The Pocono RAT Raid was held at the Pocono Manor resort in Mount Pocono, PA on July 7 thru 9. "RAT" is the Riders Association of Triumph, a factory-sponsored owners group. Local dealerships sponsor "RAT Packs". I'm currently the Pittsburgh RAT Pack leader for Triumph of Pittsburgh in Wexford. "RAT Raids" are regional rallies that are organized by Triumph and subsidized by regional dealers. Pennsylvania has hosted five successful RAT Raids, the "Allegheny RAT Raid" in St Marys, but this was the first year for the Poconos.

The usual plan is to ride to the Raid on Friday, meet all the attendees on Friday night at the bar, ride all-day Saturday, attend a dinner and prizeraffle Saturday night, followed by more drinking and BS'ing, then ride home Sunday after breakfast. Triumph owners are a friendly bunch and RAT Raids are always a good time. Here's my story...

I owned a 2002 Triumph Sprint RS for the last three years. It's been a great bike, but after 43K+ trouble-free miles, I was ready for a change. I bought a Kawasaki ZX-6R last fall for something more sporty, but kept the Triumph around for commuting, two up, and less sporty duty. I decided to put it up for sale in late June since I figured it could take a couple months to sell and the upcoming 2007 Triumph Tiger has my attention. The bike sold in a few days to the perfect buyer. So I was attending a Triumph rally, as a RAT Pack leader, on a Japanese sport bike. How embarrassing! I hope I'm only temporarily between Triumphs.

Although several other Pittsburgh RAT Pack members were also attending (Ted, Brad, Gary, Jim and Jim's girlfriend Erin), I was riding to the Poconos by myself. I had plotted out a meandering route that explored the mountains of central PA with little slab involved. Here's my map for the ride out:

So with the Ninja bike all loaded up and ready to go, I headed out route 22 towards Johnston from home. Route 22 is under construction for most of the way to Johnstown and beyond. Although traffic always moved, it moved slowly. Yuck. Not a fun way to spend the first hour and I made a mental note to avoid it at all costs until they're done fixing the road. I finally got to 219 south which was a short connector to my real goal: route 869 past Blue Knob State Park.

Rivers, mountains and not many people usually make for twisty roads and 869 is no exception. The section over the mountain along the state park is a lot of twisty fun. Once past the mountains, it still provides nice sweepers in the country past I-99 and on to the Raystown Lake area. Worth seeking out if you're in the area.

Route 36 took me to route 26 and on to Six Mile Run Rd: a curious looking squiggle on the map leading to Broad Top City on route 913. Six Mile Run Road was a nice twisty country road with brand new pavement. Woot! I hadn't initially planned to end up in Broad Top City, but since I was there, I continued across 913 and followed the road over to 994. A local warned me to be careful, it gets twisty past the farm... Sure enough, the road got twisty, and dirty and beat up. A real cowpath in the middle of nowhere once the fresh pavement ended. I motored on and on the way snapped this photo. At least I think it was on this section of road:

Route 994 offered nice sweepers on good pavement through the hills and farmlands of central PA. Eventually I ended up in Orbsonia on route 522. A short blast south to Shady Gap and I was back on more rural roads, this time route 641. 641 has some fine twisties going over the mountain to Spring Run (jct 75) and beyond. After a quick stop to fill my tank and empty my bladder, I headed north on 75, shooting for route 274 to take me east.

Route 75 is scenic enough, but fairly straight and mellow since it runs in the vally between the mountains. While passing a farm, a large white German Shepherd wandered across the road in front of me, totally oblivious to my bearing down on him at 70-something. A couple expletives and a handful of front brake later, I was almost stopped when the dog finally realized he nearly bought the farm, running across the rest of the road with his tail between his legs.

I continued northeast on route 274, heading for the fabled route 125: billed as the twistiest road in PA. 274 offered up dozens of miles of mellow, scenic sweepers through farmland to New Bloomfield. I needed to cross the Susquehanna River and opted to continue heading northeast on route 34, which would take me to route 849 heading south to the bridge at Duncannon. 849 looked like good twisty fun on the map and started out great with fresh pavement. The good pavement soon gave way to beat up pavement, but it was still an OK ride to the river.

After crossing the bridge, I continued my northeast trek via 147 and 225. 147 had way too much traffic for my tastes and 225 didn't really clear out until I got north of Elizabethville (jct 209). I continued north on 225 all the way to Shamokin, the start of route 125. I opted to take a break and eat lunch in Shamokin, figuring I wanted to be fresh for the twisties that laid to the south. I found this bar and grill on the main street in Shamokin. Not a bad lunch stop if you're in town:

Time for the twistiest road in PA! Perhaps I'm a bit jaded by all the riding I get to do in West Virginia, but I wasn't impressed. Heading southbound from Shamokin, the road has fresh pavement heading up the mountain, but the road was polluted with coal trucks. They really didn't break the flow too much, but were a PITA to pass. The fresh pavement soon ended and was replaced by variable quality pavment with tar snakes and some huge piles of gravel in the corners. Yes, there are a few tight turns linked together, but it's not all that in my opinion. Worth checking out if you're in the area, but not worth going way out of your way for. I stayed on 125 south over another less technical pass and on to the town of Pine Grove where I stopped for gas.

Route 895 heads east out of Pine Grove and basically parallels 209 and 443 (both to the north). 209 looked to have way too many towns along it to be any fun. I got advice from a local that 895 was twistier, more scenic and less travelled than 443, so that's what I took. Fifty miles of nice sweepers with little traffic later, I popped back out into civilization at Bowmanstown at route 248. A short hop south on 248 took me to Palmerton where I followed the main street (Delaware Ave) to Little Gap Rd which led to Kunkletown Rd. Those three roads look like one road on the map. The nice sweepers in the country with no traffic continued until I hit the Wilkes-Barre Turnpike at Saylorsburg. There were no signs indicating what the road was called, but I knew I needed to make a left to head north to Mount Pocono. I was nearly there!

Unfortunately, the Poconos have a lot of people living there. After 300+ miles of little to no traffic, I found myself in late afternoon rush hour traffic on a Friday. Route 209 was especially painful with stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper traffic as I attempted to get to route 715. Once there, I was mostly free of traffic and had a nice run up to route 611 in Scotrun. One last gas stop (filling up for the morning) and was on route 314 heading for the resort. I took a side road in, and it wasn't immediately clear to me which way to go to find the hotel. I saw a group of Triumphs roll by in the other direction and decided to follow them. On the way in, I passed Gary, Jim and Erin taking a walk. Here are a few pics of the resort and a few bikes in the parking lot:

I checked in, got a bit lost trying to find my room, which turned out to be in an adjacent building, took a quick dip in the pool and then headed off in search of the bar. A fine evening of beers ($1.50 Molson drafts!) and socializing followed which includes the required hanging out in the parking lot looking at bikes and talking about bikes. I eventually crawled into bed at midnight. I had a big day planned for Saturday and was hoping to be in bed a bit earlier due to the early start (7am). A few glasses of water and some Ibuprofin to minimize the hangover and I was asleep...

NOTE: I'm so ashamed I only took a handful of photos all day. There was lots of great scenery and vistas to record and I just kept riding. I promise I'll do better the next two days.

I normally get up at 5am, so sleeping in until 6am is a bit of a luxury. Except when you went to bed at midnight after drinking all evening. I felt a bit tired, but otherwise fine, so I took a shower, geared up and dragged my stuff out to the Ninja bike. No one else was wandering around, which was kind of odd as I always run into a few early risers at these events. My plan was to get the hell out of Dodge (the Poconos) before traffic got bad and spend the day riding in the Catskills. I hoped that road closures due to the recent flooding wouldn't mess up my route too much, but it was hard to find info on what was actually open, so I just went for it. No one else was interested in that early a start or that many miles (350 - 400) so I was on my own. I snicked the bike into gear at 7am on the nose and was off. Here's the route I actually did (close to plan with some improv):

My plan was to ride to Hancock, New York and grab some breakfast. I figured it would be about two hours away. The ride started off nicely: 314 out to 611 north for a short bit which led to 196 and then 191. Despite the early departure, there were still a number of cars and trucks out and about. I can only imagine how busy that area must get once all the tourists wake up and start moving. Here's a pic from 191 (I think). Quite a pleasant stretch of road to get the day started:

191 led to 507 which runs along Lake Wallenpaupak, the first of the many reservoirs and lakes I hoped to visit over the course of the day. I named this loop my "Reservoir Run". 507 was nice enough, but there was a bit of traffic to deal with. The slower pace let me steal glimpses of the lake through the trees as opportunity presented itself. I stopped for a couple pictures in Hawley, at the north end of the lake where 507 meets route 6.

I took route 6 to Honesdale where I picked up route 191 again. Route 6 is just way too busy and built up in eastern PA for me. Luckily, I didn't need to be on it long and soon I was winging my way north on 191 to Hancock. I was having a great ride, getting into a nice groove and making time. Nothing real technical, but a very pleasant ride. Recommended for a nice fast, flowing cruise.

I was getting very close to Hancock as it approached 9am, right on schedule. I was one mile from town when I came across a "Road Closed" sign. Damn. Bridge washed out. One of the flagmen explained the detour to me. Head out 370 west to the blue Starlight sign, make right, go to a stop, make a left along a lake, follow to a T. Make a right onto a dirt road, but there'd be detour signs then to follow...

OK... The directions were fine, but the dirt road part had me wondering since I'm on a sportbike. As I pull up to the dirt road part I spy a sign saying "Dirt Road. 4.5 miles". Ouch. Looks like a funky dirt road too. So I went for it. I toodled along at 20 to 25 MPH with a light grip on the bars and just rode as smoothly as I could. Scenery was nice enough. A couple cars coming the other way stopped me to get directions for the part of the detour I had already done. My bladder was going to explode, so I pulled over by an old cemetary with a nice view, took care of business, and took a couple photos while I was off the bike.

Note the fog laying in the river valley off in the distance in the second pic. Quite nice. In fact, I took another photo a short way down the road since I liked the view from up there so much:

My dirty purgatory eventually ended at a beat up, but paved, road into town. Lo and behold a McDonalds appeared in front of me with gas stations next door. I would have preferred a funky family diner, but McD will do. I had lost the better part of a half hour and needed to reconsider my plans for the day. I was planning on heading up to Deposit and then on to Walton, but had read online that those areas were hit really hard with the flooding. Not wanting to risk another dirt road adventure, I cut that part of my loop off and decided to head directly to route 30.

So I took route 17 (slab) for maybe 10 miles to the east and picked up route 30. I had ridden 30 last summer coming back from Vermont. It was huge fun then and a big part of why I wanted to ride in the Catskills on this trip. 30 runs along the shores of the Pepacton Reservoir. What an awesome stretch of road: fast flowing sweepers on great pavement with no traffic. AWESOME! Highly recommended. Here a few shots from along 30:

Route 30 eventually meets up with route 28 near Margaretville. I continued east on 28 to the hamlet of Big Indian, looking to head south on CR-47. A guy on Sport-Touring.Net had recommended it as well as CR-42 as nice twisty country roads in the middle of the Catskills. I managed to find the turn for CR-47 although it's not well marked. As much as I like faster roads where you can get a lean on, I love the scenic little cowpath roads too. CR-47 was a real treat. It just keeps going and going and then suddenly a bunch of YMCA camp facilities appear and eventually you end up at a T intersection with CR-19. Here's a pic from along CR-47:

My usually good sense of direction failed me and my map was not sufficiently detailed to be sure, so I guessed and went left on CR-19. Had a nice little jaunt into the middle of nowhere and a dead end. Sigh. Retreat back to the intersection and go the right way. That popped me out onto route 55 near Neversink. A short blast to the east on 55 took me to the Rondout Reservoir. I took 55A for a bit which runs along the west and north shores of the reservoir. I saw a couple forest rats in the park area by the west end of lake:

I continued straight on CR-153 when 55A cut to the east along the reservoir. 153 was a nice country road that led to a crossroads where I picked up CR-42 to head north, back through the mountains. As scenic and remote as CR-47 was, CR-42 was even better. The road winds its way up the mountain alongside a beautiful creek in the forest. The only signs of civilization are the cars and people at the trailheads you pass. I stopped to take a pic of the creek, turned around, and discovered I had nearly ridden by a waterfall and missed it! Here are a few pics:

Wow. That was sweet. I continued out CR-47, just having a great time enjoying the mountains and lack of traffic. Eventually houses started appearing, so I assumed I was nearing the end at route 28A, which runs along the south shore of Ashoken Reservoir. I had hoped to ride 28A all the way east to 28 (near Kingston) since I had enjoyed it last year as well, but I was getting hungry and decided to try to find CR-3 as a shortcut to 209. I found the road that I think was CR-3 (Sampsonville Rd), but it wasn't signed as such. While I was sitting along the road looking at a map, a group of sportbikes came by. Might have been folks from STN as I know some of them ride Ducatis. I decided to continue on 28A for a bit and took 213 over to 209 south.

209 wasn't too bad. I expected some traffic, but at least it was moving. It actually felt weird to see other cars on the road since I had spent the last several hours with the roads mostly to myself. I took the opportunity to gas up before heading back into the mountains via 55 at Napanoch. 55 started off nicely twisty and then settled into some very nice sweepers along the Rondout Reservoir. Yes, I had just made a big loop. Here's a pic of the reservoir from along 55:

My plan was to stay on route 55 for a long time: all the way to its end at route 97 in Barryville. I passed through the town of Neversink and then came upon the Neversink Reservoir, so I had to stop for a couple pics. This was the "Reservoir Ride" after all:

Aside from some traffic near towns, 55 was a very nice ride. I was feeling good, making decent time, but still hadn't eaten lunch. I decided to press on. The miles and towns rolled by and eventually I ended up in Barryville where I picked up route 97: home of the famous "Hawks Nest". 97 parallels the Delaware River and is a nice enough road for most of the length that I rode from Barryville to Port Jervis. I suspected that Hawks Nest was coming up, so I managed to get past several cars and a Harley and had clear road ahead for Hawks Nest.

Just like the pictures, the road weaves back and forth relentlessly along a cliff face for the better part of a mile I'd guess. Some days you ride, other days you take pictures. Given the clear road, I chose to ride and not stop for any pics. There were tons of bikes parked at scenic pulloffs, but all I could do was nod as I zoomed by enjoying the chance to get a lean on on a technical bit of road after all those miles of sweepers. Well that was good fun, but way too short, and before I knew it, Port Jervis was ahead.

My plans to easily catch CR-521 in north Jersey were smashed when I saw the sign that downtown Port Jervis was shutdown for a parade from 1pm to 4pm. It was 3pm. Sigh... So I, and a million other folks, formed a conga line snaking around the city, having no idea where the hell we were going to end up. I knew my maps didn't have sufficient detail to sort it out, so I just followed the line of cars and hoped for the best.

Eventually we hit the end of the detour, but many people were lost and traffic was backed up as people asked a cop for directions. I pulled off to the side to consult my map. I looked up and notice a little sign across the intersection saying "To CR-521". Woot! That was the road I wanted. Schweeet! So I lane split through a few cars, cut across the intersection and was on my way.

This last part of the route was going to follow the Delaware River on the New Jersey side where it's quite wild and remote. CR-521 was a REALLY nice road, at least up to the intersection with 206. Just really nice linked tight sweepers on good pavement. What fun after sitting in that conga line! I jumped on "Old Mine Rd" and followed that south through the woods and occasional farms of western NJ. Here are a couple pics when I needed to stop for a break:

So I trundled along, enjoying the remote country road and nice scenery. Managed to find route 615 which took me even farther south to route 606 at Millbrook Village. Then I saw the "Road Closed - 2 miles ahead" sign on my route to the Delaware Water Gap and route 80. Damn. So close, yet so far. Still hadn't eaten lunch, so I stopped at Millbrook Village, one of those "how people lived 150 years ago" places, opened a Red Bull and looked around for a guide or something to give some directions. I found a couple nice gentlemen that gave me directions over to route 80. I'd be drinking beer in the parking lot within the hour! Here's a pic from Millbrook Village. Kinda wish I had wandered around more and taken a few more pics. Looked like a neat place, but I was beat and just wanted to be done traveling for the day:

A couple local roads took me to route 94 which led to route 80 past the Delaware Water Gap. I've been through there many times and it's still an impressive sight with all the rock faces jutting out. I paid my $1 toll to cross the bridge back into PA and warped along 80 back to Pocono Manor. I arrived at 4:45pm with 402 miles on the odometer for the day. Good ride.

Shower, beer, hor's d'vors, more beer, a fine Prime Rib dinner with the all the Triumph RATs and even more beer. I didn't win anything at the prize giveaway, but most of the people from our pack did. About 120 people showed up for this event which is a very good turnout, especially for a first year. There were lots of new faces, but I missed some familiar faces that didn't want to trek to eastern PA I guess. Here are a few dinner photos. Matt, the head RAT dude in the USA is wearing the red shirt in the last photo:

Of course everyone checks out everyone else's bikes in the parking lot. There were a couple especially interesting ones including the Daytona 675 that Mike Himmelsbach (sp?) races for Martin Motorsport (on display in the hotel lobby) as well as a customized Speedmaster. I'm really liking what the owner did that Speedmaster. Check out the shift lever and chromed tractor seat!

It was cooling off a bit, so I wandered to my room to get a fleece shirt. While there, I decided to put together a "cheat sheet" for the route back home to Pittsburgh the next day, so I sat on the bed and started sorting it out. The long day in the saddle and a full belly conspired against me and I never made it back outside. I turned off the light and went to sleep about 10pm. What a party pooper... Sucks getting old but it beats the alternative!

The Pocono Manor includes a nice hot breakfast buffet in the room price. I had blown it off the previous day since I wanted to be on the road at 7am, but I could wait to hit the road until 8am on Sunday. I packed up the bike, got a good hot breakfast and was on my way at 8am sharp. I had an even longer day planned for the route home, but since I didn't need to be home any time special (just before dark), I decided to improvise a bit and see what happened. Here's the map for my return to Pittsburgh:

The interesting roads I wanted to hit were past Wilkes-Barre, so I just jumped on 380 near the hotel and warped up toward W-B. The first bit of improv came when the highway I wanted, route 502, didn't have an exit on 380. I got off at the next exit, consulted the map and took route 960 over to 502 in Spring Brook. Saw a nice pond just before hitting 502 and stopped for a quick photo:

502 turned out to be a nice road, but unfortunately the pavement is pretty beat up along the scenic section going over the mountain next to yet another reservoir. 502 takes you into Moosic, a northern suburb (I guess) of W-B. I followed 11 south thru W-B as it wound around all over the place. I wasn't really sure if I was going the right way, but eventually I crossed the river and found route 92 heading north.

92 was uneventful, but had some nice views of the river. There was more civilization than I'd like along the road, so when the opportunity to get out into the country came up, I jumped on it. Route 292 was one of several wonderful surprises over the course of the day. I had huge fun on it, ripping along at 70-something and enjoying the corners, scenery and lack of traffic. Don't miss it if you're in the area.

292 took me to route 29. I followed 29 north, hoping to catch a shortcut over to route 87, but the road was closed. This turned out to be a good thing, but it meant continuing on 29 into Tunkhannock where I caught 6 west for several miles to 87. Route 6 was its usual busy self and I was glad to be off it.

The routebook for the RAT Raid mentioned that 87 and 154 were both excellent roads, so I included them in my wandering route home. 87 did not disappoint. Wonderful sweepers in the country for 25 miles of smiles. A great section of road and well worth wandering a bit north for. Don't miss it! Even though I was having great fun on 87, when I got to Dushore, I stopped for gas and took 220 south for 10 miles to Laporte where I could jump on 154. Here's a pic from the very beginning of 87. There was much better scenery along the way, but I didn't want to blow the flow by stopping. Wish I had, at least once or twice now.

154 starts out in "Worlds End" State Park, then continues for 30-some miles to the town of Canton and route 414. Route 154 was a first for me. I'm not the type of rider to run laps back and forth on a section of road. I'm more of a been there, rode that, kind of guy. The first half dozen miles into Worlds End State Park had brand new pavement, great twisties, great scenery and no traffic. I was giggling in my helmet. I couldn't stop riding, but there were so many great photo ops. So when I got to the main park entrance, I turned around, raced back to the beginning having more fun, then made a pass specifically for taking photos. Here are a few of the best. Remember, it's like this for miles:

The fresh pavement ended a bit after leaving the park on the west side, but the middle third of 154 was very nice as well and highly recommended too. I couldn't believe what fun I was having between 292, 87 and now 154. Here's a pic from the middle section of 154:

The last bit of 154 stayed twisty and scenic, but the farther west I got (closer to Canton), the worse the pavement got. It's not horrible on the western end, but it's mediocre at best. Still, it's worth riding the funky western third for the very nice middle and most excellent eastern third.

I picked up 414 heading west in Canton. I was going to be on 414 for a good stretch. It's a nice country highway with good scenery and long straights with some interesting twisty sections where there are small-ish elevation changes. Pavement is generally decent, but variable. A bit bumpy the whole way, but not too bad. I just chilled out and kept my eyes on the darkening skies as the miles rolled by. Here's a pic by one of the more scenic elevation changes. There are actually quite a few corners where the road dips out of sight!

Route 414 eventually took me to route 287 at Morris. I was now back on familiar turf as this is the extreme northeastern range of day rides for me from Pittsburgh. 287 is a lot of fun if you can hit it with no traffic. It's been mostly clear all the times I've been on it, but there are always some cars and trucks to get past. Heading south out of Morris the road offers a few miles of nice turns up the mountain, then straightens out along the plateau for more miles. The plateau is a good spot to ditch traffic for the upcoming wonderful sweepers all the way to Salladasburg. I had a nearly traffic free run and was smiling the whole way. I love that road. Here's a pic from 287 when I caught up to some traffic and decided to let them get ahead of me just before Salladasburg:

Route 973 is a little connector route over to route 44. It's a pleasant country road with bumpy pavement, some gravel and nice views. Here's a favorite photo. I stop and take this pic every time I ride the road. You pop over this hill, and there it is, with the mountains toward Renovo in the background. Good stuff:

Route 44 was tarred and chipped last year, ruining a beautiful section of curves up the mountain to jct 664. I stopped in Waterville for gas and lunch, just before the climb up the mountain. I had an Italian hoagie and a soda in the mini-mart then saddled up for a blast through the mountains. Here's a pic of the little deli where I had lunch:

Much to my surprise, the climb up the mountain on 44 had brand new, clean pavement. I was in heaven. Again! This was even better (mabye) than 154 because it had the elevation change going on. I got my game face on and was ripping up the twisties. Passed a Harley (courteously of course) and continued up the mountain. Then saw a bunch of sportbikes parked at the outside of a corner waving at me to stop or slow down or something. I figured there was a crash. I pulled up to a stop, asked them if everything was OK. They just wanted to warn me of a little gravel at the exit of the turn. Evidently a couple people in their group had already crashed that day. Oh well, back on the road for me...

Damn, there goes that guy poking along on Harley again. Guess I'll have pass him. Again. Only this time it wasn't quite as courteous (sorry). Had to go when there was a chance. What a great run up the mountain. Absolutely don't miss this section now that it has been re-paved. The fresh pavement stops at the top where it hits 664. I continued on 44 north past the Hyner Mtn summit sign and made a left on Hyner Mtn Rd. I wanted to stop at the Hyner Overlook for a pic, but skies were threatening and it might not be worth the effort.

Hyner Mountain Rd is a narrow, twisty road through the forest that takes you to Hyner View State Park and eventually out to route 120 just east of Renovo. I stopped to take the following pic and then noticed it had started to sprinkle. No biggie, being under the trees and all. Then it started raining harder, but I figured I could make it to the state park and put my rainsuit on in a pavillion or something. Bad choice. It started to really rain, so I parked along the road under a tree to minimize the damage and put the rainsuit on.

The one-piece Triumph rainsuit I have does a good job if you can get all the velcro flaps sealed up. What a PITA sometimes. Plus, my 40-something eyes don't focus that closely any more and getting the zippers zipped is tough too. So I took off my driving/riding glasses and set them on my gloves on the ground and got on with it. Rainsuit on, I grabbed my gloves and got ready to get rolling. Where are my glasses? Damn, left them with my gloves on the ground. Where are they? Damn, damn, damn! I stepped on them! Bent frame and earpiece, but fixable. Lens OK. I don't really need them, so I stuffed them in the tank bag and got a move on in a thunderstorm. No trip to the Hyner Overlook this time.

The rain had eased up somewhat by the time I hit route 120 and roads were dry in Renovo. I kept the rainsuit on and picked up 144 south for some more twisty fun on the run up the mountain to Sproul State Forest. Roads started out dry, but were wet higher up. Evidently the storm I got caught in passed through here too. Here's pic of a cool section of undulating curves near the bottom of the mountain. I think you can see about a half dozen curves at once, but the pic doesn't capture them all:

Once I got to the top of the mountain, roads were wet, so I took it easy. The rest of 144 heading south through the forest is a mellow mix of scenery, sweepers and some long-ish straights. What makes it so appealing is that there are no paved side roads, no houses, no anything, along the road for the better part of 30 miles. There are some nice views/overlooks along the way and the character of the surrounding forest changes too. One section gets these huge ferns growing in it by late summer. There's also a famous/popular rock with lots of graffiti on it. Motorcyclists tend to stop and hang out there, so I stopped for a pic. I also took a pic farther south to show what most of 144 south of Renovo is like.

I stayed on 144 south all the way to Milesburg, where it picks up the "old" route 220, now named "Alternate 220". There is a great section of corners that descend the mountain on 144 a few miles after the junction with I-80. I made a right on Alt 220 south and headed for route 504, a fine road that I had ridden once before. 504 was still a little damp, but I managed to have some good fun on the tight section heading up the mountain to Black Moshannon State Park. I pulled into the park for a break, to ditch the rainsuit, and to have a Red Bull. Here are a few pics from the park.

I continued on 504 into Philipsburg. What a fun road. Definately put this on your central PA "To Do" list along with 144. I picked up 350 south out of Philipsburg to head down to I-99 and a quick blast to Tyrone for gas. 350 is mostly ruler straight near Philipsburg, but has a nice section of corners where it drops down the mountain to I-99. Not worth going out of your for, but not bad if you're there and traffic is light. I had a good run down the mountain.

I stopped at the Sheetz in Tyrone on route 453 for gas. 453 is good fun heading north out of Tyrone, but traffic can be problem. Coal trucks during the day and tourists on the weekends. I got stuck behind a conga line of cars and didn't get to have any fun until I bailed onto route 253. Taking 453 up the mountain, then 253 back down the mountain is worth doing. 453 has some ripples in the pavement from the truck traffic but they're not too heinous. 253 takes you to 53 which continued heading south.

I didn't stop for a map check when I hit route 36 and made a wrong turn. I ended up in Altoona instead of near Prince Galitzan lake. Damn. Oh well, I'll just jump on the evil route 22 for some slab to Ebensburg, then I'll take 422 to Indiana (which I'd never been on) and pick up my route home via 286. 422 was a bore, but at least it was mostly a two lane bore that eventually turned into slab between Yellow Creek state park and Indiana.

I was SO bored with straight roads. 53, 36, I-99, 22 and 422 were mind-numbingly straight. The Ninja bike isn't the most comfortable thing for riding slab either. I just wanted to get home. Now. I got into some weird aggro mindset and hammered it home on route 286. Luckily traffic was fairly light and I was cranking along on the sweepers having a great time. I was way more agressive than usual about getting around traffic. Man on a mission or something.

I got home just before 7pm. 11 hours on the road. 474 miles according to the odomenter. Total trip was 1265 miles. You CAN sport-tour on a sportbike. The Pilot Powers that were new a month ago have held up extremely well, but are now down to the wear bars. Glad I have another set waiting in the garage. I had a great time, rode a bunch of great roads, no incidents, no pucker moments, no performance awards and only got a bit damp once. A fine long weekend of riding for sure!