Paris Arkansas

This past weekend was one of those rare perfect weekends. The weather was about as perfect as it could get and I had a 3 day rally in the heart of Arkansas based out of the little town of Paris.  Well actually I had to work a 1/2 day but this rally was only about 250 miles away so it was about a 4 hour run. Most of my route was going to be either interstate or 2 lane straight roads so I took the interstate down and the 2 lane back home on Sunday. Great thing about this was that meant on Saturday I was going to get to ride the twisties of Arkansas all day long. 

This is one of the MSTA’s smaller rallies due to the fact that Paris only has one hotel.  However we take it over and it’s a nice size group to hang out and get to know the other riders.  We had a great cookout in the parking lot and kicked tires until late into the night.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and clear with just a slight chill that promised to become a beautiful warm day with a high of 81 and little wind.  Even with only 30 riders we broke into different groups depending upon riding styles and choice of route.  I had put together a short, medium and long route out to our lunch stop.  Our group chose the medium loop which was around 140 miles.  While we ended up being a pretty big group 16 total on 15 bikes with 5 of the 6 ladies on their own bikes.  After running the south 1/2 of 123 we take a break at Hankins Country Store and the Blue Mountain Deli which while closed on Saturday still makes a great place to stop.

Break at Blue Mountain Deli.

Then it was on east on 16, 27, 333 and a couple of other roads to our lunch stop which was on the Buffalo river and was aptly named Tater Bugs on the River.  A group that could not make the entire weekend had ridden down for lunch from St. Louis and a couple of the other groups from our rally showed up also.  We all take different routes but always end up at lunch about the same times.

Lunch at Tater Bugs on The River in Gilbert Arkansas

After lunch we decided to do a variance of one of the routes so that we could do the fun part of 123 from Mt. Judea south with it’s cimbing switchbacks.   Going back we broke into 2 smaller groups so that the faster guys could go play and the rest of us could just enjoy the ride.  Their route apparently was a little different than ours as they passed us about 10 miles from the hotel. 

After a beautiful day with great weather, no LEO’s and no incidents we had logged about 260 miles of twisties.  So it was time for the banquet and more tire kicking in the parking lot. 

The overlook on Mount Magazine

After a short ride south to go over Mt. Magazine to a local cafe for breakfast and then back over for the fun of it the time had come to point the bike west and head for home.  I will admit that I had a few sprinkles before I got home but not enough to hardly notice.  At some point on the way home my bike turned over 178k and I’m around 16k for the year.

I’m hoping to do a larger MSTA rally the weekend of Halloween down in the Texas Hill Country but that one will depend upon the weather since it is right at 500 miles down.

Roy's BBQ Hutchinson, KS

Ride to Eat’s are an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday even when there are not lots of curves between here and there.  So last Saturday when Roger posted that they would be doing a RTE at Roy’s BBQ it sounded like a good excuse for a ride.  Roger hosts these rides about once a month and any riders are welcome.  He’s such a nice guy that he’ll buy lunch for the rider coming the furthest distance and desert for any fellow MSTA member.  So I left home early Saturday morning for a little 220 mile ride and found out when I got there that I didn’t get a free lunch.  I was beat out by an ST owner that had about 75 miles or so on me. 

Kansas Motorcyle Museum - 1916 Indian

After lunch we decided to let the food settle before indulging in desert so some of us took off for the Kansas Motorcycle Museum in Marquette, KS.  This museum was started in memory of STAN “THE MAN” ENGDAHL a dirt track legend.  His wife currently runs it and has some great stories to tell.  These motorcycles were just the opposite of last weekend as they were clean and in pristeen condition.  

Pie at Carriage Crossing Restaurant Yoder, KS

Then it was back on the bikes again in search of pie at possibly one of the best places I’ve found in the little town of Yoder, KS at the Carriage Crossing Restaurant which even has motorcycle specific parking right in front of the door.  I kept myself to 1 piece of Chocolote Peanut Butter pie but some of the guys had room for 2 pieces.  Since I was the only other MSTA member to show up it was free which made it even better. 

Finally it is time to go out and see if we can dodge the rain that had come thru and head for our homes.  It was a little after dark when I finally returned with a trip of about 550 miles.  Not bad for a Saturday RTE.

Working on my technique.

Over the years I have taken different rider training incuding the MSF’s BRC and ERC plus a couple of Lee Parks Total Control schools and a track day at Hallett which included the H.A.R.T. – Hallett Advanced Rider Training.  Now all of these were taken on my own bikes either the 1996 750 Nighthawk that I had previously or my current ride which is a FZ1. 

This year I had been looking at the different schools wanting to take another class and found Jason Pridmore’s STAR school was going to be in Topeka, KS last Thursday which is only about 250 miles away.  At first I thought about taking my bike but my tires at the time were touring tires and had around 8k on them.  Not wanting to put on new tires that would work well on the track but only give me a couple of thousand miles I decided that it might be wiser this time to rent a bike.  An SV650 set me back about what a set of tires would have been and I didn’t have to haul my bike. 

Jason’s school is set up with classroom sessions followed by going onto the track to work on those technique’s.  They divided us into 2 groups with the Street and Advanced so that we pretty much rotated back and forth through out the day.   

Two up with Jason.

One of the highlights of the day were the 2 up rides that Jason gave during the afternoon.  If you wanted to take advantage of this it gives you an idea of how smooth a person can be while shifting and braking.  I wasn’t sure if I could give up control to anyone even someone of Jason’s calibur.  I have never been able to ride more than a couple of miles on the back of anyones bike and that’s at slow speeds around town.  So all the guys in the class decided that I would be the 1st one to ride with Jason so that I wouldn’t back out.  Jason’s bike is set up for this type of riding and has a pair of grab handles built into the tank.  So I climbed on the back and got a very tight grip.  Jason took it easy on the 1st lap which still felt like we were going super fast.  After that lap when asked if I wanted to do the 2nd lap I gave a thumbs up and off we went again and this time it was even faster.   About the only thing you feel is when Jason is going into the corner is the bike slowing dramitically but you don’t actually feel the down shifting.  I would do this again and next time I might actually ask how fast we are going.

Last Sunday a group from Oklahoma City got together to ride down to Ada Oklahoma to check out the motorcycles that were being ridden from coast to coast. None of these motorcycles can be newer than 1916 and they have to be ridden the entire distance. They left Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Sept 10th and arrived in California at the Santa Monica Pier today. They have a designated route to ride each day and an allotted amount of time to do it in. Keep in mind that these bikes can only average around 35mph and have very little in the way of brakes or suspension.

After looking at these bikes I couldn’t imagine riding them around town let alone across the country. The riders came into Ada for lunch and while they ate and did maintenance on their bikes the rest of us got to check out all the unique machines. They came and went as quick as they could trying to keep to their schedule. Watching them leave peddling to get up to a speed that the engine would kick in was definitely something you don’t see everyday.

After spending a couple of hours admiring the older bikes I got on my bike, hit the start button and put it in gear knowing that I would not have to worry about any problems on the way back home. Such was not the case for one of the old bikes as within blocks I saw one stopped and the rider was working on it.

Not a long ride today but a pleasant outing of around 250 miles.

The results haven’t been published but you can read more about it at http://www.motorcyclecannonball.com/