Minitour day one recap

(I'm splitting this post. Stories up front, technical stuff later. That way non-moto people can skip the last part.)

So it's been a great day. I'd say one of the top 3 most satisfying days on a motorbike in my life.

Weather has been cool, but nice. I had the heated handgrips on most of the day. I wish I had brought my regular gear instead of my mesh gear, but I have stuff I've been layering. I've managed to stay warm. Bulky, but warm.

Everything I packed

One of the best things was that there was no traffic all day. Not on the interstates, not on the back roads. In fact, on the road coming into the Catskills, I went 30 miles without seeing another vehicle. In either direction.

I put the stats in the last post. I was happy to keep going. I probably had another 100 miles in me. There were two problems with that. I'm in the only town with a hotel for quite a while. I risked having no place to stay. The other thing is that th roads started filling up with drunk drivers. It was crazy. All of a sudden (at "cookout is over" time) there were all kinds of swervy people out an about. And the cops came out in force.

I went up interstates pretty much up to Scranton. There were a few diversions to avoid weather, but essentially I went I-495 to I-95 (to Baltimore) to I-83 (to Harrisburg) to I-81 (to Scranton.) From there, it was all great curvy back roads.

Highlight 1: On I-83, this white KTM Super Duke comes flying up along side me. Now for those of you who don't know bikes, this thing is hot. Questionable styling to many, but incredible. And fast. If I could put any 5 bikes in my garage today, the Super Duke would be in that group. So this thing pulls up alongside, and there's a super cute girl on it (no helmet laws in PA, so I can actually tell). She's every bit as hot as the bike. I totally understand that I have a bias, and think that girls on bikes are hot (just like girls in glasses get an extra point automatically with me), but I wasn't just bike goggling. Anyway, she and I play a fun cat and mouse game down the interstate cutting up trough traffic (this is when I hit that max speed in my stats). It was totally fun, until she decided to bail. And that's when I got to see what the Super Duke can do. One second she's beside me, and gives a smile, next second she's a quarter mile away, and pulling away FAST. Another 2 seconds later, and I couldn't even see her.

Highlight 2: PA state route 125. Hands down my favorite road. In fact, probably the most fun I've ever had on a motorcycle ever. If this road were twice as long, I'd make it a holiday destination. It's a perfect motorbike rollercoaster. I'd try to explain, but you just have to ride it.

Highlight 3: I stopped for gas around Boiceville, NY. It was a combo gas/liquor/hardware/souvenir store. So I go in to pre-pay for my gas, spot the liquor store and pick up a pint of Dewars in case I stay at a place without a bar. I come outside and pump my gas. As I'm filling the moto, I see a group of five 15/16 yr old girls sitting at a picnic table across the lot. Well sure enough, as I'm finishing up, two of them come over. It's kinda clear that they sent the two best looking ones over. These girls walk up to me and start getting flirty. Not normal flirty, but trashy flirty. The kind of exaggerated flirty that a 15 yr old girl thinks a 37 yr old guy will be into, because she's seen how it works on MTV or the OC or whatever the kids watch these days. I managed to keep from laughing, long enough for them to finally pop the question. "So, will you buy us some vodka?" I totally remember being on the other end of this equation.

Highlight 4: I'm trying to take PA 171 up to Hancock, NY, but somehow I get on PA 247. It's fine road, but PA gets it's speed limits all wrong. In WV, when they tell you that you should take a turn at 35, you can interpret that to mean "take the turn at 45". In PA when they tell you to take a turn at 35, it means "you'd probably be OK at 55". Well I quickly learn that this fine road becomes a terrific road as long as you have wanton disregard for the speed limit. at the posted speed of 40, it was painful. At 65, it was awesome. But the thing that made it a highlight was the camps. For about a 10 mile stretch, it was ass the send-away summer camps. Camp Wakahana and Camp Michimini and Camp Pakataki and all those kooky indian names. Throw in Camp (something in Hebrew blah blah Hebrew blah) and Camp Wayne for Girls. Some had lakes. It was totally classic horror movie stuff.

Highlight 5: I took a diversion 

thr

ough Hershey, PA. I used to go there all the time as a kid. Hershey Park, Chocolate world. It was fun. Lots of memories in that.

Other things: The Catskills are classic America. Everything you'd expect from the cliché. Small villages, summering people, country club style pools. The craziest thing I saw was a pond, about football-field sized, where they had built a beach out of sand on one end. Installed a lifeguard chair, and had people laying out and swimming. Totally odd, but it so looked the part of classic Americana.

Even Woodstock was classic Americana. It was everything you'd imagine. Aging hippies in tie-dyes walking the streets. Head shops, new age stores, natural healers, Bob Marley tapestries, Volkswagon vans parked out in front of shops (even a tie-dye painted Beetle).

There are a ton of other cool things I forgot about. Like: when was the chance you had a full 11 hours to listen to music? Just sit there and listen. New stuff you haven't had time for, old stuff you love. You have all the time you want for it.

So much of this trip reminds me of the original Mototour, even though it's just a mini. I was just thinkign about that as I was taking off my visor and wahing the bugs off of it in the bathroom sink. It was a nightly ritual with Brian and me. And the way that BMWs draw attention at gas stations. It's really surprising. I remember from the first one. We are BMW guys in general. And the BMW GS is one of the top 5 best selling bikes in the country for several years now. But for some reason, at every gas station, people come up and look at it and as you questions about it, as if it were UFO gassing up at Sheetz. It's happening again, and I still don't understand it.

Another random thing: NY 30 is a terrific road, but has possibly the worst road condition ever. All pot-holed and chunked up. It was really a test of bike suspension and riding skill. With that said, the physical layout of the road was unbelievable. Fortunately the bad asphault cleared up after about 10 miles. It's the kind of road where you just set the bike at 60mph and never change speed. the turns are big sweepers. the straights are just the right length. The closest I've come to this is the Cherahola Skyway. But this was still different. There's a funny thing that happens when you don't have to worry about speed or shifting and just got to ride. It's kind of like watching slalom skiers. They fix their speed, and just cut through gates. no speeding up and slowing down.

And now for the really technical stuff.

The bike is running well. If a valve and throttle body job clear up the surging, I'd be comfortable taking this bike on cross-continent trip, you pick the continent.

I'm getting used to the Fastway pegs. I don't see a great advantage over stock, tough. I can live with them. I'm just not impressed.

I am learning to hate the Tourance tires. The more they warm up, the more squirrelly they get. It's a known issue. The tread blocks get too soft, and wiggle around and make you feel like you're going to slide out. And after 400 miles, they're nice and warmed through. Not a great time to hit a road like NY30. I'm hopefully going to put some Michelin Pilot Roads on before the real Moto2our. They aren't worn enough to change, but I'll eat the cost to be done with them.

The bike seems to like the Mobil 1 we put in last night. And it hasn't burned off a drop, much to my surprise.

The rear shock is shit. it's done. I need those Wilbers. I set the shock for a little more twisty action this morning, but that just yields an incredibly harsh ride. If I soften it up, it totally wallows in the turns, and kills all confidence. Enough is enough. They have to go.

Off to sleep. Tomorrow I go up to Lake Placid, and then back to maybe Albany to sleep. Sunday will be a long straight speed run from Albany to DC.