I made it! The bike is another story....
Overall the trip went well. I met a great group of guys and the roads in the area were awesome. The trip got off to a cold and rainy start and I often questioned myself if I should continue even only an hour or two into it.
Because of the cold morning it was almost impossible to warm back up as the day progressed. We made it down there in one day - about 650 miles. Most people there thought we were crazy and I don't doubt them. If it hadn't been for the weather it wouldn't have been as big a deal. I'm pretty sure we traveled the furthest compared to anyone else - and at least 6-10 of these guys trailered their bikes... WIMPS!!
The roads were unreal. Not only were there some sweet twists and turns over countless miles, but the roads themselves were in awesome shape. No tar snakes or gravel. Another great thing is that there was hardly any traffic. But because of the constant tight turns, if you did approach another vehicle - it was tough to get around them safely unless they pulled over for you. People that have ridden these roads several times claim that it's more enjoyable than Deal's Gap. Deal's Gap has become so popular, that the roads are pretty busy with regular traffic just trying to use it as a highway when traveling. Hopefully Northwestern Arkansas will remain a little known secret for a while.
We decided to make the trip home in two days. We got talking and decided to take a different route entirely. We headed east through Missouri into Illinois and stopped in Carbondale. We had both attended SIU at one point and had a huge craving for Quatro's pizza. This was the pizza that was "expensive" while at college. Both of us agree it would give any Chicago pizza a good run for it's money, and that holds true today. They have the best sauce and pan crust... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
The next day was Monday - and it was raining...HARD. We geared up with all of our layers and hit the road. It was about 15 miles until the interstate, where we planned on gassing up. Problem was, my bike was taking so much water in the intake, it was running like hell and I literally coasted into the gas station...yikes. The tank holds 5 gallons and I put in 5.04..uh, it was EMPTY. Filled up and hit the interstate.
Problem - bike was NOT happy running above 65mph. It was a real struggle to get it any higher. All I could hear myself saying was "this sucks....this sucks." The miles weren't going by nearly as fast as they should. I signaled my buddy to pull over to the next gas station.
Not good - we had travelled 43 miles and I was able to put in just about 3 gallons of gas. This means I was getting less than 15 mpg whereas I normally get 35 (which still sucks). At this point I was soaked through, cold, and just plain pissed off because my bike was running like ass. I hated to do it, but I decided to call it day because rain was in the forecast ALL day and I knew I couldn't run the bike like this. Turns out it rained all day and night - over 2 inches accumulated in the area.
We got a room in Mt. Vernon, IL at the Super 8 and spent most of the day drying out our clothes and gear. My buddy spotted an Italian Restaurant out the window of the room and said "I could go for that" He didn't have to twist my arm. I ate a larger than average lunch, went back to the room and we both took a 2-3 hr nap... good stuff. Later that night we watched the Bears game and were both stunned to see them pull it off.
Tuesday it had finally dried off outside and the ride home went fairly smooth. It was overcast all day and probably didn't get much above 53 degrees or so.
So what have I learned?
- Bike with pod air filters + heavy rain = problems
- Waterproof gloves are only water proof for 30 mins
- Heated clothing doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore
- Make sure MP3 player is charged - music cutting out between gas stops sucks
- A motel hair dryer can be used to dry your boots and gloves
- Washing a waterproof motorcycle jacket deminishes it's water resistance
and finally
- Plan road trips between May & September only!
Because of the cold morning it was almost impossible to warm back up as the day progressed. We made it down there in one day - about 650 miles. Most people there thought we were crazy and I don't doubt them. If it hadn't been for the weather it wouldn't have been as big a deal. I'm pretty sure we traveled the furthest compared to anyone else - and at least 6-10 of these guys trailered their bikes... WIMPS!!
The roads were unreal. Not only were there some sweet twists and turns over countless miles, but the roads themselves were in awesome shape. No tar snakes or gravel. Another great thing is that there was hardly any traffic. But because of the constant tight turns, if you did approach another vehicle - it was tough to get around them safely unless they pulled over for you. People that have ridden these roads several times claim that it's more enjoyable than Deal's Gap. Deal's Gap has become so popular, that the roads are pretty busy with regular traffic just trying to use it as a highway when traveling. Hopefully Northwestern Arkansas will remain a little known secret for a while.
We decided to make the trip home in two days. We got talking and decided to take a different route entirely. We headed east through Missouri into Illinois and stopped in Carbondale. We had both attended SIU at one point and had a huge craving for Quatro's pizza. This was the pizza that was "expensive" while at college. Both of us agree it would give any Chicago pizza a good run for it's money, and that holds true today. They have the best sauce and pan crust... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
The next day was Monday - and it was raining...HARD. We geared up with all of our layers and hit the road. It was about 15 miles until the interstate, where we planned on gassing up. Problem was, my bike was taking so much water in the intake, it was running like hell and I literally coasted into the gas station...yikes. The tank holds 5 gallons and I put in 5.04..uh, it was EMPTY. Filled up and hit the interstate.
Problem - bike was NOT happy running above 65mph. It was a real struggle to get it any higher. All I could hear myself saying was "this sucks....this sucks." The miles weren't going by nearly as fast as they should. I signaled my buddy to pull over to the next gas station.
Not good - we had travelled 43 miles and I was able to put in just about 3 gallons of gas. This means I was getting less than 15 mpg whereas I normally get 35 (which still sucks). At this point I was soaked through, cold, and just plain pissed off because my bike was running like ass. I hated to do it, but I decided to call it day because rain was in the forecast ALL day and I knew I couldn't run the bike like this. Turns out it rained all day and night - over 2 inches accumulated in the area.
We got a room in Mt. Vernon, IL at the Super 8 and spent most of the day drying out our clothes and gear. My buddy spotted an Italian Restaurant out the window of the room and said "I could go for that" He didn't have to twist my arm. I ate a larger than average lunch, went back to the room and we both took a 2-3 hr nap... good stuff. Later that night we watched the Bears game and were both stunned to see them pull it off.
Tuesday it had finally dried off outside and the ride home went fairly smooth. It was overcast all day and probably didn't get much above 53 degrees or so.
So what have I learned?
- Bike with pod air filters + heavy rain = problems
- Waterproof gloves are only water proof for 30 mins
- Heated clothing doesn't sound like a bad idea anymore
- Make sure MP3 player is charged - music cutting out between gas stops sucks
- A motel hair dryer can be used to dry your boots and gloves
- Washing a waterproof motorcycle jacket deminishes it's water resistance
and finally
- Plan road trips between May & September only!
posted by Matt at 7:17 AM
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