SoROV LeConte Ride - July 10, 2010

[YellowJacket!]

Well, not really a SoROV ride, but the hospital I work for is having a Ride on July 10. Its an all day ride and close to 200 miles.  First leg with be to the new LeConte Medical Center in Sevierville via back roads.  After a break and some lunch - and topping off the tank, its off to the rest of the ride through Sevierville and the Smoky Mountains (My guess is that Townsend may be in the loop too).  Its some beautiful riding out there and I'm really glad they picked a weekend that I'm not working on.
Registration is a $10.00 donation.
More details to follow.

David

[YellowJacket!]

Found out the other day that the "back roads" are going to be a ride around Douglass Lake - some very beautiful country.

You coming Lucky?

David

[Lucky]

Unfortunatly I can't.

Saturdays are bad to begin with, on top of that, my boss will be out of town on vacation for 2 week, I have 2 employees leaving for new jobs, one of whom is a closer, then i have my head cashier getting married & going on her honeymoon, & my other closer is going to be on vacation for one week as well...

on the plus side, i'll have some serious overtime, & i still have a weeks vacation & half a week of discretionary time left...

[YellowJacket!]

Awww bummer.  I was hoping you'd get to go but I know how Saturdays are for you.  I'm still jonesing for a good ride with you again before school starts in October.

Take Care,

David

[YellowJacket!]

Gassed up, oil changed, tires checked, saddle bags stocked.  Ready to Ride!
Got the camera mounted on the side mirror stalk to get some ride videos.
The ride is a group ride with hopefully op to 30 riders.  The distance is going to be between 187 and 200 miles round trip.  The group leader picked a couple alternate roads just in case of traffic, etc.

Also, since the Dragon is open again,  I'm guessing most of the local riders will be on the other side of the mountain tomorrow.  8)

David

[YellowJacket!]

Wow!  What a really great ride today.  In all, 14 bikes participated in what ende up being an incredibly scenic and fun ride of just shy of 250 miles.  YJ performed fantastic except for the last mile when she started running a little rough and once in my driveway, was idling a bit high.  So, I see a YICS repair in my future.
Overall, gas mileage was great and I estimated about 52mpg.  On our first leg, we rode 95 miles and stopped to top off our tanks.  Prior to the ride I had filled up to the "top of the hump" with YJ on the centerstand and when we stopped I put in 1.8 gallons to fill it back to the top of the hump.
The ride govered a wide range of driveing which included anything from interstate to one lane country back roads which included a 2.5 mile "mini dragon" that ended at a gravel road - we had taken a wrong turn and all 14 of us had to turn around in the gravel.
Back on track, we made it to our first stop at Le Conte Medical Center in Sevierville "Gateway to the Smoky's" where we ate lunch.  After a tour of the brand new hospital we were back on our way which included a ride around most of Douglas Lake - which was absolutely gorgeous.  From there we rode through some farm country and then back down through Pigeon Forge and Seviereville. Stopped for another break and then started the homeward leg of our journed which included about 20 miles on I-40.
Like the last ride, most everyone was on goldwings or Harleys.  One (very petite) girl was on one of the brand new blacked out Sportster 1200's that looked like a cafe bike.  It (and her) was gorgeous.  But again, YJ was the subject of much talk and interest and I wasn't ashamed to show some of the before during and after photos that I have on my phone.  :-)
I think the next time I do a ride like that I'm going to bring some earplugs as my head is splitting and my ears are ringing right now from the wind noise from the interstate ride home.  I think I'm also going to get a more "hot weather friendly" jacket.  Although my Joe ROcket jacket is well ventillated, the slow traffic was a bit hot and uncomfortable.  Speaking of hot, the max temp YJ hit was 212 degrees sitting in traffic in Sevierville.  Most of the ride she was at 177 to 190 degrees.

Well, I'm gonna take a nap and then pull my YICS off and check it for a leak and fix if needed.

What a great day.

David

oh yeah, I took about 30 mins of video until my camcorders battery died.  I mounted the camera on the side view mirror stalk this time instead of the engine guard.

[YellowJacket!]

Well, I pulled my YICS off today - OUCH that hurt - and as I suspected, it has both an internal and external leak.  So, my repair job held up for about 2 years which is very good considering.  My guess is that the failure was due in part to the amount of riding I did yesterday (and lately) as well as the temperatures.  It should be an easy fix, but I'm going to ride with the ports capped for a couple days to see if I can tell a difference.

I'm also uploading some videos of the ride to you tube so if anyone wants to bore themselves watching me follow a Goldwing trike, feel free to do so once I get them uploaded.

One nice thing that you may notice (besides the sounds of my MAC's) is that the hand signals the pillion on the trike is using.  The leader - the guy on the goldwing pulling the trailer would radio back about any road hazards, etc and the other people with radios would signal the riders without them.  About every 3rd rider had a radio so the system worked really well.  The leader and the "tailgunner" are both in a local Goldwing club and do many group rides together.

David

[YellowJacket!]

OK YICS is drying.

Heres a vid of the first few minutes of the ride.  The camera was a bit loose so the view is slightly skewed but gives a fairly good riders eye view.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/525HR9y5jTE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/525HR9y5jTE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Well the youtube viewer doesnt seem to work so heres the link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=525HR9y5jTE

David

[YellowJacket!]

one lane back road.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzohL6kE62s