The most fun I have with my bikes is doing short one or two night local touring trips. I’ve lived all over the world and learned you really don’t have to go far (or take much stuff) to find adventure. It’s pretty low-key – just load up what you need for a night, leave at a convenient time, and after one to three hours of riding/sightseeing, find a good place to settle down for the night near someplace mildly interesting.
The great thing about these trips is that they minimize problems in planning, packing, weather, mechanical issues, or anything else that might completely wreck a long tour. If you mess up and forget to bring something, or if the weather turns foul, it’s OK, because everything will be back to normal tomorrow or the next day. If your bike breaks, you are still close enough to home that you can probably talk your buddy with a pickup truck into coming and getting you in exchange for a tank of gas and appropriate refreshments.
So, I headed out this weekend pointed northish. Northish seemed like a good direction since Hurricane Matthew was coming up from the south. So, from my home near Boiling Springs, PA, I charted a northish line of mostly two lane highways for ~200 miles...and found Kinzua State Park in northwestern PA. I routed the way home down US 15 which, in this particular section, includes everything from split 4 lane @ 70 mph (legal) to stop and go two lane city roads. Kinzua SP contains a railway bridge that was partially destroyed in a tornado and the remainder preserved as an observation point.
My steed for this trip is a new to me 2013 V7 Stone. I purchased this bike about three weeks ago with just 400 miles on the odometer. I’ve been commuting and riding locally with it since purchase. I did the first break-in service myself at 622 miles with juices lovingly squeezed at their peak of ripeness from my factory preferred local MG dealer, Europa Macchina. My Stone now has 1,400 on the clock and everything seems to be still holding together quite nicely!
(For those that might wish to follow along, here is my route North and East:
Find Boiling Springs, PA. Follow: 174 W to 233; N on 233 to 641 in Newville; W on 641 through Roxbury to Shade Gap and pick up 522; N on 522 through Allenport to 22 at the Juniata River; NW on 22 along the river through Huntingdon to 453; NE on 453 through Tyrone to 153; N on 153 through Houtzdale to Clearfield > Continue on 153/322 in Clearfield to the T at 219; N (r) on 219 through Ridgway to 6; NW (r) on 6 to Mt. Jewett, left on Bridge st to Kinzua state park; Back on 6E, (left) to Coudersport (stay at Westport Inn))
Route East/South:
E on 6 from Coudersport to Wellsboro; S on 287 to Morris; E on 414 to US15…and home running near(ish) legal speeds….)
UPDATE: Click/double click the photos for better detail.....
Starting point - vicinity of Boiling Springs, PA, elevation ~500', leaves 98% green
Starting to find the hills, vicinity of 522/22 intersection (not sure exactly where) note the leaves are starting to change....
If you can't read the sign, it says, "Boot Jack Summit, Allegheny Mountains, elev. 2158 feet".....this was my highest marked point.
We're here!....
Nice..........
Here's the story of the bridge.....
Looking at the bridge from the edge........
Heading out onto the bridge.......
You must be this tall to ride this ride....(this is how tall the structure is)...........
Walking out you can see where the towers still lie....
Straight down (bits of color are large trees, several hiking trails down there)....
The view (note the full fall colors....)
Here is the damaged section.....
On to Coudersport, Westport Inn where they allowed me to park Ms. 'Guzzi under some cover. From the drippings, other bikes have been here too...
Back yard of the motel (Kudos to the Westport Inn, very friendly, food, and a decent "in season" rate of ~$85 for the night)....
Up in the morning, down by the same river....
Not so many photos of the way home because I've been this way many times. Highway 6 is stunning this time of the year....
Susquehanna river near home. Trees are green again and the hills are ending....
"The Stone" became "Ms. 'Guzzi" this trip. She handled beautifully and was more than capable of hauling my butt and gear up 10% grades in 5th gear at 60 mph without issue. Once we got on 15 with no traffic she was more than capable of taking me faster than I wanted to go. Although I wouldn't recommend her for a long tour (at least without a windshield) I was able to comfortably crouch in 39 degree cloudy weather at 60 mph for 50 mile stretches and woke up this morning with no soreness. I even went for a 2 mile run after I made it back home this evening.
Please count me in the happy Moto Guzzi owner tribe!
