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 The Coleman’s Powersports 19th Annual Fall Foliage
Motorcycle Ride on October 14, 2007 was
interesting to say the least. Thirty-five+ motorcycles of all types and
sizes. Most were single riders but there were a number of bikes with two up
riders there. We all meet at Coleman’s Powersports Woodbridge location
where we were treated to coffee, donuts and the opportunity to buy any
accessories you may have needed and forgot. After all this is America and
somebody is always making money, it’s all about
business one way or another.
I
left home around 8:00am, filled the Honda’s fuel tank up at the local Sunoco
station and then headed to Woodbridge down route 1. The most direct route would
have
been to take I-95 down south, but I try and avoid the interstates if at all
possible. I still arrived at the Woodbridge store in about twenty-five minutes
or so and in plenty of time to get my share of the donuts and browse the
accessory department. As the riders arrived we all stood around and gawking at
all the cool bike as they showed up. Yamaha R1’s and FRJ1300’s; all sort of
sport bike; decked out Harley’s, Yamaha’s Stars and an assortment of other
cruiser; even a couple of BMW and of course a Honda or two was there. The whole
range of bike was represented. The demographics were all over the board too,
everyone was represented.
The rider meeting
was at 9:00 and included a recap of the route we were taking and an emphasis
on safety. This was the 19th year for this ride and the safety
is paramount. All the road captains were introduced before we all saddle up
and started our engines. The group split up into three group; sports bike
riders, which left first, cause they want to go fast; the cruisers, with
some of the bike having all the luxury of home and the third group; new
riders or folks who wanted to ride at a slower pace. I had been talking to
these guys on a Yamaha FRJ-1300 and Star cruiser and they left in the
cruiser group and so I followed. The ride to the gas stop in Front Royal was
pretty cool, heading down I-95 south for about 8 miles in somewhat of a
formation to route 619 and a nice nine mile cruise thorough the Prince
Williams Forest Park Area. This portion of the ride was the most scenic in
terms of color on the leaves. The area drought hasn’t affected this area as
much as others. The route then pickup route 17 and route 55 into Front
Royal. These roads are secondary roads and traffic was light on this Sunday
morning as we cruised through the small towns along the route. Our group
had about 15 or so bikes so we were getting the attention of the locals.
 In
Front Royal, which was about 70+ miles along the route, was the first
organized stop for gas, potty breaks and snacks at a BP station. From
there, the groups split up again, one taking the
short route to Graves Mountain Lodge didn't go thru the mountains and the
second group that went through the mountains in George Washington National
Park with lots of twisties and hair pin turns. I had ridden on these roads
on my, human power, bike last February on one of the brevets out of
Strasburg, VA, so a little familiar with them but that was at 15 mph not 40
mph. Let me tell you the curves and hills are different on the motorcycle.
There was a lot of twisting and up and down on these roads. I hung there
for the most part, but I always stay within ability and even lead for a
few miles before pulling over to allow more season riders to lead. After
coming out of the mountains you are in Luray and for my St Louis friends,
Luray is the home of Luray Caverns which is like
Meramec Caverns in Mo. before heading back over the mountains for
Sperryville.
There was an accident; I didn't see it happen just the aftermath. As I was
going up route 211 over the Shenandoah Mountain at Thurston Gap, as the road
enter the mountains there lots of switchbacks and tight corners for about
four miles or so. There are signs that warn of high accident area. About
high way up, the police was directing traffic around accident. I saw one of
the road captains along the side of the road so I suspected it was someone
from our group that was in the accident. One of the guys was taking one of
the switchbacks
too fast and slid his bike into oncoming traffic. The bike slid into the
oncoming car. The guy didn't actually hit the car just the bike but he got
pretty banged up and some road rash from what I heard. Of course he was
taken away in an ambulance. The bike looked to be totaled. It was a
cruiser, looked like a Suzuki Blvd. The chase vehicle took the bike back to
the Coleman’s Powersports store.
The group stopped to re-grouped on the eastern side on the mountain on the
way down to Sperryville, some folks blew off going to the lodge and headed
back toward home, which about sixty-five miles to the DC area. We were only
about 20 miles from the lodge so I went to the festival to at least get
something to eat and take some time off the bike before heading back.
The
lodge was the official end of the ride and everyone's return ride was on
their own. I thought this was kind of strange but it was what I it was, so
I got something to eat and look around at some of the vendors before heading
back around
4:00pm. The only downer for the day was that I lost my IPOD somewhere while
at the fairgrounds, it fell out of my bag. I retrace my steps
and hoping I would find it, but no luck,
but someone has a nice video IPOD with some sweet sounds on it.
The ride home was uneventful and somewhat boring since I didn’t have my IPOD
to listen to. It was a couple hour ride and I was home around 6:30pm with a
total of 265+ miles for the day and 3036 miles total for the ST1300.
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