Sunday, September 6, 2009

Day 3 of my motorcycle trip to Ohio and Pittsburgh

I left Pittsburgh about 7 a.m. this morning, hoping to get about 500 miles behind me by the end of today, which would place me somewhere in South Carolina.

Starting out I decided to let the lil Garmin Quest GPS find me an interesting route for a while, and by did it ever! I was taken along some very narrow backroads over little one lane bridges and along roads with awesome curve after curve! But those great roads come at a price...it takes a long time and does not cover many miles.

After about 45 minutes of that I got back on track and picked up I-76 south, which then connected to state highway 19, a road with fantastic views! At one point I stopped at a scenic overlook and saw 4 folks trying to get pictures in front of the beautiful scenic mountainous backgound.

So I moseyed down to them to see if they wanted me to take a group shot of them and they were very grateful. A couple of them were from Argentina and one was from Canada. When they saw my bike from afar they first asked if it was a BMW. When I told them it was a Moto Guzzi one fella, I think his name was Jack, got very excited and in his accent said "Ah, Italia, MOTO GUZZI!" The he explained how he owns an Aprilia scooter. Very nice folks and I am glad I stopped and talked to them.

I talked to another fella later at a rest stop who spied my Guzzi and came over to talk to me about his 1976 Honda Goldwing project he is working on. You meet a lot of nice folks when riding a motorcycle!

It was a particularly tiring day though, as I was experiencing a goodly amount of discomfort in my upper back/neck sector, I think it is the trapezius muscle? Not sure but it was causing me some grief. I had to stop more often to stretch my neck and back.

Anyway I( pretty much accomplished my goal as I now sit in my Courtyard by Marriot Hotel, after a ride of about 480 miles today. Tomorrow I think I will have about 450-460 more miles and I will be home in the early evening.

Not many pics today but here are a few...





5 comments:

Danr said...

Me thinks you will sleep well tonight after a good meal, You think risers might help with your discomfort ? Have a good ride tomorrow Chris !

Dan

Kid Guzzi said...

Hi Dan :) It's the same muscle that has caused me discomfort on every bike I have owned. Just too many miles, too many days in a row I think. The Stelvio is VERY comfortable with an excellent upright riding position and great legroom.

WOGuzzi said...

At 6' 3" I found it helped a little to rotated the handlebars up just a touch in the clamps.
Enjoy the bike. I just burned up my second rear tire today in the North Carolina mountains.

Stal said...

Why am I seeing a new Stelvio with intransits?

Kid Guzzi said...

As you know Stal, one of my lifelong goals is to be more like you. That said, when you acquired your black Breva, I knew I MUST have a black bike as well...hence, the Stelvio :) It's all your fault.