Ride With Tank

Here I am getting ready for yet another trip to Deals Gap! Skidplate and I will be heading down on Thursday afternoon to arrive on Friday.  Look for us on the new web cam at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort.  Four days of eating pancakes and riding the Dragon!  Mark and I will be heading down to the Gap a week and a half after Skidpate and I return.  Jim was going to go but I guess he has no vacation time left (or maybe his girlfriend will not give him permission).  Now, normally I would give him grief for backing out, but he really has paid his pain and suffering dues this year, so I am going to let this one slide.

Speaking of paying dues, I will soon have a new feature on the web site.  Mark suggested helmet stickers when we were in Colorado and it really is a good idea.  I am going to set up a section where virtual helmet stickers can be awarded to people for acts of bravery and/or stupidity, or just an act that really goes beyond the call of duty.  Many have made these types of contributions during our rides, and I feel it is time for them to get some recognition.

I got some pictures in the mail from Zee Photo from the last trip down to the Gap, you can see them here. 

I took the whole family to Skyline Drive for a week and everyone had a really good time.  We even saw a bear.  Now I know that I am a big guy, but I can be pretty stealthy.  I tracked this bear deep into the forest and got a video of him.  I really don’t think he knew I was there at first, but then when he realized I was there he checked me out real good.  Click here for this exciting video!

Last week I went to the Fred Perry Poker Run and you can see some pictures from that here.  Every year that I go to this poker run I see the worst motorcycle riding of the year.  It seems like there are an awful lot of inexperienced riders at this one every year.  Its not that I have a problem with inexperienced riders.  Everybody had to learn.  The problem is that a lot of these guys don’t seem to understand that they really don’t know how to ride a motorcycle very well.  As far as I know there were no wrecks this year, so thank goodness for that.

Today I was at the Ali Babba poker run and it really was a good time.  We had a lot of rain but the food was really great.  Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, sloppy joes for lunch, and then a excellent dinner consisting of beef, chicken, and swine.  I really enjoyed the ride today even with the rain.  Good ride, good company, and good food.  How can you beat that?  Click here for some pictures.

I was feeling a lot better today so Prozac, Bob, and I went out to Quaker City for the Rally at the Raceway.  I always have a good time at this event and it was a great show again this year.  The bike fest is September 10 this year and I really am thinking about running the Vstrom down the strip just for fun.  Click here for a 2 minute video of highlights from the Rally at the Raceway.

I am sorry to say that I am currently afflicted with a terrible case of bronchitis.  I have called off from work and going to the doctor to try to get some kind drug that will cure me, so while I wait for my appointment I figure I should do an update.

I took bill- not davis and Prozac down to Cabelas for one of my favorite rides down WV88.  The guys were ready to head home after Cabelas but I went ahead and went further south.  In all the times I have been through Moundsville I have never gone and seen the mound, so I checked it out.  Across the street from the mound is the former West Virginia State Penitentiary.  Really all I did was pull into the parking lot and take a couple of pictures.  My favorite type of sightseeing is the kind where you can take a picture without even getting off the bike and then move on.

Last Thursday was the first bike night at the new Quaker Steak and Lube.  I saw this interesting bike there.  Everyone asks how the bike night was and I just have to say that it is a bunch of motorcycles in a parking lot.  Bike night is bike night.  Credit goes to Mark for the picture because I did not have my camera with me.

Last Saturday Mark planned a ride to Breezewood, PA to check out Rt.30.  The turnpike has all kinds of signs warning trucks not to take this road so we thought it would be a very excellent road.  It turns out it is a nice road, but not really worth 400 miles of turnpike to ride.  We headed down into Maryland and rode scenic rt. 40, and from there we went to Mt. bill- not davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania.  Credit for that picture also goes to Mark because he took a much better picture than I took.  If you go to Mt. bill- not davis, walk the short trail to Baughman Rocks.  There is a body in the rocks.

I have given myself time to cool off, but I got really mad when we left Mt. Davis.  It turned out that the road was a pretty fun road and before long we had caught up to three guys on cruisers.  The last guy in the group waved Mark around and he started to pass, then the front two guys gassed it up.  There was very little passing room on this road and they were coming up on a blind hill and the two in front actually moved to the center to prevent Mark from pulling into the right lane.  Mark gassed it up and got around them safely, but it could have ended bad.  Now there was no way in the world these guys were going to let me pass them.  They would go 15mph in the turns and then gas it up on the short straights.  This aggravated me to no end.  At a place like Deals Gap slower traffic should give room and allow faster traffic to pass.  Here I do not expect assistance to allow me to pass, but I really get angry when they try to prevent me from passing them.  This creates a dangerous situation in two ways.  The person who wants to pass gets aggravated and unless they are as well balanced as me (!?) sometimes will take a unnecessary chance to get past them.  Watching these guys trying to keep me behind them was actually kind of scary because it was obvious they were riding well over their heads.