- Week 2022 "Beat the Heat" scooter rally

[klaviator]

We rode some more including some tight twisties and a pucker moment from sand on the road before reaching our next picture spot.

On past rides we have put around a dozen bikes on this levee for pictures. That is no longer possible as they have put up a gate.

A little ways down the road it turns to gravel for exactly one mile.

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I have ridden this road on my Like without any issues but the ADV does ride a bit better and feels more stable, both on and off the pavement.

Back on pavement.

A little past this pic the road climbs its way out of the valley with a steep grade and some tight hairpins

 

[FASTRacing]

The video ends at a place I pulled off because we were about to catch up to a cage and there is nothing worse than being on a fun, twisty road and stuck behind a slow moving cage. Passing was not an option on that road so I pulled off and waited a minute or two so we could ride at a fun pace. I took a couple of pics.

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Then we had a few minutes of fun before catching the cage again. Another picture opportunity.

More fun riding and we were at our first planned stop for the day.

There is a sand beach just beyond and below the fence. The Swedish Bikini team doing a photo shoot on the beach but they wouldn't let me take any pics

We moved to another spot for some pics.

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SHhhhhh... Don't bring up the Swedish Bikini Team, Mrs. Klaviator might not let you go next time

 

[klaviator]

SHhhhhh... Don't bring up the Swedish Bikini Team, Mrs. Klaviator might not let you go next time

Not a problem. She never reads what I post in forums

 

[klaviator]

We had lunch in Cashiers. Instead of Wendy's or the BBQ place we ate at Ingles. I had a good sandwich, chips and a drink for 6 or 7 bucks. While at lunch we were talking and I mentioned how I liked to take pics of my scooter in inappropriate places. I remembered something that would definitely qualify. A few weeks ago some friends of mine rode to a spot I haven't been to in years. It's a big rock with a nice view. Here's a pic posted by one of them.

As you can see they didn't ride to this spot on scooters. From what I remembered getting to this rock was a short ride on an easy forest service road. We would be going right by that road so stay tuned..............

Meanwhile, we had more roads to ride.

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We took a break.

 

[klaviator]

We headed out again enjoying another fantastic twisty country road with no traffic. After several miles of fun we turned off on a road just a little less paved.

Keep in mind that Don had little off road experience and Tony was on a Vespa.

No problem, just a short ride on a very easy gravel road......

We stopped when we came to this ditch. On dual sport bikes we would have just crossed it without much thought but we were on scooters. Tony and Don's first thoughts were they didn't want cross it but I said I'd try it to check it out. It turned out to be no big deal.

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We rode further until....

Tony is on street tires and the tires on Don and my adventure scooters are 90/10 street/dirt. Again our first thought was to turn around but I walked through and checked it out. I figured it wouldn't be too hard to ride around the puddles and it wasn't.

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[klaviator]

We went a little further and it got pretty rough, rocky and rutted. Don said he was going to chicken out and turn around. Tony and I decided to go a little further and if we didn't get to the rock we would turn around. We didn't get too much further before we turned around as well. I think we could have made it to the rock but I just didn't know how much further it was. I took a couple of pics on the way back out.

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As always, pics make the road look smoother than it really was.

So how did our ADV scooters perform off the pavement? They aren't a match for a real dual sport bike which has bigger wheels, more ground clearance and more off road capable tires. However, being small and light with a very low CG they are easy to handle in the dirt. I think they could be taken down some fairly rough gravel/dirt roads or trail however the speed will be lower than on a dual sport and more off road oriented tires would be needed for serious mud. I also wouldn't run them through deep water. Being so easy too handle they can easily be turned around if the going gets too tough. I wouldn't have taken a bigger street bike like my Versys down the road we just did.

 

[south east okie]

Not a problem. She never reads what I post in forums

You Hope !!!

 

[klaviator]

More twisty road action followed

We got on the BRP.

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[klaviator]

More BRP.

Waterrock Knob.

Don pointed out that there were a couple of houses in the distance above the BRP. I used the 50X zoom on my Sony to take some pics of them.

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[klaviator]

We got back on the BRP. I told Don to go ahead so I could get some pics with him in them.

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We got stuck behind some Harleys.

To be fair, the Harleys were stuck behind a cage.

 

[klaviator]

While we were out one this ride, everyone else was doing various rides. Larry led a group to the Heintooga Overlook. Vince rode to the motel that morning from Robbinsville on his Ural to join the group and ride Heintooga Roundbottom road. This is an 18 mile one lane and one way gravel road in GSMNP.

Larry took this pic of Vince starting down that road.

I don't know how the rest of this ride went but I heard they had a good time.

 

[klaviator]

Steve, Rich and Doug rode through GSMNP, the Foothills Parkway, the dragon and the road to nowhere. I thought the ride through the park would be frustrating with all the traffic but they said all the traffic was coming the other way and it was a good ride. The detour around the closed part of the Foothills Parkway had some great riding as well.

The best story from this group was from the ride through the dragon. This is how I remember hearing the story. The three Vesparadoes came up behind a Harley on 129 along the lake. He kept speeding up so they couldn't pass. Then they were stuck behind him when the road got twisty. When they got to a pulloff the Harley moved to the right and waved them by. They wanted to give the Harley plenty of room so they passed in the other lane, across the double yellow. As they were doing that a State trooper came around the corner towards them

His flashy lights lit up.

They pulled over ant the next good spot and the state trooper came up behind them. He read them the riot act but Doug was a fast thinker and told the trooper that Rich was his father who had alzheimers and didn't know where he was going and he was just chasing after him

I've been told to never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

The actual events might have been slightly different but they don't make as good of a story

Regardless, they didn't get a ticket and had a good ride.

 

[klaviator]

David led a group of 3 Helix's an Xmax and BV350 on a ride over the Cherohala Skyway and back through the dragon. I heard they really enjoyed the ride. Here's a few pics of that group:

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These guys would end up riding together the next day and called themselves "Team Slacker".

 

[klaviator]

A few pics from the motel that night.

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This bike was also at the motel. The bike belongs to someone on this forum and there is an interesting story behind it which I will get to later.

I saw an elk walking through town. I wasn't quite fast enough with my camera but I did get this shot.

I think a few people rode up to Waterrock knob again but I didn't go this time.

One more day of riding to go!!

 

[klaviator]

Thursday, August 4rth

It was a beautiful morning as we got ready for the last day of riding. The plan for the day was to all ride to the Highest point on the BRP and then split into a few groups to ride some fun roads.

We had four 150cc scooters lined up.

Heading through Maggie Valley.

I don't know if it was the cool air or if my ADV150 finally got broken in but It did better going up the long hill. On previous runs it bogged down to 38 MPH. This time it held 42 MPH or better.


Riding the BRP.

I took a ride by pic of Steve, Doug and Rich who had stopped at this overlook.

I stopped to get some action pics.

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[FASTRacing]

Those Helix look like a comfy ride.

They could call themselves

Barcalounger Race Team

BRT slays the BRP

That's T-shirt material right there !!



😀😁😀

 

[klaviator]

I rode to our next stop and started taking pics with my Sony. It's nice having a good zoom.

Dan on his Bet & Win 250.

Greg on his MG V7.

Someone said "look, a mountain goat" ..... So I looked.

It was just Steve.

 

[klaviator]

Those Helix look like a comfy ride.

They could call themselves

Barcalounger Race Team

BRT slays the BRP

That's T-shirt material right there !!



😀😁😀

Those Helix's (there was some discussion as to what the Plural of Helix is) are pretty old. They where built in the 90s. Their owners all love them.

BRT Slays the BRP.....Nah, BRT slays the dragon sounds mo bettah!

 

[klaviator]

More scooters kept arriving.

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18 bikes. We ended up with over 20.

Here's a pic taken by Tim with 22 bikes and the riders.

 

[klaviator]

We got everyone by the sign for a group pic.

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Then we continued on the BRP

We soon got off the Parkway on rode some twisty roads. I didn't get any pics until we stopped for another break.

We rode some more great roads. I took all of one pic.

Lunch stop.

It's not often you see this many helix's in one place so I had to take a pic.

There was another ride planned for after lunch but just like last year, ugly weather was moving in so we just headed back for the motel.