From: alanf@eng.tridom.com (Alan Fleming) Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles Subject: Trip Report (long): Mt. Cheaha and WERA races Date: 12 Oct 1993 17:15:04Its been awhile since I've posted one of my overly verbose trip reports, the last being from the DoD Assault on Deal's Gap. Here is a run down of my recent trip to Talladega for a motorcycle race. Its even longer than I'd expected...Whew!
Who: |
|
| Alan Fleming | '88 Suzuki GSXR1100J |
| Troy Casey | '74 Kawasaki H2 |
| Dean Casey | (pillion with Troy) |
| Michael Weaver | '90 Suzuki VX800 |
| Michael Palmer | Honda CBR600F2 |
I've been working recently as starting a mailing list for the Southeast area riders (mainly those states centered around Georgia). Although I didn't have the LISTSERV up and running yet, I did create an alias and sent mail to a reasonably large group of folks about a weekend ride at Alabama's Cheaha State Park. My last minute mail caught most folks offguard, so only a small group of folks were actually going to make it. By Thursday evening, it looked like only 4 bikes were in.
On my way to dinner Thursday night, I noticed that my chain slipped a notch when I pulled hard passing a car on the slab. When I got to the restaurant I discovered that my chain was loose. I knew that my sprockets were in need of replacement, so this wasn't particularly surprising. What was annoying was that I hadn't caught this sooner. I normally check this pre-ride but since my cage blew its starter, my bike has become my sole means of transportation. All this daily commuting had caused me to change my pre-ride since I'm always late for work. There is no excuse for not performing a pre-ride *every* time I ride, so I was pretty annoyed that I'd let this creep up on me. I babied the bike home and stayed up till 2am pulling parts off so I could count chain links and sprocket teeth. I noticed that the front sprocket was more worn that I'd expected (its hidden from view by the hydraulic clutch actuator). Friday's ride into work proved uneventful so I decided the bike would last for the weekend's ride.
Saturday morning I was up and moving at 9am (quite early for me). I had everything packed but couldn't load the bike until my friend Troy arrived since I was to carry some of his gear. At 10:15am, Troy and his brother Dean arrived on Troy's '74 Kawi H2. We shifted gear between our two bikes and found that we could easily carry everything. At 10:30, Michael Weaver rolled in from Athens on his VX800. Michael and I made snide comments to Troy about how well our Chase Harper saddle bags worked compared to bungees. He countered with equally snide comments about how only wimps had electric start and how real bikes went "Ringa-dinga-dinga" and trailed blue smoke.
By 11am we were gassing up and realizing we were running late. We slabbed to the perimeter and then turned off on US-278. This was a rather boring road that zig-zaged northwest but did so by means of a wide, straight road that ran between various cities. Kind of a connect the dots form of road building. It took about 50 miles before we broke free of residual big city traffic and could try to make up lost time. Only once did we see any police and we weren't far from the speed limit at the time.
Once we reached Cedartown, US-278 became a little more scenic but was still lacking in curves. Apparently the Alabama road engineers are more sympathetic to motorcyclists because immediately after passing the State line sign the road livened up. Almost as immediately, a car came past flashing its brights, so we slowed to the 50 mph limit. A bit later Troy flashed his lights and said he'd just gone on reserve. We were only a few miles (and an hour behind schedule) from our meeting point with Michael Palmer (henseforth MikeP) so we pushed on to Piedmont.
After gassing up we heading in search of MikeP but decided that he'd decided we were late and taken off for the backup meeting location. We took AL SR-9 south though some beautiful farmland with a big ridge on our left. I'm sure there is some county road that runs along the base of those hills but I didn't have an Alabama map so I didn't feel comfortable in striking out looking for it. 17 miles later we hit US-78 and a mile east on that took us to AL-281. This was a great road with big, wide, banked sweepers and scenic overlooks with great views. The H2's suspension was doing surprisingly well, considering the gear and passenger but Troy was having a rough time keeping it on the pipe for some drive out of the corners. He probably should have gone up front so his entry speed wasn't affected by the bikes in front of him. Its not like he could have gotten lost, he was leaving a long trail of blue smoke behind.
We had agreed upon the Cheaha State Park office as our backup meeting point so we stopped there to look for MikeP. After a short break, MikeW and I headed out to set up camp while Troy and Dean watched for MikeP. As we were leaving the parking lot, my chain gave another slip. Perhaps I hadn't tightened the axle bolt enough and it had loosened? When we got to the campsite, I realized that wasn't the case, so the front sprocket must be shot. While setting up tents, Troy/Dean and MikeP arrived.
MikeP had a new front tire mounted last week and apparently the caliper and axle bolts hadn't been tightened sufficiently. They had come off enroute and nearly killed him when the axle started working its way out. He was late to Piedmont due to a side trip to a hardware store for some replacement bolts. Some jokes were made about the Honda falling apart and we decided to head into Anniston to look for a cycle shop. MikeP has safety wired his axle in place but wanted to look for a replacement axle endcap. The trip back out was fun as my bike started to make it's ratcheting sound when exiting corners. I was forced to become very smooth and build up speed gradually rather than pulling hard out of corners. We exited AL-281 at US-431 and headed to Anniston.
Just out of town we found a used cycle shop dealing mostly in old 70s cruisers. It was a great stroke of karma that put a very wrecked 600 Hurricane in his warehouse. It turns out the Hurricane and Goof2 share the same axle endcap. The store owner told MikeP he could have the bolt and provided a wrench so we could remove it. He also mentioned that there was a Suzuki shop in town. Perhaps MikeP remembers the boneyard's name. Anyone in the area should stop in and say hello as he was very helpful.
A few blocks away was Zack's where we stopped in for lunch. We spent over an hour there joking around amongst ourselves and with Margaret, our server. We were having so much fun, we were reluctant to leave but wanted to hit the Suzuki shop before it closed. After a wrong turn gave us a tour of Anniston we headed out on AL-21. One of Anniston's finest shook his finger as us out the window of his cruiser, though we were 5 mph under the speed limit. I'd have brought up the topic of prejudices with him but I prefer to limit my contacts with law enforcement.
We found the shop though it hadn't been a Suzuki dealer for a few months. Surprisingly, he had the sprocket I needed (14 tooth, 530). I paid up and he gave us directions to the track. My bike was continuing to deteriorate but we decided one more stop was in order. We stopped for fuel and beer but found that the gas station couldn't sale alcohol since it was across the street from a church! Our next attempt proved fruitful and my Suzuki (with it's soft saddle bags) became the beer wagon.
We backtracked and headed back up AL-281. Now my bike was slipping on hills and eventually was ratcheting at speeds above 30 mph on uphills. This made for an amusing trip back as I would pick up as much speed as possible in downhill sections, carry it through the corners and slow to a crawl on the next uphill. Everyone was getting a laugh at the race prepped GSXR that couldn't break the posted 35mph speed limit.
Back at camp we pulled my bike apart to replace the sprocket. The teeth were still visible but looked more like the corners of a square than teeth. All the slipping had worn them considerably from what I'd counted two nights before. Unfortunately, the 30mm nut that holds the sprocket in place was bigger than any tools we had so a tool search mission was organized. MikeP agreed to pillion me back to Anniston (35 miles away) while MikeW played chase vehicle. Troy and Dean volunteered to stay and watch the beer. With credit card in hand, we headed out into the darkness.
The trip back was quite beautiful as a near full moon was just beginning to rise. The bats were out in force and we nearly clipped them a few times as they dove for bugs in the bike's headlights. I was amazed at how smooth the Goof2 was compared to my own bike. It was very difficult to stay neutral since I'm used to picking my own lines through curves. MikeP didn't kick me off, so I must not have been too bad.
We again retraced our steps and headed to the WalMart in Oxford (the twin city to Anniston). They didn't have an adjustable wrench but did have a metric socket set of the correct size. While MikeP chatted with the lovely cashier I made repeated trips to the tools aisle to get everything. After signing a $50+ VISA receipt we were off. (You can never have enough tools, right?) Once outside, the allure of small town cruising was upon us. We couldn't return to our hideaway on the mountain without first seeing what the small town had to offer. Almost immediately MikeP's big smile had us chatting with two lovelies in a 280ZX. They gave us directions to the town's hot spot and seemed genuinely interested in seeing us there later. It was tough to return to the task at hand but we turned and headed back to camp.
My main thought for the ride back was "deer". It seemed that every corner offered a brown patch just off the road that would look like a Bambi about to sprint across the road. When we got back to camp MikeW and MikeP agreed they thought the same thing. Fortunately it was only moths that jumped into the headlights. The evening's trip proved for naught as were unable to break the nut free. We tried every tool and method we could think of but were unable to budge the thing, though it was beginning to scar up a bit. Rather than risk damaging it and being stuck in Cheaha, I opted to put it back together and limp home. With the bike together we hit the beer (Troy and Dean had shown amazing restraint). MikeP and I stayed up till near morning jawing about bikes, women and computers.
Way to early for my liking Troy, Dean and MikeW were up and talking about a breakfast run. Their insistence upon moving around eventually roused me. After shaving my tongue and brushing the steel wool off my teeth, the idea of breakfast seemed pretty appealing. MikeP was now beginning to move so it became a plan. MikeW graciously offered me a pillion ride to the restaurant at Cheaha State Park. There was a single beer left from the previous night, so we passed it around as a token biker breakfast (warm beer...yum!) and mounted up.
The quick ride up to the park was uneventful though riding on the VX was completely different from my GSXR or the Goof2. I haven't been on a standard in ages and the passenger's leg room was shocking. The restaurant was having an all-you-can-eat breakfast bar, so we immediately set about stuffing ourselves. I could hardly push the chair back when we finally left! Conversation was again quite entertaining. If MikeP ever quits programming for a living, he has a successful career in comedy ahead of him.
Another quick ride and we were back breaking up camp. Everything was packed quickly and we headed out for Talladega to catch Sunday's races. While leaving camp MikeW attempted some D-P riding on the VX and nearly dropped it after bottoming it on a rock. Paris-Dakar's got nothing on the dreaded VX. Troy and Dean carried the trash to the dumpster and then we were headed out.
The road down was very curvey but had been patched and repatched with asphalt for the past few decades. The shadows being throw across the road didn't help and finally my reluctance to give the bike any gas made for a slow ride. Since the road was all downhill and I wasn't braking for turns, my chain didn't act up a bit. It was only about 15 miles to AL-21 and perhaps 5 more to the track.
We arrived just as the first race was griding. The afternoon was spent talking with the racers, watching the races and generally being complete race freaks. The best race of the day was between Atlanta local John Kennett aboard a borrowed Suzuki GS500E vs. a Ducati 888 in the twins race. John (a maniac in the corners) eventually passed the Duck but then dropped a valve. Great racing!
With the races over, we headed to Anniston for fuel. MikeW had to get back for a meeting so he left from there. The rest of us when to dinner and then split up for our respective trips home. Troy, Dean and I decided to slab it back so as to avoid the hills on the side roads. We got about 20 miles outside Anniston when the chain started slipping constantly. We backtracked 5 miles to a BP gas station who's shop was open till 9am and disassembled the bike in their parking lot. Their air wrench couldn't break the nut loose, but they had a 5 ft long breaker bar used for removing lug nuts from 18 wheelers. It did the trick but in our rush to disassemble everything, we forgot about removing a lock washer that holds the sprocket nut in place. It promptly stripped the last thread of the sprocket nut. Everything went back together fine but the nut wouldn't go back on due to the tripped thread. Every trick for fixing the threads failed to get the nut on more than a few turns. In desperation, I looked through the shop's misc nuts-n-bolts bucket hoping to find enough washers to shim up the nut. I ended up finding a 30mm nut that was the correct size! We quickly put the bike back together, cleaned up and tipped the mechanic for his time (he gave me the nut for free).
It was now 10:00pm and getting quite chilly. I rode around the lot once to check things out, then suited up for with everything I had. We hit the slab and blazed back to Atlanta. Everything came out alright as we didn't meet any police on the way back (we'd have been shot on sight for those speeds!) and got back to Atlanta before Troy's dogs missed their evening walk.
Lessons learned:
-- Think Peace. -- Alan (alanf@eng.tridom.com) KotBBBB (1988 GSXR1100J) AMA# 634578 DOD# 4210 PGP key available
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