Raptor
New member
Well, kids, it would appear that summer is over. Not that we really ever had one! But summer is pretty much over. When my alarm went off @ 0600 I stepped out and realized "it's gonna be a chilly ride in!”
So I layered up (yup, took the Tour Master out!) hopped on 14 and rode in. Almost got spiked buy a guy that decided to shoot across all lanes of traffic and hit the center barrier so hard it destroyed his front end, 2 cars ahead of me! Man, I was on the brakes HARD! So hard I could smell 'em! I rolled up, asked if he was OK, he said yeah; a bunch of people were running at him so I got the hell outta there! And that was the ride in. Ah, Mondays!
Fast forward to 5:30. I jumped on 14 and off we went, eager to just melt this Monday away. At this point its 62 degrees and I’m sweatin’ because I’m all layered up, knowing that as I moved north and into the mountains things would change drastically. They did!
I made my way up 84 like I was always do, and you could feel the temp going down as I worked the twisties. At this point I’m thankful that I am layered up. Now for the fun part. I made the right turn and blew by Alice’s restaurant and started my run down 35. The first few turns were fine, but all of a sudden the weather just pounced! It's known to do this in these parts. I suddenly found myself in zero visibility, high wind and temps now down to 47. It was actually biting cold. The wind was so strong that the road was no longer visible as it was covered in pine needles. If I was a golfer (and I am!) I would be in “the pine straw”.
Well guess what? Pine straw is slippery! Especially when it’s wet. There was no one else on the road; just me and 14, and we were deadlocked in a battle for control. It was white-knuckle time, and I was not backing down. With every turn we were on the edge of disaster. But the VSS did its job; I may have slid around some and gotten some pretty serious sideways, but I never spun. I stayed on the road! It was incredible. These Spyders can handle some pretty serious stuff. It was impressive actually, and I learned quite a bit about how to keep 14 on three wheels in adverse conditions.
At last I got out of the thick woods and back below the fog line, and things started to get normal again. Leaving a rooster tail of pine needles behind me, we powered out of there and finished the run to the highway.
I made the highway just in time to watch yet another magical sunset, and as I stared at the orange sky I thought “how lucky I am to be able to do this. These guys in their cages have no idea about what it’s like to be out here, feeling the road and experiencing nature”. I didn’t want it to end, so I passed my exit and just rode on for a bit longer, still thinking about what just happened 35 miles back in those woods. But it was time to get home.
After all, there is always tomorrow. And who knows what tomorrow will bring. Whatever it is, 14 and I will be ready.
So I layered up (yup, took the Tour Master out!) hopped on 14 and rode in. Almost got spiked buy a guy that decided to shoot across all lanes of traffic and hit the center barrier so hard it destroyed his front end, 2 cars ahead of me! Man, I was on the brakes HARD! So hard I could smell 'em! I rolled up, asked if he was OK, he said yeah; a bunch of people were running at him so I got the hell outta there! And that was the ride in. Ah, Mondays!
Fast forward to 5:30. I jumped on 14 and off we went, eager to just melt this Monday away. At this point its 62 degrees and I’m sweatin’ because I’m all layered up, knowing that as I moved north and into the mountains things would change drastically. They did!
I made my way up 84 like I was always do, and you could feel the temp going down as I worked the twisties. At this point I’m thankful that I am layered up. Now for the fun part. I made the right turn and blew by Alice’s restaurant and started my run down 35. The first few turns were fine, but all of a sudden the weather just pounced! It's known to do this in these parts. I suddenly found myself in zero visibility, high wind and temps now down to 47. It was actually biting cold. The wind was so strong that the road was no longer visible as it was covered in pine needles. If I was a golfer (and I am!) I would be in “the pine straw”.
Well guess what? Pine straw is slippery! Especially when it’s wet. There was no one else on the road; just me and 14, and we were deadlocked in a battle for control. It was white-knuckle time, and I was not backing down. With every turn we were on the edge of disaster. But the VSS did its job; I may have slid around some and gotten some pretty serious sideways, but I never spun. I stayed on the road! It was incredible. These Spyders can handle some pretty serious stuff. It was impressive actually, and I learned quite a bit about how to keep 14 on three wheels in adverse conditions.
At last I got out of the thick woods and back below the fog line, and things started to get normal again. Leaving a rooster tail of pine needles behind me, we powered out of there and finished the run to the highway.
I made the highway just in time to watch yet another magical sunset, and as I stared at the orange sky I thought “how lucky I am to be able to do this. These guys in their cages have no idea about what it’s like to be out here, feeling the road and experiencing nature”. I didn’t want it to end, so I passed my exit and just rode on for a bit longer, still thinking about what just happened 35 miles back in those woods. But it was time to get home.
After all, there is always tomorrow. And who knows what tomorrow will bring. Whatever it is, 14 and I will be ready.
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