weekend ride was a wash :(

[22Dasher]

Well after 2 weeks of planning my trip and buying the needed gear with exception of a rain suit the ride to NC to ride the Dragon did not happen.
The weekend started with me leaving home at 5:00 am and at 5:02 am this buck decide he wanted a real close look at my bike! Yup I had a collision with a buck now it could had been worse as we collided on the sides of one another and I managed to keep the bike upright and out of the ditch. I'm unsure how but I count blessings and never looked back to see if he went down. So then I get to meeting point topped off with gas and waited on the 2 bikes to show. As I was waiting I looked the bike over to make sure nothing was damaged only thing I found was my horn was bent back and my chaps had deer haiir in the seams. Oh well pullled horn back out and riders showed. The ride to Robbinsville was pleasent and this is where I met up with another rider and left the other 2 as they had different riding plans. So we stopped to eat and then headed up the skyline towards Telico Plains. Before we got out of town it happened, yup it began raining and rained on and off the entire trip across the skyline. The only good thing that came out of that ride was I managed to meet a VRCC member from Indiana I think if memory is right his handle here is Scoobydoo. Anyways we talked and admired one anothers bikes and off I went once we got to Telico Plains we looked at our choices of places to stay and decided to run ontp Maryville and get a room. With UT football in town rooms were impossible but managed to find a room in Alcoa. Well got setled in and woke to rain and it was set in so we decided it was just too dangerous to take the trip across the dragon so we packed it in and headed home to Middle TN.
 So my first weekend trip on bike was mixed. Got rained out hit a deer and best part I met a VRCC memeber. I did manage to see 5 other valks over the weekend.
 Guess another trip is in the making to get across the Dragon. I hope you guys had a better weekend.

James

[Whistler]

Hang in there 22Dasher it just means the next ride will be that much sweeter! Glad you survived the Forest Rat meeting, good thing is the thinning out season's are a coming! JDW

[HotRod]

Bummer,but be glad,very glad your bike don't look like Willows or Budmans old bike when they hit a Forrest rat! and sure there some others with pictures as well. Glad your ok brother,live to ride another day.

[Duffy]

Yep, surviving the meeting with a deer is a HUGE success! Congrats! 

My friend Thumper is the only other rider I have heard of that has had a collision with a deer and not gone down. Amazing really. 

As far as the rain, don't sweat it. There will be many rides and some of them will be wet.  It is just a fact.

[Michael K (Az.)]

Had somebody given you that old Chinese curse, "May you live in interesting times." ??
Any 'no shunt today' is a good day!

[iliveforcurves]

Glad to hear about surviving the deer.  I've had a couple of very close calls but no contact (so far).  Both times I was only going about 35 mph.  The first time a buck jumped out onto the road right in front of me and stood there.  I braked hard and he tried to back up in the direction I was headed, but his hooves were slipping on the pavement.  He did manage to move about 2 feet which was just enough to avoid contact.  The second time a deer ran across the road right in front of me so close that I smelled it!

[scoobydoo]

Hey James, good to meet you on the skyline, we hung it out for the weekend in spite of the rain & got 4 passes at the dragon. I know what you mean about your trip got hung up on I 40 for 1 1/2 hrs; road closed for a accident nothing like just sittin in the rain! Then rode the rest of the way  home to Indiana in it.Got homeat 1:00 am. but you know what I had a blast. Hope to see you again. I think I'm going to go back down for one of the rides that I have been reading about.
Glad your safe.
Scooby

[22Dasher]

Thanks guys for kind words and you're right things could had gone very bad 2 mins into my ride. I know I'm lucky to had still made the trip. Yes there will be other rides.

 Hey Scooby it was a pleasure to meet you and I have to say you guys were a lot braver than I! I just didn't see tje risk of doing it in the rain. The guys I rode up with saw a bike down on the dragon and they had to get an ambulance to take them away. He said the wife hit the rd face first and knocked her teeth out. The hotel we stayed in omne of the bikers there also went down on the dragon on Sat as well, claimed the front end slid out from under him.
 I'm glad you guys made it back home safe. Let me know when you guys come back this way maybe we can hook up and ride the next go around.

James

[Big IV]

I have done the dragon in the rain. It is like other roads, slow down and watch for junk washing in front of you from the shoulders. The bad part of doing the Dragon in the rain is when the other bikes decide that they want to blow past you because they want to do it faster than everyone else out there.

As long as I can ride my own ride and set my own speed I don't mind riding it in the rain. The Valk doesn't mind wet roads as much as some bikes I've been on.

[Bob E.]

That was good luck with the deer.  I hit one once at about 60mph.  Lucky for me, it was a small one...still had spots on it...and I didn't crash.  And even though the damage eventually topped out at about $5000, I was still able to ride it home about 200 miles.  With bent forks and a fender rubbing the tire (not to mention some frazzled nerves), it might not have been the smartest thing to do, but I made it.  When I took it to the shop about 5 miles from my house, the guy said he couldn't believe I rode it all the way in there.  I told him that's nothing, I rode it home from the hit...200 miles...he just shook his head.