Picture Album: Linky!! There are 235 Pictures in this album, so pack a lunch and enjoy.
So. Last year, we went to the Deal’s Gap Rally. ( Here, here, here, here, and here.) and, it was a decent time… but, as the “new people” there, we were kind of on our own. There were no group rides that we knew about, so we ended up riding by ourselves. (Well, there were thousands of other bikes around, mainly Harleys, but we weren’t riding with them.) So, I decided to host my own Rally. Hence, the birth of the East Coast Gather. My main goal for the Gather was organization. I wanted to keep everyone riding together as a group, and for the most part, we did very well with that. We had a GREAT group for the first year.
Most of us are in the above shot, a few are just outside the frame, still putting their gear on ad getting ready for the ride.
This was Friday’s Route… for the most part. We kind of reversed it though. We went from “C” to “F” on the way out… and got caught in the rain for a pretty good part of it. But, once we got to 181, the rain tapered off, and we had a pretty dang awesome ride down to Morganton. We got down to Morganton, and the guys were hungry, so we stopped at SubWay for them to get something to eat. As they were in SubWay (which apparently was staffed by a group of cheerleaders) it started to rain just a bit… but we weren’t too worried about it. We got back on the road, and started back towards the Rider’s Roost. As soon as we got back to the fun curves on 181, the rain started again. After a few turns, things tapered off, so I picked up the speed. Well, 2 turns later, it was wet again. Apparently, there was also a spot of paint or oil or something in the middle of my lane. So, I’m coming around the corner, already going too fast, and I hit this mystery substance. The front end completely washes out. It’s gone. The bars smack back and forth, lock to lock, about 3-4 times. It then straightens out, but it’s still sliding. So, for some reason, the only thing I could thing of was to get the rear of the bike to meet the front. So, as the front was sliding, I stomped the rear brake and slid the rear of the bike back into line with the front. after this, the tires gripped back up, and I kept going at a slightly slower pace.
Here we are back at the Roost. You can see the clothes and gear hanging from the rafters trying to dry out. The Roost was actually a great place to stay. At the end of a day of riding, the beds were comfy. The blankets were warm. The place was dry. Since we got caught in the rain on Friday, we barely made it back in time to get to the store before they closed at 8pm. So, we ran into the store, grabbed some bread, peanut butter and jelly, and beer and headed back to the cabins with bags and 12 packs balanced on our seats, gas tanks, and handlebars. Good thing the store is about 1/8th mile down the road, and a straight shot from the Roost.
After we were well rested and full from our heavy PB&J sandwiches, the above picture was Saturday’s Route. Kind-of. We chopped off the western part of the ride, and ran it backwards. With the weather being a bit “iffy” and police presence showing up later in the day, we wanted to get up to Shady Valley as early as we could. We got on the road about 6:30 that morning, and didn’t stop until… well, Boone. We were hungry, so we got breakfast at McDonalds. You wouldn’t believe the looks people give you at 7AM in a small country town when you’re in full leathers.
After breakfast, we were off. We headed directly up 421 to Mountain City for gas, then on to Shady Valley. After a few times back and forth over the mountain, we stopped at the store to meet up with “TheRepairMan” and “zackandjake” who were waiting for us.
It was a little cloudy up there, but no rain. Things were looking good as far as the weather was concerned, so we decided to have a bit of fun and run back and forth over the mountain a few more times. After about 11AM, we were heading back over the South Side, and Tennessee Highway Patrol showed up. Luckily, we met the THP as we were heading into a 15mph switchback, so we were all travelling well within the speed limit. After that little run-in, it was time to head back to the store to have lunch.
We came outside, rocked “The Pose” for a quick picture, and got geared back up and back on the road. From here, we headed down 130 to Damascus, where they were celebrating Trail Days. The town was packed. So, after another fill-up right quick, we continued down 58 towards Independence, VA. It was about 2PM, and at this point, we’d been in 3 states. 58 was not too much fun. There was a lot of gravel and other things washed out into the road… but that makes sense, because it rained the day before, and for 2 weeks straight before that. So, 58 wasn’t an amazing amount of fun, but oh well. In Independence, we picked up 221, and headed down the home stretch back through VA towards Boone. Of course, as soon as we got within 20 miles of Boone, it started raining. No big deal. A little drizzle never hurt anyone. But then, the closer we got to Boone, the harder it started coming down. Pretty soon, it was raining so hard that the seal in my helmet couldn’t hold it back any longer. The rain was coming in all around my shield, and once the water came in, the shield became as foggy as a bathroom mirror after a nice hot shower. So, I stared at the tail lights of the truck in front of me, and followed it the mile or so back toward civilization. We pulled over at a gas station for a bit, but the rain was showing no signs of stopping. So, once again, with our soggy leathers on, we headed down the road.
We got back to the Roost, and it was still raining a bit… Not too bad, but still a bit dreary. Then, all of the sudden, we got a break in the weather, and decided that we weren’t going to eat PB&J Sandwiches again. We sent Jon down to the store to get charcoal, some hotdogs, cheese, chips, and bread. He got back, and we tried to start the fire.
Things didn’t exactly work out too well. The boxes are trying to cover the charcoal long enough to get them to light. But, that didn’t work. We tried paper. We tried gas. We tried an entire bottle of lighter fluid. Nothing worked. So, we were about prepared to eat either cold hotdogs or PB&J again. But then, we had an idea.
Turns out, you wrap 6 hotdogs in Aluminum Foil and put them on the bike’s header for 15 minutes at 1800RPM, it works like a champ. They even had grill marks on them when they were done. Nice and hot, inside and out.
So, in a nutshell, that was the 1st Annual East Coast Gather. We had a dang good time. Even with all of the rain. Sunday morning, people hopped on their bikes, and headed out. Everyone with a smile on their faces, even though they were heading out in the rain.
