2009-02-08
This past Saturday the mercury said 70 and the sun shone unabated. It was fairly windy but that didn't stop Nick, Nathan, and me from riding. Nick rides a Yamaha XS400, Nathan just bought a 2003 Sportster Custom, and I was on my Nightster. Nick's XS was purchased from Nathan last year and it's now a nice "half way cafe" machine ... a little ratty, but pretty cool.
We met at Nathan's in Oak Grove, MO and headed south on F highway toward 50. While Nick and I ride frequently (multiple times a week when the weather cooperates) neither of us had ridden with Nathan and didn't know his skill level. F has some nice sweeping curves that are marked 35 and 45 MPH. I was leading and Nathan was pulling up the tail. I kept checking my mirror and Nathan was hanging in there pretty good.
Our first stop was going to be in Holden, MO. When we reached 50 Hwy, we turned to the East and I opened up the throttle. I still love how quick "the ton" comes on the 1200. Once I hit my mark I slowed down and let the other guys catch back up. There were a lot of other bikes on 50 Hwy including a tube framed Buell that sounded awesome as it blew past us.
We stopped at 131 and 50 and Nathan took the lead since I didn't know my way to or around Holden. We followed some signs to a restaurant that ended up being close. Nathan knew of another place just around the corner. It was around the corner, and about 2 blocks down. Not a big deal, but I was a little nervous leaving the bikes on a side road. The restaurant we ended up at was named Galle's and pretty good.
Full of food and coffee we take 131 from Holden to Odessa. This is another rural highway with some decent sweepers.
At Odessa, MO we hit 00 Hwy, to TT Hwy, to Z Hwy in to Bates City. Again, more country sweepers with the aromas of cow and hog pastures.
D Hwy, running North from Bates City, has some tighter turns than the previous roads, but has quite a few gravel roads intersecting so we had to keep on our toes. There are a few nice straights and I was able to pull another triple digit reading. Nick, having recently adjusted his carburetors, also threw the throttle open and found his top end just north of 80.
From D we took 24 Hwy, to 7 Hwy in to Blue Springs. 7 Hwy has these bumps that kill me with the Nightster's terrible excuse for suspension (the air shocks were sold so it's back to stock). We grabbed some gas and headed toward Fleming Park.
On 7 Hwy, there was an older guy and a Kawasaki KZ100. He was giving that bike hell, pulling the front wheel up at the top of first and second at every light. Too bad about the giant sissy bar, would have been a cool looking bike. It sure sounded like a can of angry bees with the 4-1 header and huge megaphone exhaust.
Fleming is a park around Lake Jacomo and has a nice mix of surfaces and turns. Nick and I ride there often and make pretty good work of the curves. Nathan, however, hadn't ridden much for the last few years and was a little slower pushing his bike around. Unfortunately for Nick, he was in back and kept catching up to Nathan in the turns.
After Fleming, Nathan headed home and Nick stopped at my place for an after ride beer.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
