IDiggItAll
Active member
Cincy - Athens - Front Royal - Blowing Rock - Bryson - Cincy / 1600 Mile Jaunt -
I've got to start by saying I just finished my first real trip on the new to me 1995 FJR 1300 I bought the day before Thanksgiving 2008. After 2000+ miles total I have to say I have finally found a cure for MBS (Multiple Bike Syndrome) and am 100% in love with my FJR. I don't think I'll need another bike for another 30K Miles.
Now onto the ride report. The goal of our (My dad "Pop" on an 88 goldwing and my friend Brian on a BMW 650 Dakar) was to get off the highway and into the hills as quickly as possible (the FJR made the quickly part easy). We left Cincinnati headed for Athens Ohio Thursday morning 5/21 around 9:00AM. We ran up 71 North to 35 East and took that to Chillicothe from there we jumped on I50 headed to Athens, I had to crack the beast once or twice to get the blood flowing of course. We got to Athens about 12PM after no real excitement and woke my little brother Alex (soon to be an OU grad - GO BOBCATS) and went to my favorite restaurant Casa Nuevo for brunch. After the proverbial Tofu Scrambler deluxe we were back on the road and took I33 out of town towards Pomeroy.
We basically stayed on 33 for the next couple hundred miles. Once you cross over into WV I33 actually becomes a pretty interesting road with good turns, hills, predictable road quality, and quaint little WV towns. I must say that the girls in Ohio far out number and outlook the girls in WV (not to offend anybody). On the way into the hills on 33 I saw a truck with some baby Red Tri Aussies for sale for $100. I started crying because I had just put my 1 1/2 year pup Fozzie down Wednesday due to a bad case of epilepsy, but that's another story. Alas the FJR doesn't have a good place for a pup to ride. We took 33 all the way to I79. I'm not sure of the mileage but I can say it beat the $hit out of slabbing it on I64 or some other boring a$$ ride through WV.
Once we got to I79 we went north about 10 - 20 minutes (time flies on the FJR) and jumped back on I50 headed East. I50 is a great road headed East through WV. There are great curves, beautiful vistas, nice hills, and all the regular WV people related scenery. The most notable people things I saw were a hot chick with a mohawk in a wife beater and a dude man handling an 18 wheeler like it was a Mazda miata, that dude was hitting the turns fast and clean. The road quality is really pretty good on 50, once you get a good hour off of I79 it really turns into a mountain road . Both I33 and I50 offer the pleasure of crossing all the mountains that go through WV so you get nice up and down turns. I50 moves at a fair pace, probably averaging 55 - 60MPH and even touches Maryland for a quick minute. There was one switch back that cut to the right that was as tighter than anything on the Tail of the Dragon, with obvious gauges in the concrete from scraping cars. I50 takes you all the way to I81 (I think I've got the highway right check the map) which you take south mad then jump on another highway which takes you right to Front Royal Virginia, the home of Shenandoah National forest and the 105 mile Skyline drive. We pulled into the motel at about 10:30 PM and walked over to the local Pizza joint for brews and pie. Damned good pie I might add, it's right next to the then closed Pizza Slut. The first day was 500+ miles 90% off the slab, the FJR ROCKS and my body didn't mind it.
Rise and shine, we were ready to roll about 8:00AM after a not so continental breakfast and a quick walk to the Arby's (right by the killer pizza joint I can't remember the name to) for some potato cakes. We headed south on Front Royal drive to the Shenandoah National Forest and jumped on Skyline drive. The 1 day admission fee to the park is $10. From there we were ready to roll. We were surprised to find that the Skyline drive is 35MPH the whole freaking way, but once you pass the first couple gapers you can open it up a bit. I'd say we averaged about 45 - 50 and did see 95 a couple times on straight a ways. Skyline drive is a beautiful road, excellent road quality, excellent scenery, and very few law enforcement representatives. We were heading down this mountain and up another hitting it pretty quick when we came around a pretty aggressive turn. My buddy locked his breaks up, I instinctively tried to do the same but couldn't cuz my ABS is freaking awesome (this isn't the last time I called on the ABS on this trip). Once I came to a stop I could see beyond Brian, there was a Black Bear right in the middle of the road. He looked at us like WTF and lumbered off into the woods. Skyline was an awesome road, I probably won’t head up that way next time but it was definitely worth the trip.
Skyline ends in Waynesboro VA where it meets up with the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) where we got off and went to the local Scrubway for a sammich and Cola. We threw the subs into our compartments and jumped onto the BRP at mile marker 0. Once you're on the BRP you quickly realize you're not on Skyline anymore and the road takes on a whole new personality. A beautifully windy road along the Appalachian mountains ridgelines is the easiest way to sum up the 496 mile BRP. We tore up a quick 50 miles (average speed now somewhere near 60) and found a nice vista to enjoy our sammiches by. For the next 6 hours we enjoyed endless turns, fantastic views, very few other vehicles and plenty of nature. We of course started to get a little weary about deer time having been on the road for 11 hours and I was in the lead. I knew it was deer time so I wasn't pushing it too hard, I think I was doing 60 when I saw the young buck and his hot doe on the left side. Frack!!!! Breaks on, slowing strategically, the doe shoots behind us off in the other direction, the buck (prob a 2 pointer) starts racing us....... I think I've seen this before, more breaks, is he going to jump in front of me, at me behind me???? Right at the perfect time to take me out he leaps right in front of me, we were eye to eye.... ENGAGE ANTILOCK BREAK SYSTEM. This whole event only took a matter of 2 - 3 seconds mind you. I don't know who was more frightened me or the young buck, I thought I heard him say holly f*cking $hit. I pulled off the road and pretended that I was going to change my pants for comedic relief.
We ended our 2nd perfect day with perfect weather at the detour near Boone NC in Bamboo and headed to a hotel in Blowing Rock. We got some bum directions from a volunteer we didn't flag down and headed towards the Alpine Inn. I think we did about 420 that day.
Rise and shine day 2 BRP Blowing Rock to Bryson City. We left the inn and went to the local Bo Jangles for biscuits and gravy. There were probably 20 bikes there. After the B&G we jumped back on the BRP headed out of Boone and towards Ashville. We stopped a little down the ways at a place called Linville falls. Took a quick 1/4 mile walk down the way and checked out the falls. There are a couple good vantage points you can catch good views of the falls from. We then jumped back on the BRP and kept rolling. Somewhere after Ashville you start heading up the mountains into higher elevations and the views really start to open up. Not only do the views open up but the road takes on another personality, hanging off the side of the mountain, great views (on all 496 miles), and a little more crowded. It was Saturday so there was a lot more cars on the road and people on bicycles, god bless them. We stopped at a couple advantageous spots to catch some photos and the highest point on the BRP. We met some really cool folks on multi sport bikes, I kinda wished we were all on Dakars cuz they were game for giving us a good tour of the smokies from there. Alas, we were road biking it so we kept on rolling all the way into Bryson. We did about 260 miles that day.
In Bryson we chowed at across the tracks and then took the road to nowhere. The road to nowhere is an 11 mile road that was started to take you all the way around lake Fontana but the National Park Service reneged on their promise and stopped the road in the middle of nowhere. There's a nice tunnel and some twisties to fart around on but alas, it goes nowhere. We enjoyed some drinks later that night and went to bed way to late.
The next morning we were greeted with rain and lots of it. The weather forecasters all said rain all day Sunday and Monday so we figured we'd hasten our return to Babylon and head north. We of course had to run past the Gatlinburg of motorcycles (I129 / Tale of the Dragon) for a slow 318 turns in 11 miles. This is where my Pop decided it was time to let loose a little bit (go freaking figure) and get himself a ticket. The cop was pretty nice and only gave him left of center, I think he wanted to save the paperwork. We pretty much headed out of the mountains and off to 75 north. Once on 75 north it was all slab time, about 6 uneventful hours to Cincy. We did stop to help a guy with a broke down old BMW who said he did 2000 miles in the past 3 days. He was convinced that the light bulb in his cluster had shorted out the electronic system and was disassembling the machine. It was then that I knew he was not the brightest bulb in the Sylvania factory and bided him good luck.
Well we finished the trip, it was about 1600 miles of fantastic riding, great times, good friends, good brews, and one awesome iron pony (the FJR of course)...
Did I mention that the ABS on this thing is a life saver?
Hotel in Front Royal VA - Cheap, quiet, clean.
Shenandoah NP
Linville Falls
Brian and Pop somewhere on the BRP
My favorite machine
The highest point on the BRP
We're on the road to nowhere
Deal's Gap
I've got to start by saying I just finished my first real trip on the new to me 1995 FJR 1300 I bought the day before Thanksgiving 2008. After 2000+ miles total I have to say I have finally found a cure for MBS (Multiple Bike Syndrome) and am 100% in love with my FJR. I don't think I'll need another bike for another 30K Miles.
Now onto the ride report. The goal of our (My dad "Pop" on an 88 goldwing and my friend Brian on a BMW 650 Dakar) was to get off the highway and into the hills as quickly as possible (the FJR made the quickly part easy). We left Cincinnati headed for Athens Ohio Thursday morning 5/21 around 9:00AM. We ran up 71 North to 35 East and took that to Chillicothe from there we jumped on I50 headed to Athens, I had to crack the beast once or twice to get the blood flowing of course. We got to Athens about 12PM after no real excitement and woke my little brother Alex (soon to be an OU grad - GO BOBCATS) and went to my favorite restaurant Casa Nuevo for brunch. After the proverbial Tofu Scrambler deluxe we were back on the road and took I33 out of town towards Pomeroy.
We basically stayed on 33 for the next couple hundred miles. Once you cross over into WV I33 actually becomes a pretty interesting road with good turns, hills, predictable road quality, and quaint little WV towns. I must say that the girls in Ohio far out number and outlook the girls in WV (not to offend anybody). On the way into the hills on 33 I saw a truck with some baby Red Tri Aussies for sale for $100. I started crying because I had just put my 1 1/2 year pup Fozzie down Wednesday due to a bad case of epilepsy, but that's another story. Alas the FJR doesn't have a good place for a pup to ride. We took 33 all the way to I79. I'm not sure of the mileage but I can say it beat the $hit out of slabbing it on I64 or some other boring a$$ ride through WV.
Once we got to I79 we went north about 10 - 20 minutes (time flies on the FJR) and jumped back on I50 headed East. I50 is a great road headed East through WV. There are great curves, beautiful vistas, nice hills, and all the regular WV people related scenery. The most notable people things I saw were a hot chick with a mohawk in a wife beater and a dude man handling an 18 wheeler like it was a Mazda miata, that dude was hitting the turns fast and clean. The road quality is really pretty good on 50, once you get a good hour off of I79 it really turns into a mountain road . Both I33 and I50 offer the pleasure of crossing all the mountains that go through WV so you get nice up and down turns. I50 moves at a fair pace, probably averaging 55 - 60MPH and even touches Maryland for a quick minute. There was one switch back that cut to the right that was as tighter than anything on the Tail of the Dragon, with obvious gauges in the concrete from scraping cars. I50 takes you all the way to I81 (I think I've got the highway right check the map) which you take south mad then jump on another highway which takes you right to Front Royal Virginia, the home of Shenandoah National forest and the 105 mile Skyline drive. We pulled into the motel at about 10:30 PM and walked over to the local Pizza joint for brews and pie. Damned good pie I might add, it's right next to the then closed Pizza Slut. The first day was 500+ miles 90% off the slab, the FJR ROCKS and my body didn't mind it.
Rise and shine, we were ready to roll about 8:00AM after a not so continental breakfast and a quick walk to the Arby's (right by the killer pizza joint I can't remember the name to) for some potato cakes. We headed south on Front Royal drive to the Shenandoah National Forest and jumped on Skyline drive. The 1 day admission fee to the park is $10. From there we were ready to roll. We were surprised to find that the Skyline drive is 35MPH the whole freaking way, but once you pass the first couple gapers you can open it up a bit. I'd say we averaged about 45 - 50 and did see 95 a couple times on straight a ways. Skyline drive is a beautiful road, excellent road quality, excellent scenery, and very few law enforcement representatives. We were heading down this mountain and up another hitting it pretty quick when we came around a pretty aggressive turn. My buddy locked his breaks up, I instinctively tried to do the same but couldn't cuz my ABS is freaking awesome (this isn't the last time I called on the ABS on this trip). Once I came to a stop I could see beyond Brian, there was a Black Bear right in the middle of the road. He looked at us like WTF and lumbered off into the woods. Skyline was an awesome road, I probably won’t head up that way next time but it was definitely worth the trip.
Skyline ends in Waynesboro VA where it meets up with the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) where we got off and went to the local Scrubway for a sammich and Cola. We threw the subs into our compartments and jumped onto the BRP at mile marker 0. Once you're on the BRP you quickly realize you're not on Skyline anymore and the road takes on a whole new personality. A beautifully windy road along the Appalachian mountains ridgelines is the easiest way to sum up the 496 mile BRP. We tore up a quick 50 miles (average speed now somewhere near 60) and found a nice vista to enjoy our sammiches by. For the next 6 hours we enjoyed endless turns, fantastic views, very few other vehicles and plenty of nature. We of course started to get a little weary about deer time having been on the road for 11 hours and I was in the lead. I knew it was deer time so I wasn't pushing it too hard, I think I was doing 60 when I saw the young buck and his hot doe on the left side. Frack!!!! Breaks on, slowing strategically, the doe shoots behind us off in the other direction, the buck (prob a 2 pointer) starts racing us....... I think I've seen this before, more breaks, is he going to jump in front of me, at me behind me???? Right at the perfect time to take me out he leaps right in front of me, we were eye to eye.... ENGAGE ANTILOCK BREAK SYSTEM. This whole event only took a matter of 2 - 3 seconds mind you. I don't know who was more frightened me or the young buck, I thought I heard him say holly f*cking $hit. I pulled off the road and pretended that I was going to change my pants for comedic relief.
We ended our 2nd perfect day with perfect weather at the detour near Boone NC in Bamboo and headed to a hotel in Blowing Rock. We got some bum directions from a volunteer we didn't flag down and headed towards the Alpine Inn. I think we did about 420 that day.
Rise and shine day 2 BRP Blowing Rock to Bryson City. We left the inn and went to the local Bo Jangles for biscuits and gravy. There were probably 20 bikes there. After the B&G we jumped back on the BRP headed out of Boone and towards Ashville. We stopped a little down the ways at a place called Linville falls. Took a quick 1/4 mile walk down the way and checked out the falls. There are a couple good vantage points you can catch good views of the falls from. We then jumped back on the BRP and kept rolling. Somewhere after Ashville you start heading up the mountains into higher elevations and the views really start to open up. Not only do the views open up but the road takes on another personality, hanging off the side of the mountain, great views (on all 496 miles), and a little more crowded. It was Saturday so there was a lot more cars on the road and people on bicycles, god bless them. We stopped at a couple advantageous spots to catch some photos and the highest point on the BRP. We met some really cool folks on multi sport bikes, I kinda wished we were all on Dakars cuz they were game for giving us a good tour of the smokies from there. Alas, we were road biking it so we kept on rolling all the way into Bryson. We did about 260 miles that day.
In Bryson we chowed at across the tracks and then took the road to nowhere. The road to nowhere is an 11 mile road that was started to take you all the way around lake Fontana but the National Park Service reneged on their promise and stopped the road in the middle of nowhere. There's a nice tunnel and some twisties to fart around on but alas, it goes nowhere. We enjoyed some drinks later that night and went to bed way to late.
The next morning we were greeted with rain and lots of it. The weather forecasters all said rain all day Sunday and Monday so we figured we'd hasten our return to Babylon and head north. We of course had to run past the Gatlinburg of motorcycles (I129 / Tale of the Dragon) for a slow 318 turns in 11 miles. This is where my Pop decided it was time to let loose a little bit (go freaking figure) and get himself a ticket. The cop was pretty nice and only gave him left of center, I think he wanted to save the paperwork. We pretty much headed out of the mountains and off to 75 north. Once on 75 north it was all slab time, about 6 uneventful hours to Cincy. We did stop to help a guy with a broke down old BMW who said he did 2000 miles in the past 3 days. He was convinced that the light bulb in his cluster had shorted out the electronic system and was disassembling the machine. It was then that I knew he was not the brightest bulb in the Sylvania factory and bided him good luck.
Well we finished the trip, it was about 1600 miles of fantastic riding, great times, good friends, good brews, and one awesome iron pony (the FJR of course)...
Did I mention that the ABS on this thing is a life saver?
Hotel in Front Royal VA - Cheap, quiet, clean.
Shenandoah NP
Linville Falls
Brian and Pop somewhere on the BRP
My favorite machine
The highest point on the BRP
We're on the road to nowhere
Deal's Gap
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