A Few Good Rides (July 10, 12, 18-19, 2015)

 Some very good rides this month. On July 10 rode with a friend (who rides a Honda 600 Shadow, the type of bike that I rode previous to my Vulcan) to Roseland, VA. Nice ride....went from Richmond via VA 6 which was a fun road. Had ridden part of it in the past , but this time got up to this place. Nice brew pub with a very nice (sort of hunting lodge) interior and of course I like the beer (which I had one of). Went also though Scottsville, VA on the way...liked that town. We stopped for gas on the way up, coffee and a break on the way back. Looking forward to checking out more in this area in the weeks to come.  
  Sunday July 12 took my normal Sunday ride. Headed to Galley for brunch and rode out to the Midlothian mines, site of the first coal mines in North America. Unlike the previous ride was not much for distance, but was a very fun ride. Heat and humidity were very bad that day so did not make it a long trip, but was very nice. Plus this was the last day of vacation, had been on some really good motorcycle rides over the period and wanted to get back to relax a bit since I assumed Monday would be a hard day after being off for a week (and it was, but that is another story).  

Saturday July 18 made some cool stops. I rode the bike to Church Hill to look at some houses, which were nice. I am not quite sure where I am going to settle when I (can) retire some three years from now....got a few places in mind and Richmond is one of them. I also rode to the Virginia Railway Museum on Hull Street...they had an open house. Not quite the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC which is my favorite train museum, but I enjoyed it. I also walked around an abandoned building in Richmond, and had lunch at Legends after a look around Scoot Richmond (which sells Triumph and Moto Guzzi Motorcycles. Nice Saturday.  

Sunday was a bigger ride than usual. Went rolling toward Ashland (just for the hell of it) and came across a huge backup on I-95. Got off the highway and via some backroads came across Hanover. I was there a few weeks ago, but again this is Hanover Tavern. Both this and the courthouse across the street date to the early 1700's. I did make it to Ashland on this very hot and humid day and then rode back to Richmond via VA 1. That is much cooler road than I-95 anyhow. As for lunch...went to McDonalds and skipped the brunch at Galley this week. Covered a lot more miles than I did the day before, which was sort of unusual. Been some good rides over the last few weeks.  

Two Rides in July (July 3 and 7, 2015)

From the previous ride, I did some work on the motorcycle.  As a sort of test ride on Friday July 3 rode around the Richmond area. Not a lot of big miles but did go to some nice areas such as being on Grace Street here at left. A lot of old and very cool houses can be found there. I also rode around the Rocketts Landing
The ride was around some 30 miles, and I had zero problems with the Vulcan. I was concerned about the weather forecast for the day and in fact at the fireworks later that evening watched them under an umbrella while standing in the rain. However, it was a nice celebration of the Fourth of July in Richmond...a day early.

On July 7, a ride to Yorktown Beach. This is one of my favorite places to go to. Took the ride there via Route 5 which is a two lane road from Richmond with a lot of curves, tree lined sections, and best of all no traffic backups. Learning that riding anyplace on I-64 toward Williamsburg often means huge backups and stop and go traffic. Route 5 has none of those.
Rode past a number of Civil War Battlefields, Plantations, and then up the beautiful Colonial Parkway past a Revolutionary War battlefield to Yorktown Beach. Walked around a bit, seeing the beach, some shops, a few historic buildings and sights and stopped in the Yorktown Pub.

On the way back, again via Route 5 passed through Williamsburg after a bit longer ride on the Colonial Parkway (that is a great road)  where I stopped at the College of William and Mary there. While there saw this building which just happens to be the oldest college building in the US. Still in use and has been since the 1600's. That to me is remarkable, but there is a lot of that sort of thing in Virginia. As noted also saw some buildings from the 1700's in Yorktown  and there is a building that old in Richmond for that matter. A lot of history can be found in this state. At any case got back after being out some five hours (riding and walking around areas of interest) and a total of 158 miles of riding. It was a hot day at the end, but a good day for a ride. Much better than the previous trip this year which put me via I-64 in a number of traffic jams. Currently on vacation which is in this period of these two rides and will be doing some more while I have the time off with some more upcoming rides planned.      

Ride to Sunday Park (June 28, 2015)

Got in a Sunday ride...and the first stop I made was Sunday Park. There is a small lake there (used for water) and there were some sailboats and a pontoon boat on it. There is also a restaurant there called The Boathouse which is very good (also very pricey) with two other locations in Richmond. Good place to eat though. Ride was real nice, temperature was around 78 and humidity was not a concern. Yesterday was a full day of storms and showers so this was really nice to get out and enjoy the road a bit. I was glad to have the one day to ride. There are times that it is impossible to get even that.

Stopped at Steel House Harley Davidson on what was an out and back ride. Down Rt 360 and back. This was on the way back. Nice dealer and they have some good motorcycles. Problem I have with Harley-Davidson is reliability and the cost is amazingly high. Looked at that survey at Consumer Reports...Harley reliability was about in the middle...way worse than the Japanese bikes, but better than Triumph, Ducati, BMW and especially Can-Am. I want to ride my motorcycle not work on it, or have it spend time in the shop.
Anyhow, did that riding today, and it was a wonderful day on two wheels. Got quite a few more rides coming up -will be on vacation in four days. My plan is to explore Virginia, for a change not going out of the state to Carolina, or Kentucky. No plans to even go to other places...going to see some of the sights in this amazing state.

End of Spring/Start of Summer (June 20-21,2015)

 Went riding on June 20, the last official day of Spring. Was a good day though the heat was in the upper 90's so went for an early ride along the James River. Beautiful ride and had a great time being out in the "cool" of the day.
I also rode to Goochland, VA for the first time..not much there; an old courthouse and an old Stone Jail (seems to be a lot of that here) and some really nice roads. Some were roads I have been on, some of them were really new.
Got home around noon, had big storms later that night which killed a lot of power in the area, but thankfully not my place.

Went out on Sunday which was Father's Day; I am a Dad but one son lives in Louisville and the other in North Carolina. Went to Galley (its the old Navy man in me, like the food and the theme of the place) and road around some after a very good brunch.
A lot of streets had lights out (no power) and were four ways stops, a lot of trees were down from the storms which were pretty impressive the night before. Once again the temperatures were up even early, and I rode around Richmond before coming in. Before coming back went by Advance and got some SeaFoam (tune up in a can) and added some of that with fuel. Bike running great but that stuff really cleans fuel injectors. All the Vulcan riders swear by it, and have used it for the past few years. That and a quality motorcycle have made the past 10 years with it wonderful. One funny story - salesman at the auto parts store told me he had a Harley Sportster (new one) and in the first year it broke down 3 times. Told him (knock on wood) in ten years mine has never left me sitting. Part luck (could always pick up a nail, etc) but she has sure been one reliable ride.      

Yorktown Ride ( June 13, 2015)

Good Saturday ride again, this time went to Yorktown Beach...cause it seemed like a really good idea..and it was. Have a great time there everytime I go.
This monument in Yorktown is very cool....is for the victory of the Colonials under George Washington over the British Forces under Lord Cornwallis. This battle effectively ended the Revolutionary War. The battlefield is right before the town of Yorktown, and I have been to it on a past visit (and pretty sure I have photos here).
To get to Yorktown Beach I took Route 5 and then got in the Colonial Parkway and basically followed the signs. Colonial Parkway is a fun road to ride.

This is a view of the beach, on the bank of the York River. There are a number of stores and restaurants there, and its a great place to cool off and get something to eat and even explore some of the old places in the town (all of which is in walking distance).
Did make one mistake...tried to get back to Richmond via I-64. In the summer that is Not the way to travel to either this area (which included near by Williamsburg, Jamestown and not too far away Virginia Beach. If you want to go in the summer, explore some alternate routes. I will be doing so on my next visit to Virginia Beach. Other than the stop and go highway traffic, it was a fantastic trip.

Saturday Ride (June 6, 2015)

 Interesting ride on a Saturday. Rode out in what is the Northside of Richmond..went down some interesting rides in this city, and this covered some new roads.
I liked this area though think some of these places had seen better days. Still it was fun to run around the area.
Was a real nice day, was not real warm either which was nice. This was an early sort of ride, took off in the late morning and was back in the early afternoon.
This time of year nice to beat the late afternoon heat,

This restaurant is the Dog and Pig Show in Church Hill (a section of Richmond that is very cool). First time I have eaten there and it was very, very good. Had a Pork Poorboy which was really different and melt in your mouth good.
They don't have places to sit in there but there is a park right across from St. John's Church which is almost next door (that is where Patrick Henry gave his famous "Give me Liberty or Give me Death Speech") that was a fine place to enjoy the food.
As for this ride was not huge but was a great time.

End of May (May 30-31,2015)

Another two days of riding as I went to The Greek Festival on Malvern Avenue. They have been having that for the last 40 years, I have been going for something like five of them. It is a great event as I love Greek Food and big crowds, plus that is a good area to ride in. I enjoyed the meal and had a good time running around that area. I also took a short ride though downtown and through Church Hill and on Route 5. Did not get in a great many miles but it was a lot of fun.
Sunday went to Chester, VA where I did some exploring seeing some old things and also a few new ones...as there is a lot of development down in that area. For the two days got in some 80 miles total, and even made a stop at the Chesterfield Airport. Both days were really hot and humid with temperatures well into the 90s.