This ride started out as my Dutch guest was in town and he wanted to see some of the Fall colours of New England by motorcycle. No problem as I have two CB750s. It was Saturday, the sun was shining, temps were in the 40s in the morning and expected to reach high 50s by the afternoon. Perfect riding weather. So we set off from Boston and had arranged to meet Steve (1971 CB500) and possibly Ben (1973 CB750/836cc). Here is how we started off.....
We rode for 30 mins to meet Steve at the pre-arranged gas station location and when we arrived there was Scott (S-Dog) who had come up from Rhode Island on his CB750K5 (1975). No Ben but we would meet him on the road later which meant we had quite the collection of SOHCs ranging from 1971, 72, 73, 74 and `75!! Not bad for an impromptu ride!
Meeting at the gas station:
We headed up Rt 27 where we met Ben coming the opposite direction - he has a sharp looking CB750 with the original pipes, 836cc kit, shiny black tank, lots of polished parts and some cool bar end mirrors (so cool I just ordered a set myself!). This bike looked and sounded good! With Bens expert local road knowledge he steered us around the traffic and soon we were zipping along in formation on Rt2a heading for the popular bike cafe, MotoMkt. When we pulled in and parked in a line the other bikers there immediately came over to take a look at this assembled collection.
So it was time for a quick coffee and a look around at the leather jackets on sale (some good sales as well). It was then that Steve said to me "Do you know who is in the shop!!??". "ITS TED SIMON!!"
And it was. He was there for a book signing (his latest book about his recent round the world adventure on a BMW at age 69!!!). For those that dont know Ted Simon is the ultimate in long distance motorcycling - he is the author of Jupiters Travels, a book about his 1973 ROUND THE WORLD trip on a Triumph Tiger - it lasted 4 years and 64,000 miles. The Long Way Round is like a walk in the park compared to this guy - he had no vehicle support or camera crews following him
. Anyway it was great to meet him for me as he was my inspiration for my own long distance travels - I thought if he could do it on a Triumph then a Honda should be able to do it as well (in fact any bike can do it if properly prepared). Anyway here is a pic of me finally meeting Ted Simon.....
After this burst of excitement we were off into the sunshine again and zipping along Rt 2a to Rt 119 and heading for Groton. The colours of some of the trees were really fantastic and it appeared as though some of them were literally on fire (as my Dutch guest kept saying). We stopped at Groton to decide on the best course of action (like having lunch as it was now 2.15pm) when the local Harley crowd who were also parked came over to us, to check out our cool looking bikes
Nice guys!
Meeting the Harley riders....swapping routes and info...
and the Group shot:
Left to right - Scott, Steve, Ben, Me (yes those leather trousers are very warm!) and Randalf (Dutch tourist).
We set off along Rt 119 and with me in the lead we took a slight wrong turn which ended up being the right turn as it was an empty backroad full of twisty corners, sharp bends and short crests....one left-hand corner in particular almost got most of us (taking it too fast) but we all pulled out of it in the end. Ah good riding! Scotts (S-Dogs) bike was running much better after the carb rebuild and his recent 700 mile trip but Im going to bring him some baffles this coming Sunday as riding behind an unbaffled 4-4 pipes is not the quietest thing!! Of course no one wanted to ride at the back of the pack as we were all running a little rich so the smell of gas was prevalent
After the little twisty road ended we ended up on Rt 113 and after a quick check of the map, Ben took over and we headed down Rt113 to Rt 119 as Ben knew a local resteraunt for lunch - and we were all starving. However he also got a little disorientated and we were on narrow backroads again, first heading south then once at Fitchburg, briefly north on a backroad before we stopped and asked an old lady the correct direction
, we then took Rt12N to the junction of Rt12/Rt140 where the fabled resteraunt lay. By this time it was 3.30pm and the sun was getting lower in the sky and the afternoon chill was setting in. We had a hearty lunch, a good chat and warmed up with coffee before heading back down Rt140 as the sun set on the way home. We rode along Rt2 with Scott peeling off for RI and then Ben leaving myself and Randalf to finish up on I-95 for a brief blast before returning home on Rt9.
Weather was excellent, great collection of bikes, we met Ted Simon and hopefully we`ll do it all again (although i doubt we`ll meet Ted Simon again) on Sunday for the OFFICIAL New England Fall Ride!
cheers
Andy
