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- Week Alabama, it's not like they said!

I looked for interesting places to pose my bike.

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Blue skies ahead.

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You would think that two rides in one day would be enough, but no! The sun had come out and made for some great photo opportunities. I headed out again on the same route I did in the morning.

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Some sun and blue sky really livens up the pic.

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When I got to the park some guy was playing around on an old minibike that wasn't running right. It reminded my of the lawnmower powered minibikes that everyone had when I was a kid.

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No one was launching a boat today.

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Very nice photo's, but that white stuff..... :vardy .......:lol2
That's one of the things I like about Alabama. It doesn't get the kind of cold and white stuff that the northern states do but it does get it once in a while. When it does snow the city shuts down and most people stay home. Its perfect for me to get out and play. As for the cold, I have lived in a few northern states and I know how to dress for the cold. For a short ride its not a problem staying warm, especially when I constantly stop to take pics.
 
Something I find interesting is that I have done more riding in the snow since moving to the south than I ever did when I lived in northern states. Like you I am no longer as tolerant of cold as I used to be but I have learned how to dress for cold rides better than I used to.

If you are wondering why there is no snow on the roads. it was around 70 degrees just a couple of days before the snow and the ground was still warm. The snow only stuck where it was off the ground.

A couple more pics:

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This next one was taken later in the day or maybe the next day because most of the snow is gone.

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The next day was a beautiful sunny day but there was still some snow left so I headed out early before the sun melted it all.

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It was pretty cold, 20s if I remember right but except for my hands I wasn't cold.

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Unfortunately the road I wanted to ride was closed.

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So I headed back to the same area I rode the day before.

Besides the snow we had also had some high winds before the snow. This tree had been pulled out with its roots.

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Areas without shade were mostly free of snow.

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Beautiful pictures!

Just a little too cold for me. :vardy
Alabama has year round riding weather. Winter normally doesn't last for more than a few days at a time and then it warms up enough to ride. When people think of states in the deep south like Alabama they think more of heat and humidity than cold and snow. When people think of Alabama they also probably think of rednecks, double wides and junk cars and old appliances in the yard. Well we have some of that.

When people think of states with great riding or motorcycle events they probably don't think of Alabama.

Those people would be wrong!

When Honda chose a place to debut the 2022 model of their best selling bike in the USA they chose Alabama.

What bike would that be?

How about the Grom! I went to that event. Stay tuned.
 
Alabama has one of the world's finest motorcycle and motorsports facilities. That would be the Barber Motorcycle Museum and Motorsports Park. I have visited the museum and maybe I'll report on that later but for me, the Motorsports park is far more interesting. There are a number of motorcycle events held there every year. One of the newer events is the Barber Small bore event. It was first held in 2019, cancelled in 2020 due to Covid and then held in June of 2021. I wanted to go in 2019 but was out of town. In 2021 I finally made it. The quickest route there from my house is 114 miles of mostly interstate. Instead of trying to ride down on my 150cc scooter I just hauled it down on my truck and unloaded it when I got there.

I met a friend there who was riding a Benelli TnT135. We took a short ride to a place that overlooked most of the event. The next pic showes the small racetrack they set up for this event.

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Then we rode back down and started checking things out.

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The SSR display.

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Lots of small bore bikes.

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A bike that makes the Grom seem big.

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Honda had a big display with a bunch of groms in different colors as well as one of most of their other small bore bikes like the Monkey Bike, Super Cub, Trail Cub, ADV 150 and PCX.

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Looking back I wish I took more pics of the Hondas. At the time I didn't realize that this was the unveiling of the new grom and the place was crawling with moto journalists from all over. At least I sat on the new Grom and found it much more comfortable than the older ones I had ridden.

I wandered around some more.

This looked like it used the old Suzuki Katana as it's styling inspiration.

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Cool vintage small bore.

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We checked out the racetrack.

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They were offering 20 minute track sessions for 25 bucks
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It looked like fun but I wasn't planning on doing a track day and didn't really bring the right gear.

I asked what gear was required. I was told that my mesh gear and ankle high work boots were good enough.

I would have to think about this
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Yes, Barber is an amazing place!

Back to my story. While I was contemplating whether I should try my scooter on the track I wandered around more and checked stuff out.

This cool little Aprilia scooter was by the track.

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Tricked out Z125.

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Monkees:

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There was an area set up with a Gymkhana course. I tried it but the course just sucked. I must have not been the only one to think so since no one was riding it. I was disappointed because I was really looking forward to riding some Gymkhana
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Then they took the cones away and there was a stunt riding show.

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