Category Archives: gear-head

We were tired after our trip down, so we took it easy on Day 4. I got up and b/c Mike was still so sleepy I figured I’d give him a break, and I went out for a run on the beach. It was great! It was also the only day I went out for a run! But still, great!

I got a call about meeting for breakfast while I was jogging and it was a hilarious conversation: Rick was all “Oh, are y’all moving yet?” and I was like: “yup, I’m out running on the beach!” he was floored.

We headed out to the bikes: would you believe we had a really hard time finding parking in the hotel garage the night before?

So we decided to cruise around and look at stuff today. Mostly, we spent a lot of time at Jammin’ Leather. They’ve made an effort to become rally “headquarters” and I am not surprised, people buy a lot of stuff at rallys and if no one is shopping for leather gear than it must be a giant hit to their business. We did our part – two of our group bought jackets (textile and leather blends, but no armor) and one of us got a vest and chaps. For the record: ALL CHAPS ARE ASSLESS. that is what makes them chaps.

As we were riding around, we didn’t pass many bikers. There weren’t many vendors set up the few days we were there, and permits were more expensive so everyone said that they would set up for the 2nd weekend, not the first (while we were there). All in all, though, it was fine! we managed to occupy ourselves just fine.

we had a very late lunch / early dinner at crabby mike’s, a seafood buffet that seemed appropriate, based on our heavy frequency of mike’s on the trip. also, check out the very creepy dead crab with halo art hanging in the dining room:

after our day out and about, we went back and met up with our two straggler Mike’s and went for a nice long walk on the beach. Definitely a nice evening with friends!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

MAY 8.

The next morning we were up leisurely and on the 10AM ferry from Ocracoke Island to Cedar Island. Mike S and Mike F stayed behind for a rest day on Ocracoke, and the other five of us motored on to SC.

a note about these NC ferries – last year, I recall that there were blocks to put against your front tires. this year we didn’t have any of those at all. No tie downs either, on either of the ferries (though we didn’t have them last year either).

it was a gorgeous day for a boat ride. The Ocracoke-Cedar Island ferry is about 2 hours and it was sunny and warm and I had to hide from the sun by the end of the ride!

When we got to Cedar Island, we got on the bikes and rode straight off of the ferry with no stopping until we got to a car wash where we could rinse the salt off of the motorcycles. And let’s be honest: some of our bikes (OK JUST MINE AND MIKES) were cleaner at this point than they had been for months and months.

and then we went to the first of many delicious meals at the Golden Corral.

For those of you not in the know, The Golden Corral is a reasonably priced buffet and the food quality is amazing in the south – but we can tell you that based on careful experimentation, the quality is quite patchy the further north you get from Delaware. Janice loves it. also: SWEET TEA.

The only problem with starting the day with a ferry is that you get up, get on the bikes and you hurry up and get started… to, well, wait for 2 hours. in the sun, and you get sleepy… and then you stop at a delicious buffet… so by the end of the day you feel like it’s really been a LONG TRIP. We felt that way for sure when we pulled into a rest area in south carolina at about 5PM. after a short stretch break we were on our way into Myrtle Beach. It was hot and we’d been riding through a headwind and we desparately needed a drink of water. We all stopped and texted exciting, pithy, and relevant updates to our official trip tumblr.

Bike Week in Myrtle Beach has been a contentious issue, lately. The City has been trying to chase out the bikers by passing things like helmet laws (there’s no helmet law in SC) and noise ordinances. And to be honest, while I’m in general supportive of these things (especially the helmet law, gracious!) I think that the City could have done a better job of saying: you know, we want your business, bikers, but we want you to be SAFE. but they were pretty clear they didn’t want the business of bikers so last year most bikers wouldn’t even pass through the City of Myrtle Beach, sticking to the activities on the north, west, and south instead. We stayed in Myrtle Beach and every hotel and restaurant proprietor was pretty clear that they were losing boatloads of money because of the drop in attendance (anecdotally, hotel bookings went from nearly 100% two years ago to about 50% this year) but at the same time the Mayor was reelected last year so who knows?

Personally we stay in the city, because we like hotels on the beach! Like this one, where we were happily ensconced for a few days:

after we got in we unloaded and went down to the beach-front bar for a drink, and then nearly passed out on our feet from exhaustion so turned in.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

We were up at a reasonably early time so we could get on the road – our goal was Ocracoke Island, to a hotel Mike S liked very much, and a restaurant we had all eaten at last year and enjoyed.

And look how bright and happy I am first thing in the morning!

I have to add that I LOVE MY DIRTBAGZ SADDLEBAGS. like, a lot. a whole lot.

They’re canvas and come off the bike super easy, so when we pulled in to our destination for the evening I would pop them off the bike, open the hat box and pull out a canvas tote bag, throw them all over my shoulders (as shown above), and hike into the room. it was so easy!

Besides proximity to Mike F’s friendly diner, the other reason we like to stop in Onley is that it’s only about 50 miles from the Bay Bridge Tunnel, so we were planning to have breakfast on the bridge (there’s a restaurant at the midway point). We got up and loaded the bikes and enjoyed our continental breakfast (but not too much!) and headed out to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Unfortunately the restaurant was closed! undergoing major renovations and due to open in JUNE 2010! We were a month too early! Which made us crabby!

Until we weren’t:

In Virginia Beach we practiced classic Rainmaker U-Turn Maneuvering Formation, and stopped to eat at a Waffle House. Delicious! However others in the party gave it mixed reviews.

After what felt like a long morning of fits and starts, we were finally off! It was pretty much gorgeous driving through VA and coastal NC and then there was a sudden (classic Rainmaker U-Turn Maneuvering Formation) u-turn and our party found itself in Kitty Hawk at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. You know what’s nice? being on a trip with a lot of other people and STILL being able to just stop off the cuff and check out a national park.

I’d been there before, but it’s such a neat place.

“By Dauntless Resolution and Unconcorable Faith”

After a couple of hours of walking around, we were back in the saddle and headed down to Ocracoke. Snacks were had by chipmunk riders everywhere.

We took the ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, and happily, it was a regularly traveling ferry which left every 1/2 hour, so we didn’t have to worry about schedules at all. How lovely! Our innkeepers at the Silver Lake Inn called us while we were on the boat to warn us of a police stop on the way into town, which was really thoughtful of them, and before you knew it we were at our hotels and walking down to the restaurant (The Flying Melon) for some delicious local fish. A really lovely day!

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

We met at 10AM at the tandem trailer parking area on the NYS Thruway headed south at Newburgh. (um. we were supposed to meet at 9 or 9:30, but Mike had a business trip that week and didn’t get home until nearly midnight the night before. And we might have had to pack still that morning. At least all the oil changes had been taken care of ahead of time!)

We always joke that our motorcycle “club” name is the RAINMAKERS, and in typical fashion we started out in our rain gear. It was drizzling, but not too bad, and because it was a little chilly starting out the rain gear wasn’t such a bad thing.

After admiring each others bikes and packing jobs, we were off! This day was mostly highway, unfortunately – I-87 to NJ Rt 17 to the Garden State Parkway to the NJ Turnpike to … well, to LUNCH. in Delaware.

As we were peeling off our raingear at a rest stop in auspiciously sunny southern NJ, Mike S said: “Hey! let’s go to Mike’s Famous Harley’s for lunch. They’ve got burgers or something there.” OK, that’s sounds awesome! let’s go.

And then: MIKE S PROCEEDED TO BUY A NEW MOTORCYCLE. that’s right, he traded his in, and picked up a new one. and man that new one was SHARP:

We ended up hanging out for about 3 hours while he negotiated (he had to walk out 2x before he got the deal he wanted) – we had sandwiches, and sat in the grass, and talked, and drank lots of water, and waited….

and waited…

and waited…

but it was worth it!

and then we were back on the road! Our goal for the day was Onley VA, Mike F has a favorite diner there with a reasonable hotel right next door within walking distance. We pulled in at around 9PM, dropped our gear, and dashed next door to get some delicious dinner. Our last 50 miles or so was down dark US 13 in MD and then VA, and we picked up a lot of dead bugs on our shields.

I can’t even imagine the horror of riding through that without some strong plexiglass between me and the innocent swarms of gnats and mosquitoes.

[[check out the summary post with lessons learned, and a full index to this ride report post.]]

The last few years, my partner and his friends (now my friends as well) have been riding down to Myrtle Beach for bike week. Last year was the first year I went, and I was passenger on my partner’s bike. This year was my first year to ride my own!

Here is my ride:

My awesome DRZ-400SM, which I souped up with a larger gas tank (Clarke 3.9 Gallon), a spitfire windshield, dirtbagz panniers, and a givi hat box. I didn’t get around to putting a new more comfortable seat on it, though I did get a sweetcheeks (but never used it) – you can see it strapped to the back against the hat box. More info about farkling the friendly and competent DRZ-400SM is here.

We updated while on the road using tumblr, our trip page is here.

PACKING LIST and PHOTOGRAPHY

I used my lomo fish eye camera on the trip – I haven’t used it much, so I was pretty much experimenting with it as I was going. I think there’s a filter or app that will stretch the shots out to make them less rounded and more wide angle, I’m going to look for that for future experimentation. I also snapped a lot of shots with my iPhone 3, and sometimes I used my panasonic lumix digicam.

And as far as packing, I think I brought maybe 30% too much stuff! we did do laundry 2x on the trip, which really helped.

Clothing: