mid-ohio trip report, part 1

[Ralph E. Hanson]

Collective, Chapter 8 of my textbook went off to the publisher last Wednesday evening, and I went off to the Superbike races at Mid-Ohio (Mansfield) on Thursday morning. What a great trip! I was able to pack everything for five days comfortably in two Ortlieb dry bags and a medium Ortlieb duffle bag. I put the duffle, along with a folding bag chair on the luggage rack, and was good to go. Throughout the trip I had no trouble with the luggage. Nothing shifted, nothing got wet, handling on the bike was fine. For those of you who tuned in late, I have the saddlebag straps mounted under the seat. My friend Howard showed up about 10 a.m. on his CBR 600 while I was still waxing boots. He had ridden about 180 miles or so from Frederick, Maryland, and had come through a little light rain. We left about 10:45, taking US 19 north out of Morgantown (which is part of many of my regular weekend ride routes). Lots of sweeping curves, not too much traffic. It runs just to the west of and parallel to I79, which takes most of the traffic. At Ruff Creek, Pennsylvania, we turned off on State Road 221 for a beautiful ride through winding hills of eastern Pennsylvania. The only problem was that we got stuck behind a slow line-painting truck. He wasn't painting lines and he wouldn't let us over. That was a shame because traffic was otherwise light and the road was freshly paved. Highly recommended. We then headed west on US 40, which runs alongside I 70, to Wheeling. Howard had to stop for gas about half the distance to Wheeling (he hadn't filled up in Morgantown). I didn't bother. In fact I would only buy gas twice on the whole trip of 500 miles, and I really only topped off the tank the second time. I was really impressed with the range of the KLR. Wheeling, WV, was a bit of a mess to get through. We had tried to stay on back roads as much as possible, but I think I would recommend just taking I 70 through Wheeling as you eventually have to get on it to cross the Ohio River. Once across the river we managed to get confused about where to turn to get on US 250 headed north and west. We ended up on State 7 and had to get turned around. Riding out of the Ohio River Valley on 250 has to be the highlight of the trip for me, some tight turns, but lots of sweepers as well, and lots of gorgeous country. The best section for me was going alongside Tappan Lake. The road goes alongside the lake, sections of which were covered with flowering lily pads. I would love to go up riding in that area again when I had no place in particular to go. Gorgeous country. I tend to be biased and think that all the beautiful country is out West, but this area puts a lie to that idea. We met a friend of Howard's for late lunch in New Philadelphia. From there the three of headed on to Mansfield. Howard and his friend were on CBR 600s, and through the Amish tourist country, we all crept along though stop and go traffic. Something bothersome about the idea of a reclusive religious order being a tourist attraction: "Hey, Bob, you won't believe this. I'm calling you on my cell phone from my Excursaplorabomination driving through Ohio and there are folks here who don't want to be a part of the techno world. Let me fax you a picture. You know, if they didn't use those horse and buggy rigs, they could deliver a lot more of that furniture to the stores here..." Ok, rant off. Anyway, the roads were straight, slow and congested. Strongly suggest avoiding the Berlin, Ohio, on State 39 on a bike. Once we were past Loudonville, the road turned more technical, the traffic let up, and the CBRs left me in the dust. I'm sure a better rider than me on the KLR could have made a pretense of keeping up, but that's not my style of riding. I don't have a sportbike, and I don't want one. My buddies were not riding particularly irresponsibly, but it wasn't the way I wanted to travel. We finally got to Mansfield, Ohio, about 6 p.m. and had to stop to get directions to the hotel. Howard (who admitedly had ridden almost twice as far as I had) had a hard time convincing himself to get back on the bike for the last 5 miles. I had some buttburn, but other than that was in good shape. As I cooled off in the pool at the hotel, I thought back on the trip. I really, really, really like the 16-tooth front sprocket (though I will have a few bad thoughts about it in part two of this report). Thursday was my longest ride to date at about 220 miles, and I had no "tingles" in my hands or feet. I have to shift more, with fifth gear now being sort of an overdrive for cruising down the highway, but as Ed on the list says, "That's why God made transmissions." I use fourth for "swooping" through the curves, and I find it makes a perfect middle ground between old fourth and old fifth. I have to slip the clutch a bit taking off from hills, but that's the only downside. I used to routinely reach for the non-existent sixth gear, but I don't think I did that once with the new sprocket. The gear I'm looking for is always there. I'm glad I took the time Wednesday to run to the shop to get it installed. I also decided that the KLR is really a pretty good light touring bike. It had plenty of range, decent weather protection with the tall shield, good ergos, and good enough power. I do wish that my SS brakelines had come in before we left, but you can't have everything. Tomorrow: Part II - A day at the races Ralph Ralph E. Hanson 99 KRL 650 http://www.wvu.edu/~journal2