I find myself walking up a mountain...

[NONE_too_SOFT]

Went on the first big ride yesterday. hit the super slab until i found hill country, and then got off for some good cruising. was out for a good eight hours.

Started down south to meet up with some riders, and while down there i decided it'd be a good idea to visit the turn i crashed at. The rode was a great one, lots of ups and downs, a couple of switchbacks, and a couple good sweepers. Call me crazy, though, but i just didnt trust the road that much. My confidence has returned, but im still a bit overly cautious on unfamiliar roads, which isnt a bad thing. Needless to say i kept it under 70 on these back roads.

I came to the


fuck... trauma call. gotta get back to work. will finish later tonight.

[NONE_too_SOFT]

So, nobody died. good news.


I came to the turn where i met the pavement first hand, and i have to say even the second time around this thing looked like a whore of a twisty just waiting to eat the edge of my rubber. heres what we're talking about.


and the turn in. her name is gurnsey valley road.



... shes a tempting little whore, but you see the gravel thats washed out to the side in that panoramic shot? most of that was in the middle of the road and was practically impossible to see until it was too late at the time. So my back tire hit it, and my bike slid, and it hit the guard rail. I left my mark on that turn, in the form of a dent in the bottom of the rail from pulling my front calipers from its clutch, and the paint scraped on the side of its face.



After some nostalgic time spent at this location, I decided it was time to move on. I was sweating my balls off in my leathers in the sun. So we headed to a small village a while away farther west called Roscoe village.


It was a renovated canal town, and had some of the neatest places to shop and eat. Lots of nice people, and for some reason lots of hot chicks. i picked up some ice cream and flirted with the ice cream girl for a while (which suffice to say is the only reason i would ever buy sugar free ice cream) and then We went down to the old locks on the canal. They were impressive.

North east Ohio is all about locks and canals, especially in my area. they were a big deal once upon a time and pretty much made this part of the state what it is today. if you've never seen one before, here we have a good example.


After spending some time hanging out in this park It was time to split ways. the ride home was about two hours. It was not fun, because i had no map, and every time i thought i knew where i was it turned out i was way off. Over all, it was a great day of riding, my ass is sore from that cardboard seat on the Honda though.

A pic before i left.

[NONE_too_SOFT]

Packing is like having sex. its great fun, but over all, can be a frustrating experience. You've done it plenty of times before, but for some reason after everything is initiated and gets rolling you go blank for a little while.

I think i spent about ten minutes just looking at everything. Examining the undertail for anchor points. okay, great, there are none. Hmmmm, five more minutes. Okay, guess i could anchor everything to the passenger pegs and... Oh, look, i never saw those things before. maybe i can tie stuff to that.

Nope.



Shit.


Thats pretty much the story, until i figured out my game plan. Then i started getting that shit packed like a well oiled machine. It was like slow motion the way i was ratcheting, bungy-ing, tie-down-ing. Thrusting. no, wait.

Got that sucker tied down pretty good, was talking to CEO for a min while going through a double check and he mentioned Drewpy's epic luggage malfunction on the dragon. I have to admit that image popped into my head on more than one occasion while fixxing this up.

Tomorrow, 4:00 pm, the trip begins.


oh hay, on another good note, just got a text from a girl i work with.
Her boyfriend, a track coach sponsered by sportbike.com, wants me to come check out a day or two at mid ohio the weekend i get back. Bonus.