Mountain Ride

Today I went for a ride up in the NC mountains with a fellow-rider from work named Martin. He was on a Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM (pretty sure) which is much more nimble in the mountain twisties than my bike. We headed up US276 to Caesar's Head, which is normally a pretty intense ride, but today there were lots of bicycles, slow cars, and even an emergency crew cutting up a tree that had fallen across the road, so not much time to get zippy. Once we regrouped at the top, we rode into Brevard, NC, behind some rather...um...SLOW riders (for lack of a better word). There were five in the group, mixing up everything from a Goldwing to a scooter to a Harley. Once we headed west on 64 and got to a decent passing zone, it was a relief to get past them.

From my house to the top of Caesar's Head, it's roughly 35 miles. I was surprised when I looked at my trip meter (reset with a fresh tank of gas this morning) and noticed I'd only gone 34 miles by the time I was well past Brevard. I looked again when passing Sapphire, NC. Still 34 miles. Hmm. Reset the meter and kept glancing down. Nada. My speedo and tach work fine, but the odometer (main and two trip meters) have all died. Since the speedometer is still working, it's not a cable issue, but likely to be an internal gizmo working issue, and from what TJ says, not many places will repair the gizmo parts. I've got to do some research to see what to get. We headed in to Cashiers, NC, to eat at a barbecue place that, evidently, many riders frequent. When we pulled into the parking lot, there might have been five other bikes there. When we left, there were well over 20.

No pics today, but here is a map of the route we took. Coming back down 288 to 130 was lovely: great sweeping curves and no traffic. Stopped for gas and bathroom break, and then on to 188 through Pumpkintown (yes), over to 276, hopped onto 414, and then Martin took 25 North and I went 25 South to our respective homes. Total for the day (my best guess) is about 140 miles. (I took a nap when I got home...yawrn!)

I've also got my sights on some of these for the upcoming, potential, might-happen, hope-so trip in October. (You know...it's just one more thing...)