Art Borin's Catskill Ride - The Wimps Tale

[PeterScottNJ]

For those reading this who might not have followed the events leading up to the ride, Art Borin spent many weeks planning a great ride through the Catskills in NY this past Saturday. People came from neighboring states and stayed in motels just to do this ride. But mother nature had her way with his plans and provided some rain. So, some of us wimped out and didn't ride Saturday, but did do the ride yesterday, Sunday. Those hardy people who did ride Saturday can provide their own ride tale(s). This is the wimps tale - those of us who chose to ride in the sunshine.

 

First, Art - totally awesome route (can an old guy talk valley?).

 

I plan on leaving the route sheet on my site for future use, I know I and others will be doing it again and again. I'm deleting the displayed maps to make it easier to access the route sheet etc. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for planning this ride. AND, I while I hate wimping out on Saturday, but I gotta tell ya, some of those roads were fantastic dry

 

Jim, Chris, Joe - absolutely great riding with you guys. And I apologize once again for getting us lost - twice

 

To clarify a little of what Jim said in his reply in the Ride Together thread, we were riding at a very spirited pace much of the day, but we hit one section of RT 30 where I just couldn't stand it anymore, so after a short break, the guys let me lead, each of us riding-our-own-ride. I took off and had a blast for about 5 miles (with Joe on my 6).

 

Then came the first problem. At a "T" Joe and I waited for Jim and Chris (who were only moderately testing local laws - Please understand that Chris and Jim were absolutely NOT cruising. It's just that I had an itch to scratch and we had some open road with very infrequent access.) I indicated I thought we should make a right, no one said different so right we went. Oops wrong way. This goes to show that if you act like you know what you are doing, people will follow, even if one of the them has a GPS telling them you are wrong

 

Down the road, we figured out the error, so after some consultation we modified the route in the GPS and started out again with me still in the lead (silly people). I was looking for RT 3 (should have been looking for RT 214), so you know what's coming. About the time we started seeing signs for the town of Catskill (which wasn't on Art's map) we stopped again. While I hung my head in shame, Chris and Jim went to work pouring over maps and calculating the GPS. Seems like the last time I rode with Chris, he had it head in a map from time to time

 

This is when our unnamed BMW-riding-saviour arrived. He led us out of the "valley of lost" through some really interesting back roads. (Note they didn't let me lead again after this.) It was hinted that, until I get s GPS, I must follow, not lead Actually I have to correct that, I did lead again a little later and missed my third turn for the day. Anyway, we finished the ride, only missing maybe 20 or 30 miles of Art's plan, but I must say, we added some interesting roads. Don't ask though, remember I was lost so couldn't find them again if I tried.

 

We got to the area where the REAL group, wet and hungry, had dinner Saturday night. We were tired from all the map reading so opted to just plan our final trip home. Jim went east on I-84 back to CT, Chris led Joe and I down to his back yard and showed Joe and I how to get where we were going. Chris repeated these instructions 3 times, showed us the truck that was turning on the road he wanted us to take to be sure we say the road. Chris obviously didn't want me leading Joe into another state in error. Chris' final instructions for Joe was "don't let Pete get lost". HA.

 

So off Joe and I went, with me in the lead, one more time. We got to our separation point, waved good-by, BUT Joe let me take a wrong turn (note this couldn't possibly have been my fault) and I went north on RT 15 instead south. Oh well, it was a tricky turn

 

Anyway, Art, thanks once again. I look forward to meeting you and all those I missed Saturday.

 

This ride will be done again, all of it

 

Pictures for your enjoyment: (if I'm nice, Santa will get me a better camera)

 

Hight Point State Park, NJ (the color was great, but my camera just wouldn't capture it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We didn't have a plan on when to stop for photo-ops, so I just stopped to take this one. Messed everyone up, but just too pretty to miss.

 

Our first stop - lake unknown, but pretty

 

Chris in the black and yellow, Joe with the bald head and black outfit (Mr. Clean), Jim facing with the red outfit. Couple of other guys who also happened to stop for a tree-break. The guy in blue has a BMW and didn't know about this forum. We enlightened him.

 

If you don't think we've had a drought up here, think again. The water is supposed to be at the base of the trees in the distance. This spill basin should have been a little waterfalls.

 

Final visit with the trees. Jim's beautiful RS in the foreground. Besides, ALL trip tales MUST have pictures of bikes.

 

 

 

 

 

[Art..]

Uuhhhhh, what's that round shiney thing in the sky????

 

Great pics. Glad you liked the route. Too bad you missed the dinner, though, it was lots of fun.

 

How's the Russell?

[PeterScottNJ]

You mean you guys didn't take picturs of the rain, and your rain gear . Russell was great, first 375 miles. Back rest was fantistic. A little interesting getting a leg over, but working on that. Absolutely no lower back pain. Didn't need my Back-A-Rest at all, had it with me thought for backup.

 

 

[Voodoo]

Peter Scott said: "You mean you guys didn't take picturs of the rain, and your rain gear"

 

Hey watch it buddy or I'll start telling stories about the little ride you and I had in the rain!! I've got a few good pics just haven't had a second to post them yet. Look for them later today.

 

BTW, I did miss my "rain buddy" on Saturday, but I'm glad you guys had such a good ride on Sunday. I would have gone out and met you guys just to do it again, but I had to sell my soul to get the whole day on Saturday free so I didn't really feel like pushing my luck.

[Voodoo]

O.K., here are the Pics

[PeterScottNJ]

I'm posting these for Jim Nichols

 

Jim Nichols Catskill pictures

 

Even the cows admire Jim's sleep RS:

 

Jim caught Peter, Joe, and Chris trying to figure out where we were:

 

Morning Dew:

 

Another sad reservoir pic