Ready to Ride, Clyde?

Up until Labor Day, the only riding I'd done with Clyde was back and forth to work, to church, and to the dealership to pick up the license plate and registration. Saturday of Labor Day weekend, I was at a friend's lake house and ended up riding a jet ski like a maniac so that my legs were really sore on Sunday and still quite sore on Monday. No matter, Monday was the day to ride.

I didn't have a set destination in mind, nor an idea of how long I'd be gone. I left the house at 9 a.m., with Riley all settled in for the day, and headed out to Chik Fil A for a breakfast biscuit and then to a gas station to top off the tank and air up the tires. It was a little on the chilly side, and I was wearing sweats under my mesh pants, and two shirts (one long sleeved and one sleeveless) under my regular textile jacket. I thought it might warm up to be a little much for those layers, but since I was heading up into the NC mountains, decided I'd probably appreciate the warmth.

One of the first curvy roads I took was 276 heading up to the top of Caesar's Head. I'd only ridden this road a half dozen times on Mr. Crunchy, and only two of those times were by myself. This was a good warmup to try out Clyde's cornering ability, and man could I tell a difference! He feels very stable in the curves and engine braking is very manageable without being jerky. That road is full of swoops, curves, hairpins and decreasing radii, all with probably a 5% to 8% grade uphill.

Near the top, I got behind some Very Slow People, but the first one finally pulled off at the visitor station at the top of the hill. From this point, you're riding along the ridge, and angling slightly downhill before getting more curvy and downhill heading into Brevard, NC. If I thought I had been behind Very Slow People earlier, I now got behind someone who made them look positively breakneck in their speed. This guy braked when he saw a sign indicating a curve ahead. Whose average speed was 37 in a 55. I lollygagged behind, swooping back and forth in my lane, and reveled in the extra kick this bike has when a passing lane finally appeared.

Heading up the mountains and across to Brevard, most of the road was in the shade and I can say I did NOT have too many layers on! I only wish I already had the heated grips from the Ninja on the VFR. I can't get the brother in law job on the current, supposed, alleged, imaginary heated grips to work now. Hopefully that swap will occur this week.

Went through Brevard, and decided to keep on 276 and head up through Pisgah National Forest (I thank you again, Mrs. Vanderbilt) and hop onto the Blue Ridge Parkway for a spin. The sky was the prettiest blue, without a cloud in sight, even though the tree canopy only allowed a few glimpses on the way up to the BRP. Once up there, it was smooth sailing. There were several cars and bikes up there, but I wasn't in a hurry, and kept pulling off to get glamour shots of Clyde. As is usually the case (grr) my batteries died in the camera, so I have limited shots of the bike after the first hour on the BRP.

Still without a definite route in mind, I kept riding west (east bound had some construction ahead, so I went t'other way). I passed the exit for Highway 215, and headed on to a visitor station on the parkway that's up a big hill and has restrooms (ok, they're pit toilets, but well kept) and a store with water, snacks, posters, shirts and cool stuff. I grabbed some water and a granola bar, but balked at paying $8 for a 4-pack of AA batteries. It was nearly 12:30 at this point and I flaked there for a good 20 or 30 minutes, enjoying the view, and watching the ants on the parkway below.

Once I left there, I continued west and passed the turnoff for Highway 23, but finally took the exit for Cherokee (it's not every day you can ride through a different nation), where I filled up with gas. I'd only gone 120 miles, but figured it wouldn't hurt. That tank got me around 48 mpg, which was about right, since I always get better mpg in the mountain twisties than on the regular roads. I headed out from there and followed signs for Highway 74. I originally got on, headed east, but then remembered a wonderful stretch of 28 that was further west, so did a u-turn and went the other direction, going back towards Bryson City.

The stretch of 28 I was thinking about branched off to the south of Hwy 74, but then I got to thinking (the plumber always gets worried when I say, "I was thinking...."). If I took Hwy 74 to 28 north, I'd be on the back doorstep of the Tail of the Dragon. And since Clyde ate the curves up, and since I didn't have to be back at any particular time (well, there was a church picnic, but I'd been a little ambivalent about going), and since it was only 1:50 p.m., I decided to go for it.

I'd only ridden that stretch of road once before (and you can read about it here). Before 28 meets up with 129, there's a Pit Stop gas station, where I took a quick break, grabbed some water and took a bathroom break. I left there at 2:35 and rode on down to meet Hwy 129, one of the curviest roads in the country. The first bit of it was pretty good, but within a short distance, I got behind two cars with Tennessee plates who did not know how to take curves very well, and also did not know or appreciate the value of the 60 some odd paved pull offs on that stretch of road. For at least nine of the eleven miles, I was behind them. I would slow down as much as I could without backing up anyone behind me, but within seconds, I'd be back on the Mazda's bumper. That's the downside of going there.

Finally, once through the twisties and back on straighter roads, I pulled over, waited for a clearing and then headed back the way I'd just come. This time, there was one car in front of two bikes that were in front of me. Before it got too twisty, the car pulled over (oh, thank you! thank you!) and after a little bit more, the two bikes waved me in front of them, scooting to the right of the lane so I could pass without going over the yellow line.

For the next 9 miles, I had no one in front of me and it was divine! This was the time to bring back into play some of the riding courses I've taken, and I was using all of my lane and shifting my weight all over the place to keep the bike going through the curves nicely. I managed to scrape my footpegs on both the left and right side while going through the curves, which was a mark of personal satisfaction :) Near the NC line (about a mile from the end of the run), I got behind a black cherry Lincoln Town Car with Georgia plates, but they pulled over and let me pass, so I once again had a clear shot all the way back to the Pit Stop gas station.

I was feeling a little beat by now, since I'd had nothing since breakfast but a granola bar and some water, and it was now close to 4 p.m. I grabbed an ice cream bar and a Dr. Pepper and plunked down on the sidewalk to enjoy them. By now the day had warmed up and I took off the sweat pants and long sleeved shirt, tucking the folded up shirt into the back of my waistband and looping the sweatpants onto the grab handles, tying them tight with the waist drawstring on the pants. I'd not brought a saddlebag or tailbag for the trip, so improvising was required.

It was near 4:30 when I left the gas station, heading south on 28 to meet up with 74 again. While on this stretch of 28, I got behind another SUV who graduated top of his class from the Slow School, and finally passed him several miles down the road. The next car I came up behind was a...black cherry Lincoln Town Car with Georgia plates :) I passed them once again, but keeping my speed within very friendly terms of the limit, since there were many LEO's about. When I got onto 74, there's a short jog before you pick up the rest of 28 South, and I saw a BP station on the way. I stopped in for a quick top off so I wouldn't have to stop any more before getting home. This time, the mpg was somewhere around 56 mpg (told you those twisties are good!) and I'd gone another 115 miles.

I was out of there in minutes (never even got off the bike) and back onto 74 for a couple more miles before the sign showed where 28 headed south again. That really is a lovely road. I'd only gone north on it once before, so it's still fairly new to me. There was hardly any traffic on it, again, and the pickup truck in front of me pulled off onto a side road fairly soon, and after that, I came up behind a...black cherry Lincoln Town Car with Georgia plates. They probably were wondering how in the world I kept showing up in their rear view mirror! True to form, they pulled over within a couple of miles and I honked a quick toodeloo when I passed them for the last time.

Miles down the road was Franklin, NC, where I picked up Highway 64 towards Highlands. Minivans really can be annoying, but thankfully, the one creeping in front of me did finally pull over and I had another beautiful run on a twisty road with rock walls to the left and waterfalls to the right. By the time I got to Highlands, it was nearly 6 p.m. The picnic went from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., so I figured it was a lost cause, and decided to head home to let Riley out, rather than try to show up across town for the last 10 minutes of the picnic.

Highway 64 is a beaut, although retirees tend to clog the roadways around Cashiers and Sapphire. It wasn't too bad, though, and I made it through to the turnoff for 183 south to 130. Ended up passing a couple of pokes that were slow, and descended down to Highway 11 around Lake Jocassee. On the scenic highway, there was a gaggle of cars in front of me until the turn off for Pickens at Highway 178, and then a clear shot until I completed the loop of the day and passed the turn off for Caesar's Head. The last bit of 276 through Travelers Rest was uneventful and I pulled into my driveway at about 7:50 p.m.

It had been a good day's ride and I'm happy with Clyde. I may have to do something with the seat...I was very ready to get off after only a 365 mile day. Time-wise, I was in the saddle for about 9 hours, and as a reference point, my two Iron Butt rides had me in the saddle for an additional 10 and 12 hours in the same day. Ain't no way in heck that could happen on that seat!

While I don't have any pictures past the first couple of stops on the BRP, I was able to get a couple of the proofs of me going through the Dragon on a couple of websites (www.killboy.com and www.us129photos.com), that are cool to see. Lord willing, I'll be heading up there in about 3 weeks for another run at the Dragon, meeting up with folks from BBO for the third rally this year. It might be early to have some autumn colors by then, but we'll see.