OH STOC

[Earache]

Just got back home from OH STOC in Logan, Ohio. A fine time was had, met a few new friends and did some good riding.

Landon , (STIndy05) and I left Indianapolis after work on Friday and headed soouth on I-74, went south around Cincinnati and then headed east on 32 into Athns, our stay for the night.

A largely uneventful 300 mile trip marked by two humorous moments when I passed county sheriff's deputy cruisers in both Kentucky and Ohio at a rather festive pace...

We arrived at Athen's finest hotel, the Amerihost, around 7:30 PM. They managed to squeeze us in amongst all of their other guests...

Walked a couple of blocks to Applebee's for dinner and a coup;le of beers. It was difficult to eat because the two cute female bartenders simply wouldn't leave Landon and I alone. I felt so cheap, so used, so violated. But the beer was cold and the food adequate, so I'm over it already.


Saturday morning and we were up and at'em at 0700 in order to meet the crew in Loganat Bob Evans....

Had a rather nice breakfast at Bob's and five $20 gift certificates from www.Newenough.com were handed out as door prizes. I didn't win one and suspect that a fix was in the works.

Anyway, off we go on today's route with 5-6 others. Wish I could remember the names, but other than RalphII and RalphIII, Bill, Tom, Chris, Landon and Brett, I forget the rest of your names. Please fill in if you were with us.

Our route began by leaving Logan on 93 and heading east to Shawnee, Ohio where we picked up Route 155. Then further east to Corning and Rpoute 13 south for a bit to Glouster. AT Glouster, we went east on what has to be Ohio's best road, Route 78 to McConnelsville...

Shawnee could be a very cool touristy town, but like other towns in the area, it really needs to be cleaned up a bit and preservation begun on the old buildings before it's too late to save them.

A couple of shots of the town as Landon, The Ralphs and Chris cruise by...

The group got kinda spread out and the regrouped in Corning, Ohio. Another town somewhat like Shawnee....

We then tooka leisurely ride down 78 to Mconnelsville, Ohio. At this point, the Ralphs had had enough of our crap and headed off on their own. Nice meeting both of you!

McConnelsville is a quaint town that has spent a few bucks renovating their historic Opera House located on the circle in the center of town. The Opera Hosue was built in the 1890's and still has movies and events. See http://www.operahouseinc.com/ for more info.

We then headed South on Route 60 to Marietta, Ohio. This town has loads of very cool historic homes. Naturally, I negelcted to take a single photo of any of them....

After a pee and drink break in Marietta, Brett peeled off as he had to head home in West By God Virginia. the rest of us headed northeast on Route 26.
As the line that follows the road onthe map would suggest, it is a very curvy road with lots of blind crests and turns.

The southern half of the road is perfect while teh northern half is littered with road washouts, patches. potholes and large cracks. Better suited to a dual sport than an ST.

We stopped at the Rinard Covered bridge. Built in 1871 and restored several times after floods washed it away, it still has many of the original timbers in it...

 

[Earache]

Chris was having a good time on the ride and was looking good as well...

 

[Earache]

But it didn't last very long after the above pics were taken for it to all go wrong. He had a mishap and went down, resulting in some damage to his bike and some damage to him....

 

[Earache]

Landon and I were in front of the accident with Bill being behind it. We continued on for another few miles before we figured out that the other two were no longer behind us.

We pulled over and waited for them to catch up and after they didn't show up for 15 minutes, we back tracked to see what was going on. As I rounded a curve and saw road flares out, I knew it probably wasn't gonna be pretty.

Chris had already been scooped up and whisked off to Marietta Memorial, the State Trooper had just arrived and was writing his report...

 

[Earache]

Chris will have to fill us in on what happened as I wasn't there to witness it. But he left a couple of nice skid marks and huuuuge chunk outta Route 26 where his tip over wing or foot peg augered in as the bike flipped....

 

[Earache]

A rather nice local man offered to take all of the bike's parts and Chris's belongings to his house up the road for safe keeping and later retrival. We then waited for the tow truck to arrive and haul the ST off.

After helping the guy load the bike, (or rather as we loaded the bike and he watched ), it was ready to go...

 

[Earache]

Ohio's youngest Trooper, he had to be no older than 21, was a genuinely nice kid. He laughed and joked with us and even snapped a pic of Bill and I two up on Bill's ST so he could laugh at us later...

 

[Earache]

He even had the good common sense to frisk Landon for weapons...

 

[Earache]

The accident scene was all taken care of, so we headed off to Marietta Memorial Hospital to check on Chris.

I had to stop Landon from blowing up a bunch of surgical gloves to make a balloon bouquet for Chris's return from X-ray. We thought it'd be funny but weren't sure how the nurses would take it....

 

[Earache]

Chris finally made it back from X ray - looking good! He'll fill us in on the extent of his injuries, I'm sure.

The nurse didn't want to be in the picture and turned her head away when I took out the camera. See? No sense of humor at all! Good thing we didn't mess with the gloves!

 

[Earache]

That pretty much ended our day. Tom (Unbeliever) joined us for dinner at Bennigan's in Athens to rehash the day's events. Great roads, great weather and an unfortunate accident.

Had to get a picture of my alma mater's football team helmet at the bar. With teams as bad as OU's, you don't get to see that very often...

 

[Earache]

On Sunday before leaving the area, Landon and I rode 13 and 78 again before hopping on 37 and 555 into Zanesville. Then we got on I-70 for the drone back to Indy.

Stopped off at Competition Accessories near Dayton so all of the cute sales girls could treat themselves to a look at us before riding home.

Man, I'm tired.............

 

[motomac]

Great report except for Chris' mishap. Sorry you weren't one of the lucky winners, but blame Peggy for not pulling your name. I don't think any of those guys on the State Patrol are over 30. Of course at my age everyone looks about 30.

 

[Mellow]

Sorry to hear about the accident, hope he heals quickly.

 

[Tom B.]

What an UNBELIEVABLE adventure!

First my Condolences to Chris! I hope you are doing well and will be back in the saddle soon! If there is anything I can do, just ask and I'll help out to the best of my ability!

On to the trip.

This was my first long distance trip on a bike...Yeh, Yeh, I know! It wasn't all that long for most of you but it was for me!...and I had a great time! Thank you everyone for making me feel so unbelievably welcome! To those I rode with that morning, thank you for putting up with my slow a...eh hem, bum! Thank you Earache and STIndy05 for letting me tag along Sat. night!

Mellow! Thank you for the generous gift certificate! My wife will have it spent on her Magna before I blink!:roll:

Last but not least: Motomac! A huge thank you to you for pulling this all together!

Best time Ive had in a long time! I'll be working both my jobs this week so I'll post more to go with Earache's report and some pics of my own as time allows. (I didn't get as many as Earache did but at least they are different.) Here's a couple to start with!

The 1st pic is my ST! I was a wee bit early to Bob Evans! LOL!

 

[STinner]

now i feel even worse for not making the trip down. i love southern ohio to ride but a lot of gravel on the more local use roads. (555 and 26 especially)
been down to 26 twice in the last 2 yrs and every year somebody missed a turn and ended up riding back home on the back of another. yes the locals were very helpful for us too. there is one turn combination, downhill right sweeper into an up hill left that is very popular for riders to miss. when the cops are called for 911 this is the place they check first. chris i hope you feel better and get right back into the saddle asap! Godspeed on your healing.

dave

 

[b.carez]

This was the first event I've been to. It was nice to put a face with some of the names I've been seeing on the site and it was great to get to ride with you guys. I really wish I had been able to make it or Friday's ride as well. Maybe next time.

I am sorry to say that I was directly behind Chris when he went down. I hope he heals up quickly.
I watched the whole thing and I still don't know what happened. It looked as though he hit a patch of ice or something. His bike started swapping back and forth and then he highsided pretty hard.
We went back and looked at the road and there was nothing there to have caused this. I checked his rear tire and it had no play in it and was still inflated.
He was not going fast and I came over the exact same patch of pavement at the same speed seconds after he did and my bike was solid.
I have no clue what happened and I really would like to know because it's bugging the crap out of me not knowing.

Best wishes Chris and hope to ride with you again soon.

Thanks Mac for organizing the event.

 

[motomac]

I talked with Earache about Chris' accident when I read his post. Bill I understand your trying to figure what went wrong. I wasn't there and have the same feelings.
I am glad those of you that came had a great time and I will try to be a bit more organized next year. I will not plan it on a weekend I have GW meeting for sure.
Chris hope you heal quickly and keep us posted on your progress and that of your ST.
Tom, is the Inn Towner a viable headquarters for next year?

 

[Tom B.]

Unbelievable good morning to you all!

Mac, I can sum up the Inn Towner Motel in a word: Yuck! It wasn't horrible for a fellow like me and a limited budget but it was pretty run down and smelled stale. My wife wouldn't step a foot inside a place like that! The lady that ran the place was nice thou! I went by the Shawnee Inn and the Holiday Express on Sat. just to see where they are. IMHO that would be the best location for an HQ. Plus if the even grows significantly, you would have both of the latter mentioned hotels right next together and just a hop skip from Bob Evans. Heres my pics from the Inn Towner Motel. Didn't get/want any of the inside.

 

[motomac]

Thanks Tom. I had a feeling about that place when I passed by as I rode through town on my original trip to Logan. I will scout a few different areas for the next one. Zanesville may be a better HQ as far as motels and eateries.