OldJeff
Member
Or a Veteran's Day Ride.
Weather reports indicated a mild fall day, lows in the mid 40's, high of 70, partly cloudy and low winds. Perfect! I had recently added Kuryakyn highway pegs and throttle lock, plus the 20 dollar Trackside handguards, but hadn't had a chance to really test them out.
Left the house at 6:30 am and headed south on I30 @ 80 mph. Fuel light dropped to two bars just outside of Arkadelphia, my hands were a bit chilled, but not frozen, so the tracksiders were helping quite a bit. First stop @ 60 miles in, fuel up, a quick coffee/smoke break and 15 mins later headed back out to the freeway.
The sun was up and it had warmed up to around 50, so I set the throttle lock between 75 and 80, settled in with my boots on the highway pegs and headed to Texas. What a difference! My NCX is now a tourer! Rolled thru Texarkana and was completely comfortable, the Corbin seat and Rox risers had a helped quite a bit, but the additional highway pegs, handguards and throttle lock really REALLY set this bike up to roll!
Once in Texas, I headed south on 59, second stop was in Atlanta TX, another 15 min fuel/smoke/coffee break after 105 miles non-stop. My comfort level was great, hands, back and butt felt great. Headed south on 43 thru Marshall and back on 59 into Carthage TX and my first destination, Crazy Good Mexican Food @ 10:45 am. 250 miles in 4 hours and 15 mins, minus 30 mins of breaks, average speed of 72 mph.
I had to wait 15 mins for the restaurant to open, so I peeled off a few layers of clothes and chatted with the other folks waiting. Texas is my second favorite state for several reasons, but the main one is the people in Texas. They are just good folks every where you go, talked college football with a couple that just drove in from College Station, talked bikes to the bartender while I ate lunch. I love Texas
Texas does something else that you don't see anywhere else, they have mastered the art of smoking beef brisket like no where else in the country. So the second and main stop in Carthage was the HEB Store A old cowboy came over to look at the NCX and we chatted for 15 mins or so, then I loaded up several briskets into a softsider insulated pack and stuffed that into the topbox and headed north @ 12:30 pm.
Third and last fuel stop was 135 miles later in Hope ARK and then rolled onto the house at 4:30 pm. A 10 hour 500 mile ride minus 2.5 hours on the side of the road averaging 66 mph and I felt fine, no hand cramps, no pain anywhere. Time to start planning a Iron Butt ride
Weather reports indicated a mild fall day, lows in the mid 40's, high of 70, partly cloudy and low winds. Perfect! I had recently added Kuryakyn highway pegs and throttle lock, plus the 20 dollar Trackside handguards, but hadn't had a chance to really test them out.
Left the house at 6:30 am and headed south on I30 @ 80 mph. Fuel light dropped to two bars just outside of Arkadelphia, my hands were a bit chilled, but not frozen, so the tracksiders were helping quite a bit. First stop @ 60 miles in, fuel up, a quick coffee/smoke break and 15 mins later headed back out to the freeway.
The sun was up and it had warmed up to around 50, so I set the throttle lock between 75 and 80, settled in with my boots on the highway pegs and headed to Texas. What a difference! My NCX is now a tourer! Rolled thru Texarkana and was completely comfortable, the Corbin seat and Rox risers had a helped quite a bit, but the additional highway pegs, handguards and throttle lock really REALLY set this bike up to roll!
Once in Texas, I headed south on 59, second stop was in Atlanta TX, another 15 min fuel/smoke/coffee break after 105 miles non-stop. My comfort level was great, hands, back and butt felt great. Headed south on 43 thru Marshall and back on 59 into Carthage TX and my first destination, Crazy Good Mexican Food @ 10:45 am. 250 miles in 4 hours and 15 mins, minus 30 mins of breaks, average speed of 72 mph.
I had to wait 15 mins for the restaurant to open, so I peeled off a few layers of clothes and chatted with the other folks waiting. Texas is my second favorite state for several reasons, but the main one is the people in Texas. They are just good folks every where you go, talked college football with a couple that just drove in from College Station, talked bikes to the bartender while I ate lunch. I love Texas
Texas does something else that you don't see anywhere else, they have mastered the art of smoking beef brisket like no where else in the country. So the second and main stop in Carthage was the HEB Store A old cowboy came over to look at the NCX and we chatted for 15 mins or so, then I loaded up several briskets into a softsider insulated pack and stuffed that into the topbox and headed north @ 12:30 pm.
Third and last fuel stop was 135 miles later in Hope ARK and then rolled onto the house at 4:30 pm. A 10 hour 500 mile ride minus 2.5 hours on the side of the road averaging 66 mph and I felt fine, no hand cramps, no pain anywhere. Time to start planning a Iron Butt ride