Flopp
07-04-2007, 05:27 PM
In Canada we celebrate the country's birthday on July 1. As that date fell on a Sunday this year, we all got a holiday on the Monday. At my job I can work flex time so I banked enough to take the preceding Friday off, giving me a 4 day weekend.
So I decided to pack up the bike and head for Devil's Tower in Wyoming, 1400kms distant. It would be my first long distance ride and a preparatory one for my 3-week ride starting on July 8.
Loaded the bike -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6638.jpg
and headed out.
I have heard that these bikes are really good in the corners, wish I could find some -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6645.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6644.jpg
Road southwest for a day, camped out and continued on. Eventually, the land started to rise and get a bit hilly. Stopped for a peek at some of the northern Badlands and a rider from Minneapolis insisted on taking a photo of me, dressed for bear -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6657.jpg
Little did I know at the time but the 3 people I chatted with during my stop was just a minor preview of things to come. The F800 not only attracts the ducks but every time I stopped and anybody with the least bit of bike interest was nearby, they would come over for a chat. Refuelling stops typically stretched to 10-15 minutes. Goldwing riders and other Beemer riders were the most interested. The Harley riders pretended that they weren't but you could see them checking out the bike out of the corner of their eye.
Funny how this town is surrounded by oil wells yet seems to have seen better days.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6662.jpg
My original intention was to go straight to Devil's Tower
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6679.jpg
but the riding in the Black Hills was so great that I decided to stay an extra day, strip off all the camping gear and grind out some curves.
While turning around in the parking lot of the entrance to the Devil's Tower, a guy ran across the road, flagged me down wanting to look at and talk about the F800. While we were talking every couple of minutes some more Goldwing or BMW riders would stop and join in. Of the 20 that were eventually there only 1 had ridden an F800 for a 10 minute test ride, a couple had seen them at shows, but most had never seen the bike in real life. The interest was really high by anybody who checked it out. The wives mostly just stood back and, while they didn't shake their heads you could seem them thinking, "Sigh, boys and their toys."
I eventually found some curves between Sturgis and Deadwood.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6664.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6665.jpg
Downtown Deadwood -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6674.jpg
(Yeah, Harleys)
The riding is amazing here. If you ever head this way make sure you ride the Spearfish Canyon and the Needles loop. I would have posted pictures but the roads are so narrow that there is no shoulder to stop safely on. On each side there are cliffs going up, or down hundreds of feet. At one point I looked down to my right and saw a series of switchbacks going down about 1000 feet. It was so steep and the lack of a shoulder made it seem like I was on a ladder.
It is a much longer ride, timewise, along the Needles route mainly because the limit is 35mph but the corners are all 5-10mph, and there are lots of corners.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6684.jpg
Every once in a while you come upon one of these -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6685.jpg
On the way home I passed through northwest South Dakota and for a while I thought I was the last person on Earth. For 2 hours there was nothing but
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6692.jpg
The only man-made thing was the fence and the road, not a single house, farm, tree or anything taller than scrubby grassland for as far as you could see in any direction for 200 miles. Glad I filled up.
Sometimes you just have to yield to the other guy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6696.jpg
All in all a fantastic 5 day ride. Another 3500kms on the bike and despite only being less than 3 months old, it is time for it's annual check up.
The Black Hills will become an annual ride for me. Next time I will book a week at least and get in a few days of riding the twisties.
Well, back home to kiss the wife, pat the kiddies on the head (I have to reach up to do that to some of them), then I am off to Wisconsin on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing some of you in West Bend.
So I decided to pack up the bike and head for Devil's Tower in Wyoming, 1400kms distant. It would be my first long distance ride and a preparatory one for my 3-week ride starting on July 8.
Loaded the bike -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6638.jpg
and headed out.
I have heard that these bikes are really good in the corners, wish I could find some -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6645.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6644.jpg
Road southwest for a day, camped out and continued on. Eventually, the land started to rise and get a bit hilly. Stopped for a peek at some of the northern Badlands and a rider from Minneapolis insisted on taking a photo of me, dressed for bear -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6657.jpg
Little did I know at the time but the 3 people I chatted with during my stop was just a minor preview of things to come. The F800 not only attracts the ducks but every time I stopped and anybody with the least bit of bike interest was nearby, they would come over for a chat. Refuelling stops typically stretched to 10-15 minutes. Goldwing riders and other Beemer riders were the most interested. The Harley riders pretended that they weren't but you could see them checking out the bike out of the corner of their eye.
Funny how this town is surrounded by oil wells yet seems to have seen better days.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6662.jpg
My original intention was to go straight to Devil's Tower
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6679.jpg
but the riding in the Black Hills was so great that I decided to stay an extra day, strip off all the camping gear and grind out some curves.
While turning around in the parking lot of the entrance to the Devil's Tower, a guy ran across the road, flagged me down wanting to look at and talk about the F800. While we were talking every couple of minutes some more Goldwing or BMW riders would stop and join in. Of the 20 that were eventually there only 1 had ridden an F800 for a 10 minute test ride, a couple had seen them at shows, but most had never seen the bike in real life. The interest was really high by anybody who checked it out. The wives mostly just stood back and, while they didn't shake their heads you could seem them thinking, "Sigh, boys and their toys."
I eventually found some curves between Sturgis and Deadwood.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6664.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6665.jpg
Downtown Deadwood -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6674.jpg
(Yeah, Harleys)
The riding is amazing here. If you ever head this way make sure you ride the Spearfish Canyon and the Needles loop. I would have posted pictures but the roads are so narrow that there is no shoulder to stop safely on. On each side there are cliffs going up, or down hundreds of feet. At one point I looked down to my right and saw a series of switchbacks going down about 1000 feet. It was so steep and the lack of a shoulder made it seem like I was on a ladder.
It is a much longer ride, timewise, along the Needles route mainly because the limit is 35mph but the corners are all 5-10mph, and there are lots of corners.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6684.jpg
Every once in a while you come upon one of these -
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6685.jpg
On the way home I passed through northwest South Dakota and for a while I thought I was the last person on Earth. For 2 hours there was nothing but
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6692.jpg
The only man-made thing was the fence and the road, not a single house, farm, tree or anything taller than scrubby grassland for as far as you could see in any direction for 200 miles. Glad I filled up.
Sometimes you just have to yield to the other guy
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/Koocoo/F800ST/IMG_6696.jpg
All in all a fantastic 5 day ride. Another 3500kms on the bike and despite only being less than 3 months old, it is time for it's annual check up.
The Black Hills will become an annual ride for me. Next time I will book a week at least and get in a few days of riding the twisties.
Well, back home to kiss the wife, pat the kiddies on the head (I have to reach up to do that to some of them), then I am off to Wisconsin on Sunday. Looking forward to seeing some of you in West Bend.