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More Rallye stuff (terribly long)



Now that I'm rested up from the Rallye, here are a few more comments from my
perspective.  I'm sure other Rallye goers will have differing, yet excellent,
descriptions forthcoming.

I left work in Merriam, Kansas on Thursday at 11 am to head down to Eureka
Springs, Arkansas which is a touristy town nestled in the middle of the Ozark
Mountain range the lies in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.  There was a
20% chance of rain that day and it was sprinkling when I left.  Wisely, I
checked real-time doppler radar on the Internet for my entire route.  It showed
some sprinkles for the first 45 miles/72 km and one small thunderstorm about 50
miles/80 km out.  No big deal... or so I thought.

What I didn't know was that one thunderstorm developed into a huge line of
thunderstorms that covered eastern Kansas and Oklahoma and western Missouri and
Arkansas.  Since I assumed I wasn't going to get went I didn't put on my rain
suit.  Mistake.  I rode for 3 hours in torrential rain with lots of lightning.
There are no overpasses to hide under on the great plains so all I could do is
ride.  I was so miserable and beginning to shiver that I extended my 240
mile/386 km trip by about 30 miles/48 km by heading west out of the rain to
Joplin, Missouri.  I enjoyed a 45 minute break in the weather, but didn't come
close to drying out.  I gassed up and put on my rainsuit which really helped
keep me warm for the rest of the trip.

The final leg of the ride to Eureka was on mountain roads with the last 40
miles/64 km being technically challenging twisties... just what a cold, tired
flat lander who was not completely used to his new bike needed... wet mountain
roads with gravel, leaves and sand, and a fogged up faceshield.  Plus, the rain
got worse and it got very dark (it was mid-afternoon).

I took my time and arrived safely at the Tall Pines Motor Lodge which consists
of a series of single log cabins which was nice since we could park our bikes
right next to our cabin.  Upon entry to the office, the owner kept apologizing
for the weather and then invited me to enjoy the lodge's pool.  I'm freakin'
dripping wet and they want to make sure I go for a swim!!  To be fair, the
owners were very, very nice to us.

I left the office and saw a couple of STs and some folks (De, Paul, Mark, Mike)
sitting on the porches to their cabins.  I just needed to get dry so I postponed
making my introduction.  Later they would tell me that they recognized how
miserable I looked and understood that I simply wanted to get dry and
comfortable.

Luckily, the plastic trash bags in my Chase Harper ET-4000 saddle bags kept my
clothes dry despite the 1 inch/25 mm of water that was in bottom of each bag!  I
was able to get dry but my leather jacket and jeans and leather gloves would
take another day to dry out while riding in the sun the next day.  The bags
worked well on the ST and I prefer the clean look and high pipe position to the
brackets and low pipe look.  The bike looks great with the bags on, but I think
the brackets are ugly.  I wish Triumph (and BMW) would look at how Honda
designed the hidden bracket system on the ST1100.

After the rain let up, I went over to meet the other folks who had arrived.  All
were very, very nice.  De and Paul did a cross country trip on their red ST
which started from their home in Bucks Co, Pennsylvania.  Mark came up from
southern Florida on his black ST with his friend Mike who was riding a black
Honda ST1100.  They brought me over to meet Eric, webmaster of the unofficial
Triumph Sprint ST website, also from Florida.  He has the coolest custom paint
job on his bike (Union Jack) which can be seen at
http://www.triumphnet.com/st/steric.htm.  The photos don't do it justice, you
have to see it in person to fully appreciate it.  I also met Steve, our youngest
rider at 26, who hails from St. Louis, MO.  Steve has a red ST and grew up
around motorcycles since his parents owned a dealership that carried European
marques including Triumph, Norton, Moto Guzzi, etc.  Needless to say, Steve is
an accomplished rider and very knowledgeable.

While visiting, Eric got a call from the Houston, TX group that one of the
members (Rick) went down Mena, Arkansas which is about a 2 hour ride south of
Eureka.  As I understand, he was injured pretty badly but his passenger was
not.  The other Houstonians, Lisa and Richard, spent the night in Mena and met
up with us the next day.  Lisa had two ordeals of her own on the way up
including a dead battery and rear tire puncture.

The rain had lifted by dinner time and we rode to a fine restaurant that was
literally a stone's throw from the lodge.  As we finished our meals the riders
from Dallas, TX  (Jack, David, Dennis, Don) rode in.  Jack has a proper red ST
while David and Dennis opted for the stealthy black STs.  Don sported about on
his Platinum Silver '98 Sprint Executive which is a very nice bike!  Don't let
Jack's "Rude Dog" moniker fool you.  He's a super nice guy and is a fine
ambassador for Sprint ST riders.

Friday's ride started with a hearty Southern breakfast at the Smokehouse which
was just up the road a couple of miles.  My jacket and gloves were still wet and
clammy but the weather was nice and it begin to dry out quickly.  Though I
wasn't paying much attention to distances, I believe we covered about 225
miles/362 km that day (Rallye goers please correct me if I'm wrong).  The ride
consisted of some technical twisty sections in the beginning (I felt very
uncomfortable starting out on the technical stuff) and middle of the ride.  The
road on the twisty middle section was horrible as it consisted of chipped gravel
and tar construction that left a lot of loose gravel for the riders to contend
with.  The majority of the ride was on sweepers that were so much fun to ride.
The ST handled all these rodes with great precision and ease.

The 14 or so riders quickly separated into groups (fast, faster and fastest).  I
was in the fast group.  The fastest riders were most considerate and would wait
up for the rest of us at the intersection of each major road change on the
route.  This worked out very well.  By the end of the day I was getting my
"mountain legs" and riding faster and smoother.  The ST's torque made it easy to
concentrate on the road rather than where I was in the powerband.  I pretty much
kept the engine spinning between 3500 and 4500 rpm most of the time.  I went
into the corners conservatively and let the engine's smooth power delivery
accelerate me out of the turns.

Unfortunately, Mike, our Honda rider, made a wrong turn and got separated from
the rest of us.  He knew where we were headed and struck out to meet us there.
On the way something went wrong and he went down.  He spent the night in the
Eureka hospital for observations as he was badly bruised.  Note to Mark - please
let us know how Mike is recovering.  His wife and son drove up from FL to
trailer the bike and Mike back home today.  We still can't figure out what he
did to make him go down.  At least Friday night was relaxing with a pizza-pool
party at the lodge.

Saturday's ride also started out with a hearty Smokehouse breakfast and we took
much of the same route as the day before mainly because the original route to
Branson was likely to be packed with tourist traffic.  However, we avoided some
of the less than stellar roads and added a few more routes to the south which
took us out of the Ozarks into the flat (and very hot) section of the state.  I
think we rode about 280 miles/450 km that day. Overall, I prefer the roads in
the Ozarks to the more technical roads in the Rockies, as the sweepers fit my
riding style better than mountain switchbacks.  However, the scenery in the
Rockies can't be beat.

On Saturday, there was a very long, straight, slightly downhill section of road
that afforded excellent visibility.  With no riders in front of me and the bike
in 3rd gear, I whacked open the throttle and brought the bike up to 9000 rpm
(redline is around 9600).  That 955cc engine is stupidly powerful.  I was up to
an indicated 110 mph (about 100 mph actual) which is about as fast as I could go
flat out on my Yamaha 650 Seca or BMW R100RS... and the Triumph was only in 3rd
gear!

Animals were abundant on Saturday.   Lots of road kill which riders in front of
me were kind enough to point out.  Lots of dogs... mostly big ol' hound dogs...
wandering by the roadside.  Thankfully they were smart enough to stay off the
road.  Then there was the big Brahma bull that crossed the road in front of us
and trotted alongside us as we went by.  Oncoming traffic flashed their
headlights at us as a warning that there was "something" up the road.

Saturday night we walked over to a local Bavarian-Czech restaurant for dinner.
We all had our Triumph ST Rallye T-shirts on.  Coincidentally, there was a
Volkswagon rally in Eureka going on at the same time.  Naturally, many of those
people ended up having dinner in the German restaurant and we got some very
interesting responses when we took a photo of the Triumph group with members
holding up a Union Jack.  We ended up by the poolside for another hour or so of
chatting after dinner.  Robert and I discovered we had the same passion for a
rock/blues band from San Diego called The Paladins.  They are relatively unknown
here, but are very popular in Europe.  After packing and re-packing my tank bag
and saddlebags, I hit the hay at about 12:30 am.  It's funny how I can never
seem to pack my bags the same way twice.

I woke up a little after 5 am, laid around a bit, then just decided "what the
heck, I'll skip breakfast" and left for home at 6:15 am.  I was able to shave a
few miles off my return trip for a total of 240 (386 km) which translated to an
arrival time of 10:30.  I was warmly greeted by my wife and two sons and they
understood my desire to take a much needed nap.

The bike performed way, way beyond my abilities.  No major mechanical problems
to report for me or the other riders.  A couple of riders had some burned out
taillights, a couple needed fresh rear tires (those AK rodes are fairly abrasive
and make short work of sport tires) and Dennis had a leaking (defective) clutch
cover gasket that was replaced by the local Triumph dealer in Fayetteville. The
riding position left me with a very sore right wrist and shoulder.  I may have
to spring for a pair of Gen-Mar risers, but the stock position works really well
on curvey roads.  I'll probably finish out this riding season without the risers
just to see if I can acclimate.  I lubed the chain once with this stuff called
"Chain Wax" (thanks Jack!) which is applied while the chain is warm immediately
after a ride.  It doesn't fling off and the "clean factor" is much appreciated
since I was spoiled by the low maintenance and cleanliness of two shaft drive
bikes.

The bad thing is coming back to the boring, flat, straight Kansas roads and
highways after such a great time on the winding roads of the Ozarks.  The ST
deserves, nay demands, to be ridden on curvy roads.  I guess I'll be going down
there more often from now on.  :-)

I'll try to get my photos developed, scanned and uploaded this week

That's about it.

GG


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