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Frank Zappa the 6th
Scroll to the bottom to skip the blabber and look at the pics...
(Jeeze, I just realized that I type too much and post too few pics in these reports. Imagine if I went for more than a few days. I'd easily write a book. Anyway.... on with it.)
The Brrr Ride is a Concours Owners Group (COG) event that was started by a friend of mine about 12 years ago. It's two days/nights of camping and riding in the middle of a bikers playground -- The Blue Ridge Mountains, George Washington and Monongahela National Forests, and Appalachia in general. The campground and base of operations is the Natural Bridge KOA. I like my camping to be a bit more primitive, but it's a nice KOA and the staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. Most people show up Friday evening and have dinner at the Pink Cadillac (a diner about a half mile from camp.) after a good meal we all sit around the camp fire drinking beer and telling stories. Saturday morning everybody meets up at the diner for breakfast and to pick up the route sheet. They are always great routes that should take about 6-7 hours to complete (including plenty of breaks and photo stops.) About half the people follow the route and the other half go exploring other roads and trails of their own devise.
I don't have a concours, nor have I ever owned one. COG's motto is "Come for the bike. Stay for the people." And that is evident in the fact that LESS than half the 20-30 bikes at this event were Connies. There were a good number of GS's, V-Stroms, etc. (And of course, one FZ6)
The remnants of hurricane Ida were camped out over the mid-Atlantic all last week. It never stopped raining in Richmond from Tuesday afternoon through at least Friday afternoon. Yet every time I looked at the radar map, the rain seemed to stay east of the Blue Ridge Mtns and the Brr ride was based in and around those very mountains. I left the house on Friday and took back roads all the way there. After 2-3 hours of solid rain the Blue Ridge came into view and there was literally a defined line above that ridge -- gray and raining on the east side and blue and sunny to the west. PERFECT. I planned on arriving at the KOA just before sunset, but I missed a turn on the way there and ended up doing the last 45 mins or so in the dark. At least it was no longer raining. I had a great ride in. I stayed dry through all the rain and truly appreciated the dry skies and roads when I found them. PERFECT.
After a fun night of camping I slept in a little bit because some friends who couldn't make it on Friday night were meeting me at the diner at about 10AM. It gave me time to do a little light maintenance and finally install my power outlet. (What a nice addition by the way.) Anyway, I was meeting up with 3 other people - all of them on Dual Sport Machines. A V-strom, A heavily modded and angry looking KTM 990 ADV and 1200GS that has literally been around the world. Now that's a bike that's tells a story. Another guy on Connie joined us for the day as well.
After they ate some breakfast and set up camp we hit the road. As you can guess, when riding with guys on DS machines you have to be prepared for (at the very least) some gravel forest roads and possibly a few stream crossings. I'm ALWAYS up for forest and fire roads on the Fazer. Even with PRII's that thing keeps up with the big GS's and the Stroms of the world. The KTM on the other hand.. That thing is sick! Anyway, we had a blast exploring the twisty tarmac roads and superb dirt roads in the area. No stream crossings for us though..
We stopped for lunch in the town of Buchanan, VA. While using the restroom I noticed a sign posted on the wall that said something about surface water leaking into a city water tank and that all Buchanan residents had to boil all of their drinking and cooking water (or use bottled water.) These things happen, I understand. BUT!!! The posting was dated April 1st of this year. And according to the owner of the restaurant it wouldn't be fixed until April of next year. Ok, at least FEMA or somebody is helping them out, right? Maybe providing bottled or canned water or something, right? Nope. Not only do they get zero help, the water company DOUBLED the price of water to help mitigate the cost of the new filter. They doubled the price of the water that the residents can't even safely drink!! We offered to join him on the mayor's lawn with torches later that night, but he has a level head and plans on running for mayor instead. Anyway, we continued our ride and got to experience some the best roads I've ever ridden. later that night I was regaled with stories from one groups adventure that day. About 5-6 DS riders went on some fairly hard core tracks. Lots of rocks, single track, mud and 8 stream crossings - some were upwards of 2' deep. Throughout the entire ride a guy named Dan on a 2008 Concours (C14) was following them and keeping the pace through and over every obstacle that was presented to him. If you don't know what a C14 is... here: (picture that blasting single track and crossing 2' deep streams!!
The next morning I joined up with a group of 4 other riders (same group from before plus another V-Strommer) to head up to Bluegrass, VA for a fundraiser breakfast. We left circa 8AM and for the first hour we were riding through some of the thickest fog I've ever seen. Luckily most of us were wearing hi-viz vests/jackets. It was almost impossible to see the ones that weren't wearing "loud" gear. That morning we stuck to the tarmac and had a blast. After an hour of fog we climbed up out the valley and found nothing but warm sun and blue skies. It ended up being a beautiful morning. We got to the town of Bluegrass by about 10:30 and enjoyed all you can eat Buckwheat Pancakes - yum. They gave us each a big bowl of brown gravy and a spoon (no biscuits.) Not sure if we were meant to eat the whole bowl with a spoon or what.. Odd. That was cool experience though. I love "local color." And those cakes were awesome.
After that I super-slabbed it back to Richmond to watch the Steelers lose... bummer.
Here's Rob on the Strom and Kevin on the Connie behind on one of the amazing forest roads I mentioned above
Here's the view ahead of Mike on his sick KTM and Jeff on his epic 1200GS. This was taken right before Mike decided to ride the KaTooM like it was meant to be ridden. He got WAY ahead of us quickly.
Her we are contemplating a stream crossing - we decided against it as it was on private property
The town of Buchanan - Bad water since April '09. Ya'll come back soon!
(Jeeze, I just realized that I type too much and post too few pics in these reports. Imagine if I went for more than a few days. I'd easily write a book. Anyway.... on with it.)
The Brrr Ride is a Concours Owners Group (COG) event that was started by a friend of mine about 12 years ago. It's two days/nights of camping and riding in the middle of a bikers playground -- The Blue Ridge Mountains, George Washington and Monongahela National Forests, and Appalachia in general. The campground and base of operations is the Natural Bridge KOA. I like my camping to be a bit more primitive, but it's a nice KOA and the staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. Most people show up Friday evening and have dinner at the Pink Cadillac (a diner about a half mile from camp.) after a good meal we all sit around the camp fire drinking beer and telling stories. Saturday morning everybody meets up at the diner for breakfast and to pick up the route sheet. They are always great routes that should take about 6-7 hours to complete (including plenty of breaks and photo stops.) About half the people follow the route and the other half go exploring other roads and trails of their own devise.
I don't have a concours, nor have I ever owned one. COG's motto is "Come for the bike. Stay for the people." And that is evident in the fact that LESS than half the 20-30 bikes at this event were Connies. There were a good number of GS's, V-Stroms, etc. (And of course, one FZ6)
The remnants of hurricane Ida were camped out over the mid-Atlantic all last week. It never stopped raining in Richmond from Tuesday afternoon through at least Friday afternoon. Yet every time I looked at the radar map, the rain seemed to stay east of the Blue Ridge Mtns and the Brr ride was based in and around those very mountains. I left the house on Friday and took back roads all the way there. After 2-3 hours of solid rain the Blue Ridge came into view and there was literally a defined line above that ridge -- gray and raining on the east side and blue and sunny to the west. PERFECT. I planned on arriving at the KOA just before sunset, but I missed a turn on the way there and ended up doing the last 45 mins or so in the dark. At least it was no longer raining. I had a great ride in. I stayed dry through all the rain and truly appreciated the dry skies and roads when I found them. PERFECT.
After a fun night of camping I slept in a little bit because some friends who couldn't make it on Friday night were meeting me at the diner at about 10AM. It gave me time to do a little light maintenance and finally install my power outlet. (What a nice addition by the way.) Anyway, I was meeting up with 3 other people - all of them on Dual Sport Machines. A V-strom, A heavily modded and angry looking KTM 990 ADV and 1200GS that has literally been around the world. Now that's a bike that's tells a story. Another guy on Connie joined us for the day as well.
After they ate some breakfast and set up camp we hit the road. As you can guess, when riding with guys on DS machines you have to be prepared for (at the very least) some gravel forest roads and possibly a few stream crossings. I'm ALWAYS up for forest and fire roads on the Fazer. Even with PRII's that thing keeps up with the big GS's and the Stroms of the world. The KTM on the other hand.. That thing is sick! Anyway, we had a blast exploring the twisty tarmac roads and superb dirt roads in the area. No stream crossings for us though..
We stopped for lunch in the town of Buchanan, VA. While using the restroom I noticed a sign posted on the wall that said something about surface water leaking into a city water tank and that all Buchanan residents had to boil all of their drinking and cooking water (or use bottled water.) These things happen, I understand. BUT!!! The posting was dated April 1st of this year. And according to the owner of the restaurant it wouldn't be fixed until April of next year. Ok, at least FEMA or somebody is helping them out, right? Maybe providing bottled or canned water or something, right? Nope. Not only do they get zero help, the water company DOUBLED the price of water to help mitigate the cost of the new filter. They doubled the price of the water that the residents can't even safely drink!! We offered to join him on the mayor's lawn with torches later that night, but he has a level head and plans on running for mayor instead. Anyway, we continued our ride and got to experience some the best roads I've ever ridden. later that night I was regaled with stories from one groups adventure that day. About 5-6 DS riders went on some fairly hard core tracks. Lots of rocks, single track, mud and 8 stream crossings - some were upwards of 2' deep. Throughout the entire ride a guy named Dan on a 2008 Concours (C14) was following them and keeping the pace through and over every obstacle that was presented to him. If you don't know what a C14 is... here: (picture that blasting single track and crossing 2' deep streams!!
The next morning I joined up with a group of 4 other riders (same group from before plus another V-Strommer) to head up to Bluegrass, VA for a fundraiser breakfast. We left circa 8AM and for the first hour we were riding through some of the thickest fog I've ever seen. Luckily most of us were wearing hi-viz vests/jackets. It was almost impossible to see the ones that weren't wearing "loud" gear. That morning we stuck to the tarmac and had a blast. After an hour of fog we climbed up out the valley and found nothing but warm sun and blue skies. It ended up being a beautiful morning. We got to the town of Bluegrass by about 10:30 and enjoyed all you can eat Buckwheat Pancakes - yum. They gave us each a big bowl of brown gravy and a spoon (no biscuits.) Not sure if we were meant to eat the whole bowl with a spoon or what.. Odd. That was cool experience though. I love "local color." And those cakes were awesome.
After that I super-slabbed it back to Richmond to watch the Steelers lose... bummer.
Here's Rob on the Strom and Kevin on the Connie behind on one of the amazing forest roads I mentioned above
Here's the view ahead of Mike on his sick KTM and Jeff on his epic 1200GS. This was taken right before Mike decided to ride the KaTooM like it was meant to be ridden. He got WAY ahead of us quickly.
Her we are contemplating a stream crossing - we decided against it as it was on private property
The town of Buchanan - Bad water since April '09. Ya'll come back soon!
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