Indianapolis Road Trip

[trickniner]

I have posted a couple of times in the past during the planning stages of the trip and though I would show everybody what it culminated in.  A friend and I rode out to Indianapolis this past week for the Inaugural MotoGP Race at the Speedway.  If you happened to watch it on TV you know that it wasn't the best weather for Bike Racing but I had a blast none the less.  Here are a few pictures from the ride out and the weekend there.  We rode about 1000 miles out to Indy and rented a truck and stuck the bikes in the back to make the trip back in a day.  Some people might call us pussies for trailering them back, that's fine, we made fun of the people who trailered their bike both ways.  But the truth is we figured we would e pretty beat and we didn't want to burn any more vacation days.  The next long road trip I take I will make sure to ride both ways, there is definitely some pride in knowing you rode all that way.  Well enough talk here are the pics.


My bike ready to go. I posted before about luggage.  I ended up going with soft Nelson Rig Silver Streak Sport bags and I bungied my Backpack to the tail.  It worked well I think.


My friend did the whole trip on a 2002 954, with just a backpack of stuff.  He had a box of extra clothes shipped out to the hotel for when we got there.  I don't know what he has against Saddle Bags.


Day 1: Somewhere in Dutches County NY.  Is someone really wants to know I can look through the routes and try and figure it out.  The road was nothing special, I just liked the scenery.


Day 1: Waiting at construction on route 28A in the Catskill Park in NY.  The road was awesome, super tight and twisty.  The GS really showed it's stuff I was able to hang right with my buddy in the corners, even with all the gear.  The construction guy was nice, told us to watch out for the Ranger station farther up the road.


My helmet at the end of day one.  I didn't wash it throughout the day on purpose so I could get a picture like this.


The start of Day 2 at Elmira NY.  It was freazing like the mid 40's and I had no liner for my jacket and was running mesh summer gloves.  Later we hit some insanely thick fog.  I didn't get any pictures because I was too afraid to stop on the side of the road in it.

My buddy having fun somewhere in Northwest PA. He let me ride his bike.  It was so crazy fast at first I couldn't understand why anyone would need that much power, but after riding it a bit more it started to grow on me.

The end of day two we stopped here.  Millersburg Ohio.  You might be saying this picture isn't anything great... well it's the best I could do in Millersburg.  Towns out there are like small little centers that you pass through in 30 seconds while flying by the rest of the farm land. 

Day 3 we rode in Rain for 5 hours until we got to the speedway.  It was not fun.  I had fairly decent rain gear but it held up for only so long in the kind of weather we where in.  I don't really have many pictures from this day as we where both cranky and getting pretty beat from riding all day for the past 3 days.


KTM was doing test rides at a local dealer, this is one of 4 that rode by me.  It's a KTM RC8.


This was in the Ducati Island section of the infield at the speedway.  They let owners of Ducatis park free here.  This one was on display, it's one of the most modified 969's I saw that weekend.  I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner to find out exactly what was done to it.  Maybe spc could chime in if he sees anything in particular on the bike.


250cc Qualifying, through turn 1


Again 250cc qualifying coming out of the pits.

I was mainly on video duty while my friend was taking pictures, so I don't have too many more right now.  But to rap up the adventure, Saturday qualifying was great.  It was sunny and warm and we got to see all the bikes at their fastest.  Unfortunately on Sunday what was left of Ike decided to pass right through and didn't make for the best racing conditions.  They had to call the GP race after 21 laps due to the wind.  It was brutal in the grandstands.  Hopefully the weather will be better next year.

[Jay_wolf]

That Ducati is a Masterpiece

[GeeP]

Sounds like you had fun!

In time, your riding stamina will grow.  I rode 900 miles from Elmira, NY to southern TN on a Friday, rode a number of the local roads Saturday and Sunday adding another 1500 miles, then rode 900 miles back Monday morning.  Went to work on Tuesday at noon and I didn't feel it until Wednesday.   



That's the Days Inn right of Hwy 17 in Elmira.  Kennedy Valve, the deadliest place in the country to work, is right down the street next to 17.  They make a third of America's fire hydrants.

I was living about 3 blocks from that hotel for several months on business.  As soon as I saw the photo I recognized the HUD housing across the street.  Funny to see pics by other people of places you know so well.

You didn't happen to take PA-2 though from Elmira, did you?  That's an enjoyable road.

[trickniner]

That's the Days Inn right of Hwy 17 in Elmira.

Ha, yeah that's exactly where we are.  It is a Holiday Inn now, maybe it was a Days in back then.

Yeah I think we where getting more worn out then normal too because we tried to pick the roads that looked the twistiest on the maps not really considering how easy the final route would be or how quickly we could get it done.

[GeeP]

Yup, that'll do it.  I did another trip from Elmira to Windsor Vermont, about 400 miles by my odometer.  I left at 8am and didn't arrive in Windsor until sunset, completely wasted.  I might have turned around a few times to re-sample a few good sections though.