Round and around

So while many folks were out fighting crowds trying to scarf up "deals" and boost the economy this Black Friday, I took the opportunity to jump on the bike and pad the pockets of the oil tycoons. At least that was the plan once I found that Melissa didn't intend to work since it would likely just be a waste of gas and time.

I hadn't been on the bike in 3 weeks and Kent Matthew mentioned on his FB page that his wife and kids were out of town for the weekend and he would be getting some "helmet time". Well, I like Kent so I invited myself along. Since he told me where he was meeting a couple other riders at and when, I took that as he didn't mind.

It was about a 2 1/2 hour ride from the house and Kent wanted to meet up at 11 AM. I layered up as I knew it would be a chilly ride as I was going across the mountain due to the temps here last night being almost at the freezing point and the sun wouldn't be very high at 8:30 AM.

By the time I dressed,  grabbed a piece of leftover pumpkin pie, a banana, and 2 pieces of toast, geared up, and pulled the bike out of the bike shed, it was about a half hour later than I intended to leave. Sh*t! late again. So I text Kent and let him know I was going to be about 30 minutes late. Somehow, I don't think he was very surprised.

I put the cell phone in my suit pocket and straddled the bike. I clicked the starter to hear a disappointing RRR-RRR-Rrr-TTT-ttt  ... which was promptly followed by "DAMN DAMN DAMN!" 

I pull the phone back out and call Kent to let him know there there was no sense in waiting on me as it would take too long to charge the battery. He asks, "You have cables, don't you?"   DUH! why didn't I think of that? So I tell him I will call back once it has started.

We formulate plan B and he says to plan on meeting him at 12:00 at the same place instead. This will be tight, but I figured I could make a little bit of time on the interstate. So I set out. Luckily, the tank was filled prior to coming home the last time, so that is one less time-consuming task to do.

here is a link to the roads I *think* we took (it goes to a googlemaps page) ...

http://tinyurl.com/7puvyf3

The ride down was mostly slab, so it wouldn't have been too difficult to make time so long as there wasn't much of a law presence -- and there wasn't. I made pretty good time and when I got to Brevard, NC (about a half hour away from our meetup) I topped off the tank and called him to touch base.

I then hit US 178. I had seen this on the map before and it looked fun, but I have never found myself in that "neighborhood" to try it ... until today! This was alright! *especially* since it was empty and I got to run my own race .... errr ... ride! I actually got my heart beating a little bit! Good fun!

I arrived just as the one rider (other than me, of course) they had been waiting on showed up. It was Kent on his FJR, a buddy of his, Terry, on a Ducati, a buddy of Terry's, Chuck, on a TL, and me on the big Sabre. Apparently at some point Terry's wife was going to join up with us. Terry was confident she would catch up.

Even though the day got off to a chilly start, it was now nearly the predicted high of 60* and not a cloud in the sky. Perfect riding weather!

We started out on a bunch of narrow two-laned backroads that were a nice bit of fun. However, I couldn't tell you the name of one of them, nor likely even find my way back to them. I *do* know we crossed SC-11 like four times as we zigged and zagged. This guy Terry knows the area rather well, and at a later stop I heard Kent say he didn't know some of those roads either.

The stop was a really nice overlook (along SC-107 I think?) and Terry stopped to let the shutterbugs use their cameras if so inclined. I    took advantage of the opportunity and took a couple of pics ....

(I believe they will enlarge if you click on them)

From here we wound our way to GA-28. I had never been on this stretch of 28 and I must say it is every bit as enjoyable as the stretch in North Carolina. We then took Warwoman Rd. Again a nice twisty arrangement of tarmac.

Knowing that I am still not 100% where I want to be, decided to be the anchor of the group -- meaning I chose to ride in the back so I wouldn't slow anyone down. Being in the back of the group and being a long time since we had passed any cars, I hadn't been watching my mirror. The road commanded most of my attention.

It was somewhere around here that all of a sudden I hear WWWWRRRRRREEEEEERRRRRRNNNNNGNG as some chick on an R1 just went FLYING by! I wouldn't doubt she hit triple digits as she blew past all four of us in one swoop. I don't mind admitting it scared the sh*t outta me as I hadn't been monitoring the rear view and never knew she was there until she had whizzed on by. It was Terry's wife, so now we are all assembled.

We pulled into Clayton, GA for a lunch at Wendy's and to discuss what roads to terrorize next. Terry mentioned that GA-197 was just down the road and it has been a few years since I run that. Nobody else really ventured an opinion so I guess my piqued interest may have influenced the decision a bit. 197 is not very technical but does have some nice curves and parallels a lake so it is scenic as well.

We took it over just north of Helen, GA and turned north on GA 17/75. 17/75 climbs a mountain and has a few switchbacks but they aren't as tight as many of the ones in the area, so you can be a bit aggressive. Once traffic was disposed of, we had some fun there too. I was getting down to 3 bars on gas so when I caught up to them (actually they were all waiting on me), I asked about when we were planning to gas up again. There was a station just up the road a couple miles so we stopped there.

We used this stop to communicate where I would be splitting off from the group. I decided to follow them back across US 76 to Warwoman Road (y'mean we have to run that again?) and then I would turn north on GA-28 where they went south. I had planned on taking 28 all the way up to the Dragon, then take 129 into Knoxville and onto I-40 as it was already 5:00 and darkness would be setting in soon.

I took 28 and even had a clean run at it (man! I love that road -- *all* of it). When I hit US 64 in Highlands, NC I missed the sign where 28 went and found myself going *EAST* on 64. Well, I didn't find myself going east until about 15 miles later when NCDOT decided to place a sign letting me know I went the wrong fuggin' way FIFTEEN MILES AGO!

I pulled into the next gas station and looked at my map to see what the next northern route would be to avoid backtracking and found that US 276 in Brevard was nearly the same distance away as it would be to backtrack and find 28. Not only that, but taking 276 would actually be a pretty direct route home from where I split off from the group. I love happy accidents!

By now it is, of course, dark and so I had to keep it pretty slow going up 276 as it goes slap-dab through the middle of the forest for about 20 miles and there is a river right next to the road. Perfect setup for forest rat encounters. Couple that with a sorry stock headlight on a 26 year old motorcycle and it is nearly a recipe for disaster.

I made it up to I-40 without incident and was still not too cold. Or if I were, I didn't really know it. Where I got on the interstate, I was only about 40 miles from home so I didn't have to cross the highest part of the mountain because of where 276 joins in. Sweet! that means I won't have to be as cold!

The miles started clicking away, but I was vigilantly watching the fuel gauge. I thought I had enough gas to make it back to Newport, but knew it would be close. I didn't want to stop until I had to because I was already numb enough not to know how cold I was. Again, I was chilled, but didn't feel cold.

The last 20 miles my arse was screaming. I kept trying to find a spot to sit that I wasn't uncomfortable with no luck. I hadn't gotten off the bike since the intersection of Warwoman Rd. and GA-28 which was about 140 miles ago.

I made it to the gas station just up the road from the house and topped off to the tune of 4.87 gallons. Yeep! I rolled into the house 11 1/2 hours after leaving having burnt off nearly 15 gallons of fuel, travelling through 4 states, and logging about 420 miles (acc. to googlemaps) cold, tired, and smiling.

I wanted a beer which seems to be a tradition after an excellent fun day on the bike, but my body temperature demanded a cup of hot cocoa and a warm blanket to allow myself to "thaw" out. (I wasn't in any danger of hypothermia, but I was certainly cold). Even after the "thaw", I could feel a grin still frozen on my face.

Good times indeed! Thanks Kent for allowing me to tag along. All the twisty turny roads I traversed today has my head still spinning.

one step closer ...

So the restoration of Pearl from oblivion continues. I got the chain for it earlier last week but hadn't made it out to the garage to do anything about it until yesterday. Partially due to timing, and partially due to apprehension. Chains are my nemesis!

I already had the new sprockets installed. They are steel! -- soo happy to get away from aluminum. There really wasn't a steel sprocket on the market for this bike with the gearing I prefer, but after having to replace a bunch of aluminum sprockets due to short life span and probably bad maintenance habits, hopefully this setup should last me a bit longer, even if I have to lose a little torque.

I unpacked the chain and threaded it around the sprockets, made a measurement, and used Dad's chain breaking tool. Damn! why didn't I just bite the bullet and get one of these years ago? That was the shiznit! Before I was using a Dremel to grind off the nubs and then a hammer and punch to push the pin out. This was too easy!

Apparently it was. It has been so long since I did a chain, I forgot to advance the wheel all the way forward when I cut it. Oh well, better to have it too long than the other way around. Besides, with the chain breaker, it wasn't that labor intensive anyway.

I got that done and put the rivet master link on and pressed it without any further issue. Then snugged everything up, and gave the chain a good coat of lube. Next up -- carbs!

I had already removed them from the intake manifold and the air cleaner, so it was simply a matter of removing the throttle and choke cables, a couple hoses, and then slide it out of the bike. This was accomplished rather quickly.

I pulled the bowls and the tops and disassembled to dunk them in carb cleaner. Whew! what nastiness! It has been about 3 years since I had last run this bike and the bowls were showing it. Sadly, I didn't know it was going to be 3 years, so the carb bowls were full of gas over (most of) that time. WERE, being the key word here!

Apparently the gas had evaporated and  now there is a brownish-orange rust-looking sediment lining the bowls. I cleaned them out, soaked them, and set about removing all the jets. I was able to remove the main jets and the jet seats on all four carbs.

However, there is another jet that sets way down inside a recess that requires a tiny blade screwdriver to remove. Three of those come out without a problem. The other didn't appear to have a jet in it. WTF?

I kept looking and finally realized there was some goo down in there that prevented me from seeing the slot of the jet. I was able to extricate that matter and then the jet itself. They are now soaking in some carb cleaner.

Melissa come in at some point while I was doing this and the smell of the carb cleaner prompted her to say "It stinks in here". Heh! "No dear, this is how a garage is supposed to smell!"   ; )

Next up is soaking the carb bodies. I can only do about half of it at a time unless I dismantle the rack, which I don't wish to do. So I will attempt that later today. Then I need to get some POR-15 to clean out the gas tank.

*THEN* HOPEFULLY  I will get to hear it run! It's been far too long! I can't wait!

burn(t) bridge?

So I have been tending to Dad for a couple years or so now (although it seems MUCH longer!) and we have basically discussed all that we intend to on a casual basis. You know what I mean.

It's like when you are fist dating someone. There are loads of stories that you can share. After a few years, you have pretty much covered all the "old" stuff that you plan to share. Well, Dad and I have reached that point -- a while ago.

So we sit here day after day after day in almost complete silence, basically only uttering brief commentary on something regarding his idiot box since he does little else. That is, until, he gets a few beers in him. Then it gets interesting!

He has no self-control. He will drink himself into oblivion. With some folks that's no problem as they just get goofy until they pass out. Dad? well Dad is a different animal!

He sits there and grouses to himself barely above a whisper. Much of it sounds pretty hateful. Then out-of-nowhere sometimes, he will lash out and just get verbally abusive.

He has said a lot of things over the past couple years that have left permanent scars. Early on, I did not handle all of those hateful things with grace and likely have left a few on him as well when I responded to his lashing out. I have since learned (there may be hope?) it isn't worth it and to just let him spout off, regardless of what he says about me or anyone I care about.

However, after another one of his episodes last night, Melissa and I were talking and a light came on. I came to the realization that he has said enough hurtful things post-stroke, that I am not sure how much I even love him anymore. Yeah, I do, but ...  

It would be easy to say 'he's just drunk and doesn't mean that' and I would like to believe it. However, when the same things keep getting said over and over and over, it makes it harder to believe that he *doesn't* mean it.

Dad and I have always had a rocky (no pun intended) relationship -- dating way back to my youth. However, we have always managed to get past it. I used to think that the bridges we burnt, we were able to reconstruct because we always seemed to cut through the chaff.

With the things that have been said (and -continue- to be said) over the past couple of years, I am not sure that this burnt bridge will ever be rebuilt.

for every season turn, turn, turn ....

So the county has been out on our road cutting down some trees that are close to the road before winter hits. Some of it looked in really good shape and had a decent enough diameter to still yield some turning material after the bark was stripped off and much of it had some really nice grain color/patterning to it.

Sooooo .... I quickly scarfed up a couple loads of it before it was put to the chipper ....

Best part is ... it was all FREE! I can try turning this and if it becomes nothing more than sawdust all that was invested was a little time and time at the lathe isn't a bad thing. Time to get turnin'.    ; )

End of an era ....

For the first time in my life, this football Saturday will not include Joe Paterno on the sidelines of a Penn State game. The legends of the game are moving on. At least Bobby Bowden (another whom I can recall solely as the coach of a single team), was able to go out  on his  own terms.

JoePa has become a fixture in State College. It is a shame that he has to leave the game in the manner that he did, but he is accountable for his own actions and cannot blame anyone but himself.

I am a big fan of Mr. Paterno, as many who follow college football are. He has always represented himself with class and dignity and commanded respect. It is a shame that he was not allowed to finish the season, however I fully understand and agree with the action the university took.

It is a sign of character to show loyalty to those close to you. This is what JoePa did. However, while he reported the inexcusable actions of Sandusky to his bosses, he should have also contacted the police.

I am not familiar with all the facts surrounding the case nor how many kids were molested. If he had just gone to the police with it, instead of protecting his friend, this would not be discussed right now and he could've stepped down gracefully. Again, loyalty is one thing, but when kids are involved -- especially in such a heinous act -- it needs to be reported so it can be stopped before other kids are harmed.

I just hate that this is the way he will be remembered. After so many years of carrying himself in a respectful manner, this whirlwind hits him and gets him fired. As mentioned, I understand why the university took the action they did and believe it was the correct way to handle it. It's just unfortunate.

Wow! It will be so odd not to see either JoePa or Bobby Bowden on the sidelines. It truly is an end of an era

Let the Good Times Roll

Tim Schwab texted me on Wednesday evening asking me if I wanted to go ride Sunday. This is a rhetorical question right?

Of course I *WANT* to go ride, the real question is, Can I? After checking in with Melissa, I was told she would be available to tend to Dad after church and could be home by 11:15 AM.

With the shortened hours of daylight this time of year brings, that would only allow us a good 5 hours or so of riding, depending on where we met. We intended to meet in Hot Springs, NC around 12:30 PM, which is only about 40 minutes from me, but nearly 2 hours away from Tim. However, he was able to sneak away a bit earlier than I, so we planned on that.

Yeah, plans! Heh! His buddy, Chris, was not going to be able to make it to Tim’s in time for him to meet me in Hot Springs so he texts me Sunday morning letting me know he cannot commit. What?

I call him so we can cut through about three rounds of texting while working out new details. It turns out that he could not commit to a time frame. Basically, he didn’t want to pull an “Ed” and be late. So we setup plan B and decide that Asheville is nearly equidistant from my house and his and plan to meet at the Black Mountain exit off I-40 at 1 PM.

I chose to take I-40 over so I could replace my lost NC map at the Welcome Center. After fighting through the hordes of Gamecock fans proudly flying their flags celebrating their victory over my Vols , I found myself in Black Mountain and at our rendezvous point at 1:10.

Woot! I am 10 minutes late, but for me, that’s *not* late.

The only “problem” was there was no one there to corroborate that I wasn’t “late”.   ; ) Tim and Chris show up shortly thereafter and it felt good for once not to have folks waiting on my sorry ass! After a brief social session, we jump on the bikes heading south on NC-9.

I ran this a few weeks ago (waaayy) behind Mr. Schwab, but I am feeling much better about myself now. He tells me to take the helm as he is going to ride with Chris who has not got a lot of confidence yet.

So I take off and dispense of a few cagers and start enjoying the twisty bits that frustrated me just a few short weeks earlier. After a few miles there is a long (maybe ¼ mile or so?) straightaway, so I slowed waaayy down watching the mirror for two bikes. Nada!

I continue on and gave up passing cars by this time as I am still watching the mirror in hopes of seeing them approach. Still nothing … and it has been a while, so I find a spot where I could pull over and park the bike.

After a bit they show, so I merge back in and head on. The plan was to stop at US 64 and turn back north to run it again.

I pulled over at the first spot I saw once we merged onto 64 and found out why it took so long for me to see them. Apparently the first switchback corner we came to Chris handled wrong and was pitched off his bike.

Fortunately, damage was minimal, but he thought he had a cracked rib. The gear and a little luck was largely the reason for minor injury and the bike damage was basically cosmetic.

While at this stop Chris decided he was just going to jump on US 74 and head back home to Charlotte. Probably the wise decision considering he was hurting. (side note – he did make it home okay)

Tim and I meanwhile headed back up NC-9 to enjoy another run up the mountain. Then we would turn eastward and pick up NC-80 northbound.

I had never been on 80 before and Tim and I have talked about hitting some of the roads in his neighborhood for a loooong time. Today we finally made that happen.

This was good stuff! It offered a nice variety of curves. Stretches of it kind of reminded me of TN-116 with its mix of tight stuff and lazy esses.

I am still dealing with a flat spot at about 5500 RPM. I have poured two bottles of Seafoam in it, and it has gotten better, but there is still a slight sputter there. We were running on a long straight and I decided to try and work on that flat spot a bit.

I revved the engine up on this long straight to hit that flat spot, kept it there, backed off, and repeated. All the while, my attention is being split between the road and the odometer. I knew there was a curve coming up, but was paying too much attention to the odometer.

I noticed that curve was coming up rapidly and immediately stood on the brakes.Whoa boy things happen fast when that V4 is in its power band.

RRRRRRRTTTTTT  was the emanating sound as the tires squalled and speed was scrubbed off … then I just sauntered into the curve as if nothing happened. DUMBASS!!    

The rest of the run up the hill was uneventful, but quite enjoyable. Amazing what happens when you pay attention to the road, eh?   ; )     

Once at the top of the hill the BRP crosses 80 and Tim was waiting there in the parking lot across from the intersection. We then proceeded to take the BRP across to NC-181 and turned south.

We are cruising along at a good pace and passing what few cars we come up on as politely as we can. Then we come up on another rider who was just kind of poking along.

Tim gets up there and shows him a wheel for a second and that rider picked up the pace. He was cooking along pretty well and the two of them looked like a symphony the way they were in tune with one another. It really was a thing of beauty.

I knew we were going to be up in the higher elevations so I had layered up prior to leaving the house and by now was darn glad of it! We had been running along in a two or three mile patch of shade now and I was starting to feel a bit of a chill through my layers. Tim confirmed later that it wasn’t just me.

A few miles later, the other rider pulled off and gave a friendly wave indicating he enjoyed Tim’s company. Who doesn’t?

We soon found 181 – another road I had never been on that Tim told me I needed to check out. And he was right! This is nothing but looong sweeping turns that you can really motor through and it wound up putting a huge smile on your face.

We came upon a slow moving truck and Tim managed to have the time and a sight line to get by. However, I failed to have the space-time thing to have the confidence to pull a DY pass. I got stuck behind it for a long time because of my timid approach.

There were a few times I could have made a pass, but by that time the truck had caught up to slower traffic and it would have been to just set behind another vehicle to await another opportunity, so why bother? I just kind of gave up and rode along for most of that run.

At one of the “allowed” passing spots, I revved the engine to 7-8K in 4^th gear passing 3 cars in one swoop and was scooting along pretty well.  By the time I crested the hill, I had gotten the bike back down to a more legal speed, and not a moment to soon as there was a state trooper riding in the opposite direction.

I saw him tap his brakes as I passed. However, I didn’t see him again, so I guess he was not interested in me – and I’m okay with that. If he had crested that hill a couple seconds earlier, I am sure things would’ve been different.

That road needs to be run again. It was pretty sweet!

I just wish I wasn’t so timid and got stuck behind traffic for a good part of the more enjoyable bits. Tim, we shall do that one again to be sure.

We wound up in Morganton and grabbed a bite at the Sonic near I-40. As much as I love riding, I was damn ready to get out of that seat by this time as my arse was hurting!

Besides, sometimes the socializing about the ride (and just socializing in general), is just as good as the ride itself – especially when the company is good. After enjoying each other’s company for a bit, it was time to put an end to the day and head our separate ways.

When I got on the interstate I found the sun glaring directly into my eyes and that I had another 150 miles to go until getting home. I rolled in just after 8:00 with about 350 miles logged for the day, thoroughly sore, and smiling. Good times!