It's now about 2 PM on Sunday, and I am finally alone. This is a great realization, as I have been with a great bunch of ST riders until now. Both a welcome and a threatening feeling. I decide to go with the first feeling.
I am on the Parkway, headed north, and with no real destination except for making Roanoke by Monday night. That's only 230 miles, so I have all the time in the world to get there. Sounds like time to GO RIDE!
I mounted up and rode about 10 miles to Crabtree Meadows. I had a coffee at the Parkway restaurant and picked up a copy of the great, full-length, indispensible Parkway map. Had some other tourists throw some good looks at the bike. Appreciated!
The Parkway is a great touring road. Most of the surface is perfect, with just a little bit of Winnebago strewn gravel in the best turns. The posted speed limit of 45 MPH, translated into an ST speed limit of 60, leads to a relaxed riding style which lets you enjoy more of the scenery. The curves are well marked for entry speed (typical, sign speed + 15), except that a lot of them are decreasing radius.
There was a lot of traffic on Sunday, and that slowed things down a
bit more. There aren't many passing spots, and I am not ordinarily a
double yellow passer, so I had a good relaxing ride. When I got
behind too many cars I'd pull into one of the frequent scenic
overlooks and enjoy the scenery and shoot some photos. I also had to
stop about every hour to change disks on the CD. It seemed the
Parkway was perfectly suited for this type of riding.
I stayed on the Parkway for about 80 miles, and then turned off on NC16 to check out the real world. This turned out to be a bad decision for one main reason. The change in direction put me looking into the setting sun in a lot of the corners. The southwest corners, being already in the shadow, were almost invisible coming into them. I hadn't had this trouble on the mostly northeast Parkway. This slowed me down a lot (read a couple of max panics when I went blind into corners). However the 55 speed limit was a welcome change. There was a good mix of tight turns and wide sweepers, and I enjoyed the ride except for the sun problem.
Highway 16 brought me into Virginia, and I soon turned east on US58, intending to overnight at Galax. This road was a bit better for cages than the NC road, with more beautiful sweepers, but no really sharp turns.
I had one really weird happening on this road. I was cresting a hill on a curve when I saw a sign warning of limited sight distance and entering traffic. Usually I don't bother too much with these, and it was Sunday after all. However, I was going too fast to handle anything really abrupt, so I slowed way down. Must have been some strange instinct thing. As I crested the hill, still turning sharply, I saw the intersection coming in from the left. There was an indetermiment aged Chrysler battleship sitting at the intersection, with a gray haired LOL at the wheel. The maximum warning flags went up, and I slowed even more. Remember what the MSF says, "gray haired LOL = panic stop".
As I came down the hill the Chrysler instantly went from stop to lurch and then to stop again. It was now partly in my lane, at about a 30 degree angle, and blocking much of the oncoming lane. The MSF was right. I initiated panic mode, but at the lowered speed it was now more like a gentle stop. Had I not slowed over the hill it would have been a lot more interesting. The car did another of these instant lurch/stops (does Chrysler have warp drive?) and was now fully in my lane, and standing still! By now I was stopped and behind the tank. I decided not to use the Honda's atrocious excuse for a horn, so I sat there in the road. I was afraid to try going around either, because visibility forward was very short, and sudden moves might spook her into another warp move.
Eventually she engaged forward motion. If the previous moves were warps, she was now on impulse power. I think she got up to a grand top speed of 25 MPH, and this was accompanied by much weaving, often into the other lane. I backed safely off, hoping to drive around the crash, and hating myself for missing some neat curves at their proper speeds. Finally there was a straight long enough for a passing move, and I shot past without warning, and at a speed guaranteed to give minimum exposure to danger, and also instant death if she swerved to the edge of the road.
By now it was getting darker and colder, but I rode on to Galax without stopping to put on something warmer and having her pass me. In Galax there was only one decrepit looking motel, and I was wondering if this was a good stopping place. I went on through town and out the four lane on the other side. About the time I was thinking hard about turning around and checking out the fleabag, I came to the intersection of I77. Plenty of selections here: motels, food, and gas.
This was another lesson in mainland travel: interstate exits are where all services have moved. I picked a local motel, the Mountain Palace Inn, over the chains, and got a very good $38 room. I also had a very filling (total trip weight gain, only about 5 pounds) and quite good dinner at a local restaurant - name forgotten. They had a buffet, including great dessert, and this rule that you had to eat all you can. I guess I shouldn't follow signs so literally.
From the restaurant I went to gas up the bike. I felt that if I was full and happy, it should be too. The day's ride was 255 miles, and I had to put in 5.4 gallons. This is 47.2 MPG, which reflects the slower pace of the ride on the Parkway. The previous gas stats, which I neglected to mention in part 1, were 220 miles and 5.1 gallons. That tank yielded 43.0 MPG, which shows the effects of faster speeds.
Next morning, Monday, brought fog with a visibility of about 100 feet. I decided to wait a bit as I didn't want to drive the Parkway in the fog. Breakfast was the motel's continental, which was very light.
Finally, about 10, I headed back into Galax. There, I took VA89 south and went under the Parkway, then NC 18 west to Sparta. From there I went south on US21 to the Parkway, where I got on and headed north. None of these roads were remarkable - just nice pleasant riding.
It was good to be reminded of the way the rural, south US lives. Hawaii is indeed different in many things. Here at home, due to zoning and land ownership (same thing, perhaps), everyone lives in towns or subdivisions. There are typically few individual houses along the roads. In VA and NC it is continuous houses and small business from the edge of one small town to the next. This implies that cars can enter the road at any time from any of the thousands of driveways. I put on an extra smidge of caution and kept riding. This was never a problem, in fact.
The Parkway had changed from the great mountains around Asheville to much flatter and open country. In places the Parkway was just another road. Monday had a lot less traffic, or perhaps this area of the Parkway was just less desirable from a tourist point of view. The speed limit now seemed a major restriction, but I held back.
Somewhere during the morning I had my big crash! I had stopped at an overlook to change CD's and stretch my legs. I got back on the bike, put up the sidestand, and was engaged in plugging in the headset when the bike started to go over under me. I really don't know why, but suspect Mean Old Mr. Gravity. I got out of its way, and it went over on the left side with a thoroughly heartwrenching crunch. I got off and saw that it was a standard ST fall onto the wing, and nothing had broken (except for my spirit).
Of course there was no one at the overlook, and it was not near the road. I tried the get down and back into the bike trick, but I couldn't get it to work. It may have been due to the slipperiness of the 'stitch, or just my confinement in it. I raised up a little, until my butt was about on the seat, grabbed the centerstand handle and something else, and pushed up again. The bike came right up, and I carefully avoided putting it over onto the other side. I held it up while I deployed the sidestand with one hand and then let it down on the stand. At least no one had seen me! I stood around about 10 minutes to calm down and recover, and when the heart rate was below 150, I headed off again.
The next stop was Mabry Mill, which is one of the most scenic stops on
the Parkway. It was a bit after 12, so I hitched up to the old style
lunch counter for my first real meal of the day. Imagine my surprise
when I discovered they serve breakfast all day. How civilised! I had
some great buckwheat pancakes, and believe the flour was ground at the
old mill. I also went for the peach cobbler, but for dietic
considerations did not load on the recommended ice cream.
There were several other bikers there having lunch. One was on a new R1100 RT, just making his first trip. His friend had a Voyager. Talked with a rough looking chap on a brand new Harly Softail that had fuel injection. The guy was quite a sight: little piss pot helmet, lots of earrings and tattoos and fringed leathers. I mentioned that the bike sounded different than most Harleys, and he put it to the injection. The bike runs more smoothly, without the characteristic misses. He said that Harley was going to start making the programming chips in the injection field programmable or replaceable so owners could change how the basic engine runs, or set it up for different pipes and other accessories. Nice looking bike, for a Harley!
I should mention that all the touring Harley riders I met on the trip were extremely nice. Also, all the Harley riders waved except for one. I think there is a real difference in Harley riders who actually ride their iron, rather than pose on it.
I spend about a half hour looking around the mill. I am fascinated by old machinery, and this was definitely old. Imagine wooden bearings on a reciprocating saw!
Back on the Parkway I rode along thinking that the road quality wasn't what I expected. I knew it would get better again, and was looking forward to that. I also decided that I was going to get to Roanoke too early, and should do something about that. At the next stop I checked the Parkway map which showed that going to Lynchburg would just about fill out the extra time. I thought I might look up an old friend.
The Parkway stayed fairly tame until north of Roanoke. Then it got into some serious mountains, getting back up to almost 4000 feet. The riding got better, and I woke up to really ride the curves. The last stop on the Parkway was at Peaks of Otter, for a soda and a snack.
The real surprises of this leg came when I turned off the Parkway toward Lynchburg. I was on US501, a road I had never been on before even though I have been through Lynchburg dozens of times. The first surprise was going through the town of Big Island. Hey! I live ON the Big Island!
The second surprise was US501 itself. It was one great cycling road. Fantastic curves on perfect pavement. The whole road was 22 miles of which at least 5 were great. Lots of wiggly signs with 20 and 25 on them marked the good places. Lots of variety in up, down, left, right, hidden, visible, and well as length of turn. This piece of road is HIGHLY recommended if you are in this region.
I also had my biggest scare of the trip on this stretch. Not on the twisty part, for I thought I rode that really well. After it there was mostly straight road. I was probably studying the map on my tank bag too hard, for when I looked up I was about to go into no man's land. Didn't do it, but it was close. Another two seconds and I would have been in the ditch.
Lynchburg, on the other hand, wasn't as nice as the road coming in. I got there at rush hour, and then ran into street construction. I don't know how "they" plan these things, but it seems that there are lots of gas stations on your side of the road until you decide to stop. I ended up going through Lynchburg and out the wrong road, trying to find an easily accessible pay phone. When I did I found out my friend must have moved on.
I ran into another bike problem in Lynchburg. This was my first city, and the first time I did any stop and go. The bike got hot, with the temp guage going well past the middle and the fan coming on several times. After about 15 minutes of this the bike started making a knocking sound. It wasn't a detonation type knock, but a parts going around knock. Seemed to come from somewhere down low on the engine. When I was able to move again, and the temp went down, it went away.
I also got a worry when the city police started following me, and even followed me into a strip mall when I turned in to look for a phone. My worry here was about the lack of a license plate on the bike. There was only a colorful sign for Roswell Fun Machines. Seems this is OK in Georgia, but I knew it definitely was not in super-legal Virginia. Increasing the worry was the lack of any registration for the bike. Thankfully it wasn't me they were after, as they pulled up to the front of the mall and ran into a store.
So, I headed down US221 to Roanoke where I planned to overnight. It was getting cold and dark, and I was definitely getting a cold. I had dressed warmer this day, with bicycle tights under my Levi's and 'stitch, and a fleece jacket. The jacket had come off during my northward pass through Roanoke, and I was beginning to regret this. However, I didn't stop to put it back on.
I had trouble finding a motel vacancy in the Roanoke airport area, so I ended up staying at the Sheraton at $89. Very poor value for the money. It was being remodeled and was a mess. They didn't even have a restaurant. I ate at an Olive Garden in the nearby mall, and thought it quite good. My first time at this chain. A massive size Sam Adams, along with a couple of Tylenols, quieted the cold for a bit. However, Kleenex (yes trademark monitors, they were genuine Kleenex brand facial tissues!) consumption was way up. I didn't know how long the two handy packs would last. Thankfully the 'stitch has plenty of pockets to hold sickie supplies.
Even though it was early I just rode up to a Shell station to get gas, and then off to bed. The day's stats were 301 miles (the gas light was just starting to stay on steadily), and 6.5 gallons, for 46.5 MPG.
I had passed the most northern point of the trip, and had put 776 miles on the rented ST1100. Except for the rainy weather and my cold the trip was going great. In any case it was fun riding, and I was looking forward to more. Three more days, and Deal's Gap!
William L. Cruise cruiseXXX@cfht.hawaii.edu Electronics System Supervisor FAX: 808 885-7288 Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Voice: 808 885-3122 P.O. Box 1597 http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~cruise Kamuela, HI 96743 STOC #94 '91 black ST1100 "Cruise Missle" STOC #xx '91 silver ST1100 "Cruise Missle II"