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Ready to roll on towards DC at 2:30am on 9/11/13

2K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  Wolfie 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, just about to shower and hit the sack in preparation for an early & long day tomorrow.

2 helmets
3 pairs of goggles/glasses
14 bottles of water
piss bottle
2.5 gal of extra gas
raingear (weather folks say 0% chance)
plenty of 800mg ibuprofen tablets
sunscreen
pork rinds
cash
all firearms and ammo removed

Yep, I'm ready! :motorcycl
 
#2 ·
good luck and be safe brother!!

I wish i could be there myself.

Are you riding alone or meeting with people? I think it took me 5 hours to get to DC from North NJ, just curious of your route and how long a ride is it?

almost forgot....don't confuse you fuel bottle with your piss bottle!!!!
 
#3 ·
Good luck, safe travels and thank you for taking the opportunity to make this ride, it is important.
 
#4 ·
I will be meeting up with about 40 folks in York, PA. We will travel down I83S to the Balt. beltway (I695?) and then west to I95S. Suppose to meet up with others from PA at a rest stop just north of Washington Harley Davidson south of DC. A few things are set up for at the HD dealership, like a blessing of the bikes and a couple speakers. KSU about 11am to head into downtown DC. At that point, all hell will likely break loose, as there are likely to be thousands of bikers added to the usual traffic congestion on a DC work day and no police effort to ease the situation. Not really sure how much time I will spend actually in the city but do feel the need to be there just the same.

The PA specific facebook page has roughly 250 bikers signed up to actually ride. My guess is there are probably just as many more going who don't do the facebook thing. Trip from York to DC is roughly 2 to 2.5hrs on a good day by car. Probably twice as long tomorrow. Only reason I am leaving with the super early group, is to get as far around the beltway as possible before the rush hour loonies awake.
 
#5 ·
I am glad you are taking the time to get ready for the ride. I am not sure if I fully agree with your supply list but JMHO. 14 bottles of water seems a little excessive with so many places to stop along any route to pickup cold bottles of water. With the temps calling for possible 90's here in the Mid Atlantic States I am sure cold would be a welcome necessity. As far as the "piss bottle" is concerned, I know the phrase is to "take a l**k" but I don't think that refers to actually taking it with you when you are done. I would rather leave it where I got rid of it and again there are plenty of places along any route to DC for that. Combined with a fuel and drink stop plus time to stretch the legs and back could help with your physical comfort in the saddle. I would replace some of those water bottles and the one extra bottle with a few basic tools (adjustable wrenches, socket set and/or combo set, screw drivers, gorilla tape, bailing wire, pliers, vise grips). Again JMHO and if your list fits your needs better go for it. I also admit that you may have more experience packing and planning than I do for longer trips.

I do wish you safe riding and smooth roads ahead. Thank you for doing this ride for the good of all concerned. Much respect for your efforts in this.
 
#6 ·
We have stops planned on the way down, mostly for coffee and stretching.

Most of the stuff is for once we get inside DC. Ain't going to be much chance of running into a convenience store for a drink. Calling for temps in the 90s, high humidity, feel like temps about 110 and add in the asphalt and thousands of bikes sitting in gridlock and I got a feeling that none of the water will be making a return trip to PA. Same deal on the piss bottle. Attempting to relieve myself along the streets of DC is pretty much an invitation for a visit from the DC or NPS po po. We have support vehicles, complete with trailers and tools if needed.

Gas? Probably won't need it but it will be better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Got a feeling I will be spending hrs standing at idle or moving in 1st gear. This ain't your normal ride, if there is such a thing. Try to be prepared for the worse and hoping for the best! :motorcycl
 
#7 ·
Good on ya for going but I usually freeze a couple of the bottles of water to keep the others at least cool and by the time you need the frozen ones theey are usually melted anyway.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Been meaning to do a post but damn if I ain't been wiped out since the trip.

Left home at 2:30am to meet up with a group that had left the Pittsburgh area the evening before. Idea was to get around the beltway before too much traffic started. Met up with them in York, PA, along with the local po po and Fox43 tv. TV crew did a nice story on the trip for the 5am newscast and the LEOs were kind enough to block traffic at about 4 lights on Rte 30 to give us a straight shot to I83. Once on 83, we had pretty much an uneventful ride around Baltimore and onto I95 north of Washington. The group pulled into a rest stop along I95 for a much needed break.

While at the stop, I found out that they planned on waiting a couple hrs for a bunch of PA groups before making the final 30 mile run to the staging point at Washington Harley Davidson. Now, I ain't a patient man and was only up at 2am to avoid rush hr on the beltway, so I decided to make the final leg solo. Made it to WHD before 8am and was parked right in front of the store, about the 50th bike to arrive. Over the next 3hrs, I watched a sea of bikes roll in. The Prince George County police ended up closing the road in front of the store because they ran out of room to stage the bikes arriving.

So many bikers showed up, that the organizers decided the best thing to do would be to have everyone ride as one group for a lap around the DC beltway, return to the dealership and then break into smaller groups to do various rides into DC. At 11am we started pulling out of the lot. As I mentioned, I was in the 1st 50 bikes or so and after pulling out of the lot, we traveled by at least 5miles of bikes staged 6 to 8 wide! It was truly unbelievable.

Local police got us onto the beltway without incident by blocking all traffic. Once on the beltway, we were on our own. The only complaint I have of the ride, is that about half the participants had no idea what it takes to ride safely in a large group. I am use to riding with people I know and we generally ride staggered with a 2 sec travel time between bikes in the same 1/3 of the lane. Well these people didn't do anything close to that, it was pretty much a free-for-all. I lost track of the number of times I had some riding right beside me in the same lane. When some folks tried to ride staggered, it wasn't long before someone would pass on the left or right and squeeze in. Now if we are traveling at 70+ mph and I can reach out and touch you, someone is riding where they don't belong. I tell you, it was the most stressful group ride I've ever been on and it is a miracle that only one or two bikes went down.

My smaller group ride was to the Pentagon area, which worked out well for me as I was able to jump on the Geo Washing Memorial Parkway for a nice ride out of the DC area.

One of the nicest parts of the ride was that each rider was given a sticker with the name of a 9/11 victim on it to take with them as they traveled the DC area. I ended up with a pair of them and will tell you it was very moving to attach them to my helmet. So much so that I decide to put some clean tape over the names and leave them there for as long as they last. I've seen all sorts of estimates of the total number of bike that participated, everything form 20,000 to 1.2 million. I have no idea what the real count was but do know that I've never seen as many bikers in one place for one reason before. It was a surreal ride and one I intend to do again in 2014. :carryflag
 
#12 ·
Nice pic of ya there Joe....glad ya made it back safe and all went cool....hope yer still up fer comin to the mountains this Sunday (lot more laid back !)....gonna be a decent sized group, but not too big, and we've all ridden together before....well, the NY/NJ guys....we got a great day planned, all is set, and cant wait to see y'all on Sunday in Stroudsburg.....
 
#15 ·
I want a vehicle made in the 21st century
I just saw that....lol....and guess what.....I DON'T, lolol....I'll take one from my own century, lol.....I can deal with em better.... ;)
 
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