DesignFlaw06
Well-known member
Some of you know I’m an Admin over at Nighthawk-Forums.com. Even though I no longer own a Nighthawk, I organize a rally each year. Not quite as large as any organized FJR event, but since the Nighthawk is no longer in production, our pool of members is much smaller. Plus NHF had a huge sever crash a couple months ago, resulting it to be freshly installed. I also bounce it around every year to a different spot and dates, so attendance varies. We had 10 this year. August 15-17, 2014 in Fayetteville, WV. This was originally written for the Nighthawk Forum, so there may be some unintentional references.
I left on Thursday morning, once my wife got out of work. Already had the trailer loaded with my bike, headed over to the east side of Michigan. A small logistics problem as our rig requires my truck and Nick’s trailer, which are 2.5 hours apart. But this isn’t unfamiliar to us as we have done this trick several times. We had a new recruit with us. Gary is an old friend from back home. He now lives a few miles away from Nick. He completed his MSF course in May and purchased a Nighthawk 650 shortly after.
Trip down was pretty uneventful. Made a stop at Iron Pony in Columbus, where Gary bought an Airhawk seat and bike cover. I picked up a new set of gloves and a Pinlock insert. For those of you that haven’t been to Iron Pony, it is a Walmart size store of just motorcycle stuff. This is the second time I’ve been there. Not overly impressed either time. They carry many brands, but not much stock in each brand. It was useful for finding accessories though. I bought a helmet bag last time. Have plenty of luggage options. But prices aren’t very competitive for the most part. Not sure we’ll go back.
Arrived at the hotel mere minutes before Jim (jspringator). Got word that Robbie (RobbieAG) was at the campground already, had taken off for a ride but came over to hotel wondering what the plan was. Nicholas(Hawks Nest) was making a marathon run, arriving at the campground near midnight. Plan was to leave at 8 AM for breakfast.
The 6 of us left Friday morning doing the Bluestone route I had mapped out. The first leg of the race was a nice sweeping run down US 60 to meet Bruce (Aprilfool) and Dan (Docmartin). Worked out fairly well and tried to not make them wait too long. Nick, Gary, and I all had CBs, which made it easy to keep the group together. Our first scenic stop was Sandstone Falls. Not a great scenic spot as the falls were not that impressive.
Robbie, Nicholas, Jim, Nick, and Dan taking some pictures and a needed rest.
Gary, observing the falls.
The intent was to stop at Pipestem Falls next, but there was a slight navigational issue. The roads were so great and we were having so much fun, we didn’t realize we missed a turn. A happy accident for sure because everybody loved the roads. But once we hit Virginia, it was time to look at a map. Decided then not to call them planned routes, but more guidelines than anything. Got a new route drawn out to get us back on track. Same thing happened, missed a turn somewhere and ended up on a great road. We stopped for gas around 220 miles into the trip. Jim and Nicholas had enough by that point and decided to go back. Bruce on the other hand, suggested an addition to the route through New River Gorge National Park, so the rest of us followed that route.
Dan was marked as an aggressive rider, but he was very patient with us and it was greatly appreciated. We were coming up to a good long stretch of road on 41 and that headed back to 19, which was pretty much a straight shot back. I decided to let the beast out of his cage, gave him the directions and sent him on his way. Nick didn’t want to be left out, so he went along while I led the scenic group back. About halfway, I started hearing Nick on the CB. Odd since he should have been ahead of us by quite a bit. “Don’t hit my luggage!” he says. Sure enough, around the next bend was part of his saddlebag sitting in the road. He hadn’t dumped, just hit a bump at an aggressive speed. It knocked open his saddlebag and the top box. The inner bag came out of the saddlebag and he hadn’t quite gotten around to pick it back up yet. Thanks for the warning Nick. He rode back with us. Fortunately, that was as much of a scare that we had all weekend.
A 274 mile day.
We got back to the hotel, where Kitch and Mike had arrived in the meantime. We went out to dinner to a place that had a nice overlook of the gorge.
Saturday morning, we got a bit of an earlier start. Having figured out the reason behind out navigation app and our mistake, we had a hopefully corrected route this time around. I’ll be posting a writeup later on how to a proper import from Google Maps to GPS devices later. We couldn’t afford to miss this time around because there weren’t many places to correct a mistake. Our goal was through the Monongahela National Forest.
Our first scenic stop was the Falls at Hill Creek. There were 3 sets of waterfalls and it was a hike to get to all 3. Not well suited for guys in lots of gear, but worth the walk. The first set, not so much, but the other 2.
Here are the Middle Falls. One of my favorites that I took this weekend.
And the Lower Falls. Tried to get the same effect, but there was too much sunlight to do so.
Our group photo just outside the entrance.
Made our way to the Highland Scenic Highway, which was a great road. Nice smooth sweepers and awesome scenery. Was having some trouble with the GoPro and the time-lapse pictures didn’t capture and of the nice banks. But to give you an idea of the road quality:
This brought us up to Snowshoe Mountain Resort. A popular ski area in the winter, and used for mountain biking in the summer. We stopped there for lunch.
Nick with the view from the top.
On the way back, we stopped at the New River Gorge Visitor Center for a couple of nice pictures of the bridge.
And the New River.
All in all a 250 mile day. That night, we did a little bike maintenance on Dan’s bike. His speedo wire had broken. I was able to solder it back together and fixed a couple others while I was in there. Crude soldering iron and not my best work, but it should work for a while. Crazy enough, he took off later that night. Made it home at 2:45 AM without any issues.
The next morning was the East Charleston loop guideline. Jim had enough and headed home shortly after we left. The day before, we had done the switchbacks underneath the bridge, but missed the parking area for the scenic shots. We decided to rectify that this morning. The road down was challenging and the parking area was not ideal, but worth it for the view.
Another one of my favorite pictures of the trip. Nicholas modeling the New River shirt. Thanks again to Dan for designing them!
Purdy!
It was at this point Robbie, Nicholas, and Bruce headed for home. Nicholas had a long day ahead of him as it was. The others were along the same route.
Then there were 5. We headed up 16 to the North on Mike’s recommendation and it was a good one. I lost the capability to talk back to the other 2 on the CB, but I could still the others. I could also transmit that would interrupt their music, so we employed a “1 for yes, 2 for no” system. Luckily the group was much smaller and it was still easy to keep together. The quest for lunch took much longer than expected, but we eventually found a nice pizza joint.
Was having some trouble with the GoPro this weekend syncing with the remote. Another thing I have to get sorted out, but I mounted it on the top box to get some shots of those behind me.
Once we got to Charleston, Mike split. He was headed home and the was the best place. The remaining 4 headed down the New River. More traffic due to being near the capitol but nice scenery with the towns running along the water. Out next spot was Hawks Nest State Park. It was a shame Nicholas had to bail before that, but routes just didn’t work out.
Stopped at the first scenic overlook and tried to take the scenic picture. My DSLR has a small flaw and they don’t allow the timer to be more than 10 seconds. There was a large staircase to try and get down. I didn’t quite make it.
Kitch gave it a shot with a little more success, but at that time another couple showed up and was kind enough to push the button. A great view of the river.
Had about 25 miles left and just high tailed it back to the hotel. About 220 miles. 760 miles on the weekend.
Got the bikes loaded up and headed to dinner. Topped off the evening with some beverages and looking at pictures. We were also treated to Kitch’s performances from any movie he could think of. His favorite being Agent Smith from the Matrix movies.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I broke my streak of riding in the rain during trips. The weather was fantastic. But the rain started the second after we got the bikes back into the trailer. Kitch was also headed home in a good rainstorm Monday morning. The group rode very well together and everyone was safe.
I left on Thursday morning, once my wife got out of work. Already had the trailer loaded with my bike, headed over to the east side of Michigan. A small logistics problem as our rig requires my truck and Nick’s trailer, which are 2.5 hours apart. But this isn’t unfamiliar to us as we have done this trick several times. We had a new recruit with us. Gary is an old friend from back home. He now lives a few miles away from Nick. He completed his MSF course in May and purchased a Nighthawk 650 shortly after.
Trip down was pretty uneventful. Made a stop at Iron Pony in Columbus, where Gary bought an Airhawk seat and bike cover. I picked up a new set of gloves and a Pinlock insert. For those of you that haven’t been to Iron Pony, it is a Walmart size store of just motorcycle stuff. This is the second time I’ve been there. Not overly impressed either time. They carry many brands, but not much stock in each brand. It was useful for finding accessories though. I bought a helmet bag last time. Have plenty of luggage options. But prices aren’t very competitive for the most part. Not sure we’ll go back.
Arrived at the hotel mere minutes before Jim (jspringator). Got word that Robbie (RobbieAG) was at the campground already, had taken off for a ride but came over to hotel wondering what the plan was. Nicholas(Hawks Nest) was making a marathon run, arriving at the campground near midnight. Plan was to leave at 8 AM for breakfast.
The 6 of us left Friday morning doing the Bluestone route I had mapped out. The first leg of the race was a nice sweeping run down US 60 to meet Bruce (Aprilfool) and Dan (Docmartin). Worked out fairly well and tried to not make them wait too long. Nick, Gary, and I all had CBs, which made it easy to keep the group together. Our first scenic stop was Sandstone Falls. Not a great scenic spot as the falls were not that impressive.
Robbie, Nicholas, Jim, Nick, and Dan taking some pictures and a needed rest.
Gary, observing the falls.
The intent was to stop at Pipestem Falls next, but there was a slight navigational issue. The roads were so great and we were having so much fun, we didn’t realize we missed a turn. A happy accident for sure because everybody loved the roads. But once we hit Virginia, it was time to look at a map. Decided then not to call them planned routes, but more guidelines than anything. Got a new route drawn out to get us back on track. Same thing happened, missed a turn somewhere and ended up on a great road. We stopped for gas around 220 miles into the trip. Jim and Nicholas had enough by that point and decided to go back. Bruce on the other hand, suggested an addition to the route through New River Gorge National Park, so the rest of us followed that route.
Dan was marked as an aggressive rider, but he was very patient with us and it was greatly appreciated. We were coming up to a good long stretch of road on 41 and that headed back to 19, which was pretty much a straight shot back. I decided to let the beast out of his cage, gave him the directions and sent him on his way. Nick didn’t want to be left out, so he went along while I led the scenic group back. About halfway, I started hearing Nick on the CB. Odd since he should have been ahead of us by quite a bit. “Don’t hit my luggage!” he says. Sure enough, around the next bend was part of his saddlebag sitting in the road. He hadn’t dumped, just hit a bump at an aggressive speed. It knocked open his saddlebag and the top box. The inner bag came out of the saddlebag and he hadn’t quite gotten around to pick it back up yet. Thanks for the warning Nick. He rode back with us. Fortunately, that was as much of a scare that we had all weekend.
A 274 mile day.
We got back to the hotel, where Kitch and Mike had arrived in the meantime. We went out to dinner to a place that had a nice overlook of the gorge.
Saturday morning, we got a bit of an earlier start. Having figured out the reason behind out navigation app and our mistake, we had a hopefully corrected route this time around. I’ll be posting a writeup later on how to a proper import from Google Maps to GPS devices later. We couldn’t afford to miss this time around because there weren’t many places to correct a mistake. Our goal was through the Monongahela National Forest.
Our first scenic stop was the Falls at Hill Creek. There were 3 sets of waterfalls and it was a hike to get to all 3. Not well suited for guys in lots of gear, but worth the walk. The first set, not so much, but the other 2.
Here are the Middle Falls. One of my favorites that I took this weekend.
And the Lower Falls. Tried to get the same effect, but there was too much sunlight to do so.
Our group photo just outside the entrance.
Made our way to the Highland Scenic Highway, which was a great road. Nice smooth sweepers and awesome scenery. Was having some trouble with the GoPro and the time-lapse pictures didn’t capture and of the nice banks. But to give you an idea of the road quality:
This brought us up to Snowshoe Mountain Resort. A popular ski area in the winter, and used for mountain biking in the summer. We stopped there for lunch.
Nick with the view from the top.
On the way back, we stopped at the New River Gorge Visitor Center for a couple of nice pictures of the bridge.
And the New River.
All in all a 250 mile day. That night, we did a little bike maintenance on Dan’s bike. His speedo wire had broken. I was able to solder it back together and fixed a couple others while I was in there. Crude soldering iron and not my best work, but it should work for a while. Crazy enough, he took off later that night. Made it home at 2:45 AM without any issues.
The next morning was the East Charleston loop guideline. Jim had enough and headed home shortly after we left. The day before, we had done the switchbacks underneath the bridge, but missed the parking area for the scenic shots. We decided to rectify that this morning. The road down was challenging and the parking area was not ideal, but worth it for the view.
Another one of my favorite pictures of the trip. Nicholas modeling the New River shirt. Thanks again to Dan for designing them!
Purdy!
It was at this point Robbie, Nicholas, and Bruce headed for home. Nicholas had a long day ahead of him as it was. The others were along the same route.
Then there were 5. We headed up 16 to the North on Mike’s recommendation and it was a good one. I lost the capability to talk back to the other 2 on the CB, but I could still the others. I could also transmit that would interrupt their music, so we employed a “1 for yes, 2 for no” system. Luckily the group was much smaller and it was still easy to keep together. The quest for lunch took much longer than expected, but we eventually found a nice pizza joint.
Was having some trouble with the GoPro this weekend syncing with the remote. Another thing I have to get sorted out, but I mounted it on the top box to get some shots of those behind me.
Once we got to Charleston, Mike split. He was headed home and the was the best place. The remaining 4 headed down the New River. More traffic due to being near the capitol but nice scenery with the towns running along the water. Out next spot was Hawks Nest State Park. It was a shame Nicholas had to bail before that, but routes just didn’t work out.
Stopped at the first scenic overlook and tried to take the scenic picture. My DSLR has a small flaw and they don’t allow the timer to be more than 10 seconds. There was a large staircase to try and get down. I didn’t quite make it.
Kitch gave it a shot with a little more success, but at that time another couple showed up and was kind enough to push the button. A great view of the river.
Had about 25 miles left and just high tailed it back to the hotel. About 220 miles. 760 miles on the weekend.
Got the bikes loaded up and headed to dinner. Topped off the evening with some beverages and looking at pictures. We were also treated to Kitch’s performances from any movie he could think of. His favorite being Agent Smith from the Matrix movies.
All in all, it was a fantastic weekend. I broke my streak of riding in the rain during trips. The weather was fantastic. But the rain started the second after we got the bikes back into the trailer. Kitch was also headed home in a good rainstorm Monday morning. The group rode very well together and everyone was safe.
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