I got back from BMDR2009 around 6:00pm Sunday night, 700miles (minus about 32
for going back and forth to work on Friday) on the odometer...
Really had a great time, hanging out with fun people... you really need to hear Britman's
rider's meetings "It's not a ***** race!"
I put the little camera in a good new place, but ran it like a dork and somehow when I thought
I was filming the BRP and other really good places, I actually was not.
Saturday was a 250 mile or so day, the pack stayed mostly together. Near the end I
saw Duffy stop at a turn, so I stopped at the next turn and waited so I could tell him
and whoever he was waiting on which way to go. When they showed up, we took off,
and never found the group again, so I got to lead Duffy and Alabama Mike and ... the
guy riding sweep on a road (181) that reminded me a lot of Cherohala Skyway up to
Blowing Rock. Then the sweep guy lead us down a really cool super twisty backroad, but we
were blocked most of the way by a guy in an Expedition who JUST WOULD NOT LET US BY
and there was no way to pass. I'm kind of laid back, but apparently they were getting
red hot, so after about 15 or 20 minutes they passed him anyway... I started to attempt it
too, but that's just not my style, so Alabama Mike blocked the guy (I'm not trying to
brag about recklessness, that's not the story I'm telling here..) and I passed him, it
was the coolest thing...
Laura and Ray and me ate at the fish place across the street from the hotel Saturday
night, there's BBQ and Pizza and other stuff right in walking distance too, everyone
told stories in the parking lot that night until people started drifting off to their rooms
between 10 and 12...
We headed off into a forecasted rainy day on Sunday, and the forecast was right. It was
a steady rain, but never a driving rain... Me and Henry rode about 6 and a half hours in
that kind of rain through the North Georgia mountains on the way to Cheaha, and I
thought it was great - the Valkyrie keeps you pretty dry if you have a good shield and
bakers and fork wings... I was having a blast on Sunday until a couple of hydroplane
incidents, (because of my tire? because of Britman's killer twisty road choices?
)
but after that I started thinking about the grills of pickup trucks in reducing radius right
hand turns, and quit having so much fun...
We got to a place in Tennessee that was just a few miles from Johnson City, and Smokin
Joe and Razor/Laura and the lucky13's and Big Owl headed back home. I
split with them. Joe stopped almost right away at a fancy steak house (you can't hide money!)
and after we ate it wasn't long before we all split at hwy 26, and I headed back home.
Here's everyone stopped at a parking lot, it was hard to whip out the camera quick enough
to snap DetN8er without getting one of his funky hand signs...
Here's everyone stopped at a parking way (Blue Ridge Parking Way, that is...)
Here's the picture-don't-do-it-justice picture:
Here's a short video - I flubbed the videos on the really good roads, D'OH! Check out
Robert's head at the beginning... we were worried about him until we found out he was
plugged into an iPod...
I hope everyone else had as good a time as I did, and that all made it home safe...
-Mike
