The MTF Founders Feast

The Motorcycle Tourer’s Forum (MTF) holds the Founders Feast at different locations every year. I have wanted to go every year, but the plans have never fallen into place. It is usually a week long gathering with a variety of activities - flower sniffing, power sniffing, IBA rides, Poker runs, dinner theatre, photo contest etc. and culminates with the FF dinner. This year, the FF festivities included the "Poker Run from Hell" - 5 days of back to back saddle sore 1000's while power sniffing. In addition they also conducted the BRC for Dirt riding in Troy, OH. I had planned to take the time off to go for the week, but as luck would have it, the plans went down the drain. And then, 2 weeks back, there was this ray of hope. I received a request from a client in OH to work on a 12 week. The first thing I looked at was the distance from there to Mitchell, IN. 200 miles. Wow!! That’s an easy trip. And so, I set the ball in motion. I now had a chance to go to the FF, and have most of the trip paid for!!!

I planned for every detail in this trip. One thing that I did not plan for was the delay in the formalities. Meaning, I just couldn't pack my bags and leave I waited with a lot of anticipation. On Thursday morning, I gave up and told my boss that I was going to be on the road that afternoon and riding all night to IN, instead of OH as originally planned and if he had any updates, to let me know.

By the time I got packed, finished the honey-dos and got on the road, it was about 6.15 PM. By this time, I was informed to be in OH, even if it was just for a day and that I already had a hotel room booked and paid for. The plan was to leave from Herndon, VA take Rt 7 to 15N to 70W. As I pulled into a gas station in Leesburg to fill up, I noticed that one of the aux PIAAs was out. I was looking for Doug's number, but couldn’t find it in the address book on the phone. Tried calling Tweaker and he was in the middle of a project and couldn't talk immediately. Got onto gmail and found an old email from Doug that had his contact info. I called Doug and left him a message to see if the shop was still open. In the meantime, I rerouted myself to ride towards Martinsburg and then on 81N to 70W. I had not heard from Doug in about 20 minutes and the traffic on Rt9 was moving slow, which was troubling me. In the meantime I called Gary in Hagerstown to see if he could help out. Gary is on the MTF Tourer's Assistant also and said he would be waiting for me in Hagerstown to take a look at the problem. I got a call from Doug as I got onto 340 from 9 and he said that the shop was already closed for the day. I continued on to Hagerstown where Gary met me and we diagnosed the problem to be a lose connection in a crimp:( ( I need to start soldering instead of the crimping)

By the time all this was said and done, it was a little past 9.30. I stopped at the IHOP and gobbled a veggie omelet and a pancake. I love their breakfast menu at all times in the day I got back on the road at 10.15 and notched up the speed just at 8 over the speed limit. I saw a couple of dead critters on the side, but none of them posed a threat. I found that I was dodging a lot of debris from the retreads. I did see a couple of live critters, but thankfully, they decided to stay where they were on the side of the road and not cross over:)

As I came got to Hancock, I was thinking whether to continue on 70 W to PA turnpike or to take I68 to Morgantown, WV, onto 79 to Wheeling, WV and then 70W. I have ridden/driven the PA turnpike on numerous occasions. So, I took the other route. In hindsight, I think that was a bad decision to explore the roads at 11PM on an all night road trip. It was uneventful till I reached Morgantown. It sprinkled a few drops till then and then came down in bucket loads. I saw the exit ramp as the rain started and in the 60 seconds that it took me to hit that ramp and pull into the sheetz, I was soaked. I wasn't worried about getting wet as I was dressed appropriately. But what worried me more was that I was on unfamiliar roads at 2AM and the rain hadn't stopped for more than an hour. It was coming down so hard that the local LEO's had all gathered in the sheetz to have a late night/early morning snack. I had a nice conversation with the locals and waiting out the rain. At 3.30AM, I still had 200+ miles to go and so as the rain started to taper down a bit, I decided to get back on the road. Looked at the GPS and there wasn’t a direct ramp back on to I 79. I had to ride a few miles of local roads and the merge at the next exit.
I set off and picked up a brisk pace. The roads were nice. As I came around a very nice sweeping curve it felt really nice to lean in to the curve and roll through it. And then there they were…. I spotted one, two, three live critters standing by the roadside, about 60’ ahead and not more than 4’-5’ from the edge of this country road. I was riding at about 50mph and within the time and distance I had, I came to almost an absolute stop, down to about 5mph. The ABS on the BMW is absolutely awesome. As I got to about 10’, I realized that they were shining a lot more in the moon light and that they were standing still and frozen like a “statue”. I screamed at the house owner at the top of my voice, with the helmet on and just proceeded. The rest of the trip was uneventful and I reached the hotel at 6.45 AM.
So, instead of a straight 7-8 hr ride, this had turned into a 12 hr ride through the night. I told the front desk to wake me up at 8.30 so that I could catch the free breakfast before heading to work. I got into the office at 10 and then the rest of the day went as planned. Finished up work and left for the FF at 5PM. It was a nice ride down to Mitchell, IN and I got there safely at 10PM. Mike had already checked in earlier in the day and had instructed the front desk to have a second key for me when I got in. I then spent the next hour socializing with friends from the MTF.
On Saturday morning, I was still in two minds. One was to head out with Mike as he was participating in the photo contest. The other was to just relax and rest for the rest of the day, since I had not slept the previous night. I chose to ride and explore the area. It was a beautiful morning. Mike asked me at the first stop if I had ever tried to pair the Scala rider headsets. Both of us had not tried this earlier and were unaware of the procedure. I called a friend and asked him to mail me the instructions. Later in the ride, I received the mail and followed the instructions to have that working. Thanks Kumar for the help!! The BT communications worked flawlessly and in an open area with no obstructions and a clear line-of-sight, we could hear each other clearly for about ¼ mile and then it was a bit flaky.

We got back to the hotel just in time for Mike to submit his pictures before the cut-off time of 3PM. Spent a little time meeting some more new friends and then headed for the dinner festivities. Mike scored first prize winner in two categories. It was a nice evening. The FF events were over and a couple of folks even started their return journey. I went back to the room, rearranged all the stuff and packed them for my return trip on Sunday.
Grizz and I left at 6AM on Sunday from the Inn. We rode together until Lexington, KY and then split up. JDP later caught up with me near Beckley, WV and we rode a few miles together before going our own ways. Boy, it is tough to keep up with JDP and "BLUBYU" (that's what he wants to get as custom plates for his bike:) )

I got home safe at 7PM. I was not running SS pace / timing at stops. So, the planned 10-1/2 hr ride became 13 hrs All in all, a very satisfying 1700+ miles!!



Click on the picture below for some Pictures from this trip.

Trip to OH and FF