Full Throttle Touring - 150 through the Rocket City

Not much mystery really, it’s in my avatar. It just never gets out much in Alabama. I think I rode it thirty miles in the last fifteen months. COVID sucks.

Damn! I was hoping you had an old CB400F or something like that hidden under a tarp in the corner of your barn.

Under I65 in the wheeler refuge along the TN river?

It's not right on the TN river at the point but reasonably close.

The weather forecast for today's ride kept improving until........

@TheSweeper posted in the North Alabama Riders thread that it was sleeting at his house

I saw that post just a little while before I was planning on heading out. I checked the forecast and the radar. The radar showed some possible rain in the area. The forecast showed a chance of rain late morning and dry after that. It was dry and 42 at my house. No reason to cancel the ride just because of a little sleet

So I bundled up and headed for Ardmore. When I arrived at the Shell station there was already one rider ahead of me and I was early. It wasn't long before the rest of the usual suspects showed up.



Randy brought his VFR for the first time. Ronnie was on his MG V7 and Stephen on his Himalayan. I rode my Majesty because it has the best wind protection of my bikes, it was cold and I'm a wimp.

The ride up was comfortable but I got cold standing around in the cold and wind while talking. You'd think that with all the hot air we were generating it would have kept us warm

We were waiting for @El Vulch to show but he didn't so off we went.

Something different - an over the shoulder shot without @2372ighost right behind me!



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Lunch was at the usual place.



Usually it's pretty crowded here but not today. I understand why there weren't any other motorcycle riders there but the cold shouldn't affect people coming in cars. I guess everyone slept in today and ate a late lunch because more customers did show up a bit later at around 1:30.

The waitress took this next pic. Its a bit blurry but at least you can see my winter beard.



We had a long leisurely lunch and discussed things like future rides.

Randy mentioned that he felt the urge to blow by me and my scooter since he was on his VFR. As soon as we took off after lunch he acted on that urge



So I was able to get some pics ahead with a bike in them.



After some fun on Delina RD we turned on to the dragon.

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OK, maybe not but we did ride 129. TN129 not the more famous US129. It's still a fun road and was repaved in the last year or so.

More 129...



We followed 129 to the other end of Delina Rd.



Delina Rd doesn't have nice new pavement like 129 but it is nice and twisty and normally has little or no traffic.

The sun was starting to peek through the clouds.



We didn't encounter many critters today. Maybe it was too cold for them?

This was the one exception.



These guys didn't want to leave their feast so I slowed way down. They didn't take off until I was pretty close.

Stephen had some issues before lunch with his Himalayan not making full power. It seemed to be running normal now so he blew by me here to check it out.



The problem came back later and his bike would only go around 60. He eventually figured out the problem. The full story is here: https://advrider.com/f/threads/north-alabama-riders.1092367/page-62#post-41724006

This was a street ride so I stayed off the Goat trails today but still did some little back roads.



It was a little rough but not bad.



A little rough pavement is a small price to pay for curvy roads with no traffic on them.



There were a couple of nice long, smooth curves perfect for some over the shoulder shots so I took some.



But there was no one behind me Was my mighty scooter just too fast I forgot to ask what happened there.

We returned to the Shell in Ardmore after 96 miles. By the time I got home I had ridden 162 miles. It was a good ride and far enough for me considering the weather.

A couple of thoughts. The waitress at Delina said she would like to see me bring in some groups of around 30 people! I have had groups of around 10-15 on my rides but 30? At the end of the ride this topic came up and someone mentioned that the groups may get too big once the weather got warmer. Time will tell but if too many people show up we will break into smaller groups. It is nice to live somewhere where it is no problem to find people to ride with, even on a cold day like today. If it was just me I don't know I would have been motivated to get out and ride.

So, for everyone who showed up today, thanks for coming out!!

Hmmm, that looks like Mooresville Rd just south of Copeland Rd intersection to me..... That was after we all split up! The mighty 400 Majesty at Ludicrous speed.

That was Kelly Creek Rd a little North of 110.

I slowed down looking for Stephen. Yes, really!

Oh yes, I recognize it now. You really did pull out on us. That was probably when they rest was wondering what was happening to me the second time. Amazing how much that also looks like the white fence coming up off the hill at the new beginning of Mooresville headed South off of Copeland rd. Same house style

I snapped 3 pics in that long curve. Here's the next one. It has a bit more of a view.

@Thinwater finally posted up his video from the Tellico DS ride back in October: https://advrider.com/f/threads/taking-2020-lemons-and-making-lemonade-video.1481042/#post-41728830

I can't believe you got a ride done without me pushing you through the turns :)

Sorry, I was running late and didn’t leave my house until noon.

We waited a little over 5 minutes after 12 so you didn't miss us by much. Hopefully you can make the next ride, whenever that may be. I'm hoping for a nice warmup but it doesn't look like that will happen in the next 10 days.

I rode a big loop from Ardmore to Pulaski, then Lewisburg, Petersburg, Fayetteville, Ardmore, then home. There were a few really nice roads for the Super Duke out there!

I started a thread in BS for this year's Maggie Valley scooter ride: https://advrider.com/f/threads/2021-maggie-valley-beat-the-heat-scooter-gathering.1487269/

My wife had back surgery on Monday so no rides for me for a couple of weeks......well except for grocery store runs. We gotta eat