I've only made it to Deals Gap once in March of 2010. It was a spur of the moment trip. Bristol and Martinsville were on back to back weekends, my schedule opened up and it was a mild winter like this one, so I strapped the camping gear to the bike and busted a$$ as far south as I could in one day. Turned into an unplanned, undocumented iron butt. Went down the Parkway, parts of which were closed because there was still snow high up Got to The Dragon and it was closed because of a massive rockslide somewhere in the middle. The weather was nasty all week, was warmer back in Maine that week, never did camp once, lost a brand new rear tire to a large puncture. Met another BMW rider at Martinsville, which was delayed a day due to rain. That was a hell of a trip, I'll have to try again someday.
Alcohol involved does not necessarily mean it was the cager that had been drinking. I have been out on group rides where many, but not all, of the bike riders were drinking at each stop.
Oh yeah, that's what those are called. If you can't tell, I'm more into the roadracing stuff, but I know my Suzuki TL bodywork.
Dave, if you hit 81 at all in SWVA you rode right near me. Of course that was 6 years ago, and I'd never been on a forum......ever. I did go to Bristol in March 2010 tho.....nasty weather.
I pretty much avoid the slab at all costs especially in that kinda country. Stayed at Willville motorcycle camp in Meadows of Dan, I showed up and he wasn't even open yet, he wouldn't let me camp said it was too cold, he put me up in a cabin no charge and told me to come back the next weekend, I brought him back a fifth of something. I'll look ya up next trip, tickets on me, let's go racin boyz
Aside from pockets of Big Truck traffic, 81 is really a very nice roadway. Especially in the fall. Hey, at least Bristol is in April this year! Hope they keep that trend up.....
So, what about my highly illegal lanesplitting maunuever I detailed a few posts above yours? Almost no speed, at most 10 mph for a moment. That was about 5 times under the speed limit. There's plenty of other instances where I could apply the same logic. In many cases you would be correct though. Living in Milwaukee area, yeah, most riders will say that, but that's a whole different group of riders. That's not the crowd I hang out with. Every Harley rally around here, big or small, has bikes in the ditch, or DUI's on 2 wheels. Or state does invite such shenanigans though. Church festivals serve beer here. Also tons of Germans settled here. We like beer. There's a time and a place though, for me it's never on 2 wheels. I wish more people felt that way. Here are the statistics for anyone wanting the facts on bike accidents. Motorcycle Crashes
Horkn, agreed none of our statements are 100%, the scenario you described was acceptable as was the one I posted. Bottom line is you/we have to use the ten pounds of grey matter (brain) we were given wisely. Unfortunately as you know some riders and drivers have no grey matter and we get lumped in with them to the general public. Personally the reason i no longer ride is the drivers of the cages are to busy talking/texting and i do not want to become a statistic. Wife won't ride with me so it is no fun anymore, we do everything together. So, now we dive with sharks on our free time and feel safer.
My wife and I both dive as well. I fully agree that diving with sharks is safer than riding around inattentive cagers.
Bugs the chit outta me! A few days ago on a trip to Woodcraft, I'm driving in the fast lane slowly coming up on an ambulance (no lights on). I notice it drift to the right and into the rumble strip on the edge of the road. Slowly creeping up to it, my wife and I glance over and the fooker is fingering his g.d. cell phone. This crap angers me almost to the point of rage. These arse-hats are potentially taking my life in their hands. Txt-ing is illegal here but not talking. I wish there was an easier way to get people busted when you spot them.
Horkn, didn't you say it's important to know the limitations of your bike? Now, I'm not the smartest guy in the world but, I'm not dumb either..... You can call it assumption if you want. I'll call it observation. Dave, the one thing I try not to do is take things personally. This has just been a discussion. Discussion deserves prompt, accurate description to define the points being made. BTW, you didn't offend me with the lower case "g" either. But, you did leave the door open by doing that. I really am likely done with this thread. God bless men.
I know the limitations of my bike and my own limitations from testing them at the track. Pushing the limits that you find at the track, unless forced to, is stupid. The streets don't have the safety features of racetracks. There are guys that do that, as their typical MO.
