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Skyline Drive & Scenic West Virginia
Skyline Drive & Scenic West Virginia
by James Byrd
May 1995 - Trip Through Skyline Drive
My wife and I took a two-day trip along Skyline Drive for our 7th year Anniversary last weekend (5/14/95). Skyline Dr. is within the Shenadoah National Park, and runs along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There aren't as many tunnels as on some the North Carolina sections, but there are more overlooks and hiking trails. The elevation is about 3,000 feet. Saturday was perfect, being sunny and about 70 degrees F. I just had some new shocks put on my bike and they really improved the XS's handling, making the trip even more enjoyable. The road is a well-maintained, twisting blacktop that unfortunately has a speed limit of 35 mph.
We made several stops at the scenic overlooks along the way. At one overlook we caught a brief glimpse of a wild turkey. We went on a fairly long hike to a waterfall too. We identified at least half a dozen wild-flowers along the hike, and the waterfall was beautiful. It was a thin spout of water that fell about one hundred feet.
Later, we rounded a bend to find several deer grazing on the shoulder. We stopped for a while to watch. Later we saw two more dear lying together under a big tree. What a tranquil setting. The highlight of that day came soon after when around another corner were about half-a-dozen cars pulled off the road. My wife yelled "bear!", and I hung a u-turn, killed the motor, and coasted up to the area. There was a mother and two cubs about fifty feet into the forest. This was our first sighting of a bear in the wild. They seemed indifferent to all the commotion at road-side. The mother bear would casually look our way now and then as the family ambled along slowly. After about ten minutes, there must have been about twenty cars stopped. The bears got out of view, and we left, totally exhilarated.
We stayed in a cabin at a place called Skyland that night. The cabin would have had a nice view of the valley, but by Saturday evening fog had begun to settle in. By Sunday morning visibility was about fifty feet, and it was pouring rain. This was not in the forecast, and we had no raingear. Some of the locals said it should clear off by noon, so we hung out. At breakfast, though, when it still wasn't clearing, we got the waiter to get us two big trash bags from the kitchen. We also found two remaining ponchos for sale at the gift shop, and at checkout, the cashiers gave us some twine.
With the garbage bags, we were able to tie some leggings and arm-coverings on ourselves, and the ponchos covered our bodies pretty well, leaving only our hands and feet exposed. So, after spending about an hour dressing up, we headed out, in the pouring rain. We may have, in fact, I know we looked ridiculous but it worked! Only our hands and feet got wet. After about an hour it finally stopped raining and we continued the remainder of the trip in relative comfort.
September 1995 - Trip to Snowshoe, WV
Just a quick report on our overnight trip to Snowshoe, West Virginia, which is about 200 miles from our house. My wife and I took Route 250 West almost all the way. I highly recommend the stretch from Staunton Va. to Bartow or Cass West Virginia. The last sixty miles are continuous 40-60 mph turns with a few 20 mph hairpins that will keep you on your toes! There are some very steep inclines too. The elevation climbs to about 4,800 feet, but you go over the tops of at least three mountains, so there's a lot of ups and downs. Once you cross into West Virginia, the roads are not as well maintained, with gravel on the road just as you enter some of the right-hand turns. Pretty challenging riding. There are not many decent shoulders or even guardrails on the mountain turns, so if one enters a left turn too fast there's a *long* drop to the valley 8-().
We averaged 35.7 mpg going through the mountains at about 50 mph. It took about five and one half hours to get there with about an hour lunch stop. It was actually cold on the way up, since we left the house at 6 am, and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees (F) the day before. It got down to the 40's Saturday night, but daytime temps. were in the low to mid 70's. There were bikers everywhere, mostly Gold Wingers. On the road, I'd say about one vehicle in five was a bike. It's no wonder, considering how beautiful the scenery is, and how awesome the road is (for biking).
I received a hearty wave from an entire group of about ten Harley riders! I also got a very enthusiastic fist-up acknowledgement from another biker! These two events made my day. On the way back though, I almost saw a guy on an old Gold Wing smash into a car head-on. This guy had no sense. He was behind a pretty fast-moving car, and we had been following the biker for about 10 miles. There were numerous places for him to pass, but he didn't do so until he got to a 40 mph right-hand corner that was impossible to see around. He crossed the double yellow line to pass just before a car became visible coming the other way. I could see he wasn't going to make it. His exhaust was blowing out carbon like crazy, but he didn't have the necessary speed. Lucky for him, the car he was trying to get around pulled off the road at about 40 mph to allow him to scoot in and live to see another day! I hate to see that kind of riding 'cause it gives us all a bad name. Afterward, the driver in the car he passed kept looking back at me with a worried look, expecting me to do something stupid too I guess.
At Cass State Park I saw a very interesting Gold Wing. It was a 1500 trike. The front of the bike looked normal all the way back to the swing arm. There, it had two tall, closely spaced car tires where the rear tire should be. It looked like the rear wheels used the normal swing-arm pivoting point for suspension movement. It was heavily customized, and I couldn't see exactly how the rear-end was attached, but those rear tires were so close together I would be concerned about it flipping it in a 20 mph turn.
On level ground, riding two-up at 60 mph we averaged 40 mpg. Coming home, which was partly downhill, we averaged 42 mpg at about 60 mph. We made it home in only four hours thanks to a short cut we found. Although the short-cut eliminated a lot of the twisting mountainous turns, we were a little tired and didn't mind.
Orange Crush used less than a pint of motor oil. The Cheng Shin front tire is now exhibiting the same uneven wear pattern that Steve (I think) diagrammed in an earlier message! My home-made seat-pan held up to our combined weight, and was comfortable too. The bike tracked and behaved correctly in every way, so my recent spill apparently did not cause any unexpected problems. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip, and has totally renewed my confidence in Orange Crush.
by James Byrd
May 1995 - Trip Through Skyline Drive
My wife and I took a two-day trip along Skyline Drive for our 7th year Anniversary last weekend (5/14/95). Skyline Dr. is within the Shenadoah National Park, and runs along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There aren't as many tunnels as on some the North Carolina sections, but there are more overlooks and hiking trails. The elevation is about 3,000 feet. Saturday was perfect, being sunny and about 70 degrees F. I just had some new shocks put on my bike and they really improved the XS's handling, making the trip even more enjoyable. The road is a well-maintained, twisting blacktop that unfortunately has a speed limit of 35 mph.
We made several stops at the scenic overlooks along the way. At one overlook we caught a brief glimpse of a wild turkey. We went on a fairly long hike to a waterfall too. We identified at least half a dozen wild-flowers along the hike, and the waterfall was beautiful. It was a thin spout of water that fell about one hundred feet.
Later, we rounded a bend to find several deer grazing on the shoulder. We stopped for a while to watch. Later we saw two more dear lying together under a big tree. What a tranquil setting. The highlight of that day came soon after when around another corner were about half-a-dozen cars pulled off the road. My wife yelled "bear!", and I hung a u-turn, killed the motor, and coasted up to the area. There was a mother and two cubs about fifty feet into the forest. This was our first sighting of a bear in the wild. They seemed indifferent to all the commotion at road-side. The mother bear would casually look our way now and then as the family ambled along slowly. After about ten minutes, there must have been about twenty cars stopped. The bears got out of view, and we left, totally exhilarated.
We stayed in a cabin at a place called Skyland that night. The cabin would have had a nice view of the valley, but by Saturday evening fog had begun to settle in. By Sunday morning visibility was about fifty feet, and it was pouring rain. This was not in the forecast, and we had no raingear. Some of the locals said it should clear off by noon, so we hung out. At breakfast, though, when it still wasn't clearing, we got the waiter to get us two big trash bags from the kitchen. We also found two remaining ponchos for sale at the gift shop, and at checkout, the cashiers gave us some twine.
With the garbage bags, we were able to tie some leggings and arm-coverings on ourselves, and the ponchos covered our bodies pretty well, leaving only our hands and feet exposed. So, after spending about an hour dressing up, we headed out, in the pouring rain. We may have, in fact, I know we looked ridiculous but it worked! Only our hands and feet got wet. After about an hour it finally stopped raining and we continued the remainder of the trip in relative comfort.
September 1995 - Trip to Snowshoe, WV
Just a quick report on our overnight trip to Snowshoe, West Virginia, which is about 200 miles from our house. My wife and I took Route 250 West almost all the way. I highly recommend the stretch from Staunton Va. to Bartow or Cass West Virginia. The last sixty miles are continuous 40-60 mph turns with a few 20 mph hairpins that will keep you on your toes! There are some very steep inclines too. The elevation climbs to about 4,800 feet, but you go over the tops of at least three mountains, so there's a lot of ups and downs. Once you cross into West Virginia, the roads are not as well maintained, with gravel on the road just as you enter some of the right-hand turns. Pretty challenging riding. There are not many decent shoulders or even guardrails on the mountain turns, so if one enters a left turn too fast there's a *long* drop to the valley 8-().
We averaged 35.7 mpg going through the mountains at about 50 mph. It took about five and one half hours to get there with about an hour lunch stop. It was actually cold on the way up, since we left the house at 6 am, and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees (F) the day before. It got down to the 40's Saturday night, but daytime temps. were in the low to mid 70's. There were bikers everywhere, mostly Gold Wingers. On the road, I'd say about one vehicle in five was a bike. It's no wonder, considering how beautiful the scenery is, and how awesome the road is (for biking).
I received a hearty wave from an entire group of about ten Harley riders! I also got a very enthusiastic fist-up acknowledgement from another biker! These two events made my day. On the way back though, I almost saw a guy on an old Gold Wing smash into a car head-on. This guy had no sense. He was behind a pretty fast-moving car, and we had been following the biker for about 10 miles. There were numerous places for him to pass, but he didn't do so until he got to a 40 mph right-hand corner that was impossible to see around. He crossed the double yellow line to pass just before a car became visible coming the other way. I could see he wasn't going to make it. His exhaust was blowing out carbon like crazy, but he didn't have the necessary speed. Lucky for him, the car he was trying to get around pulled off the road at about 40 mph to allow him to scoot in and live to see another day! I hate to see that kind of riding 'cause it gives us all a bad name. Afterward, the driver in the car he passed kept looking back at me with a worried look, expecting me to do something stupid too I guess.
At Cass State Park I saw a very interesting Gold Wing. It was a 1500 trike. The front of the bike looked normal all the way back to the swing arm. There, it had two tall, closely spaced car tires where the rear tire should be. It looked like the rear wheels used the normal swing-arm pivoting point for suspension movement. It was heavily customized, and I couldn't see exactly how the rear-end was attached, but those rear tires were so close together I would be concerned about it flipping it in a 20 mph turn.
On level ground, riding two-up at 60 mph we averaged 40 mpg. Coming home, which was partly downhill, we averaged 42 mpg at about 60 mph. We made it home in only four hours thanks to a short cut we found. Although the short-cut eliminated a lot of the twisting mountainous turns, we were a little tired and didn't mind.
Orange Crush used less than a pint of motor oil. The Cheng Shin front tire is now exhibiting the same uneven wear pattern that Steve (I think) diagrammed in an earlier message! My home-made seat-pan held up to our combined weight, and was comfortable too. The bike tracked and behaved correctly in every way, so my recent spill apparently did not cause any unexpected problems. All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip, and has totally renewed my confidence in Orange Crush.