i'm cured!

...cured for a few days, anyway. today's ride was precisely what i needed to shake the road-jones that's been plaguing me since late november. the cure wasn't in the length of the ride, but the variety of roads traveled. i ran some good twisties and capped off the ride with a high-speed blast back home. the twisties started from glasgow south to tompkinsville and east all the way to cumberland falls. if you're in the area and looking for good roads, they're not hard to find, but i can recommend these:

• sr-63 from glasgow to tompkinsville
• sr-953 through judio, stalcup and littrell
• sr-449 between sr-61 and sr-90
• sr-92 between monticello and stearns
• sr-700 between marshes siding and cumberland falls state park
• sr-90 between youngs creek in the east and us-27 in the west

just east of tompkinsville along sr-100 i picked up sr-214. i wanted to cross the ferry at mcmillins landing - a 24-hour free ferry crossing of the cumberland river. the other side of the cumberland is sr-953. i spotted the road on the map last night and found it appealing so i had to ride it.

and i'm glad i did. beautiful road that winds through the on-the-map-only towns of judio, stalcup and littrell. eventually the road dumps you out at sr-61 near littrell. just a wee bit north on sr-61 is sr-449 that allows you to bypass burkesville. another excellent road in the region.

once i was on sr-90 the ride was mostly boring all the way to monticello where i picked up sr-92 all the way to stearns. sr-92 is a sneaky road in that some of the straightaways make abrupt, sharp turns and some of those turns are decreasing radius. excellent road. just don't be a dumbass.

i was going to run 92 to williamsburg and then head north to the eastern end of sr-90 to work my way west to cumberland falls, but while looking at the map last night i saw sr-700 - a road i have never ridden, but a road the map made look goooood. another sweet road in the region that dumped me out right at cumberland falls state park. and a trip to the park wouldn't be complete without a few pics of the falls...

  

because of the high water level, the viewing area right in front of the falls was closed so i couldn't get a good shot, but the sound of the falls rushing over sure made up for it.

the ride along sr-90 west is fabulous. after i got back to monticello i blasted back to bowling green along the cumberland parkway. in the near future, the parkway will be i-66.

so my road-jones is cured for a while. sure felt good to hit the road. life is good. the weather-guessers were wrong, though. instead of a high of 55 we enjoyed a high of 65. it's suppose to get cold again just in time for the work week. life is damn good. ;)

the cure - day two

i'm resigned to rid myself of this road-jones and will leave soon. i've decided to head east to glasgow, south on 63 to tompkinsville, 100 east to 214 and the ferry across the cumberland river. not sure what will happen after that, but i intend to see cumberland falls and then snake my way back home.

here's a map of today's journey...

shakedown run

now that felt good! i make helmet head look pretty damn good...

i didn't go far this afternoon. i decided to take the "after work in the summer loop." it's about 80 or 90 miles and good for clearing the head and shaking off the day's annoyances.

i stopped at one of the more picturesque switchbacks to take some pics. this is a right popular spot with me. this shot was taken there in late fall of 2007...

and i took these two there today...

i'm glad the weather-guessers were right. while short, today's ride was what the doctor ordered. i still have a road-jones, mind you. perhaps tomorrow i'll be able to rub that one out. -er-a- i mean polish that one off. wait a minute. i mean go for a longer ride and cure what's ailing me. we shall see.

road-jones

i faintly remember starting the bikes sometime in december and riding around the parking lot. i didn't go far because it was colder than a witch's tit and i still had a fresh hole in my head from brain surgery a week prior. for the most part i've been a good boy and have followed doctor's orders to take it easy, but i'm well past that "take it easy" shit. the only thing that's been holding me back from hitting the road is the horrible weather we've had this winter and the fact that i really don't feel like putting on the electrics and messing with all the wires. more shit to forget about and get in the way, i reckon. the weather-guessers are predicting a break this weekend, though. 40 is supposed to be the high on saturday and a whopping 55 on sunday. woohooooo!

not sure where i'll head, but i'm smokin' on heading east. toward cumberland falls perhaps. nice roads and a few bbq joints out that way. not sure what the weather will be like in that region yet. i should look that up, huh? no need to start the 2009 riding season off being a dumbass. may be too late for that.

i've decided i'll take the st13. it has plenty of good rubber and it wants to haul ass to anywhere. i may just ride it around a bit saturday, come back and change the oil. seems like the right thing to do.

yep. i reckon i've gone long enough without a good ride and all the pent up frustration has resulted in a ginormous road-jones.

what? you don't know what a road-jones is? hmmm... since i'm a guy, let me put it in guy terms. would you understand if i said "road-chubby" instead? that's what i thought. :) i have a serious road-jones and the only cure is to giddyup.

oh. and for the ladies out there that still don't get it... well... hmmm... ask your father.

if all goes well and i hit the road, here's a map of where i've been and where i'm at below. if you want to see a bigger version, go here:

see my road-jones here

Florida Coast to Coast

p class="text-normal"> After the Skyline Drive trip I had a week to blow before heading to Tampa and the start of the Florida Coast to Coast II ride. The FLC2C is a unique ride to Florida. The first FLC2C was back in 1983. It ran for a few years, but then dropped off the calendar for various reasons. Almost 20 years later, Al decided to honor his father by resurrecting the ride. The ride didn't make the 2005 calendar as Al was waging his own fight against Hodgkin-Lymphoma. But he's back in business now.

The 2006 FLC2C benefits the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society. Al spent a great deal of time devising the route between Tarpon Springs and Daytona Beach. Not an 4-laner in sight. Just a lot of back roads through rural Florida with plenty of tree-lined strips of tar, some cows and even some hills. Impressive all the way around.

I arrived a day early. After getting some skin on the wing I ambled on back to Tarpon Springs along some back roads.

Lunch was at the Hooters in Port Richey. As far Hooters go, real nice place along the water. The main attraction at Hooters wasn't the hooters at all, but rather Richard B's bike. Check out

The main attraction at Hooters wasn't the hooters at all, but rather Richard B's bike. It's a 1966 Honda CB 100 - or close to it. Gotta love Richard!

The morning of the ride...

The ride to Daytona...

The awards banquet...