07 XL East Coast Rally

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11 MAY 07 -- It was a gathering of east coast Sportsters owners, members of the XL-List from www.Sportster.org. The last few years the XL-list has had an annual rally in Kansas City area, but some members located on the east coast thought one closer to home would give those that can’t make the KC rally a chance to meet and do some riding. Yep, it was one of those internet things. Mother’s Day weekend we converged on the Rider’s Roost a motorcycle campground in Ferguson, NC. There were no rally t-shirts or pins, no meals were provided and best of all there was no rally fees. Everyone just paid their own expenses. The body count for the weekend was small at 14 but we were a motivated lot, coming from KS, OH, NJ, PA GA and NC as 6 states were represented.

Gary Higbee from GA, had done a great job of stepping up in a leadership role for the rally. Gary set up a website (www.xl-rider.com), then asked for and made suggestions on rally dates, campsites and activities. Gary used the site to gather the consensus of the group or set up polls for decisions.

Friday we all arrived at different times, although I had planned to get there in the early afternoon, it was about 6PM when I pulled in. Uncle Roy, one of the owner/operators of Rider’s Roost (www.ridersroost.com) greeted me from the balcony of his home and told me what cabin I was in. Following shortly was introductions to all the people I knew but had never seen, with the exception of Lonzo Workman who had treated me to lunch when I was working in his area. Just as Declan Quinn aka Decman (2003 1200 Custom, NJ) said, “Its good putting names to the faces.” That night a few rode into Wilkesboro for supper while others of us cooked our food over a campfire at our campsite. A couple of riders chose to camp out in tents, while everyone else used the cabins that were available.

Getting around Saturday morning it wasn’t raining, but the forecast was for rain most of the weekend. The impending rain could not put out the fire in the souls of these riders. Early in the rally planning it was the group consensus that we wanted to do group ride on Saturday. It was questionable now though how long the ride would be because of the rain. Weeks earlier Gary had suggested the “Stripe-ed Snake” for our ride. The Stripe-ed Snake is not as well known as ‘The Tail of the Dragon” but is as much fun. The Stripe-ed Snake boosts 489 curves and is located in Shady Valley, TN on HWY 421. When I pulled the area up on my mapping software I was very impressed with the zigzag stitch the road resembled. It looked FUN. For more info on this charming road try www.shadyvalleycountrystore.com.

In a quick riders meeting that morning no one was too excited about rolling through the Stripe-ed Snake in a downpour so we talked about just heading out and seeing what happened. The group decided to head to Troutdale, VA first then if the weather permits on to the Stripe-ed Snake. Talking to Uncle Roy about a possible lunch spot produced a suggestion to stop at the Shatley Springs Inn in Crumpler, NC. Known far and wide, this restaurant regularly draw buses of people from Charlotte, NC., which is located 125 miles southeast.

The group of riders varied from the experienced veterans to the new Sporty owners but all were good riders and we all shared a love for the Sportster. Screw Loose Dan (Dan Cunningham, 2007 883 Low, PA ) had ridden his Sportster up and down the east coast before but still wasn’t sure how far a tank of gas would last. His bike being one the new EFI sportys without a gas reserve, prompted us to plan gas stops every 100 miles. Screw Loose got his name when a loose screw from a recently changed air filter was sucked into his motor causing significant damage.

Kevin Harding (2007 1200 XL Custom) from Wilksboro, NC., a new Sporty owner, had just come to camp to join us for the ride. Leaving Rider’s Roost most of us did not have our rain gear on, after getting onto NC Hwy 16 it started to rain so we stopped to put it on. When we came upon the Shatley Springs Inn the group pulled into the drive as the restaurant sits off the hwy we were on. As we came up to the establishment, we are confused as there appeared to be a revival meeting or church service going on. We parked at the back of the lot and tried to determine if we were in the right spot. We found that the restaurant had a gospel singer there to entertain customers that were waiting to go in and eat. And sure enough I found there were 3 buses from Charlotte, NC in the parking lot. The food was great, they specialized in a buffet served home style, that is bowls of food are served at your table. It was like eating at grandma’s house. This restaurant was great and well worth the stop if you are in the area.

The “Stripe-ed Snake” would turn out to be the perfect ride for the group of Sportsters, its higher torque and shorter wheel base was made for cutting through roads like this. I found the snake was as much fun as the map had promised it would be. This is definitely worth a drive through if you are in the area. The ride on Saturday ended up being over 200 miles long before we found our way back to Rider’s Roost for the night. We had a few map stops and a quick stop at an auto supply store as I (2005 883 XL Low, KS) replaced a burned out brake light and Dave Tomney (2001 1200 XLH, NJ) had to replace a burned out headlight.

The evening was spent discussing the day’s rides and being entertained by Uncle Roy’s road stories. As Screw Loose Dan said, “This is more of a ride than a rally. Not too many rallies ride 200 miles a day.” Lonzo summed up the weekend by saying, “Once and awhile you just have to get away and let it out.” Dave Tomney said, “The only flaw was that we needed more listers.” I want to echo Mike Snyder’s (2002 1200 XLS, PA) comment, “What a good time and I’m glad I didn’t miss this one.”

To find out about the 2008 rally or see many more pictures from the 2007 rally visit the ECR website:

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Photos

Rest Break on the Snake
Shady Valley Store. We stopped a few minutes to get t-shirts and drinks.