Return-Path: Posted-Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1993 18:49:55 GMT Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles Path: taco!gatech!paladin.american.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!torn!nott!bnrgate!bcars267!bmerh824!mbeaving From: mbeaving@bmerh824.bnr.ca (Michael Beavington) Subject: DoD RCR II trip report (long) Sender: news@bnr.ca (usenet) Nntp-Posting-Host: bmerh824 Reply-To: MBEAVING@bnr.ca Organization: BNR Ottawa, DMS Software Design Distribution: na Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1993 18:49:55 GMT Lines: 253 Apparently-To: sasmjw@unx.sas.com Well here is my RCR II trip report for all those people who didn't go and those who went with very short memories. Going down ---------- The Canadian contingent going to the RCRII met in my driveway at 5:30am. After a quick head count, "one", I started up the bike and headed out on highway 16 down to the states and over the bridge to Osdenberg. This was the first time I had crossed that bridge to the states and quickly learned that it was a mile and a half of open grating, the bane of most motorcyclists. If the grating wasn't bad enough, there was a good 30kph wind blowing me sideways. Pretty good seat pucker material. I'm sure those of you in the area who have used the bridge agree with me. I later learned that the thousand island bridge and the bridge at Cornwall are much better. I toodled along the backroads to highway 11 and then onto the 81 interstate. I figured I'd better use the interstate to make it to my rendezvous in Pennsylvania where I was to meet two other Denizens, Dean and Scott. I ate up the miles and made it to the spot just before 1:00. The interstate was pretty boring, but the little towns along highway 8 were just too slow. Highway 8 would have been the route of choice since it runs up against the mountains. I went through NY state and into Pennsylvania. I pulled into the tourist center in Delaware Water Gap (that Gap name is pretty popular down there isn't it?) After a nice rest Dean and Scott showed up (waking me out of my nap) and we were off. At least off to the HoJo's down the street. I found I was hungry and severely dehydrated in the 36 degree heat. The heat was a major pain through much of the trip down there. It was impossible to believe how hot it was on some stretches of the blacktop! All of the Denizens on the trip had at least one comment on how ridiculous it was. Back on the road, we opted for the smaller highways in our quest to arrive in Lancaster to attend the Rider magazine rally. Riding off the superslab is a refreshing change even if some parts were stop and go. The most memorable part was when an obviously loyal confederate sparrow tried to ram Dean off the road. Unfortunately, the sparrow knew nothing of the physics involved and I witnessed what appeared to be a rather important piece of the bird (about 1 inch in diameter) become separated from this bird and roll down the road a few feet from the rest of the bird. Bird 0, Dean 1. We arrived at the travelodge, and barely pulled under the registration roof before the skies opened up. Dean and Scott looked in wonderment, since they had been asking for rain most of the way down to help cool them off :-). We checked in and the pool provided a reasonable alternative to the rain that quickly left. After the soak, Dean decided to lead us on a walking tour of highway 462 in Lancaster. Dean was thoroughly convinced that he had seen a TGI Fridays pub a little way down the street. The TGI Fridays turned out to be a billboard. I think he still owes us a round of beers to make reparations for the senseless walking :-). The Rider Rally --------------- Thursday, we went from the hotel over to a little town called Strausburg via a cute little highway, 741 to the Rider Rally. The rally was smaller than I expected. There were probably a total of 20 vendors selling intercoms, leather, shiny bits and of course new bikes. The Kawasaki, BMW and Moto Guzzi manufacturers were in attendance offering demo rides and showing off the hardware. In the afternoon I snapped up a ride on the ZX-11C. I have never felt so much bike lust. The fit and finish were a world better than my Sabre and the smooth power could not compare. I want this bike. I want it bad! Immediately after the '11 ride, I then waltzed over to the Moto Guzzi stall and test rode a Strada. Scott and Dean were both testing the 1000s model. We got off the bike at the end were all quite disappointed. The best way to sum up a Moto Guzzi was a bike designed and unchanged since the early 70s. The only thing I liked about the bike was the brakes. The electrics, throttle response, seating position, seat, etc, were all a piece of Amish cart power excrement. On a side note, the rally had a nice session on tires and I realized that I was not being a good owner and maintaining them the way they should be. The guy was almost as good as my spouse in making me feel guilty about something. Not bad. I later adjusted my tires to the specs. This would not be a bad point to mention to everyone the importance of maintaining the proper pressure...talk to your dealer or the tire manufacturer. After the rally we journeyed to York about 20 miles away to get a hotel for the night. We showed up and found no pool and the air conditioning in Scott's room was non-functional. The problems were resolved by a quick shower and Scott switching rooms (which was a good thing, since he first had the connecting room and was quickly sucking all the coldness from our room into his sauna). We had a good feed at a local pub and returned to find Scott's wife had finally arrived with the dogs. The heat was pretty bad during the day and we were exhausted and went to sleep early. Just after the lights went out, we heard the rumbling of motorcycles outside. Given that the neighbourhood did not look all that great, we took a quick peek and were pleased to see that it wasn't our bikes being driven away, but instead Jack and Jackie Tavares showing up. Jack yelled something inquiring the location of the beer, but unfortunately no beer came out from their hiding spots. Dean and I were splitting the room that night and I'm a pretty light sleeper, so when Dean started talking in his sleep about something he said he didn't understand I had a hard time to suppress the laughter. Even my wife doesn't talk that loud in her sleep! (Dean, better warn Amy). The next day, we continued to the RCR via Reston (to pick up Dean's S.O. Amy) but first was a stop for breakfast in a cute little family restaurant in York. I think the customers that day will remember the breakfast from hell as a group of loud scruffy looking bikers sat down and had quite a raucous breaky. I think the talk of the bird dismemberment might have put a few off their tea and toast. The road to Reston was ridiculous. The heat was incredible and fortunately Amy's parent's place was air conditioned! I think we would have had to kill Dean then and there if it wasn't. After picking up Amy and replenishing our liquids, we were off to West Virginia. We took route 66 out of the Washington area, picking up another Denizen, Dave on his Katana, and then on to the mountains. Since we were a little behind schedule, we did not get a chance to ride Skyline drive (maybe next year at the assault on Deal's Gap). We traveled via another two lane highway (340?) to Waynesboro and picked up two bikes (Cliff and Wil). Off on highway 250, we were pleased by the twisties and cooler temps of the mountains. 250 turned out to be very interesting and there was not much traffic so there was much rejoicing. We stopped in little hick town on the 250 and ate dinner. Dave was reporting some problems with his Katana so he decided to take a little run back the way we came to a lookout. At the lookout, he stopped the engine and then tried to restart it. Nothing. The bike seemed dead. Luckily, Dave was at a peak and managed to coast back to the little hick town. Closer examination of the problem later showed that there was absolutely no electrolyte left in the battery. It was stone dry! Adding the necessary H2O returned the bike to operation (A few of us thought the story pretty funny, but I know that at least I checked my battery level fairily soon after). We finally arrived in Cass, WV, around 9 with Dean in the lead, being careful not spook the multitude of deer on the side of the road. The RCRII --------- We arrived in Cass and met with the rest of the Denizens and their SOs. I am always surprized when I meet more of these people you only read on the network. We sat around and drank beer and talked. Probably the most repeat line of the night was, 'So YOU'RE xxxxx'. We seemed more familiar with the persons .sig file than their real name. Next year we have to get name tags like we had at the NECDoDSF. Jack had a good story about being the first to lowside at the RCR, having just dropped his bike a few miles from Cass. I'm sure he'll still be sore when he reads this a week later! We retired to the bunk and woke in the morning to the sound of a 250 buzzing around the local roads. I'm just thankful there were no open headers playing around. Some of the riders organized and took off for a quick 10am ride in the beautiful country side (the roads in the area were fantastic). A few of us didn't want to go much anywhere after the long rides to get there. I eventually went for a brief ride up into the mountains (11 miles) to what looked like a moderately large town on the map. I found what I was looking for which was a store that carried something other than the local beer/piss water. I later returned with my booty but was too late to inform Dean about the store. Dean later returned after a long drive in the other direction with some questionable tasting beer. The day progressed with the attempt to diagnose Amy Spiker's Moped (bike and sidecar rig) with seemed to be having some valve problems. In my infinite wisdom of Yamaha engines, I piped up and said that the valves were shim adjusted. I was later proven wrong. I guess it was the beer talking, yeah, that's it, the beer told me. That evening, we left for a little train ride on the Cass scenic railway. Unfortunately, Dean missed the festivities and was left behind due to ticketing errors. Again Dean, you didn't miss anything. In fact, the train ride made me a little queazy...must have been all those switchbacks. Sitting in the railcars I think most of us could have ripped out the little loudspeaker they had attached to the roof of the train car. Quite tinny and annoying. At the top, the food was edible and the bluegrass band was missable. Some of us thought the dinner/singing would never end, so we hopped on the train and probably brought the picnic to a quicker and more merciful end :-). It certainly wasn't worth the $25 dollars advertized, but nobody in the group had been there before. The night ended with a return to the cabins and consuming a few refreshments, but I had to retire early that night, since I had to get back to Ottawa in one day. While trying to get to sleep, I kept getting woken up by fireflies that managed to get into the room. Flash, flash, flash, splat. Firefly meet God. God, firefly. The trip back ------------- Not to much to say on the way back, except the heat was not as oppressive. The superslab was beyond boring. About 800 miles later, I arrived in Ottawa, having only been passed by one car. I think I was averaging 85-90mph most of the way. That's pretty much it for the report. Next time/year I'm going to take at least two days back! I heard rumblings that the event may be moved farther south into North Carolina. I love the challenge! Hell, move it to the Keys! Maybe I'll even bring my wife on her own bike :-). Word of thanks -------------- Thanks again to Dean for organizing the event. It was a great success and enjoyed by all. On behalf of all the people who came from Canada to the event, job well done eh! STAY TUNED FOR NEXT YEAR'S DoD GREAT CANADIAN BEER AND WINE TASTING PARTY! or something like that...I haven't decided yet. Mike -- ============================================================================== = The Beav | Mike Beavington | mbeaving@bnr.ca | Dod #9733 | V65Sabre = = "I'm not good in groups. It's difficult to work in a group when you're = = omnipotent" | my opinions <> = = -- Q, "Deja Q," stardate 43539.1. | bnr opinions = ==============================================================================