Re: [ST] Ride report: Day 1, part 1

[Jim Crate <jimcfl@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Apr 25, 2007, at 4:50 PM, Jack Hays wrote:

>       Bird Dawg and I were riding along at a nice pace when I  
> noticed a
>    large truck close behind David. I increased the speed about five  
> or six
>    clicks and we pulled slightly away from the truck. The truck  
> however was
>    cooking and really hustling through the curves.
>       Somewhere behind the truck is Hank and Ted. I hope! We’ll see  
> how
>    they handle the riding style we use and if they do Bird Dawg and  
> I will
>    be sitting at Lake Sardis waiting for them.
>       Bird Dawg and I were stopped and just getting off the bikes  
> when the
>    truck came by and turned on the dam. He was smiling and laughing  
> and
>    seemed to enjoy seeing us and having someone to chase across 43.

While I was coming down through some country road in western Virginia  
last summer, at one point I started catching up to a dump truck.   
Well, I thought I was, anyway.  I was riding along pretty briskly,  
and normally caught up to these things within a few turns of catching  
sight of them.  After about a mile, I noticed I was only a little  
closer, so I picked up the pace a bit just to catch him and see how  
the driver was hustling a beast that big around these tight country  
roads.  This section of road had no extremely tight corners, but just  
nice smooth sweeping curves.  After a few moments I caught up to the  
truck, and then was highly amused while following an empty triple- 
axle coal truck for a few miles down a small country road, keeping  
the speed up to 50-60 mph!  I didn't pass him because, not knowing  
the road, I didn't want to be in front of him.  At one point, a dip  
in a 55 mph sweeper put the truck into a slight drift, but the driver  
was very smooth and precise, never crossing the center line or  
putting a wheel wrong but really hustling that truck along.  It was  
quite a treat, hearing the 8 rear tires howling their protest, and  
the turbo-diesel running full throttle powering out of the turns.   
I'm not often impressed with others' driving "skills", but I did find  
this quite impressive.  As a track driving instructor, I'd guess the  
driver probably races a dirt-tracker.

Unfortunately, this fun only lasted a few miles before the truck  
caught up to an extremely slow minivan.  At that point, I decided to  
utilize the impressive passing power of the Sprint and go on my way,  
feeling really sorry for the driver of the truck because there was  
nowhere he was going to get past that minivan for miles.

One other thing I found amusing about riding in the mountains is the  
ease of passing people.  I loved listening to the motor laboring as  
the car ahead of me would be pulling out of a tight first-gear  
hairpin up a steep hill, and then just blasting by them with a romp  
through first gear like they were going backward.

Jim

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