(JINKSTER @ Aug. 06 2007,18:17)
(NX95240 @ Aug. 06 2007,11:00) it is SO sad that the cops have to be that bad to the motorcyles there riding. do you think that they will run all the motorcycle off from there?? i donot think so...
i do.
I've been spending quite a bit of hard earned making reservations and travel arrangements to travel from south florida to ride the SE mountains for the past 7 years...i've ridden all of my 49 year old life but started attending mountain rallys in the suches/two, fontana/gap areas w/ my fellow ZRXOA members back in '00..then i made several rallys in the same areas with the FZ1OA...and now with the H.Org Busa Bashs and?...over these years i've seen the older, wiser sportbike vacationers migrate to alternative locations...some on the outskirts of and away from the gap...such as Skeenah Creek...and some that elect to travel a bit further to locations such as Eureka Springs...even Colorado just to NOT RISK dealing with the possibility of a gestapo style lock-down at the gap such as we see now...vacation time, plans and reservations all wasted...when there's more than several other prime riding locations in towns that are far more welcoming than the squid pit known as deals gap.
The ironic part is that sportbiking catapulted itself into popularity so quickly the past few years that we forgot all about policing ourselves...too many foolhardy youngsters out there trying to use the place for a race track and riding waaaaay over their respective heads...allll daaaay looooong...or until they crash...whichever comes first...and that's what abused the area to the point of martial type law stepping in....not the wiser more experienced that would make just a pass or two and enjoy the surrounding areas instead of tempting fate all day long on one measely 11 mile stretch...and ya know what they say about "tempting fate".
It was a beautiful place to ride...but i fear we've already seen the best of it....as all good things must sooner or later come to an end.
L8R, Bill.