Second South'n Spine Raid 2006

[sctt2525]

Checking in on a few things here:

Bill, Yep some other riders can make Deals Gap downright dangerous ("riders" is too good a word for these people) LEO presence is a non-issue- they promised another crackdown this year as usual, but in the handful of times I've been up there this year I've seen one county mountie and I'm convinced he was asleep in his car. Foothills Parkway is a great ride; I've probably done it hundreds of times in my life (not counting the times I've spent there drunk as a teenager) and can't remember a bad ride.

 

I was trying to find a route that would wind up here in Friendsville, but some health issues and home improvement projects gone awry have shelved the cookout till next year. Sorry.

 

Anyone interested in a ride into Knoxvegas Friday evening for supper and a walking tour of downtown chime in.

 

Look forward to it,

Scott

[Bill Hagan]

Checking in on a few things here:

Bill, Yep some other riders can make Deals Gap downright dangerous ("riders" is too good a word for these people) LEO presence is a non-issue- they promised another crackdown this year as usual, but in the handful of times I've been up there this year I've seen one county mountie and I'm convinced he was asleep in his car. Foothills Parkway is a great ride; I've probably done it hundreds of times in my life (not counting the times I've spent there drunk as a teenager) and can't remember a bad ride.

 

I was trying to find a route that would wind up here in Friendsville, but some health issues and home improvement projects gone awry have shelved the cookout till next year. Sorry.

 

Anyone interested in a ride into Knoxvegas Friday evening for supper and a walking tour of downtown chime in.

 

Look forward to it,

Scott

 

I plan to arrive in Sweetwater on Friday evening. Hope to try to be an Izaak Walton and land a trout along the way, too. And, thanks for the invitation, but I'm too old for partying in Knoxville that night, at least if I want to ride the next morning, but will probably have a decent bourbon (and a grappa or two) with whomever is hanging around the Sweetwater Best Western that night (which is a sad commentary on their social lives).

 

Looking forward to the ride and riders. Glad to see the 95F/35C temps we've been having look to be breaking on Friday. Will still be hot, but better.

 

Bill

 

P.S. Before I leave, need to run another printout of the "How to Replace Your Pawl Spring at the Side of the Road" instructions to take with me.

[docc]

 

P.S. Before I leave, need to run another printout of the "How to Replace Your Pawl Spring at the Side of the Road" instructions to take with me.

 

 

Bill, I thought you had a spare spring to act as a talisman hung to dangle like a karma bell to keep the spring gremlin away.

[docc]

It's looking like the departure from the Cracker Barrel in Columbia will move up 2 hours: meet at 0630 and leave when enough coffee has been imbibed, like an hour later. This way we'll hope to beat the heat and the threat of the Tropical Storm off the coast of South Carolina.

[docc]

Scott,

 

How's the local weather looking for the weekend??

 

Looks like saturday we'll be looping the Cherohala to Almond and back. Something like 225 miles.

[sctt2525]

I know you've got to be on the road by now, so this might be a moot point. The weather is looking like Hell!!! 75% chance of crap on Saturday. No doubt this is because you invited me, as this sort of luck seems to folllow me around.

 

I'll be in Sweetwater anyway, as I owe Bill a beer

 

S

[docc]

Well, at least we know where the weather came from. As it turned out, Scott, I think you were the only one to end up riding in it. You should have just stayed with us in lovely Sweetwater while we ate pizza, drank beer and watched the lightning.

 

From Sott's sacrifice to the weather gods we ended up we nice weather for a 300 mile loop into North Carolina on Saturday and absolutely magnificent weather for the ride home Sunday. It appears Sunday was state Law Enforcement Day so I hope every one slipped home undetected.

 

Seven riders showed from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. The North Carolina contingent was notably absent . Ascending the Cherohala was a little messy after the passing storms but the mountains are full of energetic people just waiting to use that chain saw in the back of the pick-up, so by our return the roads were dry, cool and clear.

 

Overall, we ate well, drank well, rode well and by the time the city patrol car rolled throught the motel parking lot the second time that night, philosophies of life and the subtle shape of beautiful women artfully crafted into the design of the V11 were revealing themselves to our keen insights.

 

Thanks to The Perfesser ( Andy York) for showing us you can get 40.54 mpg while running far enough off the front to have a smoke and take some photos while the group catches up. Repeatedly. And we weren't loafing.

 

As always, Bill Hagan adds an air of sophistication to our enclave and is a mighty good sport to put up with our ribbing. But, really Bill, catching trout in the mountains is an art. And while fishing in a dashing navy blazer is an enduring image, you'll have to start casting somewhere outside the parking lot to reel in the big ones.

 

There is encouraging talk of 'next year' and already one more Guzzi to be there since David's (99d12) Cafe Sport will be delivered next week. The Daytona certainly wasn't out of place and got nice style points next to Josh's prisitne Sport 1100.

 

While it's always fascinating to park the bikes all together and go over them making comparisons and observations and trying to figure out what luigi was thinking . . . it's the scintillating line of bikes singing through those curves with pipes pointed up into the crisp mountain air that is the real event.

 

Mountain music indeed!

[Bill Hagan]

Here are some pics: http://snipurl.com/tscg

 

As usual, just light up first pic; no need to register.

 

And just "settings" to see captions, which usally means "small" pic.

 

Think I need to get a video cam, as all my "ride" pics, are "stopping" pics.

 

A great time, and special thanks to docc for arranging it all.

 

I started that way a day early, leaving here Thursday, and meeting up with Cam & Jan Lay in Clemson. Cam has just bought new-to-him 2000 VFR and he (trustingly) let me ride it. Yee ha! Then did US 178 up and over mountain to US 64, and N.C. SR 215 to Blue Ridge Parkway. Got drenched and COLD (in July!), and spent night in over-priced Asheville. Next a.m., rode over to Sweetwater via SR 28 from Sylva to Deal's Gap, the US 129 into Tennessee.

 

Docc tells the ride, above. My pics mostly illustrate beer, belching, & BS.

 

My ride home on Sunday was uneventful, but a joy as the weather was spectacular and roads clear of traffic ... and LEO. Saw a coyote on Ga. 75 at the crest of the mountain north of Helen, and a wild turkey strutting at an overlook. I'm hoping to have a trout pic next trip.

 

Bill

 

P.S. I see that killboy.com doesn't have Friday or Saturday's Deal's Gap pics up yet, but some of us will be there when they do.

[Martin Barrett]

 

Great captions as always Bill

 

I'm envious I've now got to wait till next year till my next Guzzi social event.

 

memo: Get a Life Martin.

 

 

No seriously it's always good to see these social events and the pictures from all your ride outs. People having fun on their Guzzis thats how it's ment to be, not just this has gone wrong whats the fix.

[sctt2525]

Thanks for the pics Bill. Love 'em!

 

A few thoughts on next year- NO raw sausage biscits from Cracker Barrel (Why the HELL do they do that?) I think that's what did me in Sat.

MUST be in a "wet" county or bring more booze in from civilization.

I'll stay at the hotel with you guys (even if it's right here in town) to avoid riding in those damn hurricane conditions.

Bring a video camera to blackmail you guys with when you sober up.

 

 

Hope you all made it home OK!

 

Scott

[Josh]

Hey guys, I just wanted to thank all of you for such a memorable weekend. What a GREAT event!

I'm looking forward to the next one.

Docc was talking about working up a ride in a few weeks to help break in David's new bike. Maybe some of you can make it.

 

Thanks to Docc, Scott, Bill, Andy, David, Gary, you guys rock!

[docc]

People having fun on their Guzzis thats how it's ment to be, not just this has gone wrong whats the fix.

 

Interesting, Martin, that this was a topic of conversation. Forums are so much about 'glitches and bitches.' Yet here we rode some (hard) 3000 collective miles without a burp. OK, in spite of the big tool spread around Bill's bike. Guzzi guys are like any other guys . . . just looking for a chance to pull out their tools.

[docc]

And then there was this:


South'n Spine Raid, Cherohala Skyway, July 2006

[Guest italytn]

The only thing missing from the photos is a nero 1100i! Glad everyone had a great ride. Hopefully I will be in the pictures next year.

[docc]

We could have used that beautiful Sport-i for reference. Lots of questions came up about the changes between the Spo®t 1100 ,carbed, and the first of the V11s.

 

With the bikes parked after a spirited ride, and with proper application of Peroni, the continual evolution of changes becomes apparent.