I had a great ride on Saturday, April 17, through southwestern VA. Perfect warm weather and fantastic twistiy roads, however, the best part was the courteous drivers. :) Four times Virginia drivers pulled off the road to allow me to pass. I wasn't even being antagonistic (I think it is rude to follow close or flash your headlight at slower drivers). Either these folks were all fellow riders in their cars or there is an unwritten Virginia law that says, "On a perfect day, on the perfect road you must let the bikers play through." What ever the reason, hats off to the courtesy of Virginians. :thumb: In 375 miles of great roads I never had a car pull out in front of me or come across the line at me either.
About the ride: I traveled Rt.250, Rt.60, Rt.39, and Rt.59. All great twisty roads. 60 had a lot of traffic, as usual. I had never been on Rt.59 before but heard it was great. The reason for the ride was to find it. The first 1/2 of 59 is through George Washington National Forest and the ride is twisty and very nice, second 1/2 is just a valley run. This was a very fun ride and if anybody here plans to ride some of these roads in the future , please let me know I would love to do it again and the company would be a plus. :cheers:
Was just in VA last week myself..alas without my trusty bike. :(
For some reason it doesn't surprise me that folks pulled over. For the most part (like anywhere) they are great folks. :mrgreen:
Glad you had a good ride. Next trip to VA wil include the bike...dagnabit!
i did another 350+ miles of VA/WV backroads yesterday and only had 1 car slow and allow me to pass. :x and that was on a dirt/gravel road (after sucking down dust for a mile.. (http://www.cripplefight.com/smileys/crying.gif) )
i wasn't tailgating or being aggressive, but just letting them know that they were kinda in my way. growing up in a rural area myself, i've ALWAYS pulled over for anybody who seems like they want to get by. i really thought i'd worked up enough good road karma, guess not :dunno:
it might be a regional thing as well. i think the N. Va selfish, road ragey attitude persists out to charles town and martinsburg. Southwest Virginia seems like a much nicer place. and they're used to seeing bikes flying along the mountain roads....
the only place i've ever had people pull off to let me pass was in california on highway 1. they have little turnouts every mile or half mile or so. i'm pretty sure that rental car needed new tires when i was done with it :mrgreen: