Rides for next year

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Just thought I would give an update to what rides I have planned so far.

May 25, 26, 27, and 28 I will be going to Deals Gap. We will probably be leaving on the 25th in the afternoon around 4:00. We will spend the first night near Cincinnati. If someone wants to go on this one but cannot leave on Friday afternoon we could always leave on Saturday. I just like to get a little jump on things so I can arrive earlier on Saturday. Saturday and Sunday nights will be spent at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort. Monday we will ride the Cherohola Skyway and continue north from there and plan on spending the night near Oak Ridge, TN. Tuesday morning we will ride the “Devils Triangle” loop on TN116 and then return home.

July 20 – 29 will be another trip to Deals Gap. Once again we will start on Friday afternoon and hopefully make it to Cincinnati. The 21st through the 26th we will be staying at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort. Friday we will leave Deals Gap and spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday returning home. We will ride the Blue Ridge Parkway to near Boone, NC and then take 321 up to 421 so we can ride Shady Valley. The return home is flexible and if necessary we will leave Deals Gap a day early so we can have an adventurous ride home!

September 1, 2, and 3 I also have reservations at Deals Gap, but so far I have no more specific plans for that ride.

I have a few other rides I am planning on doing but have not set dates for yet:

WV Rt. 50. This will be a great ride to see Cool Springs Park and hopefully find the Philippi Mummies of the Insane. There are some very excellent roads in this area and it should be a lot of fun. Most likely this will be a day ride, but it will be a pretty long day.

Point Pleasant WV – This will most likely be a two day ride to find the statue of the Mothman. We will also run down to Lesage to eat at Hillbilly Hot Dogs. Once again there is an awful lot of excellent riding in this area so this will be a great ride.

OH Rt. 26 – The only reason for this ride is to check out the road. It runs through Wayne National Forest and should be pretty nice. This will be a day trip.

I am kind of getting the urge to go to Texas.  Maybe California.  Probably only Texas because if I do it I will only have a week to do it in.

If anyone has any good ideas for a ride let me know!  There is a long summer ahead of us and for me one of the hardest things is to figure out new places to visit.  As usual, all are welcome to join in on the fun.  Let me know if you are going to come along on a ride and I will let you know when and where we are meeting up!

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Bike still in the shop!

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It looks like we finally have a little break in the weather.  Normally this would mean I would be taking the bike out for some riding, but the Vstrom is still being held hostage at Gollans.  It is starting to get a little frustrating for me.  I dropped it off a month ago to be sure I would be ready to go once riding season started and they still have not even looked at it.  I dropped it off so they could try to find the little problem I have been having with my idle and to put two new tires on it.  They told me it would be done next week, so I do hope that it is.

It sure does make me feel good to see Kawasaki take first and second place in the Daytona 200.  I think Honda might be smart to start installing gas gauges on their race bikes.  This evening the MotoGP race is on the Speed Channel, and I can’t wait to see it!  Pinks had a great episode on recently where the host of the show crashed some ones motorcycle.  Click this link to see it.  He says he has been riding since he was five years old, I say he rides like a five year old!

 

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Empire GP Video

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[flashvideo filename=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/EmpireGP.flv image=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/EmpireGP.jpg /]

These are from Bob Brown up at EmpireGP.  He is a good guy who I met at Deals Gap.  This guy loves motorcycles and repairs and paints motorcycle bodywork.  If you need this type of work done he will treat you right.  The video above was shot at deals gap, and the one below was shot on the track.

[flashvideo filename=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/gpshort.flv image=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/gpshort.jpg /]

[flashvideo filename=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/pw06crash.flv image=wp-content/uploads/2007/12/pw06crash.jpg /]

In the video above he is filming behind his bike and he hits some gravel on a wet road and goes down.

Category: Videos

The Groundhog and a Empire GP Video

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The Groundhog has spoken.  Early spring is on the way!  Of course, as I write this the temperature outside is 12.  Tomorrows high is only going to be 8.  If that overgrown rat is wrong I am taking up groundhog hunting.

Last year at Deals Gap I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Brown from EmpireGP.  He is a really great guy who just loves motorcycles.  He does plastic welding and can work wonders with busted up fairings.  I knew he was my kind of guy when he told me his company motto:  “Ride hard, take chances.  We need the work.”  He was riding a bike he had wrecked a few weeks earlier and I have to say he did a pretty good job putting it back together.  His pricing is very reasonable so if you have some damaged bodywork get in touch with him before you spend the big money replacing it.  Chances are he will be able to save you a lot of money.

Bob had a video camera mounted on the bike when he wrecked, and he just finished editing it.  You can see the wreck and the process of repairing the damage and repainting, as well as the final result.  It is pretty interesting and you can see it by clicking here.  While filming themselves on Deals Gap last spring they caught a guy crashing on film.  That video can be seen by clicking here.  Finally, there is a video of a crash and the repair and repainting of another motorcycle here. 

Since I was adding these videos I went ahead and updated the videos page on the website so it looks a little prettier now.  I have also updated the links page.  Check the links page often, there are a lot of really great sites there.  In fact, this would be a great time to click the links for free maps so you have some nice new maps when spring finally comes around.

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IMS Motorcycle show and cheap heated vests

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We sure have had an unpleasant start to 2007.  Lets all hope there will be no more tragedy this year.

Winter sure has turned cold lately.  I guess it had to happen sometime.  At least January is about over.  Before we know it we will be out on the bikes again.

I have been down in the basement running the sewing machine.  I have taken apart the electric blanket I bought on the way home from the Gap in November and sewn it into an electric vest.  I have not tested it out yet, but I think it is going to work really well.  If it does work out I will post a little write-up on how to do it.  I have to admit, it is not a pretty thing to look at, but if it works well who cares what it looks like?  Instead of spending $200 with Gerbing you can spend $20 and a couple of hours of work

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