|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
June 22 was a day of riding a myriad of Missouri backroads approximately between the Mississippi River in Quincy, IL and the Missouri River near Hermann, MO. What with all the letter designations for Missouri's county roads we could have called it the Alphabet Soup ride. The turnout was very good in my estimation, as a total of eight bikes made the trek to Quincy for the early Saturday start. A couple of hardy souls even got up at 4AM to make it there in the morning. We rolled out of the Quincy Holiday Inn parking lot at 8AM in a light rain. That was kind of a bummer because some good roads had to be taken at sub-light speed velocities due to the wet conditions. We weren't too bummed, though, because we knew the alternative was 90 degrees and 90% humidity. After about 30 miles we left the rain behind (and a couple of riders!) and could begin to enjoy some dry pavement. We cruised through the country side on a variety of terrain which included plenty of curves and some entertaining roller coaster hills.
Two hours later we stopped in Bowling Green, MO for refreshments and regrouping. By this time we were firmly out of the rainy weather and into the seriously hot stuff. We cooled off with a cold drink and then hit the road to burn through a few more curves. We found ourselves in the town of Truxton about 50 miles later. Now we're talkin' about _serious_ heat for Concours riding. Kevin and Betsy, Jerry and Pat, Rich, and Joel decided to take the short cut over to the lunch stop in Troy. That left Jeff, Ray, Dan, and yours truly to make the run down to Treloar. And what a run it is. Rt.A out of Truxton is pretty lame, but once you cross south of I70 and catch on to Rt.B everything changes. By this time in our ride we were beginning to hustle a bit in order to make our rendezvous with the folks in Treloar. Up to this point I had been leading the ride at The Pace, but our speed was gradually increasing the farther south we went on B. I was just starting starting to notch it up a bit (the crowd cheers!) as we entered the really gnarly part of Rt.B when we came up behind a new Dodge 4x4 - diesel (the crowd groans...). To his credit, the guy was hustling around the corners at a pretty good clip, but it was much slower than we had been going. Grrrr. Not wanting to do anything terribly squidly, we stayed behind him for the last few miles of B before intersecting with Rt.94. We lucked out as he turned right while we turned left. Now it was outright sport mode (the crowd roars!!) with gear changes and moderate braking for corners for the homestretch sprint to our roadside rendezvous in Treloar. This stretch of Rt.94 is a good one, with lots 'o curves and elevation changes. There are a few lefthanders over hillcrests that will test your mettle - and your skill - as you try to hold a line in the right lane. For some reason when riding curves like these, there seems to be a mysterious force which tries to pull you near or over the center stripe. It's always fun to work through these little exercises.
At the roadside shelter we met up with Joel K. and Rob and Ellie. We hung out in the shade on the banks of the Missouri River for a while and chatted before saddling up and heading out. A couple miles down the road, at the next good curve, Jeff overcooked it. I was following him and watched him dial in some serious lean angle to correct his line and ride it out like a pro. He must have been only an inch from dragging a peg (heck, even the saddlebags looked close to scraping) - way to go Jeff! Many folks would have hit the brakes and stood the bike up (and probably have gone off the road). We arrived in Troy for lunch in one piece and were more than happy to duck into Chum's for some air conditioned comfort and lunch. By now the temperature had soared into the 95 degree range and our little group had swelled to some 10 bikes and 13 humans. We had a good time, and Joel K. showed us pictures from the Blackwater Falls rally which happened back in May (although I must say, Joel, judging from the photos it looks like you did more foot powered touring through the woods than motorcycle touring during your stay in WV!).
After lunch we had a good 100 mile stint up routes W and 79 to get back to Quincy. The ride was pretty uneventful (if you call blasting along backroads at 75+mph "uneventful") with a pitstop in Clarksville for ice cream and then a detour around a train wreck. We didn't bother to stop and hike up the road to check out the crash site because it was too hot! Ray, who had been my riding buddy for the day on his RF900 (every time I looked behind me, he was right there), and Jeff peeled off for home when we got to Louisiana. Ray was one of the two who had gotten up at 4AM for a long day. I don't know how many miles he finished with, but it must have been close to 500. Not bad, considering it was done while riding a pseudo crotch rocket!
The run from Louisiana to Hannibal included some very entertaining curves and a little sightseeing at the several roadside turnouts looking over the mighty Mississippi River. Joel K., Dan and I stopped at one of these. After a couple of minutes we heard this odd howling noise coming from back down the road. It kinda sounded like motorcycle, but the high pitched howl didn't seem to fit. Soon enough we saw what the sound was coming from - a four wheeled ATV at full song on the highway. Some kid was burning up the twisties on his off road vehicle! He didn't appear to be sliding as he came into view, but I'm sure if he held that pace through some of the tighter corners he would have been drifting all four wheels. Man, it looked like fun to me! He zipped back and forth a couple of times and then disappeared off into the woods on the side of the road.
We finally rolled into Quincy at around 6PM, approximately 320 miles after leaving the Holiday Inn that morning. But wait, there's more! Chow at my place that night was graciously provided by my wife, Sharon, and she did it again. 26 delicious barbecued shish kabobs later everybody's hunger seemed satiated. By the time darkness fell, our guests had bid farewell for the evening. A few of the day's participants didn't make it to the dinner that night. Of those, a special salute goes out to short time rider Joel from Chicago who, while mounted on an old Honda 450, chased his Concours-mounted buddy, Rich, all the way down to Quincy on Friday evening. Then chased a whole bunch of Concours for some 250 miles on Saturday. No wonder you were too tired to make it to dinner on Saturday!
After breakfast on Sunday morning the remaining folks split off in their respective directions to head for home. I accompanied Dan, Rich, and Joel on a sedate cruise through some more nifty Missouri backroads before turning back. All in all it was a fun weekend. Who knows, maybe this was the just the beginning of an annual event.
P.S. Wow, Neville made a surprise visit this past weekend. Seems he
wanted to have a sample of what he missed the weekend before. Either that or
his calendar is screwy (DOH! You mean it was June 22nd, not the 30th?!).
Even better news is that he was talkin' about trying to put together some
sort of an overnight ride in southern Missouri later this year. Considering
what I've seen of the area so far, THAT would be something truly worth
attending!
Kevin E. Redner, kredner@glenayre.com
Last updated 2 Jul. 96