http://i397.photobucket.com/albums/pp56/btl68/DSC06597.jpg
By friday I was trying to contact a few owner/riders here in the St. Louis area to get in a Saturday ride in. The weather was mild and the time to strike before the real cold sets in is NOW.
Of the local owners (that I have located thus far) only BTL68 was able to show uop Saturday morning at Starbucks. BTL68 owns a pearl white 1993 that is really very clean for it's age. The first thing that caught my eye was the pearl white and all the detail in the bike I had never seen before. I had looked at this bike in other colors from the same gen and I never saw all the lines before. The red bikes from that gen just tend to hide the details. So it was really more like my first time seeing this bike.
Because we are in the heart of St. Louis it takes 15 to 20 minutes to get into roads you can really enjoy. I pointed us directly to an area called Wildwood where many of the roads are 1 and 1/2 wide winding in and out of farms and following creek beds. This really is picture perfect and give you a chance to just float from sweeper to sweeper. We carved our lines between the edges of the forest that stops at the roads edge and between the leaves that hug the ditches on either side of the tarmac. Your smile never fades here as you climb and sweep or dive and carve. Lots of fun stuff.
We got back on the two lane highway which is really no less fun just different because speeds are higher and sight distance is ten fold.
Three counties later and we are on highway 94 running north in the Missouri Wine Country and things were good until I saw a flash of color in my rearview. I though "oh shit" and then this ass on a copper colored midweight comes around me damn near hitting his head on my mirror. Then he decided to over take BTL68. I was thinking "look out" but really what can I do? This jerk almost gets his hip into BTL68's bar end and sqeezed by. Now the jerk goes to take over the SUV we had ridden up on. He cracked the throttle on a up hill blind right sweep and forced the SUV to tap the brake just as a yellow Mini Cooper crest the hill. CRAP! I was waiting to see the bike coming down back at me with the ass doing a face plant into the Mini's windshield. Lucky the driver in the Mini tap the brake and the jerk got by.
Later BTL68 and I were talking form light to light about how stupid this squid was. Then maybe ten miles later I saw the bike and the KID at a Quick Trip. This dumb dumb waved with a smile like we were buddies. WTF ? I really wanted to turn back as we passed and kick the kids bike over and break his helmet then drag him behind my bike on the tarmac for a minute just so he could see what he was missing. Let's face it, he did not get by all of us by using his skills, it was by the seat of his pants, pure luck.
We made it to the ferry crossing and took the 20 minute ride across the Mississippi River into Illinois from Missouri. After talking about eating we jumped on the Great River Road and rolled South to Alton. Once in Alton we went to Fast Eddies for eats and beers. I love this joint. Bob and Tom talk about it all the time (if you listen to their morning radio show). If you are ever, EVER near Alton Illinois do NOT skip Fast Eddies.
Back across the Mighty Mississippi River with the sun in our face and the Arch to our South we cracked the bikes open to rid our bikes of any carbon build up. :fing02:
I went home to my sweet girlfriend Bri, whom I refer to as "my hot seat cover" and her daughter Cheyenne. The reat of the night was all about family.
BTL68 went home to his BBQ grill with intentions of cooking anything that used to have a pulse and fill the neighborhood air with the smell of charcoal applewood and the defeat of local livestock. mmmmmm.....
Somewhere in the mist of such a great day some jerk ass made me give thanks that he squeezed by with little more than luck.
By friday I was trying to contact a few owner/riders here in the St. Louis area to get in a Saturday ride in. The weather was mild and the time to strike before the real cold sets in is NOW.
Of the local owners (that I have located thus far) only BTL68 was able to show uop Saturday morning at Starbucks. BTL68 owns a pearl white 1993 that is really very clean for it's age. The first thing that caught my eye was the pearl white and all the detail in the bike I had never seen before. I had looked at this bike in other colors from the same gen and I never saw all the lines before. The red bikes from that gen just tend to hide the details. So it was really more like my first time seeing this bike.
Because we are in the heart of St. Louis it takes 15 to 20 minutes to get into roads you can really enjoy. I pointed us directly to an area called Wildwood where many of the roads are 1 and 1/2 wide winding in and out of farms and following creek beds. This really is picture perfect and give you a chance to just float from sweeper to sweeper. We carved our lines between the edges of the forest that stops at the roads edge and between the leaves that hug the ditches on either side of the tarmac. Your smile never fades here as you climb and sweep or dive and carve. Lots of fun stuff.
We got back on the two lane highway which is really no less fun just different because speeds are higher and sight distance is ten fold.
Three counties later and we are on highway 94 running north in the Missouri Wine Country and things were good until I saw a flash of color in my rearview. I though "oh shit" and then this ass on a copper colored midweight comes around me damn near hitting his head on my mirror. Then he decided to over take BTL68. I was thinking "look out" but really what can I do? This jerk almost gets his hip into BTL68's bar end and sqeezed by. Now the jerk goes to take over the SUV we had ridden up on. He cracked the throttle on a up hill blind right sweep and forced the SUV to tap the brake just as a yellow Mini Cooper crest the hill. CRAP! I was waiting to see the bike coming down back at me with the ass doing a face plant into the Mini's windshield. Lucky the driver in the Mini tap the brake and the jerk got by.
Later BTL68 and I were talking form light to light about how stupid this squid was. Then maybe ten miles later I saw the bike and the KID at a Quick Trip. This dumb dumb waved with a smile like we were buddies. WTF ? I really wanted to turn back as we passed and kick the kids bike over and break his helmet then drag him behind my bike on the tarmac for a minute just so he could see what he was missing. Let's face it, he did not get by all of us by using his skills, it was by the seat of his pants, pure luck.
We made it to the ferry crossing and took the 20 minute ride across the Mississippi River into Illinois from Missouri. After talking about eating we jumped on the Great River Road and rolled South to Alton. Once in Alton we went to Fast Eddies for eats and beers. I love this joint. Bob and Tom talk about it all the time (if you listen to their morning radio show). If you are ever, EVER near Alton Illinois do NOT skip Fast Eddies.
Back across the Mighty Mississippi River with the sun in our face and the Arch to our South we cracked the bikes open to rid our bikes of any carbon build up. :fing02:
I went home to my sweet girlfriend Bri, whom I refer to as "my hot seat cover" and her daughter Cheyenne. The reat of the night was all about family.
BTL68 went home to his BBQ grill with intentions of cooking anything that used to have a pulse and fill the neighborhood air with the smell of charcoal applewood and the defeat of local livestock. mmmmmm.....
Somewhere in the mist of such a great day some jerk ass made me give thanks that he squeezed by with little more than luck.