Polar Bear Blog, March 11, 2012, Long
Valley, NJ.
By: Chris Loynd
Spring has come early to the motorcycle
polar bears. Not that I mind. I've always said I would rather ride on
a warm day than a cold one. I ride with the polar bears because I did
not want to park my motorcycle all winter. And now polar bearing has
evolved into a series of enjoyable Sundays with great friends.
This Sunday the weather was gorgeous,
too warm for winter. I rode over in layers, but never dialed in the
electric heat until we were up high on Route 80 west. And that was
only for a little while. For the ride home I was peeling layers and
trying to find room to stuff them into my saddlebags.
Token2 was ride leader. Long Valley has
sort of become his, ever since he found some creative and fun back
roads several years ago. He did not disappoint this Sunday. Some of
the roads he found challenged our riders. Captain stopped in the
midst of a very steep series of very tight curves to downshift. John
J. and I had to make some important and immediate corrections in our
respective bikes' handling. As Token2 quipped later when we groused
about it, “I thought I was traveling with experienced riders.”
He also noted that while his Internet
maps may have shown the tight curves, it was tough to see the sharp
rise in elevation on that particular spot. Captain said he was
halfway up the hill when his heavy Honda had not enough umph to climb
any further.
Token2 hosted a good ride and found us
some fun and scenic roads to ride. He doubled our fun by taking
secondary roads a good part of the way home. Eventually we had to get
back onto the Interstate highways to grind up enough miles to our far
away Connecticut homes.
Pogy agreed to sweep this ride and
found himself a bit frustrated at time, trying to keep the flock
together from the back end.
Group riding is not the same as riding
by yourself. It demands a fair amount of concentration and vigilance.
It is important to hold your place in the line of bikes as accurately
and consistently as possible.
Ride too close – or even, God forbid
– next to a rider in line and you've compromised the safety of both
riders. But drop back too far and the group falls apart. Once a car
gets into your line, you can all be separated by some very big gaps.
Then the riders caught in the back have to ride doubly fast to catch
up. Or the leader, if he's paying attention, has to slow the group
down significantly to let the others form up again.
Cars can be bad enough, even without
big gaps in the line. John J. suddenly found an SUV trying to occupy
the exact same space as his motorcycle on the last leg home. He
corrected quickly and appropriately. But his demeanor expressed his
displeasure.
Each inconsistency in speed, especially
toward the front of the line, is multiplied by each bike behind. So
the sweep suddenly finds himself hard on the throttle, then hard on
the brakes, to try to keep his place. When I lead, I try to keep my
speed cruise control smooth, even though no such device resides on my
handlebars.
We enjoyed Long Valley Pub's fabulous
brunch buffet. It is the best on the Grand Tour.
They shoehorned us into a very small
corner space and I sat next the fireplace, fire going. Still it was
all good and we had fun catching up with each other's news.
Token2 took us out the long way as
well. And we rode through the New Jersey countryside, avoiding I-287
for as long as we could.
