SEBSPEED Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Let me start by saying Thanks to every one who came out, I enjoyed meeting(and re-meeting!!) all of you! This all started last year with me being a lonely VFR rider here in the Catskills of NY... plenty of good roads to ride, but no VFR's to share them with! So what do I do? Invite everybody over! Last year we had a nice turnout despite the chilly morning, and we made a nice tour after having breakfast. I've never seen so many red bikes in one place! :goofy: Catskill Mtn VFR Ride 10-7-2006 013.jpg Chris, Scott, Martina, Mike(Hawk GT), Pete, Ralph and Dino at the Oneonta Church in Hunter, NY Seeing how happy everyone was at the end of the ride, I knew I'd be hosting another day. I'd like to make this an annual event, just need a little more planning and coordination on my part to make things run smoothly... more on that later. I started a feeler thread here, and pretty soon it got to be a big crowd! I kept the route short keeping in mind that most would be traveling quite a ways to attend, I came up with a nice loop of ~125 miles, with a little something for everybody. Two weeks before the ride PhatPat helped me scout the route and make sure the burgers at the lunch stop were up to par (details HERE). :goofy: We had a blast and found a really nice set of turns which would later be named "Baby Gap" by mellowyellow(thanks Anthony!). I knew then that the 'real' ride would be great... and it was! The route: 90% backroads from start to finish, a little highway to 'connect the dots' and mix in some scenery... The day of... Tom(motorhead1977) met me early for breakfast with Sharon, and Andrew(kb2wji). Tom & Sharon, and Andrew at Betty's Too Diner in Lee It all starts with breakfast! Tom, I gotta admit had me envious with his clean '83 750, God I can't wait to get mine back together! :wub: After eating and discussing Bohn armor and brake levers, we headed over to the meet point to see just how many viffers were showing up... Filling up the lot at Exit 21 VFR's taking over the Park & Ride area at Exit 21, at the start of the '07 Fall ride. Rice(Dmitry) and friend at Exit 21 Another shot of the Park & Ride meet area. While waiting for Dan, who never made it <_< (just kidding Dan, we're not mad :goofy: ), we figured out our groups and went over some hand signals/things to do in an emergency/etc. We broke up into two groups with me in the lead and Tom heading up the second group of 8. About fifteen minutes into the ride, we got separated. :unsure: That's the planning I mentioned that I need to work on. I forgot to mention to my sweeper that he should give me a thumbs up when he saw everyone in front AND the leader behind him... another big fault on my part was that I did not have directions written out to give to Tom, it surely would have helped... I'll get it next time, I swear! :warranty: But, all's well that ends well, and when I finally got in touch with Tom and heard that he had found his way to the first scenic stop, the fast group fired up and made chase! We hit some nice curves and made it down county route 39 without any traffic jams like on the pre ride with Pat... I'll let someone else explain the intermission...*coughanthonycough* :D (ps - about a half mile behind you on the right is a NYS Trooper sub-station... :warranty: :o ) Here's a quick video of part of Rt.23C, on the way to the five state lookout. Please excuse the flopping lens cap, I pulled it off as an afterthought and couldn't exactly look down to tuck it away, sorry. :joystick: As an aside, I'm working on modding the tank mount for the camera so I can get more of the road and less of the tach... but it is kinda cool to see myself turning my head into the curves... lol. On to my personal favorite pics of the day, all the bikes gathered at the lookout. Last year was a sea of red, this year I think we did a pretty damn good job of breaking up the red! Look at all these beautiful bikes! :thumbsup: What a lineup! The group re-groups at the 5-state lookout off of Rt. 23C near Windham, NY. Nice view... motorhead1977 and mellowyellow near Windham, NY. Some high-res: http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/SEBSP...ills2007007.jpg To make up some lost time, we didn't stay long, but rather got back in the saddles for some more back road action. We made our way over to route 23A to savor the new pavement there, and we caught up with quite a bit of leaf peeper traffic. Our sweepers graciously blocked the road for us at the bottom of the hill, and we took a slow start to let one ahead get out of our way, but we still caught up to a few cars, and it was for the best anyway as there were a lot of pedestrians out enjoying the hiking. On a non-holiday weekend or even during the week, this road is a fav of mine for the lack of traffic and great turns. The vid is ok until we got stuck in traffic about 3mins in, I left the end on for scenery... I unfortunately don't have any pics of lunch, but I'm sure someone does? :unsure: After lunch some of the guys decided it was time to get a start on the ride home, so we bid farewell and headed for Woodstock and the "Baby Gap". I'm not going to get too specific here, but I will share a little video and a pic... anyone who wants more details will have to pm me to set up a date for a ride there... :P Again, it was great meeting all you guys(and girl!), and seeing again those of you that I've met before. I had a great time and I hope we can get together more often, next October is just too far away, ya know! Baby Gap :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer PhatPat33 Posted October 9, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 9, 2007 Nice job with the trip report and the videos, Seb. That many VFR's being lined up in one spot is just.... amazing looking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 Nice job with the trip report and the videos, Seb. That many VFR's being lined up in one spot is just.... amazing looking! Thanks Pat, and it sure does look "fuller" to say the least. Wish you could have joined us, but it was nice to run the route with just the two of us too! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enzed_viffer Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Nice job, and great report Seb! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rice Posted October 9, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 9, 2007 Seb, Thanks for a great write-up :thumbsup: We should make this a bianual thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 We should make this a biannual thing. We should, it's a lot cheaper than driving to TexasMac... I didn't really just say that, did I??? :unsure: I <3 riding in the South!! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer YoshiHNS Posted October 9, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 9, 2007 is it just me or did that one car in the second vid brake check the rider as they were coming out of that one turn? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowyellow Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 quick intermission explanation, as Seb said earlier,we were seperated from the second group.... and while waiting for Seb to located the second group, the mixture of a hot humid day and sun beaming on my head in a full suit made me want to get on the bike and ride :unsure: , so I did up and down the road several times and cooled myself off. luckily for me I am finding out now and not then about that Trooper sub-station :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwade277 Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Great ride report! Man I am so bummed I could not make it. Next time I promise :thumbsup: Glad you all had a safe fun ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shinigami Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Wonderful report- I grew up in that part of the country, Lake George actually, and autumn is the only time of year I really miss about the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer thx1139 Posted October 9, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 9, 2007 Seb, Pat, et-all: dammit, I miss U guys. I gotta tell you though, since I've now been living in NC I'm only hours from the Smokeys and the most awesome roads. However, since I've been battling I77 traffic everyday to/from work for a 90+ mile round trip, I now look forward to the weekend when I don't have to ride anywhere! Oh, the Tragic Irony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poncho Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 I am sorry I missed it, the weather up here super sucked. I will mark it down for next year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 Seb, Pat, et-all: dammit, I miss U guys.I gotta tell you though, since I've now been living in NC I'm only hours from the Smokeys and the most awesome roads. However, since I've been battling I77 traffic everyday to/from work for a 90+ mile round trip, I now look forward to the weekend when I don't have to ride anywhere! Oh, the Tragic Irony Wow, that is ironic. I am sorry I missed it, the weather up here super sucked. I will mark it down for next year. Or next weekend? :warranty: The F4i still needs a headlight and blinkers though... come to think of it, bring your viffer's mirrors with you too... :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Nice report Seb, I'm glad you all had a great safe and fun ride. Maybe I could make it to the next one. It was my 7th anniversary and the misses would have been very disappointed if I went riding and not spending a romantic dinner with her and what ever comes after that :rolleyes: Nice pic's, love the line-up shot :thumbsup: - where is the vid :warranty: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 I know some of you guys have other pictures to add... please do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Rice Posted October 10, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 10, 2007 Nice report Seb, I'm glad you all had a great safe and fun ride. Maybe I could make it to the next one. It was my 7th anniversary and the misses would have been very disappointed if I went riding and not spending a romantic dinner with her and what ever comes after that :rolleyes: Nice pic's, love the line-up shot :thumbsup: - where is the vid :pissed: What kind of excuse it that? I had to postpone my own birthday party! :goofy: :goofy: :goofy: And whatever comes after that :warranty: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Veefer Madness Posted October 10, 2007 Share Posted October 10, 2007 Nice report Seb, I'm glad you all had a great safe and fun ride. Maybe I could make it to the next one. It was my 7th anniversary and the misses would have been very disappointed if I went riding and not spending a romantic dinner with her and what ever comes after that :rolleyes: Nice pic's, love the line-up shot :thumbsup: - where is the vid :warranty: I couldn't see the video either in the original post either, Sebbo No linky to dinky! :joystick: Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 The links must have been broken or lost when the thread was moved into the Featured forum; unfortunately Youtube.com is blocked here at work, I will patch the videos back in later this evening. Stay tuned!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 Fixed the video links, should be one click away now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer BonusVFR Posted October 10, 2007 Member Contributer Share Posted October 10, 2007 Thanks for the report! I have to get my VFR back East! When will the weather be good in 2008? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 10, 2007 Author Share Posted October 10, 2007 Thanks for the report!I have to get my VFR back East! When will the weather be good in 2008? Start of the season varies for me; depends on how much salt/sand gets thrown down on the roads. I don't mind the salt so much as finding a sandbar in my lane - been there, dumped that... :joystick: Memorial Day weekend is usually a safe bet, but the weekend after is better to miss the traffic, we get overridden by Harleys Mem. day weekend. It gets hot and humid in July and August, but never really over 95-100, those days are rare. First week in June is always nice, and the kiddies are still in school, so less traffic. :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
googus Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 I wish I could have made it to this great gathering of VFRs. Greta write up guys. When you guys get back to the Hawks I will make it a point to go. Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellowyellow Posted October 11, 2007 Share Posted October 11, 2007 hey Seb did you mount that camera that low so nobody can read the street names of baby gap? :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEBSPEED Posted October 11, 2007 Author Share Posted October 11, 2007 hey Seb did you mount that camera that low so nobody can read the street names of baby gap? :P yup! :P Nah, I need to space the camera off the mount some more. Just need to figure out the thread of the bolt for the camera, then I can get a 1" longer bolt and make a spacer to go between the mount and the camera. Although it is kinda cool to see myself move around on the bike(in the reflection on the tach), I'd rather see the road than the speedo! :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 12, 2007 Share Posted October 12, 2007 So what kind of cam and mount are you using SEB? I like the peg scraping in the second vid at 2:59. I still haven't gone that far over yet <_< . Guess I'm too skeered to go that far :rolleyes:. That looked like some great riding though. Too bad it's all the way up there in NY! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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