Wrenching and Hiding ;-)

[TEWKS]

Screw it, I’m going riding!  
 

A wet START has some STARTERS hunkering down watching Brad spin wrenches which, wouldn’t have been a bad choice either. A lot to learn about these bikes and with Brad willing to teach any and all of us, we’re a pretty lucky group. 

Back to my choice not to learn. 

I came to see if the ride I had mapped out over the long winter was worthy of praise. Yes, it was! 
 

138 mile ride round trip with only about fifteen of them being dirt. With all the rain, that was enough I guess. Bonus…. some nice twisty backroads to fill the bucket with excitement!

 

The destination was Jim’s Smokin que. They do very good bbq worthy of a second try. (I visited Jim’s at last year’s START in Blairsville.)

 

A few pictures. 
The Map.

I didn’t experience a flash flood but the sign had me on my toes. 

 

Nice dirt road.

 

 

[TEWKS]

Ok, too many pictures for one post.

 

A slippery bridge.

 

 

Jim’s

 

 

[TEWKS]

The ride back was a little dryer. I’m happy I got it in! 

 

[BamaJohn]

Good stuff Pat.      Hmmmmm.....  where's Mitch?  

[TEWKS]

13 minutes ago, BamaJohn said:

Good stuff Pat.      Hmmmmm.....  where's Mitch?  

 Thanks John, sorry we missed you! 

You know…Mitch.  It’s too cold, it’s too wet, it’s too slippery!  Reality is, he’s got more sense but I don’t want to talk about that. 

[BamaJohn]

My loss, missing seeing you guys.

[MikeB60]

@Bernie and I got a short ride today as well.  Plenty of liquid sunshine, gravel and wet grass on the road.  Great ride, much better than watching the rain.  Lunch was good as well.

[Bernie]

Great ride today with @MikeB60, a little fog, a few broken pavement roads and everything from streams of water crossing the road to driveway wash outs. And of course lots of rain. No flash floods unless you count the small lake that we left back inside the bakery in Telico. 68 is a blast even in the wet with no traffic. 

[BamaJohn]

9 hours ago, Bernie said:

No flash floods unless you count the small lake that we left back inside the bakery in Telico

Glass-half-full kind of comment, eh Bernie?!

Good stuff!

[TEWKS]

A random ID check on NF 236.  I tried that “First Amendment Audit” thing and got smashed in the face with a nightstick.  
 

[TEWKS]

Somebody went swimming in Charlies Creek this after.  I just packed up the done two minutes before they came through. It would have been epic! 
 

 

 

[TEWKS]

So I guess this story needs closure. 

First, thanks to Dave D. for taking charge of these group gatherings, a lot of his work is unseen and it is appreciated. 

 

Shortcomings. (my) There were a lot of new faces I saw that I didn’t recognize or recognized and didn’t know their names but I didn’t introduce myself. In person it’s a bit harder then online when you’re actually a shy person. 15,000 posts. 

Animal highlight. I had a black bear cub run across my path on one of the back Georgia dirt roads. I slowed, then sped by thinking the mother had to be near.

 

Funny one. The last breakfast before heading out, we went to McDonalds. They weren’t on their game to say the least. A woman waiting for her food standing close by heard me talking to my buddy and said with a sweet Georgia accent “you sound a little like one of those Massholes but maybe a little further north like Maine” I laughed and said “ nope, you nailed it,  I’m a true original Masshole” We laughed then maybe it got a little awkward. 
 

And that’s about it, a little bit of rain riding but it's part of the adventure. 
 

See y’all down the road. “Masshole” huh.  

 

 

[Ron-M]

Cool video and photos Pat.  Sorry we did not get to talk, but it was good seeing you again.  

 

Ron