Yeah, the first (and only time) I’ve been on this was 2 years ago, 6 months after I started riding. It was an introduction into large group rides for me and turned me off them completely. The number of idiotic incidents I witnessed in that one trip was unbelievable. Even this weekend when I mostly avoided the crowds I still witnessed one near suicidal, completely unnecessary pass where someone forced an oncoming SUV to move over the fog line to avoid a head on collision, all so the bike could pass one car and stay with her leader. Un-f***ing-believable. Couple that with stories of sport bikes and sport tourers (including the organizer) hitting 120mph speeds you can start to see why it’s an event I prefer to avoid. It took a lot of persuading for me to go but it worked out well. Got to see a few old friends whose riding preferences are different from mine so I rarely see them these days.
I was actually ok on the mountain, it was only on the interstate ride down I got cold. I have my hippo hands on the scooter still and I could move them over but I’m trying not to. I’m trying to persuade myself it’s going to get warm any day now! I have a long weekend planned for next week that involves another 120 mile interstate ride and this time it is over the Cascade mountains. I might break down and move the muffs over before then.