steveb leatherworks: the blather

shank @ bear mtn - a fine spot

Needing a ride every so often – I am always on the lookout for a good spot to use as a destination, a reason to get on the bike and a place, that once i get to it…inspires a bit of reflection. I wont get on the bike unless I am going at least 50mi, so that easily pushes me beyond the urban blah… squirrel country for sure.

now this is a good spot, killer, fun roads and great wooded/water views

Used to be, the “Bah” would be a popular destination – but that doesn’t work so well for me..and for many people i know, it would appear, from taking score over the years. Eating is a traditional reason to hook up with the local bunch and focuses the herd – Lunch is an ok destination – but breakfast is better, the early morning hours are always best for enjoying the ride and that’s usually more important to me than getting another hours sleep…but few are motivated to get moving when its early, the bed is comfy and the air cool.

By virtue, the pack gets smaller and the like minded individuals cluster, like squirrels around a nut. Family responsibilities factor in mightily to this sad attendance, but we’ve all been there, you just have to suck it up and do what you have to do…and smile damnit!… just hope your not in a classless cage heading to some baby shower/work affair/birthday/christening/communion/bar mitzvah/etc… watching others fly by on their 2-wheelers having fun…that hurts!

So in response to this sad situation, more and moreso, i find myself going out alone, and my idea of a spot is changing more to accommodate my own personal needs. Qualities that make a good spot when i am on the solo local recon excursion, include: quiet, privacy-off the road a bit preferably, a good view of some natural flora, easy on/off the main road, no dead end spots-always have to have a way in, and a way out, lightly traveled is preferable, no mud baths, no crossing body’s of water higher than my axles and keeping both wheels ground-bound.

another good spot, tucked away

Huckleberry is one of those special places, you pass ’em all the time and you have no clue, unless you’d been there for some reason before…..tucked one turn off a main country road, you descend through the trees into a wide open body of water on both sides of the road…beautiful..my amateur video does not do it justice….and riding the bagger with one hand is a challenge on this road – its tight, so forgive me.

huck <<< video link check it out!!

The ride out of Huckleberry, if one chooses not to backtrack the way out and is feeling extra saucy, is one clenched-cheeks, hairpin-having, 8-mph, sand in the corners backwoods road that is barely paved – but absolutely gorgeous. Always fun to take the salty city folk on that road when they start talking about how they like a challenge…  arrgh arrgh!!

sunset @ Huck