[ST] VIR Trip - Part 2

[Kevin.Dicks@xxxxxxx]

Day 4 - Sunday
 
As we were staying at our friends in Raleigh we were treated to some
decent coffee and a nice breakfast as we woke early on Sunday - no sticky
bed syndrome here (ya fookin pervs - especially you Jarvis).  So we hung
around a little bit longer that we had anticipated and as we packed the
bikes up we were sweating our nads off so we knew it was going to be a hot
day.  We eventually left at about 9:15 and hit the roads - and it was
indeed a scorcher.  It was only about 65 miles to VIR but it was mainly
back roads so we didn't get there till about 10:30.  I was hoping that as
we were arriving a little later the price would be a little lower - no
such luck and so we handed over $50  - its only $80 for a grandstand seat
at the F1 race at Indy for fooks sake !!  
 
We eventually got into VIR and pulled over to figure out how to get hold
of Noddy and Nan.  I called Nan's phone and left her a VM (she never DID
reply :-).  We waited a while and eventually a steward came over and asked
us what we were doing - after we explained we were looking for friends who
were camping, he pointed out the camping spots in VIR - including the
family enclosure - no chance they'll be there I said laughing :)  We
eventually decided to have a ride round the camping spots to see if we
could find them (did I mention Nan never did call back :-) - this was a
little tricky as it was all grass and sloped but we managed OK - despite
Jim thinking he was on a bloody moto-X bike at several times as he spun up
the rear tire like a twat.  We eventually pulled to spot by the side of
this manky trailer with a union flag on the front bumper - the guy came
out and asked us if we were with the local RAT pack - I told him we were
looking for friends of ours he said why didn't we park up so we could at
least leave the bikes and wander round.  We did just that - turns out the
guy was Mike from Back Roads Triumph  <http://www.backroadstriumph.com/>
http://www.backroadstriumph.com/.  He offered us drinks and shit (we had
enough anyway) and was generally a very nice guy - I had thought of
telling Jim this was a Triumph-only thing and to sod off but as I was
using his cash and credit card for the trip due to my fuckwit/retarded
actions on Day 1,  I figured this probably wasn't very nice.
 
So we parked the bikes and peeled off the leathers - not a pretty site in
my case  - Jim's a midget so it didn't look quite as bad when he peeled
his leathers off.  In doing so my fookin helmet fell of the mirror it was
perched on - it only fell onto grass but it broke the fitting for my visor
so that was fooked - I had to wear shades (the broken visor was my dark
visor) with my other visor the rest of the way - which I hate.  A guy was
loading an MV into a pickup who was with Mike and he saw what happened and
kindly offered me a helmet if I needed one - very nice of him.
 
So suitably attired, we set off to get some food.   We got some food and
had a walk-round the paddock (and camping areas looking for Noddy and Nan)
- I wanted to get Neil Hodgson's autograph but never did see him but we
did get to see his bike being worked on by the guy with the weird hair cut
(you may have seen him on the TV).  Went to buy a t-shirt and all the XFF
had been bought by the XFFs already so there was none left.  Got tons of
poster - Pete, I got a load of Kawa ones for you if you want 'em.  We
eventually made our way back to the bikes and watched a race (Supersport
maybe - 2 Kawas our front).  After that we went for a complete walk round
the circuit waiting for the Superbike race to begin.  We eventually ended
up at the bottom of the corkscrew - the bit like Laguna,  by a tent.  As
we waited for the race there was a lot of people taking pictures of
someone/something in the tent - so I wanders over and there is Michael
Jordan in the tent drinking a Corona totally ignoring pretty much
everybody outside of the tent.  Took a few photos and then the race began.
 
As it was on we wandered around the track and who do we bump into but
Noddy and Nan !!  They had a great spot at the top of the corkscrew and we
shot the shit and watched the race.  Great race.  After the race we
wandered back to the camping spot Noddy and Nan were at and we had a
much-needed water and we continues to shoot the shit.  Eventually Noddy
took us over to our bikes in his truck so he could bring back the leathers
and helmets etc. in his truck.  As Jim and I rode back (very slowly -
ground was a little un-even) we passed a sign where Noddy and Nan were
camping saying,  "Family Enclosure" - Jim and I exchanged a smile.
 
While we waited Noddy convinced us to change our route basically back up
to Waynesboro and then up 81 and then 84 - this meant we avoided NY city
which was absolutely fine with us.  Jim was not too sure as he had to be
back on Tuesday and if we went back to Waynesboro it would mean a bloody
long ride back home on Monday.  I reminded him we could do Skyline Drive
again - that sealed the deal.  Some guy then came round and pissed on the
party by telling Noddy they had to be out by 7 - they were planning on
staying the night.  Long story short - they had to leave as Nan has
already mentioned.  
 
So as they were packing up and we were in the way we decided to suit up
and hit the road.  Again, sweating like fookin' pigs we got ready and said
our goodbyes and hit the road.  The roads were pretty clear at this stage
and we made good time to Waynesboro - although the GPS did take us on some
back roads and as by then it was dark, I was crapping myself (yet again)
in case we met Bambi or his mates.  We eventually made it to Waynesboro
and checked back into the same motel we were in on Friday night -
receptionist was not looking quite so lovely now, being as I was stone
cold sober.  We eat and got some beer (now technically it was a Sunday but
as I was on vacation,  I have a rule that every night is beer night while
on vacation) and retired to the room.
 
We had a few beers and hit the sack (steady now Jarvis) not really looking
forward to the ride tomorrow - well the first bit was going to be good but
the rest was going to suck.
 
Day 4 - 250 miles
Day 5 - Monday
 
For the first time on the trip we actually did get up early as we had a
long long day ahead of us.   We decided to forgo the piss poor "designer"
coffee from the booth next to the hotel and decided to go with the hotel
brand - didn't notice any difference to be honest.  During the night some
bikers had turned up at the motel.  Next door to us were a couple Canucks
on Hardleys - nice blokes (despite being Canucks and riding Hardlyeys).
They had also been to the race - they go to VIR and Ohio every year.  In
addition to these 2 old geezers, about 7/8 bikes were there - you could
tell they were posh as they all had covers on :)  I am pretty sure they
were all Goldwings - some were towing the obligatory trailers.  The
weather was not looking too great - not as bad as last time but not much
better so we were getting apprehensive (we had come about 200 miles in
total out of our way to do SD again...).  
 
We packed up and headed out up the mountain to SD.  As we moved further up
the mountain the mist/fog started to come down.  It was nowhere near as
bad as last time so we kept going.  We eventually came to the road leading
onto the SD and it was a still a bit misty - we were just concerned we
would get to the top and find it covered in fog.  We had to decide whether
to go up SD or I-81.  We decided to at least go to the ranger hut at the
entrance and ask them.  The nice ranger told us pretty much nothing - he
had no idea about the weather.  He did ask us if we had been to the
middle-east - ???  WTF...you're English he asked ?  Yes I said and so's
Jim - oh he says, a lot of English people go to the middle-east - well
sunshine, not these 2.  We bade him farewell, after we showed him the
tickets we bought on Friday (and which I was going to throw away as I
didn't think we would need them - they are good for 1 week) and we set
off.  He told us to watch our speed - he was smiling as he said it, no
idea why :)
 
The weather never really got that bad - couple stretches where the fog was
quite bad but not enough to stop us.  Once again there were very few cars
and once again we tried to keep it to the speed limit - well OK that bit
was a lie.  We *did* however try to keep it to 55 and we sort of did -
well OK we didn't but we did try your honor.  The road was once again
quite fantastic and getting by the few cars on there was very easy.  Super
super road.  We did run into a ranger in his "cop" car coming the other
way (with no radar according to Jim) and as he passed me (I assume it was
a "He") - I was leading as I always do in the twisties - put his lights
on.  I thought we were screwed as we were not going too fast but we were
doing more than 35.  Well turns out he was just warning us and he turned
his lights off and kept on going.  We also ran into a ranger at the side
of the road as we blasted round a corner.  He was walking at the side of
the road and he was talking into his radio so we assumed he was radioing
us into his mate.  About 200 yards down the road we see a "ranger" car at
the side of the road and we thought we were busted. Turns out the car
belonged to the guy on the radio and there was no-one else in it.  So we
breathed a sigh of relief and kept going.  That got me thinking that maybe
they clocked us coming in and were going to get us when we tried to leave
- I made a point of stopping at a ranger station to have a gypsies to
waste a bit of time.  
 
We left the park with no hassle and motored into Front Royal.  Once again
SD was fantastic - very very good.  We now had the shit part to go.  We
got onto 81 and headed north.  The trip home from there was pretty boring
- we eventually got onto I-84, crossed the Hudson (I think it was) over a
bridge (don't like bridges which makes my decision to intentionally go
over the Mackinaw straits bridge in MI last year (not nice at all) even
more  baffling to me :)   and so on.  We stopped somewhere in PA for a bit
of break and a bit of kip - Jim told me his GPS was telling him we had 400
miles to go and given the time I didn't think we were going to make it,
but as he played with it it turns out it was lying.  Well not so much
lying on the mileage but it has chosen a funny route and not the one we
wanted,  so when he entered in the correct route it came back 250 or so.
We could do it if we kept on.  The only rain we had the entire journey was
somewhere in PA - we could see the rain cloud in the distance and I
thought we were going to get by it but then it started to piss down.  We
finally pulled off under a bridge with about 5/6 Hardleys.  They eyed us
both up till they saw the Triumph logo on mine but they continued to eye
Jim's CBR with some distain. I did think at some point they might try to
push Jim under the huge fookin trucks passing about 6" from the bikes.  We
exchanged those knowing glances that only bikers stuck in the fookin rain
can.  Another guy joined us - on a Hardley - and as he attempted to get
his rain suit on, another of the Hardley riders attempted to help him -
the offer of help was rebuffed.  Knob.  He eventually got his suit on and
got on his bike and wobbled off - slipping the clutch for about 1/2 mile
as he left - he clearly had problems with riding as well as putting rain
suits on.  We eventually put rain covers on our luggage, suited up and
fooked off.  Rain stopped about 10 miles down the road and we agreed to
push on to the next gas stop before we took our suits off - after about
another 5 miles we figured this was not wise as were melting so we stopped
to take our suits off.
 
Long story short, we got on Mass Pike and people were doing like 90/95 so
we kept up with traffic and cracked on.  Jim peeled off at 495 - he lives
in Westford, and I carried on to Framingham.  I got home about 9:30 or so,
13 1/2 hours after setting off from Waynesboro.
 
Day 5 - 650 Miles.
 
Total mileage 2000 or so in 5 days (my math may not be entirely correct
there).
 
Good:
Bike - once again the ST never missed a beat and it was simply a joy to
ride.  Fast, comfortable, nimble (even with my fat ass on it) and the
sound from the can (especially on SD) was simple fantastic.
Dell MP3 player (and remote) - kept me sane.  I have a 20GB and I have
ripped all my music onto it (7/800 albums in total) so I have a good
collection (Jim on the other hand has a crappy MP3 player so he listened
to the same 4 or 5 albums over and over again) - thank God someone
invented shuffle.
Autocom - did a good job of getting the right sound to me as and when
needed (MP3, radio, radar)
Camelback - could not have lived without this especially on the Sat/Sun
Valentine 1 - saved me a couple times.
Triumph soft bags - well apart from the time one of them made a break for
freedom, big enough, tough enough and the covers are fairly easy to get
on.
 
Not so good:
Radios - worked OK below 50/60 MPH, and when we were less than about a
mile apart (which was 95% of the time) but above that they were pretty
much useless.  They were very useful however when were were simply in
traffic, on side roads etc.  I had VOX and Jim had a PTT mounted on his
tank bag.  Most of the time the VOX was OK but there was a period when
just me breathing made it trip so I had to turn my radio off.
Triumph rain suit - fookin PIA to put on but it does the job
 
Crap:
My tank bag - yet again.  It's just too big and moves around like Sean's
leaning tower of Pisa but it is nice to lean on I guess.
 
A great time was had by all.  We are planning on going down again next
year to actually do the BRP as we missed it but I don't think we will be
riding down - maybe trailer the bikes to Front Royal and ride from there.
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