Riding sMILES for Deb & Kevin Healey!

Helping them heal...Riding sMILES for Deb & Kevin

Kevin and Deborah Healey were involved in a horrific accident on November 30, 2012, while on their way to "Wizard's Wild Weekend" in Cedar Key, Florida -- a gathering of riding friends that Kevin has sponsored for many years.  The accident has resulted in extensive and severe injuries to both Deb and Kevin, requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries, and they are now in the hospital fighting to recover.  Kevin's injuries have resulted in the loss of his left leg below the knee as well as as broken arms and a cracked pelvis.  They not only need our loving support but also our financial support to help them deal with what will surely be crushing medical expenses.

How You Can Help...

One thing we all know about Kevin is that he is upbeat and positive about everything!  This attitude about life and people got him through extreme Iron Butt long distance rides, Iron Butt Rallies, and saw him cross the finish line in many marathons around the country.  Many of you are also long-distance riders, whether riding a few hours to an RTE, a few days to a flower-sniffin' event, or 1,000 miles in an IBA ride or a 24-hour rally.  How about contributing some "pennies per mile" for the riding you will do over the next few months?

I estimate that I will ride over 1200 miles in just a few days attending the Stagecoach RTE on Dec 30, the Coney Island Drive Inn RTE on Dec 31, and the New Years Day RTE.  I will pledge 10 cents per mile--$120+--for those rides.  And there are other rides on the calendar:  500 miles round trip to the Masters RTE, 2500 miles for the MTF Hill Country ride, and perhaps 1700+ for a trip to Moonshine!  The number of pennies that I pledge may vary for each trip, but I will be riding for Deb and Kevin all the way.

You can do the same.  Click on this link to make your pledge/donation:

Click Here to Donate

When you click this link you will be taken to Jason Jonas' Ride Master portal.  Enter your email address and you will receive a return email with a ling to gain access into the site to make your donation.  That email should arrive in a few minutes.  If it does not, be sure to check your spam folder.  Ride Master's main function is to register riders for motorcycle events, so just fill in the information requested--or make something up--whether you ride or not.  The key is to get your name and address so that a sticker or mug can be mailed to you.  Once you get the first page filled out, it will take you to the donation page.  You can change the purchase quantity on any of the option lines to tailor the donation to the amount you want.

Rest assured, the donor list will remain private, not visible to others, to protect your confidentiality.  By collecting your donations through Ride Master, I will have your address to mail your donation "thank you" gift of a sticker or mug.  Your address will also be made available to the Healeys so they might thank you when they are able.

All donated money is going directly, via Paypal, to the Healey family.

US 90 Through the Florida Panhandle

US 90 Through Florida

Heading to Jacksonville for the IBA Party or heading to Daytona for Bike Week, or both? Coming from the west or northwest? US 90 is a great alternative to the slab:

About a year ago I had some extra time returning from a family funeral in Mississippi and decided to ride US 90 as much as possible instead of Interstate 10 on my way home to Jacksonville. It was part curiosity and part nostalgia. While various state legislatures debate designating Interstate 10 “The Barb Smith Highway,” US 90 has always been my “Mother Road.”

As a child, this was the highway we used every year in the family car on our vacation trip to see my grandparents in Petal (near Hattiesburg) and in the farm country near Philadelphia, Mississippi. And there were aunts and uncles and lots of cousins my age all over the State. This was always an exciting trip for me, and I had the towns and landmarks and road signs memorized. This was, of course, before the Interstate was built. Before I-10 was complete across Louisiana and Texas, I drove a lot of US 90 to and from Ft Bliss during my Army active duty.

Prior to 1926, US 90 was Florida State Road 1, “The Old Spanish Trail.” It was the first paved highway in the State, and eventually linked Pensacola to Jacksonville. Much of it east of Pensacola was brick, and I remember riding on the brick highway in the late '40s. Some of the old brick road still exists east of Milton and is being turned into a bicycle and pedestrian trail. I took the opportunity, on the way to Stagecoach in December, to take a few pictures.

Riding US 90 home from Mississippi was a pleasant surprise. Most of it is still two-lane, and much of it is hilly with lots of nice sweepers. There is a stretch east of Tallahassee that was lined on both sides in the '50s and '60s with large crepe-myrtle bushes, which bloom throughout the warmer months in a bright pink color. Many of those bushes, trees now, are still there. It was a very enjoyable ride.

It is easy to bypass the cities of Pensacola and Tallahassee, where the traffic lights and traffic would be the worst, as US 90 intersects I-10 in a few places. Entering Florida, eastbound, it would be best to stay on I-10 and ride it to Exit 31, SR 87, and take 87 a few miles north to pick up US 90. At this intersection of 87 and 90 you can see the old brick highway, which goes east and west for a few miles on the north side of US 90.

About eight or nine miles east of Quincy, hop on I-10 again to avoid Tallahassee. There will be several exits into Tallahassee should you need to stop there. At Exit 209 you can resume your eastbound trip on US 90, and this is where the road gets more scenic and there are more hills and curves.

Approaching Jacksonville there are several places to get back on the Interstate. At Baldwin you can turn right on US 301 and head south for about a mile to the interchange with I-10. This is probably the easiest, and it is about 13 miles from the I-295 interchange and 18 miles from I-95 near downtown Jax.

From the State line near Pensacola to Jacksonville, it will take about an hour or so longer to ride US 90. In addition to 90, the US highways in general in Florida are pretty nice rides. Many of them are still two-lane for much of their length and take you through National Forests and farm country, and are lightly traveled in comparison with the Interstates.

Cannons & Dragons 10-hour Rally

I should have put a bonus location in Altoona.

The Long Riders' Third Annual Digital Scavenger Hunt was run on November 6, 2010. This year it was upgraded to the format of a 10-hour endurance rally and sub-titled “The Cannons & Dragons 10-Hour Rally.” Twenty riders on 16 motorcycles and one Can-Am Spyder showed up at the Start near Brooksville, Florida, at 7AM, more or less (you know who you are...). Ten hours later, or more...much more...everyone arrived safely at the Finish in Dade City. This was designed to be a low-key, but challenging, rally for those who wanted to try endurance rallying for the first time. There were a few riders with previous rally experience, but most were novices.

Bonus locations were a mix of roadside oddities, monuments to vanity, historic locations, and state parks. Many were designed to entice riders onto just-plain-fun roads, and others were picked to entice the unwary into weekend-beach-and-downtown-major-college-football traffic. Two of the wild-card bonus types gave the event it's name: “Cannons” were defined as pieces of military hardware—cannons, tanks, airplanes, etc, typically on display in public places such as town squares, city parks, courthouses, or in front of military installations. “Dragons” meant life-size or larger sculptures of animals – horses, alligators, sharks, and a few actual dragons. Riders could collect as many Cannons and Dragons as they could find during the rally and get 225 or 200 points for each. This worked out very well for a few riders who wanted to keep it low-key and relatively close to home, but who also wanted to finish with a respectable score. There are an amazing number of dragons out there!

/P>

The podium finishers:

First Place (tie): Kathy Allen and Roger Allen, on separate bikes, with 10,054 points each. They rode 413 miles for an “efficiency rating” of 24.3 points per mile (ppm). This was their first rally, and a great result. Roger and Kathy have been selected for the 2011 Iron Butt Rally, and this is a great beginning! Roger was riding his brand-new BMW R1200 GSA (361 miles on the odo at the start) and Kathy was on her nearly-new R1200 GS with about 11K on it.

Second Place: John Stamps, on a well-farkled (for LD riding) BMW R1200RT, collected bonuses worth 10,044 points, and did not demand a recount! Classy guy. Rode the final miles to the finish knowing he had a nail in his rear tire and was losing air, ended with about 20 PSI. John rode 435 miles for 23.1 ppm.

Third Place: Joe Merkt and Deb Davis, on Joe's HD Ultra Classic, finished with 9,252 points. They headed northwest toward Cedar Key and Horseshoe Beach and collected some high-value bonuses, but not before encountering an incredible number of Dragons and one centuries-old-looking black gunboat cannon. Then Joe let slip the information that this cannon was made from styrofoam....Fail! Joe and Deb rode 449 miles for 20.6 ppm.

Everyone else:

Fred and Mary Patnode, on a Honda Valkyrie Interstate, got 8,493 points by riding 359 miles, picking up points at the rate of 23.7 ppm.

Tim Woods, riding a BMW R1150RT, collected 7,568 points in 376 miles at the rate of 20.1 points per mile.

Otto Hoel, BMW R1200RT;
Nicole Brice, Suzuki V-Strom;
Jerry Brodsky, Honda NT700V – this “team” rode together and collected the same bonuses, but, due to odometer variations, they seemingly rode different mileages. I know the accuracy of the RT odometer, so we will use Otto's miles. They collected 7,504 points and rode 313 miles for 24.0 ppm.

Mike and Sis Denson, Can-Am Spyder RT, 7,008 points and only 190 miles! Mike and Sis are the efficiency champs with 36.9 points per mile. They achieved their lunch and BBQ take-out menu bonuses by picking up their lunch and taking it home to eat, and then they took a nap before resuming the rally! They collected an awesome number of Cannons and Dragons bonuses.

Larry Meeker, on his BMW R1150GS-PD, collected 6,875 points in 488 miles at the rate of 14.1 ppm.

Bob Long, riding a BMW R1100RT, scored 6,757 points in 577 miles, or 11.7 ppm. 577 miles is a lot of miles to ride in a 10-hour rally. Bob was headed for Dothan, Alabama, in hopes of collecting the three-state bonus of 3,000 points, but wisely turned around when he realized he could not get to the finish in time to avoid a DNF. He did collect the 1000-point two-state bonus.

Joe Hoffman, on a Yamaha Roadliner, collected 6710 points in 313 miles for a rating of 21.4 ppm.

Jerry Hotchkiss, on his Honda GL1800 GoldWing, got 6,334 points in 328 miles, or 19.3 ppm.

Eric Chernin, riding a Honda ST1300, gathered 4,060 points over 439 miles, resulting in 9.2 ppm. Eric gets our “don't believe everything the GPS tells you” sympathy award.

Bob Armbruster, also on a Honda GL1800 GoldWing, collected 3,675 points in 322 miles for 11.4 ppm.

Danny Lee piloted his Kawasaki ZG1000 Concours an incredible 593 miles but finished with only 3,321 points due to penalties, for an average of 5.7 points per mile. If Danny is on your Christmas gift list, might we suggest a couple of MSR fuel bottles... Danny's ppm rating would have been higher, like 12.7, but he incurred a 3700-point penalty for being late to the finish. He made a heroic ride, and picked up a few bonuses that we thought no one would attempt, but he ran out of gas 7 miles from the exit to Dade City and the finish. He got a ride in the back of a police car to the gas station, and had to show his ID to the cop. That blew the 500 point bonus for returning the sealed driver-license-and-registration envelope intact.

For me, the planning and preparation for an event like this is as much fun as actually participating in a rally. I love searching the internet for oddball locations, and then I get to ride to many of them to check them out. David Gillespie was the Rallymaster, so I grabbed the title of Rallybastard and worked it to the max. Jim Davis was our third RM, and he was a huge help in checking out bonuses on the Gulf Coast and in the greater Tampa Bay area, and did a great job at the scoring table, as did David. “Senator” David did his usual fine job as emcee of the award dinner festivities.

Even my ride home to Jacksonville on Sunday was great. I had a route in mind, but I punched “home” on Betty Garmin the GPS just to keep tabs on my ETA. The poor girl was actually sweating from saying “recalculating” every quarter of a mile or so, trying to get me to the interstate, until we finally turned north on SR 19 near Mission Inn, a route with which she seemed to agree. I messed her up again when we got to Altoona (Florida) and County Road 42. I turned left (west) so that I could ride my favorite roads through the Ocala National Forest, as some of the rally riders had done thanks to the bonuses we planted there.

What a nice surprise: CR 42 has been freshly re-paved from Altoona west! It has always been hilly and twisty, and now it is a delight to ride! Don't ever go direct from Altoona to Salt Springs, or vice versa, if you have an extra 20 minutes or so to go an extra 16 miles and ride CR 42, SW 182nd Ave Rd, and CR 314A. SR 19 direct between the two towns is a nice, two-lane road through the Forest, but most of it is pretty straight. The alternate loop is lots more fun.

Like I said, I should have put a bonus in Altoona.

Florida's Great Roads!

It's September. Fall fell, it's probably snowing somewhere, and it can't be long before many of my friends in the frozen north start thinking about riding to Florida for some balmy temperatures, Biketoberfest or Bike Week, the IBA party, and those great twisty roads you have been hearing about. 11 curves in 318 miles! How can you resist? However, without a little local knowledge the good roads can be hard to find. As a life-long resident of the Sunshine State, I thought perhaps I could help. So I took a little ride all over the peninsula....OK, it was hotter'n hell early this month, so it was a Virtual ride....and mapped some great peg-scraping riding opportunities.

Way down south in Collier County and the Big Cypress Swamp, this one is a big favorite of my friend Don Kime:

Even the interstates are twisty! This curve is in Suwannee County between Ellaville and Dickert. notice how boring US 90 is by comparison:

You will find this great set of S-curves on US 441 south of Holopaw:

More S-curves! This is Alligator Alley east of Miles City:

S-curves on the Interstate! My friend David (DragonflyUC) loves this one. He likes traveling north from Dade City just so he can throw the bike back and forth through these twisties:

On the county line between Seminole and Volusia, Hwy 46 -- the main thoroughfare from Sanford to Mims. Great scenery and a curve in the road! Can you handle both at the same time?

Flagler County, on the famed Bunnell-Espanola-Bimini loop. An exciting, two-lane, county road!

A few States to the north, US 129 has gained some notoriety as the main street in Deal's Gap. But here in Levy County, can there be any doubt why it is known as "The Head of the Dragon?"

Maytown Road, just off of I-95 in Volusia County, has this great hairpin turn. Unfortunately, you cannot get to Maytown Road from I-95....

But don't despair! I-95 has this beauty in store in St Johns county as you travel through the Big Fish Tail Swamp:

This is Government Road in the Everglades, which connects the Miccosukee Indian Reservation in Broward County to the Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Hendry County. It's the Florida DOT demonstrating their sense of humor:

But watch out for this guy....

I love this one:

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