Lunch Ride - Cambridge, Ohio 10/13

[duhg]

 
 
Lunch Ride, Saturday October 13
 
to The Bear's Den Steakhouse
13320 E. Pike Rd. Cambridge, OH.
 
 
 
Central Ohio riders can meet at the Duke station south of the freeway at OH 310 and I-70 Etna exit. Ready to roll at 9 am.  We'll take a scenic route.
 
http://bearsdensteakhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/lunchmenu.pdf
 
 
 
 
 

[sirepair]

I'll try to be there, but I'm updating my ST1100 for an upcoming trip, so depends on progress I make this week.

[texscottyd]

Tempting. Kind of a long day trip, however...
 

[sirepair]

Tempting. Kind of a long day trip, however...

Hmmm, could make an Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1000 out of it! 
Unfortunately I won't be able to make it.  I forgot I have an appointment Saturday at noon.

[duhg]

We had a fun ride yesterday!  Five of us showed up at the meeting place and 5 more were waiting at the Bear's Den Steakhouse when we arrived (6 from Columbus, and one each from Marietta, Dayton, New Philadelphia and Zanesville).
 
 
The early half of the ride was chilly.  Temps were in the high 30's F when we all left home and the high for the day would only reach 54.  Heated grips, gloves and jacket liners were all employed as well as chemical hand warmers.  I rode my R1200GS, because I haven't installed heated grips on the FJ yet.  All day the BMW turn signal switches confounded me, as I had gotten used to those on the Yamaha.  I was comfortable with only a slight chill in the toes. 
 
 
 
I had planned a route that included some new-to-me roads, which turned out to be fun and interesting.  I found them by drawing a straight-ish line on the map and looking for curvy roads.  Some were smooth and fast. Some were narrow and winding, requiring a slower pace, at least from me.  Unfortunately, my route was too long.  I had told others we'd arrive around 11:30 and the GPS told me it would be 1:15.  I had to cut out the bit with the loop around Senecaville Lake.  The cooling effect of the lake air was not really needed that morning anyway.  In the town of Buffalo I stopped the route and bid the GPS to take us directly to the restaurant.  That is just asking for trouble.  Soon the directions told me to take a short cut on a very narrow road that climbed a hill.  Why not?  The next turn was in 1.9 miles, so how bad could it be?  Not that bad, really, but then I'm not a gravelphobe.  Approximately the middle third of this road was gravel and the whole length was only one lane wide.  Had we met an oncoming car someone would have to have gone into the ditch. 
 
 
 
Lunch was met with universal approval.  Wraps, burgers and soup were good and warming.  We talked and swapped stories until well after we had paid our bills, and then we bundled up for the ride home.  Only 4 of us were taking the scenic route, again plotted on my GPS.  The afternoon featured more of those smooth, faster, winding roads that I had never ridden, and they were even better than the earlier ones.  One guy said, "I never thought to ride these roads, because they don't go anywhere.  But they do make a nice loop."  I asked for a show of hands in Dresden, "Who wants to stop for ice cream?"  Despite the recent lunch and cool temperatures the vote was unanimous.  A spirited run down an old favorite, OH 666, put an exclamation point on the day.  Tom's Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville was almost empty when we got there.  On a warmer day this place would have been packed.  They make their own ice cream and sherbet and do it as well as anyone.  We took county roads and state routes back to our meeting point, and then dispersed.
 
 
I rode 235 miles - not bad for the conditions.
 
 
The photos illustrate our routes.