Deals Gap – Saturday and Sunday

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Saturday

I did not get a super early start on Saturday, but I think I was on the road by 8:30.

I thought about taking a scenic route, but there was a strong threat of rain and I decided I would rather get settled in dry than ride in the rain.  I did take a small diversion to see my friends at Dual Sport Touring.  They have been around for a few years but this was the first time I had ever seen it in person.  It is a nice place and they are really super folks so I am glad I visited.  Rain was bearing down so I did not stay long and got back on the road.

I managed to get to the Gap without hitting any rain and also got a little riding in on a mostly dry road.  Keisha and Robert had already arrived and it was great to see them again!  Dan arrived a bit later.  I took a sunset overlook ride with Angie and Ben on their scooters and as usual it was really fun hanging out with them!

Rain was forecast for Sunday and I had forgotten to eat, so I decided to head to Robbinsville to do my grocery shopping and get a bite to eat.  The rain arrived while I was in Robbinsville, so I had a dark, rainy trip back to my room.

I stayed up late on the front porch with some other folks, waiting for the possible arrival of Mark and his friends.  They never showed so I went to bed around 2AM.

Sunday

It rained pretty much all night, and when I woke up for my sunrise ride there was no need to get out of bed because I could hear the rain outside.  I slept in a bit, then showered and got some pancakes. 

Sunday was a day of rain.  MG said there was a truck stuck in Gravity Cavity,so Dan and I rode up in the rain to take a look.

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The truck was certainly stuck!  We waited to see the truck get pulled out by a wrecker, but when the THP arrived they ran us off for some reason.

We rode to the overlook and sat there in the rain for a while, then returned to our rooms.

Sunday night was chili night and it was fantastically good!

Beth got a brand new CBR600 and it was delivered on Sunday.  It is a beautiful bike!

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I gave my buddy Brady a hot dog so she will be my friend this week and protect me from the bears!

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I am writing this at 10PM on Sunday, and so far Mark has still not shown up, and I have not heard from Pete or Johnny.  I know Mark and those guys got a late start this morning, but I would have expected to see them by now.  Still, this is not unusual behavior for Mark, so I am not worried at all.  I am sure they did not have much fun today because I imagine they spent most of the day in the rain.  The hotel was completely deserted this evening.  They closed the store at 6 and from then on it was just Dan, Keisha, Robert and myself.  No traffic.  Nothing.  The biggest entertainment we had was whenever Brady would wake up and walk somewhere.  Most times she was just waking up to poop.

Word is the chance of rain is 90% tomorrow, so there is a strong possibility that we could spend another day just watching it rain.  Dan says he is going to ride no matter what the weather is like, but I think I would rather just nap and watch it rain!

Category: Ride Reports

Deals Gap Day One!

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I really have not done so well with the ride reports this year.  This is my last big ride of the year, so I am going to give daily updates!

I put in a half day of work today before I hit the road.  Normally I would stay in Lexington, but something called the World Equestrian Games is going on this weekend, and the room rates are all triple their normal rates.  I decided to stay in Mason, Ohio which is just about half way to the Gap for me.

The ride started out hot and windy.  Real windy.  It sure does get tiresome riding in wind.  Eventually the wind died down and the temperature went down, but then I had rain to deal with.  I got really lucky and dodged almost all the rain, so I really can’t complain.

The traffic coming through Columbus was just miserable.  I should not be surprised because I hit Columbus right at rush hour.

Once again I am staying at a motel 6 and i am pretty happy with it.  $27.99 a night and I have a refrigerator and microwave!  yes, its nothing fancy, but it is clean and comfortable and that is all I really require from a room.  I see all these news stories about this bedbug epidemic  and that does kind of freak me out.  I saw an article that said 60% of motels in the united States have bedbugs.  I have stayed in a lot of motels over the years, and usually they are cheap motels also, but I have never seen any evidence of bedbugs, so I think they are blowing this out of proportion.  Now that I am thinking about it I am feeling crap  crawling all over me.  Time to think about something else!

My plan is to get a early start tomorrow.  you can check my Spot to see if I actually do get an early start!  I still have not decided on the rest of my route.  I will get on the road tomorrow and just do whatever I feel like doing at the time!

Category: Ride Reports

Peter Lenz – The Crash at Indianapolis

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Yesterday, during the MD250H warmup lap, there was a terrible accident that took the life of Peter Lenz.

I happened to be in the stands yesterday and I was one the closest spectators to the accident.  I was on the end of the South Vista, at the far end of the west side, sitting on the bottom row.  There were no reports at the track about his condition, so when I retured to my motel I found out via the internet that he had passed.

Today there are thousands of web sites with the story, but they all say the same thing, and some of what they say does not fit with what I saw, so I felt it was important to tell people what I saw.

I did not actually see Peter crash.  I saw his bike sliding riderless and then saw him on the ground.  He was in the front of a large group of motorcycles just exiting turn 4.  He began to try to get off the track, but saw that there was too much traffic so he sat there with his back to the traffic and held up his hands waving so he could be seen.  I was holding my breath hoping he would not get hit and most of the pack made it past him and it looked like everything was going to be fine.  The problem was, as time went on each oncoming rider was coming closer and closer to him, which gave the guys further back less time to react.  One bike dodged him, but there was no way for the bike behind him to swerve, and he hit Peter hard.  It was the most terrible thing I have ever seen, and I knew immediately that he was severely injured.

The corner workers got to him almost instantly.


They really did not give him any type of treatment.  They appeared to be talking to him, but I never saw Peter move.  The announcers had no idea the crash had happened, and were wondering out loud why they were delaying the start.  They also announced several times that Peter had not returned to the grid.  We kept waiting and waiting for an ambulance to show up.  A golf cart arrived, but it still appeared as if the officials had no idea there had been a crash.  Finally, the corner workers decided to put Peter on a stretcher and transport him with the golf cart.  As they were about to load the stretcher onto the golf cart, an ambulance finally showed up.  I cannot say with any certainty how long it took for the ambulance to arrive, but I estimate about 10 minutes.  The ambulance then left through the tunnel at the main gate to head for the hospital.

All the stories I have seen reported that CPR was started immediately, but I did not see any CPR until he was being loaded into the ambulance.  I am not saying it would have made any difference, but I felt the ambulance delay was totally unacceptable.

I also question why he was transported in an ambulance.  The MotoGP guys go out via helicopter any time they leave the track.  This wreck was so severe it should have left no doubt in anybodys mind that the injuries would be life threatening.  An ambulance ride through streets clogged with traffic for a MotoGP race seems like a very poor choice for somebody with life threatening injuries.

It appeared to me as if there was a severe lack of communication which lead to delays in getting medical treatment to the injured rider.  It felt like we were the only people who knew anything had happened.  The outcome could very well have been the same no matter how quick the response, but I believe these questions need to be answered.  Hopefully they will be answered by the investigation.

RIP Peter.

Category: Posts

Spring update!

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My wheels are round again and i have already worn out a new tire on the new wheels!

It seems like I have been real busy and I have neglected the web site.  I’ve had a few complaints so since I am waiting for a new tire to arrive I will do a big update to make the site current!

My first ride of the year was just a little trip down to West Virginia to ride 88, one of my favorite roads.  I picked up a Subway and had a nice little picnic at Oglebay Park.

I also stopped by a little military park in Wierton that I have ridden past many times.

I took a longer ride with some friends to Cool Springs Park to visit my donkey friends.

I took a ride out to western Ohio to see my buddy Dennis who was at a rally doing pinstriping.

And I spent an afternoon at Nelson Ledges watching some racing.

Of course, I have also been to my favorite destination, Deal Gap.  In fact, I have made two trips there, but I will post up about them soon!

Category: Posts

Flat Wheel Tank

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I can’t believe how long it has been since I updated!

Spring has been awesome this year and I have been getting a decent amount of riding in.  Two nice trips to West Virginia, including a lonely ride up US250 after dark!

All is not exactly well in the world of Tank.   Last Wednesday I was on my way home from QSL Bike Night in Sharon. I was behind a semi and I was riding in the center of the lane. I know better than to ride in the center, and I don’t know what I was thinking, but that was where I was riding.

I saw something in the road after the truck passed over it, but I really didn’t have time to swerve to avoid it. I honestly only had about a half second to react. I braced myself and put my weight on the pegs and hit it square on. It was a far more substantial impact than I expected. It was a real solid hit.

I was going about 70 and both tires lost air instantly and the bike started wobbling and weaving something fierce. The bike kind of settled down a bit and I got it to the side of the road.

I got off the bike to survey the damage and my heart sunk when I found that both wheels were destroyed. I was hoping it would only be the tires.

Since the bike was so low it didn’t have much lean on the kickstand and a big truck flew past and the wind was enough to blow it over. Luckily, I was able to kind of catch it and allow it to drop gently with no damage other than some scratches to the saddlebag. I started to pick it up, but then figured it would probably just blow over again so I figured it would be safest to just leave it as it was.

So now I realize that I did not have my cell phone with me. I wait for someone to pull over with little success. Finally, a really nice guy pulls in and he has a phone. So I call the wife and ask her to call Geico, but I was not sure she fully understood where I was, so I decided to fire up the SPOT and send her a help message with my exact location. I totally forgot that it would also send a message out to folks on RideOhio.org.  The message said to call Geico, but most cell phones only allow 160 characters, so most people did not get the full message. All the same, unknown to me, lots of folks were making calls to get me some help, and I thank them all for helping!

The highway patrol showed up and put out flares while we waited for the tow truck.  As we waited, he decided to check me out and copied the VIN from my motorcycle.  When he started doing this I started screaming “I ain’t going back to prison”.  This kind of freaked the guy out, so we had a little talk.  I explained that I have some minor mental issues and there was no real reason to taze me.

We got the bike home and in the morning I gave it a good once over.  The damage is limited to the wheels, so that is a good thing!

Back Wheel

The object I hit

Geico came to the house and gave it a look over, called another tow truck and handed me a check for the damages.  Once the new wheels arrive all will be well in my world again!

Vstom heading to the shop for new wheels

Live and learn. Don’t ride in the center of your lane in heavy traffic. Don’t leave home without the cell phone. If you ride in the center and leave your phone at home you still have friends that will bail you out.  Don’t yell “I ain’t going back to prison” to a cop.

Lesson learned for truck drivers, you gotta throw some pretty big parts on the road to make a Suzuki go down! Bring it on, bitches!

Seriously though, I consider myself pretty lucky to be uninjured. I don’t ever want to do that again!

Category: Posts