sprocket i/o

My BMW F650GS Dakar on Main St, Franklin, NC.

Bolstered by the (over)confidence gained from my ride out to the outlet malls on Saturday, I decided to go do something with my day off of work today. I wanted to try to find a location 100-150mi. away from Roswell, and after looking around on Google Earth, I decided to head out to Franklin, NC. I had hoped to get a hold of one of my friends, Mark, who lives there, and see if we could get together for lunch. Well, after a few e-mails and voicemails to him, I didn’t manage to get ahold of him. I printed up directions to get from Roswell to downtown Franklin, and headed out this morning regardless. First: Here’s the route I took to and from Franklin (KML). Second: Here were some lessons learned:

• Crosswinds are scary, but manageable
• Carrying a backpack full of water and a D-SLR for 250 miles is not comfortable. Bring less water, get luggage.
• The F650GS has no problem with going 85mph
• Why replacement seats exist
• Why having gel in your gloves is good for long road trips
• What the terrible stench is when going from Hwy 400 to Gainesville
• I like smaller highways much better than interstates

Leaving Roswell..

Not yet having any storage on the bike for a trip, I packed everything into a backpack: Camera, Camelbak (Water), First Aid Kit, Repair Manual, and Duct Tape. I did a pre-ride check on my bike, and the tire gauge reported low air pressure: 25psi. After giving Dallas and Clover the requisite hug and kiss, I headed out this morning at 8am. I went to the first gas station I could to fill up the tires: but the compressor there had no gauge! Traffic was fairly light heading out of Roswell, and the air was still cool enough that I actually felt a bit cold in my mesh gear. I got onto Highway 400 from Old Milton in order to bypass most of the morning rush hour traffic, and headed North to find the Keith Bridge Rd. I stayed in the fast lane, which is arguably the safest place to be on a motorcycle. I had memorized from the instructions. After a little while I determined that I went too far, and pulled over to check the instructions again, and saw that it also goes by the name of Highway 306, about 4 miles south of where I was.

The Stench to Gainesville, and the highway out

Once down Highway 306, I felt quite relieved to get off of the highway. It’s quite nice to meander on the small two lane highways, surrounded by fields and run-down cars. That is, at least until you ride past the American Proteins rendering plant on Leland Rd. If you are within a mile of the plant and it’s associated “Rendering Lake”, you will surely smell something fierce. The rest of 306 is quite uneventful, except for the really unusual way it connects to 53. Highway 53 takes you onto two bridges that cross over Lake Lanier, North Georgia’s largest lake (38,000 acres) that was created by Buford Dam on the Chatahoochee, and then into Gainesville, GA, the poultry capital of the world.

While Gainesville seems like an interesting place, I sure hate riding through there. I managed to get temporarily bewildered while trying to get through the traffic, and had to stop at a gas station to look at the map, get rehydrated, and get my bearings again. I called Dallas to let her now that I made it through to Gainesville. After one embarassing attempt u-turn, and one dangerously illegal left turn out of the gas station, I was on my way to I-985. This was my first “interstate” experience on a motorcycle, and it was interesting to see how the bike did at 85mph. It wasn’t as rock-solid as I had hoped for, but it wasn’t bad. I do now know what people mean by wishing the F650GS had a 6th gear to go up to, because at 70mph you are at 5000rpm, and my normal shifting point is at 4500. Even so, I’m amazed by how easily the bike accelerates to 85mph to pass a truck with relative ease.

To North Carolina

After a while, I-985 merges with US 441, which coincidently also runs next to the house I was raised in, in West Boca Raton, FL. I expected the traffic speed on 441 to be a little more mellow, but it’s 70-75mph almost until the North Carolina border. It being July 4th weekend, there were plenty of cops to make sure people were not going even faster than that. The only interesting part of the North Georgia side of 441 is Tallulah Gorge State Park, home to several waterfalls and 1000ft cliffs. I planned to stop by and check it out, but I had a pang of consience that said that I should wait until I have Dallas up here with me to share it with.

North of Tallulah Falls, US-441 turns into one huge mess of construction almost all the way to North Carolina. The good news is that it keeps the traffic cruising along at 35-45mph, and it’s filled with wonderful curves, the bad news is that traffic gets backed up a bit. I stopped for some more hydration in Clayton, GA, and called Dallas again to let her know I was still doing pretty good. My right arm was beginning to feel a bit fatigued, almost asleep. I’m not sure if it was wearing the backpack, or just the constant vibration being shook through the handle bars, but I did need to shake my hand out for a little while before hopping back on my steed. I also plugged $0.75 into an air compressor and tried to fill my tires, but it’s PSI read that my tires were fine, almost over-inflated. Why does something as mechanically simple as gauges not agree with one another? Is it inconsistent technique?

Me in my day-glow vest in Franklin

Within about 30 minutes of Clayton, I began to see signs for Franklin, NC. I stopped just within the city limits and tried to call Mark again, but to no avail. I spotted a Shoney’s nearby, and said “You know, I haven’t eaten at a Shoney’s in a long long time”, and headed inside to get a pretty decent Philly Cheesesteak. I thought about heading back, but decided that I should at least head to the main strip (just like any older town: it’s called Main St.). I got some photos of myself downtown to shame Mark with, and then headed back to Roswell, GA.

Going Back Home

The ride back to Roswell was much like the way up, except for the crosswinds. While they were not quite plane movers, they tried quite hard to blow my motorcycle between lanes. I had read a advrider.com thread once on crosswinds, that recommended doing a slight countersteer into them, and situating yourself in the center of the lane.. and it works! For a while I experimented with different speeds to see if the increased gyroscopic effect caused by the wheels spinning faster had greater effect than the faster headwinds I was going against, but the results were inconclusive.

On the way back, I took Highway 60 directly off of 985 this time, which diverted me away from downtown Gainesville. I took a long break at a gas station to call Dallas again, and saw that I missed a phone call from Mark. It seems that he had just gotten all of my messages: his phone died on Friday, and he had not yet checked his e-mail. He did want to get together though to do some geocaching, so I may head up there again on July 15th.

The traffic on 306 and 400 were significantly greater in volume than in the morning, but not too bad until I got into Alpharetta. I got off at Mansell, and headed home. On the way back, I nearly blew the turn from Woodstock onto Jones Rd., a turn I had made without error several times before. I had a tailgater and took the turn faster than the previous times, and instead of leaning into it harder, I panicked and hit the brakes. Thankfully, I didn’t go down, but it most likely scared the person behind me into backing off. It sure scared me, anyways. This is the second ride now that I got sloppy once I got back into town. Definitely something to more vigilant about. When I got home, it felt so good to finally plop down on the couch and lay down. The long hours on the saddle with the backpack on took a toll on my back, my butt was sore from the seat, and my hands felt numb from the constant vibration. All three can be fixed to some extent with different or additional gear.

The Route (approximately).

Altogether, the trip was 294 miles, and used almost 5 gallons of fuel (~58mpg). I’m now just 8 miles short of having ridden 500 miles on the F650GS Dakar, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m now pretty confident with handling city and highway traffic, though I haven’t shown much improvement in low-speed maneuvers. I intend to do a lot more practice with that in the coming weeks. I am also extremely happy with my clothing as far as keeping me cool. It was 93′F in Franklin, and I had no problem wearing a full-faced helmet, gloves, armored jacket, armored pants, and boots. Next time someone tells me it’s too hot to wear gear, I’m going to have to remind them that it’s cooler than getting skin grafts.