Sunday, June 10, 2012

Shakedown Ride to Taste of Charlotte (June 10, 2012)

 Did some work at 24,000 miles on the Vulcan. It was time for the oil change, spark plugs (the V-twin uses four plugs) and cleaned the K+N air filter, among a few other things. Got the bike dialed in, got to check a few things on it (always a good idea, as is a good pre ride check before every ride) and it felt like a new machine on June 10 when I headed to Uptown Charlotte. Photo at left was taken there heading to "Taste of Charlotte". Funny to do that, as just the week before I was at "Broad Appetit" in downtown Richmond, VA. Fun to visit both places as I really enjoy food. The ride was great, headed there via NC49/NC29 which is a more sedate way to get to Charlotte (the other method is via I-85). More lights and a lower speed limit, but that was perfect on a Sunday near noon. Clouds were building but that kept the heat down, and there was a nice breeze. Stopped to get a photo of Rosedale (built in 1815) on the way in, which goes to show there are a few old things in Charlotte (besides me).

This is the view from Taste of Charlotte. I always enjoy going Uptown, and usually it seems on most weekends (as followers of this blog will note) there is something going on down there. Very good food fest, I liked the food and beverages there, and there was a nice (and like with the Speed Street event, fast growing) crowd on hand. I think there are normally some 75,000 that attend this if the Charlotte Observer is correct. Good food, and a lot of things to see, also music plus a number of giveaways. There was even a place to get a free haircut. I could have used that, but will do that in the next few days in Richmond.  
While I was there (this is a motorcycle blog after all) saw this Suzuki (from the name plate on the engine) which I am pretty sure is a TL-1000. Nice V-twin which is no longer made, but a pretty quick bike (Honda also had one along these lines during the same time called the "Super Hawk").
Headed back via the same route as I came up, though did make a short stop in North Davidson (aka "NoDa") which is one of the most interesting parts of Charlotte. Ride covered just around 45 miles over a two hour period, but did a bit of walking and enjoyed the sights.

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