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Sun, July 3 2005 trip report

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trip counter: 993
todays mileage: 341 miles

Woke up in Boone. Grabbed breakfast at the hotel. Packed
up. Had to throw out the bag I bought at walmart with the
intent of keeping stuff dry, since it was just too bulky.

Loaded up the bike for the ride and checked out. Last
night I had decided that since I was only 10 miles or
so from the TN border, I would run down 321 across the
border and back to Boone. Which I did.

About the time I got stopped at a gas station in TN,
it looked like it was about to rain again. Since I’ve
had my fair share of rain, I stopped and put on the
new walmart rain suit. Going on the theory that if
I’m actually prepared, I will not hit any rain.

At this point, I was riding without any gloves. Since
my gloves were soaked the previous night, and didn’t
seem to be drying out, I had a brilliant idea. I’ll
try putting one in the microwave. Needless to say,
this was a bad idea, and the glove kind of shrank
up and deformed before I realized it, rendering it
pretty much useless. So I just tossed them.

Since riding in the inevitable rain without any
gloves seemed a little pointless, I stopped at the
Super K-Mart in Boone and bought some rawhide work
gloves and some duct tape. Just in case.

Decided to head towards the Blue Ridge Parkway
towards Virginia. I ended up getting on the
parkway at Blowing Rock, and heading north.

It was very foggy for a while, but so far
no rain. I didn’t make many stops, aside from
one or two overlooks. Rode pretty leisurely.

After one of the stops, a Park Service truck
pulled out behind me and stay about 6 feet behind
me for about 25 miles, where I finally pulled over
at The Bluffs? to get some water.

The person driving the truck got out and warned me
that they could of called the ranger on me for speeding.
I’m pretty sure I never got over about 48 tops, and if
so, only briefly. But I supposed if I was speeding, they
would know since they were about to run over me for half
an hour.

Talked with another guy on a motorcycle. By the way, if it
wasn’t obvious, the mountains/parkway is absolutely covered
in motorcycles. The little “hey look, it’s someone else
on a motorcycle” wave gets a little tedious after passing
a few hundred bikes.

This guy was on some mid 80’s Yamaha touring bike. Aside from
the usual touring features, he had also fitted a full size cooler
hanging off the rear fender. Apparently, they were riding up
from Huntsville, Al and were heading to Maine.

There were a ton of big BMW’s at this stop as well. I’m not
exactly sure how they do it, but those bikes were absolutely
spotless. At this point, my bike is a mess, with water spots,
mud, bugs, and other mess.

Got back on the parkway heading north to Virginia. The parkway
at this point starts to get a little boring, as you are coming
out of the mountains. It also starts to look a lot more
like a normal road, as there are a lot more intersections with
normal roads, and you can see houses and businesses from the
parkway.

Once i-77 crosses the parkway, I decided to get off and get
some gas. After filling up, I took a look at the map and
decided that West Virginia wasn’t that far away. So I took
off up I-77.

Pretty uneventful ride up I-77. It gets a bit windy coming
out of some of those tunnels. It’s also very quiet riding
though the tunnels and it can be a bit disorienting. Kind of
like riding 55mph indoors.

Made it to WV, and started looking for an exit to
turn around. Oddly, the first exit is about 10
miles inside of WV. So stopped there, topped off gas
and headed back south. Figured I’d just come down
I-77 to Statesville and stop at my parents.

At this point, it still hasn’t rained any. It wasn’t
until about a mile from my parents house that I ran into
any way. Figures.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

Tue, July 5, 2005 trip report

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total: 1144
todays mileage: 151

Slept late. Ate pancakes for breakfast. Packed up my stuff,
and started to pack up the bike. This is when I made a dumb
mistake. Since my parents live on a dirt road, with a gravel
driveway, there is not a great place to park the bike. So I
had just parked it out in the yard. I couldn’t find a great
spot, and ended up parking slightly up hill, so the bike didn’t
lean over quite as much as I’d normally like while on the side
stand.

So not thinking, I go to load up the back on the back of the
bike. As I’m pulling on the bungee net to get it secure, I manage
to pull the bike off the side stand, and over on it’s side it
goes. Ground was still soft from the rain, so no damage done, but
kind of a dumb way to drop a bike. Stood it back up and reparked
it in a better spot, and finished packing.

Rode back to Raleigh from Statesville, pretty uneventful. A lot of
traffic, moving faster than usual, and it was a bit hot out. But
bearable.

One odd thing was I found myself kind of target fixating on the
ground just ahead of me, instead of looking down the road. A bad
habit. So I remind myself not to do that, and loop up. About 5
seconds later, lots of brake lights start coming on and some
cars start to swerve. Couldn’t hear any squealing tires or crashes
though, but then, with ear plugs, it’s hard to hear much of
anything.

I eventually catch up with whats causing the ruckus. A tire rolling
down the middle of the left lane of I-40. Apparently it had fallen
off a truck carrying new tires. Kind of odd to pass a rolling tire
on the interstate.

Got home, put the bike in the shed. Took a nap. Now I have to
go back to work.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

Fri, July 1, 2005 trip report

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Todays mileage: 247 miles

Up and out of the hotel by about 9:30.

Breakfast was a watchmacallit from a convenience store. Figure since I was in the town
I live in when I was 8, might as well eat what I ate when I was 8 as well.

There happened to be a Suzuki/Kawasaki place across the street, so picked up
a cable lock that I had forgotten to pack.

While there an older guy came up and said “I used to have one of those”. So
I asked “what year?” expecting to say something from 60’s. He answered “a
2005, just wrecked it last weekend.” So we talked New Bonneville stuff
stuff a little bit. He showed me pictures of the wrecked Bonneville. Apparently
a truck side swipe him. The pictures showed it wedge under the front of an
f-150. Kind of an ominous start of the evening. He pointed out the exhaust
pipes were blued, and made some upgrade suggestions (many which the
bike already has).

Drove around Gastonia a bit, snapping some pics now that it’s daylight.
Decided to eat lunch at the mall. Again, what would I of done when
I was 8. Plus I needed some table space to check out some maps
to figure out where I was headed.

Decided I was going to head up to chimney rock/lake lure, then through
Hendersonville, then Brevard, then though Pigsah forest via 74, then
down though Natahla Park in Georgia via 28, then into Sumter Park
in South Carolina, then back up north to somewhere.

Headed though Gastonia down 74? into Shelby. Made pretty good time that
way, aside from all the traffic in Shelby, of all places. As soon as I
turned off 74 to head towards Chimney Rock it started raining. Eventually
pulled into an abandoned gas station under the canopy, and started
talking to some other folks that had done the same (this seems to
be the biker equivalent of water coolers).

One of the guys mentioned that the pipes were blue (again, a recurring
theme, the guy in Asheboro mentioned this as well.) One of the
folks recommended something called Blue-Away to get rid of it.
Another mentioned ordering stuff from Chapparael-racing.com with
great success.

After waiting it out a while, and putting on the rest of any rain
gear we had, we headed off towards Lake Lure when it looked like
it had stopped. Only made it a few miles before it was raining
pretty heavy again.

At one point, the road side drainage had gotten clogged and now
water, mud, and debris were flooding out onto the road for
a few hundred feet. Flashbacks to riding dirt bikes across
and though, and occasionally up streams and creeks.

The group pulled over at another abandoned store and pulled the
bikes up under the awnings there, and waited it out a bit
more.

he Lake Lure area was interesting, not having been around there
in ~25 years. But an awful lot of cars and pedestrians right on
top of the road, esp when riding in a downpour. It did however,
eventually stop raining about this time though.

I met up with one of the folks I ran into at the gas station here,
and pulled over to chat and take off some of the rain gear. He was headed
towards Hendersonvile, and I was headed though Hendersonvile, so I
decided to follow him.

Chimney rock area was a lot like Lake Lure, as far as roads and traffic
goes. But they pretty blend together, so thats no surprise. Momentarily
thought about going in to Chimney Rock park, but decided against it.
Maybe if I hadn’t lost so much time waiting out the rain.

Road to Hendersonville is nice, if crowded.

64 through Brevard seemed like a nice ride. I didn’t see any white
squirrels or music school students though. So all my expectations
of Brevard were crushed.

I stayed on 64 from Brevard through Pigsah Forrest. At some point I
stopped and put the rain gear back on, because it had started raining
again of course. But even with the rain, and surprisingly heavy traffic,
the ride though Pigsah Forrest was great. Lot of twisties and pretty
decent road conditions. This included Lake Toxaway, Highlands, and
Cashiers. Really need to go back up some time when it’s not raining.
It might be an interesting road trip to take 64 all the way across
North Carolina at some point.

At some point, I decided I should run down though Georgia and South
Carolina, since there were right there so close at this point. So
I Highlands, I took 28 south towards Georgia.

That was an excellent decision. About that time, the rain
cleared up pretty nicely. Since not many of the “places to
ride” lists mentioned 28, I didn’t expect much. But it
was excellent. 55mph speed limit, lots of twisties, smooth
(and dry) roads. Especially once you got into Georgia. The
road starts in Nantahala National Forest, then changes to
Chattahoochee National Forest around the border, then to
Sumter National Forest in South Carolina.

My stay in Georgia was short, but one of my favorite parts
of the trip. I was starting to feel a bit stressed, being
kind of in the middle of nowhere, with no idea where I
was going to stay, and still a bit wet from the rain. Then
I pulled over at a random overlook. At first, I couldn’t see
the point of it. Just another random mountain overlook. But
then I noticed a huge waterfall tucked behind some trees
about a 1/4 mile away. I just kind of stood and watched the
waterfall for about ten minutes. I think one car passed the
time I was stopped. Then as I was about to leave, I noticed
a huge stone faced mountain that I had apparently been driving
around the last 20 minutes or so.

After I got back on the road, feeling a lot more relaxed, I
ran into something I didn’t expect. I came around a corner, and
about 50 feet in front of me was a young black bear. I’m no
bear expert, but I’d estimate it was probably a year or so
old. Maybe 3 feet tall at the shoulders. It just kind of
meandered across the road and disappeared into the woods.

Back to more riding, till I spotted a road side restaurant that
looked open. I hadn’t really eaten correctly all day, so I stopped
in. Had some good country ham, corn nuggets, hush puppies, and
a bowl of banana pudding complete with nanna wafers to top it
off.

More riding, into South Carolina. The roads started getting
a bit rougher around here (mostly storm debris), so slowed
it down a bit.

After getting mostly out of the mountains, I decided it would be
a good idea to head back north for the night, as waking up in
Greenville or Spartanburg didn’t have much appeal to me. I think
I took 28 to 183 to 11 to 25. Most of this part of the ride was
pretty boring, but the speed limits were higher so I was covering
some miles. Eventually hit 25, and decided to head north to
Hendersonville for the night, figuring getting a room would be
easier than in Asheville. Blasting up 25 to 26 in the dark at
~70 mph kept me alert.

Checked into the hotel. I’m not entirely sure, but I think the
desk guy was hitting on me. “Wow, you smell like leather. That
smells great.” Or he was just weird. Hard to tell.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

Sat, July 2 2005 trip report

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trip counter: 652
todays mileage: 178

Woke up in Hendersonville. Late start, out the hotel just
before 11am. Someone decided to use half of my parking
space to park there car in. Nice.

Breakfast at the gas station. Headed north to Asheville on
26, stop at the Farmers Market on the way. Headed into
Asheville with the intent of finding where I used to live.
I knew the street and the exit, but unfortunately, the
exit was “Haywood”. For whatever reason there are a couple
of Haywood streets in Asheville, and at least one “old Haywood”.
Didn’t help that some of the roads on my detailed Asheville
map were labeled wrong.

Roads in Asheville are horrible. No parallel roads, etc.
And I think there are about 50 “Brevard” roads.

Since I was in Asheville, I went though Tunnel Road.
Twice. Then wrong turn back onto 240, ended up on
Town Mountain Road which was cooler anyway.
Very curvy road over Asheville, which eventually
ran into the Blue Ridge Parkway. Headed north on
the BRP to Mt Mitchell. Road up to the top, saw another
Bonneville heading down. Lots of bikes out.

Went up to the top. Marked a waypoint on the GPS.
Went up into the tower and took some pics.

Someone asked if the bike was some sort of “cross”
bike. They weren’t quite able to convey to me what
they meant by “cross” other than not like a cruiser
or a dirt bike. Saw the GPS and asked if I geocache,
which I don’t, but keep meaning to try.

Down Mt Mitchell, then north up the parkway again,
was running a little low on gas so figured I’d get
off the next stop and fill up. Unfortunately, that
road was 80, and it was a long way to a gas station.
But 80 down to Marion is awesome. Highly recommended.

The road there mostly follows some river, which
I’ve forgotten the name of, but looked like it
would be excellent for white water rafting. So
road down the steep twisty road, with a white
water river on one side, and mountain on the
other side. Very cool.
I had sort of layered up to go up Mt Mitchell, but
it was actually pretty warm. So I unlayered in
Marion.

Which was a mistake, since not 10 miles north
it was thunderstorm time again. Stop and put
on my crappy rain gear, but I was already pretty
soaked. So kept riding up ?? towards Linville
caverns. Stopped there, but they were about to close,
so just hung out for a while. Then kept going up
north, figured I’d hit Boone.

Kept getting stuck behind these two guys on Harleys
who were running about 10-15 under the speed limit.
Every time I thought they had turned off, in a few
minutes, they would have taken some short cut and
gotten back in front of me.

Got to Boone, had trouble finding a room, but eventually
did. Even though it was warm out, I was riding around
soaked for about two hours and was pretty cold. So
took a hot shower and headed back out to get some
food and pick up a dry tshirt/socks from walmart.

Then back to the hotel, and watched some womens lacrosse.
Hmmm, chicks with sticks and funky goggles.

Not sure where I’m headed tomorrow. Might head north
to Tenn. Maybe west to Deals Gap. Maybe up the
BRP to Virgina.

Things learned:

my “rain” gear is not even remotely waterproof

Under Armor works great when it’s warm. When it’s
not hot and your soaked though, it keeps you
cold.

Strapping the top part of the modular tank bag
to the pillion part of the seat works well,
and throwing the reflective fest in the
map pocket works well.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

more phasmatodea pics

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Nathan has posted some pics from the Phasmatodea show on
his Flickr page.

I think my favorite is:

Just because it kind of looks like we set up in some sort of nonparallel wall bizarro room. Like the rooms you see that throw off your
depth perception and make one person look very tall.

Some of the pics make me want to setup a video camera at our next show. Just to see what if any stage presence I have. I sure “intensely staring at guitar neck and effects pedals” is exciting to watch.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

down from the mountain

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So, after getting into Statesville a bit later than I was hoping, I decided not to try riding back Saturday night. I took a couple of pics of the trip before the camera batteries died (doh…). Nothing too interesting, your standard Blue Ridge Parkway shots. About 520 miles of riding over the
weekend.

So got up this morning at 6am, and headed back to Raleigh. Since I had other things to do, I took the interstate most of the way. Ran into some fairly heavy rain for about 45 minutes, which sucked a bit, but no big deal. Got back in time to play soccer for two hours or so.

Then off to Phasmatodea practice. Took a minimal rig (guitar, volume pedal, line6 looper). Got some fairly interesting stuff out of it none the less.

Then off to check out the Carolina Rollergirls bout. Which was quite entertaining, especially once I moved down closer to the floor. I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but it was entertaining.

Kind of a busy day all and all.

[view at adrianlikins.com ]

road trip

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Since I drove the mustang back from Minnesota, I’ve been wanting to go on another road trip.

Getting the motorcycle made me start thinking about it even more.

Just not sure where, when, with who if anyone, how, etc.
At some point my urge to go on a road trip will overcome my laziness.

Anyone got any interesting suggestions?

soccer heartrate plot

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I’m not exactly what you would call “athletic”. But I’ve been trying anyway.

But I’m also a bit of a geek, so I went and bought a heart rate monitor that someone has written linux support for. In this case, a Polar s720i. I wore it when we played soccer yesterday.

Thats a graph of my heart rate over the ~2hours or so we played soccer. Pretty neat. Max was 193bpm, and
average was 134bpm.

I think playing soccer officially counts as exercise.

It’s also got stuff to hook into a bike to graph speed/cadence/altitude, but haven’t had a chance to try that yet.