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.