VFR Discussion Group -> Great Ride Today

Today was a the most beautiful day in Middle TN so far this year. I took VTECalicious on a nice little 172 mile ride through the hilly and curvy countryside to Center Hill Lake. The outside temp gauge ranged between 71-73 most of the day, the sky was clear, sun bright, and leathers warm. There was hardly any traffic since today was Good Friday and the schools are on spring break. :wheel: There was a little gravel washout in a few of the curves that made the pucker factor higher than average. :o Still an incredible ride.

Here are a few pics I snapped along the way. Cedar Cove Marina is replacing a dock that sank during a storm last year so I took a pic of that, also got a few pics above the dam and below the dam. The below the dam pics suck because I didn't take off my helmet or gloves..kinda point and shoot.

Looks like it will take two posts to get the pics up. :lurk:

And the rest of the pics. :joystick:


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i like those damn pics....oops dam. mr vtecalicious looks sweet. Mr Bill was troubled today. It appears mr hand brought rain and ruined Mr Bill's day

767fixer, Mar 25 2005, 04:08 PMi like those damn pics....oops dam.    mr vtecalicious looks sweet.  Mr Bill was troubled today.  It appears mr hand brought rain and ruined Mr Bill's day

OOOOHHHH NNNOOOOOO, that mean old Mr Hand. :goofy:

:squid:

Just kidding....I'm jealous. I've been working my butt off for the last 2 weeks, and hadn't had a chance to ride! :pissed:
great pictures Kip, I'm glad you were able to get some riding in. :beer:

Cool!

I'm gonna piggy back my ride to your thread. I made a 230 mile loop today. I wore the cool weather gear, so I had to make a stop about 25 miles into the ride to take the JR Revolution's fleece liner out. After that, I was comfortable for the rest of the day except the last 20 miles or so when my butt got to sweating...giving me the dreaded Monkey Butt Syndrome (MBS).(IMG:http://www.websmileys.com/sm/animal/1132.gif)


I headed south through Natchez Trace State Park (didn't find any dead bodies) and then cut across through Parsons on Hwy 412 in order to reach Hwy 438. 438 is a nice road on the southern end near Moustail Landing State Park. The farther north you get, the straighter 438 gets. I didn't stay on it all the way to Hwy 50. I've been on it before and it was pretty nice but I wanted to take a different route this time, so I hit Hwy 13 and stopped at a greasy spoon in Lobelville. I had a 1/2 lb. "Mega Burger". YUM! (IMG:http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cartoon/1263.gif)

After that, I cut off of Hwy 13 to the "Old Hwy 13" and hit Bakerville Road up to Waverly because the regular Hwy 13 is straight as a stick. I got back on the regular Hwy 13 at Waverly and turned off on Tennessee Ridge Road. It's a decent road with lots of elevation changes and several curves. I hit Hwy 147 and went west to hit the motorcycle climax of the day, Hwy 232. It runs along the east ridge of the TN River up to Hwy 79, near the Land Between the Lakes intrance. 232 is the best bike road in West and western-middle TN as far as I know.

I crossed back over the TN River and took an alternate route home down a few nice backroads. IIRC, they were Nobles Rd., Elkhorn Rd, and Maybury Rd. I hit 69A and took it all the way down to Camden. 69A between Big Sandy and Camden is a decent road, but none of the the roads I took today can hold a candle to 232 except my little secret road in Natchez Trace St. Park.

I only took pics at one place. That's because I damn near killed myself there. IIRC, I was still on Bakerville Rd. when I came up to a set of three ~90 degree turns, the first was a right, the second was a left, the third, another right. Between the first two turns was a bridge...no big deal, right? Well, it was a ONE LANE bridge with no warning signs of any kind to let me know! :o As I came around the first 90 degree turn all leaned over and working into the throttle, I noticed a truck coming across the bridge taking up the whole width! That's when I realized it was a one lane bridge. It was impossible to see what the bridge was like until I was through the first turn and right on top of it. I grabbed the brakes and stopped to let the guy through, then rode over to the other side and stopped to take a few pictures.

The first pic is taken from the second curve looking back across the bridge. The first curve is behind the bridge railing. (IMG:http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/1111576669/gallery_382_24_253532.jpg)

The second pic shows my bike in front of a limestone roadcut with a little cave at the bottom. You can see the third curve in the background. (IMG:http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/1111576669/gallery_382_24_225152.jpg)

Third shot is the cave, just for the heck of it. It's big enough that people have used it to slaughter herds of beer. :beer: Many beer carcasses littered the cave floor.
(IMG:http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/1111576669/gallery_382_24_419279.jpg)

The last shot is a gratuitus head on VFR shot with the third curve in the background.
(IMG:http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/uploads/1111576669/gallery_382_24_210868.jpg)

There are no pics of the second curve cause I was standing in it taking the pics of everything else.

Nice....both af you!
Cool that you got to get and have a great day riding......Thanks for the photos so we can live vicariously off you :goofy:

Going out tomorrow so we'll see what new road damage we have to deal with :blink:

Great pics Tim. :beer: It looks like 141 below Center Hill Dam is about to collapse into the river, lots of sunken spots and cracks....this really sucks, that road rocks. :(

Hurricane249, Mar 25 2005, 06:01 PMGreat pics Tim. :beer:  It looks like 141 below Center Hill Dam is about to collapse into the river, lots of sunken spots and cracks....this really sucks, that road rocks. :(

Bummer. (IMG:http://www.websmileys.com/sm/sad/1361.gif)

Great shots - thanks for sharing!

I'm gonna go for a better ride tommorow - and will take the camera with me, hopefully snap some decent shots.

YOu guys live ina great scenic area - enjoy it! I think I need to somehow weasle my way into a business road trip that needs me to bring the Viffer doen to the land of mighty winds and wicked music!!

Cool Boz, I had some great miles today also ! :beer:

baileyrock, Mar 25 2005, 07:06 PMCool Boz, I had some great miles today also ! :beer:

I remembered that you sometimes eat in Waverly, so I was looking for a silver VFR the whole time I was in the area. Only saw a few Shadows with Harley Davidson-wannabes on them. It's so weird to see a Honda rider all decked out in Harley Davidson clothing.

Hurricane249, Mar 25 2005, 06:05 PMToday was a the most beautiful day in Middle TN so far this year.� I took VTECalicious on a nice little 172 mile ride through the hilly and curvy countryside to Center Hill Lake.� The outside temp gauge ranged between 71-73 most of the day, the sky was clear, sun bright, and leathers warm.� There was hardly any traffic since today was Good Friday and the schools are on spring break. :wheel:�  There was a little gravel washout in a few of the curves that made the pucker factor higher than average. :o� Still an incredible ride.�

Here are a few pics I snapped along the way.� Cedar Cove Marina is replacing a dock that sank during a storm last year so I took a pic of that, also got a few pics above the dam and below the dam.� The below the dam pics suck because I didn't take off my helmet or gloves..kinda point and shoot.

Looks like it will take two posts to get the pics up. :lurk:

My grandparents farm used to be where part of the lake is now. I spent my childhood growing up about 10 miles from the dam. I love that place, I moved from there when I was 6 years old but I still consider it home. I love going back there and visiting, riding the roads, and seeing the sights. I used to catch trout below the dam with corn. We also used to catch crappie, bluegill, and bass out of the lake. My Dad used to take us camping on a peninsula out on the lake. There were two underground streams that met there, the water was so cold we kept our drinks, and coolers in the stream to stay cold. We would frog gig at night and then sleep out under the stars and hope it doesn't rain. That lake brings back a lot of good boyhood memories.
RIDE HARD!
mossy

mossy, Mar 25 2005, 08:50 PMMy grandparents farm used to be where part of the lake is now.  I spent my childhood growing up about 10 miles from the dam.  I love that place, I moved from there when I was 6 years old but I still consider it home.  I love going back there and visiting, riding the roads, and seeing the sights.  I used to catch trout below the dam with corn.  We also used to catch crappie, bluegill, and bass out of the lake.  My Dad used to take us camping on a peninsula out on the lake.  There were two underground streams that met there, the water was so cold we kept our drinks, and coolers in the stream to stay cold.  We would frog gig at night and then sleep out under the stars and hope it doesn't rain.  That lake brings back a lot of good boyhood memories.
RIDE HARD!
mossy

Glad I was able to bring back some fond memories for you. :beer: Let me know next time you are up this way and you can show me some of your favorite roads. :idea3:

mossy, Mar 25 2005, 08:50 PMMy grandparents farm used to be where part of the lake is now.  I spent my childhood growing up about 10 miles from the dam.  I love that place, I moved from there when I was 6 years old but I still consider it home.  I love going back there and visiting, riding the roads, and seeing the sights.  I used to catch trout below the dam with corn.  We also used to catch crappie, bluegill, and bass out of the lake.  My Dad used to take us camping on a peninsula out on the lake.  There were two underground streams that met there, the water was so cold we kept our drinks, and coolers in the stream to stay cold.  We would frog gig at night and then sleep out under the stars and hope it doesn't rain.  That lake brings back a lot of good boyhood memories.
RIDE HARD!
mossy

Now that's what it's all about! You are bringing back memories for a lot of us. We don't have trout over here, but we have plenty of crappie, bluegill, bass, catfish and sauger (if you like fishing in the winter) on the west side of the state. If not for my obsession with the VFR, I'd do a lot more fishing. :)

tbzep, Mar 25 2005, 11:32 PMNow that's what it's all about!  You are bringing back memories for a lot of us.  We don't have trout over here, but we have plenty of crappie, bluegill, bass, catfish and sauger (if you like fishing in the winter) on the west side of the state.  If not for my obsession with the VFR, I'd do a lot more fishing.  :)

I went to High School in Collierville, TN., so I know west TN pretty good too. I've lived all over the great state of Tennessee and love all of it's diversity. I lived off North Parkway in the Midtown area of Memphis for 5 years as well. The last two years I have been living on the outskirts of Knoxville, this area is the mecca for sport bikes. I also went to college at UT Knoxville and at Memphis State/University of Memphis. I spent about 15 years of my younger life living around middle TN. I lived off Long Hollow Pike, probably as close to Gallatin as Hendersonville. Hunter Middle and Freshman year at Beech High School. I went to Nannie Berry and Southburn Elem. in Hendersonville also. Coincidently as I type this we are preparing to put the house on the market and move back to West, TN. Our third child on the way has necessitated the move back to where our families live, that and a huge pay raise for the wife. I will definitely miss the roads up here in the Mountains and I will be coming back often.
RIDE HARD!
mossy

mossy, Mar 25 2005, 10:29 PMI went to High School in Collierville, TN., so I know west TN pretty good too.  I've lived all over the great state of Tennessee and love all of it's diversity.  I lived off North Parkway in the Midtown area of Memphis for 5 years as well.  The last two years I have been living on the outskirts of Knoxville, this area is the mecca for sport bikes.  I also went to college at UT Knoxville and at Memphis State/University of Memphis.  I spent about 15 years of my younger life living around middle TN.  I lived off Long Hollow Pike, probably as close to Gallatin as Hendersonville.  Hunter Middle and Freshman year at Beech High School.  I went to Nannie Berry and Southburn Elem. in Hendersonville also.  Coincidently as I type this we are preparing to put the house on the market and move back to West, TN.  Our third child on the way has necessitated the move back to where our families live, that and a huge pay raise for the wife.  I will definitely miss the roads up here in the Mountains and I will be coming back often.
RIDE HARD!
mossy

Mossy, it's good to hear from another Tennessean! I grew up and now live about half way between Memphis and Nashville in Huntingdon (West TN), so give me a PM when you find your new home. I went to school at MTSU and lived in Murfreesboro for almost 10 years, riding a 500 Interceptor and an FZ-750 just about the whole time I was there. I only recognize Memphis State, not University of Memphis! Changing their name does not make them any better! :goofy:

Hurricane249, Mar 26 2005, 06:10 AMOOOOHHHH NNNOOOOOO, that mean old Mr Hand. :goofy:

Hey, my wife is pregnant and won't let me touch her. Mr. Hand isn't mean, he's my best friend.

:joystick:

jwahrmund, Mar 26 2005, 12:43 AMHey, my wife is pregnant and won't let me touch her.  Mr. Hand isn't mean, he's my best friend.

:joystick:

Have you been talking to Bailey? :goofy:

Hurricane249,

How much effort and time does it take to put on and take off the factory hard bags?

Thanks,

ki-speed (Mark)

jwahrmund, Mar 26 2005, 01:43 AMHey, my wife is pregnant and won't let me touch her.  Mr. Hand isn't mean, he's my best friend.

:joystick:

Mine is too!!!! 33 weeks along now. shes round and angry!