Where else to get a nice glass of tea then in Lynchburg, Tennessee!

Today did not start by looking like a great riding day. The weather report was 70F, 90% humidity, and heavy overcast at 7am. Moreover, the clouds were low and very dark. "Hrmm, this doesn't look good", I thought to myself. But then, the local radar did not show rain for a good 100 miles in any direction and the chance of rain was only 40%. The one thing I have learned about summer weather forecasts in the south is to NOT worry about rain when they predict 75% or less chance of rain. With that, I forgot about any chance of rain and geared up.

Only two riders were at the meeting spot by 10:15am. Normally, people will trickle-in at a fairly constant rate. Not today. When I arrived Ron and Susan were talking to Charlie who was there, in his cage, to tell us he had to work. After 10 minutes, only one other bike showed up. Once meeting Robert, the four of us took off and left Charlie to report our departure.

With Ron leading the way, we took some back roads out of Huntsville which eventually brought us to Gurley. It started by taking 4-Mile Post Road into Hampton Cove. After getting east of Hampton Cove, we made a few turns to get onto Keel Mountain Rd. It had some tight corners and made for fun trip to Gurley. It was nice not taking the drone road (Hwy 72) to get out of Huntsville.

While on Keel Mountain Rd, I went into the first hairpin, leaned the bike over, and gave it lots of gas. With that, the engine began to race as if the clutch was slipping. In my copious amounts of free time at this split second, I realized that the pavement was wetter than I thought and that was my rear tire spinning. Thankfully, my reflexes said "nail it" and I did. Spun the tire throughout the rest of the corner (about one second). I got the bike straightened out and thought "oh heck yah, that was cool". That was, of course, after I removed the seat from my butt.

After going through Gurley, we took "the normal roads" to Skyline. If you read my report from Memorial Day weekend, you will recall we had a crash on Hwy 65. Well, today, at that same spot, a kid on the 4wheeler was buzzing around and then there was a pickup truck just about to pull into the road. Ron, also nervous about that same section of road, approached at a reduced speed which allowed us to navigate the truck without problems. I think I will now ALWAYS take it very easy through that section and plan to warn others too. Too many problems have occured there for my likings.

Another little problem arose for me along this stretch of road. I noticed my brake reservior seemed to be "dancing around". I went to touch it to see if it was loose, bumped it with my hand, and then heard a "ting". Yup, I bumped it just hard enough with my hand to knock the screw completely out. Had I just left it alone until we stopped, I probably could have tightened it back up without further incident. Instead, I had to beat on it at 60mph and toss the screw down the road. Lovely. To keep the reservoir from "dancing" the rest of the day, I got a twisty tie at the gas station and "strapped" it to the bracket. Even though this is a very minor problem, I do have to say it is a bit of a shocker when you are hauling tail down a back road and then see the front brake reservoir bouncing around like a bobble-head doll.

Once past the "the fast roads", we shot across Hwy 64, worked our way around the town of Winchester and picked up Hwy 50. The pace was pretty quick and lots of fun. Before too long, we hung a right and went to the top of a dam. If I recall correctly, it was the "Tim Dam" (but I could be very wrong). We took alittle breather and enjoyed the scenery. This was definately a suprise location that I didn't expect to see today.

Back on Hwy 50, we quickly made it to Lynchburg, TN. At that point, we were all getting pretty parched. We went over to the corner deli and got a nice cold glass of tea. I was starving and inhaled a chicken sandwhich. I was actually very suprised how the town was still so small and clean. I will definately need to make a return trip to check out the distillery.

After our "lunch break", we shot back down Hwy 50 and then hopped across to Hwy 121 to get back towards Huntsville. Again, the pace was quite brisk. Unfortunately, the "tar snakes" were getting a bit annoying. My bike was really dancing around on those cracks. It was ok at first for it help me get used to the bike slipping and sliding; however, it was now just getting tiring. I was happy to get back on Hwy 121 and leave those tar snakes behind for the day.

Getting close to Huntsville, the group suddenly pulled off to the side of the road. One of the group members needed a rest room about ten miles back; however, a detour pushed us away from the planned rest stop. I give credit for holding on for as long as he did; however, it was now an emergency. A quick trip into the corn fields was all that was needed to "relieve" the situation, haha. From there, we took some more back roads and eventually came out at Gurley again. We hopped across Hwy 72 and wiggled back to Huntsville without further incident.

Once back in Huntsville, Ron invited us all over to his house for soda and beer. Whoo hoo! After enjoying thirty minutes at Ron's house, I knew it was best to head home before my wife started worrying where I was. With that, I thanked everyone for a great day and headed home.

Got home, got all my gear off, and got the bike put away (always a sad part of the day). On the way to the house from the garage, I thought, "what a great ride!". We never saw rain, temps stayed reasonable, and we never saw a cop all day. Moreover, we just headed where we wanted to head today. The pace was fast but not dangerous, the trip made for a nice circle, and the company was great! I couldn't have asked for a better day or for a better glass of tea.

Statistics:
Total Mileage	200 miles
Max Speed	137 mph
Average Speed	58 mph