I Exist

Todd, Colin and I went on a week long trip two weeks ago. I rode my Kawasaki, Todd was on his Harley and Colin was in his Lincoln. We were a diverse pack. We covered over 2000 miles and passed through seven states. From Chicago we traveled just south of Knoxville, headed north towards DC and then back to Chicago.

Our first day was spent traveling 600 miles to Deal’s Gap. An area home to the best road in the Eastern US, the Tail of the Dragon. There are 318 curves in 11 miles. This is was what I was looking forward to all winter. We left early Sunday Morning. Colin and Todd met me at my house and I kept them waiting while I frantically checked over my belongings I packed. I check everything twice last night, but I check again, never trusting my memory. We hopped on the expressway. Only one toll was in our way before we could be making our way to Deal’s Gap. Todd and I stopped to pay and Colin…well we didn’t know where Colin went. He must have gone through the IPass lane but with a couple of expressway exits around we couldn’t be sure that he didn’t take a wrong turn. Fifteen minutes into the trip and we already got separated…awesome. Todd bitched at Colin on his cell phone and we make our way to catch up to him. I take cell phone reception for granted, but I know once he hit the mountains it won’t be easy to get in touch if we get separated.

Our first day of riding was spirited even through the boring plains of Indiana. I was exciting to ride on the Dragon. As we crossed Kentucky the landscape become more pleasing. Tennessee was even better with steeper hills and downgrades. Our pace was too relaxed and I urged us to quicken our pace so we would make it before sunset. The sun was setting behind the mountains as we drove through the Dragon to Deal’s Gap where our hotel was located. We were in the middle of Smokey Mountains now so “civilization” was sparse. Colin drove through 20 miles of winding roads in pitch dark to the nearest source of food. The occasional squealing of his tires on sharp curves heightened my anxiety of Colin’s driving skills on these roads. It reminded me of Damian on the roads in Pioneer, CA but Colin wasn’t nearly as reckless as him. I still look back on that kicking myself for not getting Damian to stop the car. Anyways, Colin got used to the roads relatively fast and I wasn’t as worried anymore. I set my alarm for 7am and fell asleep fast.

My phone died so my alarm didn’t go off. It was 9am and I lost a couple hours of riding on the Dragon. I didn’t wait for the guys and took off onto the road. I toured there last year and crashed on the Dragon. My riding confidence was always humble and my crash had only fueled me to improve my techniques. I had stopped joy riding and started concentrating on my form. So riding the Dragon was a test of all the work I had done and I was excited to see how well I would fair. I took it easy the first couple of runs. I had new Pilot Power tires so I wanted to test how well they performed. By the afternoon I was scrapping my pegs and nailing the Gravity Cavity. During the morning on the Dragon I was talking to myself in my helmet, “Look deep into the curves, weight the inside peg, leg pressure on the outside tank, get your butt off the seat.” Towards the end of the day it all came automatically and I was having a fucking awesome time on the road. For my skill level, I was kicking ass on those roads.

Todd however did not do so well. On his third time on the Dragon he took a corner too fast and lowsided off the road into some gravel. Todd had some road rash on his forearm and a sprained ankle. As for his bike, thank god for engine guards. His bike was in fine working condition after the crash. Some scrapes on his engine guards and his saddle bags were the most minor signs of damage. His windshield did not do so well though. Two of the four brackets that hold his windshield on had broken off and there were scratch marks on a 1/3 of it. Todd seemed a little shooken up by the whole experience. Him and Colin went to the nearest Harley dealer and hour and half away to get some replacement brackets for his windshield.

I wasn’t sure how Todd’s crash was going to affect the trip. This was only day two. While Todd and Colin were gone I ignored all of that and just focused on riding. NIN’s Ruiner and Pearl Jam’s Off He Goes dominated the playlist on my IPod. I didn’t ride to the music, but it seemed to accent certain moments. Half the time I didn’t hear any music because I was so focused on the next curve, but the beats would fade in an our and sync up with my movements. Tears ran down my face during certain sections of the road where there were consecutive difficult curves. I wasn’t blinking and I had to make a conscious effort to do so.

I shot a ton of video on the Dragon with all types of crazy angles. I am still going through the footage but here is my first video: Dragon Runs. At the end of the day I was pretty sore. I went on that road 12 times that day. I averaged about 15 minutes per run. We rode for over 10 hours, and 600 miles the previous day. That day on the Dragon I rode for 3 hours, and 120 miles and was so much more exhausted. Even so, apparently I was not tired enough to sleep through Todd’s snoring though.

I left off at Deal’s Gap last time. At this point We are 600 miles away from Chicago and have 1600 miles left. We hit the road around 9am. I was itching to take another lap on the Dragon, and was regretful that I didn’t for the next 10 miles. I realized that I wouldn’t be able to top the way I performed the previous day though, so I let go. Shortly after, I realized that I never turned in our key to the room where we stayed. I sprinted back 10 minutes, then forward 20 to catch up with Todd and Colin. At this point Todd’s pace was still slow, so it gave me a chance to have a little more fun on the curves.

We passed through Cherokee where we were bombarded with signs spreading information about diabetes and merchants of boiled peanuts. Coincidence? I think not… It took us about an hour before we arrived at the Blue Ridge Parkway. The BRP is about 500 miles long and wraps around the Appalachian mountains, with the highest point around 6200 feet. The speed limit is 45, which was ok given that it is a scenic road I didn’t find myself opening the throttle wide too often anyways. Our goal: Julian Park. A place to camp out for the night. For the first hour or so we stopped very often. There were overlooks to take a look at the scenery. The views were pretty cool. Not great, but nice. The landscape seemed to lack distinction. Mountains were distance and felt like they blended together. Nonetheless the areas were still awe inspiring from time to time. The roads constantly swelled in height and swept back and forth over the land. It was a very relaxing ride. We stopped for a late lunch at a restaurant with an awesome mountainous view.

After lunch we were going to bust out the maps and decide on a checkpoint. Colin stopped too often to take pictures, Todd was taking more of a spirited pace, but would slow down for the curves. Where he slowed down, I would speed up, so distance would develop between us over time. I go into Colin’s car to get my maps and pop my head out and see Todd riding away. Todd was getting a head start I guess. Colin and I took our time and decided to meet at the Folk Art Center. Colin drove off, and I followed. Five minutes into the ride my suction cup mount had fallen off. This is what I used to secure my digital camera to my bike. Luckily the camera wasn’t actually attached. So I stopped for about 15 minutes and looked for it on the side of the road. I couldn’t find it anywhere. I rationalized away the cost, gave up and hopped back on my bike. I raced to the Folk Art Center to make up the time. Colin wasn’t there. I thought that he must have kept going so I raced ahead to catch up again. An hour or two passes and I finally give up on my chase. This was all an imaginary chase.

I was incredibly pissed off at this point. In my mind, Todd had ridden off and doesn’t even know where to meet us, and Colin didn’t stop at the spot we were supposed to meet. Oh, and the couple times I offered to give Todd a map he refused, so who the hell knows if he has any idea where he is. We are in the middle of the mountains with spotty reception. The rest of my gear is in Colin’s car, but I had a small bag. I rummage through it analyzing what I have left and how long I can go alone and still being comfortable with my limited change of clothes. With the limited reception we’ve had for the past two days I expected it to continue for the next two days as well. I cursed at the mountains, “Why the fuck did Todd just ride off?! Folk Art Center Colin! Fuck!” Some hope came riding down the rode. A a Harley Sportster approached and the rider had a silver half helmet. “Oh sweet, that’s Todd! I have never seen anyone else wearing that gay helmet” I thought to myself. I run out towards the road waving him down only to realize that it’s not Todd, and this strange dude pulls offs to the side. I explain my confusion and apologize. These roads were playing tricks on me now…

I finally get in touch with Colin through my cell. I guess we had more reception out here than I thought. “Where the fuck are you?” are the first words out of my mouth. He went back looking for me when I didn’t show up at the Folk Art Center. We are guessing that we passed each other in a tunnel and didn’t recognize each other. What are the odds. Colin found Todd. The reason I didn’t pass him is because he stopped off in Asheville for gas. Colin was behind me and was going to meet me at the Mineral Museum, and Todd was already there. I continued on worry free. I threw in my helmet camera and start vlogging about the whole situation and the time passes quickly. “Ok, meet at the Mineral Museum, Mineral Museum, Mineral Museum” I repeated to myself.

“Sure seems awfully far…hmm I’m running low on gas…naw I didn’t pass it…but maybe I did? …I think I passed it.” After 5 miles second guessing myself I stopped to check the maps. I passed it 10 miles ago. I could just back track right? Wait…the nearest gas station is 40 miles away, my fuel light just went on, and back tracking would add an extra 20 miles that I can’t travel without running out of gas. Awesome! I continue on towards Julian Park campground, our final destination for the day assuming that they will eventually end up there.

Julian Park was a beautiful sight, at first. I rode up to the entrance to read a sign: “CLOSED FOR WINTER.” It was May. They were closed for winter in May. WTF. Should I check alternate places down the road? No, fuck it. I stayed put and waited for Todd and Colin. I smoked and sat for 45 minutes. I checked my cellphone for reception but had none. One bar would blip every 15 seconds. I balanced on my motorcycle tank reaching for the sky for reception. A bicyclist peddled by and chuckled. Perhaps there was some reception down the road. I rode back where I came, with cell phone in hand, swerving across the road like a drunk driver checking for bars. I found none, but I did find Todd. I expected to bitch him out, but we just ended up laughing over the whole situation after we discovered the details of its cause. We waited for Colin to arrive, doing the math every 10 minutes to estimate the time he should arrive. Every time his ETA proved to be false we would recalculate, add variables, discover false assumptions.

Colin finally arrived at dusk and we traveled up the road 10 miles to the nearest town. We stopped at an Outback for dinner where Todd discovered straight up glasses of 151 for 6 bucks, and the realization that we were really in North Carolina started to sink in as I listened to the surrounding southern accents. We didn’t cover as many miles as we should have that day. Delays aside, the winding mountains roads proved to be tougher to travel through than I originally thought. The next day was sure to be tough if we were to stay on schedule. The weather channel was predicting rain throughout North Carolina and Virginia. I spent an hour trying to calculate potential points where we would hit bad weather and started formulating alternate routes and plans. I knew I would be agonizing over the same maps and forecasts the next morning with the updated data so I stopped worrying and tried to get some sleep.

Holy crap I haven’t finish this post!