STN National 2006 - Day 2
Thursday was the "long ride" day since there was nothing official planned for the evening. Scott had put together an "All You Can Eat" ride that included lots of country roads. I posted the route for my "WV Sampler" ride which is all state highways. Both routes were in the 350 - 400 mile range. In order to be back to CVR in time for some dinner, beers and hanging out, I planned on an 8am departure and a return between 6pm and 7pm. Here's the "WV Sampler" route we took (noting that the eastern bit is in VA):
I got up early and wandered around taking pics as Scott's "All You Can Eat" ride was getting together. First a few pics of the resort:
The main lodge (with Scott's VFR and Holly's 748 out front):
The "Raven" lodge where STN was staying:
The swimming pool:
Just a nice view near the lodge:
There was lots of activity in the parking lot as people were gearing up for Scott's "All You Can Eat" ride. Here is " mrs ejworthen", Scott and Sam:
"ejworthen"
Sam ("st2Sam") and Holly admiring the Ducatis. Damn sexy Ninja bike too :-)
"Jammin" and others getting ready:
A small group met in the parking lot for my 8am departure including myself, Doug ("Mountaineer"), Jeff ("Babou") and Paul ("HeavenBound"). Rick, my roommate, decided to do a shorter day with a later start. We were on our way just after 8am. We gassed up in Canaan Valley, then headed to Seneca Rocks for breakfast at the "4U" diner, my regular breakfast haunt from my days as a climber at Seneca.
We had a great ride to Seneca Rocks. Doug and I managed to thread our way past the trucks and have a good run on route 33. The drop down the mountain on 33 was spectacular. The elevation change combined with the steep mountainsides and early morning light was awesome. Woot! I saw a deer on the side of the road on the other side of the guardrail, but Jeff got to practice his hard braking skills with one running in the road. Doug and I pulled into the parking area in "downtown" Seneca to re-group before heading to the diner for breakfast. Here are the obligatory Seneca Rocks pics:
The 4U sits on the right a mile or so from Seneca Rocks. It's nothing special, but the food is decent and the price is right (cheap!). While we were eating, we saw the "fast" group heading out on the "WV Sampler" route. Ended up running into st2sam in Monterey at lunch too. I guess they stayed about a half hour ahead of us the whole day.
So our little group headed out to enjoy route 33 over the mountains through Judy Gap and into Virginia. That stretch of 33 is one of my favorites. Twisties with uphill passing zones! For the first time ever I had a clean shot up the mountain to the WV/VA border AND it stayed cleared the whole way down to the bottom. We re-grouped at a little bridge before heading on toward Harrisonburg. Doug appears to be fired up!
Our route continued on 33 east to (almost) Harrisonburg. We headed south on 613 to the crossroads of Ottobine, then took 257 into Dayton. Those roads took us through some spectacular scenery with the farms and rolling hills with mountains in the distance. Awesome!
We picked up 42, the "Scenic Highway", and it lived up to its name. 42 took us to route 250 for a blast over the mountains back toward West Virginia. We stopped at the overlook for a break and few pics.
Man boob jokes aside, it turns out that a "breastwork" is actually a log and dirt wall you hide behind when fighting:
After our break, we headed down miles of switchbacks to Monterey for gas and lunch at the "Hideaway" (?). Doug said his southwestern wrap was outstanding. st2sam popped into the restaurant shortly after we arrived. His group had just finished lunch. We had a fine lunch, again for cheap, and continued west into WV. 250 was in decent shape despite some patches and repair work from last year. We ran into a one-way section of road repair just before hitting route 28 where Doug snapped a shot of me being led by a "Pilot Vehicle".
We took 28 south past Green Bank observatory and then 66 west past the Cass Railway. We didn't have time to be tourists, so we just passed through and made our way over the mountain past Snowshoe resort to 219. I had forgotten how very twisty 66 is. A bit dirty too, but wow, what a stretch of road. We stopped for a break at a gas station and I snapped a couple pics:
Paul's visor had broken earlier and ripped off when he turned his head, so he broke off from the group and headed north on 219 to Elkins to look for a replacement, or maybe even a new helmet. That left Doug, Jeff and I to continue the ride. Our next destination was Webster Springs via 219 north and 15 west. What a great section of road. 219 is way twistier than it appears on the map. 15 was great too. I had never been on it and it supplied an endless succession of nice sweepers on good pavement. Excellent! Here's a shot just before dropping into Webster Springs:
After gassing up in Webster Springs, we had 50+ miles of route 20 into Buckhannon ahead of us. There are some wonderful sections of 20 including the climb out of Webster Springs and the area near Holly Springs State Park. There were also a handful of corners with so much gravel in them there was no clean line. Usually the left tire track is good, but these required picking your way through slowly. Just part of the challenge of WV I guess. No pics along 20. Sorry, but the scenery is nice.
I think we were all a bit tired once in Buckhannon. I managed to find route 151, which is actually old route 33 (before the four lane) and that was a nice ride to Elkins. A few miles of new 33 took us to 219 north (more four lane). 219 eventually turned back into two-lane and we had a nice enough ride to Parsons where we stopped at a Sheetz for a break. After a fun blast up the mountain on 219, we pulled into an overlook for a few pics of the windmills:
With the ride nearly over, we dropped down 219 into Thomas where we picked up 32 south. We had worked up a mighty thirst and stopped at the Purple Fiddle for a beer before doing the last few miles to Canaan Valley. The Purple Fiddle is quite the bohemian place. I know I'll stop back again in the future:
I was a little slow leaving the Fiddle, so I did the last few miles to CVR solo. Traffic was light, so I stopped for a pic of the long straight down into the valley.
A quick stop to gas up and buy beer at the CV gas station and the day was done. Somewhere near 365 miles I think. I pulled in just before 8pm. Changed clothes, had a beer, put the rest of the six pack on ice and headed for dinner at the resort pizza shop. Ran into Doug and his buddy Vince. Had a nice dinner, then finished the evening off hanging in the parking lot, BS'ing and drinking beer. Good time you bet. Despite my best intentions, it was almost midnight (again) when I retired for the night.