Went to do a recce for a possible site for NEXT YEAR's GSX1100G Rally... Red River Gorge in eastern Kentucky...

 

(more later)

 

 

 

 

 

13 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!!!

 

 

 

 

09 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.
 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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!!!

 

 

 

29 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!

 

 

 

 

28 May 2007 Monday, Memorial Day - 2nd shake-down run.

 

Did another shake-down run again, shorter this time, in the back roads around Louisville.  Nice roads all over the place!  Getting around 37-39 miles per (US) gallon... not too bad. 

 

Inspected all the spark plugs again, and Number 1 still has seems a little more black than it should be.  Even with the 3000 rpm stumble, it should be able to Laurel Springs and back.  Carrying enough spare spark plugs just in case it worsens such that we need to change them en-route.

 

The plan is to leave Wednesday for London NC for the overnight stop, along the winding country roads instead of riding the interstate expressways. 

 

Can't you feel it?  It's the excitement of the ride building up...! 

 

 

 

27 May 2007 Sunday - Shake-down run after loaned carburetors were fitted on KyJohn's G. 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the first time I get to the USA via the Pacific route and I fly over the US West Coast for the first time.

Landed in Louisville, Kentucky before midnight yesterday night Eastern Daylight Savings Time... wasn't till 2 am (26 May 2007) till I finally settled down to sleep.  Note to self - Hong Kong airport internal transportation SUCKS - whoever heard of a one-way train from the central customs immigration area to the distant (#31-#80) boarding gates???  they separate the arrival and departure floors, and the train only serves one direction each, so if you're a transit passenger trying to wander back from the distant gates to the central food/shopping area, you walk the kilometre back!
 
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26 May 2007 Saturday  -  Preparing the G

 

I've been up to my elbows in motor grease and oil today, looking a bit like a greased monkey, servicing motorcycles to get them into riding condition for the rides.
 
KYjohn's Yamaha FZ1 motorcycle just wouldn't let go of its oil filter which needed to be removed, and it took about an hour to finally tear that off; get a new filter on and fresh oil back in, so that's ready to go.
 
His Suzuki GSX1100G motorcycle that I'm supposed to ride is not well... the engine is acting up, and on the suspicion that the carburetors are acting up, a borrowed set of carburetors arrived at noon today and it has taken me about 4 hours to install the carburetors and re-assemble the rest of the bike.  Note to self - NEVER separate the airbox carb air tubes from the airbox - it's near impossible to reinstall... the 3/4-inch space can be created by loosining the wire/cable/tube harnesses and shirting the wires/cables/tubes out of the way
 
Despite all that, it didn't work out too well, so we drained out all the gasoline from the tank, fuel lines and carburetors (could be "bad gas" leftover from last winter) and re-fueled it... this time, it managed to work a better, though still not in top condition.  That's about as much as could be done for tonight...

 

"Rumor" restaurant in Louisville... much better than the typical toxic fare of American fast food (e.g. MacDonalds, Burger King, KFC, etc) that most non-Americans may be familar with.  Nice burgers and chilli chicken wings - portion sizes which are way too much or me... chilli (con carne) was good...

 

Louisville... in just 15 minutes, you're out in the countryside on country roads... woo hoo!