Twelfth South'n Spine Raid 2016

[brlawson]

Nick,

 

I should be checking in around lunch time. I hope to benefit from some technical expertise in the fueling department myself. Sure would like to eliminate that low rpm sneeze.

[Blueboarhound]

Ducati Tim and I will be there early on Friday. I'm going old school and paper mapping the route so GPS doesn't send us to the "other" location again this year.....

[Bill Hagan]

We are trailering the EV, with the tug being my beloved POS '93 Toyota pickup.  Just put $1200+ in it for a "tune-up," so I assume it'll get us there, albeit sans A/C or radio.  With Kathi riding shotgun, tho, I'll have all the entertainment I can use.     

 

We plan to arrive late afternoon.

I kid about Kathi, but what a princess she is, especially after I dropped her off the back of the Norge day before yesterday.    

 

That was the first time she’s hit the pavement, yet she remains game for the SSR.   

 

We were nearing the end of a great 150-or-so-miler in the area.  Perfect temps; zero traffic  — well, except for the maniac driving the empty school bus behind me down Trout Mountain Road south of Wardensville, W.V.  Lordy, she must have had a hard day … but I digress!

 

After a nice meal here — http://www.lostriverbrewing.com; if ever near, we recommend it — I pulled over on that sweet piece of pavement, W.V. CR14, to change dark visor to clear.  At complete stop, we were ready to get off, when the front wheel pivoted on light coat of sand/gravel.  Down we went.    

 

Kathi has “turf toe,” but should be fine in time for her Disney World trip next week.  Thank God I’m not going! ;-)

I have a painful but minor hamstring pull.  Will be fine soon, too.

The Norge sustained virtually no damage.  Most of the cosmetic to bottom of left pannier.  May do one of those plastic dip coatings.  The front left Motolight “moved” and scraped a bit.  Later smelled brake, but that rotor not overly hot compared to other when checked, tho I need to look at that more closely.  

Two passersby — lucky, too, as this is a little-traveled road — helped get it up.  With hamstring, I was pretty useless (as usual!). 

Was a bit worried about fuel spill and engine running longer than I would want.  I was trapped, and Kathi didn’t know how to stop.  Was only seconds, tho, and started and ran fine once uprighted.  Had just R&R’d 10/60, and no lights or bad sounds.

All around pretty lucky, especially me to have Kathi think I’m a good guy under all of the circumstances!   

 

See you all on Friday.   

 

Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nick]

I may either stay at Willville for 2 nights and arrive on Friday or just stay one night and arrive on Thursday and do some local riding on Friday.......

 

Ooooops, just saw your post Bill. Sorry about the little "accident". Happened to me a "few" times ;-)

[gstallons]

Dumping at less than 5 mph is the ultimate humiliation. We have all been there. Get back on and get well !

[docc]

Got an education yesterday and today on the "late model" (1200Sport/Norge) tip-over switch that defeats the fuel pump, petcock, and start relay.

 

Not that it tipped over, but if the switch ("baby rattle") isn't oriented correctly, the bike will not start.

 

These can be complicated beasts . . .

[Blueboarhound]

Been there done that Bill, glad you're both OK.

[JRD]

Oh no Mr Bill!! Glad nobody sustained serious injury. Been there, done that two! The night before I was supposed to leave for last years SSR, all packed, gassed and loaded to go, my LeMans tipped over on top of me in my own garage. And there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it once it started over. I can still recall the horrific feeling watching helplessly as the windscreen leaned against the shelves distorting out of shape then exploding into pieces! Luckily my incident happened in the comfort and privacy of my own home and I was able to upright the bike alone.

Hopefully this years trip will be incident free. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday!

 

 

Jerry

[docc]

Oh no Mr Bill!! Glad nobody sustained serious injury. Been there, done that two! The night before I was supposed to leave for last years SSR, all packed, gassed and loaded to go, my LeMans tipped over on top of me in my own garage. And there wasn't a thing I could do to stop it once it started over. I can still recall the horrific feeling watching helplessly as the windscreen leaned against the shelves distorting out of shape then exploding into pieces! Luckily my incident happened in the comfort and privacy of my own home and I was able to upright the bike alone.

Hopefully this years trip will be incident free. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday!

 

 

Jerry

The kind of surreal experience that happens in slow motion but the physics don't change!

[Scud]

Well, there goes the "never dropped" line from your ad if you ever decide to sell it. The low speed drop is humiliating (I'm in the "club"). But we pick up, inspect, learn the lesson, and move on...

 

There's a spot on one of my favorite roads where I dropped a BMW R100CS with my girlfriend (now wife of 20 years). I look at it every time I pass and remind myself not to pull onto soft shoulders with front brake applied.

[JRD]

I tried to convince my wonderful wife that she should have thrown herself under the bike in sacrifice but she wasn't buying it. She did however bring the roll of clear shipping tape so I could tape the pieces back together. "Nobody will notice". Uhhhh huh. "Thanks dear, I'll just take the Aprilia". Gotta love 'em.

[docc]

I think it's really noble  of everyone to get this sort of thing out of our systems before a Spine Raid . . . 

[danl]

Well at least someone will have bags to carry our beer.......   

Securely locked even!  Why else do you think I bought this thing?

 

Ducati Tim and I will be there early on Friday. I'm going old school and paper mapping the route so GPS doesn't send us to the "other" location again this year.....

I've been using a website/app called Rever as a free GPS alternative.  It has a nice route planning interface (with really good topo) on the site, then you follow the route using your phone on the bike.  It just displays the route on a map (no turn by turn or eta estimate) but it will never recalculate and send you on a "better" route.  Might be worth checking out:  https://rever.co/

 

I was busier than expected over the weekend.  I'll be in touch about your travel plans down to Tellico Plains soon.

 

Bill-  Glad to hear you you guys are mostly ok!  I'm a club member too.

[brlawson]

Looks like it may be prudent to avoid the Maggie Valley area this weekend.

 

http://handlebarcorral.com/

 

[Bill Hagan]

 

 

Might mean that we’ll have fewer cruiser convoys in our area!    

 

BTW, while I get a bit tired of the the whole “celebrate diversity” schtick   , gotta say that even I, with my insensitivity meter set on high, found this on that site … uhm … interesting.   

 

 

 

 

On the home front, we are taking care of some tasks before we leave.  

 

I do the hard stuff, e.g., riding the Cub Cadet around, and asking “staff” to bring me a beer, etc.

 

Kathi does the easy items … as in moving rocks around for some landscape changes.  That pic was taken about 8 a.m. this morning; she’s been doing similar work since before 6.  Polish wives are amazing!      

 

 

 

See you all Friday.  

 

Bill

 

P.S. I’ll have some Virginia bourbon for those important comparisons.