Welcome to Virginia!

It was such a beautiful day out and all of my responsibilities for the weekend had been fulfilled. The bike has been running fantastically so I decided it was time to try my first long-ish solo ride.

I rode around close to home for about ten miles and then fueled up in Raleigh before taking highway 70 out to Hillsborough, NC. From there it was a straight shot up highway 86 to Virginia.

My bad knee was bothering me after a bit, and while I could really have used some highway pegs to relax my knee, I decided to stop at a convenience store in northern North Carolina. The lady in there seemed pretty shocked to see a fellow in there with a mohawk and nosering, a reaction I don’t get very often here in Raleigh. I asked her the name of the town I was passing through and she seemed surprised to get such a question “Why it’s Prospect Hill, of course” she told me (as if I should have known).

With my knee feeling a bit better I hopped back on my Bonneville and resumed my course north on 86. This eventually got me into Danville, Virginia which is right near the state line. I never saw a proper sign telling me that I was now in Virginia, but as soon as I saw a Virginia seat belt safety sign I knew I wasn’t in North Carolina anymore so I snapped a photo of my Bonnie in Virginia to commemorate the moment that we crossed our first state line together. Hopefully this is the first of many.

Once into Danville, I hopped on highway 58 Business westbound in search of food. I figured a Chinese buffet is what I was after. I didn’t find that but I passed slowly by a gathering of 30-40 or more bikers that had stopped at a restaurant that was way too small for their group. I didn’t stop but they mostly stopped talking and looked at me, maybe trying to figure out if I belonged to their group or not. Or maybe they were admiring my very dapper high visibility yellow riding jacket. I know it’s the envy of all the bikers in town who want to throw out their black leather and look like a Power Ranger just like me.

Danville’s food offerings weren’t kind to me. After heading west awhile I turned around and headed east. I found a Chinese restaurant but when I pulled in, it looked as if they had been closed for some time. Bummer. Got back on 58 Business eastbound and took it in to South Boston.

Having ridden well over 100 miles and not found any Chinese food, I relented and hit Burger King. Since I was close to my normal distance for hitting the reserve, I pre-emptively hit the Sheetz gas station across the street after my meal and fueled up. Amazingly, my Triumph which normally gets almost exactly 34 or 35 MPG had scored 43.6 MPG and I was not yet in need of a refill! I was amazed at this much improved fuel economy but I chalk it up to spending most of my time at 55-60MPH on this trip whereas I normally commute on the superslab at higher speeds than this.

I got to ride back to North Carolina down highway 501 from South Boston. I took the main roads through Roxboro and it’s awful town-wide 35MPH speed limit and then once I got into the Timberlake area I got off of the main road and started opening it up a bit more (though safely) on the back roads that I was a little more familiar with. The sun had set by now and the road was starting to get dark. After a bit of fun I made my way back towards highway 501 and took primary roads back home to Raleigh.

This was my first long-ish trip with a motorcycle and I learned that I need some things (besides a knee replacement) in order to more fully enjoy my longer rides.

* It would be easier to cover longer distances without breaks if I had highway pegs to rest my feet on and stretch my legs a little bit.
* After about 175 miles my butt really didn’t like me. A softer seat would help.
* I think my riding posture would be better if my handlebars were a little taller, a little wider, and a little further back. Nothing like ape hangers but I’ve seen some options for the Triumph that should work well.

All told, I put about 195 miles on the bike during today’s spontaneous cruise. That’s maybe a little more than I anticipated but it is encouraging and I hope to try getting out a little further next time.