[quote=Indyone]

…with a few more callouses on my rear.[/quote]

TMI! 

[quote=Indyone]The family vacation thread got me dreaming of my two-wheeled adventure next week…I’m guesstimating 1,500 miles total on two wheels, including all 469 miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway, with my wife and two other couples.

  Looks like some beautiful scenery...leaving Saturday and will let you know how it all went the following weekend when I'm back in my recliner...with a few more callouses on my rear.[/quote]   Do the 1500 miles in 24 hours. In Iron Butt Association terms that's a Bun Burner Gold. Or you could wimp out and do it 36 hours for just a regular Bun Burner certificate. But wait, you've got  what, a week? You could do a BBG 3000. That's two back to back Bun Burners.   Or, you could do a SS5000. That's 5 back to back 1000 mile days. Heck with a a week you could do a 100CCC. That's coast to coast to coast in 100 hours.   Wait a minute, why not do a four corners tour? Ride to the nearest corner of the country. For you, that would be Maine. From there bogie on down to Key West, then over to southern California and then up to Washington State. There's a web site that gives the specific towns and requirements to get the cert. I-10 is beautiful this time of year. Keep the arms covered once you hit Texas.   Of course you are closer to the Great Lakes so maybe a Great Lakes Gold? That's a ride around all the great lakes in 50 hours. Or if you want to stop to smell the lakes, ah i mean roses, you could do the ride in 100 hours. Watch out for the Mackinac Bridge. Those grates will freak you out if there's wind. And there's always wind!    If you can stretch the ride to 10 days you could do a 48 plus. That's a ride through all the 48 lower states plus a 700 mile hop skip and jump  to Hyder Alaska. WOW an Alaskan vacation! And since you're already there, add another 50 hours to do a Trans Canadian. Think of all the moose you'll see eh!   With these rides you still get the the beautiful scenery. Just a lot more of it. And you don't get bogged down with all that non motorcycling stuff, like taking tours and sleeping in nice hotels or eatting in fancy restaurants. The Iron Butt Motel awaits you at anyplace you wish to stop. it's simple and cheap!   Ok, the Blue Ridge is a fabulous road. And a great ride all in itself.  Seriously, if you get a chance ride the Dragon at Deals Gap. The Dragon is RT 129. it's about 65 or 70 miles south of the southern end of the parkway. One of the best, if not the best motorcycle road in the east. Worth the trip!   Wishing you sunny skies and empty highways!

Oh, one other thing, you, your wife and two other couples? That’s a lot of people for one bike don’tcha think? I mean i’m not judging or anything, to each his own, just sayin.

  have fun!!!!!

I’m very jealous!

  Have a great time!

WEAR THE RIGHT GEAR!! Going down with nothing between you and the asphalt but a pirate costume gets pretty ugly. I have been racing and riding for 30+ years and have seen  a fair amount of injury and pain inflicted on riders that could have been avoided.

yooper

[quote=yooper]

WEAR THE RIGHT GEAR!! Going down with nothing between you and the asphalt but a pirate costume gets pretty ugly. I have been racing and riding for 30+ years and have seen  a fair amount of injury and pain inflicted on riders that could have been avoided.

yooper[/quote]       In the Iron Butt Association doing a high speed get off, totalling the bike, and then continuing the rally on another bike is called "Doing a Manny." Thus named after NJ lawyer, Manny Sameiro, who crashed his Kawasaki Voyager at 100mph plus on the Maine Turnpike. Manny was running late to make the check point in Gorham Maine. Seems that on the previous gas stop he had accidently filled his gas tank with diesel. Known as the diesel fuel experiment it's a costly mistake. The time it took Manny to empty the tank and get the bike running put him in serious DSQ territory. Thus the reckless riding. The point is, his riding suit and a lot of luck save his butt and most of his skin.    A heavily bandaged Manny became an IBR legend by completing the remaining three legs (about 7000 miles) of the rally on a Honda 175 he found rotting behind a lawn mower repair shop. $400 bucks later he rode the bike to the Honda Dealer check point in Gorham where they made the bike road worthy. Without the riding suit and helmet Manny probably wouldn't be here. And even if he survived he would have faced months of rehab and skin grafts.   Sweat or bleed, hellofva choice with only one right answer.

BondGuy:

Yeah, it ain’t no fun being normal. But Indy’s the one taking the big ride this week. The parkway is a great ride! Two up for a week on the twisties should challenge his riding skills and hopefully not his marriage.

  BG et al, I'm home...tired...dirty bike, 335 miles on the last leg today and sitting in front of the computer with a Mike's Hard Lemonade.  I'll post more, hopefully including pictures later, probably in a separate thread, but here's a quick synopsis of seven days in the Smokies...   Left last Saturday for the Gatlinburg area and did a bit over 400 miles in that day alone.  Not really fun riding...just trying to get to a destination.  Sunday, went over the mountain at Gatlinburg, through Cherokee, started the Parkway and ended in Asheville NC...gorgeous scenery and weather.  Monday, decided to skip the Biltmore (seen it once and will be taking the daughter to see it later anyway) and got back on the Parkway.  Beautiful weather and great scenery again.  Ended in Mount Airy, NC (hometown of Andy Griffith...neat little place...will spend more time there next time).  Seeing weather approaching from the west, got back on the Parkway Tuesday, with a detour to see the Natural Bridge...huge...awe-inspiring, but put us behind in finishing the Parkway.  I had convinced the others to finish it rather than turn back west and head for home 60 miles short.  In a way, that turned out to be a mistake, although I'd do it again rather than wimp out and not finish all 469 miles.  The last five+ miles were finished Tuesday night in a blinding thunderstorm at about 9pm.  It was very wet, very dark, except when the lightning was flashing, and given the visibility, terrifying.  I'm on a road that I don't know, with my wife behind me, both of us getting soaked because we didn't want to waste time putting on rain gear when we were trying to beat the storm.  All I can see through sheets of rain is about 15 feet of the center line, my GPS, and my buddy's taillight.  I told him later that if he'd ridden off the mountain, I surely would have followed.  Given how we'd become accustomed to really laying into the switchbacks, I thought for sure, one of us at least would lay a bike down in that mess, even given the greatly reduced speed.  Anyway, we finally click off the last five miles and arrive at an abandoned complex at the end of the Parkway, just east of Waynesboro, VA.  We literally park the biked and ran under an old motel overhang to get out of the rain.  We're talking no doors on the rooms, all the windows busted out...just not a nice place.  I'm not sure why it failed being at the top end of the parkway, but the store/welcome center, motel, everything was closed.  Anyway, after looking at the radar on my PDA and seeing an even worse-looking mess coming from the west, we decided to slog through the diminishing rain and try to get a room at Waynesboro befoire the big stuff hit.  A great day for 99% of it, but the last part S-U-C-K-E-D.   Wednesday, got up, looked at the radar, saw it was mostly clear so we took off through scenic West Virginia.  Got to about mid-afternoon, around Summerville(?) and got soaked again!  At least this time, we had all our raingear on and luggage covered!  My wife voted to stop right there, but fearing more problems if we didn't get farther west, we pushed all the way to Barbourville (just east of Huntington) and quit because of threatening weather (and because it was going on 8 o'clock in the evening and we wanted to celebrate one of the ladies' birthday).  We literally got the last three freaking rooms at the Best Western we stopped at.  The lady at the desk told us that because a lot of people worked around there, rooms are almost always pretty scarce.  Had a nice dinner at Outback right across the parking lot from where we stayed (I had Shrimp en Fuego and highly recommend it).   Thursday was complete bust as far as riding goes.  It literally rained all day and after our two previous experiences with riding in the slop, we got a deck of cards, secured our rooms for the night and played Euchre most of the afternoon and evening.  Had an excellent meal at Famous Dave's Barbeque (I highly recommend the beef brisket).   Today, we woke up to very cloudy and cool weather with the last shower passing through Barbourville just as we were getting up.  We dried the bikes up and headed west across Kentucky (ever been on the AA highway?!!) and then back home...about 335 miles today.  The sun came out about mid-morning and we had beautiful driving weather the rest of the day.  Having done the Parkway and not finding anything that quite matched up, we took a few scenic roads, but mostly made a beeline back home.   All told, about 1,662 miles total, and but for Thursday and a couple of brief bouts Tuesday and Wednesday, we had great weather and smooth sailing...no injuries, no breakdowns and almost no damage to the biked (my buddy's chrome shock tube on his Vulcan took a couple of nasty dents when a piece of asphalt flew up and disintegrated in his front fork on route 25 in Asheville).  I would highly, highly recommend the Blue Ridge Parkway for any serious biker as one beautiful, relaxing ride (unless you're in a thunderstorm).   Look for more in a separate thread if I find the time after being out of the office for a week.   ...and BG...the wife and I got along beautifully...and not a scratch on the bike that I can see...

Indy, great trip report!

  1600 miles in one week? That's as much as most do in a summer.   Dark mountain roads, heavy rain, fog, lightning flashes, Bates motel in the middle of nowhere? Sounds like a good time! Typical Iron Butt ride. I do have to say that I know more than one IB rider who would have stayed at that motel. At least under the overhang. Beats a wet picnic table.   Glad you had a great ride. Looking forward to seeing the pix.

[quote=2wheeledbernie]Hey, Moraen, did you get that Ninja 250? Anybody else take some profit on their naked BAC puts and buy a two wheeled toy lately?[/quote] <?: prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

You all are serious about the ninja 250? I rode one home once for my sister in-law and it was like riding a damn moped. I have owned several bikes, but my current thrill ride (but not for long because my wife wont ride on the back wheel  with me anymore, so cruiser world here I come), is a Suzuki tl 1000r (sv 650 and sv 1000 are the newer year models and nice bikes). If you have not rode a motorcycle before, a stock 600 Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, etc. is fine to start with. Then after you get used to it drop the front sprocket a tooth and have some real fun. Crash the piss out of it and turn it into a stunt bike. Then go out and spend 20k on a Duc.

 

But first before you make the decision; ask yourself why you want a motorcycle. If you are an adrenaline junkie you will be pissed with the 250 (I was pissed when I test rode the stock 600s but that’s just me). If you want to enjoy the ride etc. then start with a Honda shadow 600 or an equivalent to that. Honestly though if you are over 5 feet tall you will look like a monkey f***ing a football on the ninja 250.

    To repeat the best advice on this topic......   ALWAYS WEAR APPROPRIATE GEAR. If you are not wearing at least a DOT APPROVED HELMET, even in the states not requiring helmets, you are only a statistic waiting to happen.

 

A close friend died three weeks ago. Big truck pulled out in front of his Road King and he only had a turtle shell helmet on. His ol lady had DOT approved helmet. She lived, he died.

 

So, get a 600, a nice expensive helmet, come to <?: prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />East Tn and shoot the gap with me...