Gurock
Well-known member
I'm not sure that this is the right topic area for this post, but here it is.
Last weekend I got up early on Saturday with a bug to go riding. So I packed a small bag early Saturday morning and took off from Chicago to ride some good roads in northern and northeastern Kentucky. I left Chicago and took I 65 towards Louisville getting off the Indianapolis bypass (I 465 at Indiana 39 I think it is and rode through the Hoosier National Forest, French Lick and down to Indiana 66, by way of Cannelton, IN where there is an old fashioned 1950s hamburger joint that makes one of the worlds greatest Banana Milkshakes, to do the stretch along the river and on towards Louisville and stayed Saturday night in Erlanger, KY by the greater Cincinnati airport. It was a pretty good day but the two hundred or so miles of I 65 and I 465 do take a little of the goodness out of it.
On Sunday I got up early had breakfast and took off on I 75 south a little to KY 22 and followed KY 22 east till it ends into KY 10 and KY 9 taking me out to Huntington, WV. For those that haven't done it before KY 22 east of I 75 until it ends is one of the truly challenging motorcycle roads. For it's whole length (50-60 miles) there's not any stretch of more then an eighth of a mile without a turn or hill. Add to that that there's lots of turns right over the crests of hills without warning signs. There's actually a spot with a snake shaped curve warning sign saying 35 MPH curves next eighteen miles. It also is well littered with decreasing radius turns. Sunday was just a glorious day of hills and turns with leaves starting to change. When I was in Huntington, WV I got a text message from a lady friend of mine near Cincinnati telling me that she got free and could go to late dinner. I looked at Google Maps and it said that if I took I 64 20 miles west I could catch KY 9 or what they call the AA highway back to Cincinnati and get back in 2 and a half hours. This AA Highway follows the Ohio River and is more of an FJR road. It has many grades and turns, but they are more high speed predictable turns that our bikes do so well. Just a beautiful road especially with the leaves beginning to change. Back I went arranging a new hotel in Erlanger, KY and my date for the evening (What a middle age single guy will do in hopes of getting lucky). I got back a little after eight in the evening and just after dark. I had a good dinner and date, and slept for a new day.
On Monday I knew that I'd have to be home that night in Chicago and didn't want to roll up to my garage at three AM, so I took off for KY 22 only going west towards Louisville and took it and KY 36 (both pretty good riding roads) until I got to Milton, KY where I caught US 421 north with the plan to cross the Ohio river into Madison, IN and take US 421 north 50 or so miles to I 74 near Indianapolis and home by way of I 74 to I 465 to I 65 to Chicago. I had a good time on the Kentucky roads except that my favorite general store hamburger joint on that route was closed.
When I crossed the Ohio River on US 421 going north through Madison, IN a little north of town there's a traffic circle where US 421 crosses Indiana 62. As I got to the traffic circle there was a flagman and a cop directing traffic while they were doing repairs on the traffic circle. As I got into the traffic circle I was going very slow, I'd guess about ten MPH, due to the construction. About 75% around the circle I started to slowly accelerate in 2nd gear when I realized that I was trying to accelerate while my bike was in a lake of oil on the road. The back wheel spun and lost all traction immediately and the bike started into an unrecoverable low side. I knew I was done and my only thought was that I didn't want to bruise my ribs when I hit the ground and have it hurt for a month every time I laughed or coughed. I was ATGATT and knew that my Firtgear Kathmandu Jacket had hard shoulder pads, so I twisted to land left shoulder to the pavement. It worked very well and when I went down I was just mad, but not hurt. The traffic cop came running over and wouldn't let me get off the pavement till the ambulance came. The traffic cop did tell me that he rides, saw the whole thing and knew it was the fault of the construction company for spilling out many gallons of oil on the roadway.
The paramedics showed up two minutes later and just let me sign a paper that said I was OK. I looked over the bike and my only damages were bending the left highway peg bracket, and some scratches on the left mirror and side case. Thank goodness for frame sliders. I was so mad that I wanted the cop to give the construction foreman a ticket but he said he couldn't. The construction foreman said that if I called his safety manager they'd pay for the damage to my bike and he apologized to me. The cop wrote a report to document what happened. I rode off towards Chicago stopping at the next town where I got out my Robogrip, vice grip and Allen wrenches, took off the highway peg and managed to bend it back to about 95% right. The rest of the way home was uneventful.
BTW, since I've been back I called the safety manager and told him that I thought they should buy me a new helmet, new highway pegs, and pay for me to send the mirror and side case to Gerald for painting. The safety manager was a very nice guy. He apologized to me on behalf of his company and told me that he "Thanked God" that I wasn't injured. He went on to question me about whether i needed my jacket or riding pants replaced and I just honestly told him they weren't damaged. Then he told me that I shouldn't have the side case and mirror re-painted, that I should go to a Yamaha dealer and have them give me and estimate for replacing the mirror and side case because I deserved more money. I'm thinking that I'll actually come out ahead for the experience, but I'd still rather not have had that part happen.
I also know that a report without pictures isn't really a report, but I'm too lazy, too bad a photographer and too wanting to just enjoy my ride to take the pictures. This is especially true because I've ridden these roads many times. If it weren't for the spill I'd not be writing this report.
Last weekend I got up early on Saturday with a bug to go riding. So I packed a small bag early Saturday morning and took off from Chicago to ride some good roads in northern and northeastern Kentucky. I left Chicago and took I 65 towards Louisville getting off the Indianapolis bypass (I 465 at Indiana 39 I think it is and rode through the Hoosier National Forest, French Lick and down to Indiana 66, by way of Cannelton, IN where there is an old fashioned 1950s hamburger joint that makes one of the worlds greatest Banana Milkshakes, to do the stretch along the river and on towards Louisville and stayed Saturday night in Erlanger, KY by the greater Cincinnati airport. It was a pretty good day but the two hundred or so miles of I 65 and I 465 do take a little of the goodness out of it.
On Sunday I got up early had breakfast and took off on I 75 south a little to KY 22 and followed KY 22 east till it ends into KY 10 and KY 9 taking me out to Huntington, WV. For those that haven't done it before KY 22 east of I 75 until it ends is one of the truly challenging motorcycle roads. For it's whole length (50-60 miles) there's not any stretch of more then an eighth of a mile without a turn or hill. Add to that that there's lots of turns right over the crests of hills without warning signs. There's actually a spot with a snake shaped curve warning sign saying 35 MPH curves next eighteen miles. It also is well littered with decreasing radius turns. Sunday was just a glorious day of hills and turns with leaves starting to change. When I was in Huntington, WV I got a text message from a lady friend of mine near Cincinnati telling me that she got free and could go to late dinner. I looked at Google Maps and it said that if I took I 64 20 miles west I could catch KY 9 or what they call the AA highway back to Cincinnati and get back in 2 and a half hours. This AA Highway follows the Ohio River and is more of an FJR road. It has many grades and turns, but they are more high speed predictable turns that our bikes do so well. Just a beautiful road especially with the leaves beginning to change. Back I went arranging a new hotel in Erlanger, KY and my date for the evening (What a middle age single guy will do in hopes of getting lucky). I got back a little after eight in the evening and just after dark. I had a good dinner and date, and slept for a new day.
On Monday I knew that I'd have to be home that night in Chicago and didn't want to roll up to my garage at three AM, so I took off for KY 22 only going west towards Louisville and took it and KY 36 (both pretty good riding roads) until I got to Milton, KY where I caught US 421 north with the plan to cross the Ohio river into Madison, IN and take US 421 north 50 or so miles to I 74 near Indianapolis and home by way of I 74 to I 465 to I 65 to Chicago. I had a good time on the Kentucky roads except that my favorite general store hamburger joint on that route was closed.
When I crossed the Ohio River on US 421 going north through Madison, IN a little north of town there's a traffic circle where US 421 crosses Indiana 62. As I got to the traffic circle there was a flagman and a cop directing traffic while they were doing repairs on the traffic circle. As I got into the traffic circle I was going very slow, I'd guess about ten MPH, due to the construction. About 75% around the circle I started to slowly accelerate in 2nd gear when I realized that I was trying to accelerate while my bike was in a lake of oil on the road. The back wheel spun and lost all traction immediately and the bike started into an unrecoverable low side. I knew I was done and my only thought was that I didn't want to bruise my ribs when I hit the ground and have it hurt for a month every time I laughed or coughed. I was ATGATT and knew that my Firtgear Kathmandu Jacket had hard shoulder pads, so I twisted to land left shoulder to the pavement. It worked very well and when I went down I was just mad, but not hurt. The traffic cop came running over and wouldn't let me get off the pavement till the ambulance came. The traffic cop did tell me that he rides, saw the whole thing and knew it was the fault of the construction company for spilling out many gallons of oil on the roadway.
The paramedics showed up two minutes later and just let me sign a paper that said I was OK. I looked over the bike and my only damages were bending the left highway peg bracket, and some scratches on the left mirror and side case. Thank goodness for frame sliders. I was so mad that I wanted the cop to give the construction foreman a ticket but he said he couldn't. The construction foreman said that if I called his safety manager they'd pay for the damage to my bike and he apologized to me. The cop wrote a report to document what happened. I rode off towards Chicago stopping at the next town where I got out my Robogrip, vice grip and Allen wrenches, took off the highway peg and managed to bend it back to about 95% right. The rest of the way home was uneventful.
BTW, since I've been back I called the safety manager and told him that I thought they should buy me a new helmet, new highway pegs, and pay for me to send the mirror and side case to Gerald for painting. The safety manager was a very nice guy. He apologized to me on behalf of his company and told me that he "Thanked God" that I wasn't injured. He went on to question me about whether i needed my jacket or riding pants replaced and I just honestly told him they weren't damaged. Then he told me that I shouldn't have the side case and mirror re-painted, that I should go to a Yamaha dealer and have them give me and estimate for replacing the mirror and side case because I deserved more money. I'm thinking that I'll actually come out ahead for the experience, but I'd still rather not have had that part happen.
I also know that a report without pictures isn't really a report, but I'm too lazy, too bad a photographer and too wanting to just enjoy my ride to take the pictures. This is especially true because I've ridden these roads many times. If it weren't for the spill I'd not be writing this report.
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