2011 was a somewhat slow year for me as riding goes, but I did manage to go on several good trips. I managed just over 10K twisty miles last year which is well down from the 15K - 18K I normally do.



The 950 was down for maintenance from Jan thru mid-April, then I had a good couple months with long weekend trips for the Burger Run, the Potomac Highlands meet, the ADVrider BYOB in Marlinton, and then my own BYOB Reprise because the roads are so good.



Then I let work eat…

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Interesting ride today. Mars PA to Toano VA. 485 miles total. 0600 up and ready to go. It’s 30 degrees outside. A little trouble starting the bike. 0730 Connellsville PA 35degrees. It’s getting warmer! I76 –> PA 119 -> I68. Not a bad slab. Blinding sun. The last time I saw it today. 0830 Bruceton Mills – Hoping for breakfast and to be able to feel my toes again. More trouble getting the bike started. US 219 – Pretty good road. Elkins & fuel & real trouble getting the bike started.… Continue

My big plan for the Region 6 campout at Seneca Rocks was to ride the KTM 530 EXC I bought from R Doug back on Labor Day weekend. I figured this would be an awesome chance to ride our "Blackwater 400" route plus do a day of dual-sport riding around Seneca. But I've been very busy lately and don't have the 530 sorted out enough to want to chance a 3-day ride a long ways from home. I have spent almost no time riding it, and still had to install a jet kit. I didn't want to take an unknown quantity… Continue

After a good start to the riding season, my job ate my life in July and August. It didn't help that my wife and I were trying to get our house ready to sell at the same time. I really wanted to do a short trip to the southeast and ride some of my favorite roads, so I planned on extending my ESTN ride to include The Snake, etc. But work ate my life. Again. Had a fine time at ESTN though.



Days are getting shorter, leaves are changing, and the end of riding season is on the horizon.… Continue

Work pretty much ate my life in July and August, so I was really looking forward to ESTN (Sport-Touring.net Eastern rally) in Marietta, OH. As it turned out, I would be returning from a business trip to Switzerland on Thursday night and leaving for ESTN on Friday morning, jet-lagged or not.

 

I left early Friday morning and met my friend Scott in Bruceton Mills, WV. Scott relocated to Morgantown this summer, so this was a chance to show him some of central/western WV finest…

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KTM has a program called "Race Orange" where they load up a semi with their street bikes and do demo days around the country. Some of those days are at race tracks.  You get to ride the KTM superbike, the RC8R, all day on the track. Basically its a regular track day on their bikes. How cool is that? The only catch is that it costs $275 and you are responsible for any/all damage to the bike if you crash.



Doug and I signed up for the KTM track day at Mid-Ohio for last October, but it…

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My regular riding partner Jesse had a free weekend, so I suggested we revisit the three-day route I did for the ADVrider BYOB rally a couple weeks ago. The weather forecast was a bit unsettled and cool, but it didn't look to be too wet, so we went for it. The plan was to take the long way to the Old Clark Inn in Marlinton on Friday, do a great loop to the southeast on Saturday and then return via route 16 on Sunday.

 

I decided to take a slightly different route to Mt Storm and…

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JimmyC, MrSticky (Mark) and I attended the ADVrider.com "BYOB" rally at the Marlinton Motor Inn in Marlinton, WV this past weekend (June 10-12). ADVrider is focused on dual-sport riding and adventure touring, but the "Road Warriors" section is plenty busy too.Jeff Barefoot was there too doing the dual-sport thing, but we didn't ride together.

 

The weather forecast was looking decent for the weekend with scattered thunderstorms predicted, but it wasn't going to be a washout. I…

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Happy Birthday, Sport Bike Alliance!



Four years ago today, I sat at my computer and started the group that would eventually become the Sport Bike Alliance. I never imagined that it would one day become what it is today, but I am very proud of what we have created and grown over the years.…

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I attended the Sport-Touring.Net (STN) Potomac Highlands Spring Meet in Berkeley Springs, WV last weekend. I have ridden through the area a few times in the past and wanted to revisit some old favorites while exploring a bunch of new-to-me roads and hopefully add some new favorites. My regular riding partner Jesse and I spent Friday exploring south-central PA, rode 330 miles of mostly back roads in MD, VA and WV on Saturday, and then took the long way home to Pittsburgh on Sunday. You can…

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Looking for pepole to ride with around vandergrift area Continue

When I started the Burger Run in 2006, it was intended to be a simple "meet and eat" lunch gathering for Region 6 members at Sport-Touring.net (aka STN). Dennys Beer Barrel Pub (home of the worlds largest hamburger) seemed like a fun, moto-friendly place to host a gathering. Then I figured it couldn't hurt to advertise it to the local forums of the day and the ride grew a life of its own. 100+ bikes would show up from all over the eastern US if the weather was good. Not so much if the…

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NOTE: I am going to try to write up a ride report/blog post for all my rides and other moto activities this season. Might be interesting to look back on at the end of the year. Or not. We'll see...

 

Way back in the day (2003 or so), the busy Pittsburgh moto forum was GTR (Golden Triangle Riders). GTR imploded a couple years later and out of the ashes came BikerPlanet.net which is now pretty much dead too. Crazy busy forums, off the hook funny at times and politically incorrect…

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Customize your "My Page"!

• - Click on My Page on the top menu to get to your personal "My Page".  You can click the yellow titles to move the items around on the page to where ever you…

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I can't believe it took until April 3 to get the first real ride of the season for me. Got the KTM back together after sitting in pieces for nearly 6 months and had to go for a ride, even if it was a bit gray and chilly. Ran the Westmoreland 100 route with Tim and Dan and felt surprisingly good (I didn't suck). I figured I would have been much more rusty. The weather forecast is looking pretty grim for the next two weeks, but I hope to get out for a good twisty fix...