I thought about titling this post "Best Ride Yet" while I was in the middle of it.
Here's how it played out: we were just chillin' at the coach. The weather was lovely (predicted high today of 84º, blue sky, wind around 10mph. After brunch (when you eat eggs for lunch - Joan suggested a ham, egg, and cheese sandwich on croissants) made on the griddle. She did the prep, I did the griddling, and it came out quite tasty. After clean-up, she went to sit under the awning to read. I decided to go for a ride.
I didn't think the riding would be great, with this being the Saturday of a holiday weekend... I expected the roads to be crowded. Not to mention (but, I'm mentioning it) the chip-seal road construction to get out of Hart Ranch.
Now the music trivia for this post: "B-b-b-b-b-bad. Bad to the bone." If you said, "George Thorogood & the Destroyers, 1982," you get 15 bonus points. That's the music I was hearing in my head as I was gearing up. Yeah, I used to hear that music on the Vespa, too.
Don't think I didn't notice the admiring glances of neighbors as I fired up the parallel twin Honda. I pulled my gloves on and saw every eye on me (in my rear view mirrors) as I dramatically pulled away... at 10 mph... the heavily enforced speed limit here at Hart Ranch. ;-)
Riding out of the resort, I wondered what the road would be like, with the road work. I had already decided to turn right and go to Highway 79 south to get to the good riding. No chip-seal on that portion of the road, but looking to the left, it is gravel all the way to Neck Yoke Road.
The CTX easily ran the 8 or 9 miles at 70 mph on this highway to get to Highway 40. Highway 40 takes you west to Keystone. Now, I have to admit that I have avoided Highway 40 the last few years because there are "better" curvy roads. This road has a speed limit of 55 mph and plenty of wide, sweeping curves. A few steep hills that would have the Vespa slowed down to 40 mph. Not the CTX.
Going up the first of those hills, I quickly caught up to a pickup truck with a motorhome in front of that; going about 48 mph. I dropped it down a gear, twisted the throttle, and before I expected it, was doing 70+ mph and flew past those vehicles. Once around, I slowed to 55 again (really) and just enjoyed the way the bike handles this road. It was then I realized I could possibly be... a road snob: only happy with roads that are twisty beyond normal. If this road was in south Texas, I would be wetting myself over the opportunity to ride it every damn day! But, here? Yeah, I realized what a really fun road this is, too.
Where are the photo and videos, Jim? Thanks for asking - I gave the cameras a day off. I didn't expect to enjoy this riding day so much. This post is going to have to paint the images in your head.
I turned off Hwy 40 and onto Playhouse Road as I got close to Keystone. Playhouse Road is one of my "regulars" - this road is almost as twisty as Iron Mountain Road, just doesn't have as good of a road surface. Still, I was amazed at the absence of traffic. On the Saturday of a holiday weekend??
From Playhouse Road, it is onto Iron Mountain Road. And... no traffic in front of me! All the way from where I got on it, to the Scenic Overlook. I pulled in to get a drink of water. And then decided: all the times we have drive this road and stopped at this parking area (usually to re-hydrate), we have never walked the short distance to the viewpoint.
I grabbed my phone off the bike and...
A sign describing some of the roads in the area, with the Scenic By-way named after Peter Norbeck, a past Governor of South Dakota and a big proponent of Mt Rushmore and the great roads in the area around it and through Custer State Park.
A short walk to the view area. The surrounding hills...
And, of course, Mt Rushmore in the distance...
Heading back to the bike...
That's the CTX on the left, a Harley (closer to the camera) on the right. I got back on my bike and continued north on Iron Mountain Road... still, no traffic in front of me. When I got to the second pigtail bridge, I came up on a Toyota, and they quickly pulled to the right to let me pass. Damn, what a great ride!
Off the north end of Iron Mountain Road and a right turn to take me through Keystone; this is the "touristiest" of the tourist towns in the Black Hills, billing itself as "In the Shadow of Mt Rushmore"... it isn't. But, it is just 3 miles from those famous faces.
A right turn at the north end of Keystone and I am back on Highway 40; it will take me to South Rockerville Road and towards Hart Ranch (about 17 miles away). I came over the first big hill on Rockerville Road and saw a big dark cloud between me and Hart Ranch. When I turned right on Neck Yoke Road, the rain shafts made it clear that I was going to get wet.
Yep, the rain came down hard and cold; heavy enough that the dips in the road had standing water in them. I really don't like riding through standing water. By the time I got to Spring Creek Road (where the road construction is), I was planning to ride that back to Hart Ranch. The rain let up for a bit, then came down ever harder! I was through the short stretch of chip-seal in my lane, but this left me with 3 options on where to ride: the track closest to the chip-seal in the other lane that has oily overspray on it... the middle of the lane that sits higher than the tire tracks, but is where cars drip oil, which gets slick in the rain... the right tire track that is filling up with standing water. Three real crappy choices. Oh, and add in the copious number of tar-snakes that also get slicker when wet, all over this lane. This part of the ride (about 4 miles worth) was not my favorite.
I kept it to about 30 miles per hour. Back at our site at Hart Ranch, it was still raining. I dropped the ramp to the cargo trailer and pulled the bike in... I took a few minutes to wipe down what I could reach in the cover of the trailer. The bike is going to need a more thorough bath at some point.
When I went into the motorhome, Joan had pulled the slides in... she said there was "a very small bit of hail in the heavy rain, but nothing significant." It was enough to get Rufus worried, though. He hopped up on my lap when I got in... "It's OK buddy, nothing bad is going to happen - let me tell you about my fun ride today." He's a good audience. And, a good boy.
Later...
Looking back towards the storage area.
For those keeping track: this is two days in a row getting rained on while riding.
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