+ Week Those Were the Days My friend.

[klaviator]

We met these to young ladies during our stay at TWO.

OK, they weren't that young. Here is their story. They had decided to hike the Appalachian Trial which started on Springer Mountain not to far from there. From Springer Mountain to Woody gap which was a few miles from TWO was 25 miles. That's 25 miles of steep up and down. It took them 3 days to hike it. When they got to Woody Gap they decided they had enough and decided to camp at TWO where they were waiting for one of there sons to bring a car. Then they planned to drive and hike selected parts of the AT. Anyway, they were really nice ladies and my hats off to them for doing something like this at their age

 

[klaviator]

Another young lady was also camping at TWO at this time. She was on a truly epic journey. Keep in mind this was was before ADV where there are a lot of epic ride reports. This lady would have been able to write a truly epic ride report.

Meet Nicki:

Nicki was from England where she was a migrant farm worker. She was also a motorcycle rider. She saved her money for a few years and bought a round trip ticket to Florida. The return ticket had no set date. Her plan was to see as much of America as she could before she ran out of money. When she got to Florida she bought a used Suzuki GS650L. The guy who sold it to her told her about TWO so she rode up to GA and was Camped at TWO while we where there. She even gave the old ladies in the previous pic a ride on her bike! When she went to pay her bill at at TWO she discovered the guy in Florida had phoned ahead and said he would pay her bill

She also said that everywhere she went people where paying for her meals and other stuff. She said at this rate it would be a long time before she ran out of money.

Months later I got a letter from Nicki. She made it all the way to San Francisco and back riding over 16,000 miles. She included copies of a some pics from her trip. Someday when I find them I'll add them in here.

 

[klaviator]

Besides meeting fascinating people what did we do at TWO? I don't remember that much. I know that one day Debbi and I went for a ride. Frank and Jeannie knew a local gal who lived just a couple of miles away who babysat in her home. We left Scott there and when we came to pick him up he was playing on the trampoline. You would think that Trampoline was the greatest thing ever because he threw a fit when we tried to get him to leave.

Although I don't remember it we must have driven to Helen because we took this pic:

As I mentioned we were staying in one of the rooms upstairs in the lodge. Occupying one of the other rooms where three sportbike riders. We had a chance to talk with them some. They were down from Indiana and were also HSTA members. Their names where Peter, Jim and John. Peter and Jim where both riding new CBR900RRs. They were new but all busted up and held together with Duct Tape

They told us why. They were stopped at an intersection to look at a map or something. When they took off john went first. The second rider started to go (it was a right turn) but changed his mind due to oncoming traffic. The third rider was looking to his left and saw he needed to gas it to get ahead of the oncoming traffic..............and ran right into the second rider. When John noticed they weren't coming he went back and found two busted up 900RRs on the ground and Peter and Jim laying on the ground laughing

Luckily the bikes where still rideable with the use of a little (or maybe a lot) of duct tape. I mentioned these guys partly because I remember the story so well and also because you will see them again later in this story.

 

[klaviator]

One more fascinating character in this story:

This is Frank. Not the Frank that Owned TWO but a guy from Florida.

Frank was a true adventure rider back at a time when when adventure riding was not very well known. He had done a lot of riding in South America. At the time I wondered why anyone would go down to South America when there was so much great riding in the U.S.A.

Now that I have seen some SA ride reports I understand. Frank was a short guy and his GS was a tall bike. He had to slide partially off the seat to get a foot on the ground. I saw him a few times at TWO as he often came up from his home in Florida. I do remember one ride I took with him. It wasn't on this particular weekend but I'll talk about it here. We decided to do Frank's (Frank Cheek, TWO owner) 10 cent tour:

There were three of us although I don't remember the third rider. The route took us to Tellico Plains then up TN 165. Back then there was no Cherohala Skyway, 165 went up to a little past the TN/NC border and ended. You could get through on a gravel road but I was not a dual sport rider back then. Since it was dead end there wasn't much traffic or law enforcement so we ran it at a "fun" pace. The route back took up on some great roads that I still ride regularly today.

So I was on a sportbike and so was the third rider. Frank was on this big overgrown dirt bike. That combination shouldn't work

But it did. It wasn't the first time I rode with someone on a GS who could ride it like a sportbike.

 

[klaviator]

We left TWO and went to Marietta where we checked to the Officer Quarters at Naval Air Station Atlanta. The place I would get my training was a civilian training facility near the base. The Navy didn't have enough C-130s to justify their own facility or squadron.

Debbi and Scott got on an airplane and headed to Ireland where they would visit some friends.

Since training was Monday - Friday that meant I had weekends off. I took advantage of that and reserved a room at TWO for the next couple of weekends. I wasn't going to waste the opportunity to ride some of my favorite roads

One of the problems with writing this thread is that many of my memories are muddled or I just can't remember some stuff at all. This period of time as well as the next few years are some of the worst as far as my memories go. What I have been doing is trying to fit in the pics I have found with what I remember. For example. Those weekends at TWO while I was in training are mostly blank. I do remember really enjoying my time during those weekends. I spent some time at my favorite place and rode some of my favorite roads

There are a couple of things I do remember. Remember how Frank had recently had a crash and was in a cast and Sling? Well on one of those weekends Frank was already back out riding

He Had ridden to TWO on his Honda scooter. His rational was that it was a scooter so he wasn't really riding

Another part of this whole time was that I was officially homeless! People would ask me where I was from and I'd say: "I'm from right here." It was a little weird.

Towards the end of my training Debbi and Scott came back from Ireland and headed off to spend some time with relatives. I think they went to Florida to her parents. When I finished my training I started on a really long ride. I started off by heading up to Richmond Kentucky to attend a Rider rally. This rally was put on by Rider magazine. I'm pretty sure this was the second one I went to. The main attraction for me was that all the major manufacturers had demo rides there. I took advantage of that by spending a whole day riding bikes by Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, BMW and Harley

One demo ride I really remember was on a Yamaha XT600. The demo rides were all escorted group rides except for Harley. Yamaha grouped their bikes by type. So Cruisers and touring bikes together and sport bikes together. The XT was grouped with the sportbikes. I was amazed how well it handled on the curvy roads we rode. I felt like I could have passed all those sportbikes

I didn't end up buying an XT600 but it planted a seed

At one of those rider rallies I met Larry Grodsky, the guy who wrote the safety column for Rider magazine. I had an interesting conversation with him. It would not be the last time I met him.

At this rally I met up with another HSTA member from Michigan. His name was Pedro, he was 6-8 and rode a Kawasaki ZX-7

He rode down from Michigan and after the rally we rode down to TWO.

My next destination was another HSTA rally in Seneca South Carolina. The name of this rally was SCRAP; South Carolina Rally and Party. More on this in my next post. I even have some pics

 

[klaviator]

I rode over to Seneca and checked into the Days Inn (I think) where the rally was based. There where a number of riders there but I don't think I knew many of them. That evening another member from Michigan that I did know showed up. He had an interesting trip there. Tom was an experienced rider who owned more than one bike. He had a Harley dresser, a ZX-11 and BMW K-1. For those of you who don't remember, the K-1 was a big, heavy and unusual looking sportbike. Tom brought his son in law with him on this trip. His son in law had ridden something small like a Honda 350 a few times so he had plenty of experience for riding the twisty roads of the SouthEast right? So Tom let the SIL ride his K-1 while Tom rode his ZX-11. All was fine until they got on 129 past Maryville and the road got twisty. Tom suddenly realized that SIL was no longer behind him so he turned around and found him and the K-1 in a ditch

Luckily no major damage to either the SIL or K-1. So Tom gave him the lecturte about just taking it easy and ride his own pace.........

And off they went. However, I think SIL had psyched himself out because he crashed a couple more times

Again, the only damage was cosmetic to the bike and to SIL's ego and Tom's nerves. When they showed up at the Motel tom didn't want to tell anyone about the multiple crashes so he explained that the damage to both sides of the bike was caused by the bike bouncing around in the ditch.

We had a group dinner that night. I think this was the group in front of the restaurant.

The next day SIL decided to hang out at the motel and relax. Wise choice. Tom and I had a great ride hitting some of the great roads on the SC/NC border as well as some of my favorites like 215 and 276. I took these next pics on at a stop off of 215 just south of the BRP.

.

After the Rally Tom and SIL headed back to Michigan. I heard later that they made it back home with no more crashes

I on the other hand headed West for my next destination, Eureka Springs Arkansas.

 

[klaviator]

Before continuing on with the story of my ride to Arkansas, I've got this pic and story that I can't remember when it happened but I think it was on this trip sometime before I went to SCRAP. So I'll just post it here.

I was riding at Deal's Gap and saw someone riding a BMW Funduro. It caught my attention because the Funduro had been covered in the motorcycle mags having just been released in Europe. It would not be sold in the U.S. for a few more years. I saw the bike again in Townsend and we ended up staying at the same motel.

The rider was from Germany and had shipped his bike over here. He even let me take it for a spin. It was nothing that memorable except that I had probably just ridden the first Funduro in America. I asked him why he decided to come ride here when there were all those great roads in the Alps. His answer was interesting. He said that Europe had some great roads but during the summer everyone was on vacation and the good roads all had heavy traffic. He loved the fact that around here there was so little traffic and it was so peaceful. The fact is that here in the southeast the popular roads do have a lot of traffic but get off the beaten path and traffic is very light.
So that put a little damper on one of my dream rides which was and still is to ride the Alps. However, having talked to many people who have ridden the Alps, there is some great riding there and like here, there is less traffic if you get off the more popular roads.

 

[klaviator]

On to Arkansas. Why Arkansas? I had read a lot of positive stuff about Arkansas. There had been a recent article in one of the major motorcycle mags about the great riding in Arkansas. The HSTA monthly newsletter/mag had some ride reviews from there. There had been many HSTA rallys there. There was one every year based in Mena, Ark at the end of the Talimena Drive. And most important I had a reason to go there at this time. ASTRA, which I had joined at the same time as the HSTA was having a rally there.

After SCRAP I rode 28 from Seneca all the way to Deal's Gap

. For those of you not familiar, this is a great road, probably one of the best in the country for sport riders with curve after curve and some great scenery as well. The curves start in South Carolina, go through Georgia and then all the way to Deal's Gap in North Carolina. Then I rode through Deal's Gap and enjoyed those 318 or so curves

. After that I'm not sure. I think I ended up just taking the Interstate through Tn and into Ark. I do remember that when I got into Ark the pavement was crappy concrete with one expansion joint after another for miles and miles and miles......Badump, badump badump....... My first impression of Arkansas was not that great.

Eventually I got off I-40 and got on a road I had read about, Rt 7. It was great to get off the interstate on on to a winding back road. However, after the great writeups I was a little disappointed. It wasn't really all that curvy. Maybe I had been spoiled by the great roads in the Smokies. This road might have been fun on a ZX-11 but at reasonable speeds you really didn't have to lean much to get around the curves. The scenery was OK and I did stop at this one interesting place.

.

To be fair, there were some nice sections of this road but it seems like there was always traffic when I was in those sections and I saw more law enforcement than I had expected on this road. I did explore some other roads which were much curvier but they mostly seemed to have slippery looking black and red material in patches on the road. Also the road surface was mostly pretty rough. So, I was still pretty disappointed. Add in the fact that it was very hot and I was wearing leather and was was questioning my choice of coming here. I finally got to my motel in Eureka Springs. I was early for the rally so I would have a day to explore before the rally.

 

[klaviator]

I did some riding around before the rally. I think it was one day but maybe it was more. I headed up in to Missouri and near Branson. I do remember there was a lot of water, one or more lakes. I looked for twisty back roads in Arkansas.

There were some nice roads but having just come from the Smokies nothing seemed all that great to me. I think this was in Arkansas but might have been Missouri:

The town of Eureka Springs itself was pretty cool. It was a combination of historic and just cool due to being built in a very hilly area.

Then the people showed up for the rally. ASTRA didn't actually put on the rally. They just piggy backed on someone else's rally. I don't know who actually put on the rally but it was basically a "Biker" rally with a band, BBQ, and party. There was an entry fee for this so I passed. At least the ASTRA members, all 10 or so of them were on sportier bikes.
I was looking forward to getting together with some of the ASTRA members for a ride the next day but it turned out their idea of a ride was to ride up to Branson to check out the Bass Pro Shop

At that point I deceded that this Rally and ASTRA was basically a waste of my time. I decided to check out and head south in search of some good riding. I had heard a lot about the famous Talimena Drive so that's where I was headed. There was on other rider interested in actually riding and he decided to join me. This guy had a sport touring bike, I think maybe a Honda Sabre, but it was in the shop. The shop gave him a loaner bike so he wouldn't miss this ride. The loaner was a Kawasaki Vulcan 750. Although this was a cruiser it was actually a very competent motorcycle for riding back roads.
So we headed south. I remember that we rode up Magazine Mtn, the highest point in Arkansas at 2753 feet. The roads on the Mtn where pretty good. I think the next two pics were taken on Magazine Mtn.

.

At some point we split up since we would be heading in different directions. I rode to Mena and saw the Talimena Drive snaking up the mountainside. I was Psyched, finally some really good riding

 

[klaviator]

So I started up the Talimena drive........and got stuck behind slow moving traffic

By the time I managed to pass I was nearly at the top of the mountain. Once at the top the road turned into a pretty much straight road with not much of a view

Where was this great road I had read about? Although the road was at the top of a long mountain like the BRP, it had trees on both side of the road blocking the view. After a while there were some curves as the road went down and back up at a gap where there was a crossroads. Then at the end in Oklahoma some curves as it went down at the end. It wasn't a bad road. It just didn't live up to the hype and I was disappointed. There I found a pretty rundown looking town. There were one or two fleabag looking motels so I continued on. On my map I saw a road going south that would take me towards Texarkana. So on I rode. This was a pretty nice road with sweeping curves through forest and a good road surface

Suddenly I came to an intersection in the middle of nowhere. The roads in all directions except behind me were dirt. There were no road signs so I had no idea where these roads led. It was getting late and I had no desire to wander around getting lost on dirt roads in the dark so I turned around. I made it back to the run down looking town and looked again at those motels. I decided to ride to Mena where I knew there were some nice motels and restaurants. Rather than going back over the Talimena drive I took the road just to the North of it which I figured would be faster.

As I rode it was getting dark and it started raining bugs. I would have to stop every 10 minutes and wipe the bugs from my face shield so I could see. I had a wet rag in a baggie which I used to clean my shield and a dry cotton rag to wipe off the water. After a while that wet rag was getting covered in dead bugs and bug guts. I was having trouble getting my shield clean as I my rag was just smearing around bug guts.
By the time I got to Mena it was dark and I was about as ready to get off my bike as I ever had been. I could barely see where I was going due to my filthy sheild.

I was so relieved to find a nice motel with a vacancy and a nearby restaurant. So I ate, cleaned off the bug guts and got a good nights sleep. The next morning I decided I had enough of Arkansas and it was time to leave. So I headed south to Texarkana where I took a right turn and rode into Texas.

What was in Texas? Nothing exciting, I just wanted to cross another state off my list of states I had ridden in. I didn't ride far before turning around and heading East. I was headed for Ft Walton Beach Florida. I don't remember details form this ride. It was hot, humid and boring. The crossing of the Mississippi river was pretty impressive. There was a rest area/scenic viewpoint the so I stopped, took a break, enjoyed the view and took this next pic.

I made it to Florida and spent some time with Debbi, Scott and her parents. Then it was time to head for Maryland. I rode up to TWO then continued on north. I might have ridden the BRP but don't remember anymore. I finally made it to Naval Air facility Washington where I checked into my next squadron, Fleet logistics Support Squadron 53 (VR-53).
Time for new adventures for the next three years while living in Maryland.
Before moving on, a few thoughts about Arkansas. If it seems like I had little good to say about that state, that's how I felt at that time and for a long time afterwards. However, my opinion would not stay that way forever. But that's way further ahead in this story......

 

[klaviator]

Before I go on some thoughts on the trip I had just completed. I started the trip in Michigan and finished it in Maryland. I rode in 16 different states (MI, OH, KY, TN, GA, SC, NC, AR, OK, TX, MS, AL, FL, VA, MD) and put 7800 miles on my EX500. I wish I had taken more pictures and maybe kept some sort of a log of events. To bad ADV wasn't around back then it would have been a great trip to do a ride report.

 

[klaviator]

After getting to Maryland it took a while to get settled in so we were "homeless" for a couple more months. It took a while to find a rental house we liked and could afford and when we found one it wasn't immediately available. But we did eventually get settled in. We rented a house in Bowie, MD. Since it was outside the DC beltway and so was work I could get to work without getting on any interstates or the dreaded beltway which was often a traffic nightmare. I also found that unlike Michigan there were some pretty nice roads nearby. I could go riding for an hour or 2 and hit some decent back roads. My commute to work even had a few nice roads so I often took the bike instead of the cage.

On the subject of commuting, I lived so close to work in Michigan it wasn't worth getting on the bike so I almost always drove. In Florida I almost always rode to work. My main commuting bike was my Venture while I used my EX500 for touring. However, the Venture was getting old and had developed some issues including a transmission that kept jumping out of gear. It also needed a new battery but i didn't want to buy a new battery for a bike that I wasn't planning on keeping. Fixing it would cost way more than it was worth. It was time to look for a replacement. I had already been looking for a while by test riding a number of bikes and thinking about what to replace it with. I wanted a bike that could comfortably tour two up but that I could also ride with my sportbike riding friends. What I really wanted was for someone to build something similar to my Venture but maybe 100 pounds lighter and without the crappy linked brakes the Venture came with. Unfortunately Yamaha had gone the opposite direction with the Venture by making it heavier and decreasing the cornering clearance. I think they may have discontinued it by then anyway.

So I had ridden and eliminated the Goldwing and ST1100. I had ridden a Concours and it was a possibility. I also considered getting a comfortable sportbike like a 750 Katana and putting hard luggage on it and a corbin seat and backrest. I went out and test rode a Honda Pacific Coast but decided it was a little underpowered and not enough storage for two up touring. I also considered a BMW R100GS. I had ridden one and ridden with other riders on one so I knew it could be ridden like a sportbike and the ability to ride dirt roads was really appealing. I just wasn't sure how well it would do two up touring.

I headed over to the nearest BMW dealer which was Bob's BMW in Jessup, MD. They had a fleet of demo bikes and encouraged taking them out on long test rides. So I tried a K100LT or K1100LT, I'm not sure which. In many ways it met my needs. It was a full dress touring bike but about 100 pounds lighter than the Venture and it was comfortable and handled well. Then I tried a new R1100GS which had just been introduced. I took it on a long solo ride and also long ride with Debbi on the back. She was happy with the comfort as long as I got a back rest for her. I was amazed at how well it handled.

So.....

And another pic with our house in the background.

 

[klaviator]

Here is the last picture of my Yamaha Venture. It was a good bike. I put around 72,000 miles on it in the 8 years I owned it and have a lot of great memories from the rides I did on it. I sold it to a local Yamaha dealer for a few hundred bucks. He was going to re sell it to a salvage yard.

 

[staticPort]

After getting to Maryland it took a while to get settled in so we were "homeless" for a couple more months. It took a while to find a rental house we liked and could afford and when we found one it wasn't immediately available. But we did eventually get settled in. We rented a house in Bowie, MD. Since it was outside the DC beltway and so was work I could get to work without getting on any interstates or the dreaded beltway which was often a traffic nightmare. I also found that unlike Michigan there were some pretty nice roads nearby. I could go riding for an hour or 2 and hit some decent back roads. My commute to work even had a few nice roads so I often took the bike instead of the cage.

On the subject of commuting, I lived so close to work in Michigan it wasn't worth getting on the bike so I almost always drove. In Florida I almost always rode to work. My main commuting bike was my Venture while I used my EX500 for touring. However, the Venture was getting old and had developed some issues including a transmission that kept jumping out of gear. It also needed a new battery but i didn't want to buy a new battery for a bike that I wasn't planning on keeping. Fixing it would cost way more than it was worth. It was time to look for a replacement. I had already been looking for a while by test riding a number of bikes and thinking about what to replace it with. I wanted a bike that could comfortably tour two up but that I could also ride with my sportbike riding friends. What I really wanted was for someone to build something similar to my Venture but maybe 100 pounds lighter and without the crappy linked brakes the Venture came with. Unfortunately Yamaha had gone the opposite direction with the Venture by making it heavier and decreasing the cornering clearance. I think they may have discontinued it by then anyway.

So I had ridden and eliminated the Goldwing and ST1100. I had ridden a Concours and it was a possibility. I also considered getting a comfortable sportbike like a 750 Katana and putting hard luggage on it and a corbin seat and backrest. I went out and test rode a Honda Pacific Coast but decided it was a little underpowered and not enough storage for two up touring. I also considered a BMW R100GS. I had ridden one and ridden with other riders on one so I knew it could be ridden like a sportbike and the ability to ride dirt roads was really appealing. I just wasn't sure how well it would do two up touring.

I headed over to the nearest BMW dealer which was Bob's BMW in Jessup, MD. They had a fleet of demo bikes and encouraged taking them out on long test rides. So I tried a K100LT or K1100LT, I'm not sure which. In many ways it met my needs. It was a full dress touring bike but about 100 pounds lighter than the Venture and it was comfortable and handled well. Then I tried a new R1100GS which had just been introduced. I took it on a long solo ride and also long ride with Debbi on the back. She was happy with the comfort as long as I got a back rest for her. I was amazed at how well it handled.

So.....

And another pic with our house in the background.

Ah, the “good old days!”
Early in 1995 I was riding an K75RT and even though it was more refined and better in many ways than the R80RT it had replaced I missed the old Boxer and made a deal over the phone with the nearest BMW dealer (about 2.5 hours away) to trade the K75 for an R100R. Upon arrival at the dealership to consummate the deal, I spied a red R1100GS just like yours in the back corner of the shop. I had seen one only once before and thought it might be the ugliest motorcycle ever, but on an impulse I asked if it might possibly be available for a test ride. The answer was yes, and I couldn’t stop grinning 15 minutes later when I returned. A couple hours later I was headed for home on “Big Red” and have had a GS of some form in the garage ever since.

 

[klaviator]

Ah, the “good old days!”
Early in 1995 I was riding an K75RT and even though it was more refined and better in many ways than the R80RT it had replaced I missed the old Boxer and made a deal over the phone with the nearest BMW dealer (about 2.5 hours away) to trade the K75 for an R100R. Upon arrival at the dealership to consummate the deal, I spied a red R1100GS just like yours in the back corner of the shop. I had seen one only once before and thought it might be the ugliest motorcycle ever, but on an impulse I asked if it might possibly be available for a test ride. The answer was yes, and I couldn’t stop grinning 15 minutes later when I returned. A couple hours later I was headed for home on “Big Red” and have had a GS of some form in the garage ever since.

When I first saw the R1100GS in a magazine I had the same reaction as you: "what an ugly bike!". It's looks grew on me and by the time I bought one I liked the way it looked. It was a couple of long test rides, without and then with Debbi on the back that sold me.

 

[klaviator]

Besides buying the GS I added a corbin seat with a backrest so Debbi would be comfortable. I also splurged and bought an Aerostich Roadcrafter two piece riding suit, top of the line Shoei helmet and some BMW Goretex boots. Here's a pic with my mom on the back.

There is an interesting story about the ride I took her on. I took her down some back roads then came to a red light. When the light turned green I thought I'd impress her a bit with the acceleration of the GS. One of the problems with the GS, especially with a Corbin Seat, is that the passenger sits really far back, over or maybe a bit behind the rear axle. You can probably guess what happened next. Yep, I wheelied across the intersection with my mom on the back

 

[klaviator]

When Spring came I decided to take some leave and head for my favorite riding area. I would end up doing several trips to the Smokies during my time in MD and my memory of most of those trips is pretty vague. I think that this first trip was the one were I met up with a small group from Indiana. These guys where all sportbike riders and I knew most of them through the HSTA. Luckily I did take a couple of pics and remember this particular trip pretty well.

here ended up being six of us in this group. The guy standing behind the naked CBR900RR was Peter. He was one of the guys I had met at TWO years earlier who had collided with his buddy also on a CBR900RR. Rather than replace the fairing on his bike he created this custom 900RR. He fabricated a new top triple clamp so he could mount regular handlebars. He also fabricated a new housing for the instrument panel. He made his living fabricating Indy Car parts. He also added a Corbin seat. The end result was a really comfortable wheelie monster. His buddy who he had collided with ended up getting the Ducati 916 in the pic. It had been modified for riding on the track. The other bikes in the group included a brand new GSXR750, and VFR800 and a CBR600F3. At that time the R1100GS was still new and exotic. Add in the other bikes in the group particularly the DUC and Custom 900RR and we had a pretty exotic group that attracted attention whenever we were stopped. Even the GSXR was pretty exotic being the first of the new redesigned lightweight GSXRs.

So we ended up riding for around 4 days and we rode hard. The interesting thing was that the four of us on the exotic bikes were very evenly matched. I never felt like I was at a disadvantage being on a "giant dirt bike" compared to the state of the art sportbikes. The CBR600 and especially VFR normally got left behind on the twisty roads.

Another pic of the group. I don't know why my GS wasn't in the pic.

One ride I remember was a blast on HWY 68 South of Tellico Plains. I remember that speeds were getting up around triple digits and it was the one time I started to lag behind a bit. We had a few other sportbike riders with us and one of them told me later that he decided to back up a bit because he got nervous following a "dirtbike" leaving a trail of sparks at 100MPH. So at one time I came up behind a car and decided to not waste any time passing while we were on a straight section of road. The interesting thing was in the middle of my pass was an elevated railroad track crossing. It make for an exciting time as I caught a bit of air at pretty high speed

The guy following me said he really thought I would crash.
Anyway it was a very exciting and adrenaline filled week of riding. It also showed me that I made a good choice buying the GS. It was a comfortable touring bike, it could handle some dirt roads and it was an outstanding sportbike. IMO it was probably the best handling street bike BMW made at that time.

Edit: A couple of more thoughts about this ride. I did swap bikes with a couple of the other riders. First I swapped with Peter and rode his naked CBR900RR. I really liked that bike. With the higher handlebar and Corbin seat it was very comfortable. It had very light and quick steering and of course a ton of power. I restrained my right wrist however and didn't do any wheelies

This bike was really before it's time as the naked sportbikes hadn't become popular yet. I think this bike might have also planted the seed in me for the future. I also think that maybe my GS planted a seed in Peter.

I also rode John's CBR600F3. The first thing I noticed was his very LOUD aftermarket exhaust. Even though I wore earplugs I couldn't see riding this thing for very long. The bars where a bit low for my taste. What might surprise many riders is that even though this bike was probably at least 125 pounds lighter than my GS, it had heavier steering. It was just more work to ride on a twisty road.

I was glad I got the GS.

 

[Punkinhead]

When Spring came I decided to take some leave and head for my favorite riding area. I would end up doing several trips to the Smokies during my time in MD and my memory of most of those trips is pretty vague. I think that this first trip was the one were I met up with a small group from Indiana. These guys where all sportbike riders and I knew most of them through the HSTA. Luckily I did take a couple of pics and remember this particular trip pretty well.

here ended up being six of us in this group. The guy standing behind the naked CBR900RR was Peter. He was one of the guys I had met at TWO years earlier who had collided with his buddy also on a CBR900RR. Rather than replace the fairing on his bike he created this custom 900RR. He fabricated a new top triple clamp so he could mount regular handlebars. He also fabricated a new housing for the instrument panel. He made his living fabricating Indy Car parts. He also added a Corbin seat. The end result was a really comfortable wheelie monster. His buddy who he had collided with ended up getting the Ducati 916 in the pic.

I used to ride with Peter occasionally and the guy who he collided with was probably Jim. They rode really, really fast and more than one noob crashed trying to hang with them. Jim raced 600 SS with WERA at the same time I was racing.

 

[klaviator]

I used to ride with Peter occasionally and the guy who he collided with was probably Jim. They rode really, really fast and more than one noob crashed trying to hang with them. Jim raced 600 SS with WERA at the same time I was racing.

Another case of "it's a small world"! Yes I think the other guy was Jim and he had the track prepped Ducati 916. The guy on the CBR600 was John. I don't remember any of the other names. Peter ended up buying a GS at some point and then moved back to Australia.

I really enjoyed riding with those guys because we rode at pretty much the same speeds. You will see some of those guys in this report again soon.

 

[Punkinhead]

I'm kind of surprised that picture isn't filled with VFRs. I rode a lot with the HSTA through the 90's and the VFR was by far the most popular bike.