NORTH AMERICAN RELAY RIDE PHOTO ALBUM

i'm hearing this....and would love to meet up and at worst ride along....maybe even relay it...any Ca. folks want to p.m me....

:woohoo: :woohoo: Loving the relay pics. Nice bikes showing up!!! Ride on!!!
Rode my KZ 150 miles today, what frackin' ride too. Getting ready for my relay run.

NC to VA leg, 5/5/2012.


Get ready.



Meet up with Topper, JimStan and their group at South Hill, VA.

Let me try posting some pics from my phone...

350 miles yesterday including a drenching and an hour and a half attempt to wait out the storm before deciding to press on.


Leaving my cabin in the mountains.



Glass house grill, south hill va.



Jimstan carried the flag from here for about 2 hours up to Sprouses Corner VA.



Jim, his son and a friend head home (Jim can provide names? My brain hasn't dried out yet).



Here's the flag today. No more pics of my ride as me and my buddy Doug got hit with a torrential rain storm a little while after parting with Jim. We got waylaid about 15 minutes from Doug's place and he decided to head home. I donned my rain gear and soldiered on to Leesburg, VA, checked into my hotel (where there is some huge Indian wedding taking place).

Its sunday morning and i meet 650ed in about an hour.

removed duplicate post

Glad to see this is charging right along. Keep the pics and enthusiasm going and we may be done this year.

Les

Nice to see the pics keep em coming
Here is one for you Topper

Kawickrice wrote: Nice to see the pics keep em coming
Here is one for you Topper

I love that song. Can't believe I didn't think to sing that one in my helmet through the rain. Had U2 stuck in my head instead.

Met 650Ed this morning in Leesburg. In case you haven't read all 7,000 pages of the original thread, Ed's the one that came up with this whole idea. It was an honor to meet him and tell him how much I've enjoyed being part of this relay. Part of me can't wait to get this up to Newfoundland and finish the East Coast. Part of me will be sad when my job of coordinating the first leg of the ride is over.

BTW, Ed's 1975 KZ 650 turned 35 years old a week before these photos were taken. Ed's owned it the whole time. He says it's still his "new" bike, in that his "old" bike is an even older BSA. This is also a "new" bike in that it looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor. He said it has NOT been restored. He's just kept it in this good of shape for 35 years.

My bike's never exactly clean, and Ed's would put it to shame on a good day, but after 350+ miles including an hour and a half in the rain, frankly I was a little embarassed by the "patina" on my bike.












We met at Loudon Power Sports where our old bikes could gaze through the window at some new Kawasakis. None of them had anything on Ed's bike though. From there we went to a nearby donut shop for coffee and breakfast. Ed's a retired IT guy and I'm a web guy, we chatted about how what's old is new again tech-wise. Reminded me of our bikes too.

We asked a guy in the donut shop to take our pic and when he did, one of his kids says "Dad, I bet these are the guys with those cool bikes outside!" We told the kids what we were up to, about the relay, etc. A couple of guys in the shop took interest including a Harley rider and a guy with a modern Suzuki. They followed us outside and looked at the bikes and chatted a bit.

I admit I was getting a little jealous of all the attention Ed's bike was getting (though he deserved every bit of it). Just then a guy drives up to us, rolls down his window, points at my maroon '79 KZ750 and says "I had that bike in green in 1979 it was my first bike!". He had a strong british accent and had owned a "Z750" over on the other side of the Atlantic.

I've been absolutely thrilled with all the people I've met both in person and online through this relay ride. Many thanks to Ed for dreaming it up and many thanks to everyone who got the flag from Miami to Virginia so I could do my small part.

BTW, my small part totaled 490 miles of riding round trip. That's about twice as far as I've ever gone (I've only been riding about two years). I carried the flag for 140 of those miles and Jimstan carried it about 80 miles.

First let me say THANKS to Topper for coordinating the first leg and for actually getting the relay started. Without his effort this whole thing would probably be in the planning stage until we were all too old to ride. I’m really glad he made it back safely; he had a LOOONG ride 2 days in a row including a very soggy run yesterday. It was a real pleasure meeting him; he is a heck of a nice guy! And don’t let him kid you; his bike looks great even after hundreds of miles of riding in the rain.

We met some nice folks in Leesburg, VA who really did appreciate our bikes. As Topper mentioned; one guy driving through the parking lot nailed his brakes and shouted “Hey, that’s my bike only mine was green!” (referring to Topper’s KZ750) That guy had bought a new green Z750 twin in 1979 in Great Britain, and you could tell he was reliving the good old days as he stared at Topper’s bike.

After saying farewell to Topper I was able to take the flag from Leesburg, VA to Harpers Ferry WV; then through a short section of VA; up through MD to Littlestown, PA; then back to MD to my home. I look forward to delivering the flag to the next rider as soon as we identify who it is.

Here are some pics:


Our bikes in Leesburg, VA




Harpers Ferry, WV Town Hall/Police Station/Liquor Store


Views of Potomac River from Harpers Ferry




Town of Harpers Ferry



Crossing the Mason/Dixon Line into PA

More...


Welcome to PA


PA farm


PA community


Welcome to MD


If you have crabs you must be in MD


MD stream (Upper Patuxent)

This is really cool
Cant wait for my turn