Northeast Meet & Greet, 4/26/08, Great Barrington, Mass.

[venk25]

STN n00b from NESR/yzf600r.com.

I'm in.  I'll join Leebo (did I get the person right ?) at rt 202 and 119 Citgo in Rindge, NH.

Anyone from Salem/Nashua/Amherst/Merrimack want to ride together to Rindge ? PM me.

I presume I need to be counted in this group:

head count of the rt 2 /202 meet spot people?

1 theothersean
2 leah
3 Lee
4 Dave
5 Pat (Silver VFR)
6 Venkat     <-- me
7
etc

Cheers.

[Fasted15]

JUST to give everyone a heads up, I was up at Oitis MA last weekend and the state police were out in force. seams Ma is having a crack down bikes speeding through town. 

[MissTwisties]

JUST to give everyone a heads up, I was up at Oitis MA last weekend and the state police were out in force. seams Ma is having a crack down bikes speeding through town. 

Ummm yeah. Tell me about it. My speedometer cable got disconnected today on my first ride of the year, mind you after spending 2 days at a local shop to have new tires installed and get it ready and "safe" for the new season with a pre-ride inspection. We get pulled over in Chester MA, they clocked me at 50 in a 35 zone, just before entering Chester on those nice tight twisties on Rte 20. I didn't think I was going 50...it felt like I was almost stopped. I showed him my speedo cable, he gave me and my friend a warning. My friend got *extremly* lucky because just before he was about to pass that same cop at much higher speed than me, someone in a car waved at him to slow down...then he saw the cop. I can't even recount how many cops we saw on Rte 8 and 20 near Otis, Chester, Huntington, you name it...they are out on all of our favorite roads!!  

[MissTwisties]

I didn't get an exact count, but would say there was probably about 50 bikes today at the meeting spot in Great Barrington? The morning ride was chilly, but enjoyable. Good riders to share the road with, it was fun! A few pictures I took,  specially liked the Ducati and the Bandit shown:

Stephan's ZX-10 and my bike


Yum...


Yes, please..



What a crowd...




Nice!!


Chris checking out bikes & trying to warm up...

[SPEEDMARK]

Yowza, that sure was a lot of bikes!  I think the total count was 62!!!

 

I tried to take a picture of every bike that made it to the meet.  I have them posted here: http://5000tq.com/audifanspics/Great-Barrington-Ride-04-26-08

I'd love it if everyone could take the time to identify which bike is yours, what year/model it is, and mods, etc.

Feel free to share the link with any other forums that advertised this ride.  

Looking forward to seeing some of you on future rides.

SPEEDMARK

[Mrs. DantesDame]

So - how was it? Was it EPIC??? Did you cross state lines and see miles and miles of countryside and twisty roads??  

[SPEEDMARK]

So - how was it? Was it EPIC??? Did you cross state lines and see miles and miles of countryside and twisty roads??  

I had no idea what to expect as this was my first time joining this ride.  I learned today that it happens every year.  The number of bikes that showed up was amazing!

I sure wish you were here with us!  

[Hulked Up]

Thanks for everyone that came out today, simply amazing turnout.  Andy counted something like 65 bikes in Great Barrington.  Big thanks to the V-Strom folks and the large crew that came down from NH & VT.  Also had people from other forums like ADV Rider and NESR.  

I heard many people say that just about every kind of bike was represented today.  Nice to look, socialize and do some great riding.  Cool to see old friends and meet many new ones.  

I should have some pics up in the next day, but they are basically the same as what has already been posted.

 

[Mrs. DantesDame]

I hear that you only managed to cover 60 miles??? Isn't that like a mile per bike???



And you call yourself sport-tourers!!!!    

[MissTwisties]

We covered about 75 miles from Granby CT to Great Barrington MA, and about 40 miles to come back home. So we rode about 115-120 miles total today, we could have gone longer but the cold of the morning ride just numbed us and we were so tired. Good fatigue tho, so no worries here.

SpeedMark, we were riding all morning with the V-Strom group from Granby CT. I'm a member of NESR, I was riding the black 2005 Ninja EX500, my husband was riding the 2005 titanium Ninja ZX-10.

[scott-sts]

I hear that you only managed to cover 60 miles??? Isn't that like a mile per bike???



And you call yourself sport-tourers!!!!    

My 60 mile day started at 5:30AM.

[Long:Haul]

The day turned out great - no rain.      Was good fun to see many of you again.  I look forward to another time.   Great pictures!!    

[Hulked Up]

I started the day in Windsor and arrived at the meet spot about 9:15.  Speedmark & Longhaul (Joe) were already there.  After a few minutes Andy arrived and then six of my buddies who had taken the ferry over from Long Island showed up.  Gotta love the dedication to riding.  Thanks dudes





We ended up with about 16 bikes meeting in Windsor.  Good crowd considering it was raining a little at the start.


Joe’s brand new Busa.  Beautiful bike and he was fielding a few questions from the super-super sport group here.  There were three Blackbirds and another Busa there too.


Jay (Busa), Joe (Longhaul), Scott-sts (Blackbird)


Art (Futura) & FastEd15 (ST1300)


Art, Jay, Doug (VFR800) & Joe


Speedmark talking to Paul


Paul (Blackbird)


Lots of interest in these bikes.  2004 999-R and 2008 CBR1000RR  I got a chance to talk to both guys (Eric on the 999, forgot the RR’s name, sorry) at lunch, very interesting stories, both in the National Guard and finished up a tour in Kuwait.  Be great to ride with you guys again sometime.  


Owner was telling me he came off a 600 and this bike feels a lot like one.  Loving it so far.



We had our rider’s meeting at 10 and hit the road.  Because I was on a 36hp KLR I asked Art to lead and had emailed him the GPS maps.  Unfortunately for us the maps did not transfer well into his GPS and we made a couple of wrong turns.  Kudos to Art for stopping to re-group.  I ended up leading for a while and had to cane the KLR a few times to keep ahead of the monsters behind me.    The bike handles the twisties really well and will run pretty hard up to about 70.  Anything over is too tough as the vibes set in.

I led everyone to Route 8, which is a really nice twisty road.  Fortunately, we saw no cops today whatsoever.  Unfortunately, we got stuck behind a few cars, which prevented full enjoyment of the great roads and weather.

By the time we got to Great Barrington the group got split up because of the cars.  Andy and I went to the pre-arranged lunch spot (4 Brothers), but no one was there.    



We got a call from Art who said everyone was over at Manhattan Pizza (which is not a liquor store, BTW).





Got a chance to meet Matt (from Great Barrington area) on his Bandit 1250.  Really clean bike.

Lots of laughs at lunch, there were about 18-20 of us there.  To say we over-ran the place would be an understatement.  At one point I was walking back to the table and there was a woman sitting by herself, directly behind Andy, with her back to us.  She had her head down, her eyes closed and her fingers touching, like she was meditating.  I guess we must have freaked her out.  

After lunch I took off to fill up, getting separated again before going to Price Chopper.  When I got there I saw no bikes.  WTF?   I made a couple phone calls but couldn’t get a hold of anyone.  After standing around a couple of minutes I decided to drive around and found the 60+ bikes on the other side of the building.    I was looking in the same spot as the last couple of years and rode right past them.  Duh.

It blew me away to see that many bikes in one place.  There was a huge group from the Stromtroopers forum (thanks Sudzz!) I heard about 25 others had met in Orange and rode down in three groups.  I got to see some old friends like ChR1’s & Paige, Craig (& his wife), Happybusa (& new lady), Ken Condon from MCN, Conrad, Phatpat33 & Leebo.  Big thanks to Leebo for helping organize the ride.  








very clean GS






Scott, Paul, Art & Ed, all from Long Island




ZZRStew (Mike) trying on the KLR for size.  It fits him a little bit better than me.  The number one question I got all day was “How do you fit on that?”  It’s a 35 inch seat height and I have a 30” inseam.  Actually it’s not been a problem so far.  The suspension settles once you sit on it and I can comfortably put both feet down on tip-toes or go to one foot, which is a little more stable.  The bike is so well balanced that as soon as you are moving you are maneuvering it.  I just have to be a little planful about where I put my foot down.  

I hung around for a while and talked to people, but there were so many people there, so many people I didn’t know, that it was a lot to take in.  

At one point a guy in the Strom group blew his horn and that crew left.  That was the signal for everyone else to suit up too and the group dispersed in about 15 minutes.


Long Island crew leaving

There were only a few of us left and I got a chance to talk to Peter about his 1978 Yamaha XS1100.


Peter found out about the ride from an XS board and a guy that had been with us last year:


These bikes really stand out in a group.  Peter was telling me he is the original owner of the bike and that he’s never done a group ride like this.  Erase all your doubts, that man can ride, especially two-up with his son.  I was directly behind him during much of the day and he can really make that bike handle.  I couldn’t keep up with him.  

Great diversity of bikes in Great Barrington.  One of practically everything.  What I think is really cool about these events is meeting people and checking out the bikes.  There are bikes that you don’t see often or that just came out.  It’s no problem to walk up to someone, say, “how do you like the bike?” and start a long conversation about it.  Great crowd to be with, everyone loves motorcycles and loves talking about them.  Much better than a dealership or bike show.

Some of the other interesting bikes were a Honda Transalp, a HD Sportster with 104,000 miles on it, KTM Supermoto and a number of V-Stroms that looked very dirt-worthy.  Also tons of BMW and other sport-touring bikes.

After everyone split I headed north with Leebo (GS1100) and Dave (R1100RT).  We did some great Western Mass roads and parted ways on 116.

From talking to people there seems to me some interest in doing some organized group rides this summer, including a return of the Euro-trash (European bikes only) ride we did in 2005.  Let’s see what we can do.  The large group rides get a bit unmanageable if the numbers get over a dozen, give or take.  Over the last few years I’ve been leaning towards the 3 day weekend rides in the northeast destinations like White Mountains, Maine, Adirondacks, Northeast Kingdom, Green Mountains, etc.  I’d be up for either kind of ride.

A huge thanks to everyone that came out and made the event the biggest yet.  Much appreciation to Leebo for organizing the group from the north.  The event wouldn’t be the same without you guys.  Great way to kick off the season.  

[ST3Andy]

Nice job Keith Great turnout and no reports of any "incidents". Sorry I missed you on the way out. I jumped in with LI crew for the ride south.

[Fasted15]

HI Keith, You do but on a good show. great turn out., really nice getting to see all the different bike that show up. I had a great time riding with the L.I group.  

[Leebo]

Where to start?? What a great day. At the end, the odometer showed 381 miles.
I met a lot of new people and saw some old riding friends. Keith, as always, you are the MAN!!  Sean and Kurt thanks for leading groups from Orange. Some how the slow group got 12 riders but it seemed to work pretty well. Easy routes, good roads and no one pushed anyone past where they wanted to be. Not sure if we really qualified for a slow group or not. It was a lot of fun.
 Thanks to Vince for helping with the parking, that was great back there out of the way of the traffic in the parking lot.
 It great to meet Barry from Stromtrooper, Steven with his 100K Sportster, Dirtgirl, Liz, Tallerman, ETC ETC..
  SO may nice bikes it was hard to focus and just look at one.
 Look forward to next year for the 5th annual ride….
 Bring on the Eurotrash ride…..
Lee
Here are afew more photos, most I have are the same as has been posted.

 At the Citgo


At the meeting place






On Rt 9 in Vermont

[SPEEDMARK]

I also joined the L.I. group as they headed south.  Unfortunately (or, fortunately, depending on how you look at it) a State Trooper pulled onto Route 8 directly in front of us.  It was great to know where he was, but it took the better part of three towns to get everyone past him.  He was driving at 63 mph in a 65 mph zone.  Arrrrrgh!

Once we passed him and got safely through the areas well known for having Troopers in the median we turned up the speed a bit.  Nothing outrageous, but certainly more fun.

At Route 84 I watched one bike head west as I headed east.  The rest of the L.I. riders continued onto their ferry in Bridgeport.

Every one of them was fun to ride with.  Lots of respect for "personal space" and willingness to ride at an enthusiastic pace.  I look forward to riding with them all again!

Great job organizing the event, Keith.  Thanks.

[scott-sts]

I also joined the L.I. group as they headed south.  Unfortunately (or, fortunately, depending on how you look at it) a State Trooper pulled onto Route 8 directly in front of us.  It was great to know where he was, but it took the better part of three towns to get everyone past him.  He was driving at 63 mph in a 65 mph zone.  Arrrrrgh!

Once we passed him and got safely through the areas well known for having Troopers in the median we turned up the speed a bit.  Nothing outrageous, but certainly more fun.

At Route 84 I watched one bike head west as I headed east.  The rest of the L.I. riders continued onto their ferry in Bridgeport.

Every one of them was fun to ride with.  Lots of respect for "personal space" and willingness to ride at an enthusiastic pace.  I look forward to riding with them all again!

Great job organizing the event, Keith.  Thanks.

65 on a bike feels painfully slow, huh?
I figured you knew what you were doing when you passed him, so I went with you.   Good call.
The section of Route 8 south of Hartford (With the river on the right) is super fun.  I wicked it up through the sweepers there.  The section near Bank street is mega cool too.  The s-turns there are a bit slower but still cool.  I can't let the opportunity pass and tend to get a bit nuts through those parts.

[hochreiter]

I hear that you only managed to cover 60 miles???

I have a few miles to share.
I mapped out what I rode that day:

Total Distance: 770.7 mi  
Total Estimated Time: 15 h 19 mins  

I had a MMCI meeting in Apalachin, NY at 4pm.
I did not get home untill ~5am this morning.

It was different being the only HD present.

ps: the odometer is at 104592

[cjgauthier]

I have a few miles to share.
I mapped out what I rode that day:

Total Distance: 770.7 mi  
Total Estimated Time: 15 h 19 mins  

I had a MMCI meeting in Apalachin, NY at 4pm.
I did not get home untill ~5am this morning.

It was different being the only HD present.

ps: the odometer is at 104592

            You're a different kind of HD rider, you never asked me when I was going to get a REAL bike like my HD riding buddies.    
            Leebo, did a good job of getting us there. My return trip was interesting. I live northeast of Great Barrington, so I took a northerly route out of town until I saw a sign going east, then north,then east, etc.. After I got halfway across the state, I jumped on rt. 2 and headed home. All in all, a good day of riding with a bit of socializing thrown in and another successful ST-N event.  I left the house at 08:00 returning at 19:00. My riding days always end up longer than my working days!