Goodman4
Pressing on
I had a day off today and had planned an overnight ride Sunday and Monday to get my first oppotunity to do a decent ride on my new (to me) FJR. But then the weather forecast was all rain here and especially south, so I thought it was blown. I will ride in the rain, but get a little nervous and when I'm trying to get a feel for the bike on corners, I figured that's not what I'm needing to do.
Anyway, the rain kept delaying Sunday so I took off south for a short ride. I got sprinkled on right after I left but then it cleared up, so I kept going. Got to Dover TN and took 232 down to 147 (good twisty road) and had a blast on that. Still getting the feel of it but the FJR sure goes where you want it to go. Almost decided to go ahead with the trip but the wife said the storms were moving up from AL. So I looped around through Tennessee Ridge on and came back up through the LBL Trace. Usually tons of bikes on this road but I didn't see another bike probably because of the forecast.
190 miles Sunday
Thought I'd wake up to rain Monday but it was clear so after some errands, I took off in the afternoon knowing there were storms coming in from the west this time. I like riding to the storms so I can ride out of them if I run into them. So my path was Northwest.
I rode to Pennyrile State Forest via 91 and 139. This is where I dropped my VTX1300 on a corner in 2008, so it felt good to tell that corner to "bite me" on the FJR. Rode through the park which is really fun and headed on North. I decided I was going to go across the Cave-In Rock Ferry and ride the river in Southern IL.
I got to the ferry but could tell the storm was coming.
Right after I snapped this, the dust devils started swirling and the wind started gusting really hard. Called the wife and she said it was a strong storm with 50 mile gusts and would last a good while. I changed plans and headed south on 91 toward home. Easily rode out of the storm and instead of heading on home rode some back-roads over to 109 thinking I would do the Pennyrile State Forest again. Then the storm caught up with me.
By the time I got headed South again, the wind was up and the rain was hard. I was able to ride out of it again, and stopped a couple times to get some pics:
When I took this pic, I put my foot down in a hurry and almost dropped the bike over in the grass. I've got to get used to the weight balance on this thing. I think that's three times now.
So in summary, I got another 180 miles in today for a total of 370 for the two day trip which was not what I'd planned but a good learning experience. Loving the bike, though.
Anyway, the rain kept delaying Sunday so I took off south for a short ride. I got sprinkled on right after I left but then it cleared up, so I kept going. Got to Dover TN and took 232 down to 147 (good twisty road) and had a blast on that. Still getting the feel of it but the FJR sure goes where you want it to go. Almost decided to go ahead with the trip but the wife said the storms were moving up from AL. So I looped around through Tennessee Ridge on and came back up through the LBL Trace. Usually tons of bikes on this road but I didn't see another bike probably because of the forecast.
190 miles Sunday
Thought I'd wake up to rain Monday but it was clear so after some errands, I took off in the afternoon knowing there were storms coming in from the west this time. I like riding to the storms so I can ride out of them if I run into them. So my path was Northwest.
I rode to Pennyrile State Forest via 91 and 139. This is where I dropped my VTX1300 on a corner in 2008, so it felt good to tell that corner to "bite me" on the FJR. Rode through the park which is really fun and headed on North. I decided I was going to go across the Cave-In Rock Ferry and ride the river in Southern IL.
I got to the ferry but could tell the storm was coming.
Right after I snapped this, the dust devils started swirling and the wind started gusting really hard. Called the wife and she said it was a strong storm with 50 mile gusts and would last a good while. I changed plans and headed south on 91 toward home. Easily rode out of the storm and instead of heading on home rode some back-roads over to 109 thinking I would do the Pennyrile State Forest again. Then the storm caught up with me.
By the time I got headed South again, the wind was up and the rain was hard. I was able to ride out of it again, and stopped a couple times to get some pics:
When I took this pic, I put my foot down in a hurry and almost dropped the bike over in the grass. I've got to get used to the weight balance on this thing. I think that's three times now.
So in summary, I got another 180 miles in today for a total of 370 for the two day trip which was not what I'd planned but a good learning experience. Loving the bike, though.
Last edited by a moderator: