Odd town and road names

I planned a quick overnighter leaving midday on Friday (the gov't got an early out for the 4th...yea!), staying in Culpeper, and returning early evening on Saturday. We passed through a few VA towns with odd names--at least odd to me:

We headed west from home to Gore, VA. A pretty place...no gore.

We headed south for Olddrag, VA. Despite leaving at 2pm, the holiday traffic vacating the nation's Capitol affected our ability to promptly get out of town. Also, I had a suspicion that the route to Olddrag would have us on unpaved roads--something I wasn't in the mood for. So, we called an audible and decided to skip Olddrag and head for the hotel in Culpeper.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed south for Walton's Store Road, then northeast to Cuckoo, and on around to Bumpass, named for Capt. John Thomas Bumpass, Sr.

After stopping at our favorite diner in Fredericksburg for a mid-afternoon lunch, we headed home.

A good trip. We traveled many roads we haven't been on before--something that is increasingly difficult to do in close proximity to home. Total of 345 miles over two days. Lots of fun!

Ride safe...ride often.



A slideshow of some of the photos:

Third Ride 2010

Finally got a few hours on a Saturday to take a ride. With essentially no planning, we headed west to Rte 211 over the mountain and then down the Shenandoah Valley to Harrisonburg where we turned east to Fredericksburg to get a bite and then north back home. A ride we've done a 1000 times, and despite the heat and humidity, it was a nice diversion.

GPS stats:

• Total 242 miles.
• Overall average speed: 29 mph
• Moving average speed: 47 mph
• Max speed: 82 mph
  
• Total time: 8:15
• Moving time: 5:08
• Stopped time: 3:07
  

I intend to do a bit more planning for the next ride.

Ride safe...



View Larger Map

Second Ride

The weekend rides have been few and far between so far this year. I hope to change that soon.

We took off at 8am on Saturday (May 15th) heading south. I quickly laid out a route to upload to my GPS at around midnight the night before so there wasn't much planning that went into this ride. We rode south on Route 1 towards Richmond, headed east on back roads to Route 60 to Jamestown VA. We crossed the Ferry and headed south on Route 31 towards Surry stopping at a small restaurant for lunch. Then northwest on Route 10, crossing the James River near Hopewell continuing on north on Route 2 to Fredericksburg where we stopped for dinner. Then a quick run up I-95 back to home.

We spent a total of 11-hours and 33-minutes to travel the 310 miles. Our moving average was just over 45 mph having spent 6-hours and 40-minutes on the road and the remaining almost 5 hours stopped to eat and for the Ferry. The weather was great and despite essentially no planning, the day trip was a nice diversion from the routine.

Hope to post many more this season. Stay tuned.

Some pics:


Very short video when exiting the Ferry on the Surry side.

First Ride 2010

Last Saturday, my wife and I took a quick trip on our bikes down to check in on her folks and to eat some seafood. Though the ride was uneventful, it fixed attitudes and much needed winter-time-withdrawal-from-bike-riding syndrome.

More to come...

You're next Honda?

(Uni)Cycle of the future?



More info here

Road conditions around here...

...are pretty bad. A perfect storm of significant winter snow with wild & crazy snow plows (in addition to clearing snow, they also take out curbs, guard rails, road signs, etc.) and tight municipal budgets have created circumstances for worse than usual road conditions. It is important to memorize the location of significant potholes; especially when on two wheels.

Maybe someone can come with a Google map that shows pothole locations?

From the Washington Post, Tuesday March 30, 2010:

Not a hole lot you can do to keep roadways smooth

First ride 2010

It's embarrassing to admit this, but March 24th was the first time I took my motorcycle out of the garage this year.

This has got to change.

The beginning of the apocalypse?

The New York Times reports that Harley posted its first loss in 16 years.

Wonder what this portends?

EntroSys motorcycle air conditioning and heating system now taking pre-orders, we wants it (video)

EntroSys motorcycle air conditioning and heating system now taking pre-orders, we wants it (video): "

We'll go ahead and say what you're thinking: a silver hose running up the front of your jacket doesn't really augment any established motorcycle style. This thing looks like a canister vac that's gone rogue and hitched a ride on a pillion seat, but after reading the literature and watching the video below we want one anyway. It's the EntroSys Motorcycle Air Conditioner and it not only cools but also heats, meaning it could be the perfect accessory for those who want to extend their riding season into either the middle or end of the year. It clips on the back of the bike and gets wired in to the battery, the hose running to a special vest worn under your gear. A wireless controller mounted on the bars raises or lowers the temp, and while you will admittedly look utterly ridiculous wearing the thing you might be the only one not sweating to death when you get caught in traffic -- unless of course you're of the flip-flop and tank-top variety. If that's the case, thanks for the high insurance premiums!

Continue reading EntroSys motorcycle air conditioning and heating system now taking pre-orders, we wants it (video)

EntroSys motorcycle air conditioning and heating system now taking pre-orders, we wants it (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 08:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2010 -- A New Year and things to do

My to do list:

1. replace cam belts on the Ducati
2. adjust valves on the Ducati
3. think about doing another carb rebuild on Valkyrie (or not)
4. oil change in the GL1800