Thanksgiving Weekend Ride to Pennsylvania

KenTastic!

KenTastic!

Member
I know Thanksgiving is a family weekend and we must give thanks for everything we have but I think that includes saying thanks for my bike, my cold weather riding gear and for the excellent roads and scenery available to us in PA. Anyone else feels the same?

I’m riding down Oct 6-8 (weather permitting). I’m thinking of focusing on the area bordered by the PA/NY state line to the north, I-80 on the south, Hwy 15 to the east and the Alleghany National Forest to the west. This will be the Thanksgiving Weekend Ride Zone!

The plan is to leave Saturday morning and spend the day riding around the northern parts of the Zone. Spend Saturday night at Paul’s Motel in Coudersport. Sunday, ride around the southern parts of the Zone and spend the night at Paul’s again. Monday, ride west into and through the Forest and back up to Toronto by late afternoon.

We have had some amazing discussions here on the route and the places to visit and everything else in between. I will us the collective knowledge of the forum. So let’s talk about the weather and the gear etc.

I’m a mature rider in my forties, I have been riding for over 25 years and I currently ride a VFR800. Anyone care to join me?
 
I might be up for that but I'd suggest going down Friday afternoon /evening - it's only 4 hours and Paul's is cheap
Border will be brutal Sat morning - it will be as well on Friday but at least it's not cutting into riding time.
The days are getting shorter.

It can swing from 4 degrees to 30 on the same day down there so multiple layers really help.
If I go down I'll be in tourist mode once in the area - looking at some of the less frequented roads and stops for photos etc.
But happy to ride down and back - always nice to have someone along in case of a breakdown.
My inclination would be to leave Friday at 10 ish and beat the traffic entirely but not everyone has that flexibility.

Here;s the extended for Coudersport

Friday
partlycloudy Clear with a chance of rain. High of 64F. Winds from the SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%.
Friday Night
nt_partlycloudy Partly cloudy. Low of 43F. Winds from the West at 5 to 15 mph.
Saturday
mostlycloudy Overcast. High of 52F. Winds from the West at 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday Night
nt_cloudy Overcast. Low of 39F. Winds from the WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday
mostlycloudy Mostly cloudy. High of 52F. Winds from the West at 10 to 15 mph.
Sunday Night
nt_partlycloudy Partly cloudy. Low of 36F. Winds from the WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Monday
partlycloudy Partly cloudy. High of 54F. Winds from the SW at 5 to 10 mph.

36 is getting down there. There is a dip coming over the weekend around here as well. Gonna be glad of heated grips and new windscreen that is wider
 
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MadDoc, thanks for your response. A ride along would be great, if we can make it work!

You're right about the busy border on Saturday but my schedule doesn't allow a Friday departure. I plan to leave around 7:00 AM on Saturday and take my chances.

Do you want to ride down Friday and we can connect at Paul's on Saturday around noon? It will be my first time east of the Forest so tourist mode might work or we can split up for a few hours. Riding back together would be great.

It's a conspiracy ... a whole week of below-average temparatures starting with the Ride weekend! //www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/uspa0339 and then it warms up the following weekend. And I don't have heated grips!
 
I am tagging along in this thread... Just had the brilliant idea of heading south for the weekend my limit is Tennesse / North Carolina, might be hitting The dragon.. so I could use some of this roads as reference :) ..

Sorry Ken, I wont be tagging along with u, having a word with a few friends down @ the border to maybe meet up somewhere so my plans are slowly on the making, If you still plan on leaving at 7am Sat, I might meet up with you and cross the border or something, we will see what unfolds by today.
 
The border is fine these days............nothing major - I live 10kms from it and cross over all the time. Even yesterday with the Bills game I was at the bridge at 9:40 and thru by 10am and already people going over for the game - no biggie these days so you will be fine........call 1-800-715-6722 and press 2 for bridge times............then you know and it's updated hourly
 
On a long weekend????- bit of a risk.
We do the border for business once a week and most times it's straight forward as you note....but at 2 pm on the August long weekend Buffalo was 90 minutes and not fun at 35 degrees ambient.
 
Geesh - silly me, I forgot about that and not only is it "our" long weekend it's the US Columbus Day too...........if you hit it early then it would be okay, but the phone number is usually fairly accurate. I was going over on Aug 2nd as well and it was crazy so I ended up driving up to the Whirlpool Nexus only bridge and then all the way back to Buffalo and made it over faster then friends did.........Nexus helps but if you can't get over the bridge it doesn't matter.
 
I might be able to mitigate the border crossing by adjusting the departure time but it looks like the weather (rain) will be hard to mitigate.

NightShadow and I have been having a conversation via PM and he grabbed the weather links for Kane, Coudersport and Renovo. Thank you!

The daily highs are taking big tumbles on Saturday in all these towns as they are in the GTA:

Kane - http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...+PA+16735:4:US
Coudersport - http://www.weather.com/weather/tenda...+PA+16915:4:US
Renovo - http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/17764

The good news is I pick up a set of Hippo Hands on Saturday ...
 
Sweet idea. I’ve been thinking about getting one serious ride before the season ends. Would seriously consider tagging along with you Ken, but I must complete laminate floor over the weekend or will have to sleep on the couch.
Looking forward to the review of the trip as I am interested to do it in the future!
 
The high temperatures for our favourite towns have now been upgraded to the low fifties (from mid-forties) and only morning showers instead of all day showers. It might not be that bad after all!

I’m leaving Toronto Saturday morning and taking Ridge Road down to pick up my Hippo Hands in St Catharines. I’ll keep riding towards the border and if the weather holds up, I should lunch in St Marys at the restaurant on the air strip. A run on 120 will take me to Renovo and I will ride down the 144, turn around and ride it back up all the way to Coudersport by late afternoon.

MacDoc, see you at Paul’s on Saturday evening?
 
Don't think so - this just does not turn my crank

Day Oct 6
Showers

52°FHigh

Showers

Chance of rain:
60%

Wind:
WNW at 12 mph

Humidity:
77%

Cloudy with showers. High 52F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

and Sunday is no better. :(

I can ride any days and not restricted to weekends so think I'm going to stay local this one ( I've got a bunch of things need doing anyway after two weeks in the North Atlantic. )

ScreenShot2012-09-24atSep24201293036PM-1.jpg

( it was blowing Force 11 gale a few hours later )

check out THIS road.

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum/showthread.php?164498-Norway-riders-lucky-buggers
 
Well, I never made it to PA but I did spend a couple of days riding around the Escarpment. I rode around Milton and then down and up Ridge Road to St Catharines and back. Saturday was cloudy and cooler but Monday was a heck of a fall day - sunny and warmer.

Here are some photos ... umm ... I guess I need to post them somewhere else besides Picasa. Let me work on that ...
 
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Monday was lovely - I put the photos up on the colours thread. We should get a warm spell soon I hope.
 
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