There is always a sense of apprehension when starting out on a ride solo. You know that for however long the ride is, it will just be you and the bike. From experience, you know by the time you are 20 miles down the road you settle into a routine and start to relax. The first 20 miles on this trip turned out to be nerve racking.
As I merged on to I77 from I485, I noticed a car in front of me was indicating they were going left. At first I thought it was a mistake as we were just about to pass the last left exit – they would not make the turn. Any rider course will tell you not to assume anything when riding around cars. Sure enough just when I thought I had read the situation correctly the car hit the brakes and turned left across two lanes right in front of me.
I am pleased to report the ABS on the Gold Wing work!
I found myself at a dead stop in the middle of the highway. A quick look in the side mirrors showed cars breaking behind me and doing their best to miss each other, the idiot who just had to turn left, and more importantly, me.
I am pleased to report the acceleration of the Gold Wing is remarkable for a bike its’ size.
Merging on to I-77 I replayed the incident repeatedly. What could I have done differently? No real time to think as an SUV had just climbed the guardrail coming the other way and we had flashing lights everywhere. I honestly thought about turning around and going home. Some days you just have to know when to say enough. I also thought about one of my favorite sayings “Professionals make themselves do things they do not always want to do.” I decided to go on. Push pasted the traffic, push past the stress of the week, after all the mountains were just 100 miles away and I was not in a rush.
Arriving at the campsite later, I was tired. It had been awhile since I had ridden over 100 miles. As usual, the people at the campsite were very friendly and as I unpacked, I had the usual group of people walked over and ask about the bike, how I could fit everything on the bike, and how far had I ridden.
By 9:00 PM, I was sound asleep. Despite the cold, I got a great night sleep and did not reappear to my fellow campers until 7:00 AM Saturday. Breakfast was a couple of British Bangers and coffee. I was feeling great and ready to explore the Virginia Mountains. My plan was to ride around until 12:00 PM and then turn for home.
The advantage of being up in the mountains early is there is very little traffic. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, I must have counted 15 to 20 deer. There was snow on the ground but no ice and the skies were clear. I was back feeling great about the bike and riding. I pulled up at an over look to find a father and daughter sitting taking pictures. Turns out the father was teaching his daughter how to drive. I made a mental note of which way there were heading and went the other way. Around 12:00 PM, I hit the ‘Go Home’ button on the GPS and headed down the mountain. I could have stayed there for days.
The ride home was easy. Even the highway seemed to be clear of idiots, or maybe it was me just being relaxed and taking my time. Either way I pulled into the driveway around 3:00 PM.
On reflection, it was great to get away on the bike again. It had been to long.
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