The First Day of the Rest of my Life: Ride recap

I want to detail a few rides before I FORGET already! So far, I have not been a multi state driver, but we have done a lot of our east Tennessee paradise. I will say that David pushes me. He doesn't let the excuse, "I'm just a beginner" hold ANY water. When we were cruising through Knoxville uphill on a 55 mph 2 lane with traffic and curves, and I fell behind enough to let a car cut between us, he had to have a 'conversation' with me about staying up close enough. I argued that I didn't feel comfortable and he said to push through it or I would never GET comfortable. And he's right! In subsequent rides, I have realized that I'm not thinking as hard/holding my jaw as tight/feeling tight thorough my neck from tension any more. I sit up straight, keep my hands relaxed, and let the bike float through the turns.

I have now driven on the Cherohala Skyway as a driver, and it is AWESOME. The only bad thing is I can't enjoy the views any more! I just have to see them out of my peripheral. We have done several long rides; on the last one I referenced in my blog, we drove west towards Cookeville. Cookeville is halfway between Knoxville and Nashville. We had 'way points' of McCloud Mountain, Burgess Falls, Cummins Falls, and Fall Creek Falls. We drove through the Big South Fork recreation area, and that was an unexpected treasure! Nice and cool in the shade, lots of cliffs and sheer rock walls, and 10 mph hair pin curves. Those are challenging! I could see how people can lay a bike down if you don't get in the friction zone. It was a LONG day that ended up HOT. We hit Cummins Falls first, and didn't realize it was going to be a several mile hike down/up hill and along a creek bed to get to the falls. We simply were not dressed for that. I was wearing jeans, my paddock boots, and my half chaps. By the time we gave up getting all the way to the base of the falls and turned around to just take the trail up to the top, I was working on some gnarly blisters. We finally made it back out to the bikes and began working our way towards Burgess. That one was better, but what was a leetle bit disappointing is that the "big" falls was a 3/4 mile strenuous hike. The boys were tired, and my feet were killing me, so we just took in the 'small' and the 'medium' falls, which were still drop dead gorgeous! We didn't make it to the 3rd park.

Cummins Falls

We've gone into Gatlinburg and and Pigeon Forge, of course. We've now gone through Foothills Parkway twice, and today we did it half way, then turned down a side road that ended up being the most challenging road to date for me! Even moreso than the Dragon. Even moreso than Big South Fork. It was a road that was so narrow it didn't have a yellow line, it had a pronounced "crown" in the middle of it, and it had gnarly curves on a dramatic downhill grade. To complicate matters, there was quite a bit of loose gravel and washed out leaf piles from the recent storms we've had. The cherry on top was the stop sign on a steep, cantilevered uphill!

Burgess Falls

A fun ride we did with the inlaws and family friend was south towards Chattanooga, where we ate breakfast at a cute cafe in Tellico Junction. We continued to Ocoee, which is rafting central. We turned down Hwy 64, which is the Ocoee River Scenic Byway. That was so neat, we had to go back the following week with the baby and the car!

Speaking of ... I have to vent for a second. I'm a sharer. I share this blog, and I like to post in 'forums'. After the COTH debacle with one of my ex bestfriends, I no longer even read COTH. Lost interest in the whole "pack mentality" of perceived online wrongs. Since becoming interested in motorcycles, I've joined a few facebook motorcycle boards and I post on both fairly regularly. Nothing controversial; in fact, I don't even READ political posts that my friends and family post so I'm not even tempted to insert my opinion. I'm allergic to drama, lol! Last week at the Ocoee dam, there was a HUGE open and empty parking lot where we ate a picnic lunch. We had finished eating, and was getting ready to head out. Colton has sat on David's bike QUITE a few times at home just going forward and back; he LOVES it. His whole BODY lights up when he hears them running. When we're outside and he hears one going down the road, he practically breaks his neck trying to look. We KNEW he would do just fine sitting on the tank for a loop around the parking lot. David was fully dressed in his jeans/boots/long sleeved shirt/full faced helmet because WE WERE RIDING ALL DAY. Colton was wearing shorts and no helmet because he doesn't have one; he can't reach the foot pegs which means he CAN'T RIDE ON THE HIGHWAY. Yes, y'all know where this is going. My dumb ass posted the 30 second, 5 mph ride in the parking lot. David was going so slow the Subway bag SITTING on the back of the bike didn't even MOVE. Much to my surprise, I got jumped on by a bunch of internet strangers telling me someone should call CPS because I was endangering my baby's life (one of the biggest issues seemed to be the fact that David was wearing full gear and Colton was not). GIVE ME A BREAK. He was in NO danger of falling off; he weighs 25 lbs, is in full control of his muscles, and was sticky with sweat. David is one of the most protective fathers I know, he would NEVER, EVER put either boy in any sort of danger. Fun? Yes. I am so sick of people thinking they have all the information in any given situation, and thinking it's ok just to jump people's ass on the internet. And by the way, the baby's CRAZY OVERPROTECTIVE GRAND PARENTS WERE WATCHING/FILMING/ AND CHEERING FOR HIM. Once again, I have been reminded that by sharing my life/opinions/observations, I leave myself vulnerable to virtual attacks. It's pathetic. Ok, rant over! Thanks for the vent :D

Tomorrow (or Sunday) I will post about tips and tricks I have learned that actually work and actually help me as a novice rider. Stay safe and ride free!