We
trucked the project bike to SMOT in order to get some miles on it, and to
have other sabmaggots see it in case something jumped out at them that I had
missed.
Saturday morning I woke up and realized that my trusty 20+ year old camera
was not in my tankbag! After Gabriel got up,I had him help me unload the
bike from the truck, and rode into town to look for a disposable camera. I
found a store called "Fred's" that had some no-name brand camera, so I
bought it and returned to the motel.
Gabriel and I joined up with Don Bernhard and his friend Mike Wright.
Barry Tudor
joined us. We headed into the center of town to find Ark 88, to ride the
scenic byway. Mike Wright lead the way for a while and we stopped at the
first overlook, and at each of the next several overlooks, just kind of
poking along.
The group continued on eastward towards Talihina. We continued to stop at
the occasional overlook
We rode on towards Talihina, looking for gas and lunch. We found both, and
enjoyed more conversation as well.
The ride back towards Mena was just as fun, although we did stop less.
As I've written before, whenever I have Gabriel on the back, I'm always more
conservative in my riding style (no honest!). The previous weekend we had
ridden the byway on my V65 and I must say that the differences of the v45 vs
v65 became apparent for me during this ride eastward.
First of all, the v45, being lighter, is a fun bike to ride in the twisties.
Although with me at 6'0" and 200 plus pounds(never you mind how many plus!)
and Gabriel stretching out at 5'10" and 130(and growing), we probably were
pushing the little bike's carrying capacity pretty hard. But what we lacked
in the long uphill rides we made up for in the twisties. And although I
liked having Gabriel with me, I really would like to take the v45 through
those twisties solo (Gabriel reports that he looks forward to taking them
solo as well).
On the other hand, even two up on the V65 and those uphill rides were NO
PROBLEM. Add in the corbin seat (vs oem on the v45) and the ride is just
generally a lot more fun/comfortable. But when the time comes for me to
revisit the Talimena Scenic Byway solo, my first choice will be the V45.
We stopped again at about the midway point for some more visiting. Once we
headed on back, we fell in behind a minivan that, unlike every other cage
we'd seen that day, did nothing to allow us to continue along at OUR pace
rather than his. I was leading the group at this point, and the group
stretched out some behind me. When we finally came to a long passing zone, I
realized that we were too stretched out to all make it past him. But I
figured that if one or two of us got around him, he'd be a real human being
and let the others join us. So, I downshifted and twisted the wrist to get
past him, and then this guy speeds up! Well, even on a bike that's been in a
barn the last 10 years I can lose a cage in the twisties, so I wick it up a
bit. Sure enough I get a half mile ahead of him, but I can see the rest of
the group stuck behind him (Barry T later told me that they could smell his
brakes for the rest of the ride - sheesh).
The bike performed well. I was glad to have the chance to put some miles
on it, and was very glad that it didn't strand us!
Sunday we were up and loading the bike into the truck by 8am. We hit the road,
honking/waving to the SabMaggots we saw as we pulled out and headed south
towards Texas.
