Posts Tagged ‘Virginia’

At the MotoAmerica Motorcycle Races this weekend.

Posted: May 22, 2021 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle racing
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I am at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) for the running of “Superbikes of Virginia”!

The crew of DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio (which I am one third) are excited to attend a race in person after the lost year of 2020. We are not the only ones, looking forward to getting away to the race. The hotels in the surrounding area are all sold out.

This is the second MotoAmerica race of the year and coming out of Atlanta there are no favorites to chose from. Mathew Sholtz, Josh Herrin and Bobby Fong are 1-2-3 in the standings but Jake Gagne and Cam Peterson are ready to win.

I will be posting to both the DawgHouse Motorcycle Radio and IJustWant2Ride Facebook sites. As well as the IJustwant2ride Twitter page all day.

If you can’t make it to the race in person you can watch the action live on MotoAmerica Live + (for a small fee). I watched most of the races like that last year, there streaming package is quite solid.

Out and About – A short Quarantine Motorcycle Ride

Posted: May 19, 2020 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides
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Just a short motorcycle ride, just a bit over one hundred miles. Really nothing more than loop through northern Virgina and Maryland. BUT, we were out of the house, we were out on the bike, the weather was great (for a change) and it was fun!

Leaving our home in the late morning, it was still jacket wearing temperatures but with copious sunshine and a promise of great riding weather. Heading north we crossed both the Catoctin Mountain and creek before dropping down into Brunswick Maryland. The main street was like a ghost town. No lights in the windows and no one on the street. It is going to sad that when the quarantine is over that most of these building will still be vacant.

We did drop down next to the Potomac River and the Brunswick section of the C&O Canal to have a picnic lunch. There were a lot of folks moving along the canal towpath on hikes or bikes (peddle type). Everyone was observing the rules about social distancing so no need to freak out.

IMG_20200516_123801788_HDRBack on the motorcycle we headed up the mountain and stopped at the War Correspondents Memorial. This memorial is way out in the middle of know where but is an interesting and atypical to most memorials.  I wonder how many war correspondents are even aware of it?

From here we road about other hour heading south back into Virginia and then to home. A short motorcycle ride but one that was greatly needed.

HOG Motorcycle Rally, Curves to Cores

Posted: June 23, 2019 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle advocacy, Motorcycle Rides, Rally
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I recently attended the Harley Owners Group (HOG) regional motorcycle rally. This year it was held in Winchester, VA.  Winchester is only an hour from my driveway there was no way I could miss this event.

The “Curves to Core” motorcycle rally organizers which put the event together really did a nice job. Why “Curves to Cores”?  I think the curves is self-explanatory, and the “Cores” is about a defining industry in the area.  This part of the Shenandoah Valley is a big apple growing area, providing a large part of the apples used in products across the North IMG_20190620_062955720America.

The organizers put a lot of work into making this event a success.  40+ motorcycle rides documented turn by turn AND with a memory stick full of GPS directions.  About half of this rides had an option for a guided tour version.  There were also scavenger hunts, poker runs and off bike events open to all attendees.

I chose 3 guided rides to participate in:

“Acting Like a Good Ole Boy”- A 130-mile ride crossing the Blue Ridge Mountains twice with a visit to “Cooter’s Garage and Duke’s of Hazzard Museum”.  If you are of a certain age you will remember the TV show following the daily troubles of Bo and Luke Duke.

“10 Turns of a Big Ole Yeee Haww” – A 90-mile loop ride with a stop at Summit Point Raceway. The highlight of this ride would be getting your Harley Davidson on the race track and letting it loose, so long as you did not run out of talent or floorboards (I have rubbed some of mine off and I had not been on a track).

“For Whom the Road Tolls” – A 80-mile ride on Snickersville Turnpike, the first toll road in America. Luckily it is no longer a toll road but it is a very, very quiet and scenic motorcycle ride though back country Virginia.

Unfortunately I was not able to do the track day ride.  I got an offer to test ride the Zero electric motorcycles.  Watch for a post about the Zeros in a future post.    IMG_20190619_102816460_HDR

I really enjoyed the other two rides and I will write about the rides in another post.

One of the day one activities was a scavenger hunt for large apples.  I called it apple picking.

We are currently scheduled to attend a second regional HOG rally in September, the “Hills and Hollows” rally in Johnstown City, TN.

Ride On, Ride Safe

 

2017 Motorcycle Vacation Day 1 (Route 50)

Posted: June 15, 2017 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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We started our motorcycle vacation today.  We left the house about 8AM and headed out to Ohio on our Harley Davidson Ultra Limited.  Our, path for all but a few miles on day one, is via US Route 50.   

We picked up Route 50 just a few miles south of Leesburg, VA. I have to say that Route 50 from this point to our endpoint is a fantastic motorcycle ride.  In Virginia you ride through horse and wine county (I quite counting vineyards and wineries at 15).  In fact in Middleburg we saw folks preparing their horses for a jumping contest (I am sure there is a proper name for this contest, but I do not know what it is) there were dozens of horses and riders milling about. My wife said she thought it was called “Trials”, to which I replied then they are all guilty!

WP_20170615_09_55_38_ProShortly after crossing into WV you head into the Appalachian Mountains.  These mountain roads are some twisty fun for a motorcycle!  Swooping around turns, quick climbs and steep descents (up to a 9% grade) with spectacular views from the mountain tops and rolling farmland in the valleys make this a route, in my opinion, as much fun as any of the roads around the Tail of the Dragon.  By the way I dragged the floorboards of the bike a few times without even trying! 

WP_20170615_12_05_47_RichI had forgotten that Route 50 passed into Maryland for a few miles so today we traveled in 4 states. When we left Maryland and rode the motorcycle back into WV Route 50 also became the Northwestern Turnpike one of America’s Byways.  Stopping for lunch and gas in the little town of Grafton, WV we ate a McDonalds, which had to be one of the least clean stores we had been in…unfortunately I did not notice this until after we had received our food.    

WP_20170615_15_41_58_RichWe did make a side trip to Cairo … I am still taking my wife to all the great cities of the old world, via motorcycle.  I was able to get her to Lisbon and Damascus last year.  Athens is next on the list!   

The first day of our vacation motorcycle trip is now over.  315 miles through some of the best country for motorcycle riding.  I highly recommend this part of Route 50 to anyone passing through WV, MD or VA.  OHHH… for got to mention, that per Standard Operating Procedure, we got wet in a thunderstorm!!! Storm Chaser powers ACTIVATE!

 

Having problems deciding on a motorcycle ride, tour or destination?  2 Websites to help you out!

Posted: March 19, 2017 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring, Uncategorized
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Struggling to decide where to ride or tour on your motorcycle in the coming season?  How about the two following websites to help generate some ideas. 

The first site is a repeat of one from an earlier post. A few years ago I wrote about a website that could help you plan some cool motorcycle tours.  This site by the Federal Highway Administration (can you believe that the federal government got a website right?) is called the American Byways.  America’s Byways is an interactive, map based, website that will provide you a listing of each of the 150 different roads.  Those roads are comprised of the National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads. You can select the road from a national or state map to see basic information on the road (length, average time to travel the road and historical background) as well as route maps, directions and photos. 

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Interactive map of American Byways

The second website to help you pick some motorcycle rides or destinations is “Only in Your State”. With this website you can find some out of the way or quirky places that you may never even heard or read about near your home.  For example, here in Virginia, this website recommends the “Southern Virginia’s Donut Trail Is Everything You’ve Dreamed Of And More”.  So the saying “Ride to eat. Eat to ride” fits in well.

Ijustwant2ride.com

 

There are a lot of other websites like this out on the ‘ole interwebs.   If you have one that you like to use when it comes to finding a destination for motorcycle ride, tour or destination please share in the comments below!!!

Motorcycle Ride to nowhere… unless Lisbon and Damascus count as destinations.

Posted: September 2, 2016 in Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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Debbie and I had a, nearly, 200 mile motorcycle ride this past Sunday.  We left quite early in the morning as it was supposed to be over well over 95F by early afternoon.  Our plan worked as it was 94F as we made it back to the house about 1PM. Hot and muggy, but we beat the worse of it.

Pulling out that morning we really did not have a true destination in mind other than to ride through the towns of Lisbon and Damascus.  We wanted to hit those locations to add to our “Great Cities” motorcycle tour! With no real plan this was just going to be one of those “it’s the journey not the destination” rides.

After rolling through Lisbon we decided to just ride north.  Riding through small towns and rolling farmland made for a wonderful morning.  Toss in some light fog here and there it was just one of those rides were you just love the fact that you ride a motorcycle!

After about an hour we turned the motorcycle towards the west until we ran into US Route 15 which runs right by our home. Heading south we rode the motorcycle into Frederick, MD to stop for lunch and a quick stop at the Frederick Harley-Davidson shop.  The stop at the dealership was to take a quick peek at the new 2017 motorcycles and see for myself how the new engine looks.

A bit later we pulled the bike into our garage with about 192 miles on the trip meter.  All in all just another good day behind bars (motorcycle handlebars)!

FROSTY BALLS New Year’s Day Motorcycle Ride

Posted: January 5, 2016 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle safety, motorcycle touring
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On New Year’s Day we participated in the Frosty Balls motorcycle ride.  The ride is hosted by the HOG Chapter 1813 out of Frederick, MD every New Years day.

Debbie and I bundled up as much as possible while still being able to mount the bike (although I would have loved to have a video of Debbie trying to get on the bike…it took 3 tries LOL) and pulled out of the driveway at 930 AM.  With the temperature at 38F, the ride to the dealership parking lot start point was brisk to say the least.  By the way…we don’t have heated gear.

When we arrived I was quite surprised to see that there were over 40 bikes ready to take on the cool morning. After signing in we mingled a bit with the other members of the HOG wishing each other a Happy New Year and catching up on what happened over the holidays.  Soon enough it was time to go kickstands up.

Fifty miles of Maryland and Virginia back roads we ended up at the Virginia Kitchen restaurant in Herndon VA.  A nice lunch, a warm room and great comradery help raise our internal temperature … until we had to go out and ride home.  At this point Debbie and I decided to drop from the group and go back to the house to take care of post-holiday activities.

The round trip was over 80 miles and the temperature had reached a balmy 48F as we pulled back into our driveway.  It was a good ride and a good way to start the new year!

Rattle the Runway 2015 – Motorcycle Charity Ride for 9/11

Posted: September 7, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides
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It was a great day for a motorcycle ride like this, a cool but not crisp morning. Large puffy clouds in the blue sky and large passenger jets taking off and landing at Dulles Airport serving as a poignant reminder to why we were gathering. An awesome day to Rattle the Runway. 

It was a morning, not to unlike this, that terrorist commandeered Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon. There were a couple of men I knew killed that day in the Pentagon. 

This ride indirectly follows the flight path of Flight 77 from the airport to the side of the Pentagon impacted by the airliner. It stages behind the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum and runs down to the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Proceeds from the memorabilia sold at the staging area (the ride is free) is given to the Pentagon Memorial fund. 

This year the turnout was quite low in comparison to previous years. Normally there is five to six thousands bikes lined up eight across for hundreds of yards. I would guess that this year there might have been half or less than normal. The ride coinciding with the National Labor Day holiday most likely affected the turnout. 

As usual, the ride itself was broken into groups with a few minutes between each. This is an unescorted ride once you leave the airport police jurisdiction. The groups, of about 200 bikes, is an attempt to alleviate the traffic issues that a ride of thousands would engender in one of the most congested cites in America.

Overall, I had a good time and would gladly recommend that you ride in this event if you are able.

Motorcycle Ride: I took the wife to Paris

Posted: June 22, 2015 in Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides, motorcycle touring
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Paris, Virginia!

Ijustwant2ride.com

The city of lights!

Ijustwant2ride.com

Out and About on our Motorcycle

Posted: June 9, 2015 in C&O Canal, Motorcycle, Motorcycle Rides
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Last Sunday morning Debbie and I jumped on the Ultra Limited (I think I am going to call it Big Blue) for a day ride.  With no real destination in mind we thought about hitting a couple spots on the C&O Canal.  If you have been following this blog you know I am slowly documenting those spots along the canal assessable by motorcycle. 

Ijustwant2ride.com

Old school McDonalds.

We left the house about 9AM heading west.  We stopped for a bit of breakfast at a McDonalds along Route 9 near Charles Town, WV.  As you can see in the photo it is one of those restaurants designed to look like an old school McDonalds, pretty cool.

 After filling out tanks (including Big Blue’s) we continued west on WV Route 9 then north on Interstate 81 then west on Interstate 70.  Normally we like the back roads much more than the Interstate but today we thought it would be better on the highway.  Pulling off into Hancock, Md we begin looking for the stops on the Canal but also found some other cool things as well, like the huge anti-aircraft missile in front of a Veterans of Foreign War (VFW) building.

We found both stops along the C&O, the Tonoloway stop and the Hancock Visitors Center.  The visitor’s center was very hard to find as it is not well signed and the road into the park was practically invisible unless you are looking for it as we were.  

Heading back east we wanted to stop at one additional canal stop (4 Locks) and we did but not the one we were looking for.  Again the signage was bad and we happened upon C&O Canal Dam #5 only because I noticed a street called Dam #5 Road (quite imaginative) and the fact that I knew there was a C&O dam in the general area.  But the fact we did not find the area we were looking for was no big deal as the area was great riding, rolling hills, great farmland views all made up for not finding the site. 

After looking about Dam #5 we mounted up and headed for home.  On the way home we started seeing hundreds of motorcycles heading north and west along our route. When we stopped for lunch we asked a couple who were riding if they know what was occurring.  Turns out it was the aftermath of “Operation God Bless America” a ride from New Castle, PA to the Veterans Hospital in Martinsburg, WV.  We have never heard of this particular ride before but with, according to the couple to which we spoke, over 2000 bikes it is one we will check out in the future. 

Unfortunately we had to head home to some yard work. But, as you can tell by the pictures, we had a good time on our 200+ mile day trip.

 

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