Ridin'Ard (The h is silent)

Miles today: 195 Today we packed up and left our cottage and headed home. The rally was great, but we really appreciated being able to sleep in until 8:15.  At bkst we talked with another rider who recommended some roads that were actually already on our route, so we made sure not to miss them when we had to re-route about an hour out. Always fun doing that in the heat.  The gas station we finally stopped at only had premium, so Julie got 1.5 gallons of premium since her tank was about to go on reserve.  Today it was hot and humid. Julie was dragging and realized she had not had any electrolytes, so did that at 5pm while we were figuring out where to stay. We found a motel in Lake George, NY and are having Vietnamese for dinner.  Jaron picked up a freerider on our way to get ice cream. We thought maybe he was waiting to get back to his point of embarkation to part company, but he came all the way back to our cabin with us, over 1.5 mi walking. Jaron is going to hang ...

Miles today: ~100?  Today Jaron joined me on the women's intermediate ride. Another early morning (remember, this is fun). Julie secured the optimal spot right behind the same ride leader again. It's been great getting useful feedback from her. I wasn't sure if it would work out that way, but when we pulled in this morning she said "right here, you'll be right behind me again." 😁  This ride leader puts the difficult roads on the morning route and the easier stuff after lunch. We started out and came to a "class 4" aka unmaintained road that had rock ledges, she said about 6 inches. I rode the brakes the whole way and definitely felt my ABS clicking on & off and was doing quite a bit of sliding. It was exhilarating and kinda terrifying. Since Jaron was with me, he got to hear my external monologue over the intercom (shitballs was my word of the day today). I made it through that section and then I heard Jaron go down behind me. I stopped on a dow...

Miles today: ~125 Today Julie got up at 6:30 for a women's ride and Jaron did laundry. Because this is how we have fun. Jaron also demo'd a Tiger 1200 Rally Pro as he is getting BPO (Bike Paid Off) syndrome. When he met up with me in the evening he said he went on a dangerous demo. He didn't look hurt or scuffed up so I was like...financially dangerous?  Here is our riders' meeting around the portajohn, lol.  Julie's ride was great and uneventful. I opted for the more "spirited" wave and ended up right behind the same ride leader as yesterday again. On Wednesday at the warm-up ride I'd let her know the pace for the gravel & dirt roads was a little fast for me, but I felt a lot better by the end, plus I had training yesterday, so I felt like that was the right wave for me today and it was. Apparently today she was intentionally getting me more comfortable with speed on the easy dirt and gravel roads. When I dropped back, she would drop back and slow...

Miles today: 60 This morning Jaron woke up at 0600 for his 0730 riders meeting. Because this is fun. Julie slept in until 0700. Again -- we're having fun.  Julie attended Level 2 training with the women's program, and it was great. There were 12 female students and 2 female instructors. I got a new perspective from a new instructor, made some new friends, and -- Did. Not. Drop. My. Bike. Not once! All day! So weird. I am getting better at correcting imbalances with my upper body rather than attempting to do so with my feet. I'm also stronger now that I'm working out. And maybe I'm actually starting to get the hang of this offroad shit. Because the grass was wet all morning, and wet grass is not normally my friend.  I went down the road for some non-fried lunch and got a deli sandwich and some potato salad from a general store. I found a rock in the parking lot to sit on and enjoyed the mental break from all of that stimulation.  I got some really good feedback in th...

Miles today: ~80 Today, Jaron went to Manchester to get his new phone and Julie had an afternoon warm-up ride with the women's program at DirtDaze. We had a relaxed morning and then headed out for our respective days.  The warm-up ride was perfect. Not stressful, so I could actually think to apply some of my training. Unfortunately it started raining on us and we had to skip our ice cream stop. ☹️ I'd forgotten to get gas before I came and unfortunately had also forgotten to reset my tripometer the last time I filled up so I didn't know exactly how empty my tank was, but I knew it was pretty low. Fortunately someone had about half a gallon for me and then when I filled up later the bike took almost 2.7 gallons, which is the point at which my fuel light would have come on. The ride was beautiful and uneventful. We stopped at a couple of public parks and got to know each other among our small group. There was the leader, 2 sweeps, photographer, and 2 participants. The Level 1...

Miles today:  We headed north for breakfast in Lake George and could definitely feel the New Yorker efficiency here. Order before you sit down. Step over here. Wait here for the coffee. Tell me when on the creamer. And there was an Asian family in several tables next to us and they were googling menu items, which was adorable bc that's exactly what I do when I get ethnic cuisine!  It rained on us off and on all day, nothing to...write home about, ha ha. It cooled the temperature down which was nice. The roads were great, and some slowpoke vans and trucks pulled over to let us pass.  Checked in at Silver Maple Lodge in Fairlee, VT where we have a cottage for 5 nights. Julie did a quick load of laundry at the laundromat a literal 2 min walk away, and we headed out for dinner. It turns out that the Chinese restaurant no longer does dine-in due to COVID, and you have to call to order. 🙄 I guess I'll have to call to verify that from now on! We didn't have lunch today since w...

Miles today: 258 We didn't sleep great due to crappy AC and woke up at 7:30 (eeew) and got packed up. Breakfast was down the street at a bakery that had legit breakfast sandwiches. It was a pretty big bakery but had an odd setup. You order inside but pick up food outside thru a window, which didn't look like a pickup window from the outside. Seating was outside and portajohns were in the parking lot, but there was a sink inside that customers could use to wash their hands. The coffee was good and breakfast was filling, and Julie got a mini strawberry rhubard pie to go which will end up being dessert tonight.  This morning we unfortunately had to join some rush hour traffic probably inbound to NYC. We stayed about an hour north of NYC in a small town. Our morning ride was good and uneventful otherwise. We took breaks at a river park and state forest picnic area.  Come lunchtime we stopped at Buns and Cones. I mean, those are two of my favorite things, amiright? It was a diner ...

Miles today: 248 We ACTUALLY LEFT HOME BEFORE NOON today. Like, actually. Amazing.  We decided on this trip only 2.5 weeks ago. Julie was not going to be able to take off in August because of a project, but it came early, so we are headed to the DirtDaze East adventure motorcycle rally and Julie will participate in the women's program and Jaron will go to the regular rally. So Julie will get some training rides and a training day! We went to this rally in 2019:  http://ridinard.blogspot.com/2019/08/the-road-of-thousand-f-bombs.html?m=1 We are sadly not camping on this trip due to the last minute nature of it. If this is a rally we are going to go to again or travel this area again, I will need to research where the good campsites are.  I finally figured out how to route my hydration pack hose because...reasons.  The first couple of hours were interstate, until Harrisburg, PA. Julie got the hungries and found somewhere off the highway to stop for lunch. It turned out ...