Arkansas Pre-Ride

[Dennis Tackett <dennis.tacket@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Just thought I would post the results of my marathon ride last Friday. I
took off work and decided to make a run to Talamena and back. This area is
the best for twisties and it will be one of our routes for the August
shindig. I left Dallas at 8am and took the back roads up through north Texas
and into Oklahoma. This stretch is extremely flat and boring. I made it to
the Willamena lodge, which is at the top of the crest in 5 1/2 hours.
Averaged 43 MPG and cruised at around 90 MPH between podunk towns. For those
of you traveling through Oklahoma, please be aware of the one stoplight
towns with the obligatory speed trap. It pays to slow down and observe the
speed limits as it will not cost you much time and will save you the lecture
and ticket. You can pretty much wick it up between towns if you take the
back roads. The state troopers tend to keep to the interstates. I run an
Escort radar detector but it doesn't do much good with instant-on radar
unless they are hitting someone in front of you. I took it easy on the run
through the mountains on the way to Mena to enjoy the scenery. I would
suggest this also. The scenery is fantastic, and temperatures cool so it's a
nice cruise, pull over for the scenic outlooks, and enjoy. On the way back I
got aggressive but still was not able to touch the hero blobs like I could
on this same road on my '95 Sprint. Before I left I installed the taller
windscreen. I will definitely be taking it back off. It did help deflect
more wind than the stock windscreen but as I was going through the twisties
at speed the cross winds kept unsettling the bike and I could not relax in
the corners. It's not worth the little bit of additional protection it
provides plus it spoils the lines of the bike. I didn't get a chance to
install the GenMar risers before I left. I hope this will help take a little
weight off my hands. Due to an old back injury my right hand kept going numb
unless I made a point to keep my back ramrod straight and take some of the
weight off my arms. It's hell getting old. The Battleaxes performed just as
they did on my old Sprint....badly! Too much sliding of the rear end in the
corners. I'll be switching to the 207's before the next trip. It was a great
trip though, all in all. I made the round trip with 2 hours on the crest in
14 hours. It doesn't compare to the previous postings on riding through the
Alps or the blood and gore at the Ring but, hey, you make due with what you
have.

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