While I was waiting for Chuck to arrive, Brian showed up instead! He's the guy not in the Aerostich pictured below (but to his credit, he has one on order!).
We started with breakfast at Smokey Row Cafe and rode south to Zumbro Falls. The weather was cool in the morning, about 45F, but it warmed to about 65 - a perfect riding temperature.
In Zumbro Falls we connected with Hwy 60, a nice and smooth twisty ribbon of pavement with minimal traffic. We dropped into Wabasha and crossed this bridge to Wisconsin:
Then we hit some construction and a train just before we got into Nelson. That's where the parade started. It was about noon, and the pirates were already parking their bikes along Nelson's main street and downing their beer.
From Nelson we rode north on Hwy 35 to Pepin where we stopped for coffee. Paul, his father Bill and sister-in-law Kelly pulled into the Great River Roasters seconds before we did. While we were sitting around BS'ing the flow of pirates dramatically increased.
Kelly rides a pristine white 2005'ish VFR800. Paul rides a not-pristine 1998 VFR800 [I have to add that these 5-th generation VFR800's are some of the best bikes on the planet]. Bill is a Motorcycle Company man, so he rides a big Harley, and definitely does not display pirate-like behavior. All are great folks to ride with!
After an hour or so the Ward clan rode south to Wabasha and the rest of us took to the hills.
These back roads are in pretty good shape. Some paces still have sand and gravel but they re reasonably easy to detect. Despite the existence of hundreds of thousands of pirates along the river, the roads in the hills were nearly empty. Except for a sheriff we passed near Stockholm ... but he didn't turn around. Whew!
Once back on Hwy 35, riding through Maiden Rock was slow going. By this time it was about 2:30pm and the parade was starting. The pirates were sitting in stopped traffic on southbound Hwy35 for about two miles trying to get into Maiden Rock. The smell of tire burnouts was in the air, as they stood along the road drinking. We passed by, going north. The pirates will continue south, from bar to bar, then come north tomorrow.
Back in Red Wing we went downtown at about 3:15pm to check out the new "motorcycle show". I suspect the Red Wing organizers wanted to cash in on the pirates flowing through town. This was a first time event for Red Wing. I had my doubts it would be very successful, since more motorcyclists would be riding south along the river instead. And I was right on the money. We got there 15 minutes before the judging was to take place, and although they had blocked off a street, there were about SIX bikes there. It was pathetic. If Red Wing wants to cash in on this, they need to promote Red Wing as the place to start and stop from. In other words, host events on Friday night and early Saturday morning. For those trailiering, encourage them to trailer their bikes down, give them a place to park their rigs for the weekend, and a place to sleep close to a bar on Friday night. Host a pancake breakfast on Saturday morning before they ride, and create some Sunday afternoon activities as they come back through on their way to the Twin Cities.
Well anyway.. after all this riding we were hungry and thirsty so we parked ourselves on the rear deck and grilled burgers and drank beer until late in the evening.
What a great time! Thanks for everyone who participated!
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