Top_Speed1
Panama Canal Crosser
The Penn-Run 2014 is in the books!
We had 20 bikes, mostly couples, very few solo riders including myself cuz nobody wants me!. The weather, roads, scenery and night life amongst our entire group were simply amazing. I say night life, because, Wellsboro is such a cool town, every pub or restaurant you would ever want is right across the street from our hotel(s). Most Rally's or Meets can't hold a candle to this place period. Speaking of candles, the entire median of this town is lit up with gas mantle light poles.... classy and unique for sure.
Those of you who wish to share your images please feel free to tag on, please caption names to faces and places if you can remember
Anybody who wants a full resolution image (like the group shot), mainly because these posted are compressed low-rez hosted on photobucket.
---My RR---
Since I'm less than 2hrs away, my ride-in plans incorporated a big west then south loop that ate up most of Saturday. I hit 3 heavy rain storms in that extended ride-in, but they all lasted like 5 mins and then it was sunny again.... those dang cumulus-nimbus's anyway. Upon arriving at the hotel I was warmly greeted by my Canadian friends and FJRPittsburgh. 1 block up at the lodge, everybody was libation partaking and this 800 LED-Light bohemouth stole the show....
Then another 5min rain blast hit, some of us took cover into the Lodges loungy area. Yup, we brought our coolers right in, made ourselves at home and I noticed the hotel owners were not even looking our way. BTW- very biker friendly town, not just the hotel!
After rounds and rounds of beers (who's counting?) a smaller group of us walked across the street into one of the towns Steak Houses. I bring my cooler right in, hey, this town is like homey
Get a Room! ....and they did. (Mike "Wine Guy" and his gorgeous friend Donna)
Our Sat nite little dinner group, that's Tim (madmudder) way in the back/right wearing Billy's (yamafitters) Yamaha hat. That lid sure gets around! Mike (wnyfjr) is starboard from me along with his lovely wifey Laura. PS- Show up to their tech day June 7th (Eden NY).... she's making lotz of finger-foods for all you roughnecks!... It will be a great time 4-sure
Next day, breakfast at the Wellsboro Diner, I had the great company w Jeff (FJRPittsburgh) at my booth. Really down to Earth guy and I've rode a few other rides with him before as well.
Our main day ride, I had everybody meet at the Penn-Wells Lodge Parking lot for a 9am KSU. Well, we had more and more trickle in form a few different hotels but it wasn;t bad. The bad part is/was... I had no other Group Leaders other than myself who wanted to take a group (at this time anyway). This area being like my backyard and everybody knew it pretty much self appointed me as the WHOLE group leader.... well, I had an idea!
...yep, hand glide them out
.....no, just kidding of course.
Here's the 272mi loop that I made in BaseCamp, it was morphed from my prior rides and experience down there. It featured a little bit of everything... high vista sceneries, Rte 414 w almost adventure riding but still (barely) asphalt below us, sweeps, swoops, of course twisties, assorted bridges, creek beds everywhere AND the one thing I've taken from this ride before was that the traffic was so minimal it was a REAL JOY to take. Memorial Day Weekend had me a bit nervous however. Well, it didn't disappoint me (and I hope to others as well) one bit. The traffic was a tad more than usual, but still I would call it few to even none on a lot of the roads.
So I led 17 bikes to this first photo-op stop [C on map] which was about 60mi away from Wellsboro. After Hyner-View, (whole group pic'd minus maybe a couple bathroom attendees and I'm not seeing all the Canadians eh?) after....I figured I could get some groups bonded together w riding skills/desires... and I did
Mike was itching to do a flight on one of those gliders, Donna wasn't liking the height quite as much.
So the ones who wanted to go out in the first group with myself (as a little more aggressive riding) were....
(L-R) Bud, Dan, John, Michelle, Jeff, Mike.
Bud (blk shirt), Michelle and John
John works for Hershey and brought a whole side case full of chocolates and candy for everyone... nice refreshers during the stops and nightly parking lot parties. You guys are AWESOME! ...but apparently nobody in our group pays any attention to signs
My buddy Dan from Horseheads NY!
Lunch Stop in Weedville PA (almost halfway thru the loop), Fish Sand for $6.99?, I felt like I should'a worn a mask! Thanks to Jeff (FJRPittsbugh) for picking up my tab as well!!
We saw 1 cop the whole trip, in St. Mary's and that's normal on these isolated routes/roads. After a failed attempt at an ice creame log cabin place (line was too long!) then some twistes and an Observatory Campground (interesting!) we hit the east side of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon [K on the map]
Returning the great days ride, we do our parking lot mingle once again. Yes, beers are in hand, and, I find a Harley woman coming up to me saying how she loves the sleek Beemer 6-cylinder!. I quickly make friends and I ask her to show me her ride.... Damn!, I was expecting some little lightweight HD... nope!.... I reciprocated the praise and afterwards I thought... wow, that was a first! (to have an HD chick break ice with complimenting my bike).... maybe b/c it wasn't a Jap-anese bike? Anyway, kinda kewl, so was she.
Walking the downtown, we stumble upon a beauty! (so much so,I forgot the name already!)
(L-R) Michelle, John, Bud, Mike, Laura, Donna, Mike (suck in that gut Mikey!)
This part has got to be a highlight at least for us techie geeks. I find out Mike (Wine Guy) use to be a projectionists (like myself!) at a theater many moons ago. Mike quickly makes friends with the projectionists at the Town Movie Complex, introduces the rest of us and it's now on peeps!. We (well, are pretty all buzzed up) get the FULL Monte tour. He guides us to the (Now) Digital Projo's (running a movie as we got the scoop!) and in a couple different theater rooms. We got such a detailed tour, I felt as if I should pay the guy. The females in our group were not bored either, there was just so much great history and facts being spewed from this guy, who clearly spoke from the heart. Awesome, awesome guy, we may have to visit him again next year! (Mike's got his cell number, that's how personal this whole evening transformed into).
We then went to Mike (Wine Guys) room to finish off the cooler. We failed, it was 1am and I through in the towel. I left Mike & Laura with Mike & Donna to finish up.
---Ride Home Day---
I got 5 bikes to follow me back N/West, plotting a course for another Canyon ride, but this time it's... "the Grand Canyon of the East!"
Lunch stop in Portageville NY
Laura & Mike (wnyfjr) at our first of 4 stops within the park (and this is shortchanging this awesome place by ten-fold!)
All in all, awesome trip, routes and most of all... unbelievably great and appreciative people!!. I had much praise for this trip (thank you everybody again! and I really, really appreciate it!), but... what made it successful & fun was you! Look for another Meetup/Rally soon, but I will bow out at least for another year. Then if popularity has it... we'll do it again with some new/different twists! (that Theater guy tho has to be revisited!).
Sad Note
Wayne (from NJ) could not partake in the main ride. He was going to take a group with him so I kinda was relying on that. And, he actually was the instigator of all this as a "Spring Ride". I just came in as the one who has been in this Penn area so frequently that it quickly migrated onto me. I bow to him as he kick started all this, and, I am very sad he had the ole "Metzler Z8 quick thread show syndrome" and had to bow out. Sorry Wayne, and I was hoping to see you and Patty after the ride but I guess you had already checked out. Only other thing possibly that was a "wish I did" was get some pics of 'Beemer the Dog' and him riding. The helmet "Bad to the Bone" should (picture wise) be in my collection. Everything else was premo, thanks everybody, you made it well worth the planning and effort. I will do it again!
Many safe and happy times ahead, wishing you all the very best!
-KJ (top_speed1)
We had 20 bikes, mostly couples, very few solo riders including myself cuz nobody wants me!. The weather, roads, scenery and night life amongst our entire group were simply amazing. I say night life, because, Wellsboro is such a cool town, every pub or restaurant you would ever want is right across the street from our hotel(s). Most Rally's or Meets can't hold a candle to this place period. Speaking of candles, the entire median of this town is lit up with gas mantle light poles.... classy and unique for sure.
Those of you who wish to share your images please feel free to tag on, please caption names to faces and places if you can remember
---My RR---
Since I'm less than 2hrs away, my ride-in plans incorporated a big west then south loop that ate up most of Saturday. I hit 3 heavy rain storms in that extended ride-in, but they all lasted like 5 mins and then it was sunny again.... those dang cumulus-nimbus's anyway. Upon arriving at the hotel I was warmly greeted by my Canadian friends and FJRPittsburgh. 1 block up at the lodge, everybody was libation partaking and this 800 LED-Light bohemouth stole the show....
Then another 5min rain blast hit, some of us took cover into the Lodges loungy area. Yup, we brought our coolers right in, made ourselves at home and I noticed the hotel owners were not even looking our way. BTW- very biker friendly town, not just the hotel!
After rounds and rounds of beers (who's counting?) a smaller group of us walked across the street into one of the towns Steak Houses. I bring my cooler right in, hey, this town is like homey
Get a Room! ....and they did. (Mike "Wine Guy" and his gorgeous friend Donna)
Our Sat nite little dinner group, that's Tim (madmudder) way in the back/right wearing Billy's (yamafitters) Yamaha hat. That lid sure gets around! Mike (wnyfjr) is starboard from me along with his lovely wifey Laura. PS- Show up to their tech day June 7th (Eden NY).... she's making lotz of finger-foods for all you roughnecks!... It will be a great time 4-sure
Next day, breakfast at the Wellsboro Diner, I had the great company w Jeff (FJRPittsburgh) at my booth. Really down to Earth guy and I've rode a few other rides with him before as well.
Our main day ride, I had everybody meet at the Penn-Wells Lodge Parking lot for a 9am KSU. Well, we had more and more trickle in form a few different hotels but it wasn;t bad. The bad part is/was... I had no other Group Leaders other than myself who wanted to take a group (at this time anyway). This area being like my backyard and everybody knew it pretty much self appointed me as the WHOLE group leader.... well, I had an idea!
Here's the 272mi loop that I made in BaseCamp, it was morphed from my prior rides and experience down there. It featured a little bit of everything... high vista sceneries, Rte 414 w almost adventure riding but still (barely) asphalt below us, sweeps, swoops, of course twisties, assorted bridges, creek beds everywhere AND the one thing I've taken from this ride before was that the traffic was so minimal it was a REAL JOY to take. Memorial Day Weekend had me a bit nervous however. Well, it didn't disappoint me (and I hope to others as well) one bit. The traffic was a tad more than usual, but still I would call it few to even none on a lot of the roads.
So I led 17 bikes to this first photo-op stop [C on map] which was about 60mi away from Wellsboro. After Hyner-View, (whole group pic'd minus maybe a couple bathroom attendees and I'm not seeing all the Canadians eh?) after....I figured I could get some groups bonded together w riding skills/desires... and I did
Mike was itching to do a flight on one of those gliders, Donna wasn't liking the height quite as much.
So the ones who wanted to go out in the first group with myself (as a little more aggressive riding) were....
(L-R) Bud, Dan, John, Michelle, Jeff, Mike.
Bud (blk shirt), Michelle and John
My buddy Dan from Horseheads NY!
Lunch Stop in Weedville PA (almost halfway thru the loop), Fish Sand for $6.99?, I felt like I should'a worn a mask! Thanks to Jeff (FJRPittsbugh) for picking up my tab as well!!
We saw 1 cop the whole trip, in St. Mary's and that's normal on these isolated routes/roads. After a failed attempt at an ice creame log cabin place (line was too long!) then some twistes and an Observatory Campground (interesting!) we hit the east side of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon [K on the map]
Returning the great days ride, we do our parking lot mingle once again. Yes, beers are in hand, and, I find a Harley woman coming up to me saying how she loves the sleek Beemer 6-cylinder!. I quickly make friends and I ask her to show me her ride.... Damn!, I was expecting some little lightweight HD... nope!.... I reciprocated the praise and afterwards I thought... wow, that was a first! (to have an HD chick break ice with complimenting my bike).... maybe b/c it wasn't a Jap-anese bike? Anyway, kinda kewl, so was she.
Walking the downtown, we stumble upon a beauty! (so much so,I forgot the name already!)
(L-R) Michelle, John, Bud, Mike, Laura, Donna, Mike (suck in that gut Mikey!)
This part has got to be a highlight at least for us techie geeks. I find out Mike (Wine Guy) use to be a projectionists (like myself!) at a theater many moons ago. Mike quickly makes friends with the projectionists at the Town Movie Complex, introduces the rest of us and it's now on peeps!. We (well, are pretty all buzzed up) get the FULL Monte tour. He guides us to the (Now) Digital Projo's (running a movie as we got the scoop!) and in a couple different theater rooms. We got such a detailed tour, I felt as if I should pay the guy. The females in our group were not bored either, there was just so much great history and facts being spewed from this guy, who clearly spoke from the heart. Awesome, awesome guy, we may have to visit him again next year! (Mike's got his cell number, that's how personal this whole evening transformed into).
We then went to Mike (Wine Guys) room to finish off the cooler. We failed, it was 1am and I through in the towel. I left Mike & Laura with Mike & Donna to finish up.
---Ride Home Day---
I got 5 bikes to follow me back N/West, plotting a course for another Canyon ride, but this time it's... "the Grand Canyon of the East!"
Lunch stop in Portageville NY
Laura & Mike (wnyfjr) at our first of 4 stops within the park (and this is shortchanging this awesome place by ten-fold!)
All in all, awesome trip, routes and most of all... unbelievably great and appreciative people!!. I had much praise for this trip (thank you everybody again! and I really, really appreciate it!), but... what made it successful & fun was you! Look for another Meetup/Rally soon, but I will bow out at least for another year. Then if popularity has it... we'll do it again with some new/different twists! (that Theater guy tho has to be revisited!).
Sad Note
Many safe and happy times ahead, wishing you all the very best!
-KJ (top_speed1)
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