Pennsylvania road conditions in mid-late October. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Pennsylvania road conditions in mid-late October.

Gary64

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I'm planning on doing a weekend run down to PA the weekend after Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 19,20). The main goal of the ride will be to hit the twisties and not so much for sightseeing. My concern is leaves on the road hampering the good times. Can anyone with experience riding in PA at that time of year comment on the condition of the roads in regard to leaves and other debris? Thanks.
 
I'm planning on doing a weekend run down to PA the weekend after Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 19,20). The main goal of the ride will be to hit the twisties and not so much for sightseeing. My concern is leaves on the road hampering the good times. Can anyone with experience riding in PA at that time of year comment on the condition of the roads in regard to leaves and other debris? Thanks.

Can't comment on road conditions, but it's going to be freaking cold. May be somewhat ok in the daytime, but I'd expect it to be below freezing once the sun goes down, which will happen pretty early.
 
Can't comment on road conditions, but it's going to be freaking cold. May be somewhat ok in the daytime, but I'd expect it to be below freezing once the sun goes down, which will happen pretty early.

I'm not really concerned about the cold since I have heated gear and won't be riding at night. It's just one last decent ride before being limited to the boring local roads until next spring.
 
I'm not really concerned about the cold since I have heated gear and won't be riding at night. It's just one last decent ride before being limited to the boring local roads until next spring.

Damn you and your heated gear, was just looking through Gerbing's website an hour ago...

If weather isn't a concern, I see no reason not to.
 
Damn you and your heated gear, was just looking through Gerbing's website an hour ago...

If weather isn't a concern, I see no reason not to.

While I've had heated grips for a while this is my first year with a heated jacket liner and I hope makes late season riding more enjoyable. I bought it at Duc Pond Motorsports (Ducati dealer) in Winchester VA back on Memorial Day weekend in May. I was heading home from a 10 day trip and the temps on the Blue Ridge were low single digits for a couple of days. It was actually 0 degrees C in Dubois PA when we left for the last home stretch and the gear performed well.

I hear good things about Gerbings but I went with the Powerlet liner. It has a nice wireless remote control that you can mount with velcro somewhere on the bike or put it in a pocket or tank bag. The nice thing is that my Multistrada has a couple of Powerlet outlets as a stock feature so I just plugged in and rode.
 
I was there last year that same weekend, we had great weather. Having said that, weather/temps may be dicey at that time, so YMMV.

One hazard at that time in some areas are the dead leaves on the road. Slippery when wet...
 
It's real cold in the mornings but you have to wait til the fog lifts. Looking at temps now it's down to 5 or so then climbs into the 20s so layer up. Iffy on this weekend - thinking about it.
I've never seen leaves ( storm debris yes ) that I can recall tho I went fairly late in the year - full colour time for sure.
 
Im interested if you're looking for other guys/bikes to join and I may even be convinced to camp one night if its not too cold.


I'm planning on doing a weekend run down to PA the weekend after Canadian Thanksgiving (Oct 19,20). The main goal of the ride will be to hit the twisties and not so much for sightseeing. My concern is leaves on the road hampering the good times. Can anyone with experience riding in PA at that time of year comment on the condition of the roads in regard to leaves and other debris? Thanks.
 
Well, I answered my own question this weekend. A buddy and I left Friday at about 12:30 and it was a comfortable 16 degrees. We crossed the border at the NEXUS only Whirlpool Bridge then the 219 to Olean NY, 44-144 through Coudersport and Renovo, then the 120 to Lock Haven and 220 to Williamsport which was our base for the weekend. It was pretty dark from Renovo to Williamsport but a really bright full moon helped and gave the evening a cool vibe.

We took the luggage off the bikes for our Saturday ride as we were coming back to Williamsport at the end of the day. We explored Centralia which was pretty neat. The riding roads aren't quite as good as a bit farther west in PA but it was more about seeing the ghost town. It was about 6 degrees when we left in the morning but was a balmy 15 in Centralia. We came across a drag strip near Centralia so pulled in and watched the races for a while. Mid afternoon it began raining quite hard so we just headed back to the hotel for some beers. It continued all night (the beers and the rain).

Sunday morning was clear and 5 degrees. We slabbed it on the 220 and I80 to Snow Shoe then hit the best roads of the weekend up 144 and 44 to Coudersport. The heated jacket liner and gloves really helped and I was really comfortable which made the riding enjoyable. From Coudersport to Buffalo we were riding in the rain but it cleared up once we hit the border.

So, the road conditions were great with no leaves to worry about. The very light traffic in the area was even lighter than usual and we didn't see one cop in Pennsylvania. As some of you suggested, the only issue was the cool temps but if you're prepared and geared up appropriately touring in PA at this time of year can still be a blast.
 
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Here are some pics from the weekend.

Abandoned Route 61 in Centralia

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REV'IT! Sand suit and heated liner kept me toasty warm at single digit temps.

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Centralia is pretty neat. We stopped at the landfill and actually saw smoke coming out of the ground. Did you feel the ground in the cracks of abandoned route 61? We could feel the heat.
 
Centralia is pretty neat. We stopped at the landfill and actually saw smoke coming out of the ground. Did you feel the ground in the cracks of abandoned route 61? We could feel the heat.

Couldn't feel any heat at all. I have seen pictures taken in colder weather showing vapour emanating from the cracks in route 61.
 
Couldn't feel any heat at all. I have seen pictures taken in colder weather showing vapour emanating from the cracks in route 61.

I was there in September and definitely saw smoke coming from the ground on the dirt mounds by the cemetery. For whatever reason I couldn't find abandoned RT61 and neither could the five other people that were there at the same time.
 

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