A preponderance if not an actual plethora of Blue Triumph Sprint Triples
The original plan was to ride up to Mt Greylock in North Adams, MA, (highest point in Massachusetts) to spend the night in Bascom Lodge and see what the two year make-over of the lodge and park facilities looked like. We had stayed in bunk room of the lodge a couple of times before and wanted to be sure they hadn’t wrecked the charm with renovation. But it was not to be due to a weekend reservation for a wedding party booking the entire facility. We wound up making our way to the Econo Lodge on Rt 4 outside of Killington, VT. Well it never really matters where you wind up as long as there are good roads on the way.
As usual, we formed up at the Redners Quick Stop to gas up and get moving. Navigator Tim took us slabbing up Rt 33 across the Lehigh Valley to make a little time, with a stop at the Waffle Diner in Stroudsburg for breakfast (very important!), then up over the Pocono plateau to cross the Delaware into NY at Narrowsburg. The Beemer turned 10 just minutes before our first gas stop outside of Narrowsburg, then off across the Catskills.
From the department of ironic signage, we rode past the Neversink Reservoir with its sign advertising the former site of the town of Neversink. Maybe they should have renamed it “Well, Hardly Ever Sink”, or possibly “Mighta Sunk Once” since it’s now at the bottom of 200 ft of water waiting to make the trip to NYC.
A short slab up the NY Thruway took us to Albany and our crossing of the Hudson, then off on Rt 2 across the Taconics and Berkshires thru Petersburg, teeing into Rt 7 just south of Williamstown, MA. This is a great stretch of road with one of my favorite signs, “Warning! STOP 4 mi Ahead”, on the downside swing heading into the tee at Rt 7.
Rt 7 took us thru the north end of the Housatonic valley into Vermont at Pownal, thru Bennington, up the Otter Creek Valley to Rutland, then just five miles east of Rutland on Rt 4 to the Econo Lodge Killington where we put up for the night. A quick run into Rutland left us full of dead cow with a quick late evening run home up the hill on a full stomach. A short relax and recap of the day’s events by the pool put a wrap on the day: the guy who tried to pump gas from the 87 octane hose while Dave was filling up with the 93 octane hose from the same pump – “Well, they have three hoses…” “Sure, buddy. Here’s your sign,”; and the chick on the pink Harley in Rutland complete with pink leathers, pink helmet, and a pink stuffed bear on the luggage rack – How much Mary Kay do you have sell (and to whom???) to get one of those?).
Sunday morning we got up early and on the road before 8 for a brisk hour riding across Rt 4 to Killington, then south on Rt 100 for breakfast at Dot’s of Dover where the Big Breakfast really is big and the Little Breakfast is half of the Big Breakfast (one egg, one pancake, one bacon, one sausage… you get the picture).
About 11:30, we rolled up to the top of Mt.Greylock, the high point of Massachusetts. Aside from fixing the roads up and down the mountain and posting a ranger to collect $2 apiece parking fee, the place didn’t look much different. We grabbed a cup of joe in the dining hall and took the time to climb up to the top of the obelisk on the summit to see the view. Bascom Lodge looked about the same as before (except they refinished to floor in the main room and seem to be sensitive about shoes with cleats). Another time when it’s not so crowded, it will probably be worth the $35 per night for a space in the bunkroom with family style breakfast in the morning.
We crossed the Hudson at Kingston and stopped to gear up. It had been spitting light rain off and on for a while, but was starting to get serious. This time, we remembered to bring the gear and we took the time to put it on right. I added the impervious one piece Triumph rain suit over my normal Revit riding suit with liners in. The temperature had dropped to about 68 degrees, so it wasn’t too warm when moving. By this time, it was about 3:00 in the afternoon with 200+ miles still to go to get home. The rain was coming down like it meant it and the weather was turning dark gray. We decided to beat it home the fast way and jumped on the thruway meaning to slab it all the way to Emaus via I 87 to I 287 to I 78 – just a fast run around the corner in NJ to get home. Ha! It was a Sunday afternoon in August and that road connects the Catskills and points North with NYC. The road barely moved. Crawling in stop-and-go traffic in rain with falling light is definitely a low point in motorcycling. At least it wasn’t cold. We deeked off onto I 84 at Newburgh and headed west towards Scranton. The traffic was light, the rain came and went, the new tires held steady and we made good time. Heading south on I 380 is supposed to be a 20 minute jaunt from I 84 to I 80. Once again, I 80 goes into NYC and it was still an August Sunday afternoon, so traffic was backed up several miles onto I 380. We jumped off onto 611 and slowly made our way to the north end of Rt 33, from which it was a quick ride, now with failing light and limited visibility, down to I 78 at Easton. Traffic was backed up on I 78 East – NYC again, but we, luckily, were heading west. In 20 minutes we were sitting in Yacco’s in Emaus with a couple of dogs recapping the ride.
So here is a learning: I had tried sticking the new EZpass on the Beemer windshield before we went and it didn’t make it to the end of the driveway. But it was very happy to reside in the top pocket of the new tank bag from where it worked perfectly every time we hit the thruway. Even of you plan to never slab a mile, get one of these. As far as I am concerned, just one pass through a toll booth while wearing a rain suit makes it worthwhile.
Near perfect morning for riding with temp in the mid-60’s heading over to Tim’s before 8, rising to around 70 before breakfast, and running up to mid 80’s in the second half of the morning. One of those clear and bright Pennsylvania high summer, August days with just enough yellow walnut leaves swirling down to let you know that September is just around the corner and coming into view.
Breakfast was Haag’s Hotel in Shartleville – family style seating with a full service buffet – the pig did not die in vain! - $8 all you can eat – tapioca pudding and shoo-fly pie for dessert.
Only a half day planned for today so we decided to run Rt 125 over the mountains from Ravine to Shamokin including a shortcut up Molleystown Road through Molleystown where Zoe’s mother grew up. The coal breaker is gone, now the site of an over-landscaped swimming pool and gazebo, but Aunt Sarah’s house is still there (albeit sporting an atrocious faux stone front face) as is the house which George and Anne built across the street.
Rt 125 runs across the ridges of the Valley and RidgeProvince with plenty of the requisite twists, turns, and switchbacks required to get the road up and down the mountain. In a short, it’s motorcycle heaven. It may not be the Dragon’s Tail, but it is a great Sunday morning ride right in our back yard - and so far, undiscovered and un-crowded. Whooee – what a run. We went “around the block” in Shamokin and headed back to run 125 in the opposite direction going home. Not so much fun, as the good people of the world were making their sedate way home from church by that time and kinda blocking up traffic from our point of view.
The valley between Hegins and Shamokin is just glorious – typical Pennsylvania full of corn, soybeans, and apple orchards. It’s a stunning view coming down the mountainside. Turns out it’s better not to mix site seeing with twisties. The view was great but I started missing my lines in the curves, had to slow down and held up the whole works.
Even with a long tongue wag at the wrap up at the Quick Stop it was home by 2:30 with a grinning 193 miles on the clock.
Amazing how a new set of wheels can put a grin on your face! I guess it runs in the family. This is Lindsey's grandson, Will, with his first bike. Good to see he's riding ATGATT.
Well, Zoe was back in Rhode Island at summer school, Jo was at work, business partner Marcus was off sailing on Gazela so I was home alone looking at the lawn which needed to be mowed or …. thinking about a crab cake sandwich for lunch in Chesapeake City MD. Crab cakes won – go figure.
We don’t often head south. The roads through the Pennsylvania Valley and Ridge Province tend towards twisties and grins, while the Coastal Plain lends itself more to flat, straight and boring (from a motorcycle perspective), so north or west over the mountains usually wins. But I had a hankering to take a look at the city-under-the-bridge and the idea of a good Maryland crab cake had a huge appeal this morning, so south I went.
The ride itself was pretty uneventful, but there is always something exciting about approaching big water, and the swooping bridge that carries MD Rt 213 up into the sky and over the C&D canal is a treat in any vehicle, especially out in the open on a motorcycle. On the south side of the canal, I took the immediate exit and doubled back under the bridge approach to Rt 186. The bridge over the C&D rises so high to clear the commercial vessels in the canal below that by the time it makes it back to earth, it has completely by-passed ChesapeakeCity, which sits on the bank of the canal. As result, the town looks like it has been by-passed by time itself. The historical district is made up of very old clapboard houses, now mostly converted to B&B’s, Antique Shops, and other attractions for the tourists who appear to be the backbone of the town economy. But it is a beautiful, peaceful settlement, sitting by the canal with vessels of all types slipping quietly by while the daily traffic passes far overhead on the flying buttress of a bridge which dominates the view.
Today was the first trip with the new rear luggage rack, new tank bag, and GPS shifted up so it does not interfere with the tank bag as the handlebars are turned. I am basically trying out all of the gear and loading for multi-day motorcycle camping, so a photo of the how we're ridin' is in order.
Lunch was a crab cake sandwich at the tavern on the main drag, as promised. Unfortunately, it was pretty mediocre and the bread (an ersatz Kaiser roll) was atrocious. Oh well…. Still, it’s a good reason for a ride – just means I keep going back and looking elsewhere until I find a really great crab cake, at which point, I have a reason to go back again later to have another really great crab cake, and then go back again with friends so they can try the really great crab cake….
After lunch, I stopped in at the C&DCanalMuseum.The museum is in the pump house holding the 14 ft diameter cypress bucket wheel which was used to pump water into the upper level of the canal (when it had locks) until it (the canal) was cut through to sea level in about 1929.The wheel and the two 3 ft diameter x 7 ft stroke walking beam steam engines which powered it are still there beautifully preserved.When it ran, the wheel turned at 1½ RPM and pumped 1.2 Million gal per hour into the canal from Back Creek.Amazing.I love this old technology.If you want to know more, I recommend a day trip the ChesapeakeCity to see the museum yourself.It won’t take too long, but it’s well worth the look.
The ride home up Rt 896 through Newark, DE (past Molly’s alma mater) and north the back way home through “Blow Horn”, Doe Run, Ercildown, Coatesville, etc. was pleasant and uneventful - always a plus on a motorcycle ride at the end of the day.
Another beautiful day for riding with temp in the mid-70’s in the morning, running up to 80 to 82 F in the afternoon.I can’t make the Sunday ride tomorrow, so I wanted to get out and I’ve been wanting to get up to Hermy’s in Port Clinton to see about getting a rear luggage rack for the Beemer, so it looked like a prefect excuse to hop on the bike.
To my great surprise, Hermy’s had a luggage rack for the R1200R in stock.I was expecting to have to order it and come back in a week, but there it was, so I bought it.The box was a little big to strap on the back of the bike and the installation instructions didn’t look too complicated, so I took it out to the parking lot and got out the tool kit.Tools out, seat off, side bags off and wrenching on the side rails outside the bike shop I felt like I was becoming a true Beemer gear head.Left the empty box with Hermy and headed out south on Rt 61 to Cabella’s.My plan was to buy a couple of shirts, but they really did not have anything that I liked and frankly, the place looked like mutant city on a Saturday afternoon, so I soon split without buying anything.
Kempton was on the way home (well, sort of, the long way, anyway) so I stopped off at the WK&S RR for lunch from their snack bar.They serve Johnsonville Brats for only two bucks.What a deal.That with a cheeseburger and a pretty good cup of coffee made a nice lunch.At that point, it was only about 15 minutes to train time and I wasn’t pressed, so I bought a ticket and rode the excursion train up to Wannamaker (the W in WK&S) and back.I chose to stand out in the open car to get the full experience.They were running a little GE diesel switching engine rather than a steamer today, so no smoke and cinders, but we did get covered in hemlock needles as the diesel exhaust shook the overhanging branches just before we passed under them.Great fun, including a walk through the HO scale model layout on display in an old passenger car behind the station when we got back to Kempton.
A quick run down Rt 737 through Kutztown and on home through Lyons wrapped things up at about 90 miles for today.
Dave:’99 Triumph Sprint ST 955 Triple (aka Smokin’ Red)
Lindsey:’07 BWM R1200R (grin)
Beautiful morning for riding with temp in the mid-70’s before breakfast, running up to 80 to 82 F in the second half of the morning.Hash and eggs at the Tamaqua Diner from 9:00 to 10:00 put a nice foundation on the day.We stopped for gas along Rt 29 about 8 mi shy of Tunkhannock, our erstwhile destination for the day.Rain started up while we were stopped and the prognosis from those coming from the North was bad, so we geared up for light rain and pressed on.Light rain? – Ha, not to be – it poured but good and the temperature dropped 15 degrees to around 68F.We turned around and headed south to either get out from under or at least make it home before hypothermia set in.
Lindsey called a pit stop at Exit 159 on I-81 to get reorganized against the drenching rain and cooler temperatures.He headed into the men’s room at the travel plaza carrying one side bag from the Beemer and looking like a drowned rat.Dry clothes underneath and both liners of the Revit ES suit made the day look better, but there was no help for the small ocean of water inside his boots.Once restarted, even re-geared, the downpour was heavy enough to overcome the waterproofing capability of the ES suit, so damp prevailed.At the next stop, adding the new Gerbing electric jacket liner seemed like a good idea.Finally, comfort and warmth!By this time the rain was letting up as well, so things no longer looked so dreary.A stop for a slice of hot pizza in MahoneyCity, coupled with the end of the rain and some blue sky, brightened up the end of the trip.
Well, we proved that if you do not gear up properly, riding in a driving down pour can be pretty miserable.We were reminded that if you are going to get the right gear, you need to (a) take it with you, and (b) put it on when the circumstances dictate if you expect it to do its duty.
I have concluded that the Revit suit with liner works great up to and including drizzle, light rain, and a short heavy downpour, but is overwhelmed by a continuing heavy downpour with lots of water on the road and road spray.Gotta look into Frogg Toggs to go over top or start carrying the Triumph rain suit again, I guess.
Dave and Lindsey put a new set of Conti Motion tires on the R1200R the day before the trip (8880 mi).These were noticeably slippy until scrubbed in, but once scrubbed seem to perform very well.I may not be sensitive enough to tell the difference between one brand of tire and another at this point, but to me, the Conti Motions seemed fine.I was particularly impressed with how stable they felt in the heavy rain.More on this as we see how they wear.In any event, the price was right at $158 for the pair, delivered, through Amazon.com.
It was a hot day but I had a little spare time as the evening unfolded, so I decided to go out for a quick ride: back roads to Kutztown, then up Rt 737 to Stoney Run, across Stoney Run Rd to Albany, and up over the mountain on Hawk Mt. Rd. I came home through Schuylkill Gap and Port Clinton, past Hermy’s, on Rt 61, then down Rt 662 to home.
Gypsy Stats: 16:50 hrs to 19:00 hrs for 2 hrs 10 min elapsed time
6.5 min drink stop at Lyons
12.5 min drink stop at Moselem Springs
1 hr 52 min riding time
81.5 miles total distance
43.8 mph average
Beemer Stats: 85.5 miles total distance
45 mph average
48 mpg average
I was trying out the new LD Comfort short sleeve riding shirt, wearing the LD Comfort shirt and shorts under the ES Riding suit with no liner and no other layers. LD claims their special dual layer fabric wicks moisture from the skin to the outer layer where it evaporates, keeping the skin dry and providing cooling in a well ventilated suit. The temperature was around 90 F as I set out and stayed between 85 and 90 F for nearly the whole ride, dropping to 82-83 F as I came down the last stretch of Rt 662 into Yellow House. Basically, I was cool enough, but was more comfortable at 83 than at 85 – 90. The human body core temperature is 98.6 F, but I understand the skin temperature runs around 86 F, so if the environment is below 86, you loose heat; if above 86, you gain heat and must use evaporative cooling (sweating). LD claim that for extremely high temperatures you can use their long sleeve shirt soaked with water for cooling. Soak the shirt, open up all the vents on the suit, and the fabric wicks the moisture to the outer layer where it is evaporated and provides cooling. They claim this will get you through desert-crossing heat, up to 120 F. They also claim that at 80 F it may provide too much cooling for comfort. My experience today at 85 – 90 F was that I was basically comfortable in the vented suit, but I had to keep stopping for drinks. This leads me to believe that the LD shirt was working as advertised, keeping me both cool and dry. The down side is that you don’t notice how fast you are losing moisture through excessive sweating. I stopped at Lyons for a 16 oz drink and was feeling dry and mealy-mouthed by the time I was coming through Port Clinton. So, workable system, but beware of dehydration. I will have to give the soaked shirt system a try next as that should obviate the dehydration issue since it uses external rather than internal water (sweat) for cooling. It looks like maybe the best system is to wet the shirt if the temp is above 86 F for optimum comfort, but we will have try it out.
Tim:’78 Honda CX500 with antique plates which he picked up this past year for $350
Dave:’99 Triumph Sprint ST 955 Triple (aka Smokin’ Red)
Lindsey:’07 BWM R1200R (grin) equipped with built in thermometer and now wired to power the GPS.
Breakfast at the Masonic Temple in Birdsboro – 3rd Sunday each month (except no breakfast in August) $7.00 all you can eat featuring custom omelets, salt mackerel, and a strawberry stuffed French toast special.
After breakfast, we rode across the south central part of the county.The corn is just coming into tassel, so the fields are a mosaic of light yellow green of the corn tassel and the deep dark green of the soybeans, which are also coming along very nicely.Some fields were bare golden stubble having recently been harvested of wheat.The rains during the past week have caused the landscape to green up and start growing again.
We made our way north, crossed into Lebanon Co., then over the mountain at Swatara on Rt 625, up “around the block” to Pine Grove (with a gas stop and hydration break outside of Tower City), then back over the mountain on Rt 183 and wander home to the Redners Quick Stop at the junction of Rt 73 and 12 to wrap up.
The temperature was in the mid 70’s early in the morning, rising to low 80’s after breakfast and finally to the upper 80’s around mid day.Highest temp was 89.6 F riding through Temple on the way home.
usual, we formed up at the Redners Quick Stop to gas up and get moving. Navigator Tim took us slabbing up Rt 33 across the Lehigh Valley to make a little time, with a stop at the Waffle Diner in Stroudsburg for breakfast (very important!), then up over the Pocono plateau to cross the Delaware into NY at Narrowsburg. The Beemer turned 10 just minutes before our first gas stop outside of Narrowsburg, then off across the Catskills.
Sunday morning we got up early and on the road before 8 for a brisk hour riding across Rt 4 to Killington, then south on Rt 100 for breakfast at Dot’s of Dover where the Big Breakfast really is big and the Little Breakfast is half of the Big Breakfast (one egg, one pancake, one bacon, one sausage… you get the picture).
We grabbed a cup of joe in the dining hall and took the time to climb up to the top of the obelisk on the summit to see the view. Bascom Lodge looked about the same as before (except they refinished to floor in the main room and seem to be sensitive about shoes with cleats). Another time when it’s not so crowded, it will probably be worth the $35 per night for a space in the bunkroom with family style breakfast in the morning.
We crossed the 
