Wife's first mountain ride on the spyder

[blacklightning]

As he title says, this was her first time riding in the mountains driving her own spyder. We had a blast, and she did great! First day we took 421 north and got on the BRP at the detoured exit (south bound traffic is still detoured). We followed the BRP down, stopping at the normal and abnormal spots, and spent the night at a small place just outside of Linville, NC. Day one was only 254 miles and a lot of that was highway. Saturday morning we got up and traveled down the BRP to Mt. Mitchell State park. After riding up and coming back down, we proceeded south and followed it all the way down to the end in Cherokee. From there we hoped on 19 and spent our last night in Maggie Valley. That day consisted of 200 miles of mountain riding and the wife was a bit tired. Sunday morning we woke up to rain, but it was stopped by 9:00. so we hit the road home by 9:45. We seemed to have been chasing rain all 3 days, but some how managed to come along right after the showers had stopped and the road had dryed. Oved all it was a 736 mile 3 day trip. This was somewhat of a training adventure to see if I could convince her to do this ride up on her own bike in October for the spyder rally. I gotta say, she was one of the best riding partners that i have ever had. Kept up with the pace, and didn't allow distractions to get in her way. I cannot wait to do this again. Up until now, her longest day trip was about 120 miles.

 

[blacklightning]

More pictures

 

[ARtraveler]

That is a beautiful area to ride in. Linda was very afraid of mountains, heights, and twisties. 50,000 miles and 10 years later...now she looks forward to all of the above.

 

[gkamer]

Cool trip. Let me guess the red one is her's?

 

[BajaRon]

Awesome! You're looking GOOD out there in the wild! Enjoy that ride! Thanks for the pics.

 

[blacklightning]

Cool trip. Let me guess the red one is her's?

Yep, we actually had matching red spyders for about 5 months. Then I came across a killer deal on this 3700 mile F3 Limited Special series. I love the bike, but did not realize how hard this satin black finish would be to keep clean. She actually gets more compliments on the red color than I do on the black. Sometimes I wish I had kept the red, but 3700 miles vs 28,000 miles, I decided to go with the lower milage one. I am hoping to be stepping up to a RT in the near future anyway.

 

[BajaRon]

Yep, we actually had matching red spyders for about 5 months. Then I came across a killer deal on this 3700 mile F3 Limited Special series. I love the bike, but did not realize how hard this satin black finish would be to keep clean. She actually gets more compliments on the red color than I do on the black. Sometimes I wish I had kept the red, but 3700 miles vs 28,000 miles, I decided to go with the lower milage one. I am hoping to be stepping up to a RT in the near future anyway.

It's always better when the wife gets all the complements. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. I think you did it just right.

 

[Scotts8826]

Sounds like you had a great trip. The miles in the mountains can be physically taxing due to all the pushing and pulling that needs to be done in the curves. So, a couple hundred miles probably felt like a lot more. Enjoy the ride!

 

[tntnj]

I love the Blue Ridge Parkway. I have been there 3 times and couldn't do all places I wanted to ride to. I am going back there June 2023 . Hopefully the entire parkway will be open . Glade you had a great time.

 

[pidjones]

Sounds like a great time for you two. My wife loves the BRP, but resists riding on her own. We try to get on the BRP about once a year. Before getting the RTL last year, it was always on the GL1800. I found the Spyder to be a lot more work than the GoldWing in the mountains, but on freeways (which we avoid, but sometimes....) such as Pellissippi Parkway easier to ride.

 

[blacklightning]

Sounds like a great time for you two. My wife loves the BRP, but resists riding on her own. We try to get on the BRP about once a year. Before getting the RTL last year, it was always on the GL1800. I found the Spyder to be a lot more work than the GoldWing in the mountains, but on freeways (which we avoid, but sometimes....) such as Pellissippi Parkway easier to ride.

I have heard that from another rider friend. But for me, it seems to be more work on my 2 wheeler than it does on my spyder. I also have been riding the spyder more due to having some issues with my knee. We went back to the BRP in October for spyderadventures. Last weekend we did a day trip (on the BMW though) to Pilot Mountain. The BRP is so beautiful with the colors, but last weekend and this coming one will be like riding in stop and go freeway traffic. People will be stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures and parking illegally. I am in a BRP group and it was discussed if they should charge like on Skyline drive. I say no, because it will affect the wrong people (locals). They should just step up traffic enforcement and things will be better.

 

[SLICE]

awesome, i can't wait to get back up to the blue ridge parkway, last time was way back on 07