Me and Peter had a great weekend
upstate riding some dualsport one day and then totally off-road on
Sunday. Here's a mini re-cap:
Sat: 1. 10:am had to go to New Kingston to get Peter's XT and My XL
inspected at Fast Lane Cycles. This guy does inspection and
motorcycle repair from his HOME which is pretty much in the middle of
nowhere. Cool guy, with some interesting stories too. We got there by
taking Route 28 to Margarettville and then taking Margaretville
Mountain rd. to NK, which is a 6 mile short cut btw.
2. Got back to the house, watch some TV for a bit then take the
bikes out again. This time we decided to do a bit more off-road on
the way. We took county RT 3. to Prattsville, half of county RT 3 is
some hardcore trail riding and is still an "open road" but in
actuality it is only fully accessible to off road vehicles. From cty
RT 3 we get on CTY RT 2 and then to 23A which takes us north to
Prattsville. There we have lunch at the Prattsville Diner where I had
one of the best barbecue beef on a roll ..sandwiches I ever had. If
you live in that area , go there and try it. I felt like licking the
damn plate.
3. Before lunch we discuss if we want to go back the same way we
got there, going back is alot tougher than going there on the off
road part.I mention to Pete that it might be better to go back the
long way (real long way! 6 1/2 miles VS 29 miles , no shit)because
the way back is littered with boulders on some sections of the "open
road" cty Rt 3 and the dual-sports get hammered on that stuff. But
after hearing about a storm on the way I change my mind and suggest
to Pete to go back the tougher way as it will get us home faster.
Pete changes his mind , his legs took a beating on the way down from
Cty Rt 3.. I agree reluctantly because I don't think we'll make it
back before the rain hits. So we head back the long ( but really
scenic) way via 23A west (could never figure out why that section
isn't called 24 North or South , check out a map and see) to route 42
South to Route 28 West. After we pass Belleayre Plaza in High Mount (
8 or 9 miles from the house) starts a downpour of BIBLICAL
PROPORTIONS immediately upon ascending "Half Gallon Hill" on RT 28 (
a few hundred feet from Belleayre Plaza). We have nowhere to pull
over on th is hill and must continue to Fleischmanns. We get to the
top of the hill and then descend towards Fleischmanns on the other
side. I go to a huge pine-tree right at the Fleischmanns
exit. It's dry there, we wait for the rain to stop, it was only a few
minutes more then it stopped. I was soaked to the bone from the waist
down. From the waist up I had my Field Sheer jacket on , not a drop
of water got through it, AWESOME!. Oh and I also had my off-road full
face helmet on wearing only sunglasses and my face felt like it was
getting cut to shreds from some of the rain drops
. We get home and
then watch the Robbie Kneivel do his thing on the USS Intrepid back
at the house. Of course, right after, we watched the story of
Robbie's dad Evel and how much of a complete lunatic he was/is. It
was very entertaining, Evel's got balls that clank no doubt.
For anyone wondering what the hell "Half Gallon Hill " is, it's a
steep and pretty long hill on RT 28 that I always joked a car needs
half a gallon of fuel to go up it. I mentioned this name to Pete and
he liked it. The name has stuck now for a few years....and is showing
the beginings of catching on to others
.
I'll recap Sunday tomorrow , I'm too damn tired.
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