3100 kms in 3 days -- with details

[dagibbs]

Day 1 I made good distance. I was up and on the road by just after 9am Sunday, headed west. Weather was cool, and cloudy -- good riding weather actually, though I did use my electric sweater for staying warm. Road was mostly slab -- I did leave Ottawa by way of Fallowfield road, to Richmond road, then Perth road to Perth, and old Perth road to Kingston (county road 10). It is a pretty ride between Perth and Kingston, with a few curves. Beyond that, it was slab -- 401, 402, I69 (which oddly is labeled as I69 west from Port Huron to Lansing, despite having an odd number, then gets labeled as I69 south after it hangs a left at Lansing), I94, a short bit of I80, then I57 south not too far where I stopped for the night. Almost 13 hours on the bike, just under 1300 kms done (about 800 miles), and mostly ok traffic. Just that last bit along I94 then I80 approaching Chicago was nasty -- some construction and really slow to stop&go traffic, even at 9pm or so on a Sunday. But, I figured better to do that on a Sunday evening, than on a Monday morning during rush hour -- which is why I wanted to be on the out-bound from Chicago section before stopping. This was also farther than I had originally planned -- original stopping point was western Michigan.

Day 2 started out boring -- crossing Illinois -- I57, I72, to I55 to St Louis, Missouri then the plan was I44 to Springfield, Missouri -- my planned end point for day 2, with the revised finishing point being probably due south of Springfield in Arkansas. But, after getting through St Louis on I44, I noticed that I44 was winding, and I was driving through hilly country. In other words, through country that might, in fact, have good roads. So, I was stopping for gas shortly, and at the gas stop pulled out some maps, and looked for an alternate route. I was also ahead on time, so I didn't mind it being longer. I chose state route 19 south, from Cuba (I44 & 19) to Thayer, at the Arkansas border. And, boy was that a good decision. From where it crossed SR 8 (Steelville) to where it hit US 160 (Alton) it was a wonderful, winding, road through some nice country. Mostly back-to-back high speed sweepers and medium fast corners -- I never dropped below 5th gear -- but a lot of fun to ride. (And, it went through Salem, Missouri.) Then across into Arkansas on US 63, and almost immediately a right turn onto SH 9 from Mammoth Springs to Salem, Arkansas where I stopped for dinner, and called Thomas to let him know when I'd be arriving. Arkansas 9 on that stretch was, also, a lot of fun. From there, US 62 to US65 to Harrison Arkansas. Nice enough scenery, ok curves -- but not as good riding as the more back-country routes. Stopped for the night in Harrison, having done about 1000 kms (620 miles) on day two. I could have ridden further, but it was getting towards dusk, and the road I planned to take out of Harrison looked like it was going to be very technical (and very fun), and I wanted to do it fresh and in good light. Another good decision on my part.

I bought a new helmet before heading out on this trip because neither of my regular helmets had proven very comfortable for the long term. I found that, until about hour 13 of day 1, I'd had no noticeable pain or hotspots or uncomfortable bits from the new helmet, though in the thirteenth hour, I did start to feel a bit of forehead pressure. No problems at all day 2 or day 3. So, I think I've finally (once again) got me a helmet that actually fits. This probably means turning the AGV into my primary passenger helmet -- have to see whether leolac prefers it, or the older Arai she has been using. (My other previously current helmet is an HJC flip-face, which is not the most comfortable, but is hugely convenient for any running of errands or other travel in which I'm going to be on and off the bike and into stores and stuff where taking a full face on/off multiple times would be a pain.)

Day 3, I started out from Harrison on SR 7 south through Arkansas, from Harrison almost as far as Hot Springs. This is a designated scenic highway, through some beautiful country, in good shape, with a nice variety of really tight technical turns (15-25mph marked), medium speed (30-40mph marked) and faster (45-50mph and unmarked), with lots of back-to-back curves and a lot of fun. I found that, all the turns were well, and consistently marked for speed, though missing a speed sign into a turn or series of turns could lead to... surprises. (Not that I actually slowed down to the marked speed for anything, but the marked speed gave a good consistent predictor for what speed I should take through the turns.) My original planned route took me all the way to Hot Springs, then turning right on US 270, but after my experiences the previous day with SRs vs US routes, I decided to modify it by turning right on SR 298 at Blue Springs (a thin grey line on my map), left at SR27, right on SR88 (through Gibbs, Arkansas), then back onto my originally planned US270 route at Pencil Bluff. I'd been looking for food this whole way, but lots of small towns with no food (more on that...). I followed US 270 to Acorn, still no food, so continued down into Mena where I got lunch. From there, I rechecked my map, as I'd planned on US270 west across the border to Oklahoma, as it looked like a designated scenic route -- but on closer inspection it was actually SR88 west (turning into SR1 at the Oklahoma border) that was designated as scenic. I am very glad I found that correction -- SR88 from Mena, and SR 1 from the border to until it hit SR271 were gorgeous riding. Unfortunately, that was the last of the nice riding for the day -- I took a bit of SR271, then SR1 over to SR2, back to US271, then SR2 to Antlers and it was all mostly boring -- nice country, but boring. From there my original route had me taking SR3 across to US75, then south on that to Dallas, but SR3 was heading north by north west, and I decided that it also looked to be boring riding, so I looked for an alternate. It was a bit tricky due to map error -- it showed the routes south from Antlers to US70 as being gravel, but with some looking it was US271 heading south, which wasn't going to be a gravel road. So, I took US271 down to US70 west, to US 75 into Allen to finish my day around 6pm at Thomas's place. Total about 800 kms or 500 miles.

Arkansas really is "god's country". Or, maybe Jesus-land. I drove through a lot of little towns, or villages, in Arkansas, taking the back routes -- they might have 5-20 houses, no restaurant (remember I was looking for food?), no country store, not even a gas-station. But every damned (pronounced die-amned) one of them had a church. But, there was some beautiful riding, nice winding roads, decent scenery, and no frost-heaves. Compared to Nova Scotia, that was the big win -- roads, even old not recently paved ones -- were in a lot better shape, not nearly as bumpy, due to the lack of freeze-thaw action. But, scenery here was hills, and valleys and trees, and a bit of rock. In Nova Scotia, it was hills and valleys, and rocks and ocean -- so Nova Scotia wins on scenery.

I also found that I'm not really into the really tight corners (the 15mp-25mph) marked hairpins and stuff. I'd bet it is, at least partially, because I ride relatively heavy bike, and it's a lot of work to get around those corners. And, I have to get my speed down a fair bit for them. Luckily the routes I picked only had a little bit of the really tight corners, and worked really well for me. I don't mind them on my routes, I just don't want a route that is 15 to 30 kms of just really tight corners. So, probably, I wouldn't really enjoy "the dragon". Or, to put it another way, they're nice leavened occasionally into a ride for variety, but too much work to do repeatedly on my bike. The ones that are a bit faster, I don't have to heavy brake into, throttle roll-off is generally enough, I don't have to down-shift several times to come out of, and the bike leans without too much work to handle, so are a lot more fun, overall, for me.

Strongly recommended roads:

Missouri route 19 from Steelville (SR8) to ALton (US 160).
Arkansas route 9 from Mammoth Springs (US63) to Salem (US62).
Arkansas route 7 from Harrison (US65) to Blue Springs (SR298)
Arkansas route 298 from Blue Springs (SR7) to SR 27 (Story).
Arkansas route 88 from Mena, become Oklahoma route 1 to US 271. Note: this is about 60 miles without gas, plan in advance.

Comments

[leolac.livejournal.com]

glad you had fun.

The AGV is rather heavy, which might be a good thing for me and my recovered neck. I wouldn't want to wear it extensively, but for short trips around Ottawa, I am sure it'll be fine.

=) - glad to ehar you're having fun...you won't be home for the 23rd eh? I'd have to pick a different date to be talking about dancing with, hm? LOL...I'm sure it's the 30th you actually meant.

I don't work on the 2nd or 3rd of July and I know you're up at your cottage...I wonder what we can do about that, or I can have two peaceful days in town. =)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

You tried the HJC (the flip-face one) and found it heavy, I don't think you tried the AGV. It is, definitely lighter than the HJC, I don't know if it is lighter or heavier than the Arai you've been using.

Yup, I meant the 30th. :)

Hm... 2nd/3rd of July... you're welcome to join us at the cottage for the two days. I'll email you a link to the directions and map. If I took the bike up, I'd even be tempted to come down and pick you up, but I'm going to have to drive the car I think. Hm... I'm still tempted to come down and pick you up, actually. Might be able to switch to the motorcycle for ferrying you back and forth, too. Yup, definitely a thought.