I’ve always said that motorcyclists should find Lexington, Virginia on a map and draw a big circle around it. Riding in that area is good, no matter what direction you turn. It appears that enough of you agree with me that Lexington and Roanoke Valley have taken notice.  On August 1, the region rolled out its first travel brochure developed specifically for motorcyclists.

 

Jean Clark of the Lexington and the Rockbridge Area Tourism authority and David Kjolhede of the Roanoke Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau announced the release of a new publication entitled Roanoke Valley and Rockbridge Rides, a full-color

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 2006

Appalachian Highways is assembled with care in Herndon, Virginia.  It is published monthly except for the months of January, March, May, July, September and November. Except as noted, text and images on this page are Copyright 2006 by Dale Coyner.   For permission to reprint, contact Dale.

2006 Calendar

 

September 21—23, Wings Over the Smokies, Asheville, NC.  At the Open Road Outfitters booth. Will be showing and selling Escapade cargo and WAGS pet trailers.

 

October 5—7, Rally in the Valley, Salem, VA. Again at Open Road Outfitters booth with trailers.

 

October 14, Mortons BMW Open House

 

December 30—31, Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, VA.

Lexington and Roanoke Introduce New Motorcycle Tour Brochure

pamphlet containing loop rides and route suggestions that cover hundreds of miles and thousands of curves in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountain region.

 

The pamphlet features an enticing mix of well-known favorite scenic rides like the Blue Ridge Parkway and VA 39 through Goshen Pass. It also suggests many lesser-known, challenging roads that will quicken any rider’s pulse—routes like VA 56 over the Tye River Gap—as well as scenic gems like VA 311 and VA 42, roads that should be near the top of any serious traveler’s agenda.

 

This new effort to attract motorcyclists is the first of its kind in the state and grew out of a mutual recognition that motorcyclists are an important part of the local tourism industry. Both regions play host to large numbers of riders each year, as individual travelers and as part of a growing number of organized rallies held throughout the year.  One of the largest events, “Rally in the Valley,” the state rally of the Gold Wing Road Riders Association, is held each October at the Convention Center in Salem, Virginia, drawing thousands of riders from around the country.

 

I was invited to attend the conference as were other members of the Governor’s Motorcycle Advisory Council. Rich Holman from Cherry Hill B&B in Monterey and Chuck “Papa Smurf” Talley of Richmond joined me at the press conference to recognize the efforts of both groups.

 

Not recognizing the potential for utter disaster, Lexington director Jean Clark asked me to open the conference with a few words.  Heh heh heh.  “Say folks, did you hear the one about the preacher, the traveling salesman, and the…”  Okay, what I actually said was that this is exactly the type of development the council would like to see happen in other parts of the state and we were excited to see Lexington and Roanoke Valley recognize the opportunity that motorcycling offers. After that, I shut up. Crisis deftly averted.

 

Copies of the pamphlet can be requested from the Roanoke Valley website at www.visitroanokeva.com, the Lexington website at www.lexingtonvirginia.com, or by calling the Lexington Visitor Center at 540-463-3777.

 

Be sure to tell them “Dale sent you.”

Cowans Gap Run

This 55 mile run in Hancock, Maryland where I-68 heads west, I-70 turns north into Pennsylvania, and US 522 crosses the Potomac.

 

This route is definitely off the beaten path as it threads the hollows and follows the ridges of southern PA.  Take this run on a crisp September or October afternoon and you’ll be rewarded with spectacular vistas of the Pennsylvania countryside.

 

On PA 1005, you’ll pass by Cowans Gap State Park, a high mountain lake with a beach, paddle boats, picnic tables and a concession stand.

 

This run ends at the Path Valley Family Restaurant in Spring Run, PA which features great home-cooked meals (When is the last time you found stuffed peppers on a restaurant menu?).

 

 

From Hancock, Maryland

MD 144 (Main Street) to I-70

Merge onto I-70 eastbound                               Go 1.0 mile

Take ramp (left exit) to Maryland 615

Right on MD 615 (Millstone Road).                 Go 1.4 miles

Left on Hollow Road. Becomes PA 456         Go 15.6 miles

Left on PA 16 toward McConnelsburg            Go 4.8 miles

Right on Old US 30                                            Go 1.4 miles

Right on US 30 east to Tuscarora Summit      Go 1.6 miles

Left on PA 1005 – Aughwick Road                 Go 11.5 miles

Left on SR 1010 Grist Mill Road                     Go about 7/10ths

Right on US 522 to Shade Gap                         Go 7.5 miles

Right on PA 641 to Spring Run                        Go 8.5 miles

Arrive Path Valley Restaurant

Open Road Outfitters Debuts

at Carlisle Bike Fest

 

Last year about this time I found myself observing the stars and reading the signs, trying to divine the future and figure out a new go-forward plan. I’d recently gotten out of live event webcasting and had just a few months to go on a contract with the acquiring company. I was on the verge of being a free man after six years in a tech startup and as delicious as the prospect seemed, I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with myself afterward.

 

I did have this one project on hand.  I’d already started working on a new moto-title now known as The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Travel. Many of you already know about that and quite a few of you had a hand in its creation.

 

As I began to dig into the research, I found that if you compared what was available for motorcycle travel with what you would find in stock at the average dealership, there was a big gap. Dealers, I learned, are rightly focused on motorcycle sales and service, and they just don’t have a lot of time to spend on the entire spectrum of motorcycle accessories.

 

Hmmm. On the one hand, I had an opportunity to start another tech company. That meant another few years of long hours, maintaining servers against an endless array of hacks, working in a business I couldn’t explain to my family or friends, taking an endless series of phone calls with customers explaining that if their browser couldn’t even load a public page like Google.com, the problem was on their end, not ours.

 

On the other hand, I could sense there was an opportunity in motorcycle retail. I knew that also meant long hours, entry into a business entirely new to me, a dizzying array of potential products, and a big capital commitment for inventory. Or, as a good friend put it, “What you have in mind is a business in which you will do anything legal, for money, related to motorcycling.” That seemed like a pretty concise mission statement to me.

 

What has evolved from that tenuous plan is a new company in Dulles, Virginia called Open Road Outfitters.  Our plan is to focus on selected sectors of motorcycle accessories that aren’t in direct competition with local dealers.  For example, we stock a range of motorcycle trailers. Some are for hauling cargo. Others are for camping. Still others are designed to haul your pets. We’ll be adding transporters soon, and we’ll be renting trailers in addition to selling them.

 

This fall, we’ll be adding electronics to our line-up. We’ll be selling and installing GPS and satellite radio units, audio interfaces for cell phones and bike-to-bike intercoms, alarms, and auxiliary and cosmetic lights.

 

I hope you’ll stop by our website (www.openroadoutfitters) some time and pay a visit. I would particularly like to hear what YOU would like to see in an accessory shop. What do you find lacking in company websites? What policies do you find frustrating? If you were running the store, what would you stock?

 

If you find yourself in the Dulles airport area and want to stop by our service center/showroom for a visit, please feel free. Hours are a bit irregular until school starts in the fall, so give me a ring at (800) 541-6736 beforehand and I’ll make sure I’m there.

Above:  Unlike webcasting, this is the kind of business the whole family can be involved in.  At the top, my wife Sandy and son Carl talk to a prospective customer.  Later, I put Carl to work polishing the merchandise.

 

Below: I met up with Jeff Wagner (left) and his brother Gene (right) when picking up a trailer order. Some of you may know Gene as the originator of Wing Ding.  Below that is a picture of our service center and showroom in Dulles, VA.