that our fearless leader had been injured, but there was nothing that we could do until we got further information from Jeff. A couple of hours later, the Elstons pulled in later with Drew riding his bike and John's bike on their trailer. Apparently the local police were about to haul it away from the side of the road, so they collected it instead. We also had another injured rider at the site. The pair from Wisconsin had come and Wisconsin John's buddy (I don't remember his name) had dumped the GS 1000 just a couple miles from Laurel Springs. The damage to bike and rider appeared minimal until we saw a golf ball size swelling on his left calf. By this time, we had heard that KyJohn had been transferred to Ashe Memorial Hospital. The owners were also super helpful and had offered assistance to contact the hospital and even send us there. Anyway, our injured man to be checked out, as well as fetch anything to/from KyJohn. Later in the evening, another local NC G-Man and his mom (?!) turned up. He seemed enthused about the Gs and the variations that had been made. Anyways, the evening ended quietly around the campfire... it's great meeting everyone, and looking forward to some good riding the next day. May 31 2007H2 US trip - May 30 - Louisville KY to London KY30 May 2007 Wednesday - Making our way to London KY (resorting to the bad old days of dial-up internet to make this posting - tip: turn your graphics OFF to reduce your download demand and speed up your page viewing!) From Louisville KY to the GSX1100G Rally site in Laurel Springs NC, we generally need to take a southeasterly route. So the plan was to break that into two phases, the first being to head for an intermediate point for an overnight stop. Our destination for today, London KY. Starting out in Louisville, KyJohn and I headed southeast along the US 31E until Bardstown. Bardstown is known for the "old Kentucky home" which now part of the Old Kentucky Home State Park. Some distance from there is the Makers Mark bourbon distillery to take a rest at its Visitor's Centre/Museum, which also offers free tours. (It can get confusing to the uninitiated... from Bardstown, before one reaches Makers Mark, there is the Heavens Hill distillery - a lesser brand - which has massive signage to highlight its "Bourbon Heritage Museum", perhaps in an effort to try to draw away visitors from Makers Mark.) From here, going south on KY 49, this is a great riding route with great rolling country scenery, plenty of fast sweeping curves, good condition (clean, hardly any debris, smooth no potholes) and hardly any traffic. Along this country roads, most of the time was spent at 5th gear, as the long sweeping curves were gently enough to go fast through them. It continues all the way through the towns of Lebanon and Liberty. Liberty is a bigger town and was the refuelling stop. Nearly ran the tank dry, was well past reserve... 4 (US) gallons (15 litres). Mixed in the Cheveron Techron fuel additive, and combined with the repeated red-line/hard-chop/red-line/hard-chop exercises, which hopefully will clear the possible blockage in the carburetors that might be causing that stumble around 3000 RPM. From Liberty, it was onwards along KY 70 and KY 635 to Somerset. Then it was KY 192 which runs through Cumberland Falls state Resort Park and up and over Mount Victory which is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest (instead of the more boring KY 80 highway) through to London. This is was also a great road, great scenery, great fast sweeping curves... The engine is seems to be faring (only) slightly better, but the stumble isn't going away, and I don't expect it to. I'm of the opinion that it's going to be as good as it gets, so just live with it. As long as I drop gear to keep it above 4000+ RPM when accelerating hard, the G will manage just fine. Finally settled down in London to a bowl of chilli (con carne) from Waffle House (good cooking - I'll take that anytime over other more typical American fastfood/burgers/crap/yuck ), Myers rum and Jim Beam bourbon. It's been a great riding day, over great riding routes! Looking forward to more good days of riding! Woo hoo!!! May 30 2007H2 US trip - May 29 - Louisville KY29 May 2007 Tuesday - Synchronised the carburetors.
Visited a guy called Bernie... a great Honda fan. He tuned up the GSX1100G's carburetors, but it doesn't seem to have done too much good. By putting the hand near the exhaust pipes, the cylinder 2 seems pretty cool compared to the rest.
Among many possible cause to the problem, he suggested a simple course of action. By running the bike to red-line, and then chopping down the throttle to zero which will close the butterfly, there would suddenly be a strong vacuum in the cylinder which could help pull any debris through the jets and out. This red-line/chop exercise may need to be done several times to clear the blockage. A bottle of Techron in the gasoline will also help to dissolve the blockage. There again, if the problem is more complex or elsewhere, this might not even work at all, but it's a cheap first solution, pending other investigation/work.
Tried it out initially, and it doesn't seem to work. Replaced the spark plug in that cylinder with an Autolite which has a different pointed shape which may help promote better sparking, and doesn't seem to be any appreciable improvement.
No matter what, at least the bike is in a half-decent condition to ride when we set off tomorrow.
Also talked to his friend... this is an interesting guy. I first noticed his motorcycle parked in the driveway had a HANDICAPPED sign... never seen one of those before and I wondered what sort of handicap that could be. This chap does not have a right hand ... for most people, losing a hand would be viewed as the end of the world already, but this guys still manages to ride a motorcycle! What determination he must have to overcome his limitations and it is a lesson for other people with handicaps of all sorts!
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