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| Lake Hoptacong riders, from left: Princess, Captain, Pogy, Token2. |
Editor's Note: Battling a heavy-duty cold, and thinking riding in the rain would make it worse, I skipped the ride to Lago in North Brunswick. Token2 offered the summary below. Chris Loynd.
By: John Howard, a.k.a. Token2
The
ride out to Lake Hopatcong is only around 100 miles but with EDP in full effect
departure was set for 9am. Of course the ying to the yang of early departure is
early arrival and as I left home to meet the group the GPS predicted an arrival
of 10.48 am. EDP certainly relieves the pressure to roll on the throttle which
was truly beneficial today. Conditions were appalling, heavy rain, water ponding
on road surfaces with blankets of mist and fog descending at times. The silver
lining, temperatures started at 50°F and topped out at 60°F.
We
were few in number; Capt rode solo to Norwalk picking up Pogy and then T2 in
Westchester, where Token 2 took up the lead. CT Blogger unexpectedly bailed out
on this ride. At lunch vicious rumors began to circulate that the founding CT
Bear had contracted hydrophobia. They were quickly squashed by The Captain, who
confirmed a different medical affliction was the cause of Mr. Loynd’s absence.
Princess decided to go solo to shorten her ride, which
was sensible given the dismal conditions, aiming to meet up at the Upstream
Grill. Without the protection of her customary honor guard of outriders it seems
she decided to ride in cognito,
donning everyday rain gear and yet another new helmet, this one unadorned with
bling. It would of course be wrong for Royalty to knowingly mix with commoners,
so on reflection her actions were prudent.
Given
the conditions the riders originating from CT held a modest pace of around 55mph
travelling I287, I80 to Rt 15N. Traffic was mercifully light. The only slow down
occurred about 2 miles north of the I80 exit due to a pickup truck that had
rolled over. NJ Troopers were in attendance leaving only the inside lane open.
Fortunately, it looked like the driver was unharmed from the accident as he was
standing next to the vehicle. Truth be told he didn’t look like the sharpest
knife in the drawer and was probably approaching brain death before he got behind
the wheel.
It
was remarkable how many cars were driving at speed with no {expletive deleted} lights on. Good grief
what are these people thinking? Silly me, they aren’t thinking. They probably
say the same about guys and gals on motorcycles.
We
arrived at the destination around 11 am and were the #4,5 &6 bikes on the
lot. Let it be known that Joanne was bike #3 and was on the only Harley present
at the time. There we not many bikes in the lot at Noon, though attendance by
car was decent.
Evidently Captain’s Wing really liked the riding
conditions, on arrival it decided take an unauthorized stroll by starting to
roll off the side stand. Capt’s cries for assistance were matched by quick
action from T2 (self-preservation so as not to be pinned between Capt’s and
Pogy’s Wings) and Pogy (preservation of his Wing, so the only scratch on it
remains the one delivered by Mac a year or two ago). It is a relief to report
that the grubby white Wing stayed upright. Pogy gave Capt a stiff MSF lecture
about ‘always, always, ALWAYS put your bike in gear when parking’; only when the
rained started to pour again did Pogy’s harangue
subside.
We
were so early the staff at the Grill wiped the sleep from their eyes before
advising us that this year there was a $10 buffet for the Bears that would open
at 11.30 am. It was a good spread. Princess liked it. Don’t be fooled by the
salad camouflage artfully placed over the mound of penne vodka; chili; sausage,
pepper and onions. I think there was a chicken wing or two hiding under there as
well. Joanne picked up the lunch tab (thank you!) but I advised her that buying
lunch would have no bearing on documenting her plated lunch in the ride
report.
While
lunching Pogy had a wardrobe question (as one often does at lunch) relating to
the purpose of the rear zipper on his riding pants. It was clear quick
resolution was warranted before he went to the bathroom in order to avoid a
potentially life changing misunderstanding. Demonstration of the ability to zip
it to the corresponding zip in a riding jacket brought relief to all.
Suggestions that my jacket be zipped to his pants, with us in them, to create a
kind of grotesque CTPB Siamese Twin were deftly side stepped. It was the second
wardrobe revelation of the day for Pogy; prior to riding he was delighted to
find a riding hood sewn into his FirstGear Jacket. A good find on this wettest
of days.
Not
to be left out of the wardrobe discussion Princess declared she was not wearing
pants. Overcoming the effects of nearly choking on a bite of burger it seemed to
all assembled that she did in fact have pants on. This is a family blog so the
details Joanne added in explanation cannot be reproduced here. We also learned
she is a massage therapist. Hmm, Joanne, the weekend Princess….definitely a CTPB
keeper…anyone care to second that?
With
lighter rain forecast for the return ride the CTPB’s once again had the pleasure
of royal company. The sun even came out for a fleeting ‘hello’ before being
quickly pushed aside by dark clouds and more rain. The ride north was
uneventful, though we witnessed another couple of cars spun
out.
We
pulled in for an early stop at the top of the GSP. Over coffee and chocolate it
was astonishing to listen to Princess and Captain converse. What became apparent
is that Princess really is from Venus and clearly a Martian cannot understand a
word of Venetian. A single, seemingly simple question and equally straight
forward answer evolved into a 5 minute back and forth. I must remember to bring
a Babel Fish on next week’s ride, it should be helpful to those in the group who
are not multilingual.
Still
no sign of ‘Old Glory’ on the cranes at the Tappan Zee II bridge construction.
Can it be that Pogy is losing his pull? At least we could see the top of the
cranes on the way home.
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