North South 10 Ride Report
One Man's View

by Dusty Schilling

June 15-17, 2007 -

As most of us in the Mid-Atlantic area of the North East region know 2007 started out as a bit of a challenge for COG rides. Cold weather and storms interfered with virtually every one of the early rides. I almost left the house for the long run to the annual Crab Cakes ride but ice and snow cut that idea short, and also the McGaheysville breakfast & ride was a goner. The COG in Coal Country ride turned out to be a great event, but even though the ride through WV it was relatively near me, (I'm in Blacksburg VA), I could only link up for lunch on one day, and then come back to camp one night with a small but hardy group.

So I was pretty excited about the Cook Forrest camping ride in early June, my first real shot at a COG ride this year. Well …. I was at home getting prepared …. the eagerness, the excitement, it can all be overwhelming. After scrutinizing maps and preparing 27 different riding rotes I was ready, sort of. Taking my handy packing list (yes, yes I have in the past forgotten to take important things like tent poles!) I finally managed to turn to loading up the bike.

My plan was for an early Wednesday departure to a business meeting in Washington DC, leading to a Friday ride from DC to Cook Forrest PA for the COG camping weekend. Actually I was feeling pretty good since I was putting things together Tuesday evening instead of 0'dark-thirty on Wednesday morning. After loading all the camping gear, my trusty JetBoil (yes and the coffee grounds this time!) I had sorted stuff so I could also load everything (including my computer, work papers, suit, dress shoes etc etc) onto the bike. It's now 10 pm and the last thing (yes the very last thing … you can probably start to see this coming) was to do a final check of tire pressure and go to bed.

Put a few pounds of air into the front tire, then turned to the rear (Avon Azaro with 3K miles) … huh this says zero, must be operator error …. Nope …. It's Zero. Oh $%@. Found a screw buried in the center of the tread. Broke out my trusty $1.99 tire repair kit and sweated over pulling the screw and inserting a rope plug. Been riding over a span of almost 35 years now and this is the first ever flat tire! Pumped up the tire hoping for the best, even called Mike from MTA Motorcycle Tire & Accessories (great service and nice guy if you are ever in need of a tire in the Roanoke VA area) to leave a message, when he picked up the phone! Now that's a dedicated guy. We discussed the situation and my new plan was to stop by MTA first thing on the way to DC and he could help me evaluate the likelihood this plug would hold.

But by morning the tire had lost a few pounds. Binging mindful of Andrew's recent experience following the COG in Coal Country ride (http://preview.tinyurl.com/ywq45e) I decided on a change in plan. Mike could get a new rear in from NC so I drove up to DC in the car, planning to return to Blacksburg and then would launch on the bike from home via Roanoke to pick up the new tire early Friday morning. Yes … we can do this!

But (and you can probably see this coming) more schedule conflicts were at hand … so it turned out the weekend Cook Forrest camping ride was just not in the cards for me.

However, now I was focused on getting to the annual North - South ride at Russell Fleming's, (#10 this year).

Got all packed up uneventfully, kissed My Little Sweetie-Poo goodbye and started to go. I have changed to my summer mesh jacket, so all the various things that go in the pockets (earplugs, Plexus, ski lock etc) were shifted over from the many pockets of my Fieldsheer to the limited three pockets on my Joe Rocket first generation mesh jacket. Had everything except the audio cord from my satellite radio (which is supposed to be in my left jacket pocket when not hooked up). Searched the tank bag, the fairing pockets, the garage, the Givi trunk, the bag of mysterious electric spare stuff I always carry, went back in the house, searched the old jacket, the floor of the closet, EVERYWHERE, by now my wife is kinda like … "Won't he get out of here already!" and Andy the Dog is in near terminal depression when …. I stick my hand into the left jacket pocket on the Joe Rocket and find the cord EXACTLY where it is supposed to be!

Just another typical start to a weekend ride!

Foggy and drizzly so don't go out the back way through the various valleys, since you can look off the balcony and see the zero visibility. I take the less fun and more traveled route and make it about an hour before my breakfast stop. Did some meandering around, but I have about 330 miles to go so do smaller roads (mostly 11 and 340) but don't get too sidetracked (e.g. stay off the Blue Ridge Parkway).

Stop in Luray at the "Pat Sprague Memorial Liberty Gas Station" (where I most always stop when passing through) and call Ron "I could tell you where I've been working out of the country but then I'd have to kill you" Penn to finalize our meeting spot near Harper's Ferry. Ron says if neither of us show up by 20 minutes after the anointed time just take off. Now I have a deadline to meet! Zip through the Route 211 twistys and then head due north over a number of Virginia Scenic back roads that eventually put me into the gas station about 10 minutes late where Ron is waiting. I have been admiring Ron's beaded seat cover for years now, and about 10 pm the evening before I decided to take the $9.95 cover that has been sitting in my garage for about six months and see if it really is only the 10 minute job as claimed by guys on the forum. Let me tell you … even for me it was!! Putting this on was a GREAT decision, after one weekend ride I am very happy with it. Ron and I shot the breeze for awhile and zipped up to Russell's.

Got there relatively early and claimed a good tent spot, flat and right there in the front yard near the food. On the way my 2002 Connie went over 50,000 miles, gotta get me one of them 50K stickers.

Saturday dawned early, as I realized a great tent spot in the front yard near the food is also right near the coffee and some of these folks are actually morning people! Oh well, got up and learned how to make toast (side note, if your toast was burned … hey …sorry!).

Saturday weather was great, cleared up and warm but not too hot. Had a choice of taking the short or long route … so went on the long route with Ron, Harold Brookman and the Crazy Canadians, lead by Brian Jordan on his FJR, who had loaded ¾ of the route into his GPS. Don't ask me, that seemed to make sense to him! A great ride ensued, Kablestown Road … whoa bubba!! Saw Brian whack the throttle and kinda "float" … hmmnn … got the Connie with all wheels off the ground four times over the day. Now I must admit airborne for me on the Connie involves approximately 1/8 of an inch, but still it was exciting!

Stopped for lunch and had a discussion over leading versus following on rides. Now on most all of my rides I'm by myself, so I am the leader …. I particularly enjoy the opportunity on some of these COG rides to not navigate or pick roads, just zoning out and follow along can be fun occasionally. Also, COG rides are a great opportunity to follow folks and observe their riding styles, I have learned a lot from following folks like Clyde "Dr Smooth" Watson, Scott "I don't need no stinking brakes" Ashbaugh, and Guy "Don't worry that leg's not broke" Young, and is one reason I like to go with Brian. Besides, I know he is never really lost, we are just exploring the United States eh!

In any event, despite announcing (again) that he only had ¾ of the route in the GPS he couldn't suck the rest of us into leading and we followed Brian away for more adventure.

After filling up with gas we noted that Harold's Ducati was pouring fuel on the ground. After some scratching of heads we decided the heck with it, let's head off through the battlefield park on tiny roads into unknown parts. After all if we did get lost all we had to do was drop a match and follow the flames! Eventually either the problem fixed itself or the gas level dropped enough and the Ducati was fine. (It sure sounded good throughout). Pictures from the North South can be found on the COG NE website under ride reports (http://www.concours.org/ne/reports.htm). Any questions about the "Brian Loves Ducatis" photo should be directed to him!

I have not had a speeding ticket since 1979, in part due to my paranoia about small town speed limits, Brian said he agreed with that theory, but somehow I think the Canadian guys didn't quite have that MPH to metric conversions set as we seemed to be zinging along in some tiny little hamlets!

Got back to Russell's just in time for a great dinner and much BSing with the large crowd. It was great to see Herman Tessman come out, even if we did not get to fondle his brand new FJR.

Russell had arranged for a talk by Tracy Martin (of Total Control Advanced Riding Course) that I really enjoyed, a great addition to an already well planned and fun weekend.

Got up early Sunday (you know why!), packed up the tent and prepared to leave.

Ron Penn and I rode together, went the back ways towards the Point of Rocks crossing over the Potomac, missed a turn but the pavement was freshly laid so what the heck I continued on (it's that Brian navigation training). We stayed on 15 past Leesburg to 50 and separated as he headed back to Fairfax and I went south. Took a different set of scenic roads and went right past the site of last years COG Bobbers in the Tank Bag. Ride, Paddle, and Camp near Scottsville, VA (also known as the 100+ degree experience). I think Pete "Nighthawk" Long has forgiven me for dumping the canoe over but I notice he did not make the N-S ride!

Was practicing the "10 Steps to Cornering" technique from the Total Control lecture; was quite a bit of fun. Although for the life of me, unless "Patting yourself on the back for a Great Job" was number 10 I could only remember 9 steps! Everything Tracey said made sense and felt right as I did it. Had not been much of a weight shifter, and had never really tried to "hang off" in turns so enjoyed trying it. The beaded seat helped. In case my wife reads this what I mean is the advanced techniques carefully taught by an eminent instructor enabled me to maintain a smooth sure riding scheme while remaining well within the posted speed limits. (That's my story and I'm sticking with it!).

At Bobby's suggestion I had been trying keeping my GPS set on Route up (vs. North up), let me tell you that is just confusing as heck to this ex-Navy guy! Went small back roads along the James River and came across two great road signs. Right along the river the road was an unusual crushed stone with a light layer of gravel over the whole road, after over 15 miles of this came upon a road sign that said "Gravel". Laughed out loud, no kidding Sherlock! Winding my way towards Lynchburg met quite a bit of traffic, all either Jeeps, big pick ups or SUVs, but never saw a single vehicle going the direction I was. Hmmn, don't know what that means but it was odd. As I turned away from the river the road was really 1.75 lanes wide, then 1.5 lanes, then 1.25 lanes wide … and then I saw my favorite sign of the day … "Road Narrows". What? Narrows more than this, Holy beejebers!

Tried out one of those neckerchiefs with the beads that absorb water, seemed to work great, along with the beaded seat another summer item I plan to stay with.

Made it home fine after about 350 miles for the day, 850+ miles for the weekend.

Truly the North South 10 was a great time!

North South 10 Ride Report One Man's View

North South 10 Ride Report
One Man's View