Things went A LOT smoother for me Thursday morning that I had planned and my aim turned to getting to the base parking lot by 11:00. My riding partner for the day showed up 9:00 on the button and we were ready to roll.
Before we even got out of Barnstead, a pick-up truck in front of us lost a chainsaw bar out the back of his bed. Thankfully I saw something bouncing around before it flew out and we backed off. Just in time too, as the bar flew out just after I was giving Dennis the back-off/slow down motion with my hand. Got to the base parking lot and it seemed we were the first ones to get there. Timmy & his buddy showed up shortly after us, so we just chilled in the parking lot waiting for the others. Timmy had to go get gas, so Dennis & I figured we'd wait for the others while he took care of that. Why he didn't fill up down the road on the way is beyond me, but...
I kept glancing over to the base toll station and thought it was pretty cool to see a couple peeps that worked there were on bikes too. I didn't realize it was Randy & Steve until Steve walked over and basically said, WTF? They were waiting for us, we were waiting for them. Now we had to all wait a bit longer for Timmy.
I should have recognized Randy by his bright-ass shirt and suspenders, but I was looking for his pick-up truck & trailer...
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The now fully paved road definitely makes for a smooth ride, sans the area the snowcats are digging the shit out of the older stuff. Holy fuck, those things really put it to the pavement. Unbelievable weather the whole day. I never checked the actual temps once we were there, but I'd say 55-60 with a slight breeze up top. Probably the second nicest day I've seen up there in my long history of tackling the Auto Road. As Randy & Ed pointed out, we were up there once and saw the highest recorded temp for that particular day. Beautiful, unobstructed views from all angles.
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Quite the cross section of members, non-members & bikes. A couple Harleys - one being my old timer friend on his trike (no shit Timmy, he REALLY is 72 years old. You should see his 75 year old girlfriend!), a couple of Yappies, a Zook, and Randy's K-Pipe. It was great meeting Steve, seeing Timmy & John again, and watching/listening to Randy on the K-Pipe. The entire day turned out to be an incredible day, weather-wise. From the minute I left my house until I got home, it was nothing but sunshine, warm but not humid weather. Dennis & I ended the day with about 250 miles.
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Timmy and his buddy peeled off somewhere along the way in Conway to head back to Gilford to catch a show. Dennis, Randy, Steve & I headed down Route 153 for a bit until Steve peeled off. BTW, Steve - I've always wondered where that road led to. From there, Dennis & I rode with Randy until Randy peeled off to get gas AGAIN, then we just headed home.
Just an incredible day riding. The ride to the mountain, the mountain, seeing some faces & meeting new ones, the ride home. A great fuckin' day.
Randy takes the cake for not only taking the K-Pipe up the mountain, but for riding the thing THE ENTIRE WAY & back from his house. Although we had to stop for him somewhere around Effingham (Maybe Eaton?) so he could give his monkey ass a rest & stretch.