TWT Smoky Mountain Rally 09/17/05

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

We had a great time. The roads and weather were awesome. Everyone made it home in one piece despite Hurricane Rita. I know there are TONS of pics from this trip, so if you want to share them and your perspective on the trip, please post them in this thread so they will all be in one place.

 

[Squeaky]

What a tease!
I jumped into this thread thinking Scott had actually written a ride report, and all I get is "post 'em here". Geez, looks like I'll have to start going on these trips and rallys just so the fine members of TWT will have something to read afterwards...

oh yeah, for the great riding too...

 

[Soloman]

Okay here's just a few rather mundane photos. I seem to have deleted my photo editing software so I'm using some stupid thing google puts out and it's not the easiest software to resize photos.

In order, there's the tree of shame at deals gap, my bike under the bridal veil falls, and a cushman rally Snoopster and I saw at the Two Wheels Only campground in Suches, GA.

 

[Tx Rider]

One of my faves from the trip, a piece of old highway 64 mostly taken back over by the forest leaving just bout 6 feet of road under a forest canopy. I just love stuff like that.

Click on it for the full sized version. If you look close you can still see the faded double yellow stripes.



Scott and deb have enough pics it'll take em a week to post em all.

 

[Tx Rider]

Here's a DS teaser from day one, Bill and Scott I shot looking back from little 6ft berm we were about to climb. It's a big one if ya click on it.

 

[Soloman]

Alright I've taken this picture down and reposted it on the top of page 3 (the correct way).

This is a picture of the poor fully faired SV1000s that didn't fair to well on our first ride out on Saturday morning. The rider, Tom, was part of Buzz's group and he went down going around a corner on Wayah Rd and hitting a large patch of gravel. His bike got wedged under the guardrail and it took 4 guys to drag it out. Tom rode the bike back to the hotel minus a mirror, and some plastic. At the hotel we removed all fairings and the headlight only to reattached the headlight with zip ties. Tom continued to ride with us the rest of the day. Later that evening he turned his bike into a true custom naked sv. A picture should follow later in this post of the awesome transformation.

 

[Wasabi]

More DS tease

John (blue arrow) returning from scouting the trail before Scott and I attempt to go forward.

The trail ended (we thought ) with a steep drop off into a creek. John found the trail and we continued on. This is one of the reasons why we averaged 12 miles an hour over a 10 + hour day.

 

[hcope1]

Jason,

I couldn't see the pic of Tom's new and improved SV; but I'm sure I'll see it at our regular Sat AM breakfast. Tom called me at 6:30 Monday Am to tell me the story; and I thought it was worth retelling.

When he got back to the motel, there was a man and his wife checking out Scott's cycle. When he saw Tom's bike he suggested Tom look up his Web site when Tom got back home. It sems the guy was retired and fabricated custom cycle parts as his new hobby.

I originally met Tom as he led a small group for bikers at our church. As he was talking to the guy and his wife, he asked him if "he would like to be a blessing to him"; so that he could get to see his girlfriend in Atlanta in lieu of hauling his one-eyed cycle home in the back of a truck. Both of them looked at him and said "follow us home". Tom received a home cooked meal and they worked on the Sv 'til 3 AM. Apparently the guy was a master at this kind of stuff. Not only did he fabricate a new bracket for lights etc;he incorporated the original SV wiring harness. He did all this for free;and he told Tom he and his wife decided to help him because "you just don't hear young people talk about the Lord anymore"

Lastly, just as a warning, if you want to keep up with Jason, you too may find your bike under a guardrail.

 

[scratch]

Lastly, just as a warning, if you want to keep up with Jason, you too may find your bike under a guardrail.

I'll second that - I was right behind Jason when I went off the road in Arkansas. Looks like he's got two notches in his belt now - don't let that clean-cut, nice-guy demeanor fool you!

 

[Soloman]

Buzz,

The pic I linked is of us tearing the bike apart in the parking lot. I don't have one of the new and improved bike, Debbie took a few before we left on Sunday morning. I don't remember the guys name either, but he did a fantastic job on Tom's bike. He moved up to Franklin after 10 years of going back and forth from Florida. They bought cabin many years ago and decided not to long ago it was time to get out of FL and enjoy riding in NC all the time. So he and is wife up and left FL for Franklin without a job lined up. The husband now has his real estate license, but sells a lot of motorcycle accessories on ebay (oh yeah in addition to those real estate brochures scott picked up he got one of this guys business cards).

As for two consecutive trips with people crashing right behind me, I think I'll just ride at the tail from now on. I'm beginning to think I'm some sort of bad luck, maybe it's the cursed copper taking over.

 

[Tx Rider]

Hmm... I was behind Jason in NC when I lowsided as well, first time I've ever done it. This is getting suspicious. And I wasn't even trying to follow him.

I think I have a can of flat black heat paint that might cure that copper curse.

 

[Tourmeister]

I had hoped to get my pics up last night... then the rolling blackout hit. What was supposed to be a one hour outtage lasted four On the plus side, I did catch up on some much needed sleep

 

[Soloman]

Aw geez, I forgot about that one, that's 3 for 2, quite an average in most sports. Hmmm....a flat black frame and swing arm sure would look nice.

 

[Tx Rider]

Aw geez, I forgot about that one, that's 3 for 2, quite an average in most sports. Hmmm....a flat black frame and swing arm sure would look nice.

Well at least the limp is a lot less noticeable now.

Paul should have warned us.

BTW Scott I burned a more complete picture CD for deb before we left, filled the whole CD up.

 

[Squeaky]

I think I have a can of flat black heat paint that might cure that copper curse.

It pains me just to hear of such an idea!

 

[Tourmeister]

I think the only CD I got was the one with all of Bill's Colorado pics. I'll check around or steal Deb's Hopefully, they won't cut our power again this evening and I'll be able to get some pics posted up.

 

[Tx Rider]

I think the only CD I got was the one with all of Bill's Colorado pics. I'll check around or steal Deb's Hopefully, they won't cut our power again this evening and I'll be able to get some pics posted up.

There should be some NC pics in amongst the colorado pics as well, and a couple videos.

Deb got all of my pics and vids for NC as well as all Bill's and her own on the CD I burned for her if I remember right.

 

[hcope1]

So strange! Scott having problems with CDs and DVDs!!!

 

[Soloman]

I have around 20 or so of Deb's pictures along with my own. If I can figure out why the link works but the picture wont show I'll load them all up.

 

[Tx Rider]

I use this format, with the real pic and a smaller thumbnail version of it.

{url=http://picture.site.com/picture.jpg}{img}http://picture.site.com/thumbnail.jpg{/img}{/url}

Just replace the {} with a [] and real site name and file names.

 

[Soloman]

Beautiful, now I just need to make thumbs of everything. Thanks John.

This picture is of Debbie, Buzz and his wife, Buzz's wild bunch, and myself having lunch on the Nantahala river.

Below is a few pictures of the work done on Toms bike to get it back on the road. Once completed we went for a great ride to lunch (above) and the up and back on the Cherohala Skyway and returning back over wayans rd.

The next four are of the best looking bikes we had on the ride, even if we both dropped our bikes while doing the easiest stuff. Most of these were taken just out side of Robbinsville near the end of the Cherohala Skyway at the turnoff for Santeelah rd.

That's enough work for now, I'll do some more tomorrow night.

 

[wczimmerman]

I keep hearing stories about folks dropping their bikes. What happened out there? No serious injuries I presume?

 

[Tx Rider]

Most of the bikes were not moving at the time.

I think the only injury was an ankle sprain I got when the bike landed on my leg on the first lowside. Not bad enough to keep me from riding the rest of the week.

 

[Snoopster]

The next four are of the best looking bikes we had on the ride, even if we both dropped our bikes while doing the easiest stuff.

The trip was awesome. We did about 1600 miles with 7 days of terrific roads. It would be in the mid 50's when we started out with some fog & then it would get to the mid 80's & we had absolutely no rain. Wasabi could not believe his luck there. As promised I was taking it easy on the roads b/c Scott wasn't kidding when he said these roads where like Arkansas on steroids. On Thursday the DS group & Street group headed out together. After we had lunch, the DS group decided to venture out but not before ...... my drop. The group had just waited for me at a crossroad & when I came around a blind corner Dynasport's new KTM was in the middle of the curve. Buzz & Wasabi had pulled off on the side of the road & John had already gotten up off the ground. I was able to stop in time but unfortunately for me the place where I stopped was slopped & had a nice gravel drop off & I could not keep the bike up right. The damage was a mirror, the blinker casing was cracked (yes .... the one I just replaced), end of brake lever broke off & some scratches to the front fairing. Luckily my frame slider saved the new tank from getting damaged. :hail When Buzz & Wasabi uprighted my bike, I wasn't sure I'd be able to prevent it from happening a second time but they were my training wheels until I could get going again. I was a bit upset but Scott reminded me that these things happen & I shouldn't let it ruin the rest of my vacation.

(to be continued w/ pics of the trip later)

 

[Tourmeister]

Haha Buzz... I am not having any trouble with a CD or DVD. The CD that Bill sent me did not contain everything he thought it did The CD John is referring to is over at Deb's house as she forgot to bring it with her, hehe.

Jason, are you trying to upload pics directly to the TWT site or linking to images stored on a different site?