posting from my phone.  been on the triumph since friday afternoon.  went from erie to vintage days at mid ohio.  then to columbus. camped out.  today I found some smack-tacular roads in wva.  had three close calls so far.  more on that when im near a keyboard. heading home now.

head west 

what kind of close calls?
with the  or the  [moto]?

ride safe & have fun!

Not the kind.  The bad kind.

From the beginning:

I was originally not planning on doing anything this weekend.  Then my aunt told me she was going to Vintage days, and riding there on her 900 Vulcan from Delaware.

Ok, Im in now.

I left later than I wanted friday, about 330.  Heading to Akron to meet up with her at the hotel.  A free room for me is awesome!

530 has me stuck at a dead stop, in 85* heat, in leathers with no vents on the highway because of an accident.

The road split way up ahead, and I figured ill just cruise all the way up, then wedge myself in front of a car.  Yep, Im that guy now.  Traffic was at a 2mph pace so I don't think anyone was too pissed.

What really pissed them off was when things were stopped, I discovered I could ride on the berm.  It was about 10' wide, paved and pretty clean. 

I literally passed 500 cars.  I now understand the joy of lanesplitting (even though I technically was to the left)

I get to Akron, meet up with the aunt, grab a shower and we head to dinner.

The next interesting event is leaving the steakhouse.  There are 2 sets of double doors, like an airlock of sorts.

She takes the left door through both sets.  I grab the right.  I look back, there's a guy following, I hold the door.

Gold star for me.

The second set I do the same thing, I look back, yep he's still there.

I slow, to hand the door off to this guy, and as I turn I smash my forehead directly into a jamb post that separates these doors.

The first set didn't have this feature.  Now I look like a jackass cause I blasted my own face into a door post.    Yep, Im that guy now.  I kicked my own ass.  <--- looked just like this, BTW.

We got to Vintage days fairly early, 9ish.  Since she was there the day before, she was setup with Kawasaki as a Kawi owner and I got to be the guest.  Free water, cookies crackers and muffins all day.  Plus a sweet awning and fans.

Did I mention it was 11ty billion degrees?  They were pretty much dicks to me at the Triumph truck so I didn't stick around there.  The Stunt show was awesome!  Kevin Carmichael rocked the Street and Speed tripples.

I also forgot to put sun screen on my legs.  Now Im paying for it    Going back next year for sure.

Saturday also happened to coincide with an annual huge party a good friend has.  He lives in Columbus and that's only 45 minutes from Mid-O, so i went down there to camp, drink, and check out women.  This was a pretty good party.  Im not much of a beer guy, so I had about a gallon of (strong) Sangria.  I managed to setup my tent, in the dark while full throttle drunk.      I'm awesome.

Sunday started at 9am for me.  And really got back underway at 1 when everyone else was up.  Things raged till 7 am!  I cashed out sometime between 12 and 2am.  I guess Im old now (but not DP old)

I took Monday off just in case, and the plan was to leave Columbus and head South East to kill some mountain roads in that corner of the state and in West Virginia/Pennsylvania.

I left town at 5 and as it got dark tried to find a campground.  My GPS let me down.  Said camp ground did not actually exist.  My second attempt worked as it was a state park and really did exist. 

So I roll in around 9, in the dark.  I still have my smoked shield on, and didn't dare lift it because my eyes would pack with bugs.  It was covered with tiny bugs, I don't know how I could see anything 

I found the camp ground and setup across from a guy with his kid, and kid's best friend.

I have to say, this group has renewed my faith in man.  Not only did they help me get things setup, he made me 2 hot dogs, with baked beans and gave me a beer.  I had planned to get something to eat and take it with me to the camp ground, but in the mountains, there literally is nothing.  I left food 30 miles ago, and wasn't going back.  Mountain roads are a lot of fun, but at night they're a lot of work!  I was drained and prepared to just be hungry.  So, to some guy named Dan  Thanks man, you made my day!!!

Broke camp today at 10 or so and headed for roads high in elevation and curvy in nature.

It's hard to stay reigned in on roads that are this fun.  I was definitely riding at least 2 notches over where I should have been for being on roads I didn't know.  I came around a bend at full boil in 4th and as the road straightened out it dropped way off.  Think roller coaster. 

So now the front wheel lofts.  In 4th gear 

I calmed down a little after that, but still had a lot of fun.

Close call #1:  While pulled over, pointed up hill I decide to go the other way.  I back down hill while turning the bars and get the bike 90* to the road.  I put my down hill foot right on some loose stones and over we went.  I said "No!" through gritted teeth and called upon every fiber of muscle in that leg to do it's job.  Somehow, between that and the graces of gods I don't even know about, I kept it up.

Close call #2:  Cornering at a nice pace, in the zone if you will, in a 3rd gear left hander.  It became a decreasing radius curve faster than I could blink.  I was not ready for this.  Im at a pretty good lean.  I roll off while leaned.  I do that all the time, so that's not a problem.  Im used to that.  What got me was that I now needed a speed much lower than where I was, I needed 2nd gear to keep the motor from lugging down to idle.  The problem was that I was pulling on that right bar so hard, I couldn't get my wrist to blip the throttle.  I was pushing on the left one too, so zip it    I down shift while leaned all the time too, also not a problem.  However, I've never been unable to rev match.  Sooooo i just let the clutch out.  I can't believe how much the bike nose dived as all that weight transfered forward.  Furthermore, I can't believe it stayed stuck to the road.  I probably should have crashed right there.  That would have put me right into the guard rail.  Hard.

Close call #3:  Can't remember.  I know there's more than 2.  Maybe it will come to me later.

Ill post some pics when I can get them out of my phone.  This was a really good time.  Best of all, I saved my campground as a POI and it's only 4 hours or so from home.

Anyone up for a group ride?

For the record, I did not have any  the entire trip.  Not the  kind, or the  kind.

Quote from: bobspapa on July 28, 2008, 11:01:16 AM
head west 

On the agenda for next year, or the year after maybe.

I want to do a "Famous members of the DMF tour"

[moto]

Quote from: Monsterlover on July 28, 2008, 06:03:33 PM
On the agenda for next year, or the year after maybe.

I want to do a "Famous members of the DMF tour"

[moto]

Definitely gotta hit the PNW then! 

I will, I will, promise

great write-up for a great trip ML

our door in NW CT is open...

Noted

Sounds like a damn good time to me!  I'm going to do my best to get to at least one of the Mid-Ohio races next year.