A Year in Review

Well I have to omit it has been an interesting year. I have been very busy with a lot of family and motorcycle activities.

As I left 2008, I set a few goals for 2009. I changed a couple because I knew that they were unrealistic based on funds and time. "As I go into 2009 I have set a few goals, I'm planning to attend three rallies with a goal of no DNF's. I'm planning to attend the IBA Pizza Party in Jacksonville, FL., complete a couple of long 2-3 day rides building up my seat time and being a finisher in the 2009 IBR." So I made a couple minor changes back in January and started the year with motorcycle goals of hitting the 30,000 mile mark on the FJR, making finisher status in the IBR, top 10 in the NMLOE and getting in a couple of multi day rides.

My family goals were my son getting his first hit in little league and completing his first level in the Boy Scouts (tenderfoot). Since he is home schooled we are really trying to get him more involved in group activities. For my wife everything has been on hold but as she put it "this is the year of the wife". Focus will be on spending time with the family; a long vacation, some work around the house and a couple of minor rides together but nothing big this year.

So the place to start of course is the family goals, we spent a lot of time working with our son on his baseball skills and I'm happy to say he completed his year in the majors a hitting maniac. He also accomplished his tenderfoot and had his court of honors the first week of January. So I would say we hit the mark for my son. As I said, for my wife we are now in the year of the wife so I'm doing a lot of stuff around the house.

Ok now that I have bored you with my non riding stuff, lets start talking about the motorcycle year in review.

Well I did start 2009 better than 2008. This year I was healthy and had a new motorcycle. This was the year for the IBR and I wanted the FJR ready as early as possible. So I started by getting the fuel tank hooked up and an elbow welded onto the main tank. The FJR was now capable of traveling 400-500 miles under normal riding conditions. With the added cell, I now can carry 10.8 gallons of fuel. My wife surprised me with a new GPS and lighting for the FJR, so I spent a lot of time wiring in an extra fuse block to handle the load. I was planning to have the capability to have 2 GPS running, XM Radio, Radar Detector and Auxiliary lights. I also had a recall on my ignition switch which I was thankful for, since I heard a lot of people talk about being stranded when it failed. My wife also surprised me with a new Netbook with a solid state drive for the motorcycle. So by May I pretty much had the FJR ready, at least equipment wise for the IBR.

Before the IBR I really didn't ride in a single rally, I was hoping to get into the Utah 1088 and maybe do the March meet-up in Jacksonville but money was tight with the cost of getting the bike ready for the Rally and the fees. I decided to focus on riding in my area. I'm sad to say I did have to make a run to Indiana in April, for a funeral. My mom's brother passed away, I decided to jump on the FJR and make a run home 1450 miles. Jumped on the bike early one morning and the next day I was having breakfast with a really pissed off mom. I didn't tell her I was coming becase I knew she would freak out if she knew I was riding straight in. I had my wife call when I was about 300 miles out. On the way back, I decided to take my time and make it a two day ride which was good saddle time.

Most of the riding prior to the IBR was single day rides 200-400 miles with some friend. I was lucky that I was able to get out at least once a week for a ride. As August came around, I was lucky to find a forum member living close to Spartanburg, SC that was willing to help me with a tire change before the start of the rally. I shipped a set of tires to his place a week before I headed out.

When I started out for Spartanburg, I decide to take two days to get there just a nice easy ride. Once there I settle into my hotel, I hooked up with several friends that were also riding in the Rally. We all sat around itching to get going. My rally could not have gone much better, I made a couple of mistakes that cost me a lot of points but I still achieved all my goals; 1st come home safely, 2nd finish and 3rd have fun. It was such a great feeling coming into both checkpoints with peers cheering for you and then getting to the finish line. I arrived about 3 hours before the finish opened 2am but there was still a couple of people out there clapping when I came in. When I got in the hotel, the fist thing was I ran into a good friend that arrived around mid-night. He was sitting in the lobby talking to several other riders that had came in earlier. It was great to see the family and some friends from New York that surprised us by coming to the finish in Spokane. I ended up getting a bronze metal finisher status and a new three digit IBA number. Once you have reached finisher status you are given a new IBA number.

We had a few riders that had accidents in the rally, with most being minor injuries. We did have one fatality this year. A rider from Australia was coming out of Canada and hit a deer. He lost control of his motorcycle and went down, there were several other riders that came up on the accident and tried to help but there was nothing anyone could do they air lifted him but he passed away later that day. We were at the awards banquet and afterwards the word circulated that he passed away, very sad time for everyone. Several of us went outside and toasted the individual and called it a night.

The only other rally I did was the New Mexico LOE in October. I had a goal of a top ten finish but that went to the way side when I hit an antelope about 2/3 of the way through. I actually was the second person to hit the animal. The antelope ran out in front of a truck and then the truck threw it at me. The damage was minimal and I was able to limp in grabbing a couple of more bonuses on the way. I ended up 12th place, so I really wasn't that disappointed. If I could have completed my scheduled route, I would have placed probably 2nd or 3rd. Afterwards the rally master asked me if I would like to start helping with the rally, so starting 2010, I will be helping host the New Mexico Land of Enchantment Rally.

As I closed out the year, I received some bad news Eddie James passed away (motorcycle accident). I did not know Eddie well, we met a couple of times he seemed like good guy and a great rallymaster. Times like this always reminds me Ride Defensively!

So looking back at 2009 I have a lot to be thankful for, my family and friends that helped and supported while I was getting ready for the IBR. I had a great year of riding, over 30,000 miles with little issues and no DNF's this year. I'm looking forward to a great 2010. I have a new grandson due in June, I'm planning to attend the IBA meet-up in Denver in August and I will be co-rally master this year for the NMLOE.

So until next year everyone ride safe and I hope you have a great holiday.

Dave

December

Well here we go again last Month of the year and would really like to turn around this bad trend on riding I have seen since October. So the first thing I did was e-mail some friends on getting out and riding December 4th. I was getting good responses and it looked like 4-5 of us were going to get out for a little ride. I was hoping for a 150-200 mile ride maybe getting a beer afterwards. Well Friday rolled around and so did the weather, a cold front rolled in and when we met up at my favorite starting location "Mule Barn" it was single digits and no one really wanted to ride. We all just hung out had breakfast swapped stories and finally headed our own way. I decided to ride to the motorcycle shop and pick up a oil and K&N air filter, I figured I would at least get a few miles in and hope for better weather for next weekend.

This ended up being a good weekend to decorate the house for Christmas, we hung lights outside and put up the tree.

I have to omit that this has been the first day in many that I didn't ride the FJR to work, they are calling for rain and snow and I just don't want to deal with it. I have been checking forecast and the weather looks like it is turning bad, might not see any riding for a couple of weeks.

WOW this week just keeps on getting better, the weather has took a turn for the worse a little snow and rain mix but hey looking on the bright side my son completed his first level in the boy scouts and has completed his review and will be moving up. Ok maybe not motorcycle relevent but much more important. I also received some bad news Eddie James passed away (motorcycle accident)I personally did not know Eddie just met him around good guy and a great rallymaster. Times like this always reminds me ride defensively. Everyone enjoy the ride but be safe.

Well until next week Ride safe