JetSetterJoe.com

Spring has arrived in the Mid-Atlantic in spurts and stalls. This is evidenced by the fact that—a week after the biggest snow storm of the winter in our area—this past Saturday dawned to beautiful clear skies and 65-degree F weather. We were eager to take advantage of the weather and do some two-up riding in our BMW F650GSA.

Now a 650 is generally considered a small bike for on-road two-up riding particularly in the US with its wide open spaces and endless miles of four lane highway. In Asia much smaller bikes are routinely used not only for two-up or even three-up riding but to carry ridiculous loads. In Europe the success of the KTM 650 Adventure might provide an indication that many Europeans consider this the ideal bike for long distance adventure riding.

Even in the Americas the smaller bikes have many advantages—particularly for adventure riders—such as light-weight, economy, ease of handling, etc. As a novice rider I have come to appreciate the smaller bike. I’m a big guy and find this bike extremely easy to handle to the point where—knock on wood—I haven’t even come close to dropping it even once.

Part of this is due to my cautiousness as I wouldn’t even ride on public roads until I’d had my three-day rider safety course, which gave me plenty of time to practice on gravel roads around my house. However, this is also a testament to the small beemer’s mild manners. I also don’t find the bike lacking power when I am trying to accelerate out potentially dangerous box-in situations on the highway.

The downside of the smaller bike, aside from less power, is less cargo capacity and less overall weight, which makes it susceptible to being thrown around by wind gusts. This became painfully obvious this Saturday for—despite the gorgeous weather—the wind was gusting excess of 30 mph.

This was not our first time riding in windy conditions. The area around the Northern Neck of Virginia is surrounded by large rivers and we encounter gusty conditions frequently both in land and water. Despite this, Saturday was by far the windiest day we’ve ridden in yet and caught us unprepared.

The plan was to ride State Route 218 into Fredericksburg, VA, cruise the old town, have picnic lunch in a city park and then return home the same way. Rt. 218 is a road favored with riders because of its thrilling tree-lined hills and curves. At the last minute, we had a change of plans and decided to have our picnic near the Potomac before heading into Fredericksburg.

On our way to the Potomac, a discussion on the Autocom intercom system prompted another change of plans and we decided to take the less familiar Route 17 into Fredericksburg and stop at Port Royal for lunch. This required us to ride a wide open segment of Route 301.

Right away we could feel the gusts jerk the bike around but not more than on previous occasions when riding on unprotected highways in windy conditions. The real trouble came as we approaching the Rappahannock River and the road leveled out. The gusts were so strong that I could feel my front wheel being lifted and pushed across the road into the passing lane causing me to swerve slightly. Luckily, traffic was particularly light that day and I simply tried to ride close to the middle of the road so I could react no matter which direction the wind pushed me.

This was the first that time that we had ridden the bike two-up since installing two Pelican 1500 side cases. Previously, I had always ridden with a single Givi E45 top case. The Pelican cases are more rugged and should provide more storage for long trips; however, they are definitely heavier than the Givi even empty. I was concerned that the bike was too heavily loaded towards the rear causing it to become unstable.

We considered turning back but were close to reaching Port Royal and Rt. 17, which would—hopefully—be more sheltered. I slowed down to 50 mph and, every time a gust hit the bike, I would tuck in close to the tank and hide behind the wind screen like an old time racer. This seemed to stabilize the bike quite a bit even if it must have made me look ridiculous to the many Goldwing riders we passed going south on 301.

We reached Port Royal and had lunch on a bench on the park at site of the old port, where John Wilkes Booth sought refuge here after his shooting of Lincoln. (Booth was killed two miles outside the town, west of the intersection of present day Rts. 301 and 17.) The “park” is nothing more than a road that dead-ends on the river, a bench and a couple of signs recounting the history of the place. At least it was sheltered from the wind even though my wife—suspicious as always—didn’t want to touch anything wondering what kind of shady dealings went on in that place after dark.

After lunch we got back on the bike and started west on 17. Our hopes of a more sheltered ride were soon dashed as the wind kept whipping us for the first half of the ride into Fredericksburg. Unlike Route 301, 17 had a lot more traffic and, since it is only a two lane highway, I feared being pushed into oncoming traffic so I slowed down further and had to pull over several time to let impatient motorist by.

Near Fredericksburg, the wind became less of a factor and I was able to speed up and enjoy the ride a bit more. The loop back to Rt. 218 on the way home was less uneventful, except in the area around Shannon Airport where the wind was blowing harder than ever. I was ready, however, and assumed the “attack position” that allowed me to soldier through—the stopover at a gas station just past the airport for a potty break was just coincidental… honest.

After riding down Charles Street through the historic Old Town, we crossed the Rappahannock once more and hugged its banks on River Road before hooking back onto Rt. 212, which would lead us directly into 218. Once on 218, we were back on familiar territory. The ride home on the sheltered highway was a lot more enjoyable as we leaned into turns with confidence. Despite all the stress during the first part of the ride we ended up with big smiles on our faces and the ride proved to be a valuable learning experience especially now that we are considering longer rides.