Last weekend was a very busy time. It's been a while since I had two rides one day after the other but there it was. On Saturday there was a ride for Suicide Prevention that started at the Locust Grove Brewery in Milton. The best part was it started right across the river about ten miles away. I had never done this ride before so...Hmmm... what to take? I hadn't done a ride on the Nighthawk in a while. The only unknown was what kind of terrain would there be and could the 250cc engine keep up with the "Big Guys?" I needn't have worried.
After a short opening ceremony we were off and I found myself behind a Victory Magnum with a mere 106 cubic inch engine. Except for brief burst of speed coming off corners the little 15 cubic inch engine under me was doing okay. Here's the only rub. In addition to extremely loud exhaust pipes the owner had his stereo on loud enough to hear his music above the exhaust roar. After awhile I couldn't even hear my engine. Still the route was excellent and we went through the Catskills towards the end over the same hills I had done a few weeks before on the Kawasaki. Much to my surprise the Honda handled it well. Pretty soon we reached the end of the seventy-five mile ride and I didn't stop since I had other things to do at home. This ride goes on my To-Do list for next year.
The next day was the very popular St. Jude ride out of Kingston and to say it was well attended would be an understatement. Almost 220 people signed up on the day of the event and the sign up line was fairly long for over an hour. The route was familiar and is a pretty good ride on any day. I had the Kawasaki for that day thinking it would be a good choice in case things got brisk. Except for a few miles of road with a high speed limit things were pretty tame. The Kawasaki was well within its limits and the group was fairly orderly.
It turned out that the route was only about fifty miles long and we reached the Bowery Dugout Bar and Grill fairly quickly. As in other years the food and snacks were good, people were smiling and the band was pretty good. I spoke to a few people, grabbed a couple of burgers to carry home and left. I was pretty content with the entire weekend and my equipment all functioned well. I failed to mention it previously but my riding boots came apart at Americade and after an emergency repair got me home. I am now the proud owner of new boots and they look and work well.
Tomorrow is the annual Gabe Hayes ride in Wappinger Falls so I will have another tale to tell. Stay tuned.