The meeting grounds, right near my place was at the front entrance of Middletown Mall. The bikes arrived one by one, me on my Tiger of course. Now would you believe I was the only person not on a Japanese biike? There was every Rice Burner imaginable here, Suzuki, Yamaha and Honda mostly. Don't ask me to remember all their alphabet soup names - I can't. Even the two touring bikes that showed up were Japanese (a '98 Kawasaki and older GoldWing).
There was no doubt I was with the upper elite of riding. Kevin, and his nephew Travis are experienced, almost professional racers. They both showed up on race bikes, with the safety wire and racing emblems. Kevin's wasn't even street legal w/o a light, but Travis had cut two slits in the fairing for the front lights. I noticed Kevin's bike didn't even have a kickstand so he had to lean it up against a post or wall whenever we stopped. But it's another racing requirement - even though I think it's going a bit far, they don't want the chance of the kick or side stand coming down in a race, so it has to be removed. Anyway they do their racing at Summit Point, and after visiting their website, it is one of the stricter tracks for racing requirements.
Kevin and few others were doing stoppies and donuts in the parking lot, no doubt showing off their latest stuff. I don't have the guts to try this on my bike because crashing sucks.
Okay, so this is going to a challenge to keep
up with the pack. My only hope were those two touring bikes which
hopefully would slow everything down to my level. Well, let's waste
no further and look at the bikes!
 
Suzuki "Telefonica Movistar", 600 Suzuki, and my Triumph Tiger. Then more Japanaese bikes, Honda CBR 900, yellow bike on the right. |
Definitely one of the most cool bikes to show up - A "Joe Camel" Honda. See, not all Jap bikes are "run of the mill" ! |
Our first stop naturally was to head into Fairmont and give Scott the money that was collected. Scott remembered me and the Tiger, we met at the Subway in Mannington. He was on a Suzuki, but didn't think much of it at the time, except for the fact that he and some of his friends meet at the Go-mart most Saturday mornings. I never did join them, but after seeing Scott's condition, I also swear that I won't take any crazy chances on my bike.
Heading out, we rode 250 to Grafton. Because of the pack, I could keep up (the bikes were too tight together to really go all out). However I made the mistake of not filling up beforehand, and had to stop at the corner of US 250 and 50, whereas everybody continued on to Grafton. By then they were gone, and it was up to me to catch up. So I was all by my lonesome, arriving into Grafton, then figuring they took US 119 North to Morgantown I headed that way. Turns out my guess was right, as I saw the tail end of the group pull into a Chevron on US 119 into Morgantown:
We
continued north on 19, and then on State route 7. I remember route
7, oh yes I was on it when one dude wiped out on NASA Rd 1, right where
I work, killing himself because he hit the curbed, flipped and his helmet
wasn't strapped on. That was last summer. By now, our pack
thinned out a bit (a few had already left), and now things started to get
real interesting. Most of the kids were doing whee
wheelies or passing me like I was standing still. Seriously,
these guys are fast. I just hope we don't have an accident,
ironically on a ride for a friend who got into a bad one. On Route
7, we passed by that funny airplane, and this time I remembered the tight
lefthander that follows. Last time I was caught off guard, starting
at the plane and almost going off the road. When we reached US 250
it was time to head back to Fairmont.
We
stopped on US 250 before reaching Farmington (Route 218). On the
straightaway, Travis and the young red-headed dude (Jason?) decided to
do sustained wheelies. Cool to watch, and I wish I got a picture.
But crazy to do on the highway, especially going down the hill with a blind
intersection ahead. Here I am on the Tiger at that stop.
After that, a couple guys carried on back to Fairmont, whereas I followed
the rest of the gang to a bar (a real dive) on 218. They had no real
food to speak off, so I ordered some wings that were really heavy on the
vinegar. One dude pulled up on an Hayabusa, one the fastest street
legal bikes along. That Suzuki 1200 will do close to 200. I
could see by his temporary plate that he just got it. Last week no
less. Sure it looks cool, but unless you are on the track, you'd
never be able to unleash all that power. Plus you'd have to be a
professional rider to take advantage of the full potential of today's bikes,
out of the crate.
Page created Jun 9, 2002