Weather in ATL

Weather in the Atlanta area

Do real bikers ride in rain? Yes, of course they do; the weather to include the rain doesn't stop a biker from riding unless it is just too dam dangerous. Now, with saying that, it is probably also going to be determined on what type of ride is to take place.

I for one do not like to decide to take a leisurely ride during rainy weather. It was like up in Ohio, if it's too cold then a leisurely ride is not going to happen. You want to enjoy those rides to the best you can, doing it in inclement weather doesn't fit that bill. While riding the bike while being wet isn't real bad, it isn't all that grand either. Add in a little chill to the air and then you most likely will be down right miserable. When you stop for gas and enter the station to pay do people stare because of the snot-cicles dangling off your cheesy smile? While it is fun to see their expressions and I get a good chuckle out of things like that, getting to that point isn't fun. If I am out just for a ride to stretch the old legs and get in the wind I would like to be as comfortable as possible.

The rides that are must rides, Patriot Guard missions – planned trips to further away locations – vacations and etc. are those types of rides where the weather just doesn't matter. Get on the bike and get going, slow it down a bit, give yourself extra time and stop and wait out the worst of it.

I've noticed this year here in Atlanta that you can't predict it all that much. Just yesterday I was working from home and wanted to see what the weather was like. I could hear thunder but saw mostly clear skies out the window. I saw that there was a thunderstorm about 5 miles away but it wasn't moving at all. Checking the radar loop online as I was intrigued by this activity (or lack there of). The online radar loop showed that the storm had developed in place and stayed there. I have seen thunderstorms pop up here and there many times. In this area you just can't count on a clear sky staying a clear sky. Does that mean you stop riding, no, I just pay closer attention and am getting in the habit of giving myself some extra time in case I need to slow down or even stop to wait out a passing storm. Add in the humidity and once you get through a rain shower it takes forever for the drying out process, even at 80mph. Out west where there is low humidity I've seen where a totally soaked cotton shirt had dried in 10 mins.

So here in Atlanta it seems we must deal with the hit-n-miss rain showers, however we are lucky not to have to deal with the 6 months of so of winter and the not so fortunes of having PMS (parked motorcycle syndrome).

Bottom line for me is to deal with it just like the traffic around here, yea it's a headache at times but there are trade-offs. Give yourself extra time to deal with these things and stay off the bike in those 95+ degrees 80%+ humidity days and you can enjoy it all the same.

Take it easy,

Garm

Day ride in north Georgia

Central North Georgia: Riding in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains.

A nice day's ride in the northern Georgia area is in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains. The area we ventured into a couple of weekends ago was within north of GA-20, east of I-75, south of the state line and west of GA-400/Dawsonville. I am not saying this is the only area, however this is where we rode. Heading out using route 369, passing through some medium to small towns with mostly residential areas. The farther out one goes the more farms and old chicken coups you will come across. There are of course those areas where newer housing has been built, as with almost any area peoples land (usually 1-5 acres) are now dotted with a single or couple streets with new houses on them, packed in nice and tight so someone gets the most money they possible can. Yellow Creek Rd, route 53 followed by Emily Family parkway all are some nice roads, the conditions are excellent and the sweepers with just enough straight sections provide for a nice ride. Careful on the sight seeing though, I have to remember to keep my eyes on the road <G>. Take a left onto route 52 and venture into the Chattahoochee National Forest, the roads are wonderful, with as many twisties as needed (in my opinion) to make for a fun ride, the sights are excellent, make sure to stop at the scenic view by Fort Mountain, you can't miss it, a general store is on the south side of the road. You can see three different mountain tops from this location, just a short 6 mile jaunt further and you enter the sleepy town of Chatsworth.

From this point we elected to run 41 and 411 down south, mostly along side I-75. There are little towns with small shops and some interesting road side things to see. They sure do like their flea markets in that area <G>.

There are so many roads up in this area and off to the northeast that one can spend a few days of riding just to hit the main roads. Many scenic overlooks to stop at, a few bike shops here and there. This brings me to the crotch rockets, I usually will move over and let them go, for me the rides in these mountains is not to drag my pegs the whole way thru but to enjoy the flow of the bike with the road. Making sure that there is no oncoming traffic, ensuring I am ready to hard brake after brining the bike upright is not my idea of a fun ride. Every so often drag a peg, push it into the corner hard, however doing that on a continuous basis doesn't please my appetite for a nice ride. I prefer to take a more leisurely stroll through the winding mountain roads, with a few quick twisties and a couple straight aways thrown in for good measure. There are all kinds of roads, take the ones that may look a little less travelled and you may just find some very interesting things along the way. Maybe an old run down store that was in it's heyday in the 1950s or 1960s. A little side stop along a stream to take a break and relax a bit.

Those types of roads are all over northern Georgia, just an hour or two north of Atlanta. Get out and enjoy them to their fullest. Travel them often and travel them safely.

Daytona Bike Week 2012

Daytona Beach Bike Week 2012

A weekend trip away is one of the premier bike events in all of the US, Daytona Bike Week. Being down in this neck of the woods one should put this on their “bucket list”. We did and made the trip last weekend, spending a 4 day weekend at Bike Week 2012 wasn't enough time but it's all we could manage this time around. We ended up heading out Friday morning, the sun glistening off the water on the roofs and cars in the driveways of our neighbors, the temp a mild 60 degrees (hey it is mid March)! We point the bike south on I-75 and pray for limited traffic, after getting around Atlanta on I-285 (if you can use the beltway around the city) we keep going south on I-75. The plan is to use all Interstate for this trip as time is of the essence. Nothing major happened along the way, although I was stretching the fuel mileage a bit to try and make a fuel stop just inside Fla so we can remove the brain buckets that GA makes riders wear (interesting thoughts on that which I'll leave for a not so distant future entry). We were about 2 miles from the state line and she starts to cough a bit, sputter a little more when we are 1 mile from the line. That is when I reached down and switched to reserve, first time ever on this bike I've had to do that (after 43000+ miles not too shabby). I keep watching the mile markers go by and the signs for exits and what services are available. I hate when they don't put services on a sign for an exit and when you pass the exit just beyond the trees is a nice new gas station. How hard can it be to put a sign, even a temporary one, saying there are services at the upcoming exit? Anyways, we fill up and are back on the road in 15 minutes, without the helmets! The rest of the ride, even on I-95 is pretty easy and pleasant.

We arrive at our friends house at exactly what we estimated, good job to the wife for that estimate. A quick unload of the bike, a look around the house and a nice talk on the enclosed patio of their house completes our arrival. Kinda like what the landlords did in Sturgis, our friend hands us a garage door opener and off we go to Main St. We go down Atlantic Blvd which is the main drag along the beach, the line to get onto Main St. isn't too bad, about a 5 min wait or so.

Main St during this week is like a parade, all kinds of vehicles go up and down the street at a crawl and sometimes stop, some do it to show off what they have, don't have or are just cruising the street. We saw all kinds of vehicles from bikes, cars, trucks, bicycles to homemade trikes. The cameras and video cameras are out in full force, keep it by the ready as you'll never know what is going to come next. The sides of the street are line with bikes parked, on lookers watching the parade on the street and those just hanging out and enjoying the scene. There is another parade of people on the sidewalks, sit back (or stand) and watch the people just like the watching the vehicles. You'll see all kinds of makes, models, sizes and types; but please don't bring your younger kids with you, they will see some things you probably didn't want them to see. We found a spot to park the bike right on main street, from what we've been told that was lucky as parking is premium on main street. There is off street parking, however it would cost about $5.00 to park in those lots. People make a few bucks by charging for people to park their vehicles in their yards. Walking the street we got to see most of the interesting people and vehicles, ending up at the beach and the Atlantic ocean. There is a little eatery right on the beach which was priced very well, compared to others we saw on main street. Unfortunately we weren't aware of this place so we ate before, paying about $10.00 for a sausage sandwich. It was good but not worth the money. The prices at these things are so jacked up that you either have to head outside the event area to get normal prices or bite the bullet and pay. We opted for the latter as we didn't feel like getting back on the bike after the 463 mile ride. Spending some time just watching was nice, seeing things you don't see on a normal day is a nice change of pace.

A good night's rest in a nice location (friend's house) and we were ready to roll again. This time our friend's joined us for the days ride and acted as our tour guide. We rode the loop which is a two lane blacktop that winds through some state park/national park type of areas, trees build a natural canopy over the roads, what looks like some swap land, maybe a small forest, some housing areas and of course the beach scene. We saw some houses that were rather large and expensive, right on the water. I am not the type for the larger houses, too much to maintain for my taste, nice to look at though once in a while. A break from riding was taken at a waterside restaurant which had a pier for fishing and docks for boaters to tie up to. Just of shore was a long sandbar, people pulled their boats up to that and either were sun bathing on the sandbar or some were playing with their dogs. That was an interesting to see, people enjoying the “beach” out in the middle of the water.

Back in the saddle again we continued south and made the southern end of the loop in Ponce Inlet. They were having a bike show in the parking lot next to the well kept lighthouse, the second tallest one in the US. We headed back north along Atlantic blvd. for the return trip. After making our way back to the house we decided time to eat dinner, heading to a sort of Irish type place as it was St. Patty's day. A good meal with corned beef, sauerkraut, potatoes, potato pancakes and carrots ended the days riding on the right note. A little more site seeing, our excellent guides showed us little know land marks and of course some of the big ones like the speedway and such.

Another good night's rest and we were ready to go again. This time we ventured to outskirt types of places, the cabbage patch, iron horse, 1^st turn grill and back to main street again.

The cabbage patch is a little ways outside the beach area, it used to be a cabbage field, hence the name. A little house like building is the bar, the remaining items they have are temporary outside vendors. These vendors create a large square around what look like a cattle pen in the middle, this pen is about 150ft x 150ft with a large mound of dirt in the center. Yep, that is where they do the coleslaw wrestling, we were there at midday on the last day of the event, no wrestling for us to watch. We were told it can get a bit crazy and definitely crowded when the wrestling takes place. We walked the vendors, got a couple of items then settled down for a cool drink by the band playing. There was a lady with the band who sang just like Janis Joplin. Back on the bikes and off to the Iron Horse Saloon.

There was a larger crowd at the Iron Horse, where after you pull in you park mostly under the boardwalk which is approximately 20 ft overhead. You can walk around on the ground level where there are plenty of merchandise items for sale, bars to get a drink from, bikes to admire or a stage to listen to live music. We ventured up on the boardwalk first, two or three bars one of which is made out of an old school bus. We checked out the merchandise then headed across the street to other vendors to see what was there. Coming across some guys packing up some older bikes, a 1917 military Harley to a 1954 vintage Harley and an old Indian (not sure of the year). There used to be a bar on this side of the street however it had burned down a couple of years prior. Never having the money to rebuild the bar never went back up, they did however have and extra building next door and used that during the two bike events, the bar stools were old toilets. Like most areas at bike events this location was setup for some type of live music with a stage and sound system in the back of the property. Back at the Iron Horse we stayed for a few songs from David Allen Coe and his wife, still does a good tune.

We had lunch at the 1^st Turn Bar and Grill, named due to the speedway and Daytona's association with stock car racing. A sports bar which during bike week add outdoor bars, seating and vendors. A stage for live music was in the center of the outdoor area. We opted to eat indoors with the air conditioning as there was little to no activity outside.

We ended the day with another evening of people and vehicle watching on main street. This being the last day of the bike event we were seeing more spring break type of people on main street. What we call kids in bathing suits walking the streets with a bunch of bikers was yet another different scene we hadn't seen before. Of course some of those young college girls in bikinis could have picked a better place to parade their stuff.

We ended up back at the house for the night, sitting in the covered porch chatting with our friends about the days activities and just life in general. We turned in early as the next day was to be another 460+ miles of riding to get back home. The trip back was uneventful and free of major traffic, leaving the day after the event ended was actually a smart move, we heard the freeways were jammed with bikers and trailers heading north but our day was pretty clear of that mess.

All in all a good trip, our first time to Daytona Bike Week and we enjoyed it. Sights to see, people watching and of course some really nice riding made the four day weekend complete. If you ever come across one of these events I recommend you at least experience it just to see what it is like and what kind of screwballs you can see cuz you will definitely see some. They say it takes all kinds of people to make the world go around, get thousands of bikers together and you'll see plenty of those kinds.

Take it easy.

Weather and stuff

I've been doing some traveling, up in the northern parts of the US which led me to use a cage versus the bike. Yea, I know, some people would say a real biker would ride the bike no matter what. That is not what makes a biker a real biker. A biker knows when to ride and when not to ride, when the option is available.

It is like driving in the south when the weather is bad, you hear all the time (last year here in Atlanta) about how those from the north know how to drive in the bad weather. The only real truth about that is that those of us raised with snow in the winters know to slow down and take it easy in the bad weather. More importantly, those of us raised where it snows realize when to drive and when not to drive because it just isn't worth it.

So, I am up north traveling and see bikes on the road a little bit here and there. It does make one a little envious when traveling via cage and you see a bike or two go by. This goes back to the days before you had your first bike. Remember those days, usually when you are a kid traveling with the family on vacation. Cruisin down the highway in the back seat with not much to do except watching the other vehicles go by and wondering what it would be like to be in that situation. Those of us with unknown ambitions to be on a bike paid particular attention to the bikes we saw. Don't get me wrong, those big trucks hauling goods with their bright paint jobs, loud deep horns and massive size were impressive as well. The bikes however had some special kind of awe. Day dreaming what it would be like to be on that bike riding down the highway. I never really wondered where the rider was going, just how cool it would be to be doing that myself. I would dream of going to the same place as we were just on a bike.

When living up in the north I would ride at least once per month, I didn't care if it was a 10 mile around the town putt. As long as the roads were dry I could get out, extra gear kept me warm enough. I believe in the 10 years there was one month I couldn't get out due to weather. What a nasty winter that was :-) One day I was riding the bike to someones house to do some work on it, a somewhat normal spring day (for the Great Lakes region a normal spring day is 40s and clear). I as just about 5 miles from the house and the skies grew dark like a dark grey wool blanket was pulled up over the horizon. A little bit of rain started to fall, so of course I slowed down my pace for safety. I crested a hill and was looking at a downgrade of about 5% into the housing development where my destination laid. I started down the hill and started to feel little pieces of sand like objects hitting me ( I had no windshield on that bike). The objects started to get larger and faster as they hit me. Holy crap, I am riding a motorcycle in a hail storm, even though the hail was just under pea sized it hurt a little bit. Luckily being the time of year and having the gear on I did the only exposed area was parts of the face. Bikers are a rare group, I pulled up to the house and the guys are already in the garage, they see me pull up the driveway in the hail. Since I am not seriously injured or on the ground they all bust out in some hearty laughter and can't stop for at least 5 minutes. Bikers love to laugh at each other if they can, it makes for some good times to be able to pick on your brothers.

A little lesson here, if you see a group of bikers don't pick on them, they will stick together and take care of what they need to. A certain rule if you see they have club patches and especially if you see a patch that says 1% on it. The clubs who deem themselves as 1%ers are those clubs which run just outside the conventional main stream USA. They like to do what they want, when they want and where they want. If you leave them alone they will leave you alone is a good basic rule. I can go into this more but that will be another entry.

Ride Free / Ride Hard

Christmas and New Year's

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all.  Bikers are traditionally active in the holidays, mainly I've seen Toys for Tots at many biker functions around this time of year.

While a portion of the US can't be riding this time of year it still is a happy time.  So take a break in either your riding or wrenching and enjoy the family.

Please keep those in mind who can't be with family during the season as they are defending the freedoms we enjoy every day we breathe.  Thank you to our military and especially those deployed, may you come home safe!


Garm