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December 10th, 2008 Flexible Is Too Rigid muse@bikerenews.com Please allow images to load

In the last article, I once again sang the praises of Tour Rides. One of the great lessons from Tour Riding is if you are flexible, you are too rigid. You must be fluid!

With Event Rides (Poker, Dice, Escorted), you are given specific dates, time, and check points to follow. With Tour Rides, you normally only get check points. All of the planning is on the rider(s). For example, several riding associates and I had talked about completing the Red Knights Grand Tour. The major problem was that there was no route or list of stops that made the trip definable in terms of miles or time on the road. With this tour, you have to identify you own stops (fire stations). The only requirement is that each of the names of the 9 fire stations must start with one of the letters in GRAND TOUR.

As I discussed in the last article, I undertook this task and ended up with two separate rides of about approximately 250 miles each. The next step was to set dates and meeting times. The hard part about this is that our local Chapter has members who work a variety of shifts. After trying to adjust the dates to what I thought would give us a better than average number of riders, I let everyone know the date and time of the first ride. With the best of planning, we operate a little like a Volunteer Fire Department, we really don’t know who is going to show up until the fire starts.

Day 1 Riders

As the first ride approached, the sky seemed to be crying from a bad case of the blues. A riding buddy suggested a 40/40 rule. The 40/40 rule states that if the temperature is below 40 degrees or there is a 40% change of rain, the ride is cancelled. There is no magic in the 40/40 rule other than everyone knows what the perimeters of the ride are and the Go - No Go decision is determined before the event date.

Well, as luck would have it, Day 1 was cancelled. So it was back to the calendar for a new date. The ride was rescheduled for what had been the proposed date of the second ride. This time the weather cooperated. Of course, the rule I tend to follow is that breakfast is the first stop of every ride. By the time breakfast was over, we had four riders and two passengers. It was less than I had hoped for, but my measure of a ride is whether I have fun or not (not the number participating).

We made a quick run over to Norfolk Station 11 (where one of our members was working), only to find out that the engine was out on a call. Luckily, one of the Station Squad Members took a picture of us in front of the station. It was at this point that another unplanned event happened. One of our riders was trying to suffer through with a sore back, but after a couple of pot holes and train tracks, he decided the wise decision would be to head home.

With the count down to 3 riders and 1 passenger, we made our way to Driver VFD and then to Rushmere VFD. We then headed up VA10 to US40. We took 40 west until we passed Stony Creek (on I-95) and ended up about half-way between I95 and I85. We turned south on CO619 and made our way to Old Hickory VFD (in Dinwiddie County). After taking the mandatory pictures, one rider headed off to work on another Tour. We were down to 2 riders and 1 passenger. We stopped at Emporia for lunch and then rode 58 back to Virginia Beach. Day 1 was complete.

As the second ride approached, I heard from the new RK Chapter in Suffolk. They wanted to join up with us. So our route was adjusted to meet RKVA2 out by the Suffolk Airport. Of course, RKVA4 continued to have line up changes. Two of the original riders showed up, and two new riders. However, one of the new riders showed up for breakfast and to tell us he wasn’t going to make the ride. Of course, in my book a ride to breakfast is always a successful ride. One odd note is that the three RKVA4 riders (me included) were all riding ST1300s. Not sure whether that says something about us or other bike brands in the Chapter.

The Honda ST1300 Riders.... from L to R Dave, John, and Gary

South of Suffolk, we stopped to group up with four RKVA2 riders, and after introductions and general route directions, we headed south on US13. The order of the stops were Gatesville VFD, Union Rural VFD, Ahoskie FD, Rich Square FD, Tillery VFD, and Newsoms VFD (Newscoms was a target of opportunity we stopped at for the new riders).

I won’t go into a lot of detail about the trip, but somewhere along the way I was given the nickname "Double Back Gary." I do think it was unfair that I was held accountable for Fire Stations that actually moved or were hidden on side streets. Of course the highlight was when one of our riders (Kay), stopped next to a police officer making an arrest to ask where the Ahoskie Fire Station was located. Hopefully, he wasn’t a member of the Blue Knights.

With the stated purpose of the ride out of the way, we got down to the real business – where to eat lunch (are you noticing a common theme?). Thanks to some sage riders, the decision was made to ride to Weldon to have lunch at Ralph’s Diner. I had never been there, but the BBQ Buffet lived up to the recommendation. Not only was the BBQ note worthy, the banana pudding alone was worth the ride. The hard part was getting back into the winter gear and on the bikes for the 2 hour ride back to Virginia Beach. We rode up 186 to 617 (stopping at the Newsoms VFD) then into Franklin. We followed 58 home.

So out of the 10 different riders that participated in some portion of the 2 day GRAND TOUR Ride, only 2 actual completed the ride on Day 2. Of course, I have no doubt that the RKVA2 Riders have finished up their last three stops by now. RKVA4 has one rider who needs 3 stops, one rider who needs 5 stops, and one rider who needs 8 stops.

All in all, I had two great rides, shared two breakfast meals who old friends, traveled over 500 miles safely, and had a great BBQ lunch (with ‘nana pudding) with new friends. Who could ask for more? Of course, being fluid helps to get over some of the planning bumps and make the trips a little more enjoyable.

Until next time, Ride Safe.

Day one Map



Day two

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