ADV Spring Ride to Central Pennsylvania

This weekend I was able to get away for my first multi-day road trip of 2016. And, on top of that it was my first trip away on the KTM. AND on top of that, my first ride out with the Kriega bag that I bought over the winter. And you know what? On top of that… it kicked ass all the way around; everything down to the weather.

My trip was out to central Pennsylvania to a town called Newport. My first day planned route had me in the saddle for over 300 miles. For me to get off of Long Island and in to New Jersey, I’m committed to at least an hour of slab. Having Manhattan between me and everywhere else I want to be is sometimes a mental challenge.

Can’t lie – before leaving, I questioned whether sitting on the 690 for that length of time would be a miserable experience. Though I’ve got a Seat Concepts saddle which makes things worlds better than the KTM gel seat that was on there before, it isn’t perfect. The other thing I wasn’t so sure about was whether I would feel fatigued from battling the wind. Granted I toured around on a Speed Triple for a few years, but the 690 is a different ball game.

I don’t know if it was the general excitement of being free in the world or what, but I left home at 0’dark-thirty and just chugged along effortlessly on the slab until it was time to start the backroad leg of my ride. Any worries that I’d had about my butt cheeks or anything else fluttered away in my wake.

While I was riding along, I could see my license plate flapping in my shadow. Finding a parking lot (conveniently decorated with a sweet mural) I pulled over to secure it. The plate would inevitably break, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose it altogether. I quickly jury-rigged the plate on all corners and got back on the road.

The sun was out, the sky was blue and I still had hundreds of miles to soak up and things to see.

Fuzzygalore

Rachael is the whimsical writer behind the 20+ year old Girlie Motorcycle Blog. As a freelance blogger, she is on a mission to inspire laughter, self-examination, curiosity, and human connection. Girlie Motorcycle Blog can be found on several Best Motorcycle Blog lists.

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13 Responses

  1. bob says:

    How are those tires for long periods at highway speeds? Do you notice any additional vibration?

  2. David Masse says:

    A barrier, is a barrier, but having Manhattan as a barrier, now that’s a very special privilege.

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      I guess it’s all relative, huh?
      Sometimes having to use the Cross Bronx Expressway is it’s own special brand of hell. But i’ve heard that riding a skinny bike takes some of the pain away because you can lane-split when the estimated time to travel 5 miles shows as 50 minutes on the digital signboard.

  3. Darrin says:

    OK, you went from Hacketstown up rt 46 through Belvidere. The pic of the power plant was taken in Martins Creek. On one of my favorite stretches of road we called Craney’s Flats. As a kid, I used to test my cars out there after rebuilding engines and stuff since you could open them up for a couple of miles flat out.

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      I’ll take your word for it on the plant! I wasn’t sure where that was.

      Yes, I passed Hotdog Jonnys then made a left towards Belvidere, crossed an opengrate bridge and after that – i’m not sure until I was in Slatington 😀

  4. Shybiker says:

    Wasn’t the weather fabulous this past weekend?! It’d be a crime to not ride during it. Oh, and I hear ya on the dreaded Cross Bronx Expressway. That’s the bane of my riding-existence. I only recently checked and learned what you say — that it’s only five miles. When you spent close to an hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic, it feels so much longer.

  5. RichardM says:

    Nice photos, I think the KTM is pretty photogenic. When I saw the photo of the cooling tower, the first thing that came to my mind was 3 mile island. But I guess that’s somewhere else…

    If I had Manhattan as a barrier between me and where I wanted to be, I would probably change either my starting point or where I want to be. Isn’t Canada on the way to PA?

    • Fuzzygalore says:

      3 Mile Island is in PA but I’m not entirely sure where.

      In the next few years, I’ll be changing my starting point. But for now, there is no way around at least one hour to get off this stinkin’ island :-p

  6. Ted Kettler says:

    That is some very nice riding out that way. How many miles did you do?

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