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USA ROAD TRIP, DAY 19, 20 AND 21

14 novembre 2012 | News

by Gary Inman

Day 19: Cruso, NC to Waynesboro, VA
Day 20: Waynesboro, VA to Harrisburg, PA
Day 21: Harrisburg, PA to Newark, NJ

I’m parked in a lay-by on Skyline Drive, a scenic toll-road that runs for 110 miles through the Appalachian Mountains. We, myself and tour leader Nick Sanders, have been stopped by a Park Ranger who is armed and visibly angry.

‘Do you know what the speed limit is on this road?’
’35 miles per hour,’ says Nick.
‘That’s right. And do you know how fast you were going?’ wonders the Ranger.
‘40?’ says Nick, hopefully.
‘68!’ shouts the lawman. ‘Now I’ve had a lot of bikes speeding through here today, but you are by far the fastest. I could have these bikes towed away and crushed and have you put in jail for that speed.’

We stare at our shoes. The ranger walks back to his car. Then returns. He tells us that he’s not going to give us a ticket. This is some kind of miracle. I might be because my bike has an English registration plate on it. Perhaps he can’t be bothered with the paperwork or he likes the look of us. I don’t know what it is, but we know it’s our lucky day. Nick and I both pull on our helmets, trying as hard as we can not to smile and rejoin the beautiful Skyline Drive. We have one mile of the park to go. It’s the only mile we ride at 35mph.

The trip is nearly over. Yesterday was another damp slog, while tomorrow is an early start and a 140-mile hop from Pennsylvania, past New York to the dock at Newark, New Jersey. We’ll park up the bikes and stand around for three hours waiting to load them in a container for their return to the UK, then get an expensive taxi to the airport.

This trip has been unforgettable. I’ve covered 13,000km (over 8000 miles), and ridden through 24 of the lower 48 states. With 12 other riders from England, Wales and Ireland, I’ve ridden from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back to the Atlantic.

And I already want to do it again…

Gary is rode from New York to California and back to New York with www.nicksanders.com

by Gary Inman

Day 19: Cruso, NC to Waynesboro, VA
Day 20: Waynesboro, VA to Harrisburg, PA
Day 21: Harrisburg, PA to Newark, NJ

I’m parked in a lay-by on Skyline Drive, a scenic toll-road that runs for 110 miles through the Appalachian Mountains. We, myself and tour leader Nick Sanders, have been stopped by a Park Ranger who is armed and visibly angry.

‘Do you know what the speed limit is on this road?’
’35 miles per hour,’ says Nick.
‘That’s right. And do you know how fast you were going?’ wonders the Ranger.
‘40?’ says Nick, hopefully.
‘68!’ shouts the lawman. ‘Now I’ve had a lot of bikes speeding through here today, but you are by far the fastest. I could have these bikes towed away and crushed and have you put in jail for that speed.’

We stare at our shoes. The ranger walks back to his car. Then returns. He tells us that he’s not going to give us a ticket. This is some kind of miracle. I might be because my bike has an English registration plate on it. Perhaps he can’t be bothered with the paperwork or he likes the look of us. I don’t know what it is, but we know it’s our lucky day. Nick and I both pull on our helmets, trying as hard as we can not to smile and rejoin the beautiful Skyline Drive. We have one mile of the park to go. It’s the only mile we ride at 35mph.

The trip is nearly over. Yesterday was another damp slog, while tomorrow is an early start and a 140-mile hop from Pennsylvania, past New York to the dock at Newark, New Jersey. We’ll park up the bikes and stand around for three hours waiting to load them in a container for their return to the UK, then get an expensive taxi to the airport.

This trip has been unforgettable. I’ve covered 13,000km (over 8000 miles), and ridden through 24 of the lower 48 states. With 12 other riders from England, Wales and Ireland, I’ve ridden from the Atlantic to the Pacific and back to the Atlantic.

And I already want to do it again…

Gary is rode from New York to California and back to New York with www.nicksanders.com

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USA ROAD TRIP, DAY 2

12 settembre 2012 | News

by Gary Inman

Day 2

These organised trips can be strange. Like the TV show Big Brother, you’re forced to spend time with people you don’t know. And like Big Brother, some of the people involved exaggerate their characters when they’re out of their normal surroundings. This group vary from a young, newly married couple, who are treating the road trip as a honeymoon, to a pensioner who is on tour, on a pair of Suzukis, with his 40-odd year old son.

As virtually every morning starts early, I was re-packing the bike at 6.30, before leaving for Niagara Falls on the Canadian border.

Riding over the Niagara Thruway Bridge the mist rising from the waterfalls could been seen from over 4km away. Today it rises till it makes it’s own cloud.

I can’t resist a trip on one of the Maids of the Mist, the boats that takes a hundred tourists at a time to be soaked by the Falls. The trip is designed to see as many of the iconic sites of the USA as possible in three weeks. It means lots of miles, but countless photo opportunities. What is yet to be discovered is how fulfilling seeing everything at 120kph can be.

Then the ride continues, along Lake Erie, into Pennsylvania and onto the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio for the night. Tomorrow is a dreaded transit day.

Gary is on tour with www.nicksanders.com.

by Gary Inman

Day 2

These organised trips can be strange. Like the TV show Big Brother, you’re forced to spend time with people you don’t know. And like Big Brother, some of the people involved exaggerate their characters when they’re out of their normal surroundings. This group vary from a young, newly married couple, who are treating the road trip as a honeymoon, to a pensioner who is on tour, on a pair of Suzukis, with his 40-odd year old son.

As virtually every morning starts early, I was re-packing the bike at 6.30, before leaving for Niagara Falls on the Canadian border.

Riding over the Niagara Thruway Bridge the mist rising from the waterfalls could been seen from over 4km away. Today it rises till it makes it’s own cloud.

I can’t resist a trip on one of the Maids of the Mist, the boats that takes a hundred tourists at a time to be soaked by the Falls. The trip is designed to see as many of the iconic sites of the USA as possible in three weeks. It means lots of miles, but countless photo opportunities. What is yet to be discovered is how fulfilling seeing everything at 120kph can be.

Then the ride continues, along Lake Erie, into Pennsylvania and onto the outskirts of Cleveland, Ohio for the night. Tomorrow is a dreaded transit day.

Gary is on tour with www.nicksanders.com.

Leggi tutto