Ragsfjr
Member
I rode up to Daytona from Ft.Myers for a few days. It always seems with this bike I find an excuse to take the long way, this ride was no different. I left my house at 5 am Friday morning, it was chilly but refreshing at that time of the morning. Alll of my buddies from down here bailed so I was by myself. (screw you *** clowns if your reading this) they will never know what they missed. Typically this ride can be done in four hours, I ended up taking the 6.5 hour ride and was well pleased I did so.
I started out taking I75 to 17 and went the up to 35, then to sharpes ferry road and over highway 40 through the Ocala National Forest. The first part of the ride was rather straight and boring like most of south Florida. It wasn't until i got to Sharpes Ferry Rd that I realized taking the long way was a good decision. The scenery was so amazing I had to take the Fjr out of warp speed for a while. Sharpes Ferry road was amazing and the stretch through the forest was a peaceful pleasant ride. I also saw a blue Fjr on 40. (this was one of the few Fjr's I saw all weekend)
I knew I was getting closer to Daytona when I started seeing Harley's, mullets, chaps and women that should not have been wearing what they were wearing. :bad: (more on that later)
I finally arrived at my buddies house that was gracious enough to put me up for the weekend. He rides a GSXR 750. (no competition for the Fjr BTW) :clapping: I took the side bags off and riding we went. We started out going to main street and checking out some bikes, then ended up at J&P cycles. What a waste of time J&P was, except I found grip puppies for 3.99 :clapping: This place was all chrome and leather, nothing an fjr or sportbike owner would like. it seems they were fazing out the entire sportbike sections and putting more chrome and leather in. Yuck!! There was only one rack of armored textile and leather jackets that were supposedly on clearance ie reg price 149.00 clearance price 129.00. not much of a clearance for me.
We went across the street to the vender area where my buddy got his first tattoo. He didnt cry too bad but did make him stop a few times. It came out good, really nice work. Mr G's tattoo in daytona btw. It took a few hours to get the tat done in the mean time another friend met us and off to the iron horse we went. The friend I was staying with girlfriend worked there so we stopped by. That place is a neat concept for a bar, for those of you unfamiliar with the iron horse, you can ride your bike right inside. https://www.ironhorsesaloon.com
So there we were swimming in a sea of black leather, chrome, cheap cologne, bad perfume, saggy *******, assless chaps, mullets and in general just bad hygiene. My Fjr and i were glad to get out of there but it is still a neat thing to see if you have never been. We got back to the house and the bikes from being parked in the sand at the iron horse looked like they were stored for 2 years in a dust bowl.
The next day we only spent around 1/2 hour cleaning the bikes thanks to Glosser wipes. We rode up the coast to St Augustine, this is Floridas oldest city and is a real cool place to visit. Clicky We spent most of the day there could have easily stayed a few days in that city.
As I was leaving the next morning to head home I saw something I hope I never have to see again. I was getting on the ramp to enter the interstate and traffic was stopped for about 5 min I could see a bunch of Harleys parked along the off ramp but couldnt see anything till traffic started moving and I got up there. At this point the paramedics had not arrived. I saw a guy probably in his sixties laying in the street pretty bloody, he seemed coherent as he slowly moved and was trying to talk to another biker. His passenger was laying next to him all bloody, curled up in a fetal position and was not moving. Her shirt was all torn up and it looked like her back was drug on the pavement for a while. About 10 yards from them the fully dressed Ultra Classic was on its side and and there was farkels everywhere. I seems (mho) he tried to take the off ramp a little too fast and lost it. It was an awful thing to see anytime but especially with a 300 mile ride ahead of me by myself. I hope those people were ok.
Sorry to rant so long.
Lets all be safe out there.
I started out taking I75 to 17 and went the up to 35, then to sharpes ferry road and over highway 40 through the Ocala National Forest. The first part of the ride was rather straight and boring like most of south Florida. It wasn't until i got to Sharpes Ferry Rd that I realized taking the long way was a good decision. The scenery was so amazing I had to take the Fjr out of warp speed for a while. Sharpes Ferry road was amazing and the stretch through the forest was a peaceful pleasant ride. I also saw a blue Fjr on 40. (this was one of the few Fjr's I saw all weekend)
I knew I was getting closer to Daytona when I started seeing Harley's, mullets, chaps and women that should not have been wearing what they were wearing. :bad: (more on that later)
I finally arrived at my buddies house that was gracious enough to put me up for the weekend. He rides a GSXR 750. (no competition for the Fjr BTW) :clapping: I took the side bags off and riding we went. We started out going to main street and checking out some bikes, then ended up at J&P cycles. What a waste of time J&P was, except I found grip puppies for 3.99 :clapping: This place was all chrome and leather, nothing an fjr or sportbike owner would like. it seems they were fazing out the entire sportbike sections and putting more chrome and leather in. Yuck!! There was only one rack of armored textile and leather jackets that were supposedly on clearance ie reg price 149.00 clearance price 129.00. not much of a clearance for me.
We went across the street to the vender area where my buddy got his first tattoo. He didnt cry too bad but did make him stop a few times. It came out good, really nice work. Mr G's tattoo in daytona btw. It took a few hours to get the tat done in the mean time another friend met us and off to the iron horse we went. The friend I was staying with girlfriend worked there so we stopped by. That place is a neat concept for a bar, for those of you unfamiliar with the iron horse, you can ride your bike right inside. https://www.ironhorsesaloon.com
So there we were swimming in a sea of black leather, chrome, cheap cologne, bad perfume, saggy *******, assless chaps, mullets and in general just bad hygiene. My Fjr and i were glad to get out of there but it is still a neat thing to see if you have never been. We got back to the house and the bikes from being parked in the sand at the iron horse looked like they were stored for 2 years in a dust bowl.
The next day we only spent around 1/2 hour cleaning the bikes thanks to Glosser wipes. We rode up the coast to St Augustine, this is Floridas oldest city and is a real cool place to visit. Clicky We spent most of the day there could have easily stayed a few days in that city.
As I was leaving the next morning to head home I saw something I hope I never have to see again. I was getting on the ramp to enter the interstate and traffic was stopped for about 5 min I could see a bunch of Harleys parked along the off ramp but couldnt see anything till traffic started moving and I got up there. At this point the paramedics had not arrived. I saw a guy probably in his sixties laying in the street pretty bloody, he seemed coherent as he slowly moved and was trying to talk to another biker. His passenger was laying next to him all bloody, curled up in a fetal position and was not moving. Her shirt was all torn up and it looked like her back was drug on the pavement for a while. About 10 yards from them the fully dressed Ultra Classic was on its side and and there was farkels everywhere. I seems (mho) he tried to take the off ramp a little too fast and lost it. It was an awful thing to see anytime but especially with a 300 mile ride ahead of me by myself. I hope those people were ok.
Sorry to rant so long.
Lets all be safe out there.
