SCR Day 3: I survived the Mississippi River Tornado

It was raining when I woke up at 4:00 this morning.  I looked up the weather report, found that it would begin clearing at around 8:00, then went back to bed.

A crowd had gathered in the breakfast room at the Lebanon EconoLodge.  Everyone was discussing the weather.  And that weather was gradually clearing, with a window of opportunity to ride out after 8:00. Good weather was in the forecast, but trouble lay ahead.

I began at around 8:30, heading west on I-40 in a light rain.  I mostly followed the official route to the first checkpoint and it was a beautiful ride on fresh black asphalt that looked like a black ribbon following the contours of the countryside.  Farms lined the road as far as could be seen in some areas. I caught up with Ken a mile or so before the checkpoint.  He was going slowly through a part of the street being used to drain an adjacent field.  The overnight rain had been heavy.

Nice place to ride

Flooding

Ken at CP1

From there, My two Garmins decided to take me to I-24 for a 20 mile blast down the highway.  Vanessa ran a steady 75 to 80 the entire way.  A big tail wind helped.

Checkpoint 2 was in a park known as the Between the Lakes Recreation Area.  It had a beautiful road running the length of the park.  The Checkpoint was at the Tennessee Kentucky border where I stopped to fill the fuel tank with my carried Jerry can.  It proved to be the only fuel stop needed on this short leg.  While there I shed the rain jacket and sped away.

Between The Lakes

The road through Between The Lakes

Checkpoint 3 was an intersection in the town of LaCenter Kentucky.  On the intersection is a restaurant called Bluegrass, where Ken decided to stop for lunch.  He stopped, very unusual for a Cannonball rider, because he could see the approaching storm.

Checkpoint 3 in LaCenter, Kentucky. 

I saw an angry, jet black sky along my path as I rode towards the Mississippi River.  I stopped in an unused bay of a self serve car wash to put the raincoat back on and to place my wallet and phone in the safety of the underseat storage.  Then headed to the storm.  The approach was along the river.  A tree was down on the road, blocking one lane of traffic.  Parts of trees were everywhere. There must have been a tornado in the area.

Vanessa in the car wash

The clouds looked much worse in person

The bridge was an old one, only wide enough for two cars and a steel trellis structure at the span.  The wind was gusting.  My guess is that some had to be as much as 60 mph.  I heard later that a truck had been overturned by a gust.  I started gingerly across.  As I rode ever more slowly, the wind was moving me around.  A lot.  I had trouble staying in my lane and trucks were approaching.  I made it past them but made a bold decision to turn around and head back to the safety of the land.  I sat there for only, maybe five minutes, noticed the wind slacking, and proceeded again.  This time the traffic was lighter.  As was the wind.  Actually no problem at all.

From there I had to use the Garmin Zumo for the remainder of the ride. I was lucky to have it as it took me to the hotel.

Z50 (Kevin) and JDracer (Juan), both from Gainesville, had just arrived at the hotel.

They were at the bridge when I was there.  They stayed under an overpass for a while.

SCR Day 2: A tail of two routes

I decided to miss the heat and storms today.  I left at 5:45 AM as the sun was rising.  It was the opposite of yesterday's weather for me, cool and calm.  I wore the mesh jacket that I bought for hot weather and was cold as I rode off towards Clemson and the day ahead.

The ride from Clemson to the NC border was all beautiful with hills and curves to make any riding enthusiast happy.   From there the chosen route went through Cashiers where the two GPS's conflicted on their paths.  One said to take the long, fast roads and the other to take twisty slow roads.  I chose the twisty roads.

Checkpoint two was at the Stecoah Diner where our friend Doug, Old As Dirt, was there to greet us and and hand out stickers and water.  I stopped for a minute (I am running for time you know) and enjoyed seeing him again.

We had the option of running the Tail of the Dragon or Cherohala Skyway after that checkpoint and I had decided ahead to take the Cherohala, thinking that the traffic would be lighter and the road faster.  Little did I know the truth.

From there we had a nice ride into Pikeville for checkpoint 3, in the middle of town.  The ride in was downhill on some of the best curves I have ever ridden.  Luckily I had no traffic and took advantage of them, riding from apex to apex as fast as I could.

Outside of Pikeville we were supposed to take 30 west towards Lebanon.  I had chosen this route as it was shorter and more scenic, thinking I could make up time by speeding.  30 was closed for repairs necessitating a detour, not marked on the highway at all.  Luckily for me, I had one GPS set up to take the alternative route anyway so it was just a matter of looping back.  Many took longer.

My problem with the day is that, if I want to be competitive, I have to take the route that gets me to the destination in the shortest possible time.  I thought I was doing that but it turned out that every option I took was slower than at least one other option.  The alternative I chose between CP1 and CP2 was very twisty and slow.  But fun and pretty.  Taking the Cherohala Skyway proved to be the biggest mistake for fast times.  I ran into a one lane situation where the lady with the sign held me for more than fifteen minutes.  Then the fog came.  Thick white fog that shortened visibility to less than 100 feet in many areas.  Low visibility means slow running.  Then the last leg had many riders going straight north to I-40 for what Google said was the fastest route. I took slower but more scenic roads that were much shorter in length.  But these took longer too.

The tail of two routes is that there was a fun, scenic route that could have been fast but conditions made it slow.  Then there was the faster route that many took.  Or they took a combination that proved to be better than my choice.

I rode hard but not as fast as yesterday.  Too much pressure, so I decided to slow it down a little.  Still quite quick, but a little easier.

Dark when I began at the hotel

Checkpoint 1

Doug and Vanessa at Checkpoint 2

Cherohala Skyway start.

Little did I know it would be a mess.

Follow the leader who stopped to talk to every worker...after the sign person held me for 15 minutes.

Checkpoint 3 in Pikeville

Made it to the hotel.  First rider in.

Tale of the tape.  Too slow.

2016 SCR Day 1

Today was so great.  It started with me finally deciding how to pack for the run.  I added one small waterproof bag and a bag to hang on the curry hook.  It worked but the backpack I had already planned to take was hot and probably not necessary.

The 40 mile ride from home to the start in Fernandina Beach started in darkness with me a little uncomfortable, carrying an extra bag forcing me forward on the seat.  It began getting light as I arrived at a parking lot filled with scooters.  I was trying to get sorted with bags going into the support Rav4, then gas for the scooter and spare tank, when my brother David came to see me off.  It wasn't a minute later when the scooter club arrived.  I thought it would be Russ and Jim only, but it turned out to be many more.  It was great support from such nice friends. I can't think of a better send off.

I started at 7:28 with a photo of the night's hotel.  From there I sped down Fletcher, passing cars and trucks, not the way I usually drive that road.  I decided to take I-95 to the Woodbine exit.  From there a series of pretty roads to checkpoint 1 at Byrd Road.  I passed going over 70 mph and saw a group of Helix riders stopped to take their photos.

From there it was uneventful through checkpoint 2 until I missed a turn on the Garmin.  It started signaling to take a U-turn, but I thought it had to be wrong so I corrected it by asking it to take me to the next checkpoint.  I was about five miles off course and it had me going down a small road to an even smaller road.  So I turned around and rode about 5 more miles before finally stopping to get it right.  I went down the same wrong road but further this time to the road to take me to checkpoint 3.  When I got back on track it appeared that the missed turn had cost me 20 to 25 minutes.

When I got to the hotel, there were only a few scooters here so it didn't appear to hurt too much.

I turned my times in to Mark who said I had done ok.  After about half were in I was in second, way behind Gonzo, Absurd Ruse, riding a fast vintage scooter.

It got hot as the day wore on, so tomorrow, I plan to leave early, maybe 5:30.

I enjoyed riding with a few fellow riders along the way.  My teammate Walt among them.

After the ride, I had a nice lunch with Ken and Bill Pray.

 First light and lots of scooters

Debbie and Vicki came to see us off

Along with ten scooter club friends and my brother David. That was special.

Robert, Mike and Russ seeing us off.

Sunrise

The Seattle crew

A row of Honda Helix's

More scooters at the start.  Big Red and Rocket in front.

Mark at the Rider's Meeting

Seattle riders listening Mark.

Vanessa and Me

All the visitors with me and Vanessa

Cruising down the highway

Helix riders at CP1

CP2

Finally CP3

The day on Garmin.

Ready for the Cannonball start

Everyone has made it to Fernandina Beach for the start of the 2016 Scooter Cannonball Run.  Well, almost everyone.  Several had to drop out over the past few months.  The latest was Feb31st, who broke his foot while working in his yard yesterday.  His brand new Vespa is sitting in my garage, awaiting pick up later in the summer.

The participants are coming from all over the country.  At least one from Canada.  There is Team Hawaii too.  The Highway to Heal team from Seattle is an interesting group.  They will be a breath of fresh air, as they appear to have much fun while riding with interesting helmets.

The rider's meeting went well with Maroy doing his usual fine job addressing everyone's questions.  Yanobobano passed out the shirts, stickers and patches.  These were all based on Kylie's winning design and they look great.

I had run 35 sets of daily guides, expecting maybe 30 participants.  But ran out with three or four not receiving theirs.  Mine goes to one of those.

Unloading MP3's for Maroy and 4in6iscool

Julie, Mrs. ScooterRaton, ScooterRaton and Wendell

Scooter Raton's wild scooter

The hottest lunch in history.  It must have been 100F overlooking the beach.  Lostboater, CDwise, 4in6iscool Maroy and Captain Gary.

Red, White and Blue Helix's on Independence Day.

Scooters gathered

More

Scooter Raton's again

Yanobobano's GT

Tromper bought this Kymco People three days ago.  After many problems, 

and repairs in my garage, it appears to be ready to go

A Kymco

Vintage

Suzuki Burgman 200

Vespa GTS

Blurry shot of Gary getting the guide books

Maroy running the meeting

Part of the Highway to Heal team

Cool headgear

Highway to Heal in their headgear at the beach.

Maroy and 4in6iscool in the trailer.

They're Here

Cannonball riders are beginning to converge on the First Coast, four days before the start.

Tromper from Seattle arrived yesterday to purchase an almost new Kymco People 200.  It is an older version with a small, air cooled engine, but it should be rugged and make it to the finish.

But he needed to make some minor changes.  Adjust the carburetor, mount a GPS and disconnect the evap system so he could actually fill the tank at the stops.

We had lunch, then we scooted to my house so he could use my tools to make the changes.

It was a hot afternoon, especially for someone from the Pacific Northwest, but he got everything done.

It was a pleasure to meet a fellow Cannonballer.  I am looking forward to getting to know him better during the run.

Then Yanobobano and her dad arrived today.  We had lunch and spent much time discussing scooters, the Cannonball and the route.  Nice pair.

Then the Sprint for Feb 31st was delivered to my house.  Nice scoot.

Tromper working in the garage.

 Yanobobano and her cool dad, Wendell.  We had lunch at Mossfire, but my phone erupted saying the Vespa delivery driver was at my house.

Feb 31st new Vespa Sprint arriving on a trailer.  0 miles on it.

 I rode it from there to my house, a half block away.