2004 Trip to Pinehurst, North
Carolina
I wasn't able to get away for a solo ride
in
`03, so I really looked forward to this nine day run. I had been
wanting to visit my sister and her husband in Pinehurst so that became
the destination. The timing question was answered by my daughter and
son-in-law. Wendy and Mike were taking my grand daughter Kaylee to Pigeon Forge,
Tennessee for La La FaLooza,
the
annual reunion of children adopted from the Fuzhou/Linchuan SWI
(Jiangxi Province), June 25~27. From there, they were headed to
Wilmington, NC to visit Mike's dad. This looked like fortuitous timing
for my sister, Caroline and her husband, Bob, to finally get to meet
their great niece!
Several months ago, I added another bike to the
stable when my friend Lloyd got motolust for a new Ducati Multistrada.
He made me a generous offer on his `02 BMW R1150RSA. I had begun to
think about the eventual replacement for my ten-year-old `94 R1100RSA
and snapped up the newer version. Other than day trips and a brief trip
to the Texas Hill Country with my wife Anna, I hadn't done much
travelin' on the new RS so this looked like a great way to get
acquainted. I treated the RS to new oil and filter, changed the tranny
and final drive fluids, balanced the throttle bodies, checked
everything else and was ready to head out.
The plan was to slab it from our home in Willow
Park, a bit west of Fort Worth, to Jackson, TN on Wednesday. That left
Thursday and Friday for playing on the Dragon,
Deals Gap and riding
portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway. All went according to plan, with
the first 630 miles to Jackson covered in about nine hours. Thursday
morning, I stayed on I-30 almost to Knoxville before dropping south on
US 129 to Maryville and over 200 miles of some of the most beautiful
and twisty roads imaginable.
The Dragon was challenging, as much for its traffic
as the twists and turns themselves. For the first several miles, I was
trapped behind a couple of Harleys. No, it's even worse than that, they
were on a trailer, going even slower! Finally, after several miles of
first and second gear slogging, the trailer dragger pulled over and
motioned us by. Us? Yup, by then, there was a small herd of
sporty bikes backed up behind the trailer. As I was on a "Gentleman's
Sport Bike" I waved the more serious looking racer reps around and
settled in for the fun. The majority of those I waved by were excellent
students of throttle and brake application. I'm hopeful that they will
expand their skill set with more time in the saddle.
Soon enough I cleared the acceleration addicts and
enjoyed bending the RS through the remainder of the Dragon. I only
touched down the center stand tang in a couple of places and the right
cylinder guard once. The days of entering an unknown corner hot and
running out of skill seem to have mercifully passed.
The BRP is an enchanting place with at least two
distinct personalities. If you're into your Ricky Racer persona, it's
not particularly challenging, but pretty continuously curvy. If you're
into tourist mode, the scenery is breathtaking. Regardless of how you
ride it, it's well worth your time.
Unfortunately, the weather closed in as I headed
east towards Asheville obscuring some of the views and making the road
less than ideal for shenanigans. But it still made for an enjoyable
ride. While gassing up in the Asheville area, I learned why there were
an inordinate number of BMWs on the road. Seems there was a BMW
sponsored "Ride The Ridge" gatherin' goin' on, with the headquarters at
the fascinating Biltmore Estate. I'd already run into any number of
Honda's in the area for the "Honda Hoot" in Knoxville, TN. Seems I
won't lack for fellow riders on this trip.
Friday morning, I climbed back onto the BRP and
headed up into Virginia. The weather continued to deteriorate as I
headed north towards Fancy Gap, my eventual jumping off spot for a trip
to South Boston, VA and Virginia International Raceway. Heading east
from Fancy Gap, I dropped down to VIR to watch a couple of hours of
roadracing and hunt down an internet friend, Bruce Wilkins of the Daily Breeze. VIR is one of the
most beautiful layouts in the US, with great spectator sight lines and
a variety of track configurations.
Left VIR and rode up to South Boston to visit Darrin
Talbott, Parts
Manager at Ed's Inc. Had a good visit with Darrin and picked up a new
pair of gloves to augment my collection.
