Our normally scheduled ride was canceled due to weather, so we tried a "rain date" for riders to get a chance to get out and soak up some sunshine with good fellowship. I'm happy to report we had in attendance today (8/4) a few old friends and some new comers, which did excellent. Our good friend Sal came down to show off his scooter and give us a few pointers on how to lean a scooter in the turns. Kathleen R. and her good friend David B. came out to explore the Shamokin Mountains along with our friends Jake C. and Mike H. we met from a previous ride through the famed RT 125 twisties. Carl also came out and of course provided excellent coverage for the rear of our line/group, as he always does.
With all present and accounted for, I reviewed the rules of the road, what "The Pace" was about and how it would apply to today's ride. I explained the importance of why the CSBA requires gear on all of our rides and also reviewed what the group could expect from today's ride/event. I briefly reviewed the immediate route and what the expectations of the ride would be; where we would break for gas and any particulars. After the review, all were in agreement. With that, I gave a prayer and blessing for our trip and then we were on our way for what proved to be a great day of riding.
I failed to bring my bible, and thus was unable to share scripture with the group - but we did have excellent fellowship. We chatted on issues and challenges at the break on both strengths and weaknesses of riding at pace. All were engaged and offered commentary. Kathleen lost her muffler insert - so we had a cool race bike sound following us for the second half of our trip. We then charted out our plan for the second half of the ride as we wanted to enjoy RT125 but wanted to miss the Tar and Chip section. We lucked out as that area of RT 125 was at the very end of our ride. We did however run into a convoy of 4-wheel jeep enthusiasts, which were driving at very slow speeds on the initial entrance to the technical section of RT125. Once it was safe, we all ignited our warp engines, got past that convoy and explored the twisties and started to have real fun on that road. Everyone stayed until the very end - where we did our final gas stop and reflection on the day. We said our goodbyes and then the group continued to follow me out through 183 and back to RT 78, and finally east back towards the Lehigh Valley. It was a tight group and no one got left behind. I even did a pre-light of the afterburners on the Mothership just to make sure the group wasn't snoozing in the ranks during the slab ride home... again, all were present and accounted for. We saw several of the states finest on patrol today, but we were at the right speed (and right place) at the right time. God's hand was surely with us today - no one went down and we had no incidents. It was a great day of riding.
Rain Dates can be Good Dates... Thanks again for everyone's attendance and support in today's ride. Next month is the "Bucks-Mont Run". See you there!
