Getting close to that time...

 

Out for a ride on the CTX this morning.  We had a good soaking rain last night, so I made it a point to stay off the roads that are heavily wooded (shade) and the chip-seal or oiled.  Cool enough that I could comfortably wear one of my mesh jackets.  Nice riding.

"That time" is the Rally.  Less than two weeks before the Hills will be inundated with motorcycles.  This morning, there were more bikes than I've seen on any ride so far... I'm guessing 30 to 40 bikes that I passed going the other way.  An informal poll: I've mentioned this before, but the waving to other motorcyclists stops as it gets closer to the Rally.  Today, less than half the people on bikes waved back.  Yep, it's that time.  More about that attitude in a bit.

Photos, videos, and almost daily ride reports can get old if all you read is: "The riding was great today."  It was, but now it's about the other stuff.  Riding the length of Iron Mountain Road, I got behind two Suburbans with Minnesota plates about 1/3 of the way in.  The speed limit drops to 25 mph in this area... they were doing about 15 and coming to a near stop on anything that resembled a curve.  Honestly, it is hard to ride behind someone driving like that.  As usual, with plenty of turn-outs to allow traffic to get around, they didn't.  I had to take my opportunity on one short straightaway, where they got up to maybe 18 mph.

With the Suburbans in the rear view mirror, the only life-threatening stupid people were the ones coming at me, driving over the center line.  And then, the worst: a Jeep with Iowa plates was backing up in a blind curve!  The ABS brakes work good on the CTX.  Yes, I hollered at them as I went by... they were backing up to get a photo of the view in that blind curve.  All kinds of stupid.

That one elevated my heart rate for a bit.  They definitely take the prize for "Dumbest Driver on Iron Mountain Road."  Not just for the day or the week.

The rest of the ride was just fine.  My low fuel light came on as I got on Hwy 16 to head back to Hart Ranch.  I pulled into my usual fuel stop, where I know I can get non-ethanol gas.  There were about 12 to 15 bikes in the gas station; about half of them had obviously fueled up and were pulled off to the side; the rest were jockeying for position at any open pump.  I waited well outside the fray until there was a pump available with only one bike there.  I pulled around to that pump, about 8 to 10 feet from the bike getting fuel.  I raised my helmet and said, "How's your day going?"

The guy (riding an Indian dresser with a "bedazzled fairing" grunted at me.  A guy who was just finishing fueling his Harley trike on the other side of the pump said to me, "We don't associate with people that aren't on Harleys."

I said, "Well, you're kind of a fuckin' snob, aren't ya?"

The woman on the back of the trike motioned at the rider and said, "He's just an asshole when he's on this thing."

Before I go too much further, I have to say that it was obvious that this group of well-heeled old guys were "playing biker"... all the bikes looked new and shiney.  The few that were wearing any leather had new-looking leather.  The guy on the trike (all 125 pounds of him) had a nice crease in his jeans.

I chuckled and asked: "What about your friend here with the Indian?"

The wimpy looking guy on the HD trike said, "Well, that's about the same as a Harley."  I'm guessing there will be a few thousand guys on Indians here soon that will take offense at that statement.

With our bikes facing each other, I said to the guy on the Indian, "I guess you haven't heard that you meet the nicest people on a Honda?"  Neither of them had any idea what I was talking about.

The guy with the Indian made a show of backing his bike up about 3 inches "so he could get around me"... there was room to drive a pickup between us.  This was the worst case of playing "biker dress-up" that I've seen in a long time.  The Indian rider pulled on a 3/4 helmet that was obviously too big for him, but the color matched his bike.

I topped off my bike (70 mpg) and headed back to Hart Ranch.  Really, it was a delightful ride, except the guy from Iowa with the Jeep backing up on that blind curve.  And a high today in the upper 70s.  Nice change of pace.