2014 Thunder in the Valley - PA

[Bill Seward]

Get Yamaha to give all us loyal VMax owners each a 30th Anniversary model.. Better than the keychain they gave me for 100,000 miles!

 

[marsmax85]

I'm kinda thinking bikini bike wash would be nice . I sure had a lot of bugs on my scooter saturday night ... maybe some of them allstate girls would like to earn a little on the side ( From their day job ) I had a great time meeting all you vmax nuts

 

[twistedmax]

I'm kinda thinking bikini bike wash would be nice . I sure had a lot of bugs on my scooter saturday night ... maybe some of them allstate girls would like to earn a little on the side ( From their day job ) I had a great time meeting all you vmax nuts

why not Teri and Kristie

 

[The Beekeeper]

Missed ya Rick.............Always a good time riding with you!................Tom.

 

[Redbone]

I just arrived home from a whirlwind of great riding and good friends! Whew! what a week! Tom and I arrived at our lodging on Monday amid heavy looking and threating skies. They didn't wait long to drop their wet welcome to Hwy 129, in fact we had to wait to get out of the SUV due to the heavy downpour just as we pulled in to the Dragon Pit Inn. We watched the steady downpour for an hour but then it stopped and the sun came out. We were finishing getting settled when 3 Vmax's roared by in the last bit of the rain, Tom and I couldn't get our Vmax's out the trailer quick enough. We geared up (I geared up a little more than I thought, but more on that later) then off we roared to experience the Dragon first hand. Mind you we had just driven around 12 hours to get there but we were feeling none of that now! We had to ride through what we would consider a twisty road here in Michigan but, as we would soon find out, this was nothing compared to what the Dragon had in store for us.
The Tail of the Dragon is a 11 miles comprising of 318 turns. At first it seems as if each turn runs into another for the the greater part of the 11 miles, endless turns upon turn, of every imaginable type. Most of these corners are of slow second to third gear variety and this first night we just spent saying hello to each and every one of those 318 turns, awesome!
When we got to the end we looked around for a bit but got right back on our might Vmax's and headed back towards our hotel enjoying and learning how to ride on a truly twisty road.
The next morning we enjoyed a quick breakfast, then jumped on our trusty Vmax steeds to learn more about how to ride the Dragon properly, or at least our version of "taming the dragon"! I was really enjoying the Dragon on Tuesday afternoon but I had a guy wave me over to let me know that I was enjoying it just a little too much! The speed limit is 30 mph and most of the corners say 20 mph and when time nice gentleman let me know that doing 55 mph was frowned upon and even gave me a 8 1/2" x 11 copy of his official interpretation of local law enforcements official signed copy of a warning to promise not to do it again. How lucky was I to get just a warning which made me follow all the speed limits for the rest of the trip. We rode the Dragon 4 times that day as we also took in other roads in the area. We rode the Cherahala Skyway, Hwy 28 aka Moonshiners Highway and of course the Tail and enjoyed each one. We also had great weather that we rode in except for part of the Cherahala which rained on us on the western half of the road. That first ride when we hurriedly put on our gear I put on my armored pants which I did not notice that my insulating liner was still in place! Needless to say with all the turns, humidity, and heat I was sweating up a storm! What a DOH! moment that was!
We both thoroughly enjoyed our brief time on roads in Tennessee and North Carolina which both Tom and I vowed that we’d be back.
If riding the roads around the Hwy 129 area wasn't enough, we still had 4 more days to go with quite a few of our friends at Thunder in Somerset, PA.. Last year as Tom and I were driving back from last year's Thunder we thought that we could add in the Tail of the Dragon as well. As we drove back this year we both talked about how much we enjoyed the week of riding. The 4 days at Thunder was excellent as well an we enjoyed the fine roads in the surrounding area. Seeing our old friends and meeting all great new people made the last four days a great way to end up a great week of two wheeled fun. For all of those who haven't been to a Vmax Thunder in the Valley start making plans now as it's a do-not-miss event!

 

[The Beekeeper]

What an awsome week it was indeed!!!........unk:........Couldn't have planned a better vacation schedule, if you have never experienced the Dragon or the surrounding area, I recommend you put it on your to do list!..........Thunder with the Maxers was outstanding as expected, great meeting new folks and seeing friends again!!..........Got some great riding in!............Again, thank you to Mike and Steve for all the time/effort you guys put into making this event what it is!!..................Tom.

 

[grimmie]

First Thunder under my belt!! Dad & I had a blast and will be back next year. It was great to meet everyone and put some faces with the names!

 

[VMax-Mike]

Thunder was a geaet event as always. To my suprise the gen 1 vmax and a rider that has steped up his game alot this year did very good running with the b king. The two long rides that we did to west virginia and the mountain top bar are some of the best scenic chellenging routes and a must do again. The stay at the hotel was alot of fun. I give my thanks to all of you.................Mike

 

[Redbone]

Here are a couple video's I took while at VMOA Thunder 2014:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rja__xX3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYdoLhjQKLQ

Some pictures:

 

[Traumahawk]

I just tried to click on them....and they are set to "private"

 

[Redbone]

Should be good now, forgot to publish them.

 

[grimmie]

Nice!!:biglaugh: