johnha1962 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Took a ride last week with a couple of buds from my V4 Honda days, one of them on an 85 V65 Sabre, one on a ST13. Started out Tuesday AM from the Pocono Mountains in PA, slabbing it down I-81 to my all time favorite ride, the Blue Ridge Parkway. My friend on the big Sabre got a flat on a brand new Avon before we got out of PA, luckily his worm plug held up until he got home. Hit Buchanan VA around 6 PM and though we had ridden through some T-storm cells most of the afternoon, when we got to Buchanan the rain began to fall steadily. At 7:15 on the BRP near Mile Marker 140, I was leading on a downhill left hander in the rain when Bambi decided to bolt in front of me. Luckily she fell and was sliding when I hit her. Better description was that I ran over the deer, managing to release the brakes and stand the bike up slightly before going over it. How I didn't go down I'll never know, but count me a permanent fan of the Sportmax D222 OE tires. We stopped and Bambi expired in the road before I could find my knife to end the poor things suffering. I drug it off the road and threw the poor creatures carcass down the mountain. After I stopped shaking I resumed the lead and the remaining 60 wet miles to Fancy Gap, VA. No local restaurant was open, so we rode 10 miles to Hillsville to a Hardees. Picked up a 6 pack of Yuengling Lager (best beer they had) at the local gas station for our nightcap at the cabin. We chatted a bit about the day's events and turned in a bit after midnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnha1962 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Good skill there...and no doubt some thanks goes to lady luck. A good story to tell for years to come.You are so right. We all want to think its skill but personally its 10% how you train your monkey, 90% luck (or higher). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member keithu Posted June 27, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 27, 2016 Nicely done! The trick with Bambi is to stay on the gas and aim for the middle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member DavidS Posted June 27, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 27, 2016 Your reactions were spot on! I have a friend, who was riding down a small 2-lane highway on his way home from work one night, and a dog/coyote bolted out in front of him, he instinctively grabbed the front brake and the bike flipped over on top of him. He is paralyzed from the waist down, although it did nothing to dampen his spirit. You just never know when something like that is going to happen, and we all hope we will react the right way if it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member steveb Posted June 27, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 27, 2016 Nicely done! The trick with Bambi is to stay on the gas and aim for the middle. Not something you want to practice though! =:^O I have a couple of friends who have hit deer (unfortunately the deer didn't have the courtesy to lie down). My friends are ok, but their bikes weren't rideable after. Nice combination of luck and riding skill! Glad you're ok! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnha1962 Posted June 27, 2016 Author Share Posted June 27, 2016 Day 2. Trouble with traveling with old guys is you forget how to sleep in. My normal routine is to eat a few handfuls of trail mix and a cup of coffee then have a big brunch. I find that 'riding to eat' means you don't get to travel too far in a day. Dinner is then wherever I stop for the night, more time in the saddle. Today didn't start that way since the Lake View Restaurant in Fancy Gap was open for breakfast, it made more sense than leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to find something later in the day. Still had a 9 AM departure and a full day ahead. The FJ fuel computer told me I was getting over 51 MPG, and it was really only optimistic by about a mile. The BRP was open end to end, with a couple mile re-paving project requiring us to wait on a 'chase vehicle' to take us through a couple mile stretch of wet, packed, dirt. The FJ got nice and muddy. We detoured up to Mt. Mitchell State Park, as one of my buds had never come down the BRP so hadn't ever visited the highest point east of the Mississippi. It was 61F in the parking lot and we took the 285 yard hike up to the peak and the tomb of Elisha Mitchell, who the mountain is named after. It was very hazy up there which is a shame. I've been up there a couple times in April and, like The Who, you can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, oh yeah! At about 200 miles the big Sabre needed gas (he actually made 227) so we got off in Asheville for fuel, managing another delay by losing our ST13 pilot. It was 94F and very humid at the gas station so we sent texts and VM's for our missing bud, telling him we'd wait for him on the BRP south of town. He found us pretty quickly and before too long we were enjoying a temperature drop of over 25F in the Mt. Pisgah area of the Parkway. We bailed off the BRP near mile 440, taking the Great Smokey Mountain Expressway towards Robbinsville, NC. We decided to leave Deals Gap for the next morning and headed over the Cherohala Skyway, stopping at Hooper Bald trailhead parking area for a bathroom break. I told my buddies I was going to run into Tellico Plains at a more 'fun' pace, and I would meet them at the gas station in town. I had a quite spirited run down into Tellico Plains, where it was again quite warm and I remembered why I prefer visiting in April. I stopped for gas and a six pack of Fat Tire. Still averaging better than 50 MPG. My companions caught up to me at Hunts Lodge Motorcycle Campground on Route 68, where the hospitable proprietors had the A/C in our cabin on high. We went to dinner in Madisonville, TN and then back to the campground for a few adult beverages, lie-swapping, and a well earned nights sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duhs10 Posted June 27, 2016 Share Posted June 27, 2016 Day 2. Trouble with traveling with old guys is you forget how to sleep in. My normal routine is to eat a few handfuls of trail mix and a cup of coffee then have a big brunch. I find that 'riding to eat' means you don't get to travel too far in a day. Dinner is then wherever I stop for the night, more time in the saddle. Today didn't start that way since the Lake View Restaurant in Fancy Gap was open for breakfast, it made more sense than leaving the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to find something later in the day. Still had a 9 AM departure and a full day ahead. The FJ fuel computer told me I was getting over 51 MPG, and it was really only optimistic by about a mile. The BRP was open end to end, with a couple mile re-paving project requiring us to wait on a 'chase vehicle' to take us through a couple mile stretch of wet, packed, dirt. The FJ got nice and muddy. We detoured up to Mt. Mitchell State Park, as one of my buds had never come down the BRP so hadn't ever visited the highest point east of the Mississippi. It was 61F in the parking lot and we took the 285 yard hike up to the peak and the tomb of Elisha Mitchell, who the mountain is named after. It was very hazy up there which is a shame. I've been up there a couple times in April and, like The Who, you can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles, oh yeah! At about 200 miles the big Sabre needed gas (he actually made 227) so we got off in Asheville for fuel, managing another delay by losing our ST13 pilot. It was 94F and very humid at the gas station so we sent texts and VM's for our missing bud, telling him we'd wait for him on the BRP south of town. He found us pretty quickly and before too long we were enjoying a temperature drop of over 25F in the Mt. Pisgah area of the Parkway. We bailed off the BRP near mile 440, taking the Great Smokey Mountain Expressway towards Robbinsville, NC. We decided to leave Deals Gap for the next morning and headed over the Cherohala Skyway, stopping at Hooper Bald trailhead parking area for a bathroom break. I told my buddies I was going to run into Tellico Plains at a more 'fun' pace, and I would meet them at the gas station in town. I had a quite spirited run down into Tellico Plains, where it was again quite warm and I remembered why I prefer visiting in April. I stopped for gas and a six pack of Fat Tire. Still averaging better than 50 MPG. My companions caught up to me at Hunts Lodge Motorcycle Campground on Route 68, where the hospitable proprietors had the A/C in our cabin on high. We went to dinner in Madisonville, TN and then back to the campground for a few adult beverages, lie-swapping, and a well earned nights sleep. I'm in Seveirville, TN right now. Going to head down to the tail of the dragon tomorrow morning. Maybe we pass each other. '15 FJ-09 w/ lots of extras... Fayetteville, GA, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member fanowater Posted June 28, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 28, 2016 Glad to hear you didn't get hurt with the Bambi encounter. When I had mine I could barely walk for a few weeks and then not more than a 100 feet for several months. Cheers 2015 FJ-09 2006 Triumph Daytona 675 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wordsmith Posted June 28, 2016 Share Posted June 28, 2016 Here in Oz it is Skippy, not Bambi, who is often the cause of vehicle collisions, and far too often the victim too. Regrettably, this is an extremely common sight on our roads throughout the country. I always feel saddened at such sights, as our national emblem is a pretty animal and does no harm. Unless a biker runs into one at speed, as they can be up to 7’ tall and weigh-in at a healthy 85kg. http://i.imgur.com/zwmvaTC.jpg Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnha1962 Posted June 28, 2016 Author Share Posted June 28, 2016 Unless a biker runs into one at speed, as they can be up to 7’ tall and weigh-in at a healthy 85kg. now THAT is friggin' hilarious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member fddriver2 Posted June 28, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 28, 2016 Unless a biker runs into one at speed, as they can be up to 7’ tall and weigh-in at a healthy 85kg. now THAT is friggin' hilarious. Not if you hit it... "It doesn't matter who walks in, you know the joke is still the same" Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duhs10 Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Well, I didn't see any FJ's on the Dragon but saw a couple FZ's. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did! '15 FJ-09 w/ lots of extras... Fayetteville, GA, USA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member alejandro Posted June 30, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 30, 2016 @johnha1962: Thank you for the lovely trip report. Quite nice to read. Very happy to hear that you escaped unscathed. Your bambi story reminded me of the time I ran over a squirrel on my road bike (as in "bicycle"). Thankfully I didn't go down either, and it was a clean kill. Alej Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnha1962 Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 now THAT is friggin' hilarious. Not if you hit it... Sorry, I thought it was supposed to be humor, you know, like a fish story. My deer will go from fawn-size to moose by the 50th telling of the tale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member alejandro Posted June 30, 2016 Premium Member Share Posted June 30, 2016 I wonder if they make "roo bars" for FJ-09s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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