July 29-31, 2005
Another one of Uncle Roy's Rider's Roost parties, this time the mid-summer full moon "Summer Rage". We have a couple cabins reserved and tons of grass space for tent camping...always a fun trip in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
Prior to this ride, I had 7 cabins reserved for the Summer Rage Party. Some of the regulars and a few new guys all gung-ho to come out and party at Roy's. With two days to go, the Weather.com forecasts started to look gloomier and wetter with each day. T-minus 2 days, the first two couples backs out. They never like riding in the rain, so this wasn't much of a surprise. T-minus 1 day and two more back out. OK, there's still maybe 5 of us going - still makes for a good party.
7:00 AM the morning of - looks like a solid wall of green on the radar with no end in sight - one more phone call... man I gotta get some new riding buds. I'm in the garage looking for the rubber boots I use when I KNOW it's gonna be a soaker. Glad for the garage to get dressed in, I'm off in the heavy downpour, expecting this to be a long wet ride. I changed riding tactics last ride - unless it is a COLD rain, I just cinch up my collar and wear my wind/rain resistant PanOptix eyewear - the rain stings a little, but the visibility in the rain is far better. And I hate wearing the 3/4 helmet with full visor.
The radar was true to form. It slowed a bit three times, stoppped twice, but for the most part I was soaked when I pulled into Rider's Roost. Looked like a pretty light turnout so far - there were maybe a dozen tents on the grass by the river. Roy, as usual, was on the bench shirtless collecting money and strapping the wristbands on. Told me he got a call from one of my guys that they were backing out... down to one more other than me.
...that one called the cell phone 20 minutes later.
So, parties are fun, but ever-fookin one of my riding buds backed out. Kinda pissed at this point and disapointed at the pussies I was riding with. Roy started looking around for takers on the empty cabins and got rid of a few of them that first night. I met a couple guys who'd rode over after reading the website that there was a party going on... had a couple beers and cigars at their picnic table early in the day. The mood was wet, and Roy clearly as pissed as I was about the weenies not coming out for the party cause it was a little wet. By mid-afternoon it had cleared up some and, while still overcast, was drying out a fair amount.
Pic #1 below shows the GPS being downloaded with the routes for the Saturday day-ride. I leave the GPS mounted to the dashboard, and run a serial cable to it from the laptop. Pic #2 is the screen as it loads. This process takes about 30 minutes as the transfer speed is a little slow and the maps needed for a weekend ride is often 20MB or so. I've had the scooter in motel parking lots with the laptop in the tourpak loading in the dark for the next couple days rides.
Pic #3 is from the covered porch of the cabins at Roy's place... I stopped at the lil BP station just up the road and picked up a RibEye steak, some beenie weenie and some Brunswick Stew in a can (Pic #4). Was planning to go out with the guys to the steak house in town, but opted for a wood fire (wood avail at the campsite) and stole a grate from the cabin next door.
I ate on the porch in silence... everyone else (what few there were) were setting up tents and tarps and eating their own dinners. I hooked up with a couple people in one of the other cabins for some campfire time, and joined them in the rec hall for the Friday night comedy routine. Roy is a pretty good standup, though I'd heard some of the jokes from past parties. We walked from campfire to campfire, shootin the shit with new friends, but all in all, it wasn't the same as being out with old friends.
The next day - I took a long loop ride around the mountains, getting back mid afternoon and while the partygoers increased some during the day, my mood hadn't and I calculated the time it'd take to get back home, and would I make it in time for my daughter's recital. (Hey - I've been to damned near all of them throughout her school years, I was taking a break this one time.) Figured if I left right now, I'd make it before the end of the show.
That's what I did - tossed all my shit in the lil trailer, left some firelogs and usable picnic gear for Roy, and waved at him on my way out... by now he had re-rented all the cabins except mine... and the two who now shared the triplex with me were rednecks of the highest order. Homer Simpson would be proud.
Soaked on the way home, and missed the recital all together, but glad to be home.
Biking is always full of ups and downs... some rides good, some suck...this was in the latter category. Gotta consider the average. Not a lot of pics this trip with all the rain and the mood, but you get the image. A lone steak on the grill flanked by bare cans of beans and stew... gotta imagine me on the porch reflecting on what I'm doing there. The convertible looked awfully good in my mind right about this point.
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