We give thanks to God for His wisdom and His Blessings….

The day was hot [94°], but the pace in Group One was even HOTTER! At least for the morning…. (more on that later)

The ideal conditions prevailed this Saturday: riders wanting and ready to get out and really enjoy the day, great turn out of 27 seasoned riders, and lastly the desire to enjoy the roads at pace. As we always proclaim, “All Bikes – All Beliefs” and today proved to be just that.

I had the privilege of cruising up to the rally point (Starlight Diner) with Bob G; we arrived by 7:50a and were greeted by Charlie N and Dave; a new friend invited out by B. Torri. Dave was running a Yamaha Star Cruiser bike, but was ready to get in some back roads with us, and we were glad to have him. Soon, more of the usual suspects (Allan C, Cory E, Greg K, Chris P, Jojo G, B Torri, Brendan and Jackie, & Youri M) started to show up, until all ride leaders (Mark H, Rick J, Rusty and myself) were all there. Some went in the diner to enjoy a little breakfast, while I stayed outside to continue greeting folks as they arrived – and did they arrive. We had some folks come out that we haven’t seen in a few years (Rudy along with some new faces (Lefteris & Harsha) along with the “Top Gun Jet Fighter Crew” which represents: (Jason V, Justin H, Corbin R & Samuel P), which of course ran in Group 1 with me, along with a new friend (Lefteris) on a brand new 2021 S1000RR, and Rudy B on his lovely Ducati as my sweeper.

Coming up right behind me was Rick J and his team and then Mark H, which later collapsed into Rick’s group, followed by Rusty. I know we had some others in the ranks including some new friends from RIP representing. I gave the ride meeting and set the agenda for the day, but I I failed to snap a group picture, but Bob did the bike count and confirmed we had 27 riders in attendance. I apologize up front if I missed anyone in the attendance line-up – but we thank you all for coming out and enjoying the roads with us this day.

We give thanks to God for His wisdom and His Blessings….

The October CSBA ride always faces the possibility of being a “wet leaves ride”. Fortunately, again, this year – because most of the leaves are still on their trees – we did not have much risk in that department as we prepared to ride toward Delaware for our rescheduled route from July.

Though the attendees had to endure a ride in to the diner around 40 degrees, we were quite fortunate with the weather for the day, as it eventually warmed up through the 50’s. During the pre-ride meeting, we discussed some of the special “features” of this route, which was supposed to include a detour around a recently chipped State highway. Because much of this route includes heavily traveled roads and revenue-generation opportunities for local law enforcement, we emphasized that this event would be more about the scenery and camaraderie than spirited riding.

We also suggested that riders unfamiliar with these roads join the “Chase” group, following Rusty. This advice went largely ignored and most of the 18 riders followed Rick in the Lead group, leaving 5 following Rusty.

One feature unique to this route, as the only one that runs primarily south, is that much of the day is spent riding directly into the Sun – and especially so in October. It was a beautiful day for a ride, but the bright sunlight made for some stark shadows in the tree-lined areas of the route.

Although Russ did a good job of outlining the rules of the road while discussing pace and cautioning the group on traffic flow and potential hazards, I think most of the crowd was itching to move. So when he established the 2 groups and he indicated we would be relatively sedate compared to the prior months ride, the lead group seemed to swell as we exited the Starlite. Alan and I had good communications via our Sena units at the start and rolled through the first several miles fairly smooth but when the group began to run at pace we spread out to more than 3/4 mile and we would lose contact. Lesson learned is we really need to try keeping groups to less than 10 if at all possible. The lead group dutifully followed me as I blew past a couple turns when my Scenic Moto maps app was lagging my actual ride position and I over shot the route’s required turn. In one case we enjoyed a 2 or 3 mile twisty detour having some fun in the process. There were tight lines and some nice pacing for everyone. We had an ‘incident’ with a road hazard that rendered our sweep’s bike out of commission. He didn’t go down but the bike got tweaked and he needed to roll carefully home after lunch.