slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted August 22, 2004 05:50 AM
Gap/Foothills report, August 21, 2004
Well, a friend was in town (drove down from Illinois for the week) and i decided to head over to Deal's Gap to meet up. Left thehouse, everythinglooked good. radar had the rain headed off for the eastern part of state, and life seemed ok. So i took the rain suit along, and ziplocked the camera and the wallet.
Made it through to maryville in less than 45 minutes, not bad considering all of I140 was 45mph...which i did 10 over just to keep the speed differential to less than 25 mph (most of the traffic was doing 70-75 or so. but being the only sportbike in a pack of cars doing 30 over....yeh right. the traffic was too sporadic to claim 'traffic flow' so i just kept it sane. ESPECIALLY since there were 3 cops on the road...sheesh...)
Got to the foothills parkway, was eager to give it a nice ride since they just reopened the southern end. repairs complete, after 18 months.....
got stuck behind an old clunker....and i am talking about the driver..he must have been at least as old as redelk ;P
anyway mr. weave-throughout-the-lane-over-the-lines-all-the-time was doing 35 -55 depending on whether the road was straight or not....
finally get to a safe place to pass (which on this road actually was a passing zone) and went around. i then made a big motion with arms to point to the lines and the desired placement within those lines....prolly pissed him off, but i figured by the time the adrenaline got pumped through those arteries he would be a speck in the rear-view mirror and not a concern.
the rest of the ride seemed to be looking up, until again, got behind mrs. driving-under-the-influence-of-blondeness
same deal, all over road, going dead slow etc. i start to pass, and another car is oncoming (didn't see because of trees) (yes it was also a passing zone, just the visibility wasn't as good as it could have been)
sooo i lock down brakes to get back behind her. except for some reason, i am not making any rearward progress to GET back behind....oh yeh, the dumb bimbo locked down HER brakes too...i YELL "DON'T HIT THE DAMNED BRAKES YOU MORON!!!" but she can't hear it of course...
bah
as soon as car goes by i make the pass, but holy crap, i wonder how many crashes she has caused doing that garbage. as i start to passs her she again locks down her brakes. the stupid NEEDED to be punished, but i left my handful of caltrops at the house.....
soooo
get to bottom of the gap, and road is wet. hrmmm not a good sign. so i no-brakes it in 2nd gear to the overlook. i asked them up there when it stopped raining (because water was still pooled up and running off the road) and they said they hadn't seen any rain yet.....
o well, friend was probably still waiting on me at the crossroads, it was ten after one...he was gonna get there at 12-1230. oops...
anyway finish the run get down there, check out his new toys. his toy, new cbr1000rr. his wife's new toy: MV Augusta Brutale. tiny bike, inseem-challenged folk might like the seat height.
he starts to handme the key to the cbr, i turned it down.
um no way, not on wet roads dude. maybe if we find a dry spot today
heh
sit on the porch there for a few minutes, and it starts to rain. not just a sprinkle or two, but full-on rain. WAIT, where did THIS come from?
go inside and eat. chatted a while about new job, because it sure was raining....
we finally left an hour and a half later when it stopped raining. sun was out, get to bikes and start to suit up, and it starts raining again. *sigh* so THIS is how this is going to work....
couple people ride up that were staying at same cabins as they were, and he asked them if it was clear onthe skyway, they said the rain chased them all the way from there. sooo we decide to do the skyway loop backwards. no big deal. throw rainsuit on, and head up to overlook. takes 30 minutes because some harley rider is going 15 mph, he has 3 cars and 3 bikes behind him, and refuses to get out of the way.
we get to top and i chat with the guy, let him know that the car behind him was being VERY courteous by not tailgating, he agreed. i then said that cars would bemore willing to get out of bikers' way if bikers extended the same courtesy to them...he seemed pretty much to ignore that comment, but who knows, maybe he'll think about it next time he is holding up a half mile of traffic....
well, at overlook, we look over towards foothills, and it is black over there. nope, not gonna ride in to THAT mess. we head back to robbinsville and hang out at wheeler's shop for a while. he's prepping his tl1000 for trackday at VIR, he should be there now; hopefully their weather is nice today 
at this point we pretty much decide (it's started raining again) to call it a day. it's 5:30 and no end in sight. soo i paused a few times to take pictures.
from church parking lot at cheoah (on 129 about 2 miles from wheeler's)
this is from bridge at bottom of the hill that the church is on, again on 129:
Fugitive Dam and looking downstream of the bridge:
as i said before the foothills parkway was repaired. so i took the opportunity to take some pictures of the repair, and some scenery off the southern end. which in some cases is nicer than thenorthern end scenery.
on top end of the repaired section, new drainage ditches and culvert:
the downhill end, note all the rock that was laid down.
and road level:
and scenery:
later on down the road:
looking over maryville:
some other scenery:
Anyway it was a good 200 mile day, with alot of wet riding. finally got my mojo back on the way back throughthe gap headed home. (wet mojo, though, much different from dry mojo ;p )
got some strange looks at overlook when i arrived, i was kinda winding it out on the curves immediately preceding the overlook. :mrgreen
all in all it was a fun day. even with the rain
remember a bad day riding is better than a good day at work.
(note there is such a thing as a terrible day riding...but those end with bright flashing lights, loud wailing noises and orange & white coloured vans....)
      
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MadMike
Moderator
FEAR THE BLACK FLAG!!!!!!!!
Posts: 6579
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posted August 22, 2004 06:58 AM
Sounds like a good time!
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200-MPH CLUB MEMBER!
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matt sterbator
Pro
Hiding in the bushes
Posts: 1367
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posted August 22, 2004 10:53 AM
98 YZF600R... that was my first bike !!! 
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted August 22, 2004 01:05 PM
 Edited By: slug on 22 Aug 2004 14:06
hehe
my first sportbike, bought it new in jan 1999. never looked back.
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matt sterbator
Pro
Hiding in the bushes
Posts: 1367
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posted August 22, 2004 01:09 PM
dang, bought mine new in March '99. Wrecked it in that first month, it became blue after replacing ALL of the broken plastic, lol. Sold it in March '01 (don't ask). Loved that bike. It'd be great as a daily ride, sitting next to my 12R.
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted August 22, 2004 05:04 PM
Edited By: slug on 22 Aug 2004 18:05
having ridden greenglenn's zx12 quite a bit, i would say with a comfortable seat and geting rid of the snatchy throttle it wouldn't be a bad daily commuter (except the whole tickets thing ) also, removal of that 1800 pound throttle return spring would help a HUGE amount.
but i like cheap insurance, and until i am 50 i will probably get raped for a 1200cc bike.
ah well.
and when i hit 60K i'll get the thing dynoed again to see how much wear i have
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frEEk
Administrator
ummm... yeah
Posts: 9660
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posted August 22, 2004 06:09 PM
damn, u da master of cool pics lately slug. very nice!
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swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted August 22, 2004 06:53 PM
Did you spot the cannibas in the last pic??
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slug
Pro
Out in search of my mind...
Posts: 1433
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posted August 23, 2004 02:23 AM
no, your stash is safe from me bro
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GreenGlenn
Expert Class
Ron Jeremy's Stunt Double
Posts: 370
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posted August 23, 2004 09:24 AM
quote:
geting rid of the snatchy throttle
bevis
heheheheheheheheh... he said "snatch"! heheheheheheheheh...
/bevis
____________
If you love your bike, set it free. If it comes back to you....you probably highsided.
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Hells Dark Lord
Needs a life
living life, and loving it.
Posts: 7981
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posted August 23, 2004 02:00 PM
cant wait to ride the foolhills all the way through, I have never done it before....woo hooooo
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When in doubt, lean farther and go faster....
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swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
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posted August 24, 2004 07:48 AM
Sounds like a blast!
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ddpete3
Pro
Posts: 1189
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posted August 24, 2004 08:00 AM
that was too much to read. what did he say?
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Scooter
Zone Head
Posts: 899
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posted August 24, 2004 08:44 AM
He said.... Went for a nice ride with some friends, got a little wet. 
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"Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional."
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matt sterbator
Pro
Hiding in the bushes
Posts: 1367
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posted August 24, 2004 10:27 AM
Slug, check PMs
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