TAT Day 1 06 06 2016

TAT Day 1 06/06/2016

Before I start todays blog, I want to say that yesterday evening, I met this wonderful couple from Indiana that have a rail car and travel around the country and ride the railroads with it.  Bob is an ex- motorcycle racer and we had a wonderful evening swapping stories.  In his day, he did hare scrambles – now, that’s racing not for the faint of heart.  I won’t go into detail about hare scrambles, but do yourself a favor and google it – crazy stuff.

Departed Andrews, NC today, and it’s been raining in Andrews for two days.  This morning was clear, so I decided to go for it. I got up, had a light breakfast, met an interesting gentleman named Martin who used to ride a BMW /5 back in 1972 and he was interested in my BMW chain-slapper.  We exchanged pleasantries over breakfast and when I got ready to leave, he took a photo of me in the parking lot, txted to me and said he would be interested in following my blog.

So I’m off, and about a mile into the TAT, I decided to do a photo-op…that was my first mistake of the day, but not to be the last or the most exciting.  I stopped to pull out my cell phone and decided to put the side stand down – I did mention it had been raining for two days, and you guessed it – even with my wide sidestand foot, the bike went over. Ok, I meant to do that – not really, but hey, stupid is as stupid does.  Made mental note to find dry spot to stop. Anyway, I digress…I step off the bike as it’s going over and somehow the left rearview mirror snapped off.  I had to unpack the bike that I had only packed 30 minutes before to get it upright. Repack take my photos and I’m off. Ah, not so quick there hot rod…It starts, but as soon as I put it into gear, it dies – damn Germans and their sidestand safety cutoff switches…so now I’m back on my belly in the mud looking for it – awe, there you are you little devil…it came disconnected…reconnect it and I’m off.

Several hours later, I stop in Robbinsville, NC had a bottle water, talked to the store owner and a couple bikers that were there…they noticed the mud and said I was nuts – and I said “and your point is…” They asked where I was riding too, and when I told them, yeah, they said I was “really nuts…” Hey, at least I’m consistent. If you follow the reality TV show about Moonshiners, you’ll recognize the store…and while I was there, the star of the show drove up, bought something and left about 2 minutes later – damn missed getting an autograph. 

The store owner asked where I was headed and I told him I was riding the TAT…he said the road would be like concrete – he lied…A couple hours later I’m in mud that’s literally as slippery as snot and all of a sudden the bike does a 180 and slams down on the left side. So, you guessed, I find a clearing about 20-30 yards up the road, take all the gear off the bike and stage it there, and go back and lift the bike upright again, and in the best MSF basic rider course fashion straddle walk it slipping the clutch into the clearing, turn it around on hard back and load it up again for the 3 time today. You see a pattern forming here? Mud slick as snot and my Hidenau K60 Scout knobbies are packed and slippery.

Ok, so back on the bike and with my feet as outriggers and straddle walking in first gear for what seemed like ever, I’m out of nature’s mud-snot factory in the Cherahola Valley…

Oh, but it’s not over yet…there’s one more…this was on a very steep incline coming up out of the Cherahola Valley…on the side of the mountain to left it’s straight up, and to the right it drops off several hundred feet, and what does my trusty steed decide to do? No, you’re wrong buzzard breath…it doesn’t want to lie down, all of a sudden it gets traction, the front wheel reaches for the sky, spins 180 degrees to the left and ends up wheels up at about a 30 degree angle – hey, at least it decided not to pitch my ass over the cliff…so…there I am again, crawling around in the mud (there’s a theme there somewhere) taking everything off the bike.  Staging it up the road 10 yards, then dragging the bike down off the embankment.  Ok, but now remember I said it spun around 180 degrees so now its facing down the hill I want to go up.  Sidestand down…and pivot the bike 180 degrees on the side stand, pack it up, get on it, and continue on my ride.  Oh, did I tell you I hate gravel – I really hate gravel…it’s like riding on frick’n marbles. 30 miles of marbles later, I’m back on hard pack…then pavement, into town so I can write this blog, and you can laugh your asses off at me….Oh, the stuff I do to entertain people…All total, I think I did about 100 miles on the TAT today, just think, only 4700 more to go – I think I’m going to have to ask for more time off from work…At this rate, I won’t be in Port Orford, OR until Thanksgiving…

Anyway, that’s all for now, I hope you found my first day on the TAT entertaining…but it wouldn’t be Adventure Riding, if sh*t wasn’t happening…

And here's the bike after a day of abuse on the TAT...