i like to ride...

[eSONG]

Pretty sure this is the pic that is in the latest Aerostitch catalog.  Looks like lots of fun.

Really?  I haven't seen it.  I'll have to check it out.  Thanks.

[eSONG]

Routes are finalized...we head out tomorrow afternoon.  My plan is to sample lots and lots of BBQ along the way.  

Day 1


Day 2




Day 3


keep stunting to a minimum.


Day 4




Day 5/6...We will stay 2 days near Deal's Gap.




Day 7


Day 8




Day 9


Day 10...last leg home always sucks.

[Mastros2]

Mmmm, BBQ! Enjoy and I'll wait for the report!

[ConPilot1]

wow man. That's livin'

Looks like a great time!

[nevinfs327]

I was just in some of those areas and the riding was awesome - have fun!  2 suggestions:

- Skip the BBQ place just off the BRP at Meadows of Dan if you go by, unless you really need to eat.  Not terrible but not great either.
- There are 2 LEOs patrolling the dragon cruising back and forth and occassionally setting up radar (on my way out one had set up right at beginning).  I passed them both at  40ish mph (posted 30) and neither cared - they didn't seem out to bust balls on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

[eSONG]

I was just in some of those areas and the riding was awesome - have fun!  2 suggestions:

- Skip the BBQ place just off the BRP at Meadows of Dan if you go by, unless you really need to eat.  Not terrible but not great either.
- There are 2 LEOs patrolling the dragon cruising back and forth and occassionally setting up radar (on my way out one had set up right at beginning).  I passed them both at  40ish mph (posted 30) and neither cared - they didn't seem out to bust balls on a sunny Thursday afternoon.

Thanks for the tips!  We'll probably cruise through Deal's Gap just once...since there are just sooooo many other amazing roads around there, which are much less patrolled.  Hopefully my V1 comes in handy on this trip!    

Just hours away now after months of waiting..  I can't sleep!  

[eSONG]

...yea, so I'm a little behind in posting my RRs.  This one was to the Indy MotoGP from Philly, PA with my riding buddies...August 2008.  Our plan was to take a *LONG* way to Indy via MD, WV, and OH twisties...and back via similar route.  So, here are some pics!

On my trusty KTM 625 smc... PERFECT for twisties.  



Dinner...




We stayed at Front Royal, VA the first night.  We normally have no qualms about parking our bikes outside, but on this particular night, we spotted some people suspiciously eyeing our bikes..so we decided to add some more roommates to our room.  



I'm surprised I didn't take more photos along the way, but we eventually made it to Indy.  The worse part of the ride was the last few hours on the dreaded highway leading into Indy.  Lucky for us, my buddy Alex from Indy showed up with his RV to host us for the few days we stayed.  Thanks Alex!  

These are from the practice sessions..  They were still hauling ass IMO. :deal





Too bad MotoGP is not so popular in the US.



The RV... smells like something burning.









Sweet..





squid alert!

[eSONG]

Nice.  $52 for a Rossi t-shirt.  $35 for Lorenzo.  









Nice use of duck tape.. personally I prefer Gorrilla Tape.

[eSONG]

more practice sessions.













The race begins!



We need more fans..





Pedrosa's bike taking a nap.  It's amazing how many places he regained by the end of the race.  

[eSONG]

So after a few days in Indy, we were excited to hit the road again.



And we enjoyed some very fine WV and VA asphalt...





Blue Ridge Parkway is always a blast..

[eSONG]

6 of us decided to do a w/e in the north/central PA mountains for this w/e trip.  We planned to stay in cheap cabin in Coudersport, PA.  

For this trip, I decided to take my sport touring track bike R1.  It's surprisingly comfortable and is as smooth as a Cadillac compared to my paint can shaker KTM 625smc.  Well, it is a thumper..  Anyway, as you can see, the R1 still has track plastics.  I slapped on a headlight, mirrors, signals, and tail light/plate.  They were calling it a locomotive.  



This guy cannot live w/o his phone..  I try to use my phone as little as possible on w/e bike trips.  It's my time to get away from it all.



We had some unexpected roadside repairs..  Front cylinder was cutting out.  The sparkplug got wet from all the rain..  Bad design for the SV.  Luckily we found a Napa to fix it up in a couple hours.  



no..we never laugh at other people's misery.  we're laughing *with* you..  



...and finally the weather clears!





Pit stop at the PA "grand canyon".  





hmm...no so "grand" if you ask me.  Well, I did just get back a few weekends prior from a 1 week trip to *real* Grand Canyon.  



Rt 6 is not the place for a spirited ride as a few of my buddies found out the hard way.  They can't say I didn't warn them.  Lucky for me and a couple others, we hung back enjoying the scenery.  Rt 6 is not tight enough to really enjoy it unless you're doing stupid speeds anyway.



Otherwise, the ride was going smoothly...until...  



We had another unplanned pit stop.  One of the new guys on our ride target fixated and ran his nice shiny Ducati into a ditch going about 20mph around this turn. Luckily, it was a soft ditch on the side of the road and the damage was very minor.  



And, moving on.  We head towards Centralia, PA to check out the deserted town d/t an underground coal fire.  

Having some fun in the mud in Centralia, PA....



...sort of.  



Let's try that again..



...oops.



TJ showed us this creepy memorial.  It had a photo of the kid at the memorial when he was alive.  MD was weirded out by it so naturally TJ snatched one of the little green toy soliders and hid it on MD's bike.  LOL, seeing MD's reaction when he found it about an hour later after we left Centralia..  



This w/e trip didn't go as smoothly as it could've, but it was still better than staying home.  

[eSONG]

First w/e ride for 2011.. Friday after work, we slabbed it on i-76 until the Blue Mountain exit.  Grabbed a quick bite and warmed up a bit.  Then it was off to Shawnee State Park the rest of the way via backroads.  

The plan for Saturday and Sunday was about 300 miles each. Blue route for Saturday and Green for Sunday.  Looking back, the Green route coming back was better than Saturday's route.  In fact it was so good, that we decided to use this route next time to ride out Saturday morning and use the same route to come back on Sunday.  We'll skip the semi boring Friday night ride.  



Loaded up and ready to roll.. I ride it to work like this so I can take off directly from work.



Shawnee State Park











Probably not a good idea during moto trips...or ever for that matter.  lol.





















Traveling piggy



Beautiful weather today..





















Sunday...



What's for dinner?











Close call.. TJ almost lowsided here.. you can see the tire marks.  He felt the rear start to slide out. When he realized he wasn't going to make the turn, he stood it up and braked for a second and then slid on some gravel.  From my view, his bike looked like a bucking horse that shook very hard trying to throw him off. Somehow he managed to stay up and pulled off to the side.  











And.....moving on.  More nice roads.





A nice break for lunch.  The burger I had was great, but the sweet potato fries..not so much (they were not crispy).  

[Mastros2]

Excellent as always esong!  Thanks for sharing!  Keep them coming!!!

A friend had the same problem with his sv1k.  The front cylinder kept sucking down water and he had to brake off from us and head back home early.  

[eSONG]

Excellent as always esong!  Thanks for sharing!  Keep them coming!!!

A friend had the same problem with his sv1k.  The front cylinder kept sucking down water and he had to brake off from us and head back home early.  

Thanks!  

It's hard to believe modern motorcycles still have these little issues...that can cause such pain in the ass problems.  When my friend had the cylinder/spark plug issue, he said it would unexpected cut out and even worse, cut back in!  he would be at WOT going about 45-50mph and then suddenly, both would kick in and hurl the bike forward...and all of this in the rain.   We were lucky to have fixed the problem roadside with no more issues for the rest of the trip.

I still need to post up last year's epic trip down south to Deal's Gap..  I need to get this done before this year's 1 week trip coming up in just a few weeks.  

[Mastros2]

I still need to post up last year's epic trip down south to Deal's Gap..  I need to get this done before this year's 1 week trip coming up in just a few weeks.  

Double   Haha!  Thanks again for the share!

[eSONG]

We leave in just one more week...!  This is the planned route for my next motorcycle ride.  Hopefully the weather cooperates and the pavement is smooth.  I hear there are some beat up roads from the harsh New England winters.  Most days will be about 250-275 miles of twisty back roads over 9 days and about 2500 miles total.

We’ll ride up from Philly to Danbury, CT Friday night after work, then head north through the Green Mountains to the Canadian border and head east through the White Mountain area of NH.  We’ll check out Mount Washington and stay there for a couple days to do a little sightseeing.  Next we’ll head back west via the famous Kancamagus Highway and back through VT towards the Adirondacks where we’re renting a lake front house for a few days.  Then we’ll continue south through the Catskills and camp for a night there at our usual spot near Big Pond (free primitive camping spot).  Then we’ll ride home from there through some nice north Jersey roads.  

 

[nevinfs327]

Looks like an awesome, and well-planned trip.  Looking forward to the ride report.

Is your dining destination near 80 in NJ the Salt Gastro Pub?  That place is excellent.

[eSONG]

Looks like an awesome, and well-planned trip.  Looking forward to the ride report.

Is your dining destination near 80 in NJ the Salt Gastro Pub?  That place is excellent.

Nope, that's Pub199.  Excellent deals for lobster plates!  Cash only.  So worth it.  

[sodapop6620]

The Union Barrel is just down the road from me.  I was in there when they opened but haven't been back since.  I will keep an eye out for you in the future.

[eSONG]

This is RR long overdue..finally getting around to it. Better late than never.  This was our annual week long spring ride.  Normally we head south towards WV, VA, NC and TN...but this year (2011) we decided to switch it up and check out New England.  

Our planned route:  Ride up from Philly to Danbury, CT Friday night after work, then head north through the Green Mountains almost to the Canadian border and then head east through the White Mountain area of NH.  Check out the Mount Washington area and stay there for a couple days to do a little sightseeing.  Next head back west via the famous Kancamagus Highway and back through VT towards the Adirondacks to stay at a lake front house for a few days.  Then continue south through the Catskills and camp for a night there at our usual spot near Big Pond (free primitive camping spot).  Then finally ride home from there through some nice north Jersey roads.  




Friday, we meet up after work in central Jersey.  



Morgan's bike.  At least one girl noticed this during our trip...she honked and yelled at my buddy "I like your monkey!!!"  But he didn't hear her with his ear buds and music on.



my usual piggy passenger



just taking a quick break... we start on some nice NY roads.



dinner at a diner near our first night's hotel...new colony diner. good food, fast friendly service.  





Day 2....!!



but first, a little breakfast..



nature calls.







perfect weather.



we make into Massachusetts...  this area has some of the finest, tightest, smoothest roads I've ever ridden.  there were many bicyclists riding pretty damn fast down hill.







vermont already..





matt's keeping up pretty well with his KLR..  we only have to wait a few minutes before he caught up to us.



riding is finally done for day 2... we settle in at a state park.



we were too lazy to set up tents...