Post by Blue Tyke on Jun 3, 2008 19:22:27 GMT -5
I say part one because there are bound to be more excursions into history. For now lets take a trip with the local R.A.Ts (Riders Association of Triumph ) and head to one of America's more prominate times in history! Shimmy into those leather folks, slip on your helmet and ease into those gloves because we are going to visit..
The Civil War!
The ride is to take place at Pete's Cycle on Belair road and travel up through the northern part of MD and into PA to Gettysburg and then to a few other battle sites. For those of you wishing to see a great long ride log filled with historical facts and pictures I am sorry you have the wrong ride log. History is sort of my thing but not completely and not a lot of pictures because my camera died!! I know un-be-leavable! But I had my phone!
The ride benifited a local charity Project Millennium, Inc. The cost to register was $10.00 not bad for a guided tour of some local history. With the registration you got some donuts, coffee, a copy of the ride with turn by turn directions as well as local gas and food operations and an emergency kit (which included pen, post its, chap stick [which someone told me may be good if someone goes down and gets road rash as it is a wax product you can smear it on to keep the rash from air contact. Pretty nifty, luckly we didn't have to test it out.], a few aniseptic pads, snack bar, tick tacs and peperment gum ) For $10 more you could purchase a tee-shirt. I got one after talking myself into it. It is nice and I can always remember I traveled the Mason-Dixon line.
The all together start- Tyke just keeps getting older and older
Arial of the parking lot at Pete's Cycle
While standing around picking my nose, no not really but I was eatting a donut! I happen to make friends with the person parked next to me. His name is Ian (E'an), he rides a Triumph (as did most people as they are the R.A.T, and he is Australlian! Whoo hoo just whisper in my ear and let me purr... Anyway! he had a stow way!
Riders were given a choice at this point to either a) break up into groups and travel on their own, , or b) travel as a whole group O.o!! Did you see how many bikes were in that picture! Well luckily the coordinators were well prepared for bikers in masse.
Hehe well lets gear up and get on the road folks!
Yes the line extends waaaaaaaay back
Ian on his big machine! This gas take was HUGE and same with the engine! Made Tyke look very very very small
Psst I am not sure if he knows I got that picture of him.
Yep! There are still people behind me!
Luckily i got up near the front of the group I felt very comfortable there.
Some shots of the road way with my photo ninja skills, this of course is before my camera died...
Hi Ian! Is see youu! He certainly knew I got his picture this time!
Front of the group
I am not sure if I like the whole huge group thing. I certainly am used to smaller groups of about 10 maybe 12 not 25 maybe 30. I debated along the way if perhaps it would have been smarter to break the groups up but I figured even broken up they would still run into the same problems. The coordinators had a plan though. I am not sure if you can fully see the leader in the above picture but he and about seven or eight other riders had on the orange and yellow vests. Now the lead was just one person but I think sweep/tail was two. Several Orange clad riders raced up and down the lines and helped run interferance with the traffic and lights and so on. I didn't know you can do that, I am sure though they cleared everything before hand. So it was really safe and everyone stayed together. It was quiet awesome.
We were some distance away from my home territory and in that area there is a road called York Road... Guess what? I found it again!
This is where my camera died and no longer wanted to take anymore pictures. Have no fear though there are more as I took them with my phone but they are not as good. So you know what that means right?! Another trip back! Te he!
I am going to interject something here that I saw along this route of roads. I was looking over to the right at a bunch of signs we were passing and there was one of those little 'just so you know' signs and it said Senior Center with an arrow pointing to the left. Well thinking this was going to be a nice building I turn my head to look.... O.o ... I stare because what I saw was a cemetary! How funny is that!? I am sure the sign meant that at the next street or so on was the Senior center but I swear that arrow is pointing dead pan at the cemetary.
Okay onto more adventure! So we pull into the Gettysburg Pennsylvania Memorial site and this is when I discover my battery in my camera has died. So I huff about that for a few minutes thinking "Isn't that how it always is!" then remember my phone!
A big commemorative building (by phone)
There were a few reinactment actors out there (by phone)
A glimps of Tyke
A row of bikes
Gettysburg facts provided by the ride: Gettysburg, Pa. July 1 -3, 1863. Battle ended Lee's invasion of the North. Troops: USA - 83,289, 23,000 casualties. CVA 75,054, 28,000 casualties.
We all hopped on our bikes and went on an 'auto' tour of the various battle sites. I couldn't hold my phone and ride at the same time... Okay well I could but if I dropped my phone I would be without one so unfortunately logic won over pleasure this time. So I didn't get any pictures of that leg of our journey. We headed out from there along some more slightly twisty roads. We stop for a break at a gas station and look what comes our way...
Yes folks that is rain!
Rain and I am in full leathers! I inwardly groan but I lift my chin and smile. I have been through worse I have trained with the best! Ms. Tyler had solidified my rain education on my ride to Murphies ( see ride log entry 4/14 - 4/15/07 Murphys California ). To bad I had forgotten the true lesson of always bring rain gear! It is alright though as the storms pass quickly in MD but find you later!
So we have no choice the ride must go on! So we depart under slightly clearer skies aka it isn't pouring. We caught up to it though! I remebered my last ride and was thankful that it was not to windy and it was rather livable because it was still warm out. And we also were out of the rain within about 7 miles.
Our next stop was Antietam (an'tea'tum) National Battlefield where we were given fifteen minutes to explore! Ready...set.... Run!
They had built a watch tower there so you could look out over the battlefields. Lookin up!
Inside the tower is a steep stair case that winds up (or down really depending on what way you are going) but as you acended, or decended, there are windows...I never know what to expect at these places but it always amazes me at the space. Something so Historic that i have grown up hearing all of my life took up this whole gigantic field...
At the top it had all of the sides opened up so you can look out. A picture of the distance
One of the many old style fences
The parkinglot once again over run with bikes, by this time due to rain and so on we lost quiet a few people making it a smaller group but certainly more than I was used to... Where oh where has Little Tyke gone....
Note the clear skies in the above photo... Don't let it fool you!
Antietam Battlefield notes, provided by the trip log: Antietam MD, Sept. 17, 1862. Bloodiest single day of battle in American History. Troops: USA - 87,000, 11,650 wounded or killed. CVA - 45,000, 9,300 wounded or killed.
We rode on for a bit doing an auto tour of South Mountain Battlefield. I didn't really get a good look at this one, rain and all, but the battle stats [provided by the ride]. This battle happened on September 14th, 1862. This was a battle for access to 3 mountain passes. Troops: USA - 28,000 with 2,325 casualties. CVA - 18,000 with 2,685 casualties.
For the remainder of the ride to our final battlefield it didn't rain on us. It seemed we had parted ways and we ended the ride at Monocacy (don't ask me to pronouce that one!) Battlefield Visitor Center. This battle was on July 9th, 1864, "The Battle for Washington D.C." Confederate victory, but gave the Union an extra day to put up defenses for Washington. Troops: USA 5,800 with 1,294 casualties. CVA - 14,000 with 900 caasualties. I didn't get any pictures here as I was a bit chilly and cold. So I was pretty much ready to go home. So I did. Ian decided to accompany me until I knew where I was going, which happened to be in the same direction he was going so that was helpful.
Though my adventure did not end there... Oooh no... That Rain caught back up to me and got chilled enough to hail on me! Hail! It didn't last long but it still stung like the thingyons! As I was riding along in the rain, at the time, I noticed all these bikes and such stopping under over passes or pretty much anywhere they could get cover. I thought perhaps I should do that... Nahhh I wanted to get home! So I rode. The rain turned to little bits of hail and I continued to ride. I made it back safe and sound and certainly cold. I was very quick to jump out of my leathers, gloves, helmet and wipe down Tyke, because by this point I had gotten ahead of the storm. I get her into her area just as fat drops start to rain down. Safe and sound though.
Ending Odo picture
According to their trip log round trip from Petes to Petes (which I pass on my way home anyway) is 223 miles. That I would have to say is one of my longer days. For me it was rough as I am not used to riding that much anymore. I am not sure if I agree with this assesment as my Odo says 249 miles and it is only a 12 mile distance two and from Pete's Cycle and my house. But what's a few miles between riders?
Map:
The Civil War!
The ride is to take place at Pete's Cycle on Belair road and travel up through the northern part of MD and into PA to Gettysburg and then to a few other battle sites. For those of you wishing to see a great long ride log filled with historical facts and pictures I am sorry you have the wrong ride log. History is sort of my thing but not completely and not a lot of pictures because my camera died!! I know un-be-leavable! But I had my phone!
The ride benifited a local charity Project Millennium, Inc. The cost to register was $10.00 not bad for a guided tour of some local history. With the registration you got some donuts, coffee, a copy of the ride with turn by turn directions as well as local gas and food operations and an emergency kit (which included pen, post its, chap stick [which someone told me may be good if someone goes down and gets road rash as it is a wax product you can smear it on to keep the rash from air contact. Pretty nifty, luckly we didn't have to test it out.], a few aniseptic pads, snack bar, tick tacs and peperment gum ) For $10 more you could purchase a tee-shirt. I got one after talking myself into it. It is nice and I can always remember I traveled the Mason-Dixon line.
The all together start- Tyke just keeps getting older and older
Arial of the parking lot at Pete's Cycle
While standing around picking my nose, no not really but I was eatting a donut! I happen to make friends with the person parked next to me. His name is Ian (E'an), he rides a Triumph (as did most people as they are the R.A.T, and he is Australlian! Whoo hoo just whisper in my ear and let me purr... Anyway! he had a stow way!
Riders were given a choice at this point to either a) break up into groups and travel on their own, , or b) travel as a whole group O.o!! Did you see how many bikes were in that picture! Well luckily the coordinators were well prepared for bikers in masse.
Hehe well lets gear up and get on the road folks!
Yes the line extends waaaaaaaay back
Ian on his big machine! This gas take was HUGE and same with the engine! Made Tyke look very very very small
Psst I am not sure if he knows I got that picture of him.
Yep! There are still people behind me!
Luckily i got up near the front of the group I felt very comfortable there.
Some shots of the road way with my photo ninja skills, this of course is before my camera died...
Hi Ian! Is see youu! He certainly knew I got his picture this time!
Front of the group
I am not sure if I like the whole huge group thing. I certainly am used to smaller groups of about 10 maybe 12 not 25 maybe 30. I debated along the way if perhaps it would have been smarter to break the groups up but I figured even broken up they would still run into the same problems. The coordinators had a plan though. I am not sure if you can fully see the leader in the above picture but he and about seven or eight other riders had on the orange and yellow vests. Now the lead was just one person but I think sweep/tail was two. Several Orange clad riders raced up and down the lines and helped run interferance with the traffic and lights and so on. I didn't know you can do that, I am sure though they cleared everything before hand. So it was really safe and everyone stayed together. It was quiet awesome.
We were some distance away from my home territory and in that area there is a road called York Road... Guess what? I found it again!
This is where my camera died and no longer wanted to take anymore pictures. Have no fear though there are more as I took them with my phone but they are not as good. So you know what that means right?! Another trip back! Te he!
I am going to interject something here that I saw along this route of roads. I was looking over to the right at a bunch of signs we were passing and there was one of those little 'just so you know' signs and it said Senior Center with an arrow pointing to the left. Well thinking this was going to be a nice building I turn my head to look.... O.o ... I stare because what I saw was a cemetary! How funny is that!? I am sure the sign meant that at the next street or so on was the Senior center but I swear that arrow is pointing dead pan at the cemetary.
Okay onto more adventure! So we pull into the Gettysburg Pennsylvania Memorial site and this is when I discover my battery in my camera has died. So I huff about that for a few minutes thinking "Isn't that how it always is!" then remember my phone!
A big commemorative building (by phone)
There were a few reinactment actors out there (by phone)
A glimps of Tyke
A row of bikes
Gettysburg facts provided by the ride: Gettysburg, Pa. July 1 -3, 1863. Battle ended Lee's invasion of the North. Troops: USA - 83,289, 23,000 casualties. CVA 75,054, 28,000 casualties.
We all hopped on our bikes and went on an 'auto' tour of the various battle sites. I couldn't hold my phone and ride at the same time... Okay well I could but if I dropped my phone I would be without one so unfortunately logic won over pleasure this time. So I didn't get any pictures of that leg of our journey. We headed out from there along some more slightly twisty roads. We stop for a break at a gas station and look what comes our way...
Yes folks that is rain!
Rain and I am in full leathers! I inwardly groan but I lift my chin and smile. I have been through worse I have trained with the best! Ms. Tyler had solidified my rain education on my ride to Murphies ( see ride log entry 4/14 - 4/15/07 Murphys California ). To bad I had forgotten the true lesson of always bring rain gear! It is alright though as the storms pass quickly in MD but find you later!
So we have no choice the ride must go on! So we depart under slightly clearer skies aka it isn't pouring. We caught up to it though! I remebered my last ride and was thankful that it was not to windy and it was rather livable because it was still warm out. And we also were out of the rain within about 7 miles.
Our next stop was Antietam (an'tea'tum) National Battlefield where we were given fifteen minutes to explore! Ready...set.... Run!
They had built a watch tower there so you could look out over the battlefields. Lookin up!
Inside the tower is a steep stair case that winds up (or down really depending on what way you are going) but as you acended, or decended, there are windows...I never know what to expect at these places but it always amazes me at the space. Something so Historic that i have grown up hearing all of my life took up this whole gigantic field...
At the top it had all of the sides opened up so you can look out. A picture of the distance
One of the many old style fences
The parkinglot once again over run with bikes, by this time due to rain and so on we lost quiet a few people making it a smaller group but certainly more than I was used to... Where oh where has Little Tyke gone....
Note the clear skies in the above photo... Don't let it fool you!
Antietam Battlefield notes, provided by the trip log: Antietam MD, Sept. 17, 1862. Bloodiest single day of battle in American History. Troops: USA - 87,000, 11,650 wounded or killed. CVA - 45,000, 9,300 wounded or killed.
We rode on for a bit doing an auto tour of South Mountain Battlefield. I didn't really get a good look at this one, rain and all, but the battle stats [provided by the ride]. This battle happened on September 14th, 1862. This was a battle for access to 3 mountain passes. Troops: USA - 28,000 with 2,325 casualties. CVA - 18,000 with 2,685 casualties.
For the remainder of the ride to our final battlefield it didn't rain on us. It seemed we had parted ways and we ended the ride at Monocacy (don't ask me to pronouce that one!) Battlefield Visitor Center. This battle was on July 9th, 1864, "The Battle for Washington D.C." Confederate victory, but gave the Union an extra day to put up defenses for Washington. Troops: USA 5,800 with 1,294 casualties. CVA - 14,000 with 900 caasualties. I didn't get any pictures here as I was a bit chilly and cold. So I was pretty much ready to go home. So I did. Ian decided to accompany me until I knew where I was going, which happened to be in the same direction he was going so that was helpful.
Though my adventure did not end there... Oooh no... That Rain caught back up to me and got chilled enough to hail on me! Hail! It didn't last long but it still stung like the thingyons! As I was riding along in the rain, at the time, I noticed all these bikes and such stopping under over passes or pretty much anywhere they could get cover. I thought perhaps I should do that... Nahhh I wanted to get home! So I rode. The rain turned to little bits of hail and I continued to ride. I made it back safe and sound and certainly cold. I was very quick to jump out of my leathers, gloves, helmet and wipe down Tyke, because by this point I had gotten ahead of the storm. I get her into her area just as fat drops start to rain down. Safe and sound though.
Ending Odo picture
According to their trip log round trip from Petes to Petes (which I pass on my way home anyway) is 223 miles. That I would have to say is one of my longer days. For me it was rough as I am not used to riding that much anymore. I am not sure if I agree with this assesment as my Odo says 249 miles and it is only a 12 mile distance two and from Pete's Cycle and my house. But what's a few miles between riders?
Map: