The weekend following our KY trip was hot. I don't even remember what we did on Saturday (I think ... sat on the couch). Saturday night we decided to head into Pigeon Forge for ice cream once the baby went to bed. It is a very interesting experience riding the mountain in the DARK. We took 321 into Townsend and took Wears Valley Road into Pigeon Forge. Wears Valley road has some tight 25 mph twisties and one 15 mph uphill right hand switchback turn. We were stuck behind a SLOW car; it almost makes the turns harder when you're SO slow you feel like you're struggling just to stay upright.
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| Late night ice cream |
After imbibing, we hit the connector between PF and Gatlinburg, then headed to the bypass so we could view the city at night. Gorgeous! Came home through the national park which is ALWAYS a fun time. I had a few moments STILL; made some VERY rough turns; visibility was my issue. It had rained and we hit some wet roads, just was feeling very not trustworthy. Got back home at 11:45 pm; did about 100 miles.
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| Gatlinburg at 11:00 |
The following weekend, I was able to get a last minute day off on Friday, AKA First Saturday! I found my gel pad I'd bought ages ago and decided to try it on my Mustang seat; I've self diagnosed my problem as visibility issues in general. My Freedom Shield is just a hair too tall for me, and I've been struggling with looking through it vs looking over it. I can see through it just fine, but my brain keeps saying I need to look over, so I keep shifting and changing positions to try and crane my neck to look up and over. That gel pad lifts me up about 1/2 an inch and now it's pretty much perfect! I still have that little bit of leeway for when I get my reduced bars, but I can see over it w/out feeling like I'm struggling.
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| Gearing up for a nice night ride |
We woke up prior to 5:00 am so that we could get our butts down to Helen, GA by 8:45 am to join the Middle Tennessee IMRG's rally 'The Gathering'. They were doing a group ride over "The Gauntlet" which is one of our map rides that we haven't gone on yet. The Gauntlet is similar to The Copperhead in the sense that it's not just one named road, it's several roads that when you ride them all connected, you've done the "named ride". I always prepare for my summer rides with sunscreen on my upper torso (the spray kind) and specific face sunscreen for my face (lotion). I also utilize baby powder and diaper rash cream! Learned those tricks being at the barn and riding horses in the summertime. Dressed in a Dri fit tank top, a T shirt, a super light dri fit 1/4 zip long sleeved shirt, and my mesh jacket with the liner in it. At 5:30 in the morning, the air still has that chilly factor since the sun hasn't come out yet.
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| Surrounded by fantastic machines! |
Our ride down consisted of roads we both haven't traveled, and others we had only been on once or twice. There was one moment where David's angel protected him PERFECTLY. We were riding with speed, but also with caution; I saw the deer to the left and JUST as the word left my mouth, it leaped across the road. David saw it, locked the bike down, kept it upright as the back wheel fishtailed, and the deer was gone. I saw it with enough notice that I had backed off and barely even had to touch my brakes. Thank you, Jesus.
We arrived in Helen perfectly on time, and my heart was RACING as we took in all the beautiful Indian motorcycles. I have NEVER seen so many in one place! It was a huge group, easily 50+ bikes. My heart was excitedly pumping as we took it all in. Quickly left and filled up at a nearby gas station for $3.59 per gallon! Ouch! Helen has been the victim of some torrential rain and the Victory Motorcycle rally was literally flooded out. Thank goodness we were only filling up motorcycles and not the truck! We got back to the group, hung out for the "announcements" and the prayer, then we mounted up. We hadn't decided where to get in; I told David I felt it best just to let the ones in a hurry go ahead and take off, then when things slowed down, we jump in. We did exactly that. The bike we were going to get behind actually fell down at the start, so we ended up leaving out ahead of them. We chose perfectly. As we roared through the wonderfully curvy roads following about 30 bikes, I felt like our speed was just perfect. As we continued down the road, the bikes behind me all fell away; about 20 of them. We pushed through to the scheduled gas stop, and we snagged a snack, but no gas as the plan was to leave the group and head back north after the food stop.
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| Lining up at the 'fuel stop' |
As we were getting ready to leave, the 2nd half of the group finally pulled in. We experienced the "accordion" affect as we headed to the restaurant. Caught up to the bikes ahead during the curves, then got on the gas and raced to keep up on the straightaways. Again, all the bikes behind me slowly disappeared and we had an AWESOME ride to the Lodge. I am VERY proud to say that some of the more experienced riders in the group were quite impressed I only had a year of experience, as we were riding with "Definitely not the slow group"!
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| New earned swag |
As we conversed with different riders, we realized that they had some awesome Dri Fit T shirts with the IMRG logo on them that we really wanted ... and they were back in Helen at the hotel ... so we decided to go ahead and complete the ride, especially since we were having a great ride and enjoying ourselves. Ate a yummy buffet style lunch at the Copperhead Lodge, got us a new sticker, then decided on the "long" ride back which was being stressed as "Very curvy and Dragon-like". I feel like one or 2 of the riders that knew I have only been riding a year stressed that fact; that we were going to be getting into some VERY curvy roads. My response? See all those stickers on my bike? Those are all the roads I've ridden; multiple times! I'm sure I'll be fine. And fine I was!
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| About 30 beautiful Indian motorcycles! |
We were JUST getting into the rhythm of the curves when we overwhelmed a small motor lodge with drinks/snacks/chairs. I have no idea why we decided to stop so soon, but we walked up on the porch and crashed in a rocking chair. Again, the 2nd half of the now smaller group was about 10 mins behind; I think we were waiting for them to catch up. After about a half hour break, we completed the ride. No problems, it was so much fun. I had NO problems keeping up, and I felt immensely more comfortable sitting that measely little half inch higher. As we got off the bikes back in Helen, I was quite frankly exhausted. We'd been on the road for about 7 hours at that point, and by that time, I'd stripped down to the tank top and the jacket. We shook some hands, engaged in some conversation, bought our T shirts, and got ready to head back to Maryville; as I pulled on my jacket, my arms were sticky with sweat and the jacket didn't even want to go on smoothly. We were sweating to death as we stopped in the shade for David to confirm our route home on his GPS, but once we got going it was much better. We went north up through Robbinsville, NC and pulled off to go down and take a dip in the creek. It was SO refreshing! We'd gone though all of our Sports drinks, and gulped down the final sips of water at that rest stop. ALMOST home, just the Dragon to conquer. We dunked our heads in the creek and felt incredibly refreshed.
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| Heading down to take a dip in the creek |
As we motored up through Deal's Gap, NC, we didn't stop. We headed straight to the Dragon. Let me tell y'all; it was one of my BEST trips through it. David ALWAYS leaves me in the dust for a short curvy section close to the Gap; far enough that our radios lose connection. I do most of the road in 2nd gear, kicking it up to 3rd just a hand full of times. On that day ... First Saturday ... I stayed RIGHT on David's tail, and I did probably 70% of the road in 3rd, the MOST ever! At the tail end of a 410 mile day, on a day with high humidity and 90+ degree temps ... I am SO proud of myself! As we safely pulled into the garage 13 hours after we began our day, I ran STRAIGHT to the shower, lol. I was sore, tired, dehydrated, but NOT sunburned! Not one single patch of skin. So, don't ride in a tank top or a T shirt if you don't want to get sunburned :) Part 2, or "Second Saturday" to be released at a later date!
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| Day TWO after 800 miles in the summer sun; NO sunburn! |
