Hello.....Where are the UnRally Pics???

[JohnBoy]

and Ride Tales??

 

Inquiring minds would like to know!!!

[Spikes_Wife]

and Ride Tales??

 

Inquiring minds would like to know!!!

 

I haven't personally taken any pics yet; hopefully will today.

 

We had two riders go down yesterday -- both are OK. One was rhadd; he went down in West Virginia. Paul Mihalka came upon his bike in a ditch and called me at the campground. Jamie and I picked him up at the hostpital in Petersburg, WV and Jamie rode his bike back to the hotel for him. His shoulder is causing him a lot of pain, and he has three fractured ribs, but he's alright. The bike looks bad, but still rides fine. We're working on some ideas for getting his bike home since he won't be able to ride for a while.

 

Our other downed rider is Scott Bassin, who was a member here but missplaced his account info a long time ago (or something like that); so he reads but doesn't post. He was with the group of guys he came down here with when he went down last night. Lance Hough called me around 7:30 to report that he was down and that they were at the hospital. Long story short, they ended up riding his bike back to the hotel but something is out of whack in the front. His accident sounded pretty bad (his helmet cracked) but he walked away with some strained ligaments in his neck and a bit of soreness but otherwise he's fine. He's got a friend on his way down from PA with a truck and trailer to take him and the bike home.

 

Other than that, (I think) everyone's having a great time! I just got back from lunch with our two downed riders and am getting ready to pull up a lounge chair and a good book next to the pool. Everyone else is out riding. There has been no shortage of cameras clicking away, so I'm sure someone will start posting pictures when they get a chance.

[steveknapp]

Good to hear! I figured with the free wifi from the campground I'd be seeing more and more info on the Un. Which would be both good and annoying.

 

Quit crashing. Crashing is bad, mmm'k?

[KMG_365]

North Carolina??

 

Why aren't you here??

 

Here's some of our pics so far, but you'll have to wait until we get some time on the way home for the Ride Tale and captions!

 

We're having a blast ( ) and we're missing all of you who couldn't make it this time a round!

 

BIG TIME Kudos to Spike and Patti for all of their hard work and un-organizational efforts !!

[big-t]

I hope everybody liked Virginia We enjoyed your visit The Unrally was great.

 

The campground unoffical B..S... headquarters

 

 

More of the same

 

 

Lunch stop

 

 

Across the road from the lunch stop

 

 

Blues brothers ?????

 

 

Bounce,patiently waiting to get thru road construction,and get back to turning his tires to jelly

 

 

I think Boney had a rough trip

 

 

The morning after

 

[big-t]

 

The GS ride was a blast,I'm quite sure everybody had a "brown moment"

 

Tasker inbound

 

 

Ride smart session on "How not to Fall down"

 

 

The "Boss" demonstrates a non-antilock stop

 

 

Tasker leads the charge thru a logging site,followed by Mark

 

 

Stretchmark,Tasker and Spike

 

 

Glad I'm not downstream

 

[StretchMark]

Good stuff Todd!!

 

Any chance we can keep all our UnRally pics in one thread?? I had one hell of a time keeping up with all the Torrey picture threads

You guys must have had the "RideSmart - How not to fall down" without me

 

b.t.w I was grabbing a rock out of the stream for our rock collection

 

Here's a few of mine:

 

Here's Tasker shortly after his brown moment <Insert Explicitive Here>

 

The GS crew at a much better overlook than the last one Todd tried to show us

 

Sign translated - "Brown Moments Ahead"

 

Our reward at the end of the ride. Quite a collection

 

And a few action shots of David, Lisa and Russell on the Parkway:

 

 

[David]

The "Boss" demonstrates a non-antilock stop.

 

That stop was fine and a lot of fun, but keeping up with you guys on the F650 bikes was about all I could muster. I remember sliding front and rear through some of those corners thinking: "Damn, I sure wish I'd started braking just a tad sooner before this corner."

 

Always nice to ride with you, Todd.

[Rob L]

OK, How about some GS riding on RTs? Our group got a "little" off track

after we found this spot on top of a mountain, we just couldn't turn back.

The view was fantastic, but the ride down the other side was perilous! lots of washboard and mud I have no idea where we were, but we managed to get back on track after getting directions from a farmer 10 miles down the "road".

Back at the campground cameras were in abundance

Dinner was very tasty, thanks Patty.

A nice warm 700 miles later I got home last night to post these pictures today.

What is gunnison?

[MidLife]

I headed out to UN on the Saturday before, running the Blue Ridge down to Cherokee and then over to the Dragon and Cherahola. I had never been on the parkway south of Asheville or over to western N.C. What a treat Great roads and views. Here are a few pix:

 

View from Mt Mitchell. Highest mountain east of the Mississippi.

 

 

 

I just liked the way the morning sun reflected off of the wet surface.

 

 

 

 

I ran into the Delines at Deals Gap. My first and only board encounter until Staunton. After spending the night near Asheville I ran the BRP back up, until weather forced me off. It was great to get to Staunton and see old friends while making new ones. A few "moments" for me:

 

Best We’re tired moment- Lunch on Thursday. Spike starts telling us about spotting Horny Goat Weed “enhancer” in a convenience store. The conversation degenerated really fast with plenty of “I’m Hornyyyyyy” bleating. We were laughing way too hard.

 

Best competitive moment- Vita Rara and Ittech having a “discussion” about whose digital camera stores images faster. Those of us standing around had no idea what language they were speaking. There might have been a “biggest lens” competition but I missed the measure off .

 

Most surreal experience- Getting my a** kicked by a pick-up truck going UP a mountain. Wild Bill and I were running up the western slope of Hwy 33, headed back to camp. On the last long straight I went to pass this guy. I was doing 95+ in the passing lane, almost parallel with his rear bumper and ran out of room. I backed off and figured our run up was going to be ruined by some hick. We hit the twisties and he drove that pick-up like no one I’ve ever seen. You’d have thought he was on a bike. He did have to bust the double-yellow to make some of the turns, but I couldn’t hold it against him. I’d run up on him in a turn and he’d blast off to the next one. I suspect he had a custom suspension, because the truck had almost no roll in the turns. When we stopped for construction I rode up and congratulated him on the best truck driving I’d ever seen. He was laughing, clearly having a great time. He then told me he was a part-time race car driver. Obviously a local with the skills (and equipment) to handle the roads.

 

Coolest RT- The purple one. Amazing paint job. Hope someone got a picture. I didn’t.

 

Best Road (for me)- 600 on Big-T’s Back Roads Route. Just a fun curvy road with no cages. Had to run it on two days.

 

Least fun moment- Following the chicken truck for a couple of miles. I thought it was snowing .

 

Expanding the community moment- Heading home and having lunch at Seneca Rocks with a Chain Gang rider who is looking at a Rockster. I told her about the site. Hopefully she and her husband will join us.

 

A couple of more pix:

 

Spike gets a performance award. I'll let the perpetrator tell the story.

 

Sceneic stop on the Backroads route with Mike Howard, David Upton, Al Hummel and Wayne Lamb.

[MattS]

I made a late commitment to come to the Unrally, and had to remain up north for Monday and Tuesday. So at 8pm on Tuesday, after Sarah came home from work, I set into the evening following the corridor down to the Washington Beltway and then over to 66 and 81. After about 375 miles, I arrived at Staunton, in bed by 3am.

 

So I took one for the team and slept only four hours, getting over to the campground by 9. I was looking for John Thompson (johnlt), who was planning to ride the infamous GS Route that day. Not seeing him at the campground, I went out with the intent of catching up to him and his group.

 

After a little more than an hour, I picked up their radio transmissions. Contact was brief, however, so I continued along the route. After a half hour, I realized that I must, somehow, be ahead. I pulled off and waited.

 

 

About twenty minutes later, around the corner came John, Marty Mayer and Ted Panhuis. We rode the rest of the route, and ended our day with lunch at Churchville. We weren't tearing it up like the nutjobs on Tuesday, but it was a great, great ride. At one point in the morning, I was tooling along the trees at about 25mph when about 50 yards ahead a deer ran across the road right to left without breaking stride. I had to think, "Am I on the road, or is the deer on the road and am I the crosser?" The rules up in the woods aren't so clear cut.

 

Over the big dinner on Wednesday night, the topic of Burkes Garden came up. When I was planning my trip, I looked at Burkes Garden as a possible destination, but at a minimum 400 mile round trip -- and with so many great places to see closer to Staunton -- I discarded the idea.

 

Well, we started talking, and a glass of wine will cloud your judgement. John and I came up with two options -- New River Gorge and Burkes Garden. I said I'd put together some options when I got back to the hotel that night. I came up with 5 options, from the plain vanilla 360 mile round trip to New River, to two blockbuster 470 mile affairs visiting both, one in each direction.

 

We decided on departing early Thursday morning to go to New River, and then decide there if we wanted to head down to southwestern Virginia.

 

Virginia is an amazing place -- the only state to have touched both the Ohio River and the Atlantic Ocean. Heading southwest from Staunton reminds me of the trip from the Maine Coast to the White Mountains, rolling terrain that is ever, however subtly, rising. From 42 south we picked up 39 west and followed it up, and up, and up into West Virginia. Here we are above the clouds at a lookout minutes from the border:

 

 

The New River Gorge bridge carries the pseudo-expressway US 19 (65 MPH!) over the New River. You can cross the bridge in about 40 seconds, we went the long way, down the switchback road and across the old bridge. It's about a 20 minute trip.

 

 

Time for the executive decision. Head back to Staunton in shame, or go for the glory and make a big day of it. Well, why not? I got to use my EZPass on the 70-or-so mile trip down US 19, I 64 and I 77 back into Virginia. It was a slab ride and all (70 MPH in WV), but as they go it was a pretty ride, a chance to get some air and to get lost in the hum of motorcycle and roar of wind.

 

We arrived at our old friend VA 42 and headed south (west?) to the dirt road up into Burkes Garden. Sadly, no pictures, although John did say on the radio that it was one of the best roads he'd ever been on. Ceaseless, mad switchbacks and some long straights -- because Burkes Garden is a high valley, the ascent was much longer than the descent into the valley. Even without the dirt road, it's a pretty special place. However, if you have a bike capable of it, you absolutely owe yourself a visit and a ride up VA 623. As John said, it's the "foshnizzleitz!"

 

The last airhead and first hexhead GS taking an unbreather.

 

 

The phone book would be rather small:

 

 

Feels like old time America:

 

 

John reattaches his arm so that he can reach the throttle.

 

 

Here are the Cliff Notes:

 

 

Even though the Un was done, and I made two great riding days out of it, there was still this business of going back to New Jersey. Now, I could get onto 81 right outside the hotel, and about 6 or so hours later I'd be home. 2 directions: 81 to 78 and 78 to 95. Done. Yup, 81, that's the ticket.

 

Here's what 81 looked like in 1781:

 

 

This is VA 640 north up out of Hightown, which is a little west of Monterey on 250.

 

I opted for a 202-turn number running the small stuff from here all the way into eastern Pennsylvania.

 

 

The reward was the occasional (and sometimes frequent) well or completely shaded road where the air was much cooler than it was elsewhere, to say nothing of the interstate. I got to see Seneca Rocks, Oldtown, Paw Paw and a whole bunch of small stuff in south central Pennsylvania -- skirting all the cities and sticking to the sticks.

 

1500-something miles over 4 great days of riding. The weather could not have been better (probably could've been cooler, but if it were, then it could've been warmer), and it was neat to see (if not meet) all the characters from around the country.

 

Here's one more, WV 28 north just beyond Seneca Rocks. If it weren't for the chicken farms and incestuous hillbillies, you could almost be out west somewhere.

 

[StretchMark]

Great stuff Matt!! Now go get those engine guards, you'll need them

 

Well our intrepid coast to coast travelers, Jamie and Leslie, stopped by for a visit in Alpharetta. We checked to make sure it would not add too many miles to their trip, but we did not check the weather

 

Unfortunately, their route to Lake Charles, LA goes right through the path of Tropical Storm Arlene:

 

Here they are with hostess HoonTang getting ready to head out for the 2000+ mile trek home:

 

Great seeing you guys again! Ride safe!!

[Marty Hill]

Matt,

 

Way to go...great pics and report.

 

John,

Sorry I didn't get up there to see that '95 GSPD.

[Ken H.]

Ours (actually Donna's as she's the ace, off the back of a bike photographer) can now be found here - Smugmug Unrally IV

 

Cheers!

[ittech]

I'm going to try to get some UN pics up after I get some eats here in Savannah... Will have to be small unprocessed previews for now as I'm on the slowest high speed internet ever...

[PeterD]

Riding to the Unrally (Skyline Drive)

 

Unrally Tuesday

 

Unrally Wednesday

[MattS]

A couple more while I go through withdrawl: