Well here we are in December and not much happening on the riding front. The Goldwing is in the shop again for a antifreeze leak. This time coming from the bottom hose on the radiator. Since this is warranty work, I'm stuck waiting on the Honda dealer. They are trying to get mother Honda to allow all the hoses replaced this time. We can only hope.
On the parts news I purchased another rear wheel. On the Goldwing forum there is a trike company trying to get rid of their rear tire/rims after they have converted a bike to a trike. They were selling the rear tires for $50.00. Someone on the forum stood up and said they would go get them and ship them for an extra $5.00 over cost of wheel and shipping. So I have a rim/tire coming in the next week or so. I also know Santa is sending me a belly pan for my Wing and a set of fog lights to go in the cowling from Wingstuff. I also found out Jack a friend knows quite a bit about the Wing maintenance so I'm going to get him to help me with changing out rear shock and air-filter.
Since the November saddle sore ride I really have only put about 350 miles on my bike but hopefully I'll start getting more time on the bike. I'm hoping Honda will warranty the hoses so I'll stop having this problem. I'm also still planning my summer ride during my sabbatical. Will will start in May and last probably 4 weeks.
Well here we sit the day after Christmas and the Wing is still in the shop. Honda gave the approval for the hose replacement just waiting on them to put my bike back together. Hoping to get it back in acouple of days. Christmas was good to me, Santa gave me a set of running lights, belly pan and a gift certificate to Wingstuff. I'll have to figure out what else I just cannot live without. As I said above hopefully I'll get the Wing back in a couple of days then I'll work on installing my new toys.
Well until next time ride safe
Monday, December 13, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
November
What a great start to the month, I was able to get the cabling done for the GPS and MP3 for the Gold Wing. I also completed getting the drive train oil changed, what a mess that is on the Wing. Whoever set up the fill location on the drive oil, failed engineering in my book. The plug is at the same level as the exhaust so you cannot just pour it in, I had to use a syringe to get it in, then waited for it to spill out to make sure it was full. Now that I have done it once I'll be better prepared.
Well the "Bit Nippy 1000" happened this past weekend, it was my wife's first 1000 mile ride, we took off at 05:45 rode to Chandler, Arizona for lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then returned home by 22:15. There were 5 motorcycles going it was funny to see my Gold Wing in with the four BMW's (three GS and one RT). We saw temperatures from a low 33 to 88 degrees. The group wanted to document a SS1000 and I thought it would be a great time for my wife to get her first Saddle Sore 1000. We talked about it and she decided to go for it so off we went Saturday morning. We headed South hoping that it would warm up and get the longest part of the ride done. Things didn't start out so great as we headed south on I-25 the temperatures were dropping. Before the sun came up the temp dropped to 33 degrees. This was a problem because my wife's gear is not the best and even though I told her to layer up she was so cold by our first fuel stop in Hatch, New Mexico she almost quit. We spent an extra 20 minutes getting her warmed up. Once we took off again, the sun was up and temp had increased by 12 degrees. So off we went heading for Deming, New Mexico and I-10. We arrived no issues and jumped on the interstate. We were traveling about 200 miles between fuel stops (this was due to the range on the Wing). Our next stop was in Arizona.
We stopped at Dragoon and were back on the road in 15 minutes. At this stop, everyone was stripping off a few layers the temperatures had been rising. Our ride into Chandler went well and we actually arrived at the Heart Attack Grill right on schedule. So far we completed 550 miles in 8 hours 15 minutes. So we were averaging 67 mph including stops. The temperature was now 88 degrees, so we had seen our low around 33 and now our high of 88 degrees. The place wasn't packed and we were able to get seated right away. The first thing they do is give you a hospital gown and explain how things work. Everyone talked about how they were going to get a triple by-pass burger when we started but they all wimped out and ordered singles except Bob and I who ordered a double by-pass burger and fries. 
After lunch we waddled to the bikes geared up and headed for home, we decided we would head north through Flagstaff and run I-40 back to Albuquerque. The return route was only 490 miles so we figured if we could maintain the same 67 mph we would be home in 7.5 hours. we grabbed a quick fuel stop and headed for Flagstaff knowing we would have to get fuel there; for the SS1000 you have to document your corners so Flagstaff was a good spot for fuel and to get geared up as the sun set. It took us a little under 2.5 hours to get to Flagstaff and the temperatures weren't bad, it was still around 50 degrees. I helped get my wife bundled up and she also put on the rain gear to help break the wind. This really helped because she never complained about being cold the rest of the ride. The rain gear over her riding gear really helped. As we left the Flagstaff area the temps started to rise and pretty soon it was around 54 degrees. It was miserable to start but we knew it would cool off as soon as the sun set. I wasn't leading the group now and the pace quickened once we started down I-40.
I already knew I wasn't going to try and keep up so the group started to break apart. Two of the riders were running about 5 mph faster then I cared too, so I let them go. To me running at night is hard enough so I set the cruise control at 77 mph and motored down the interstate. That speed must have been ok because the other two riders stayed with us. Everyone knew we planned to stop in Gallup for fuel, so we thought there might be a chance to meet back up. We ended up not seeing the other riders till the end, we stopped just past Gallup for fuel at a truck stop. After a few minutes of deciding where to finish at we took off. We ended the ride as we started in Albuquerque closed to where we started. After getting our last fuel receipt, we rode to a Village Inn close by to meet up with the other riders. Bob's wife showed up and signed our documents and we sat around drinking coffee and talking about the ride and when we were going again. After sitting around for 40 minutes we decided to head for the house, we thanked everyone for coming out and supporting our first 2-up SS1000 and my wife's first 1000 miler. Once home, I unpacked the bike and asked my wife if she had taken our paperwork into the house she said no so I knew instantly that we left it sitting on the table at the Village Inn. She called and the manager picked it up and put it in their office for me to pick it up the next day.
The next morning, I ran over picked up our paperwork and started to organize it for mailing. We ended up riding 1040 miles (per my GPS) in 16.5 hours. We averaged 63 mph for the whole tripped that included the 1 hour stop for lunch. Being my wife's first 1000 mile day, this was an excellent ride specially 2-up.
It has been a couple of day since the ride and my wife isn't sure she would want to do that again. I told her to remember that doing the SS1000 would not be fun, it is boring just sitting there pounding out the miles. Doing a rally is where the real fun is, you get on and off the bike more looking for specific things and making adjustments on the fly. We are still planning to attend the Utah 1088 rally next year. Steve has set up what I think is a great event, he is having three rallies in one event. There is a 3-day, 1 day and 12 hour rally all going on at the same time. The 12 hours he is recommending for riders that haven't been in a rally before, great way to get your feet wet. The 12 hours rally isn't that long and gives you a great feel for what a longer rally is about, you plan your route collect bonii and only have to ride around 500 miles to be a finisher. I think this will be a great rally for us to try, I'm not sure if I even want to do the 2-up thing so this is an inexpense way to get started. Hey if we don't like it, I can always go back to riding solo and we can just enjoy weekend rides in New Mexico.
It's been pretty quite since the SS1000, trying to organize a ride this week. Hopefully we can get out for a short ride before it gets too cold. We have been hovering around 30-40 degrees during the day.
Looks like I'm getting a couple of tos for the Goldwing for Christmas, so should be installing new running lights and a belly pan next month.
Well until next time ride safe.
Well the "Bit Nippy 1000" happened this past weekend, it was my wife's first 1000 mile ride, we took off at 05:45 rode to Chandler, Arizona for lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then returned home by 22:15. There were 5 motorcycles going it was funny to see my Gold Wing in with the four BMW's (three GS and one RT). We saw temperatures from a low 33 to 88 degrees. The group wanted to document a SS1000 and I thought it would be a great time for my wife to get her first Saddle Sore 1000. We talked about it and she decided to go for it so off we went Saturday morning. We headed South hoping that it would warm up and get the longest part of the ride done. Things didn't start out so great as we headed south on I-25 the temperatures were dropping. Before the sun came up the temp dropped to 33 degrees. This was a problem because my wife's gear is not the best and even though I told her to layer up she was so cold by our first fuel stop in Hatch, New Mexico she almost quit. We spent an extra 20 minutes getting her warmed up. Once we took off again, the sun was up and temp had increased by 12 degrees. So off we went heading for Deming, New Mexico and I-10. We arrived no issues and jumped on the interstate. We were traveling about 200 miles between fuel stops (this was due to the range on the Wing). Our next stop was in Arizona.
We stopped at Dragoon and were back on the road in 15 minutes. At this stop, everyone was stripping off a few layers the temperatures had been rising. Our ride into Chandler went well and we actually arrived at the Heart Attack Grill right on schedule. So far we completed 550 miles in 8 hours 15 minutes. So we were averaging 67 mph including stops. The temperature was now 88 degrees, so we had seen our low around 33 and now our high of 88 degrees. The place wasn't packed and we were able to get seated right away. The first thing they do is give you a hospital gown and explain how things work. Everyone talked about how they were going to get a triple by-pass burger when we started but they all wimped out and ordered singles except Bob and I who ordered a double by-pass burger and fries. 
After lunch we waddled to the bikes geared up and headed for home, we decided we would head north through Flagstaff and run I-40 back to Albuquerque. The return route was only 490 miles so we figured if we could maintain the same 67 mph we would be home in 7.5 hours. we grabbed a quick fuel stop and headed for Flagstaff knowing we would have to get fuel there; for the SS1000 you have to document your corners so Flagstaff was a good spot for fuel and to get geared up as the sun set. It took us a little under 2.5 hours to get to Flagstaff and the temperatures weren't bad, it was still around 50 degrees. I helped get my wife bundled up and she also put on the rain gear to help break the wind. This really helped because she never complained about being cold the rest of the ride. The rain gear over her riding gear really helped. As we left the Flagstaff area the temps started to rise and pretty soon it was around 54 degrees. It was miserable to start but we knew it would cool off as soon as the sun set. I wasn't leading the group now and the pace quickened once we started down I-40.
I already knew I wasn't going to try and keep up so the group started to break apart. Two of the riders were running about 5 mph faster then I cared too, so I let them go. To me running at night is hard enough so I set the cruise control at 77 mph and motored down the interstate. That speed must have been ok because the other two riders stayed with us. Everyone knew we planned to stop in Gallup for fuel, so we thought there might be a chance to meet back up. We ended up not seeing the other riders till the end, we stopped just past Gallup for fuel at a truck stop. After a few minutes of deciding where to finish at we took off. We ended the ride as we started in Albuquerque closed to where we started. After getting our last fuel receipt, we rode to a Village Inn close by to meet up with the other riders. Bob's wife showed up and signed our documents and we sat around drinking coffee and talking about the ride and when we were going again. After sitting around for 40 minutes we decided to head for the house, we thanked everyone for coming out and supporting our first 2-up SS1000 and my wife's first 1000 miler. Once home, I unpacked the bike and asked my wife if she had taken our paperwork into the house she said no so I knew instantly that we left it sitting on the table at the Village Inn. She called and the manager picked it up and put it in their office for me to pick it up the next day. The next morning, I ran over picked up our paperwork and started to organize it for mailing. We ended up riding 1040 miles (per my GPS) in 16.5 hours. We averaged 63 mph for the whole tripped that included the 1 hour stop for lunch. Being my wife's first 1000 mile day, this was an excellent ride specially 2-up.
It has been a couple of day since the ride and my wife isn't sure she would want to do that again. I told her to remember that doing the SS1000 would not be fun, it is boring just sitting there pounding out the miles. Doing a rally is where the real fun is, you get on and off the bike more looking for specific things and making adjustments on the fly. We are still planning to attend the Utah 1088 rally next year. Steve has set up what I think is a great event, he is having three rallies in one event. There is a 3-day, 1 day and 12 hour rally all going on at the same time. The 12 hours he is recommending for riders that haven't been in a rally before, great way to get your feet wet. The 12 hours rally isn't that long and gives you a great feel for what a longer rally is about, you plan your route collect bonii and only have to ride around 500 miles to be a finisher. I think this will be a great rally for us to try, I'm not sure if I even want to do the 2-up thing so this is an inexpense way to get started. Hey if we don't like it, I can always go back to riding solo and we can just enjoy weekend rides in New Mexico.
It's been pretty quite since the SS1000, trying to organize a ride this week. Hopefully we can get out for a short ride before it gets too cold. We have been hovering around 30-40 degrees during the day.
Looks like I'm getting a couple of tos for the Goldwing for Christmas, so should be installing new running lights and a belly pan next month.
Well until next time ride safe.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
October
Man October is half over and not a lot has changed. We completed the NM LOE Rally and all went well. The 60 riders had to endure Sun, Rain, Hail, Snow, and Wind. All the makings of a wonderful day in New Mexico. The weather was some of the most interesting I have seen in many years, some riders were reporting hail the size of golf balls and as deep as 5-6 inches on the roads. I'm pleased to report everyone made it home safe we did have a few riders drop out but no accidents and everyone seemed to have a great time in spite of the weather. We ended with 46 riders reaching finisher status and Jim Owen won the 2010 LOE. He did an excellent job figuring out the route. This rally is made so that a new person to Rallying can finish but usually it take a lot to finish in the top ten. Here are I snapped several pictures at the start and at the banquet afterwards. 
October is also balloon fiesta time in Albuquerque and every year my son and I head out to the balloon park on the bike and watch them launch. Once they are up, we will chase them for a while. It's fun to watch them take off and land, they sometimes switch passengers and take off again if the winds cooperate. My son and I arrived at the field around 07:00 just as the first way of balloons were taking off. We walked around the field and watched several crews inflating balloons getting ready to take off. Here are a few pictures from the field.
Since the rally is done, I have been back putting a few miles on the Wing. I went for a ride with a friend in from Portland last weekend. I met him for breakfast a couple of weeks ago and we talked about getting together on a Friday for a ride. I called up a few friends and we all met for coffee and took off on a loop that stopped at my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo's. We laughed talked about what we had been doing. It had been so long since I had been out with them it was nice to catch up. The ride was pretty interesting, I'm still trying to get use to the Goldwing and how low it sits to the ground compared to the FJR1300. When I was on the FJR I really had to lean the bike to scrape in the corners but with the wing I seem to always be rubbing off some metal. You know its bad when the guy behind you is saying he has to back off because the sparks are hitting his windscreen and causing pitting. I'm sure it's not that bad but if the forest was in extreme fire danger, I might get stopped by the rangers. I really tried to keep the speed down I didn't want to run that hard but I still scrapped in several corners. We stopped in White Rock about 90 miles into the ride for gas and give everyone a rest. One of the riders is just getting back on the bike after a long illness so we didn't want to push too hard. After White Rock we stopped at the caldera, on the way I did have a close encounters with a couple of deer. I came into the corner as they just jumped out of the road. I can tell I'm still a little nervous since the Javelina incident. We also had several close calls with cars and one truck that seemed to like our lane more. This was the worse traffic I had seen on this stretch of road. You can usually wind it out and might see a car or two for the whole ride. Even with the close encounters, the ride to the caldera went will and I snapped a few pictures before we headed on the Los Ojo's for lunch.
Lunch was good as always and we took our time heading for home. It worked out to be a great ride and everyone seemed to have fun. We only saw a couple of law enforcement vehicles and they seem more interested in the people cutting wood in the forest.
When I returned home, my wife wasn't to happy (I didn't bring her home a burger from Los Ojo's). I figured the only way to get out of the dog house was to take her the next day. So off I went the next day back to Los Ojo's. What a bummer but you have to make the wife happy. Ended up to be a great ride, we ran into some friends out riding and had lunch with them. It made for a nice day. I ended up getting in 340 miles this weekend. Next week I'm going to wire in the GPS and replace the drive oil before heading out camping. We are taking off for Villanuevue State Park for a 4 day weekend, should be fun to get away and just relax.
Well a none riding week outside of back and forth to work. This weekend we grabbed the fifth wheel and headed camping with a few friends. It was great to kick back and do a little fly fishing with my son. A big win for him is that he completed his requirements for First Class in the Boy scouts and will have his Court of Honors in December. He is still focused on getting his Eagle rank and now the next step on his journey Star.
Well I'm still hoping to get the final drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS this week. I have been working this week on setting up a group ride to Chandler, Arizona. It looks like 5 bikes 6 riders, we are planning to have lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then turning and burning home. My wife is planning to attend so it will be her first SS1000, it should be interesting.
Well I was able to get the drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS, so now I'm ready for the SS1000 next Saturday. We lost one of the riders so we are down to four bikes. The weather seems to be holding up so we should be fairly decent. I think the low is only going to be in the low 40's, so that shouldn't be too bad. I have my wife packing for cold weather so I would rather she be to hot than to cold. I never been to the Heart Attack Grill so it should be fun.
Well until next week ride safe.
October is also balloon fiesta time in Albuquerque and every year my son and I head out to the balloon park on the bike and watch them launch. Once they are up, we will chase them for a while. It's fun to watch them take off and land, they sometimes switch passengers and take off again if the winds cooperate. My son and I arrived at the field around 07:00 just as the first way of balloons were taking off. We walked around the field and watched several crews inflating balloons getting ready to take off. Here are a few pictures from the field.
Since the rally is done, I have been back putting a few miles on the Wing. I went for a ride with a friend in from Portland last weekend. I met him for breakfast a couple of weeks ago and we talked about getting together on a Friday for a ride. I called up a few friends and we all met for coffee and took off on a loop that stopped at my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo's. We laughed talked about what we had been doing. It had been so long since I had been out with them it was nice to catch up. The ride was pretty interesting, I'm still trying to get use to the Goldwing and how low it sits to the ground compared to the FJR1300. When I was on the FJR I really had to lean the bike to scrape in the corners but with the wing I seem to always be rubbing off some metal. You know its bad when the guy behind you is saying he has to back off because the sparks are hitting his windscreen and causing pitting. I'm sure it's not that bad but if the forest was in extreme fire danger, I might get stopped by the rangers. I really tried to keep the speed down I didn't want to run that hard but I still scrapped in several corners. We stopped in White Rock about 90 miles into the ride for gas and give everyone a rest. One of the riders is just getting back on the bike after a long illness so we didn't want to push too hard. After White Rock we stopped at the caldera, on the way I did have a close encounters with a couple of deer. I came into the corner as they just jumped out of the road. I can tell I'm still a little nervous since the Javelina incident. We also had several close calls with cars and one truck that seemed to like our lane more. This was the worse traffic I had seen on this stretch of road. You can usually wind it out and might see a car or two for the whole ride. Even with the close encounters, the ride to the caldera went will and I snapped a few pictures before we headed on the Los Ojo's for lunch.
Lunch was good as always and we took our time heading for home. It worked out to be a great ride and everyone seemed to have fun. We only saw a couple of law enforcement vehicles and they seem more interested in the people cutting wood in the forest.
When I returned home, my wife wasn't to happy (I didn't bring her home a burger from Los Ojo's). I figured the only way to get out of the dog house was to take her the next day. So off I went the next day back to Los Ojo's. What a bummer but you have to make the wife happy. Ended up to be a great ride, we ran into some friends out riding and had lunch with them. It made for a nice day. I ended up getting in 340 miles this weekend. Next week I'm going to wire in the GPS and replace the drive oil before heading out camping. We are taking off for Villanuevue State Park for a 4 day weekend, should be fun to get away and just relax.
Well a none riding week outside of back and forth to work. This weekend we grabbed the fifth wheel and headed camping with a few friends. It was great to kick back and do a little fly fishing with my son. A big win for him is that he completed his requirements for First Class in the Boy scouts and will have his Court of Honors in December. He is still focused on getting his Eagle rank and now the next step on his journey Star.
Well I'm still hoping to get the final drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS this week. I have been working this week on setting up a group ride to Chandler, Arizona. It looks like 5 bikes 6 riders, we are planning to have lunch at the Heart Attack Grill then turning and burning home. My wife is planning to attend so it will be her first SS1000, it should be interesting.
Well I was able to get the drive oil changed and the wiring done for the GPS, so now I'm ready for the SS1000 next Saturday. We lost one of the riders so we are down to four bikes. The weather seems to be holding up so we should be fairly decent. I think the low is only going to be in the low 40's, so that shouldn't be too bad. I have my wife packing for cold weather so I would rather she be to hot than to cold. I never been to the Heart Attack Grill so it should be fun.
Well until next week ride safe.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
September
Well first day in September and the Goldwing is supposed to be done today. I also need to check on the last two parts I'm waiting from my last order. It is the mounting bar and bracket for my GPS.
I also received my invitation to register for the 2011 IBR. They moved the dates up it used to be August/September time frame but this time they moved it to June. Not sure why the change and I haven't seen anything explaining why. I would really like to apply but I would only have a little over nine months to get the Goldwing ready. I really don't think I could get it ready and I would hate to be picked and have to drop out. Nine months seems like a lot of time but it is really hard to get everything ready to go and get the funds set aside for the event. All told last time I probably spent around 8-9K. I think I'm going to have to wait till 2013 if I want to give it one more shot. This next time I really want to give it my best effort and scrambling right from the start isn't the way to do it. I'll wait and slowly work on the Goldwing and hopefully get selected for 2013.
It would really be cool if my wife would do the 2-up thing with me. I'm trying to get her interested in a rally and if she liked it, I might get her interested in the big one. We are still thinking of doing a SS1000 this month so who knows.
I really haven't been doing much this month outside of a few rides. Since getting the Goldwing 10 weeks ago, I have put 3200 miles on it. It looks like my wife is going to do the SS1000 with me this weekend. We are probably going to shoot over to Tucson and loop back home. I'm hoping I can get the GPS mounted and the oil changed before we take off. The weather looks to be a little iffy but should be okay. Right now the plan is to take off at 05:00 and hopefully be home before mid-night, we will be running interstate most of the time so it shouldn't be an issue. The loop will be around 1070 miles.
Well until next time ride safe.
I also received my invitation to register for the 2011 IBR. They moved the dates up it used to be August/September time frame but this time they moved it to June. Not sure why the change and I haven't seen anything explaining why. I would really like to apply but I would only have a little over nine months to get the Goldwing ready. I really don't think I could get it ready and I would hate to be picked and have to drop out. Nine months seems like a lot of time but it is really hard to get everything ready to go and get the funds set aside for the event. All told last time I probably spent around 8-9K. I think I'm going to have to wait till 2013 if I want to give it one more shot. This next time I really want to give it my best effort and scrambling right from the start isn't the way to do it. I'll wait and slowly work on the Goldwing and hopefully get selected for 2013.
It would really be cool if my wife would do the 2-up thing with me. I'm trying to get her interested in a rally and if she liked it, I might get her interested in the big one. We are still thinking of doing a SS1000 this month so who knows.
I really haven't been doing much this month outside of a few rides. Since getting the Goldwing 10 weeks ago, I have put 3200 miles on it. It looks like my wife is going to do the SS1000 with me this weekend. We are probably going to shoot over to Tucson and loop back home. I'm hoping I can get the GPS mounted and the oil changed before we take off. The weather looks to be a little iffy but should be okay. Right now the plan is to take off at 05:00 and hopefully be home before mid-night, we will be running interstate most of the time so it shouldn't be an issue. The loop will be around 1070 miles.
Well until next time ride safe.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
August
Well I have made it another Month and I'm finally getting some riding in. The ankle is healing nicely since the accident. I was able to take off the air cast in mid July and stopped wearing the brace the second week in August. The ankle seems to be holding up pretty well.
Since picking up the Goldwing last month, I have been able to get 1200 miles on the wing so far. I took my wife on a couple of rides and I have been working on making the bike more comfortable for her. I added additional padding to the passenger seat for her, replaced her helmet added headsets and purchased her some new riding gear. We are getting ready to ride to Denver this week to attend the IBA National meet. We plan to ride about 300 miles the first day so that we can ride in early Wednesday. If all goes well we should be at our hotel by noon and get settled in before the meet starts that evening. We will be there for 5 day attending several seminars and I'm attending training on scoring for a rally. We have a several friends that will be there so it will be great to see them. I of the couples will be coming in from New York and we are planning to take in a dinner and just kicking back. Before heading out, I did get the rear tire replaced, added some electrical wiring and hooked up the intercom system for our headsets. I also took the bike in to the Honda dealer and had the once over done, since the bike is used (just wanted to make sure all was good to go for our road trip). It was probably a good thing, I complained of a low speed woobble. They found my headset bearing was only finger tight.
I'm scheduled to attend three seminars at the meet one is on riding two-up, another on nutrition and the third on tire repairs on the road. It should be an interesting meet up. I'm also looking to see what others have done to their Goldwings to modify them for long distant riding.
Well the Denver trip ended up being a great time. My wife and I took off Tuesday around noon and rode to Pueblo, CO. where we spent the night. This was my wifes longest ride about a 330 miles, it took us just under 5 hours. We grabbed a hotel, had dinner and called it a night. The next day we didn't hurry but did take off around 09:30 and arrived at our hotel in Denver just after 11:00. We were not able to check in until 13:00 so we kicked back in the lounge had lunch and chatted with friends. Once we settled into our hotel room we registered for the meet and kicked back with friends from Denver and New York prepping for a fun weekend.
The next day my wife went a on shopping and SPA trip while I went for a ride with a couple of guys. One of the guys lives in Denver, so he took the lead. We started out running Boulder Canyon then Golden Gate Canyon then to Golden, CO and back to Denver. We ended up riding about 180 miles round trip. It was a blast, the Goldwing was scrapping in several of the corners and I did have one corner that I almost crossed the double yellow. I was leaned over so much that my boot touched the road and came off the peg. That woke me right up. Once we return to the hotel I ran and changed as quick as I could, I was attending the scoring certification training held by one of the IBA staff. After getting out of the training, I hooked up with the guys I rode with and we met our wivies at a resturant called the Buckhorn Exchange. The resturant was the oldest in Denver and had a great menu. My wife and I had Osterage and Elk steaks and we shared a bottle of wine. It was a get dinner and even better since we took the commuter train. Once back at the hotel we headed for the lougne. We spent time talking to other riders just getting in from the Spank Rally.
The next day was more seminars and kicking tires with the participants of the IBA 5000 Rally. It was starting in Denver and ending 5 days later in Spartanburg, SC. The next day my wife surprised me with a new jacket, my old one was all torn up from the get off I had back in May. It is an nice Olympia jacket with two liners. We ended our last night with a great banquet and drinks with friend. The next morning we loaded up the Goldwing and headed for home. We attended a 2-up seminar by 2 great couples, they talked about their partnership and my wife decide she was willing to do a saddle sore 1000 and possible a rally.
That morning as we were setting to leave, we decide that we would extend her longest ride from 330 miles to 450 miles, this meant riding straight home. We took off at 09:30 and the ride was going well we arrived in Raton, NM for our first fuel stop at 13:00. We grabbed gas and a quick bite and were back on the road. About half way to Las Vegas, NM it threatened to rain, I skirted the edge of the storm but finally decided to stop at a rest stop and get the rain gear out. Just as we stopped the rain started, we dashed for the shelter taking our rain gear with us. We put on the gear and decided to take off instead of waiting it out. The rain was coming down pretty hard but I thought we could be through it in 15-20 minutes. It was a good decision becasue we did clear the clouds and ended up between two fronts. About 40 miles from Santa Fe, NM the rain started again but this time we also had dime size hail. We decided to push through again. The hail only lasted about five miles and the rain slowed to a light drizzle the rest of the way into Santa Fe. We arrived back home 450 miles at 17:00, we completed the ride in 7.5 hours with an two extra stops once in Colorado Springs and at a rest stop to put on rain gear. I was really pleased with how my wife hung in even with the rain and hail she was okay. We ended up averaging 60mph so not bad for her longest ride. I explained that at that pace we would have completed a 1K in 16.5 hours roughly.
So if all goes well, we might attempt a Saddle Sore 1000 next month, hopefully we can get the weather to cooporate a little better. Until then I'm planning to ride a couple of more times this month and start to think about doing some additional wiring and mounts for my GPS and MP3 player.
Well I ordered a mount and some wiring harnesses for the Goldwing this week should be in before next week. I have a little over 3000 miles since I picked it up in July and I'm ready for my first oil change. The oil change and the wiring will make a nice project for a down day. I'm hoping I can set up the GPS mount and wiring next week.
I was able to get out for a ride again this week, I met a friend in Las Vegas, NM for lunch. He is a LD Rider too and likes to tell people where he will be for lunch and if anyone wants to join him swing over. I did a straight shot out and back ended up getting in 260 miles not an exciting ride but still fun to clear the head. Lunch was excellent and we chatted about setting up some additional rides in the up coming months. If we can make them happen they should be fun.
Well not much to report for the last week of the month. The Goldwing sprung a leak on a hose that runs from the radiator to the rear of the motor. The dealer said 4-5 hours for labor and $15.00 for the hose. Luckily the extended warranty will cover the cost. One of the few times that having the extended warranty paid off. So I'm bikeless for at least 6 days.
I'm still waiting for the mount for the GPS, not sure why it's taking so long for them to ship it. I firgured I would give them till the weekend before I start calling.
Well until next time ride safe.
Since picking up the Goldwing last month, I have been able to get 1200 miles on the wing so far. I took my wife on a couple of rides and I have been working on making the bike more comfortable for her. I added additional padding to the passenger seat for her, replaced her helmet added headsets and purchased her some new riding gear. We are getting ready to ride to Denver this week to attend the IBA National meet. We plan to ride about 300 miles the first day so that we can ride in early Wednesday. If all goes well we should be at our hotel by noon and get settled in before the meet starts that evening. We will be there for 5 day attending several seminars and I'm attending training on scoring for a rally. We have a several friends that will be there so it will be great to see them. I of the couples will be coming in from New York and we are planning to take in a dinner and just kicking back. Before heading out, I did get the rear tire replaced, added some electrical wiring and hooked up the intercom system for our headsets. I also took the bike in to the Honda dealer and had the once over done, since the bike is used (just wanted to make sure all was good to go for our road trip). It was probably a good thing, I complained of a low speed woobble. They found my headset bearing was only finger tight.
I'm scheduled to attend three seminars at the meet one is on riding two-up, another on nutrition and the third on tire repairs on the road. It should be an interesting meet up. I'm also looking to see what others have done to their Goldwings to modify them for long distant riding.
Well the Denver trip ended up being a great time. My wife and I took off Tuesday around noon and rode to Pueblo, CO. where we spent the night. This was my wifes longest ride about a 330 miles, it took us just under 5 hours. We grabbed a hotel, had dinner and called it a night. The next day we didn't hurry but did take off around 09:30 and arrived at our hotel in Denver just after 11:00. We were not able to check in until 13:00 so we kicked back in the lounge had lunch and chatted with friends. Once we settled into our hotel room we registered for the meet and kicked back with friends from Denver and New York prepping for a fun weekend.
The next day my wife went a on shopping and SPA trip while I went for a ride with a couple of guys. One of the guys lives in Denver, so he took the lead. We started out running Boulder Canyon then Golden Gate Canyon then to Golden, CO and back to Denver. We ended up riding about 180 miles round trip. It was a blast, the Goldwing was scrapping in several of the corners and I did have one corner that I almost crossed the double yellow. I was leaned over so much that my boot touched the road and came off the peg. That woke me right up. Once we return to the hotel I ran and changed as quick as I could, I was attending the scoring certification training held by one of the IBA staff. After getting out of the training, I hooked up with the guys I rode with and we met our wivies at a resturant called the Buckhorn Exchange. The resturant was the oldest in Denver and had a great menu. My wife and I had Osterage and Elk steaks and we shared a bottle of wine. It was a get dinner and even better since we took the commuter train. Once back at the hotel we headed for the lougne. We spent time talking to other riders just getting in from the Spank Rally.
The next day was more seminars and kicking tires with the participants of the IBA 5000 Rally. It was starting in Denver and ending 5 days later in Spartanburg, SC. The next day my wife surprised me with a new jacket, my old one was all torn up from the get off I had back in May. It is an nice Olympia jacket with two liners. We ended our last night with a great banquet and drinks with friend. The next morning we loaded up the Goldwing and headed for home. We attended a 2-up seminar by 2 great couples, they talked about their partnership and my wife decide she was willing to do a saddle sore 1000 and possible a rally.
That morning as we were setting to leave, we decide that we would extend her longest ride from 330 miles to 450 miles, this meant riding straight home. We took off at 09:30 and the ride was going well we arrived in Raton, NM for our first fuel stop at 13:00. We grabbed gas and a quick bite and were back on the road. About half way to Las Vegas, NM it threatened to rain, I skirted the edge of the storm but finally decided to stop at a rest stop and get the rain gear out. Just as we stopped the rain started, we dashed for the shelter taking our rain gear with us. We put on the gear and decided to take off instead of waiting it out. The rain was coming down pretty hard but I thought we could be through it in 15-20 minutes. It was a good decision becasue we did clear the clouds and ended up between two fronts. About 40 miles from Santa Fe, NM the rain started again but this time we also had dime size hail. We decided to push through again. The hail only lasted about five miles and the rain slowed to a light drizzle the rest of the way into Santa Fe. We arrived back home 450 miles at 17:00, we completed the ride in 7.5 hours with an two extra stops once in Colorado Springs and at a rest stop to put on rain gear. I was really pleased with how my wife hung in even with the rain and hail she was okay. We ended up averaging 60mph so not bad for her longest ride. I explained that at that pace we would have completed a 1K in 16.5 hours roughly.
So if all goes well, we might attempt a Saddle Sore 1000 next month, hopefully we can get the weather to cooporate a little better. Until then I'm planning to ride a couple of more times this month and start to think about doing some additional wiring and mounts for my GPS and MP3 player.
Well I ordered a mount and some wiring harnesses for the Goldwing this week should be in before next week. I have a little over 3000 miles since I picked it up in July and I'm ready for my first oil change. The oil change and the wiring will make a nice project for a down day. I'm hoping I can set up the GPS mount and wiring next week.
I was able to get out for a ride again this week, I met a friend in Las Vegas, NM for lunch. He is a LD Rider too and likes to tell people where he will be for lunch and if anyone wants to join him swing over. I did a straight shot out and back ended up getting in 260 miles not an exciting ride but still fun to clear the head. Lunch was excellent and we chatted about setting up some additional rides in the up coming months. If we can make them happen they should be fun.
Well not much to report for the last week of the month. The Goldwing sprung a leak on a hose that runs from the radiator to the rear of the motor. The dealer said 4-5 hours for labor and $15.00 for the hose. Luckily the extended warranty will cover the cost. One of the few times that having the extended warranty paid off. So I'm bikeless for at least 6 days.
I'm still waiting for the mount for the GPS, not sure why it's taking so long for them to ship it. I firgured I would give them till the weekend before I start calling.
Well until next time ride safe.
Monday, July 5, 2010
July (picking up the Wing)
Well, July finally made it and on the first I was flying to Tucson, AZ to pick up the Goldwing. I took off from Albuquerque at 06:15 and arrived in Tucson at 09:50. I brought one bag on hte plane carrying all my riding gear. The guy selling the Goldwing picked me up at the airport and we went to his house to check out the bike. He walked me through all the different things on the Goldwing and how everything worked. We then went through his maintenance records and tested the bike. It was just as he described in the ad, so we completed the transaction and I was out of there by noon his time. I gave my wife a call to let her know I was on the way.
When I took off, it was 104 degrees and by the time I reached Tucson and I-10 (15 miles) it was 109. The temp didn't drop below 100, until I was in New Mexico. My first Stop was in Lordsburg where I filled up with gas then went inside the Flying J and dunked my shirt into the sink filled with cool water. When I put that back on it really made a difference so off I went again. The Goldwing was running really nice and I really didn't have any complaints. I was running 75-80 mph most of the time, so I was making good time. I turned at Deming and took Hwy 26 to I-25 and stopped in T or C to fill up one more time and grab I bite to eat. I called my wife and said I would be home around 20:30-21:00. After I grabbed a sandwich, off I went again shooting straight up I-25. The ride was really uneventful and I arrived home 21:00 my time. So overall it took me 8 hours to travel the 533 miles averaging 66 mph. The bike ran perfect no real issues and I'm really happy with how it performed. I was surprised how easy it was to maneuver even though it weighs 200 more than my old FJR.
As I pulled it into the Garage, the first thing the wife said was it's purple. So now she has nicknamed it the "Purple People Eater".
That weekend we took a nice ride to Jemez Springs and one our favorite stops the Los Ojo's for lunch. We sat at the bar had lunch and a beer then headed for the house. The road to Los Ojo's is a winding road through a pueblo and the mountains. As we took off you could see the rain in the distance, so I ask my wife if she would like to stop at the Poderosa Winery on the way home and try to dodge the rain. The answer was immediate and clear so I stopped. We hung out had a glass of wine and purchased five bottles. we always have fun when we stop at the winery, great place to kick back and you never know who's going to stop in. I was sitting on the patio watching the clouds roll through and decided we had a chance of getting home dry, so we said our goodbyes and off we went. We were so close about 15 miles from the house our luck ran out and the rain started, we rode the last part in the rain but it wasn't that bad since the temps were in the mid 90's. The rain cooled us down and we really need the rain.
I have set up a meet with some friends for breakfast this week, they all know I picked up the Goldwing but noone has seen it yet. Since they have never seen me on anything but a Sport Touring bike this should be fun.
Well I hooked up with several friends they met me at the Range Cafe for breakfast. It was fun sitting around shooting the shit we had not been together for quite a while. Everyone had a lot going on and little time to hook up. After breakfast I went to Rick's house, (he has a Wing too) he loaned me his shops manual to look at. He also walked me through a couple of things on my wing I wasn't sure about. Once I worked my way back home and parked to Wing I noticed my rear tire was sliced. I must have hit something coming back from Tucson or the last couple of days. The next day I ran to the shop and purchased a rear tire and set up an appointment to get it changed this week. I'm heading out o town next week and want to get the tire fixed before I leave.
Well until next time ride safe.
When I took off, it was 104 degrees and by the time I reached Tucson and I-10 (15 miles) it was 109. The temp didn't drop below 100, until I was in New Mexico. My first Stop was in Lordsburg where I filled up with gas then went inside the Flying J and dunked my shirt into the sink filled with cool water. When I put that back on it really made a difference so off I went again. The Goldwing was running really nice and I really didn't have any complaints. I was running 75-80 mph most of the time, so I was making good time. I turned at Deming and took Hwy 26 to I-25 and stopped in T or C to fill up one more time and grab I bite to eat. I called my wife and said I would be home around 20:30-21:00. After I grabbed a sandwich, off I went again shooting straight up I-25. The ride was really uneventful and I arrived home 21:00 my time. So overall it took me 8 hours to travel the 533 miles averaging 66 mph. The bike ran perfect no real issues and I'm really happy with how it performed. I was surprised how easy it was to maneuver even though it weighs 200 more than my old FJR.
As I pulled it into the Garage, the first thing the wife said was it's purple. So now she has nicknamed it the "Purple People Eater".
That weekend we took a nice ride to Jemez Springs and one our favorite stops the Los Ojo's for lunch. We sat at the bar had lunch and a beer then headed for the house. The road to Los Ojo's is a winding road through a pueblo and the mountains. As we took off you could see the rain in the distance, so I ask my wife if she would like to stop at the Poderosa Winery on the way home and try to dodge the rain. The answer was immediate and clear so I stopped. We hung out had a glass of wine and purchased five bottles. we always have fun when we stop at the winery, great place to kick back and you never know who's going to stop in. I was sitting on the patio watching the clouds roll through and decided we had a chance of getting home dry, so we said our goodbyes and off we went. We were so close about 15 miles from the house our luck ran out and the rain started, we rode the last part in the rain but it wasn't that bad since the temps were in the mid 90's. The rain cooled us down and we really need the rain.
I have set up a meet with some friends for breakfast this week, they all know I picked up the Goldwing but noone has seen it yet. Since they have never seen me on anything but a Sport Touring bike this should be fun.
Well I hooked up with several friends they met me at the Range Cafe for breakfast. It was fun sitting around shooting the shit we had not been together for quite a while. Everyone had a lot going on and little time to hook up. After breakfast I went to Rick's house, (he has a Wing too) he loaned me his shops manual to look at. He also walked me through a couple of things on my wing I wasn't sure about. Once I worked my way back home and parked to Wing I noticed my rear tire was sliced. I must have hit something coming back from Tucson or the last couple of days. The next day I ran to the shop and purchased a rear tire and set up an appointment to get it changed this week. I'm heading out o town next week and want to get the tire fixed before I leave.
Well until next time ride safe.
Monday, June 7, 2010
June
Well as I said May, was a bust not really much to talk about the first half of the month. My last week was filled with a little excitement along with the start of June. My friend Greg came in from Indiana on his FJR on the 23rd. I was really impressed when I saw the set up for the short time he had Greg really did a nice job getting the bike ready. He purchased the bike about a month ago so he did a lot of scrambling to get all the farkling done.
I decided to meet him on Sunday in Moriarty, NM. It is a little town just east of Albuquerque along I-40. He called me once he was at Tucumcari and I took off from my house. I ended up getting to the truck stop in Moriarty about 45 minutes ahead of him. I sat around just watching the wind blow; it always blows in Moriarty. After he arrived, we talked for a little bit while he filled up for the ride to Rio Rancho. I called my wife to let her know we would be at the house by 16:30. Stacey pulled her SUV out of the garage so that Greg and I could get the bikes in. Once we arrived at my house, we gave Greg a few minutes to relax then headed for dinner. Since Greg was from Indiana, we decide to go to a Mexican restaurant in Corrales. After dinner, we sat around and talked about his ride in and what the plan was for Monday.
Monday morning we took off early starting out at the Mule Barn for breakfast. This is an old truck stop that I usually start most of my rides from. After it warm up a little Greg and I headed for the Crest. Since Greg didn’t know the roads, I led most of the time. The Crest is a winding road that dead ends at the top of the mountain close to 10,600 feet. We were running the road at what I would say was a decent clip without incident. I did knock my foot off the pegs a couple of times and did scrape a little off the bottom of the pegs. After we passed the half way point the temperature started to drop into the thirties. As long as I have lived here, I should have known better but we weren’t dress for the temps. We also ran into some road construction on the way up, the highway department was working on the edge of the road. As I came up on them the pickup truck decided to pull onto the road without looking. A quick blast of my horn and evasive maneuver I just missed his front bumper, at least he stopped after he heard my horn giving me just enough room to squeeze by. Greg had to swing out a little but we made it safely by. After that the rest of the 6 miles to the top were pretty uneventful. There was little traffic on the road, probably due to the low temps. Once at the top we parked and as we were getting our gear off this couple came up. The girl was wearing shorts, tank top and flip flops. I took a picture of Greg and her by Greg’s FJR, you could tell she was cold. We then headed inside the gift and proceeded to purchase long sleeve t-shirts and get something warm to drink. Once we warmed up we headed to the overlook and took some pictures, we hung out about 10 minutes then headed for the bikes and the bottom of the mountain. On the road down we ran into a truck hauling hay up, it looked like he had dropped a bail and parked in the middle of the road to pick it up. As I came around the corner there he was but luckily I was not running that fast. My tires were cold so I was taking my time going back down the mountain. Once we hit the bottom of the mountain, we headed to Madrid where we stopped so that Greg could take a few pictures of Maggie’s dinner. It was the restaurant in the movie Wild Hogs. It was built for the movie and is not open to the public, it is a prop only. After Madrid Greg and I headed for Los Alamos and Jemez Springs, we stopped for another photo op at the Caldera. Afterwards we headed for my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo’s tavern, we grab lunch and ran home overall it was a nice 250 mile run. That night we talked over the rest of the trip.
Tuesday morning we took off for what was supposed to be a 5 day trip. We started by heading for Quemado, Pie Town, Datil then stopping at the VLA (very large array). It is 27 radio telescopes connected together in a Y shape. Each leg can span 13 miles; the telescopes are moved by rail cars. We walked out to the telescopes and while we were taking pictures they repositioned the telescopes, it was cool watching them all move together. We also toured the museum before taking off. Afterwards we headed for the Buckhorn in San Antonio, we stopped for lunch. The Buckhorn is noted for its Green Chili Cheeseburgers. We pounded down a couple of burgers and washed them down with a cold beer. Needless to say we were miserable all the way to Truth or Consequences and the end of our first day. After getting our room and parking the bikes, I ran across the street for a six pack of beer and we settle in for the night. We were so stuffed all we did was kick back, drink beer and watch a little TV before hitting the sack.
Wednesday morning we were on the road by 08:00. Our plan was to run highway 152 then state roads 35 and 15 up to the Gila Cliff Dwelling. These are excellent roads a lot of tight and sweeping turns. After the Cliff Dwellings we were heading to Silver City then over to Devils highway and our stop for the night in Springerville. We had a blast on highway 152 the road was in excellent shape with almost no traffic. We stopped for pictures a couple of times. As we turned off 152 to state road 35, I stopped at a small station to check and see if Greg wanted to lead for a while. I told him I had never been on 35 before but he said he like the pace I was setting and didn’t mind bringing up the rear. So off we went about 5 miles down the road we passed a Sheriff sitting on the side of the road talking with a highway worker. We were running the speed limit (45 mph), so I wasn’t worried about him. The only time we were above the speed limit was in the corners. We weren’t in a big hurry so when we were on straight roads we ran close to the posted limits. About 4 or 5 miles down the road is when the real fun started. We had just came out of a corner and heading down a straight way when out of the weeds on my left a Javelina darted out in front of me. To be honest I didn’t even see him till he crossed the centerline, by that time it was too late and I braced for the impact. I hit it dead center and it jerked my FJR right I tried to correct it but it was too late. When I tried to straighten it out, the rear end slid out from under me and I low sided. The FJR and I slid a short distance and then started to tumble. I was lucky no one was coming from the other direction because I crossed the centerline and ended up on the shoulder. I laid in the dirt for what seemed an eternity assessing the damage. Greg ran up as quickly as he could to help. After a few seconds I told him, I thought I broke my ankle and my left hip hurt but was okay and needed help getting up. Greg helped me stand up after a few minutes and I hobbled over to see the FJR. We talked and I told him I needed to get checked out, so he tried to call for help but didn’t have phone service. He was getting ready to go for help when the postman pulled up. He went down the road to call for help. While we were waiting, Greg and I pulled off a few things from the FJR and grabbed my saddle bags. He also snapped a few picture of my bike and the Javelina I hit. I told him to be careful if that thing was still alive it was going to be pissed off. About 30 minutes later the same Sheriff we saw earlier showed up right with the ambulance. We explained what happened and he asked how fast we were running, I told him 45 maybe 50 mph max. He said good answer and Greg showed him the Javelina on the side of the road. The ambulance workers put me on a gurney and removed my boot. The second they took it off, my ankle swelled to twice its normal size. They loaded me up and Greg followed me to the medical center in Silver City. On the way I called my wife to let her know, I was on the way to the hospital but okay. I wanted her to come down to Silver City to pick me up, I was going to have Greg get me a hotel and we would spend the night. While I was waiting at the hospital to get checked out, I told Greg to keep going. No reason for him to hang around, Stacey would be here soon and he still needed to be in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday. So he finally agreed and took off and I was expecting to be discharged anytime. Well that went to heck too, when they made me pee in a cup and found blood. I ended up getting a CT scan and they found I had a small laceration of the spleen. I quickly received a helicopter flight to Albuquerque and UNM hospital; they are the only trauma 1 hospital in the area. So I called Stacey to tell her to turn around and head back home because I was getting a ride to UNM and I would meet her there. I ended up spending the night at UNM but the good news no surgery on the spleen. They also put me in an air-cast for the ankle and hopefully I will get it removed in four weeks.
Greg completed the ride picking up his buddy in Tucson. They took another 4 days to get back home. They cruised to the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Colorado before heading home.
So right now I sitting at home trying to recoup and talk my wife into another bike.
Well the talking wasn’t as bad as I thought; I just asked if we get another Bike which one would you want. She told me the FJR was uncomfortable and when she sat on the Connie she didn’t like the feel. So we talked and decided that if I was going to get another bike it would be a Goldwing. I started looking about three weeks after the accident and found several in NM, AZ, and CO. All were priced right at book value so it did look like I was going to find a kick-ass deal.
Well my next visit to the doctor resulted in getting rid of the air-cast and switching to an ankle brace. Since I had done a lot of looking at Goldwings and hitting the forums, I pretty much knew what I was looking for. I decided on a 2003 Goldwing I found in Tucson, AZ. I talked with the owner and we came to an agreement on the price and I pick it up this Thursday. I’m flying in Thursday morning and hope to be on the road by 13:00. It’s about 500 miles to Tucson so I figure about 8 hours to get it home. I’m probably going to head north out of Tucson and cut across AZ to NM and jump on I-40 for a straight shot home. The weather reports are calling for thunder storms in NM so I’m bringing my rain gear with me.
Well that’s about it for now until next time ride safe and remember “Javelina the other white meat”.
I decided to meet him on Sunday in Moriarty, NM. It is a little town just east of Albuquerque along I-40. He called me once he was at Tucumcari and I took off from my house. I ended up getting to the truck stop in Moriarty about 45 minutes ahead of him. I sat around just watching the wind blow; it always blows in Moriarty. After he arrived, we talked for a little bit while he filled up for the ride to Rio Rancho. I called my wife to let her know we would be at the house by 16:30. Stacey pulled her SUV out of the garage so that Greg and I could get the bikes in. Once we arrived at my house, we gave Greg a few minutes to relax then headed for dinner. Since Greg was from Indiana, we decide to go to a Mexican restaurant in Corrales. After dinner, we sat around and talked about his ride in and what the plan was for Monday.
Monday morning we took off early starting out at the Mule Barn for breakfast. This is an old truck stop that I usually start most of my rides from. After it warm up a little Greg and I headed for the Crest. Since Greg didn’t know the roads, I led most of the time. The Crest is a winding road that dead ends at the top of the mountain close to 10,600 feet. We were running the road at what I would say was a decent clip without incident. I did knock my foot off the pegs a couple of times and did scrape a little off the bottom of the pegs. After we passed the half way point the temperature started to drop into the thirties. As long as I have lived here, I should have known better but we weren’t dress for the temps. We also ran into some road construction on the way up, the highway department was working on the edge of the road. As I came up on them the pickup truck decided to pull onto the road without looking. A quick blast of my horn and evasive maneuver I just missed his front bumper, at least he stopped after he heard my horn giving me just enough room to squeeze by. Greg had to swing out a little but we made it safely by. After that the rest of the 6 miles to the top were pretty uneventful. There was little traffic on the road, probably due to the low temps. Once at the top we parked and as we were getting our gear off this couple came up. The girl was wearing shorts, tank top and flip flops. I took a picture of Greg and her by Greg’s FJR, you could tell she was cold. We then headed inside the gift and proceeded to purchase long sleeve t-shirts and get something warm to drink. Once we warmed up we headed to the overlook and took some pictures, we hung out about 10 minutes then headed for the bikes and the bottom of the mountain. On the road down we ran into a truck hauling hay up, it looked like he had dropped a bail and parked in the middle of the road to pick it up. As I came around the corner there he was but luckily I was not running that fast. My tires were cold so I was taking my time going back down the mountain. Once we hit the bottom of the mountain, we headed to Madrid where we stopped so that Greg could take a few pictures of Maggie’s dinner. It was the restaurant in the movie Wild Hogs. It was built for the movie and is not open to the public, it is a prop only. After Madrid Greg and I headed for Los Alamos and Jemez Springs, we stopped for another photo op at the Caldera. Afterwards we headed for my favorite lunch spot Los Ojo’s tavern, we grab lunch and ran home overall it was a nice 250 mile run. That night we talked over the rest of the trip.
Tuesday morning we took off for what was supposed to be a 5 day trip. We started by heading for Quemado, Pie Town, Datil then stopping at the VLA (very large array). It is 27 radio telescopes connected together in a Y shape. Each leg can span 13 miles; the telescopes are moved by rail cars. We walked out to the telescopes and while we were taking pictures they repositioned the telescopes, it was cool watching them all move together. We also toured the museum before taking off. Afterwards we headed for the Buckhorn in San Antonio, we stopped for lunch. The Buckhorn is noted for its Green Chili Cheeseburgers. We pounded down a couple of burgers and washed them down with a cold beer. Needless to say we were miserable all the way to Truth or Consequences and the end of our first day. After getting our room and parking the bikes, I ran across the street for a six pack of beer and we settle in for the night. We were so stuffed all we did was kick back, drink beer and watch a little TV before hitting the sack.
Wednesday morning we were on the road by 08:00. Our plan was to run highway 152 then state roads 35 and 15 up to the Gila Cliff Dwelling. These are excellent roads a lot of tight and sweeping turns. After the Cliff Dwellings we were heading to Silver City then over to Devils highway and our stop for the night in Springerville. We had a blast on highway 152 the road was in excellent shape with almost no traffic. We stopped for pictures a couple of times. As we turned off 152 to state road 35, I stopped at a small station to check and see if Greg wanted to lead for a while. I told him I had never been on 35 before but he said he like the pace I was setting and didn’t mind bringing up the rear. So off we went about 5 miles down the road we passed a Sheriff sitting on the side of the road talking with a highway worker. We were running the speed limit (45 mph), so I wasn’t worried about him. The only time we were above the speed limit was in the corners. We weren’t in a big hurry so when we were on straight roads we ran close to the posted limits. About 4 or 5 miles down the road is when the real fun started. We had just came out of a corner and heading down a straight way when out of the weeds on my left a Javelina darted out in front of me. To be honest I didn’t even see him till he crossed the centerline, by that time it was too late and I braced for the impact. I hit it dead center and it jerked my FJR right I tried to correct it but it was too late. When I tried to straighten it out, the rear end slid out from under me and I low sided. The FJR and I slid a short distance and then started to tumble. I was lucky no one was coming from the other direction because I crossed the centerline and ended up on the shoulder. I laid in the dirt for what seemed an eternity assessing the damage. Greg ran up as quickly as he could to help. After a few seconds I told him, I thought I broke my ankle and my left hip hurt but was okay and needed help getting up. Greg helped me stand up after a few minutes and I hobbled over to see the FJR. We talked and I told him I needed to get checked out, so he tried to call for help but didn’t have phone service. He was getting ready to go for help when the postman pulled up. He went down the road to call for help. While we were waiting, Greg and I pulled off a few things from the FJR and grabbed my saddle bags. He also snapped a few picture of my bike and the Javelina I hit. I told him to be careful if that thing was still alive it was going to be pissed off. About 30 minutes later the same Sheriff we saw earlier showed up right with the ambulance. We explained what happened and he asked how fast we were running, I told him 45 maybe 50 mph max. He said good answer and Greg showed him the Javelina on the side of the road. The ambulance workers put me on a gurney and removed my boot. The second they took it off, my ankle swelled to twice its normal size. They loaded me up and Greg followed me to the medical center in Silver City. On the way I called my wife to let her know, I was on the way to the hospital but okay. I wanted her to come down to Silver City to pick me up, I was going to have Greg get me a hotel and we would spend the night. While I was waiting at the hospital to get checked out, I told Greg to keep going. No reason for him to hang around, Stacey would be here soon and he still needed to be in Tucson, Arizona on Thursday. So he finally agreed and took off and I was expecting to be discharged anytime. Well that went to heck too, when they made me pee in a cup and found blood. I ended up getting a CT scan and they found I had a small laceration of the spleen. I quickly received a helicopter flight to Albuquerque and UNM hospital; they are the only trauma 1 hospital in the area. So I called Stacey to tell her to turn around and head back home because I was getting a ride to UNM and I would meet her there. I ended up spending the night at UNM but the good news no surgery on the spleen. They also put me in an air-cast for the ankle and hopefully I will get it removed in four weeks.
Greg completed the ride picking up his buddy in Tucson. They took another 4 days to get back home. They cruised to the Grand Canyon and the mountains of Colorado before heading home.
So right now I sitting at home trying to recoup and talk my wife into another bike.
Well the talking wasn’t as bad as I thought; I just asked if we get another Bike which one would you want. She told me the FJR was uncomfortable and when she sat on the Connie she didn’t like the feel. So we talked and decided that if I was going to get another bike it would be a Goldwing. I started looking about three weeks after the accident and found several in NM, AZ, and CO. All were priced right at book value so it did look like I was going to find a kick-ass deal.
Well my next visit to the doctor resulted in getting rid of the air-cast and switching to an ankle brace. Since I had done a lot of looking at Goldwings and hitting the forums, I pretty much knew what I was looking for. I decided on a 2003 Goldwing I found in Tucson, AZ. I talked with the owner and we came to an agreement on the price and I pick it up this Thursday. I’m flying in Thursday morning and hope to be on the road by 13:00. It’s about 500 miles to Tucson so I figure about 8 hours to get it home. I’m probably going to head north out of Tucson and cut across AZ to NM and jump on I-40 for a straight shot home. The weather reports are calling for thunder storms in NM so I’m bringing my rain gear with me.
Well that’s about it for now until next time ride safe and remember “Javelina the other white meat”.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
May
Well here we are again, another month has passed with not much to show for it. We have been having some interesting weather lately. Two days ago I woke to a white yard, still snowing and we are talking May. Our mountains are still covered and the run-off this year should be great.
I'm still heavily involved in my sons little league and boyscout activities. But I have been getting the FJR for my May ride. It looks like we are planning a six day ride nothing really tough most of the riding is twisties. We are going to average about 300-400 a day so I should get somewhere between 1800-2400 miles in. It will feel good to finally get some miles in.
I think the bike is ready to go, I have the Starcom installed and verified that the MP3 works this weekend I'm going to test the the GPS and cell phone. I still need to check to make sure my wife's helmet is also set up. We are still planning the run to Denver in August.
Well until next time ride safe.
I'm still heavily involved in my sons little league and boyscout activities. But I have been getting the FJR for my May ride. It looks like we are planning a six day ride nothing really tough most of the riding is twisties. We are going to average about 300-400 a day so I should get somewhere between 1800-2400 miles in. It will feel good to finally get some miles in.
I think the bike is ready to go, I have the Starcom installed and verified that the MP3 works this weekend I'm going to test the the GPS and cell phone. I still need to check to make sure my wife's helmet is also set up. We are still planning the run to Denver in August.
Well until next time ride safe.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
April (March was a dude)
Well here it is April and nothing to share. I have been off the bike for all of March but I'm hoping to get back on in April. My son's little league is starting up and about the only thing I have been doing in March has been prepping for the NM LOE 2010 rally. I'm helping organize it this year and have been busy getting hotel, banquet facilitates and getting the web site set up. I have been working with the previous organizer so I don't screw things up.
I replaced the tires and finally had to replace the front fork seals on the FJR, I think the incident with the antelope caused the leak. I put the Road Smarts on the bike, that I used to get out to Spartanburg last year. They are still in pretty good shape I'm planning to use them on the ride in May.
WOW I cannot believe it but I finally made it back out on the road. Ended up going out with a few friends and doing any easy 280 mile ride. We hooked up for breakfast then the seven of us took off. Before we left we talked about stopping locations and speed, was expecting a quick pace but nothing out of control. The group decided that I needed to lead since I just installed my new radar detector and they thought this would be a great time to check it out. Two of the guys, I'd never ridden with and wasn't sure about the speed they would be comfortable with. So as we started out, I never really cranked it up I was running 75-80 on the highway. Once we hit the back roads I did pick up the pace, which really broke the group apart. There was three of us running together than two others about 1/4 mile behind us and I'm not sure how far back were the last two. Five of us stopped at the overlook for the Abiquiu Dam, waiting on the others. As we were kicking back they blew right by, they never saw us waving at them.
We decided to take off about 15 minutes later, we figured we would meet up with them at the designated lunch stop Los Ojo in Jemez Springs (my favorite lunch stop). Well after getting back on the road again we had an unexpected delay when the ST1100 in the group decided to do a electrical melt down. As we made a wide sweeper he all of a sudden disappeared in my mirrors, the only one behind me was the Gold Wing. We pulled off the road and sat for about 2-3 minutes and decided to head back. We went back and found him a 1/4 mile back, he was on the shoulder with the other two riders. It was funny watching the Harley guys all grabbing cameras to take pictures. It only took us about 30 minutes to jumper around the burnt wiring. Lucky we had extra wire, fuses and tools to get the Honda back on the road. Once back on the road, we were flying on the back roads again running a pretty technical section. Then about 200 miles into the ride, starving and I think everyone focused on lunch. One of the riders slips off the road onto the shoulder that is nothing but gravel and ciders. After the wake up call, the rider kept the bike running forward and slowly brought it back up on the road. He really did an excellent job getting it back under control. Only bad thing was I was directly behind him and when he went off he pelted me with cider and gravel. (Small price to pay for his safe return to the road).
Well with all the excitement done we finally made it to the Los Ojo for an excellent lunch. While we were sitting there, one of the lost riders showed up. They decided to stop for lunch is Los Alamos and were on their way home when they saw our bikes. One kept going while the other stopped. After about an hour of ribbing the owner of the ST1100, we decided it was time to head for home.
It was a great ride the weather was excellent and the company was great. Met a couple of new riders that was good. I'm usually very picky with whom I ride, I have been on too many rides with people that exceed their ability and that never works out well.
Once I made it home, I was pleasantly surprised that my Digital Starcom1 arrived. I wasn't expecting it for another week, so now I have next weeks project all set up to go. I'm planning to wire the FJR for MP3, cell phone, GPS, rider to pillion communication and radar detector. I'm planning to cut a couple of holes in my plastic for jacks for the helmet plugs. I'm setting this up for our trip to Denver, CO. to the IBA national meet in August.
Well another week goes by and not much to report, I have installed the Starcom1 and the headsets. I have not had an opportunity to try out the new system yet, I'm still reading up on all the options. I still need to run wires under the tank for my GPS and phone. Once done my wife will be able to make a phone call if she wants while we are riding and the GPS will be plumbed into my headset.
My son's little league team is doing well they are 5-1 and I'm spending all extra time umpiring games, so little time to get any riding in right now. I did get a call from the guy I'm going on the ride with in May and it looks like we have firmed up most of the ride. Looks like we are taking off May 24th and I'll return home on the 29th. Four days before my daughters due date. Fingers crossed for an on schedule delivery.
Only a few days left in April and still haven't gotten out for another ride. I completed the wiring for the Starcom1, now my cell phone, GPS and MP3 all are connected to my helmet headset. I'm hoping to take it for a ride and check it out. I also disconnected the auto-retract on my windshield, man is that a pain to get to the connector but I finally took care of that.
Well until next month Ride safe.
I replaced the tires and finally had to replace the front fork seals on the FJR, I think the incident with the antelope caused the leak. I put the Road Smarts on the bike, that I used to get out to Spartanburg last year. They are still in pretty good shape I'm planning to use them on the ride in May.
WOW I cannot believe it but I finally made it back out on the road. Ended up going out with a few friends and doing any easy 280 mile ride. We hooked up for breakfast then the seven of us took off. Before we left we talked about stopping locations and speed, was expecting a quick pace but nothing out of control. The group decided that I needed to lead since I just installed my new radar detector and they thought this would be a great time to check it out. Two of the guys, I'd never ridden with and wasn't sure about the speed they would be comfortable with. So as we started out, I never really cranked it up I was running 75-80 on the highway. Once we hit the back roads I did pick up the pace, which really broke the group apart. There was three of us running together than two others about 1/4 mile behind us and I'm not sure how far back were the last two. Five of us stopped at the overlook for the Abiquiu Dam, waiting on the others. As we were kicking back they blew right by, they never saw us waving at them.
We decided to take off about 15 minutes later, we figured we would meet up with them at the designated lunch stop Los Ojo in Jemez Springs (my favorite lunch stop). Well after getting back on the road again we had an unexpected delay when the ST1100 in the group decided to do a electrical melt down. As we made a wide sweeper he all of a sudden disappeared in my mirrors, the only one behind me was the Gold Wing. We pulled off the road and sat for about 2-3 minutes and decided to head back. We went back and found him a 1/4 mile back, he was on the shoulder with the other two riders. It was funny watching the Harley guys all grabbing cameras to take pictures. It only took us about 30 minutes to jumper around the burnt wiring. Lucky we had extra wire, fuses and tools to get the Honda back on the road. Once back on the road, we were flying on the back roads again running a pretty technical section. Then about 200 miles into the ride, starving and I think everyone focused on lunch. One of the riders slips off the road onto the shoulder that is nothing but gravel and ciders. After the wake up call, the rider kept the bike running forward and slowly brought it back up on the road. He really did an excellent job getting it back under control. Only bad thing was I was directly behind him and when he went off he pelted me with cider and gravel. (Small price to pay for his safe return to the road).
Well with all the excitement done we finally made it to the Los Ojo for an excellent lunch. While we were sitting there, one of the lost riders showed up. They decided to stop for lunch is Los Alamos and were on their way home when they saw our bikes. One kept going while the other stopped. After about an hour of ribbing the owner of the ST1100, we decided it was time to head for home.
It was a great ride the weather was excellent and the company was great. Met a couple of new riders that was good. I'm usually very picky with whom I ride, I have been on too many rides with people that exceed their ability and that never works out well.
Once I made it home, I was pleasantly surprised that my Digital Starcom1 arrived. I wasn't expecting it for another week, so now I have next weeks project all set up to go. I'm planning to wire the FJR for MP3, cell phone, GPS, rider to pillion communication and radar detector. I'm planning to cut a couple of holes in my plastic for jacks for the helmet plugs. I'm setting this up for our trip to Denver, CO. to the IBA national meet in August.
Well another week goes by and not much to report, I have installed the Starcom1 and the headsets. I have not had an opportunity to try out the new system yet, I'm still reading up on all the options. I still need to run wires under the tank for my GPS and phone. Once done my wife will be able to make a phone call if she wants while we are riding and the GPS will be plumbed into my headset.
My son's little league team is doing well they are 5-1 and I'm spending all extra time umpiring games, so little time to get any riding in right now. I did get a call from the guy I'm going on the ride with in May and it looks like we have firmed up most of the ride. Looks like we are taking off May 24th and I'll return home on the 29th. Four days before my daughters due date. Fingers crossed for an on schedule delivery.
Only a few days left in April and still haven't gotten out for another ride. I completed the wiring for the Starcom1, now my cell phone, GPS and MP3 all are connected to my helmet headset. I'm hoping to take it for a ride and check it out. I also disconnected the auto-retract on my windshield, man is that a pain to get to the connector but I finally took care of that.
Well until next month Ride safe.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
February
WOW February has been flying by and I don't think I have much to show for it as far as riding. The weather hasn't been that good on my weekends, I have only been able to get out for a couple of small rides. To be honest I have been camping with my son most of the time. Since we have been having such bad weather for riding, I have been camping with the Boy Scouts. We went to a great little box canyon last weekend. We ended up hiking (doing some map and compass training).
I took a nice little ride this week with several riders, I posted a ride saying lets figure where we were going after we look at the weather report that morning. I only had one reply that someone was going to show up, so I thought it was going to be a quiet day. No one was at the coffee shop when I showed up, so I kicked back drinking coffee and reading the paper. All of a sudden everyone started to ride up. By the time KSU came, we had 8 riders and we decided to head to Mountainair, NM. Mountainair is an old town not much to it but it has a great little stop for Green Chili Cheese Burgers called "Grab and Go".
So off we went me leading the pack. We were taking a nice winding road and I told everyone I wasn't going to go for a land speed record, so if they wanted to bust loose go for it. I must have been running faster than anyone else wanted to do because only a couple of guys turned on the after bunners. I was running 70-75 mph only slowing for the little towns along the way. Once we arrived in Mountainair, one of the guys pointed to the Grab and Go. It was the first time I had been to the Grab and Go what a great little place. It can only hold about 10 people but the burgers are excellent. I think they are a limited meat market mostly. They have 3 different burgers a 1 lbs, 3 lbs then a monster 9 lbs burger. One of the guys ordered a double which is the 3 lbs burger, it was brutal to watch but I was in awe cause he finished it. The green chili was hot and several were wiping back the tears. We ended up heading back the same way we came, the road is better and we were able to wind it out a little. I ended up leading the pack back to town again. I was cruising around 70-75 the whole way, never really backed off the throttle unless we came up to a town. There are a few turns that are a little tight but nothing that caused me to slow down, I just leaned a little more. If I wanted to push I could have probably turn it up another 10 mph and felt comfortable. We have been having quite a bit of snow and the roads were a little dirty so I didn't feel like pushing it any harder.
Traffic was light and there was three of us that pulled away on the way home. When we got back to town we pulled off waiting on the others as they trickled in I figured I must have been pushing a little harder on the way back. I guess not riding for a while and having Mark and Lou (blackbird and busa) on my rear tire pushing me kept my speed up.
This was the first ride since replacing the tires, I'm back on the Dunlops again and they seem to be holding up, I do have a little vibration but I think it is due to the wear more than anything else. I did find a leaking front fork seal and I need to get that fixed in the next couple of weeks. All in all it was a great ride and fun to get back on the FJR. I ended up riding round trip 175 miles and the temps were 30's to 50's so not too bad.
On a side note I do have some riding planned for May. This should be 4/5 days of hard riding, I'm hoping 400-500 a day. A good friend of my brother that passed away 4 years ago is crusing through New Mexico and wants to ride. He just bought an 2008 FJR with only 635 miles on it. I'm planning to meet up with him in late May and show him some of the roads in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It should be a blast, he is a better rider so I'm hoping not to slow him down to much. Right now we are e-mailing and setting up plans on things to see.
Well until next week ride safe.
I took a nice little ride this week with several riders, I posted a ride saying lets figure where we were going after we look at the weather report that morning. I only had one reply that someone was going to show up, so I thought it was going to be a quiet day. No one was at the coffee shop when I showed up, so I kicked back drinking coffee and reading the paper. All of a sudden everyone started to ride up. By the time KSU came, we had 8 riders and we decided to head to Mountainair, NM. Mountainair is an old town not much to it but it has a great little stop for Green Chili Cheese Burgers called "Grab and Go".
So off we went me leading the pack. We were taking a nice winding road and I told everyone I wasn't going to go for a land speed record, so if they wanted to bust loose go for it. I must have been running faster than anyone else wanted to do because only a couple of guys turned on the after bunners. I was running 70-75 mph only slowing for the little towns along the way. Once we arrived in Mountainair, one of the guys pointed to the Grab and Go. It was the first time I had been to the Grab and Go what a great little place. It can only hold about 10 people but the burgers are excellent. I think they are a limited meat market mostly. They have 3 different burgers a 1 lbs, 3 lbs then a monster 9 lbs burger. One of the guys ordered a double which is the 3 lbs burger, it was brutal to watch but I was in awe cause he finished it. The green chili was hot and several were wiping back the tears. We ended up heading back the same way we came, the road is better and we were able to wind it out a little. I ended up leading the pack back to town again. I was cruising around 70-75 the whole way, never really backed off the throttle unless we came up to a town. There are a few turns that are a little tight but nothing that caused me to slow down, I just leaned a little more. If I wanted to push I could have probably turn it up another 10 mph and felt comfortable. We have been having quite a bit of snow and the roads were a little dirty so I didn't feel like pushing it any harder.
Traffic was light and there was three of us that pulled away on the way home. When we got back to town we pulled off waiting on the others as they trickled in I figured I must have been pushing a little harder on the way back. I guess not riding for a while and having Mark and Lou (blackbird and busa) on my rear tire pushing me kept my speed up.
This was the first ride since replacing the tires, I'm back on the Dunlops again and they seem to be holding up, I do have a little vibration but I think it is due to the wear more than anything else. I did find a leaking front fork seal and I need to get that fixed in the next couple of weeks. All in all it was a great ride and fun to get back on the FJR. I ended up riding round trip 175 miles and the temps were 30's to 50's so not too bad.
On a side note I do have some riding planned for May. This should be 4/5 days of hard riding, I'm hoping 400-500 a day. A good friend of my brother that passed away 4 years ago is crusing through New Mexico and wants to ride. He just bought an 2008 FJR with only 635 miles on it. I'm planning to meet up with him in late May and show him some of the roads in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It should be a blast, he is a better rider so I'm hoping not to slow him down to much. Right now we are e-mailing and setting up plans on things to see.
Well until next week ride safe.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
January
Well here we go again, it's 2010 and I'm hoping to have another great year riding. I will not have the opportunities to ride as much this year but still have a few rides planned. I'm also going to help host this years NMLOE in October, which should be great. I'm already trying to come up with a theme for this year rally.
I started the year right, getting out on the motorcycle for a New Year's ride with friends. We met for breakfast then went for a short ride, the weather was a bit nippy (below 20 degrees) when we started. There was about 20 riders and a few of us broke off and took a different route stopping at Route 66 casino for a quick drink. I'm not real comfortable riding in larger groups, I tend to do my own thing. I have a few riding friends that feel the same way so we might start with a group but tend to brake out early.
I also got out the next week with four friends we met for coffee and sat around for an hour or so waiting for it to warm up a little. When we arrived it was 14 degrees, a little cold even for the toughest of us. Once we cleared 20 degrees we headed out looking for snow. I wanted to get a few pictures of us in the snow for the IBA magazine. I was hoping to get our picture in the next addition. We planned to grab lunch in a little town called Jemez Springs, they have a bar there called Los Ojo's that has great food. I know that I have talked about this location many times and if you ever get to New Mexico it is a get little stop. We ended up stopping a little earlier than expected, one of the guys hands were frozen, he said he could not feel his fingers. We stopped at this little corner store for him to thaw out. Once he was up to it we started heading for a nice place to take a few pictures.
After snapping a few pictures, we headed for Los Ojo's and lunch. We had a blast, I think everyone thought we were nuts, riding in this weather. After a great lunch and a drink, we were back on the bikes heading for home. It warmed up a little and by the time we made it home the temp was up to 34 degrees, seemed like a heat wave. We talked about getting together again next week so we will see, so far I have about 200 miles for the year.
Well not much has been happening, the weather has made a turn for the worst. It seems as soon as it is the weekend for me, a weather front moves in to rain or snow. So on my off days the FJR has been sitting in the garage, I was able to get the oil changed and it looks like I finally have shop time set up for that tire change I have been talking about. I have been able to put a few miles on but as the month ends I will be lucky to get 400 miles in.
Well until next time ride safe.
I started the year right, getting out on the motorcycle for a New Year's ride with friends. We met for breakfast then went for a short ride, the weather was a bit nippy (below 20 degrees) when we started. There was about 20 riders and a few of us broke off and took a different route stopping at Route 66 casino for a quick drink. I'm not real comfortable riding in larger groups, I tend to do my own thing. I have a few riding friends that feel the same way so we might start with a group but tend to brake out early.
I also got out the next week with four friends we met for coffee and sat around for an hour or so waiting for it to warm up a little. When we arrived it was 14 degrees, a little cold even for the toughest of us. Once we cleared 20 degrees we headed out looking for snow. I wanted to get a few pictures of us in the snow for the IBA magazine. I was hoping to get our picture in the next addition. We planned to grab lunch in a little town called Jemez Springs, they have a bar there called Los Ojo's that has great food. I know that I have talked about this location many times and if you ever get to New Mexico it is a get little stop. We ended up stopping a little earlier than expected, one of the guys hands were frozen, he said he could not feel his fingers. We stopped at this little corner store for him to thaw out. Once he was up to it we started heading for a nice place to take a few pictures.
After snapping a few pictures, we headed for Los Ojo's and lunch. We had a blast, I think everyone thought we were nuts, riding in this weather. After a great lunch and a drink, we were back on the bikes heading for home. It warmed up a little and by the time we made it home the temp was up to 34 degrees, seemed like a heat wave. We talked about getting together again next week so we will see, so far I have about 200 miles for the year.
Well not much has been happening, the weather has made a turn for the worst. It seems as soon as it is the weekend for me, a weather front moves in to rain or snow. So on my off days the FJR has been sitting in the garage, I was able to get the oil changed and it looks like I finally have shop time set up for that tire change I have been talking about. I have been able to put a few miles on but as the month ends I will be lucky to get 400 miles in.
Well until next time ride safe.
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