| OK, it's Thursday, and we are still in Georgia. We
want to be back in the NE in 3 days, avoiding highways. Tom and I
planned out a pretty aggressive day, shooting for Riders
Roost. We ate breakfast, mapped out our route, and looked at the storms
on the Weather Channel. The morning started out overcast, and the
storms looked like they were moving southeast, so hopefully, we would ride
right through them, and they would be short-lived.
As it turned out, the weather was the least of our worries. We hooked up with a guy named Steve on a BMW who was heading our way. But it was obvious within the first set of twisties, he just was not up to the task of keeping up with Tom and me. Oh well. From Suches our route was:
At the start of Wayah road, Tom stopped to take a quick break. That may have been a mistake. |
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I took the lead on Wayah road. After only a few turns, Tom was no where to be seen. I stopped and turned around, only to have him pass me going the other way! I turned around again, and found him by the side of the road. |
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The reason he stopped was because the bike was feeling funny. He checked his pressures. Sure enough, low. Inspecting the tire, we found out why. |
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It keeps coming.... |
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And coming! |
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Tom had a tire repair kit, but having used it on RP98, it had seen better days. The glue was all dried up, the replacement CO2 cartridges he had ordered were the wrong type, etc. Nonetheless, we tried in vain to get the plug in. |
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It was obvious that this was not going to work, so I left on a mission to find a tire repair kit. Backtracking, I noticed a small, hole in the wall, Harley shop by the side of the road. On the off chance, I pulled in. The guy was super nice and gave me the shops plug kit, not asking for a deposit or anything! Just my word that I'd bring them back was enough! |
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Back by the side of the road, we installed the new plug. |
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And pumped up the tire! |
| One we were back on the road, we returned to the shop to
return the tools, and thank the guy. We hung out there for a bit, checking
out some of the bikes he was working on, and shooting the shit about different
bike brands, bike week, etc.
We got back on the road and ran Wayah Road. I let Tom lead, so he could set the pace. We stopped in Franklin for lunch, where Tom decided he wanted to replace the tire, as he was not happy riding on the plug. We called around and found a shop that did not have a new tire, but could plug it with a mushroom plug. While trying to find the shop we had called, we passed another, small shop. Tom decided to give them a try. The were willing to take his tire in on "trade" on a new MEZ1. While we were waiting, I called the shop we had originally been looking for, turns out, they were just down the road. I tried to convince Tom to just get the plug, or continue on the plug we had installed, which was holding just fine, but Tom decided to go ahead and get the new tire. After some waiting around, they (only 2 guys, the owner and some dweeb he had working for him) got to Toms bike. Somehow, they managed to drop Toms bike. |
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They broke the end of the brake lever and scratched the fairings. |
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And his pipe. After all this, they still charged Tom $200 for the new tire. :-/ |
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At this point it was late, so we decided to just shoot for BRCC. We left Franklin, and found Bike Route #2, which absolutely rocks! From there, we took 23 into Wayneville, where we stopped to get some beer, then continued along 276 back to BRCC. Someone had taken "our" normal spot, so we set up a bit further down. |
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The sun goes down over BRCC. |
| With the day shot, we made it an early night. Our
new plan was to shoot for Seneca Rocks, a long day to say the least.
Day total: 224 miles
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| Total mileage: | 2690 miles |