Northern Va Ride II

[hovmaven]

If DNA is bringing the Sprint -- bring quick dry. . ..  

[DNA]

Planned route/end time? 2 pm?

Excellent - please plan away, or I will endeavor to get us lost with the help of the GPS and HOV will sandbag in the rear and laugh as we "discuss" options.  

[Windblown]

I'm doing west & south wanna say hello to the cops on 211? LOL

[Joey Stalin]

Windblown, sent you my phone number. I'll check for messages while we ride.

[hovmaven]

HOV will sandbag in the rear and laugh as we "discuss" options.  

I did.  It was fun.  Sorry I had to cut out early.  "Twas a good day, and I'm certainly looking forward to the next one.  

[Windblown]

It was fun.  "Twas a good day, and I'm certainly looking forward to the next one.  

Ditto.  I managed to catch a glimpse of a black&white blur followed by a silver blur on 675. Turned around figuring it would take me most of Fort Valley to catch up but luckily they slowed their pace long enough for me to join in for a short hop to F.R.

I see Joey still rides that bike like a madman.  

[DNA]

Good times 4 sure.

That old look is still one of my favorites.

It was really good to go out for a while and ride the Pace for a bit.

An yes - both resurrected bikes held up well - better than the squirrel, and the mighty dictator was quite quick.  He ever went up hill fast today!

[Joey Stalin]

Yeah, we must've done something right putting these bikes back together, since we got home after a thorough flogging, and left no pieces on the road behind us. Definitely felt good to get out and stretch the legs a bit.

[hovmaven]

It was really good to go out for a while and ride the Pace for a bit.

 

[hovmaven]

 

File this under "really glad to still be here" . . ..  

So there I am, on the beltway, about 0630, minding my own business, just flowing with traffic, which happened to occupy all lanes, but was moving well -- when what did I see but a huge, and I mean huge, coil of cable that was being hauled by trailer behind a telephone or some such company truck una** about 70 yards in front of me.  The thing just bounced, and cartwheeled, and bounced.  Pretty amazing, figuring it was over seven feet in diameter and weighed, oh, I don't know, about a ton????  Vehicles scattered every which way at highway speed as this thing pinballed around.  I looked for space and went for it.  I wanted to give the cars behind me as much room as possible as I watched in amazement at what was happening.  All I could say was "no, no, no, no" as this damn evil wheel hit the asphalt, rose, spun and then seemed to pause in mid-air right above a smallish convertible.  And I don't know how, but that driver somehow zagged at the right moment and escaped from being crushed by a nanosecond.  More unbelievable was that the thing seemingly missed everyone before coming to a crumpled rest along the jersey wall.  The truck and its follow car stopped, the very close shaved head young gentleman got out, ran back, and as I stopped, came in front of me and retrieved an really big, heavy, axle type gizmo that looked like a bazooka that had come to rest in the center of the roadway.  That hadn't  hit anything either.  To be honest, these guys seemed more pissed than shocked.  I'm just glad nobody got killed, and I hope that there wasn't a bunch packed vehicles in the ones that followed me.  Freakin' amazing -- didn't need any morning coffee after that. . ..  

That wasn't much fun -- and no, I'm not looking forward to a next one.  

[DNA]

 

Wow - close call.  Hopefully you were in the burban not the vfr.

[Joey Stalin]

Was all of this while on the bike? If so, even more shit-in-pants inducing.

I've seen a number of strange things on the beltway. A refrigerator one time, a semi dragging his spare tire underneath him, sending sparks everywhere. He was oblivious, I honked at him and he pulled over, otherwise I'm sure he would've kept going all the way to the harbor tunnel like that. And although I didn't see it, I had a Buffalo shipped from Charleston, SC to Aberdeen on a low boy, with 2 spare tires. The truck arrived with 1. The driver had no clue where it was. I'll tell you where it went, it went bouncing down I-95 while you were pounding red bulls and potato chips!

[Windblown]

 -- didn't need any morning coffee after that. . ..  

No Doubt!  

[hovmaven]

Was all of this while on the bike? If so, even more shit-in-pants inducing.

I've seen a number of strange things on the beltway. A refrigerator one time, a semi dragging his spare tire underneath him, sending sparks everywhere. He was oblivious, I honked at him and he pulled over, otherwise I'm sure he would've kept going all the way to the harbor tunnel like that. And although I didn't see it, I had a Buffalo shipped from Charleston, SC to Aberdeen on a low boy, with 2 spare tires. The truck arrived with 1. The driver had no clue where it was. I'll tell you where it went, it went bouncing down I-95 while you were pounding red bulls and potato chips!

You look quite different in cammo. . ..  

[twist]

They still use woodland camo?  Get MultiCam, it's awesome!

[Joey Stalin]

No that's not me. But that's the size of the tire.

[hovmaven]

Of course, of course, I was kidding, just kidding.  Your time in the sand, and those long nights in the tents, didn't change you a bit. . ..    

[DrD]

SECOND page?  Wow, that is pitiful.  

Dot and I are going to Gettysburg for the weekend.  Ride up at a reasonable time on Saturday morning, stay in some OK hotel, sight see a bit, back Sunday PM.  Anyone know a few nice roads around there for a ride?


Change 5:  With the weather looking so bad for Saturday, but nice for Sunday, we're thinking of making this a long day on Sunday.  To Gettysburg on a more direct route, then meandering on back.  

[DrD]

We did ride to Gettysburg and back, 185 miles round trip (longest for Dot in quite some time).  She was on Toto and she is begining to bond with the bike.

We didn't go to the battlefield, nor the visitor center.  Just into town for lunch, then back.  Took Rt 15 the whole way up, but Rt 134 and Rt 193 down to Frederick before getting back on Rt 15.  Pleasant ride, nice weather.

In Gettysburg:

On the way back, just south of Lucketts at a farmer's market:



Dot wanted to bring the horse home.  Wouldn't fit in my topcase, so we had to leave it.

[hovmaven]

Very nice.  I'm jealous.  Should have things sorted in a day or two.  Weekends are still free.  GF still preferred. . ..