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Out in search of my mind...
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posted March 05, 2006 07:20 PM
Deal's Gap, 3-5-6
Well, couldn't resist another fine-looking day to ride the bike.
Sooooooo here goes 
Get home from Church at 1245, SVT and Orange Cat Guy are waiting on my couch, watching the races on GreedTV. Woot!
Get chain lubed, tire pressures checked, and suited up. We head on out. Just outside of the main part of oak ridge a pack of bikers comes up behind us. We're all stuck behind slow people ("I see slow people! They don't know they are slow." ) As soon as it is safe i go, with SVT and OCG in tow. As well as a few of the other pack....
After getting up to speed it is obvious that the other group wants to go mucho fastererererer, so i single-file right and wave them by. SVT and OCG also go by, so i follow up. As the other pack gets by OSD (Old Slow Driver) i wave them by as well. No sense "ruining" their fun. We exit the 4-lane and hit 95 towards Lenoir City. I stay at a nice constant speed and follow through, kitty singing happily at 12500 or so as we striaghten up from the exit ramp. I wave the rest of the TFTF people by and take up sweeper position.
Of course the pace is not all that fast, so it's not really a challenge to keep up with the tail of their pack. We do get seperated by passing zone sizing, but otherwise i keep our crew in sight. As we pass Melton Hill Dam area the TFTF crew is parked on the side for a smoke break. We wave and go on, because our mission is to find a road with 11 miles worth of curves, not 3 miles worth. We stop for fuel where SVT quickly sets upon his bike with the toolkit. Apparently the shift linkage was playing fast & loose, well, loose anyway. Note to self: Check linkages after oil changes on new R6.
We stop at Chihuahua Hell for lunch. Err... Taco Bell....
Continuing down 321 we get in to town, and end up beside/behind this car with some college chicks in it. They are all laughing and pointing and waving, obviously the ultimate in sexy YZF600R had them aroused for us.
:biglol
There were of course the obligatory teenage boys in a beater pickup truck doing the never-followed 'do a wheelie' sign...which, had the squid in us been allowed to bear fruit, would have resulted in Mr. Popo flipping a B**ch and pulling us over....Not even 50 feet after those kids waved for us to do a wheelie even... sheesh.
Off to the foothills parkway. Lots of fun, great warmup ride. a few slow spots, but i didn't want to seperate the group too much by passing in less-than-legal locations, not to mention piss-poor visibility.
Oh, someone tried to burn down part of the Foothills. B**stards.
Ahh, the gap run. Started a no-brakes run, and only cheated once. Probably couled have made it too, but safety first
Stopped at the overlook for the first pictures of the day. The 3 Stooges:
Then on through the gap. SVT was ready first and took off, i waited for OCG since he;d asked how on earth we could ride on the gap and not use our brakes..
So i pointed out the throttle roll-off points and similar, as well, as a nice gentle no-brakes pace which was not even a real challenge. Just a good warmup cop-finding dirt-avoiding pass. For about 12 seconds.
Because a minute before we left the overlook, this group of cruisers left, and we caught the last one in the group, who was having a REALLY bad time of it. He was wobbling all over, his passenger was hopping about worse than a mexican jumping bean, going wide etc.
Spotted the killboy.com car and took a breather for a few minutes, to let the poor goldwing some time to wobble through.
Someone i didn't recognize was shooting though, so we left and went at a pretty decent non-braking pace. Of course, we caught the WeebleWing and finally managed to get by. We'd also picked up a straggler on a Buell, so after gettting by cruiser peeps i waved him by. Well, OCG thought i was waving him by, so he and Bueller go by. And the pace quickens. I still managed a non-braker except the really nasty hairpin almost at the NC line. Nice clean pavement, sunny, life is good
We get to the store and STS for a few minutes, and then the WeebleWing shows up.
Anyway i go over and talk to them, because he was having a BAD time of it and spent too much time in the other lane. It wasn;t the first trip on the gap, but first one with the goldwing. One of the passenger's comments though, "i was just moving around trying to keep us from falling over the edge"
Ooops.. Houston, we have a problem
hehe
I explained that the passenger's movements, ESPECIALLY in low speed turns, is VERY influential on the bike itself. I said that iw atched, and she'd move, he;d correct, she'd move again, he'd overcorrect, and it would go everywhere. Thankfully they were mature enough and having a good day enough to take some advice from some punk sportbike rider.
anyway we headed on towards robbinsville, i had promised to stop in and say hi to Ron & Nancy since it's been a while since i last visited.
It was starting to cloud up though....
Had a good visit, looked at the KTMs they are selling, and then the raindrops...
oh well. Suited up and left, we went out through the Joyce Kilmer forest, which cuts 12 miles or so off the Cherohala to 129 distance. Bumpy, but very grippy pavement, which i prefer when it is wet over the smoother asphalt that is on 129.
We got back to the store and hung out, SVT got some rain gear
it was starting to get late, so we headed back through the gap. Open roads, no bikes, one jeep that pulled off early and let us go by. Stopped at the overlook to take a few more pictures
Ahh, the home stretch, heading down off the gap, we hit the foothills parkway. After the ranger station we saw the sun peeking out, which was good. Tired of rain....
Hit the next overlook, where these were taken:
OCG With his orange cat, and the orange sun behind. Pretty corny eh?
SVT sporting a SFS
OCG muscle guy, Me going WTF mate!?
SVT utilizing the grip heaters
Sunset
All in all it was a good ride, only one person tried to eliminate my genetic line, and she was just plain not smart enough to even understand what she did wrong. I mean, come ON how DARE i expect someone to signal and look before just swerving into my lane....
Like i said to the guy at the CROTch "A day riding is better than a day at work, no matter what"
      
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