How was Your Weekend Ride?

[ShawnKing]

My wife and I have just recently moved to the Danbury, CT area and it's my "job" to find nice places to ride/restaurants/places to see, etc. This weekend while she was out of town was spent doing just that.

I'm a big fan of taking your ride to an isolated area to test aspects of it - for me, I've been wanting to test out the ABS to get a feel for when it kick in and how it feels. I got the chance to feel the ABS this weekend - unfortunately....

I was cruising "comfortably" through some back roads, nice and twisty, when I noticed this particular mailbox on the side of the road. I thought that it looked really odd cause it was so low to the ground and had an odd looking stand....like it was on skinny legs and...it was walking across the road...

DAMMIT! WILD TURKEY!

See, we don't have those damn things in Canada so I'm not used to seeing them, walking across the fricking road. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to at least stand the bike up before I hammered both brakes.

While trying to bring the bike down from speed, I thought, "What the hell is *that* feeling?" It wasn't until the bird had figuratively flipped me the off and meandered into the woods that I realized It was what the ABS felt like when it kicked in - an odd fast pulsing through the wheels.

The most fun I had this weekend was following a group of cars. Now, these weren't ordinary cars - I happened to come up on 10 Porsches and BMW sports cars. I was following about $750,000 worth of 4 wheeled beauties.

As I followed I noticed they weren't going all that fast, relatively speaking. And even though we were on a fairly twisty (and definitely fun) mountain road, there were quite a few (short) passing zones....Hmmmm....

Next chance I had, I hammered the throttle of the FJR. It felt like someone had lit a rocket under my seat - I was amazed at how the FJR just leapt forward with no downshifting necessary.

This could be fun!

Sure enough, I managed to catch/pass 9 of the cars and all of them relatively easy. I would have caught the last guy but he turned off into a gas station.

As always, I'm glad I wear a full face helmet because it would have been embarrassing to have anyone see me giggling to myself. What a great weekend to put another 500 miles on the new bike.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

No offense in moving your post - it was great to hear that you were able to get out and still get home unscathed  

[ShawnKing]

No offense in moving your post

None taken. Mind if I ask why? Should any other posts I make be put in this section?

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Ride Reports, while there are no written rules, are generally expected to be a little longer, or more detail, and preferably with pictures.

And you can put future posts where you like, but it should depend on what they're about. If you're talking about something specific to the area you live in (Region 6) then yes, here would be good. But if it's something more general, like what you think of helmet laws, the General Discussion would be appropriate. Etc, etc.

[Hulked Up]

We saw those Porsches cruising through Great Barrington on Saturday.  Whereabouts were you?

[nevinfs327]

Thanks for the report.  Always nice to explore new areas.  I'd love to see pics and specific road suggestions since the area is close to me though I rarely ride East of the Hudson

[L8RGYZ67]

Yep, sounds like fun!

Better than mine, which got rained out. I was headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains solo. Why solo? Because everyone else had the good sense to realize the weather would suck!

[ShawnKing]

Ride Reports, while there are no written rules, are generally expected to be a little longer, or more detail, and preferably with pictures.

And you can put future posts where you like, but it should depend on what they're about. If you're talking about something specific to the area you live in (Region 6) then yes, here would be good. But if it's something more general, like what you think of helmet laws, the General Discussion would be appropriate. Etc, etc.

Got it - thanks!

[ShawnKing]

We saw those Porsches cruising through Great Barrington on Saturday.  Whereabouts were you?

No idea - I'm new to the area and have a *lousy* sense of direction. If I didn't have a GPS, I'd never leave my house. I'm pretty sure I didn't actually get into Mass but I bet I was pretty close.

Ironically, I was scouting out roads for the "upcoming" Northeast Meet & Greet, in Great Barrington, Mass. Then I discovered it was *last* weekend.

[ShawnKing]

Thanks for the report.  Always nice to explore new areas.  I'd love to see pics and specific road suggestions since the area is close to me though I rarely ride East of the Hudson

My apologies for no specifics/pictures. I don't often pay attention to the names/numbers of the roads I'm on and as a brand new FJR rider, I'm averse to getting off of it long enough to take pics. Maybe that will wear off soon.

[ShawnKing]

I'd love to see pics and specific road suggestions

No pics after the fact but, just for you I went back to look at where I'd gone.

I was using maps from these guys:
http://moto-maps.com/products/maps/ctri/ctri.html

Specifically, this one:


I was generally following their "green" route in the upper left - Northwestern CT.

since the area is close to me though I rarely ride East of the Hudson

A lot of folks tell me the roads around here are actually quite pretty/fun - from what I've seen so far, I've got to agree!

[nevinfs327]

Thanks - I've explored in the area of the green route before.  Never had success finding twisties in the Berkshires though generally nice roads.  

It looks like part of the red route follows 34 from Shelton to 84.  That's a nice road, albeit short.  

[ShawnKing]

Never had success finding twisties in the Berkshires though generally nice roads.

Depends on your abilities and definitions of "twisties". I've found some roads that are a blast to ride on but, as a new FJR rider, I'm not doing any "high speed maneuvers" through them...yet...

[Hulked Up]

Litchfield County can be pretty fun, but it is often hard to avoid all the cars through there.  We actually did part of that route on Saturday (top-right hand corner around the Reservoir that's on the map).  

Route 7 is also nice around the Cornwall Bridge area.  I also like Route 4 running up to that town with the stone clock (?).

But if you really want to have some fun cross the border to Amenia, NY and do some riding in Dutchess County.  The roads there will blow your mind.  Anything with a state highway number is good.