I met 3 fellow riders this morning for a day trip to Brown County, IN. I had posed them the question "How do I break in my new Metzlers?" and they'd responded, "Come with us to Brown County".
I slabbed to our rendezvous point, via Interstate 465 to State Road 67 to Mooresville, IN.
There I joined forces with Bob on his 96 Magna, Brian on his BMW R1150R, and Dennis on his Zooky 650 Thumper dual-sport.
Each of us had familiarity with different segments of the route along the way. Not one of us was familiar with the entire circuit that we'd be taking.
None of has had much idea of where to go. None of us cared if we ever arrived. We had the day, and our bikes.
It was perhaps one of the last good riding weekends of the season. Sun was shining and it was 50 degrees.
Dennis on his dual sport knew the first segment of the route. So he led. I was impressed with his riding ability. He'd been riding in the dirt since childhood and could literally ride circles around me. His bike might have lacked top end capability but it was well suited for some impressive lean angles.
Meanwhile I struggled through the corners. I had a hard time keeping my sight lines while following Dennis through the curves. I was just not smooth.
We left Mooresville, IN on SR 42 West. From there some back roads that rivaled Burr Oak area: Baltimore Road to Wilbur Road to Pumpkinvine Hill Drive, arriving in Martinsville. These roads have you moving in all directions at once, up, down, left, right. Off-camber curves, mostly unbroken pavement and no gravel. No farm animals on the road. No cell phoning drivers taking their half out of the middle. I made a note of these roads so that I can take my wife there next time we ride to Brown County.
The stretch of SR 252 from Martinsville to Morgantown was familiar territory. Wide, perfect pavement, switchbacks, double yellow lines. Great stuff, not as nerve wracking or technically challenging as the "Pumpkinvine Route".
SR 135 is locally famous, for good reason. Very good pavement and lots of switchbacks, dips and curves. A motorcyclists' dream. This time we ducked east out of Beanblossom, IN on "Gatesville Road". As a secondary county road, it too was technically more challenging. No potholes but some rough pavement. Up, down, left and right all at the same time. We stopped for a photograph of the "Welcome to Gatesville" sign. It says, "Now entering and leaving Gatesville, IN". Literally one store in town. Typical southern Indiana.
Photobucket Album
Bob on his Magna led for the next stretch. He was faster through the turns than Dennis. I played follow the leader. I started improving my techniques and riding faster. I found that I'd been following Dennis too closely through the curves. Close enough that I was not looking through the curve -- because he was still in the curve as I was entering it, I was fixed on him and ended up looking only half-way through the curve. With Bob in the lead I positioned myself so that I was looking all the way through the curve. Much better.
From Gatesville on Salt Creek road to pick up SR 135 again. We had meant to stop in Story, IN for lunch at a locally famous biker bar. We arrived at Story with such huge grins on our faces. Bob looked at me dubiously, "You wanna stop?!" pointing at the biker bar.
"What do you want to do?" I asked.
"Keep riding!" he replied. There were no dissenting votes.
Off we went, south through more delicious roads to Freetown, IN. We pulled over for a roadside conference on our next destination. Bob consulted his Blackberry GPS while Brian consulted his well worn map.
Meanwhile an old fart on a 70's era CB750 pulled up and said, "You guys all right? Need any help?"
I thanked him and said, "No, we're just picking a route."
After I left I chided Brian, the BMW rider, with, "You know, you really do meet the nicest people on a Honda!"
He laughed.
We decided to continue south on 135 to SR 58, 58 west to 446, 446 North back to Bloomington, IN for a meal.
Continuing south on SR135, I saw the sign for SR 58 west, which was our next turn. Bob was in the lead, I was following. Bob gave no indication of recognizing the turn. I turned on my signal and began to slow for the right turn. Suddenly I see Bob's brake lights and a puff of white smoke from his rear tire. He'd recognized the turn at the last second and locked up the rear. He kept control and managed to stop in time to make the turn.
Later Bob described it: "I saw your turn signal, and though you were telling me I'd left my signal on. Then I realized where I was and hit the brakes."
"I saw the puff of smoke from your rear tire!" I told him.
"Really? I smoked the tire?" Bob asked.
"Yep. I thought, 'I'm glad that's not my tire'" I said. "I laughed for 3 miles after that."
I would not have locked the brake in that situation. I'd have slowed less aggressively and done a U-turn 100 feet past the intersection to come back to where I blew the turn. Bob's obviously more confident in his extreme braking ability than I am in mine.
SR58 was boring by comparison to SR135 until we passed Kurtz. West of Kurtz we had a few valleys, twists and turns. The pavement was excellent.
SR 446 is a major highway by comparison. It passes through the Monroe Reservoir area. Though it had nice scenery and occasional sweepers, this was the straightest and fastest section of our trip so far. Also the coldest. All four of us opened up the throttle. On these open stretches the dual sport lagged behind.
SR 446 connects with SR 46 which we took west into Bloomington. Home of Indiana University. We stopped for a late lunch at Chili's. After the chill of the ride, the warmth and the belly full of food started to make us sleepy.
Dennis said, "I'm thinking of taking SR 37 back home." This was taking the highway back instead of taking the twisties.
I'd had my heart set on SR 45 from Bloomington to Beanblossom, which is one of my favorite roads in the area. But the sun would be setting in an hour, it was getting to be "Deer O'Clock". I had an hour further to travel before I was home than Dennis. I had the option of continuing alone up SR 45 for more fun, or staying with the group.
I decided to stay with the group.
As if to torment me for my decision, we all got caught in IU Football traffic on our way up SR 46 to its junction with SR37. Sitting in stop and go traffic for 30 minutes, I kept thinking, "The longer we sit here, the less advantage the highway route has over the twisty route. I should have just gone up SR45."
But I stayed the course. And once more traffic on the slab ground to a halt. This time an accident involving a school bus closed all but one lane, and once again I sat in traffic, cursing my decision to slab it home.
Next time, I'll take the road less traveled.
