Usually if we are starting a ride like this on a weekday we will knock off work a little early. Since we were only riding to the other side of Columbus on the first night I decided to put in a full day at work. This was a mistake. You can not imagine how long of a day it was! Eventually quitting time came around and I made it home in record time. Can you believe Skidplate was not home yet? OK, no big thing, I still have a little bit of packing to do anyway. Skidplate got home just as I was finishing packing and all appeared to be well.
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Well, the first trip to Deals Gap is over, and as usual we had a great time. There was an awful lot of traffic, an awful lot of wrecks, and an awful lot of law enforcement but still a good time was had.
I am working on putting together another ride down this weekend. I have the oil changed and the chain lubed, so the bike is ready to go. I am unsure if I am going so I am going to look at the weather and make a decision from there. If I go I will go down on Thursday and return on Sunday. Right now they are predicting a high of 97 degrees for Friday and I just don’t know if I can handle that kind of heat!
My Metzler Z6 is looking good so far! I have put about 2,000 miles on it so far. This breaks down to around 1,200 miles on the freeway, about 300 miles on Deals Gap, and the rest commuting. I still have 95% of my center tread, 97% of my far edge tread, and 84% of my tread in the middle of the side. I have so much on the far side because I rarely lean that far but I was real impressed by how the center held up. I am sure it was the 300 miles on the Gap that ate up the sides, but it was less wear than I would get on the Tourance. The Tourance would be bald on the sides after two trips.
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Usually if we are starting a ride like this on a weekday we will knock off work a little early. Since we were only riding to the other side of Columbus on the first night I decided to put in a full day at work. This was a mistake. You can not imagine how long of a day it was! Eventually quitting time came around and I made it home in record time. Can you believe Skidplate was not home yet? OK, no big thing, I still have a little bit of packing to do anyway. Skidplate got home just as I was finishing packing and all appeared to be well.
Things have really been looking great weather wise lately!
Last Saturday I went for a ride with Nick, Skidplate, Ray, Ray, Tom, Dan, and Bill- not Davis to Mohican State Park. We really did not do much at the park itself except for take a few moments to check out the mill you see pictured below, but it is really about the motorcycle riding, not the destination.
I have to say that Nick did really good with the directions this week. He never once got lost. Since Nick was doing so well we decided someone else should lead, so Ray took the lead. So now Ray has us running about 50 MPH on these little one lane roads, which is just fine until suddenly without warning the road turns to deep gravel just as we crest a hill. I really don’t know what worried the Gold Wingers more: crashing in the gravel or getting dust all over their bikes. The dust was really of no concern to me since I have not washed my bike in about 8 months. Upon returning home we all hit Pizza Hut except for Bill- not Davis.
The Continental Road Attack is history. I tried so hard to save the tire so it would make the trip to Deals Gap and back, but I just don’t think the tire would have made it, so with only 3,000 miles on the tire I replaced it. I can not tell you what a bummer that is! I ended up putting a Metzler Z6 on, so we will see how long that one lasts. If I don’t get at least 8,000 miles out of it I will definitely put a Metzler 880 on next time.
Ok, don’t be looking for me around town this weekend because I am headed to The Gap tomorrow afternoon! It seems like I have been waiting so long to get back down there and I just can not wait to get on the road. It should be a great time and around this time next week I should have the site updated if I get some good pictures or video.
Last weekend was a great weekend for me. Saturday I rode with Nick and the guys down to Cabelas and it was a great adventure.
On Sunday Skidplate and I rode the Mothers Day Poker Run. We ran into Mandy part way through and we were glad to have her company for the rest of the ride. She is now riding a Vulcan 1500 Nomad and it is a really sweet motorcycle.
Less than two weeks to go until my first ride back to Deals Gap. The great weather and West Virginia roads have been taking a real toll on my new tires and I think I am going to have to tone it down a little bit for the next two weeks so my rear tire lasts through the Deals Gap trip. I am running Continental Road Attacks for the first time and I really do like them. All I have run on the bike so far are the dual purpose tires and I really wanted to try a pure street tire. Mostly I had been running the Metzler Tourance and I have been pretty happy with them but I really wanted something with a little more grip. The bike handles really nice with the Road Attacks and the traction is outstanding but I don’t know if the mileage is going to be good enough on them for me. I have been measuring my tread depth and it looks like I am only going to get about 6,000 miles out of the rear tire. I don’t know if I can afford to put on a new tire every 6,000 miles so I might just try a Metzler 880 for my next one. What I really need is a tire sponsor. Maybe if I put a Continental sticker on my bike they would give me free tires for life? I kinda doubt it.
I came real close this evening to washing my motorcycle but then I just figured “What’s the point?”.