The Long Ride, 2008

[TireSmoker]

The past two years, my friend Mike Rowell and I have gone for day-long motorcycle rides. Mike rides a newer Ducati Monster 800, while I'm on my trusty Yamaha Radian (600). Mike's brother-in-law Dave is going to join us this year-- not sure what he rides.

The first year, 2006, we had found a posting on sport-touring.net about a big group ride those guys were doing to a place called Denny's Beer Barrel in central Pennsylvania -- ironically enough, right off US 322. Denny's claim to fame is The Worlds Biggest Burger -- http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/burger.htm If you can finish it, it's free. The ride up there wasn't real exciting, as it was a bit cold, no sun, and a few bad route decisions. The ride back (starting around 3pm) was waaay better. It had warmed up, the sun was out, and *much* better route selection for the way home. Route 666 in PA was the highlight of it.

In 2007, we just picked a day and went out riding. We didn't really have any destination in mind, but ended up in West Virginia before we cut the ride short earlier than expected when we started seeing exposed belts in his rear tire. I still logged over 400 miles that day.

For 2008, we decided to step it up a notch. We're planning a 2-day trip on the last weekend in May, that'll be close to 1000 miles. Mike worked out this route on Google maps. This will definitely be a test for me, as after the past two years, after doing 400-500 miles in a day, the last thing I wanted to do on the day-after was ride again. This will be different, though, since we're planning it out.

I have a little bit of work to do before the trip, as I want to change the engine-to-carb intake boots (mine are cracked/dry-rotted), front tire, new plugs, air filter, and oil change. I'm also considering buying a better helmet, as my current one is a bit too loose on my head.

It should be a blast.

-Dave

[Basement Paul]

1000 miles in a car is a ton, but on a bike, to me, would be WAY too much. I'm hoping you have good rain gear (just in case) and a good kidney belt. Riding with you're friends sounds fun though, and hopefully you get some great weather.

-BP

[markss327]

From a guy who's logged over 50k miles on two different bikes, (two Suzys, '78 GS750, and '83 GS1100), the FIRST thing I recommend, is a full face helmet. I'm partial to Bell's. Second is decent soft luggage. I went thru two tank bags, before I found one I liked. Third, would be a fairing. I ended up with a little sport thing on the 1100. It was just enough to reduce the wind blast on my chest.

I too, had a buddy who liked to ride. He now has a BMW R100S. I no longer ride. Anyway, for three or four summers, we used to meet his parents in Myrtle Beach. I worked second shift at TRW, we'd leave around midnight on a Friday, and arrive Saturday evening for dinner. Fatigue, what fatigue!!!

[TireSmoker]

I know you've mentioned the bikes before Mark, but I always seem to forget that you used to ride.

Yep, I've always ridden with a full face helmet, especially because I have no windshield. I definitely want to get a new helmet. My current one isn't bad, but I know it should fit tigheter than it does. My hope is that better fit = less wind noise. The wind noise is what fatigues me more than anything. Earplugs are my best friend. As long as the speeds are under 60, there isn't a ton of windblast.

As for tank bag, I've just always worn a backpack instead. I have a cargo net as well. Mike uses a tank bag, though.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

So, tomorrow begins The Ride. We are leaving right after work from Mike's place in Leroy and returning sometime late on Sunday, so it'll really be 2.5 days. We have a 4th rider, John Potter, joining us. 1 Ducati, 1 Yamaha, 2 BMWs. I'll try to make as many pictures and video as I can.

-Dave

[markss327]

Good luck!
Don't forget, one down, and four up!

[TireSmoker]

One down, and *five* up!

[Basement Paul]

And don't forget your rain gear. Hopefully you'll stay dry, but there's a chance of rain Friday night and Saturday.

Have fun and be safe.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

We hit the road last night at about 6:30p from Mike's house in Leroy Twp. The skies looked threatening, but we never got wet, nor came across any wet pavement. We went down 534 as far as we could, eventually ending up on US 45 through Lisbon, and made our way into Steubenville shortly after dark. We checked into a Holiday Inn that had a Damon's Grill attached to it. Must be a prom weekend, plenty of hot young girls...

We were woken up this morning by the sound of thunder -- not the best way to be woken up on a motorcycle trip. It rained pretty good last night and looks like we will be riding through some of it today. I thought that by actually buying a rainsuit yesterday that this wouldn't happen!

Traffic was pretty good on the way down. We were only held up a few times, but we're not trying to set any speed records either.

My Radian is running awesome. Replacing the carb-intake boots, the spark plugs, and the air filter seems to have made a big difference. The bike pulls easily to 10,500-11,000 RPM (used to peter out at 9500), I rode 100 miles on a tank without touching the reserve and it just feels much better than it used to.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

The word for the day yesterday was RAIN. All Day. It had rained overnight on Friday night but had quit by morning. According to the weather channel, it looked like we would miss most of everything else. I elected to leave my rain pants off. Within an hour, I was damp (but not soaked) and put them on. The rest of the day was nothing but on and off rain and wet pavement. We only made it as far as Alcans, WV. Our goal was to hit Skyline Drive in Virginia, but it was just too far as the weather really slowed us down. We did get a slight break in the late afternoon and had about 30 minutes of riding with sunshine and semi-dry pavement. But then we got down poured on again and everyone decided to call it quits (was 6pm by that point)

US 250 is an *awesome* road to ride.

Lessons learned:

1) leather jackets can soak up an incredible amount of water. You wouldn't believe what ours weighed by the end of the day.

2) Dry feet are more important than anything else. By the end of the day, our feet were all swimming inside our shoes/boots. Squish-squish every time you'd shift.

3) Hair dryers work pretty well at drying out boots.

4) Clothes dryers don't work well at drying out boots. The boots kick the door open.

We have a lot of miles to ride today.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

It turned out to be about a *perfect* day for riding home. It was sunny and warm, with just a few white fluffy clouds in the sky as we left the hotel in Elkins, WV. I wrote Alcans, WV in the last message, because thats what the clerk sounded like when I asked at check-in. I saw a sign on the way out of town that said Elkins. No wonder I couldn't find it on weather.com this morning.

Since we never made it to our intended destination of Skyline Drive in Virigina, we just decided to head back the way we had come, taking WV-219 back to US 250. We rode US 250 all the way back to Ohio, finally veering off at OH-9 North. We followed that to OH-151 West, to OH-332 North, back onto OH-9 North, taking us into Salem, OH. From there, we took OH-173 West to OH-14 NorthWest to OH-534. That got us back to Geauga county.

US 250 , once outside of Moundsville, WV seems like it has no straightaways. The whole thing is just a series of twist, curves, hills, and switchbacks. Even in the dry, on the way home, it would be difficult to maintain the posted 55 speed limit. Mike and I really jammed over a 25-30 mile section of the road and just had a blast. We were between 40-60 MPH, and I could just leave it in 4th gear (3rd on really tight turns), keeping the motor from 5000-7500 rpm, very responsive, and good engine braking. The tune-up work before the trip really paid off in terms of performance. It just runs awesome now. It helped mileage too. I was getting between 45-50mpg on different segments.

Traffic was rarely a factor, fortunately.

By the time we got back near central Ohio, it was noticeably cooler than further south -- at least 10-15 degrees. At least we were dry! I got home about 5:30 tonight.

http://photos.studly.net/main.php?g2_vi ... itemId=201

[MostMint]

Sounds like a fun adventure. How'd you post on the way - did you bring a laptop?

[TireSmoker]

No, just logging on in the morning to the computer in the 'business center'