Josh
Registered
WALL OF TEXT WARNING!
I was sitting around with my girlfriend early last week scheming on how best to spend the weekend since the kids were going to be with their other parents. I'd been wanting to make it down to Shady Valley, TN, to check out the stretch they call "The Striped Snake" (421 The Snake - Home - Ride "The Snake", Stay in one our mountain log cabins, or the House on Watauga Lake) for a couple of years, but the last time I tried to put this together as a cruiser run with friends we all waved off because of a monsoon that was making its way through on the planned weekend. So anyway, Ali was game and we decided to give it a shot on the Hayabusa to see if we could realistically handle long hauls on it together.
I decided on Wednesday night that I had enough tread left on the front tire to do about 1500 miles, so I figured we'd be good for the 900 or so I had planned for the weekend. But it nagged at me and I kept debating it, and I talked myself right into changing it on Thursday night. I had the tire already, so better safe than sorry, right? That proved to be the correct decision, because I had a nice little pressure bulge in the center tread that I hadn't noticed until I got the tire off. On the downside, I scuffed up the back of the front fender getting it off and back on. :/ I took the front reflectors off while I was in there.
So the plan was to blast down I-81 (ugh) to Wytheville, VA, and stay at the Best Western after work on Friday night, then head out on Saturday morning to do a little loop down into Tennessee to include the stretch of 421 between Mountain City and South Holston Lake with stops at the Shady Valley Country Store and Backbone Rock Tunnel before ending the day at my parents' home near Chapmanville, WV. The return trip from Chapmanville to Martinsburg was going to be mostly two-lane right up the gut of the WV mountains.
The trip down 81 on Friday night was straight Interstate plowing. Long, straight, and boring. Truck traffic was pretty heavy, so we spent a lot of time bottled up at around 90 with two trucks running side by side. The wind shear was misery squared and made for a very wobbly ride, so I was pooped by the time we made Wytheville. We picked up a Scala Rider Q2 Multiset intercom system on clearance at a local shop (wanted the Q2 Pros, but these were $150 cheaper), which proved to make the trip more enjoyable for both of us. The audio quality for music wasn't as good as with my earbuds, but it was nice to be able to have some conversation during the long riding hours and I even took a couple of calls from my daughter. The audio was very clear up until about 70 MPH, but it was a muddled mess for anything but intercom above that. We spent a good part of the weekend above that, but still managed without too much aggravation.
Saturday morning we had the continental breakfast and headed out at around 10 AM. There was a bit of road work and I got caught up in conversation and noticed about ten miles after I got on 81 that I was seeing mileage signs for Roanoke. Go me. So we did a U-turn and headed south for a change and exited 81 onto SR 622 at Atkins, Va. The ride down 16 into Volney was pretty pleasant, but things got really interesting when we picked up 58 heading west toward Damascus. 15 MPH switchbacks through some gorgeous mountain scenery, which was fun but took a little doing to get the Tourabusa through. There was a bit of gravel in the turns, so that's definitely something to watch out for on that stretch. But we had plenty of opportunities to kiss our own asses around some of those turns.
We stopped at the entrance to Grayson Highlands State Park to water the poison ivy and talked to an older couple who pulled in on a Boulevard, and the lady quipped as we watched three motards haul past that they were "cruisin' for a bruisin'". Thirty minutes later, I dealt with a surprise decreasing radius turn with a shrimp tail at the end to be greeted with the view of a motard being loaded onto a flatbed with one of Virginia's Finest sitting behind the truck with his lights going. I didn't have a chance to get a good look, but the bike on the flatbed didn't seem banged up. I am guessing he got popped for reckless and towed, but we did see an ambulance heading into Damascus a little later. I don't know which I really feel is the better option, but I hope dude was okay. They were fun to watch prior to that.
We picked up 91 South across the VA/TN border heading into Mountain City, TN, and Ali spotted a few signs advertising pie at The Tributary restaurant in Mountain City. We were both getting pretty hungry, so off we went. The open-faced prime rib sandwich with sweet potato french fries and a sweet tea were frickin' excellent, and Ali said her veggie sub was pretty good. We capped it off with some delicious peanut butter pie and a couple of coffees, then set out to ride the road we had come to see.
421 from Mountain City to South Holston Lake was just awesome riding. The turns were a little more forgiving than I remember those at Deals Gap being, but the road was still a bit technical and had some nice switchbacks and nowhere near the traffic you see at the Gap. We saw a few folks tearing it up, but we did spend some time behind a few cruisers who weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Luckily there were some stretches where I could get around, and I finally managed to chop the elephant off at the knees on my Metz Sportech M5 Interacts. The return trip to the Shady Valley Country Store from the turnaround at South Holston Lake was spent behind a Q-tip in a Blazer who hammered past the few turnouts at a scorching 25 MPH, so the return trip kinda sucked but I didn't want to make time to do more than one pass on 421. Just before the store, she decided to turn right onto a gravel drive but didn't bother to signal and instead just jammed on her binders at the last second. I found out how much Ali weighs with a couple of Gs behind her, and that I need better brakes on that scoot.
The stop at the store was pretty uneventful. There were a few folks standing around their bikes out front talking, but the atmosphere wasn't anything near the circus that you find at the CRoT on the weekend at Deals Gap. I wanted to hit the store to get a sticker, but the rest of the merchandise was so-so. We didn't like any of the shirts, which kinda bummed me out since shirts start conversations on the road pretty often. Ali has that covered in the photos, lol. We left the store to head up 133 north to Backbone Rock Tunnel, but again I took a wrong turn and ran a little stretch of 421 again before turning around and getting on 133. Ali gave me a little crap about my love of U-turns. 133 was a pleasant ride and Backbone Tunnel was a good stop by a stream that we might have taken a dip in had it been a bit warmer. We encountered a Herbie parked nearby, so of course I had to get a photo. After our little break at Backbone Rock, we picked up 91 again headed north out of Damascus and then took I-81 to Marion, VA.
Heading north on 16 from Marion, past Hungry Mother State Park, and over the ridges into Tazewell, the road is very narrow and the turns are packed in densely. The majority of these turns over the ridges are SLOW switchbacks, so this is definitely not a ride on which anyone should be trying to make time. It's definitely a brake-check, and there has been an abundance of loose gravel scattered in the tight switchbacks the times I've been across (this time included). On the other hand, the scenery is gorgeous. By the time we made Tazewell, we started fretting a little over the time (in part because I lost the route and somehow got off 16 in Tazewell and onto 19) and decided to just hole up at the Quality Inn in Bluefield, WV, for the night instead of taking the 98-mile detour the wrong way to spend the night at my parents' home. We ended up having a little play time at the hotel and we hung out with a ladies' bowling league team for more than enough beers.
We awoke Sunday morning to a fair amount of soreness, fatigue, and a mild hangover for me, but a second continental breakfast and a couple of coffees had us back up to snuff in short order. We loaded up the bags and headed out for home at around 10:30 AM. Route 20 out of Princeton, WV, to I-64 was a pleasant ride, but I was getting a good deal of head buffeting at 90ish on I-64 so we took the Route 60 exit for Sam Black Church and rode 60 on over to Lewisburg to pick up 219 north.
219 is always a crowd-pleaser, with a little of something for everyone. Blast-off straightaways in the valley floors, and nice combinations of switchbacks and sweepers mixed in for the mountain passes. We had a blast on 219. We had pretty much worked out our body positioning to help keep us from getting too fatigued and to keep me from being so loaded up with weight that I was feeding unnecessary input into the handlebars, and for a lot of it she was off me and holding onto the tank so well that I had to check my mirror more than a few times to make sure she was still with me. All weekend long I had a vague concern that I was going to toss her off the back, but she did great even when I got crossed up in an uphill turn and almost wheelied us trying to drop two gears and maintain speed. After a stop in Elkins for lunch and again at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas (great spot for eats, drinks, and live music on the weekends!) for coffee, we took 32 out of Thomas and picked up 93 past Mount Storm Lake and headed toward one of my local favorite runs, Scherr Mountain. After the riding we had done all weekend, Scherr seemed much easier than it ever has. I guess I'm getting comfortable with what the Hayabusa can do, because we tore that sucker up in the Tourabusa configuration. I'm amazed by this bike. It can do it all with considerable proficiency.
By the time we picked up route 50 headed East for Winchester, we were both ready to get home. The remainder of the ride was enjoyable, but we were fairly laid-back about it compared to the rest of the trip. We pulled into the garage at 8:30 with just enough time to unload, grab a couple of brews, and settle in for the week's episode of Game of Thrones on HBO. All told, we covered around 900 miles for the weekend (counting my navigationally-challenged detours), and I am now nicknamed U-Turn or Fugawi depending on which one of us you talk to. We only saw one deer that might have presented a challenge, two Troopers in VA shooting radar and one who I didn't even see until he passed me with his lights on at better than the buck I was running, the weather was beautiful and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend or companion.
On the list of things I now want to buy for touring on the Hayabusa: Corbin seats with passenger backrest, a luggage rack and fairly roomy tailbag, a Puig Double Bubble touring screen, and sticky tires that last forever. I bought a pair of waterproof Alpinestars Roam touring boots a while back to replace my nearly worn-out Milwaukee boots, and these things are great. Took a lot of vibes out of the pegs, stuck well to the pegs, and didn't weigh a ton walking around. I didn't get to try out the waterproof angle this trip, so I'm happy there but feel they'll do just fine when I need that capability.
The route we ended up with closely resembles what I laid out with Google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...1229902536927877776.0004a3f24825230586bac&z=8
Sorry for any run-ons, sentence fragments, or just general rambling.
A few photos, in no particular order.
I was sitting around with my girlfriend early last week scheming on how best to spend the weekend since the kids were going to be with their other parents. I'd been wanting to make it down to Shady Valley, TN, to check out the stretch they call "The Striped Snake" (421 The Snake - Home - Ride "The Snake", Stay in one our mountain log cabins, or the House on Watauga Lake) for a couple of years, but the last time I tried to put this together as a cruiser run with friends we all waved off because of a monsoon that was making its way through on the planned weekend. So anyway, Ali was game and we decided to give it a shot on the Hayabusa to see if we could realistically handle long hauls on it together.
I decided on Wednesday night that I had enough tread left on the front tire to do about 1500 miles, so I figured we'd be good for the 900 or so I had planned for the weekend. But it nagged at me and I kept debating it, and I talked myself right into changing it on Thursday night. I had the tire already, so better safe than sorry, right? That proved to be the correct decision, because I had a nice little pressure bulge in the center tread that I hadn't noticed until I got the tire off. On the downside, I scuffed up the back of the front fender getting it off and back on. :/ I took the front reflectors off while I was in there.
So the plan was to blast down I-81 (ugh) to Wytheville, VA, and stay at the Best Western after work on Friday night, then head out on Saturday morning to do a little loop down into Tennessee to include the stretch of 421 between Mountain City and South Holston Lake with stops at the Shady Valley Country Store and Backbone Rock Tunnel before ending the day at my parents' home near Chapmanville, WV. The return trip from Chapmanville to Martinsburg was going to be mostly two-lane right up the gut of the WV mountains.
The trip down 81 on Friday night was straight Interstate plowing. Long, straight, and boring. Truck traffic was pretty heavy, so we spent a lot of time bottled up at around 90 with two trucks running side by side. The wind shear was misery squared and made for a very wobbly ride, so I was pooped by the time we made Wytheville. We picked up a Scala Rider Q2 Multiset intercom system on clearance at a local shop (wanted the Q2 Pros, but these were $150 cheaper), which proved to make the trip more enjoyable for both of us. The audio quality for music wasn't as good as with my earbuds, but it was nice to be able to have some conversation during the long riding hours and I even took a couple of calls from my daughter. The audio was very clear up until about 70 MPH, but it was a muddled mess for anything but intercom above that. We spent a good part of the weekend above that, but still managed without too much aggravation.
Saturday morning we had the continental breakfast and headed out at around 10 AM. There was a bit of road work and I got caught up in conversation and noticed about ten miles after I got on 81 that I was seeing mileage signs for Roanoke. Go me. So we did a U-turn and headed south for a change and exited 81 onto SR 622 at Atkins, Va. The ride down 16 into Volney was pretty pleasant, but things got really interesting when we picked up 58 heading west toward Damascus. 15 MPH switchbacks through some gorgeous mountain scenery, which was fun but took a little doing to get the Tourabusa through. There was a bit of gravel in the turns, so that's definitely something to watch out for on that stretch. But we had plenty of opportunities to kiss our own asses around some of those turns.
We stopped at the entrance to Grayson Highlands State Park to water the poison ivy and talked to an older couple who pulled in on a Boulevard, and the lady quipped as we watched three motards haul past that they were "cruisin' for a bruisin'". Thirty minutes later, I dealt with a surprise decreasing radius turn with a shrimp tail at the end to be greeted with the view of a motard being loaded onto a flatbed with one of Virginia's Finest sitting behind the truck with his lights going. I didn't have a chance to get a good look, but the bike on the flatbed didn't seem banged up. I am guessing he got popped for reckless and towed, but we did see an ambulance heading into Damascus a little later. I don't know which I really feel is the better option, but I hope dude was okay. They were fun to watch prior to that.
We picked up 91 South across the VA/TN border heading into Mountain City, TN, and Ali spotted a few signs advertising pie at The Tributary restaurant in Mountain City. We were both getting pretty hungry, so off we went. The open-faced prime rib sandwich with sweet potato french fries and a sweet tea were frickin' excellent, and Ali said her veggie sub was pretty good. We capped it off with some delicious peanut butter pie and a couple of coffees, then set out to ride the road we had come to see.
421 from Mountain City to South Holston Lake was just awesome riding. The turns were a little more forgiving than I remember those at Deals Gap being, but the road was still a bit technical and had some nice switchbacks and nowhere near the traffic you see at the Gap. We saw a few folks tearing it up, but we did spend some time behind a few cruisers who weren't in a hurry to get anywhere. Luckily there were some stretches where I could get around, and I finally managed to chop the elephant off at the knees on my Metz Sportech M5 Interacts. The return trip to the Shady Valley Country Store from the turnaround at South Holston Lake was spent behind a Q-tip in a Blazer who hammered past the few turnouts at a scorching 25 MPH, so the return trip kinda sucked but I didn't want to make time to do more than one pass on 421. Just before the store, she decided to turn right onto a gravel drive but didn't bother to signal and instead just jammed on her binders at the last second. I found out how much Ali weighs with a couple of Gs behind her, and that I need better brakes on that scoot.
The stop at the store was pretty uneventful. There were a few folks standing around their bikes out front talking, but the atmosphere wasn't anything near the circus that you find at the CRoT on the weekend at Deals Gap. I wanted to hit the store to get a sticker, but the rest of the merchandise was so-so. We didn't like any of the shirts, which kinda bummed me out since shirts start conversations on the road pretty often. Ali has that covered in the photos, lol. We left the store to head up 133 north to Backbone Rock Tunnel, but again I took a wrong turn and ran a little stretch of 421 again before turning around and getting on 133. Ali gave me a little crap about my love of U-turns. 133 was a pleasant ride and Backbone Tunnel was a good stop by a stream that we might have taken a dip in had it been a bit warmer. We encountered a Herbie parked nearby, so of course I had to get a photo. After our little break at Backbone Rock, we picked up 91 again headed north out of Damascus and then took I-81 to Marion, VA.
Heading north on 16 from Marion, past Hungry Mother State Park, and over the ridges into Tazewell, the road is very narrow and the turns are packed in densely. The majority of these turns over the ridges are SLOW switchbacks, so this is definitely not a ride on which anyone should be trying to make time. It's definitely a brake-check, and there has been an abundance of loose gravel scattered in the tight switchbacks the times I've been across (this time included). On the other hand, the scenery is gorgeous. By the time we made Tazewell, we started fretting a little over the time (in part because I lost the route and somehow got off 16 in Tazewell and onto 19) and decided to just hole up at the Quality Inn in Bluefield, WV, for the night instead of taking the 98-mile detour the wrong way to spend the night at my parents' home. We ended up having a little play time at the hotel and we hung out with a ladies' bowling league team for more than enough beers.
We awoke Sunday morning to a fair amount of soreness, fatigue, and a mild hangover for me, but a second continental breakfast and a couple of coffees had us back up to snuff in short order. We loaded up the bags and headed out for home at around 10:30 AM. Route 20 out of Princeton, WV, to I-64 was a pleasant ride, but I was getting a good deal of head buffeting at 90ish on I-64 so we took the Route 60 exit for Sam Black Church and rode 60 on over to Lewisburg to pick up 219 north.
219 is always a crowd-pleaser, with a little of something for everyone. Blast-off straightaways in the valley floors, and nice combinations of switchbacks and sweepers mixed in for the mountain passes. We had a blast on 219. We had pretty much worked out our body positioning to help keep us from getting too fatigued and to keep me from being so loaded up with weight that I was feeding unnecessary input into the handlebars, and for a lot of it she was off me and holding onto the tank so well that I had to check my mirror more than a few times to make sure she was still with me. All weekend long I had a vague concern that I was going to toss her off the back, but she did great even when I got crossed up in an uphill turn and almost wheelied us trying to drop two gears and maintain speed. After a stop in Elkins for lunch and again at the Purple Fiddle in Thomas (great spot for eats, drinks, and live music on the weekends!) for coffee, we took 32 out of Thomas and picked up 93 past Mount Storm Lake and headed toward one of my local favorite runs, Scherr Mountain. After the riding we had done all weekend, Scherr seemed much easier than it ever has. I guess I'm getting comfortable with what the Hayabusa can do, because we tore that sucker up in the Tourabusa configuration. I'm amazed by this bike. It can do it all with considerable proficiency.
By the time we picked up route 50 headed East for Winchester, we were both ready to get home. The remainder of the ride was enjoyable, but we were fairly laid-back about it compared to the rest of the trip. We pulled into the garage at 8:30 with just enough time to unload, grab a couple of brews, and settle in for the week's episode of Game of Thrones on HBO. All told, we covered around 900 miles for the weekend (counting my navigationally-challenged detours), and I am now nicknamed U-Turn or Fugawi depending on which one of us you talk to. We only saw one deer that might have presented a challenge, two Troopers in VA shooting radar and one who I didn't even see until he passed me with his lights on at better than the buck I was running, the weather was beautiful and I couldn't have asked for a better weekend or companion.
On the list of things I now want to buy for touring on the Hayabusa: Corbin seats with passenger backrest, a luggage rack and fairly roomy tailbag, a Puig Double Bubble touring screen, and sticky tires that last forever. I bought a pair of waterproof Alpinestars Roam touring boots a while back to replace my nearly worn-out Milwaukee boots, and these things are great. Took a lot of vibes out of the pegs, stuck well to the pegs, and didn't weigh a ton walking around. I didn't get to try out the waterproof angle this trip, so I'm happy there but feel they'll do just fine when I need that capability.
The route we ended up with closely resembles what I laid out with Google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...1229902536927877776.0004a3f24825230586bac&z=8
Sorry for any run-ons, sentence fragments, or just general rambling.
A few photos, in no particular order.
Last edited:
Great share 
