A new chapter

Well today began a new chapter in my life. Nothing super drastic as some of the other changes I have made, but still a new chapter. The new chapter should be called Central Piedmont. Strange name for a chapter huh? Well dont judge a chapter by its name since I dont yet know the actual title of the book that contains this chapter.

The new chapter began at about 8:30 when I showed up for a ride with the Central Piedmont chapter of the Southern Cruisers. I was a member of the Potomac Chapter when I lied in maryland, but have not had a chance to ride with that group in over a year since I left to move south.

Not knowing this area a whole lot I hae been excited to get with these folks and start to explore. I hae explored myself, but there is just something I miss about riding with a group. At the same time though since I hae not ridden with a group in a while I was a tad bit nervous. Not about keeping up, following hand signals, etc but more about not screwing up the dynamic of a group that already exists. It can hapen quite easilly when a member joins a ride. I think I did alright!

So todays ride was the "frostbite ride" I like the southern idea of frostbite. I think the temperature was about 70 degrees today. I can deal with that. Although i think that is a rarity, but I will take it. After meeting the group at the waffle house we took of and slabbed our way down Independance and arounf the city to pick up our second crew. A smooth leg with little traffic and nothing scary. I realized immediately that I do miss riding as a group. The hand signals, someone watching your back, lane changing like a choreographed set of dancers.

We meet our second group and take off to pick up our third. So far so smooth. Everyone is making each intersection, hand signals are being passed. (yes I know I keep mentioning the signals but to me it is a tell tale sign of a good group ride). We arrive at our third destination and grab another 11 bikes or so. This goes without incident . . . mostly. The guy behind me on the SV1000 hits the curb on the way into the gas station with no ill effects thankfully. He admits that he wanted to stay wide as to not pinch the rider to his inside on the right turn. He began to fixate on the curb and then hit it.

Our group of about 23 bikes or so leaves the gas station and heads to Golden Coral. About half the group gets split at the light, which is to be expected with a group of this size. But like a good group we adjust our speed and continue to moe along and eentually they all catch up. Another 30 minutes or so and we pull into the "Coral."

Strange how this coral led us into a feeding frenzy. With about 70 people present we got our moneys worth. Members from 4 chapters were present and a good time was had. Stories were traded, bikes were ogled, and plans were made. Plans for an iron butt ride, a jack daniels ride, and een talk of Dayton bike week. Gonna be a good group.

After stuffing ourselves we managed to swing a leg oer the saddles and head back. Nice roads but nothing spectacular. Just roads to get home. We primarilly rode 16 south not a great road but a decent fast moving alternative to the parallel interstate. We stopped at a small plaza to say our good bye's before heading home. As we stood in the parking lot and some people took the chance to take a pee. During this down time I looked down at the gps and saw a cache only 137 feet away. surprisingly I passed up the urge to nerd out this time.

So as people faded I decided I would resurect this blog and track my riding, remember some good memories, and good roads. I will hopefully keep it up to date now and hopefully each post will have a GPS track log attached like the one below. If you would eer like a copy of the actual GPX let me know I nerdilly save them all.

Try this link to see the route at TripTracker
Trip Data
Miles 129.43
Moving Time 3 Hours 18 minutes
Moving Aerage Speed 39.1 mph


Quote of the day: (at a gas stop)
"Damn dont ya hate when ya cant get your nuts settled. I was stnading jumping eerything to get my boys in the right place"
"I dont hae that problem. My nuts are at home in my wifes purse"