jpcfjr with FYI to rest, This is what I was thinking for the route on the 18th assuming that we stop for the night in Wytheville and meet up there with the rest of the crew. this makes for about 9 easy (beautiful ride) hours to Wytheville, then about 5 hours to the GAP from there (without stopping, so closer to 7). 

#blueridge #brp #GAProute #dealsgap

I think meeting the MD gang in Wytheville is the way to go.  I like the 9AM departure.  I might have you come to the lake house or we can meet in Charlottesville (at the Starbucks we met at last year on my return...for which I will be ETERNALLY grateful btw) or at the woodbridge house or anywhere else for that matter.Consider it a done deal that you and I will do this...9AM start with meet up in Wytheville.  Details will fill themselves in as we get closer.  7 weeks is gonna fly by.
edit:  Looking at the map, it's only 70 miles further to Bristol so we should keep in contact throughout the day with the other group to see if they want to go further to Bristol.  I'd like to have lunch in Knoxville on Sunday if possible but that will depend on Saturday nights activities and how far we have to go on Sunday.  Remaining flexible....

bruce arrives on Friday the 17th at 12:45 at BWI. We've got some prep work to do on Friday. The plan as it stands is to leave here on Saturday morning once we can grab some breakfast and muster the troops.  So far it looks like it's going to be Bruce buffalo Jay and I heading out from here.  sharriman unfortunately won't be able to leave with us because he can't leave Maine until Saturday morning, but we'll be seeing him at the Gap.

I'm also thinking in terms of meeting you and rshaug in Wytheville. We should be able to make that pretty easily. It's 319 miles from College Park.

T-6 weeks, 6 days until departure.  So much to do!

Yesterday's ride was a great start to "warming up" for the Gap, roads were amazing and pretty empty. I think a few more are in order though

With my upcoming real estate adventures, I may not be doing much weekend riding for the next few months...sadly.
I did get my braided brake lines yesterday when I got home from vacation...and boxed them up to be sent back today because they sent the wrong stuff.  Re-ordered and hopefully I'll have them Thursday.  Hedging that I will probably be riding the fjr again...sigh...

T-6 weeks. 

Today I completed the braided steel brake line installation, the valve check (which requires a coolant system drain), and new spark plugs. I had not planned on the valve check or spark plugs yet but I noticed a coolant leak at the inlet pipe on top of the valve cover and in order to fix it I had to do 75% of the valve check and since I had the tank up why not change the plugs. 


Only tires and oil changes left...

T-4 weeks. 

I've ostensibly solved all my bike maintenance issues the easy way...buy a bike that doesn't need anything!

Ok that's not entirely true. I will be ordering a fly screen, soft luggage, frame sliders (and other sliders), and protective screens for the radiator and oil cooler.  New helmet is already on the way...Aria of course. 

I've got to get cracking on bike maintenance on this end. Time is starting to get tight.

I'm down to:
-Oil/Filter change, this weekend
-Tires, t-2 I think
-??brake pads....don't know if I want to mess with this now or not

rshaug how many miles do you have on the Ninja? 

hmm...good question. I'll have to look. The current pads are fine and probably have another 10-15k miles left, I just inspected them two weeks ago. I'm not looking at changing them for wear, I'm considering going to a different sintered compound for a stronger initial bite, maybe Vesrah.

Ah. Now I understand.

Completed installing new tires on the FJR.  Just an oil change and it will be available if someone needs it for Deals Gap.

jpcfjrLOL so I guess we aren't doing a tire day in a couple of weeks. 

Sure we are, your bike and probably Jay M's too. I just couldn't wait on mine any longer.  The front was starting to worry me and I don't want to ride the triple to work. 

Still planning on doing your tires next weekend or on a week night.

jpcfjr Thanks again! Tires are ordered and are on their way to Josh's. Yet another shout-out to #RevZilla , they are awesome. I got a call form one of their folks within about 20mins of placing the order. They had seen that I was a return customer and that the shipping address was different than all of my other orders (thanks again to Josh for letting me drop ship to his house). I explained what was up to them, which they thought was awesome BTW, and that was it. Great customer service on top of the best prices, by far, and free shipping.

Soooo.... next weekend the Ninja will get its new shoes mounted. I guess this weekend will be good to change the oil and all the other little maintenance actions.

OK, I have the best EA on the planet. Clearly. My friends will know what a big deal this is

In response to a request for my time earlier today, my EA included the following in her response: "Please note that Rob will be completely out of pocket the week of 5/20. I’m making no exceptions."

sweet!!!

My EA, otherwise known as me, says I'm not to be disturbed that week as well!

21 days kids.  Time to get your maintenance on!

17 days to go and I'm actually hoping for a bit of warming.  Just got home from a short ride on the Trip and it was chilly.  If it doesn't warm up the rides back from Fontana will be uncomfortable without the heated gear.

I'm looking out the window at 9" of snow here at our office in Boulder, CO. Crazy.

Yeah, I was talking with a friend from Denver yesterday and he was telling me that it was snowing.  Seems a little late for that nonsense but then again we do live in strange times.
Ten day forcast for Robbinsville, NC shows 78/51 for May 11th.  This could be shaping up to be a fantastic trip from a temp perspective.  Rain, well that's another story.

Here is a pic from dinner last night. It's sunny and nice today but was like this all day yesterday:

There have been years going down to the Gap where temps have dropped into the thirties on the way down the Blue Ridge. Once we ran through a hail storm. Ian surely remembers.