Geriatric Scooter Ride (and one Crotch Rocket)

[klaviator]

Yesterday I got back from a ride to the NC and TN mountains on my Smax.  Here's the story:

This ride was organized on the ADV forum where there is a very active scooter community.  Active in that a lot of people post on the forum but not so active in actually organizing rides like we do here.  So I decided to try setting one up.  I actually posted in a thread for Middle Tn scooter riders.  There was some interest so I posted it in some other places including this forum and FB.  We got a lot of interest but at by the day prior to the ride it looked like it would be just four of us.

The players:

Me.  Old guy trying to be hip by riding scooters.
Mike.  74 years old and would be riding a Vespa 300 down from Kentucky.
Jim.  Older than me and riding a Aprilia Scarebeo 250 down from Binghampton NY. ???
Jay.  Riding a Kymco 300 from nearby Chattanooga area.

On Thursday night I called Wayne at Cherohala Mountain trails campground to ask a few questions and he informed me the they would be closed for a private party that weekend :'(  Crap!   So I did a little research and decided to change to Hunt's Lodge which is a motorcycle campground right outside of Tellico Plains.

So i headed out on Friday on my mighty 155cc Smax.  Since I have done most of this route many times before I didn't take a lot of pics.  I did take one shortcut which turned out to be a really great road.

A few pics of my ride up.



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My Kind of sign :)



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Total mileage to the campground was 220 miles.

[klaviator]

I was the first one there so I set up my tent.



Jim showed up next then Mike.



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We rode into Tellico Plains and had dinner at the Tellicafe.  The food was great as always.

Then it was back to the campground to tell some lies.



The campground does have WiFi so I was able to check the forum.  Jay had posted that work would cause him to be late and he'd try to be there by 7 in the morning but if not just leave without him.  I was also contacted by another friend on ADV and we set up a place to meet the next morning so he could join us.

[klaviator]

Our plan was to get on the road by 7:30 Saturday morning and we only missed that be a few minutes.  I was up plenty early as I always am when I camp so I took a few pics.



We were the only tent campers there but all 5 cabins were full.  There was a guy down from Chicago on a Ducati 851.



There were a couple of guys from South Carolina on serious KTM dual sport bikes.



We left shortly after 7:30 and rode to Tellico Plains where we met up with Jerry on his 250 Ninja.  Mike called him a "teenager on a Crotch Rocket"  :D  Jerry is 72.

We did the normal "ride at your own pace" thing and regrouped somewhere around the top of the Skyway.



And then again at the end of the Skyway.  I got there ahead of everyone else and took some pics.

Jim on his Aprilia.  He had ridden past the stop and pulled a U turn.



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Mike and Jerry.



Then we stopped in Robbinsville to grab a quick breakfast at McDs.

[klaviator]

When I set up this ride I planned on keeping it on the pavement but these guys were not the typical scooter riders so when I asked if the were interested in riding Winding Stair Road they were fine with it.  So we headed to Winding Stair.

This road starts by crossing the Nanatahalla river on narrow one lane bridge.



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We took a few pics and continued on.  Well we continued on for about a hundred yards.



I shouldn't have been surprised.  Over the years this road has been closed more than it's been open :(

We backtracked and headed down Wayah Rd.

I stopped at one of the hiarpins on Wayah and had Jerry ride down the orad and make some passes for the camera.



We all stopped for a break.



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Then I took off early and set up for more action shots.



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Some shots on the go.



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[Fencejumper09]

Looks like a great trip so far! I can't imagine the knowledge I could gain from sitting around a campfire with this group!!

[klaviator]

One of the things I really hate is being stuck behind slow moving traffic on a curvy road.  Back in my younger days I would find a way to pass that traffic a quickly as possible.  Being older, more cautious and only having 14.8 HP I am more likely to pull over and wait for that traffic to get ahead so I can run the curves at a "fun" pace.  I did that several times on this ride and sometimes took some pics while pulled over.



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We took a break at a scenic spot.



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Another stop for slow traffic.

[klaviator]

After a bunch of curves we stopped at one of my favorite picture spots.  I have pictures of all kinds of bikes at this spot and I'm sure many of you will recognize it.



More curves and even a little dirt followed the picture spot.



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We stopped in Franklin and met up with a friend of Jim's who had ridden up that morning from Nashville.  He was riding a FJR1300.  His bike had about 350cc more displacement than all our bikes combined!

We headed of for more curves and eventually took a break to re-group. 




1300cc was not enough to keep up with Jerry, Jim and myself. ;D



Mike bringing up the rear.  At 74 and riding a Vespa he's still probably faster than most of the typical cruiser riders I see up in the mountains.

[klaviator]

We finished up by going back over the Skyway to Tellico Plains.  Jim headed off to Madisonville with his buddy while Mike and I ate dinner at the Tellicafe before going back to camp.  When we got there we found Trucker Jay.  He had arrived around 9:30 in the morning and just rode some himself.  Some of you may have met him several years a go when he came to one of SlowRoad's ride on the old BR1.0. 



I got some sunset pics from the campground.



using a different setting on the camera.



We rode 260 miles of twisty roads on the Saturday ride.  While we did some great roads it would have been nice to have a couple more days to ride because there was a lot in the area that we missed.

Sunday morning we all headed home.

One last shot from the ride home.  This was on Dougherty Gap RD.

[klaviator]

Looks like a great trip so far! I can't imagine the knowledge I could gain from sitting around a campfire with this group!!

It was an interesting group for sure.  All of the scooter riders also own motorcycles.  Jim also owns a Tiger 800 and DR 650.  Mike owns a BMW F650.  Jerry on the Ninja 250 has owned a scooter or two in the past.


A few more thoughts.

I rode a total of 700 miles for the weekend.  Jim must have ridden around 1900 but rode a few extra days.  Mike rode over 900 for the weekend on his Vespa. 

Jim and I swapped bikes for a few miles on the Skyway.  His Aprilia was much more comfortable than my Smax so I can see how he can ride it so far.  The Smax felt much sportier.  Jim said he had to keep the throttle pinned to keep up with my Smax on hills.

I was bummed when I found out CMTC was closed for the weekend but Hunt's Lodge turned out to be a really nice place.  I wouldn't say it's better than CMTC but it is a great choice if you want to stay in that area.  The bath house is probably the best of any campground I have stayed at.  The campsites are nice and it's super convenient to town.  The biggest downside IMO is that it's right on a busy 55MPH road.  I wore earplugs at night so it wasn't an issue.

CMTC has a really nice lighted pavilion which is great for hanging out and would be especially nice in rainy weather.  Hunt's also has a pavilion with lots of electrical outlets but it isn't nearly as nice.  CMTC also has a room inside the lodge.  Hunt's has nothing like that.

[Nice Goat]

Great report and pics.  Thanks, Win.

[kdtrull]

Outstanding report.  Wish I remembered how to do them.  Too much work, not enough play.
Glad you're still keeping the ball rolling.  More reports = more gooder forum.  err-body, keep the ball rolling....I feel like the little fat kid that got to hold the spirit stick at the pep rallies.

[Jwwr]

After a bunch of curves we stopped at one of my favorite picture spots.  I have pictures of all kinds of bikes at this spot and I'm sure many of you will recognize it.

I remember that spot! Don't remember how to get back there, though. I was going to say it looks like you had a great ride, but I know you did because you are an excellent ride leader.

[maydaymike]

Small world.  I believe I know Jim from Binghamton.   He goes by "ride4321" on ADV?  We had a great ride home from the Dragon Raid in Robbinsville a few years ago.  He followed me across the skyway, down through north Georgia, and ended up in Little River Canyon.  We parted ways there.  I headed toward the house,  and he was continuing on south to Florida for a visit with his kids.

EDIT - it is the same Jim.  He has some photos of the trip up on his FB page.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

[klaviator]

Small world.  I believe I know Jim from Binghamton.   He goes by "ride4321" on ADV?  We had a great ride home from the Dragon Raid in Robbinsville a few years ago.  He followed me across the skyway, down through north Georgia, and ended up in Little River Canyon.  We parted ways there.  I headed toward the house,  and he was continuing on south to Florida for a visit with his kids.

EDIT - it is the same Jim.  He has some photos of the trip up on his FB page.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

It is a small world.  You can say Hi to him yourself in the thread for this ride on ADV: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/deals-gap-area-scooter-ride-may-11-13.1298482/