Shake down and Marlinton

Sara and I have been going to Marlinton WV for the past 7 years.  We love the place so it's nice to be able to share it with our friends.  This year I combined the annual Ducati sport touring rally with my shake down prior to the California trip.  In order to maximize the fun factor I took back roads to Marlinton.  Along the way I passe the geographic center of Virginia.

Another view of the geographic center.  This tells lots of stories too!

Once in Marlinton I found myself at the center of the known universe:

Soon Matt and Patty rolled in.  Later Mike, Wendy, and the boys showed up.  We all ended up at the local pub.  My photo skills failed me at this point...maybe the beer?

On Friday we found that Nelson had worked a deal with the tourism department to shoot some video to promote Pocahontas County as a motorcycle destination.  They asked for help and we said HELL YES!  Now after two hours of intense filming we are all stars (have your people call my people and maybe we can do lunch).  It was fun but I'm still wondering how it takes two hours to get 15 seconds of video.  Amazing!

Then it was back to the Inn for bench racing.  Oh, the agony!  We had to tap the keg!  Thanks to Matt and Patty for their engineering assistance.

On Saturday we had groups going in all directions, to Green Bank (National Radio Telescope Array), New River Gorge, US 39, and points in between.  Sara and I wanted to ride the steam train out of Cass.  David Y and Nick joined us.

For the gear heads, note the three upright cylinders under the engine.  They drive a crankshaft that sends power to each of the wheels on this engine.  That's the unusual characteristic of these trains and it allows them to pull a huge weight up a steep grade.  Each wheel is gear driven.

After all this excitement we had to go back to the Inn for a cold adult beverage and dinner.  I understand that I had a great time!

Of course we had endless bench racing on the porch, highlighted by Mattel's video from his helmet cam.

Note:  this is not an all GUY event!

Sad to say, all this had to come to and end and I rode home on Sunday.  There was just the slightest bit of rain so I feel vindicated after all my gloom and doom about rain.  I had a few lessons learned:  I need more cold weather gear in my kit if just for the early mornings.  My tires would not have made the entire distance to California and back so I'm mounting some new Pirelli Angel tires this next week.  The Dunlop 616s are only good for 5-6K miles and I need something good for at least 8K.  Time will tell if this tire choice is the right one.  I also changed the oil in my bike so I should be ready for 8K miles in that department.  Keep your fingers crossed!