The Bullet and the Midget: First Group Ride - Delaware County Motorcycle Riders

Some of the bikes at the Wawa before the ride

Today I joined the Delaware County Motorcycle Riders for a group ride out to Kennett Square. I found then through Meet Up on the internet and I though it might be a fun thing to try out. Today's ride plan was to take West Chester Pike from the WaWa at 352 to Westtown Way to Westtown Road to Cheyney Road to Route 1 to Fairville to Hillendale to Power Place at 576 Rosedale where Power Place was putting on a Bike Blessing. I rode out to the Wawa via my usual loop up Goshen to 352 and got there shortly before the meeting time of 10:45. There were already quite a few riders milling around but I headed for the pumps to fill up before going on to meet them. As usual with something like this, I managed to overfill the tank and spill all over. Cleaned it up as best I could and then moved on to the staging area. There I milled around and met a couple of the people; Melissa and Rhonda, the ride organizers, and Bart, who was riding an Indian Chief. What a beautiful bike that is.

Bart's Indian Chief

A couple of the guys wandered over and asked about the Bullet and it was like that that I met Doc Ralph who was riding an awesome Bonneville. Melissa asked me to take the two spot when we headed out so I fell in on that position. When I got on the Bullet I noticed that gas was seeping out from under the cap due to the overfill but at that moment there was nothing I could do. We left the lot and headed to the Route 3 intersection and no sooner had we made the right onto 3 that the Bullet cut out and died. I pulled over, started again, and joined the pack pulling to the left lane to get back to the two spot. I did not have enough road to make that spot so I pulled into the five spot and settled there for the rest of the ride.

Westown Way, Westown Road, Cheyney Road, Fairville, and Hillendale are all pretty rough with some sizeable potholes but nothing that would eat a bike. Melissa let the way single file and kept us pretty much out of harms way. Those roads are all back roads with some good twists and turns and nice rolling hills. Somewhere on Fairville we fell in behind a turquoise and white Nash Metropolitan and I wondered if that was the same one I saw on Easter Sunday. Next time I will try to get a look at the license plate, he was too far ahead of me to get that detail this time. The portion on Route 1 was a little heavier on traffic than I like but nothing out of the ordinary. There was a spot where the five of us on the lead pulled through a light and left the pack behind but they caught up soon enough and resumed together. I really enjoyed the experience and will definitely try some of their rides again.

Part of our line up at Power Place

When we got to Power Place we rode the back and parked. There were over a hundred riders all told including the twenty or so that came with our group. There were also a handful of classic cars and some displays by Rommel Harley Davidson and RetroTours.

I mostly hung out and got to know Doc Ralph who is a really interesting guy and very friendly. He even taught me a couple of words in Chinese!

After the event was over, the group headed out for a longer ride but I had to get back home and prep for next week so I left on my own. I followed the route in reverse until I got on Route 1. There, I made to block on Creek Road to cross 1 and head back towards 926. On 926 I saw another Red Tail Hawk flying in circles over a field but this time on my left. I had planned on staying on 926 to Goshen but on reaching 352 I turned left to go to the Wawa and get a frozen mocha. After that I just headed back home on the regular route. When I reached the turn at 352, an orange Hot Rod crossed my path headed out towards West Chester Pike. It might have been a Ford model A body, the one with the rumble seat, but I can't swear to that.

The route back home on Goshen was easy. I wore the Bohn armor throughout the ride and did not experience any discomfort. I am glad to have it because it is easy to wear and provides a level of protection that I like.

This morning at the Wawa the odo read 2878.5. The tank took 2.416 gallons for a total of $7.39. I put 143.4 miles on the odo since the last fill-up. That puts the mileage at 59.35 mpg. At the end of the ride the odo read 2927.2.

The classic car tally is now two Nash Metropolitans, one MGA, one 1950s Jag, one Hot Rod, and one Ford Model A.