What a great ride. We left Jasper with 11 bikes, and found some interesting places that very few people in Alabama know about. Nice, easy riding, with mostly long, sweeping turns, and scenic forests along the way.
A brief look at some roads twisting thru the hills of Central Alabama while riding with a few members of Bama Rides on a Saturday afternoon. We pass Jefferson County sheriffs as they pull a dead body found in the river the same day.
Proud we are of the leader in the MAC '08 Challenge - sonicsix and his wife were on the news this weekend for their participation in "an unusual contest" and their plans to win the contest.
A beautiful Sunday riding Highway 25, with a fun bunch of guys riding the twisties outside 29 Dreams in Vandiver Alabama.
Please welcome PB from AX V-Twin Performance in Vincent Alabama, hosting his first of many podcasts "PB's Tech Tips", to be aired exclusively on BamaRides.
Rode out to a tiny quick-mart on Hwy-269 last night to grab a free hot-dog, and meetup up with Zukilover and his crowd. When I rolled up at 6:15, there were already 30+ bikes in the lot, and I figured it was in full swing at that point. By 7pm, there seemed to be close to 100 bikes, and quite a few interesting varieties.
Inside the store, you will find the common quick-store/gas station supplies, alongside a biker gear store...an interesting mix.
You can see a few more pics here
Find more bike nights in Alabama
A little less spontaneous than last Sunday, we planned this ride the night before, and posted in the new rides section. After meeting up at the Crack-Barrel, we wound our way thru Hueytown to find a nice surprise out in the woods - River Cafe - great hamburgers, fries, and an interesting menu of frozen items, with plenty of cold beer, cold-air, and comfortable environment 
built for the hungry biker.
After dining on the delicious fare, we continued the journey onto the Warrior River. Nice twisties, decent paved roads, with just a bit of gravel in a few of the turns. Lots of other places to explore out here, when you have the time.
Eventually, we arrived at King's Point, the end of the road, and another place to wet our whistle. Not quite as nice as the previous stop on the inside, but they did have cold beer. Outside, was much more
scenic, with a few picnic tables overlooking the lake on the Warrior River, a nice boardwalk, and a few boats passed by as we rested.
On Sunday - all the regulars show up..
It looked like another boring Sunday with yard work and remodeling a kitchen being the highlights of the day. Then, while returning some emails, in popped a dude to the chatroom. He mentioned that he would like to go down to Chilton county and get a peach, and I said that is a great idea, and when and where do we leave from? About that time, another member pops into the room. So all the sudden, we have 3 guys, ready to roll, on a short adventure to rescue fruit from the trash pile. I make it sound like it was much easier than it actually was. There was really several minutes of discussion, via chat, and a phone call, and then we all had to take a quick shower, so it was not all fun and games, lots of prep time(35 minutes or so, including the shower, getting dressed etc.)
So I meet the first rider in McCalla, fueled up, had a quick chat(the in-person kind), and rode down a few minutes to Green Pond (I know, I should have taken a pic) to endure about 10 minutes of the Green Pond police starring at us while we were in the Q-Mart lot discussing the ride and meeting each other (this is the first time I have met either of these guys).
Nice ride down to Maplesville, and had to stop for a train, where I notice another group of riders hiding under the shade of a closed old building. So I could not resist the temptation to stroll over and introduce and find out what they were doing today. Just like me they were riding down
from Birmingham, cruising thru peach country.
So we moved on down to the Peach Park at I-65, and had some delicious home ice cream and, and decided to mozy down to Indian Hills Resort(since we were so close, and one of the guys had never been). So a quick ride across, found us with cold beverage in hand, discussing various topics. As the Sunday crowd thinned, we decided to check out an interesting pub we had passed on the way in, just across the river.
This place was nothing short of different. On the river, 100 yards off hiway-22, just below Mitchell Dam, is what we will call No-Name Pub, because nobody asked what the name was. We had access to the pub, upstairs, and the boat house, complete with couches and chairs, pretty cool, and something certainly different.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that we all had a blast, it was all spontaneous, started in a Chat Room, and I saw stuff that I probably never would have known about had I not jumped on this ride. Maybe we should all start trying to get in on a ride?
A few interesting stats from a crash study done in 1981:
***The median pre-crash speed was 29.8 mph, and the median crash speed was 21.5 mph, and the one-in-a-thousand crash speed is approximately 86 mph.
***Motorcycle riders with previous recent traffic citations and accidents are overrepresented in the accident data.
***The motorcycle riders involved in accidents are essentially without training; 92% were self-taught or learned from family or friends. Motorcycle rider training experience reduces accident involvement and is related to reduced injuries in the event of accidents.
***Motorcycle riders in these accidents showed significant collision avoidance problems. Most riders would over-brake and skid the rear wheel, and under-brake the front wheel greatly reducing collision avoidance deceleration. The ability to countersteer and swerve was essentially absent.
***Less than 10% of the motorcycle riders involved in these accidents had insurance of any kind to provide medical care or replace property.
From: Motorcycle Accident Cause Factors and Identification of Countermeasures, Volume 1: Technical Report, Hurt, H.H., Ouellet, J.V. and Thom, D.R., Traffic Safety Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90007, Contract No. DOT HS-5-01160, January 1981 (Final Report)
But why install an air horn? My bike already has a "horn"? For some reason, bike makers believe that the size of your horn should be proportionate to the size of the vehicle. Trains and semi-s have huge air-horns, and the smaller you go, the smaller the horn. Maybe scooters should have those old school thumb-triggered bells like the old bikes had?
Wrong!
The most vulnerable people on the road should have the biggest horn. I got tired of riding and not being heard when someone thought about doing something stupid, like sharing my lane with me.
The video DOES NOT do the horn justice, it sounds like a high-pitched train. Works at 70 MPH, and so far I have only used it inappropriately.
I will post the notes/pics if anyone is interested, but it comes with good instructions, and it is maybe an hour project, easy as cake, and I love my new toy!!
Also, a nice review of the horn is here
The North Alabama Air, Car, and Bike show in Albertville was organized by real pros. This was more of an air-show than anything else, but lots of vendors, several antique and classic cars, and a handful of bikes surrounding the biker vendor. Not so much a bike show, but a good excuse to get on the bike and show up. Nice, small air-show, and it looks like everybody in Marshall County showed up for this event.
It has been a weeks since the biggest biker rally in Alabama, and I am still chuckling about what I saw. Oh sure I have seen naked people before, but never on a bike, at midnight, riding around a big, dirt track. That was a real treat. The biggest surprise was the BYOB, and whatever you can put on the back of your bike(or in your RV, or the trailer pulling your bike). That's right, no rules about beverages, except they do NOT sell alcohol there. So it turned into a quick trip down the road to Demopolis.
This was the single largest rally I have ever been to, and would guestimate 1,500-3,000 campers-RVs, tents etc., plus another 5,000 possibly in/out folks. Hard to gauge the real traffic due to everyone moving around alot, as there was much to see. In addition to the main stage, for music, wet-t contests, etc. there
were "community stages" set up out in the village, where the real debauchery took place. Stripper poles surrounded by RVs, nice light-shows, PA systems, and portable tiki-bars with singing automatons. The food was typical festival-type food, but enough to keep you alive.
If you wanted something different to eat, you could ride down the road less than a mile for the Annual Faunsdale Crawfish Festival, going on at the same time.
I would suggest making this a bi-annual trip, I had a blast.
Find out more about Faunsdale Bike Rally here
Faunsdale Biker Rally - Alabama Spring 2008
The Hoover to Tuscaloosa charity ride started out at a great location - the Iron Horse, where we picked up donuts and coffee, before the ride down. Escorted all the way to Tuscaloosa by the organizers-Xcell Academy. We rolled into Rhythm and Brews downtown to a buffet of chicken fingers and wings - enough to feed 100 hungry bikers, and Desperate Measures- a local band playing rock, blues and even a country tune. Great time, good atmosphere, and good people all around. Next time they will have more than a week to prepare, and should have more than 100 participants, and will certainly be a MUST RIDE.
the ride I am describing is the cherry on the top. I have been to the Nantahala before, paddling, camping, and always thought the scenery was "nice", and the water is 55' year round. When we arrived at "The Store", there were about
50+ bikes, and no cars in the parking lot. Bikers everywhere, a lodge, restaurant, and gift shop. On the side there was the "Tree of Shame", where victims of the dragon can hang the parts he spit out. After a few minutes of gathering our thoughts, we hit the Tail, and it was a quick ride, and very confusing, as there were so many unusual factors - banked turns, and foot-peg scrapers, knee-draggers in every corner, mixed in with an occasional car. The rise and fall of the road has not been captured by any video or pics that I have seen. The 80 ft. drops off many of the corners are not seen in video either. It all ended too quickly, and the sun was going down. All I want to do is go back, and spend a bit more time exploring the surrounding areas, broken up by a few more trips thru the dragon.
The long sweeping turns, unlike Deal's Gap, are pleasant to cruise and sight-see, just don't get too focused on the view. There are lots of places to pull over. You gotta go.
