Penguin1300 Invades Yzf600r Rally

[penguin1300]

This past weekend, I loaded up the FJR and attended the YZF600R / Ron "Cyclenerd" Paulsen Memorial Ride in Stecoah, NC. We stayed at the IronHorse Lodge and rode Deal's Gap a few times, Cherohala Skyway, Hwy 28, etc.

SOooo, I know what some of you are already thinking. Why the hell did you goto the YZF rally? Well, I used to have a YZF before the FJR. Besides, the weekend was more about Cyclenerd then the actual bike. Along with at least 15 YZFs, there was also a V-Rod, 'busa, R1, CBR 600RR, ZX-9R, and my FJR.

I left Huntsville, AL Friday morning and got home Sunday afternoon with 820mi added to the odo. Not that many miles. However, 400 of those miles were done on the twistiest roads on the East coast! Floggin' a FJR through that is VERY tiring.

Here are some of the pics from the weekend:

My campsite w/ bike.

Catchin' Justin coming through the Gap

Jason havin' some fun on the Gap

All attending bikes at the top of the Gap

Your's Truly coming through

Notables from the weekend:

Friend Matt showing the off-road capabilities of the YZF after Justin tapps him on the shoulder while riding. Matt damn near jumped off the bike, took a little ride through the grass. It was priceless

Quote: "Holy shit you can get through there on that FJR. It was awesome seeing the bags about to drag!"

Quote: "I don't get it...I just don't know how I couldn't keep up on YZF. And you looked soo smooth and relaxed as you pulled away!"

Oh, rest of the weekend pictures are at:

https://www.nofone.org/penguin1300/gallery/album50/

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Thanks so much, great post. The scenery there is wonderful...I always enjoy being in your region.

 

[FJRocha]

Very cool pictures... Thank you,

Dude, the ones named "Snapshot" are very dynamic and show the capabilities of the FJR, it would be great if they were a bit larger. You should post them here.

 

[penguin1300]

the ones named "snapshot" are shots taken by David from killboy.com. The only way I got those little images was to grab screen shots and then crop them down. He wants $5/picture for the full-size versions. A bit out of my price range.

I tried to get some of the YZF guys to take pictures of me; however, they apparently almost got run over by an out-of-control sportbike that went through the gravel right beside them just before I came through. David (from killboy.com), who was in another location, was the only person who managed to get me caught on (digital) film.

I'm hoping I can make it to the FJR EOM in September. However, I have work travel that weekend at this moment. I'm really hoping the work travel will change that will let me go. To ride in that area is a dream

Here are my three favorites from the killboy collection...

 

[penguin1300]

I see my above link was sorta broken. The link to the pictures is now correct ... giving you the proper slideshow features one would expect. Sorry about the broken link earlier.

The correct URL is https://www.nofone.org/penguin1300/gallery/album50/

 

[zorkler]

how are you hooking the tent to the bike ?

 

[penguin1300]

how are you hooking the tent to the bike ?

I stuff my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad into a duffle and then strap the duffle to the luggage rack. I put a towel over the luggage rack to protect it from scratches and such.

BTW, the server housing my images got hit by lightning last night. A new one is already online; however, it will take DNS upto 24 hours to proprogate the new IP. You should see the pictures auto-magically re-appear when DNS updates.

Once my server is back to 100%, I'll post a picture of everything packed on the bike. I think it looks pretty tight.

 

[penguin1300]

Ok, here is my setup on a lesser weekend when I only really needed one hard case. My sleeping bag went in the empty hard case. Only difference from my "normal" is that the duffle is alittle fuller.

 

[JREW]

Great pictures