Once in New Paltz, we took the Harley route and stuck on 299/55 and got held up by you guessed it... Harleys.
Once off of 299/55, we hit Rt3, a road I've never taken y'all on. It's tight and has a bunch of nice turns, from there it was 28a to Zena to 212, thru Saugerties to 23a which happens to be a kickass road but is under construction right now so you don't get to enjoy the hairpin. Oh well. Didn't matter much at the time at least cause I wasn't feeling at one with the bike. I couldn't move around on the seat to hang off for the corners cause my tail bag was crowding me in and since I can't corner w/o hanging off like some people I know (Fester), I couldn't turn for shit. At the next stop I was only able to move the bag back an inch, luckily that inch made a huge difference and I was able to move around a little more. Not as much as I would've liked but it was better than nothing.
From there it was all empty backroads, some twisty, some not, but all of it nice scenery. We passed thru Cooperstown home of the baseball hall of fame and a bunch of other small hick towns. Then we hit the motherload...
WS's favorite of the ride, and according him, his favorite of all time so far... the crown jewel... Rt51!! From Cedarville to Ilion (which is very near the "Dacks" already, it was nothing but left right left right left right left, you get the picture. All the turns were rated mostly for 25mph but we were able to stay above 65mph, tar snakes and all. T'was an amazing road, all the corners had clear sight lines so you can see the whole turn. Not as ass puckering technical like I like, but a great way to scrub you tires. Once in Ilion, and what seemed like the 100th stop, we headed into the Dacks. 29 to 29A to 10. 10 let us get our high speed swerve on, the sweepers seemed endless! Definitely doable in triple digits but I was taking it easy since my bike needs TLC, didn't want to be revving too high...
From here I forget the roads number but at some point my favorite road of the trip... Rt24!! It was kinds of undulating and all kinds of twisty, sometimes at the same time. It got so hectic a one point I had to stand on the pegs to try guess whether or not the road went to the left or to the right. Th road surface wasn't that great and the was a lot of gravel present, basically you had to concentrate the whole time and I loved it! Slow 2nd & 3rd gear techy twistys are my favorite!!
From 24 we worked our way over to 74 (more fast sweepers), took that east into Ticonderoga where we stayed for the night.
Ws didn't bring any baggage so we went to the only hotspot in town, a Super Walmart, so he could buy some throwaway clothes to use for the stay. While there, I copped the most incredible dvd's for a buck a piece! The first one's a double feature - "Fist of Fear, Touch of Death" starring Bruce Lee, and the 2nd movie is "Blast" starring a young Billy Dee Williams. Dvd #2, it's bound to be a classic if it's not already, "Hood Angels" It's about "Bad girls with Big Guns"!! I also got a pair of very manly cowboy looking deerskins gloves for $9! Peep the stash below...
After a wonderful meal of fries and chicken mcnuggets (our only option) for bedded down with 3 Jackie Chan flicks and it was off to bed.
The next day I woke up at 7:30 to find wet roads, and black skies. not good. Zumo found a place called the Hot biscuit Diner which was wack. The food was only so so, and the biscuits were luke warm at best. We planned on riding around the Dacks more that day but between all the technical roads, and the possibility of them being wet, we had no choice but to bail and head south so that's what we did. We slabbed it to North Adams MA to hit the Mohawk trail (which WS & I have done before), it's all very fast sweepers. We took that to 112 to 116, both fun twisted roads, but not so fun in the wet. We too kit real easy. Once in Deerfield MA, we slabbed it agian to Hartford CT to hit the Olympia Diner for more eats. After our meal (and me blowing the fuck up out of their toilets) we slabbed it on south, 15 to 287 to 87 (again) to head to Nyack to watch the new Bourne flick. I wasn't gonna be satisfied by coming so early so we had to watch a flick! After that, we were homeward bound.
I got the next weekend out in the works, it'll be to southwest PA (sorry Sultan, your friends crib will be too close to home to stay for the night) for roads that are billed to be better than Deal's Gap! Stay tuned...
8 comments:
Shit sounds hectic and fun. I might quit my job. I love it an all, but it is preventing me from riding.... and that can only really last so long...
Fuck.... I want to ride....
Glad you guys had a great time. I needed to be there to add drama... some mechanical failure or something!
now that's what i'm talking about! nice ride report, sounds like you had a great time, in spite of the weather and bad food. hopefully i can get me some of that sometime soon.
on a side note, mad drama with the troopty today. right around the corner from my house (they say most accidents happen close to home), i'm driving along flatbush, minding my own business and then, there is a green minivan directly in front of me, PERPENDICULAR!
yo, no time to brake, swerve, dip, nothin. i straight up cracked that beeyotch! fo sho! well, i pretty much annihilated the minivan's front end, and the troopty was a little the worse for wear too. the sheriff pulled up behind us a little while later (i remember seeing them giving someone a ticket a few seconds before the smack up, when i drove past) and made sure everything was legit with paperwork and what not. well, since we both had just liability on our vehicles, and the minivan was headed for the junkheap anyway and the troopty was mostly cosmetic, we decided to handle things on our own. i took the troopty to the firehouse, got out the "jaws of life" and me and the boys got to work. creative body work to say the least, but she ain't dead yet. if it rains tonight, we'll see how she'll hold up, i may need to get back at her with some more electrical tape
sorry for taking over this thread you guys.
troopty damage? NOOOOOO! glad you're alright though, that's what matters. plenty of troopties out there, but only one jinx.
the trip was good times for sure, but felt a little unfinished. we definitely need to head back up there & spend a day riding up around there & enjoying the scenery. maybe make it a 3 day trip with 2 overnights?
if possible with others, i'd like to do the PA trip around the labor day weekend. i've nothing, but stuff about how the gap has been blowing up with troopers & i'm not so much looking forward to that. my tires should be here this coming monday & i found a guy with a sargent seat for mad cheap. so, i'm ready for another long excursion. who else can make it?
"and since I can't corner w/o hanging off"
Come on, admit it.
You just hang off so you can sport your butt to the ladies.
Come know. Fess up.
Jinx, holy shit man, glad that you're ok! As WS said, that's the most important thing. As far as the Trooty goes, you know a mere mini van can't stop the Troopty! Can't stop won't stop!
D2, you just need to find a balance between work and play. On the upside, at least you're not using your bike, you're saving all the those miles and keeping your tires in good shape, plug or not! These fucking princess bikes can't take too much riding!
WS, don't know if I'll have gotten my service before labor day, but I do know that when we head out for the PA trip, it's gonna be for 2 nights. Also, if for whatever reason we don't go to the Dragon, I'm down for another trip up to the Dacks for 2 nights. Hell yeah.
Fester, where ya been man?! We need to set up a day to go mtn biking, even if it's only at Stillwell out on LI...
Oh, and as a side note... homegirl will be going away for 3 weeks starting next week to go work the same upstate gig that she worked last year so as far as "permission" or "obligation" or "quality time" goes, I'm a free man. Gonna try and get my service next week cause I should have the funds by then. I just hope I'll be able to get it done on short notice.
Fester, how far over your 12k did you go?
3.5k over 12k.
*giggles*
Jinx... that is gansta... glad you are ok!!! Wow the Trooptie lives to tell another tale... amazing. I swear that vehicle is destine to see another seed... knawmean?
Yo E....
When can I buy the seat from ya? Still for sale?
Holla
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