My bikes:
2014 K1300S Anniv. Ed. sport tourer
2009 GSX-R 750 sportbike
2010 WR250R dual sport
Planning a ride down to Austin, TX for MotoGP races at COTA next month and wondering if anyone else from the area would like to ride along. Will probably stop at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham on the way to Texas. Anyone else interested?
Mike S.
MTSweger, that's tempting. Are you planning on slabbing it down or taking a more scenic route? While it's still considered an "alpha quality" feature on the site here, you can plan rides here and lay out your intended departure and return dates, route, and stops.
It's like Facebook event but with a map and, IMHO, tries to be better tuned to the needs of motorcyclists. As you, and others, go on the trip you have a central place where you all can post updates and photos.
If you're adventurous, you can try it. It's off the top left menu Rides->Schedule Ride.
I find having a central place to plan a trip like that makes it easier for people to meet up along the way even if they can't go for the whole trip.
For example, here's a day ride my buddy
buffalo and I did a while ago riding around some back roads in Virginia:
North of I66 East of Front Royal
To our surprise there are quite a few very nice twisty hilly roads in the area East of Front Royal and North of I66. The weather was gorgeous with dramatic skies. It was cool and windy but very pleasant. Our first target was Virginia Route 626 which is a beautiful rolling old rock wall lined road that wends its way through the countryside. From there we intersected 50 and turned left on SR 713 which was another simply beautiful road. We encountered a number of beautiful very old homes along the way. We made our way to Route 17 which we had ridden last weekend and stopped at Sky Meadows State Park where some civil war event was taking place. From there we headed North to Route 601 which is this tree lined dramatically hilly and curvy mountain road. We missed our planned turn and found ourselves on 7. We turned left onto Route 606 along the Shenandoah River. At one point as we slowed down to look for a spot to take a photo, a large branch fell in the roadway ahead of us. There were just too many good roads to remember them all. Cold Stream Road towards the end of the day off 29 stands out as does Route 6. The sun started to set as we turned onto Route 522 North which marked the point we started our way home.
For my trip to Texas next month, I'll probably ride the Blue Ridge Parkway down to Blowing Rock first, then hit Birmingham and New Orleans before heading west to San Antonio and up to Austin for MotoGP. After the races, I'll ride up to Lake Brownwood and pitch the tent on my land there for a day or two, then ride to Little Rock and link up with my brother-in-law so we can ride the Ozarks together. I'll be exploring back roads through Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia on the way home.
This will be a 2-week trip, leaving Virginia on Saturday, 14 April, and getting home on the 28th or 29th. Mostly camping or staying at cheap motels along the way, depending on the weather.
Will definitely check out your site's mapping function and play around with some possible routes. Thanks!
Mike
BilliamM, thanks! I haven't built the "indented replies" here yet so it's currently worked as intended. Sorry it's still a bit confusing. I hope to be able to make a pass through the forum software to make it more "Facebook group" style before too terribly long.buffalo and I have ridden up Falls Roads to points North so many times. We'll have to join up at some point. This was one of the rides we did up that way:
Wonderfully Twisty Maryland Pennsylvania Tree Tunnel Ride
Duncan and I went on a 250 mile random loop ride where we just followed random roads in Pennsylvania and Maryland. This turned out to be a fantastic ride of some wonderfully twisty little tree covered roads especially in the upper left quadrant of the map. In places the tree canopy covered the road creating a tree tunnel effect.
Yermo Always greta to have a few more motos on a ride. We have a little group in Baltimore, Fueled By Zeke's We generally do something every weekend, weather permitting. Sometimes it's two riders and sometimes it's 10 or 15. Let me know when you're headed up. Now I am enjoying the longer riding season of Stanfield, NC - between Charlotte and Albemarle.