Up the mountain and part of the way home...

[biguglyman]

Just a quick rundown of my recent trip to Lake Placid and Whiteface Mt.  Left Brockport NY about 7:25am 9/6:



  I usually check at least two map sites (google, yahoo, mapquest, etc.) before leaving on a longer trip.  I also rigged my gps.  The maps agreed on a route but the gps differed...go figure.  Made up my own route anyway:



Took Rt.104 east, then Rt.3 east following the Lake Ontario shore.  Very nice ride.  Much more relaxing and entertaining than the superslab the gps wanted me to take.  As I neared Watertown, I noticed a small group of bikes turning towards Sacketts Harbor.  Thought this would be a nice little diversion...and it was:



Weather called for scattered/isolated showers and t'storms all day.  I managed to miss them all while riding:



Pulled into Tupper Lake early afternoon.  McDonalds has wifi so after taking this next pic I stopped in for a snack and to check my e-mail.  Sat down and looked outside and saw it was raining.  Lasted less than 5 minutes and everything was dry by the time I went back out to hit the road:



Then it was on to Lake Placid.  Got there about 2:30pm, checked in and unloaded my stuff.  Wasn't in the room 5 minutes when the skys opened up and the thunder rolled in.  Kept me in my room the rest of the afternoon.  After the storms let up in the evening, I decided to take a run up towards the mountain. (Whiteface)  The access road is closed after 5:30 but I wanted to scope things out.  What a beautiful ride from Lake Placid up Rt.86 to Whiteface.  The road follows the Ausable river between some nice peaks.  Lots of curves and an almost completed new road surface:



Got up near the mountan and decided it was a good thing I wasn't up there:



The ride up the next morning was great.  Much better conditions atop the peak:



Being slightly acrophobic, the ride up to the top was a bit gut wrenching.  They don't do a whole lot of repaving so when they say "Rough Road" they mean it.  Lots of dips, ridges, bumps and holes...and curves of course:





And af course some great views:





When you reach the top of the road, there's still a ways to go to get to the summit.  It's time to park and take a little walk INTO the mountain:



At the end of the tunnel is a 25 story elevator up to the observatory at the peak.  Definitely a different perspective on Lake Placid:



And of course the top of a mountain makes a great place for a money shot:



The trip down was uneventful and made mostly in second gear:



  The gps routed me towards my next destination (Syracuse) by taking me around the other side of Whiteface.  More great twisties with lots of elevation changes and beautiful scenery.  Too busy riding to take pix.  Unfortunately, as you probably know, this story does not have a happy ending.  On the way back through Tupper Lake (and another stop at McDees) the fat girl quit on me.  Found This as the likely culprit:



That ended the riding part of my trip.  The rest was completed in a u-haul truck.  The guys at the hardware store where I bought tie-downs were nice enough to help me push Val up into the back.  An ignominious end:



New relay is on the way and I plan on doing rattlebars wiring mod also to hopefully prevent any recurrence.  The good parts before the breakdown leave me wanting to do it again soon.  Great roads and a great location for the next inzane...just sayin'.

[Gary]

Some great shots, looks like a nice route, thanks for posting and taking us along.

Isn't it a pretty uneasy feeling using them seemingly flimsy sideboards in the U-haul truck to secure your tiedowns to?  Maybe they've improved them since 2007?

We did my sons 1100 Shadow several years back when he relocated to So Cal and I know I wasn't comfortable with it. It made it just fine though. 

[biguglyman]

Made sure I tied right next to the mounts in the wall and checked it about every 10 miles for the first 50 miles. Took it easy around corners and such and took the superslab all the way home where I could.  Yeah, it is an uneasy feeling.

[donaldcc]

  Very nice pics and looks like a great ride.  sorry it ended that way.

  thanks for letting us travel along. 

[biguglyman]

Maybe next will be a trip to Washington DC to visit my old ship, the USS Barry.  She's tied up to a pier there as a museum.  Yeah, I'm THAT old.  lol

Some observations from my first long road trip:

1. That helmet got heavy at about the 80 mile mark.  Might want to consider a newer, lighter one.
2. The stock seat is where I want to be for riding position, but the butt started complaining after about      120 miles.  Maybe some beads.
3. The throttle lock was a GREAT idea!
4. I need some way to listen to tunes.  The helmet speakers I have are not loud enough and don't fit my helmet.  The earbuds I have don't fit well enough either in a full-face helmet.
5. Highway pegs are also GREAT.
6. Head gets sweaty during a long ride.  Maybe a do-rag?
7. WATCH OUT for loose gravel in those newly paved twistys!
8. You do NOT need to downshift to pass people.
9. When you're out in the sticks, pee and refuel when available.  Don't rely on the "next place" being within range.

...more to come.

[KY,Dave (AKA Misunderstood)]

Thanks for sharing 

[Michael K (Az.)]

Nice ride report! I've never been to your part of the country and would like to ride it someday! You made me smile when reading your observations.  But in a good way! All the things you will discover as you hit the road with your Valk, been there!!
Next week I'll be heading out on the So Cal VRCC "3 Volcanoes Tour" and expect to put 2300 - 2500 miles on the scoot and since I'll be leaving from the Phoenix desert, and climbing some pretty tall hills, I'll have waay too much riding gear to cover the temp changes! Leaving the guitar at home, this trip!

http://www.valkyrieriders.com/socal/0912%20Northern%20Calif.%20Ride/home.htm