Robin and I got back about 5:00 after a great leisurely ride and long lunch
from Bob's very successful SME. Thanks Bob, Jane and Family..
Despite a couple of mishaps We both have much fun.
After heading out Friday morning in pouring rain, grumbling something about
pelicanrain on the way to Bob A', it stopped soon after leaving his abode
and the sun was in full swing by the time we hit VT. We met up with Greg
Mahunik and Sean Votier at the Vermont Country Store and continued on.
We made a stop at MT Okemo(sp?) A nice steep ride with a twist. After
hitting a turn wide Robin Came to a stop, In my attempt to avoid plowing
into her I skirted the Shoulder and loss traction and down it went. I
jumped off and turned to see Greg's bike fall. He had stopped to help and
his stand didn't hold. After righting him we started to right mine and a
couple of guys on a ATV stopped to help ge me up and on the road. I found
out later that they had said at the time that we were not suppose to be up
there and told us to turn around ad go back down. Well, hey, I didn't hear
then so I just head up to where the others were.
Later we were treated to much food, drink and merriment at the house, if
you weren't there, we talked about you.
Saturday the smell of coffee beckoned. We headed out to a great day of
riding. Bob may have found it boring, but we enjoy that kind of riding as
well as SWEEPING turns.
We did some strafing around the traffic when we could,
We stopped for gas around 6pm and was told that base camp was a hop skip
and a jump away. Hooper(I think) said a BIG hop skip and a jump, Something
about going up this mountain and some twisties
Well, I finally found out what REAL twisties are all about, at least the
up/down mountain type. I was not ready for that, and my V45 wasn't
either. I has no idea that they were hairpin turns going up and going
down. You could see the marks on the rock face were others didn't know
either.
Robin did fine, nice and slow, dragging a foot/peg now and then(easy to do
on her bike) The first turn seemed like it was a 360 around a large
rock, I had no idea. After crossing over the double yellow dragging a
peg, I slowed way down. It really scared the shit outta me, and rightly so.
Coming down I dragged a peg and more. I had no idea what scraped, but the
bike didn't like it either. Caused the bike to wobble pretty good. I
brought it up and rode the rest of the way SLOW.
Damm, you didn't even have to try to drag a peg on that mountain, you had
no choice!
Back at the house, John Haydt was there just in from his ride though Lake
George, man you picked a bad time to go through there! Americade is such a
zoo on parade day. :-(
Later we headed to a Relative's house on the mountain, up a dirt road. I
didn't mind that. then it got to be a loose dirt road, I didn't mind that
either, though Robin made the mistake of stopping and dropped her bike
gently. We then got to the field wasn't too bad until we got to a section
that was rutted with mud tracks. I loss my momentum and dropped it in the
rut. (Bob, you get the bike and I would nide more than happy to learn dirt
riding. :-)
Weird thing was, it was a dirt drop and it bent my case guard! My
windshield also broke, fixed that up with duct tape.
The food and great people had me forgetting about in is short time. The
ride home was uneventful Bob A and Alf offered to bring our bikes beyond
the mud and loose gravel(thanks guys).
Woke up early on Sunday to find Haydt packing and on his way. He earns the
award for longest ride/shortest time stayed(for this SME) . John you
missed a great breakfast and Java.
Robin and I decided to take a leisurely ride home and took our time until
we hit the last 50 miles of slab... Alf, it was reminiscent of our sprint
through CT a couple of weeks back. :-)
It was great making new friends and seeing old friends.
A big thanks to Bob and Jane and Bob's mother in-law for being such great
hosts.
Pete Leahy