Gang,
All is well and the year is closing, I've been busy this month so not much riding. I'm planning next years dream ride which is riding the haul road to Deadhorse, AK.
So far it looks like a 4000 mile ride one way if I do a straight shot. I was thinking of adding a side trip to Hyder, AK just to check it out since it is such a big stop for LD Riders due to the Hydr Seek event. Adding Hyder in would only add 200 miles. I think I could get it done in about 12-16 days easily; I just need to find someone that would want to do the trip with me. I don't think running the haul road by myself would be a smart idea. Yes I think I could do it no problem but it is nice to have a second rider in case of a breakdown. I'm talking to friends about the trip right now to see if someone would be interested. It looks like I could get to Deadhorse in seven days easily and 6 if I push a little. If I ride 600 miles a day I could be their in 7 days so adding a hundred more would get me their in 6 days. I could spend a night in Deadhourse and head back. I could also hit Hyder on the way home too. So round trip riding time 12-13 days with an overnight added in Hyder and Deadhorse.
I'm still looking at stops and was planning on taking a tent, I think it would be cool to tent this trip and hit a hotel in Deadhorse and Hyder. The plan is going in late June or early July, this would maximize daylight (no night time).
I'm also looking at modifications to the V-Strom like a belly pan, radiator cover for protection and additional lighting for night time. I think the 1.5 gallon Koplin fuel can will give me enough range so that should be good.
So for December not much riding, just a couple of trips around area. I friend just picked up a new motorcycle so maybe one last ride for 2012 before starting up again in 2013.
Until next time ride safe.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
November
Well, not much to write about in October. My birthday came and went by, my wife and son gave me new side boxes for the V-Strom from sea horse. They sat in the house for a few weeks before I had time to get them installed. I used the EOM mounts and fabricated pieces to hook up the new boxes. I like the sea horse box, I used one on my FJR for a topbox. They are built well and easy to mount. I also installed wiring for a extra 12 volt plug and for the Nuvi 500 that was given as a gift.
As November rolled in I was getting the V-Strom ready for the Bit Nippy 1000 coming up the first week in November. I found a 1.5 gallon Rolplx tank that I mounted where my topbox normally sits. It is always nice to carry a little extra fuel just in case. Talking to the organizer the longest stretch we have to do is 240 miles, which if all is going well my V-Strom can do. I decide that just in case, I would add the extra capacity if something happened. So the V-Strom was ready but was I?
I was waiting to decide if I was going to be able to ride based on my knee. I injured it in Canada in the boundary waters back in June. I went on a boyscout canoe trip and twisted my knee. I set it up that I would go to the start and see how it felt and decide the morning of the ride. I rode up to the starting point (Las Vegas, NM) on Friday afternoon without any issues. Not really a big deal it's only about 120 miles from home. I arrived at the hotel/starting point and settled in waiting for the other riders to arrive. They started filtering in and soon there was 25 people of which 19 were riding. We all went to dinner that night and were given out packet with route and release forms. After a so-so dinner, I filled up the tank and headed back to my room. My goal was to get to sleep by 22:00 and get up at 04:15 for the 05:00 start. All went well and I was up by 04:15 getting the motorcycle packed up and ready to go. My knee was a little sore but really didn't feel that bad so what the heck I decided to give it a go. I sat around with a few of the riders, having a cup of coffee waiting to get checked out for the ride by one of the volunteers. The volunteers needed to get our odometer reading and keep us in place till the official start of 05:00. Once it was 05:00 we were allowed to take off and the only rules were we had to get gas recipes at the designated corners and be at the Village Inn in Albuquerque, NM by 04:00 to be considered a finisher. The reason for 04:00 and not 05:00 was that we had a time change and the clocks rolled back at 02:00.
A little history the reason for the ride being called Bit Nippy is every year we are always looking for the coldest weather but this year the weather was quiet mild. This is the third year for the ride, the first one was a run to AZ where we stopped at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ then back home. The second year was a run to KS. and back down through CO. This year I believe the low was registered on I-40 between Albuquerque and Gallup at 26 degrees.
I started a couple minutes after 05:00 flying down I-25 heading for Albuquerque then Gallup, NM for our first fuel stop. I was running about 5 mph over the speed limit on the Interstate and knew I could not make it all the way to Gallup without out fueling up. The ride from Las Vegas to Albuquerque was done in the dark running through the northern mountains around 80 mph was a little nerve racking. You really need to keep your head on a swivel watching the road and looking for wild life. But all went well passing a few of my peers on the road, I passed the three guys from Texas about half way to Albuquerque. Looked like they were going to stick together through the whole ride. Once in Albuquerque, I turned West onto I-40 and pulled off I-40 for gas about 60 miles outside of Gallup. Since I have 24 hours to completed the ride I really wasn't to concerned about the lengths of my stops so I grabbed a cup of coffee and watch two of my peers ride by. I do not ride with heater gear so even though the temps didn't drop below 26 degrees that's still cold running at 80 mph! I grabbed cup of coffee it was a nice warmer upper and stretched the knee out.
I finished the ride to Gallup as the sun came up and picked up my gas recipe as I pulled into the station one of the guys that passed me while I was at my first stop was just pulling out and as I was finishing fueling one of the guys (Dan) showed up on his BMW. We exchanged pleasantries and I headed off to Shiprock, NM. The road to Shiprock is always a little rough, it seem they are always doing something on that road. It was a quiet ride in following a little sports car that seems to want to share the up front time with me. Every once in a while they would slowdown and I would pass then maybe 10-15 miles later they would pass me again. This went on several time, till I pulled off in Shiprock to get another recipe for my next corner. As I pulled into the station, Dan caught me and a second bike pulled in as I was getting back on my V-Strom. We chatted for a couple of minutes and I wished him a safe ride and off I went. As I pulled back onto the road there was the BMW again in front of me. I decide to ride on his tail through Farmington and Bloomfield. As I pulled up next to him at a stop light in Bloomfield, I asked if he minded me tagging along on his fender. He said the more the merrier and he was going to pull off soon to grab a bite to eat. I told him there was a pretty nice place in Chama if he could make it that far. Kind of unusual riding with someone it was kind of nice, most of the time Long Distance Riders (LDR) ride alone and never see another rider sometimes for days. So having someone to follow and ride with can be enjoyable. So off we went for Chama, NM and our third official fuel stop. It was a nice winding road through the mountains and Dan was setting a swift pace. As we pulled into Chama we were closing in on the half way point. There was three other bikes just completing their fueling and pulling out I talked with Dan asking if he wanted to get a bite to eat, he said if I was okay he would like to push on. I told him I was good to go so we fueled up drank some water and pushed on. (I think seeing how close we were to the other riders made him want to continue). So off to Raton, NM for the next fuel stop by way of Taos and Eaglenest. This section was all mountainous roads with a short jaunt across the Taos Junction Bridge. You might remember the bridge it was in the movie "Wild Hogs". It is a great bridge to cross it spans a deep gorge just outside Taos. As we were flying through the sections Dan was scraping his pegs quiet a bit. At one point we hit a turn and Dan said if I wanted to pass go ahead and I told him pick a speed he was comfortable with and I would follow. I think he felt I was pushing a little, there was a couple of corners he slowed down quiet a bit and I was applying the brakes pretty hard to give him some room. I wasn't trying to push and he was running fine, we were making great time. We also passed the Philmont boyscout property, just before Cimarron. This is one of three boyscout high adventure camps, My son and I will be there next year in June backpacking. As we pulled into Cimarron, we were applying the brakes to get down to the speed limit. Cimarron is not a big town and as we passed the city limits we saw a couple of cruisers sitting on the side of the road in the middle of town just relaxing. As we passed you could tell they were kicking back having coffee just monitoring the road. As we left town we kicked it up a notch and as we came up on NRA Whittening Center we were applying the brakes again, the speed on that section of the road was 55 mph and we were running close to 90 when we encountered the first of three state trooper cars. They looked like they might have been at the Whittening Center on the way back to the state trooper post that we had passed about 2 miles back. After we passed the second trooper, I saw the car in the distance and I thought no way three in a row. I back out of the throttle again and sure enough a third trooper but this time he gave us a long look before continuing on his merry way. After that encounter, we slowed it down till we reached the interstate and Raton for our fourth mandatory fuel stop. We pulled off the interstate for fuel at the turn for Clayton, NM. As we pulled into the station with Chris and Jeff still fueling, Chris said we were 5-10 minutes behind Bob, Rex and Jack. Dan and I were not in a hurry so as Chris took off we were still fueling the bikes and grabbing a quick snack and drink. Jeff hung around and we told him to join in if he wanted too. I called home and was scolded by my wife she said my Spot wasn't sending a signal, I told her it was flashing and all was well. I shut it off and turn it back on and hopefully it would work the rest of the way in for her. She never has liked it when I do these rides but at least the Spot lets her know I'm okay and still moving. She and my son were worried when they were not getting the signal.
After Dan checked in with his wife the three of us took off for Clayton our next fuel stop and turn South. On the way Jeff was falling a little bit behind so Dan backed off the throttle and slowly Jeff caught back up. Once together again we lowered our pace which was probably the right thing to do, there are several turns that are pretty tight on the road into Clayton that are not well marked. We road straight into Clayton with no issues, grabbed out fuel recipe and hit the road for Tucumcari, NM our last mandatory fuel stop. Later at the finish, we heard that the three riders from Texas had an accident on the way to Clayton. One rider ended up getting checked out at the hospital. One of the other riders did go down but was okay. Out of the three, one totaled their motorcycle and one banged his up, they decided to head home from there since they were right on the TX line. I'm still not sure what happened but the important thing was everyone was going to be okay.
Our next goal was to get through Nara Visa, NM before the "Zombies" came out. If you have ever been through Nara Visa it is a little town at the corner of State Road 402 and US Highway 54. There is no gas stations only a hotel a few houses and several building that have been burned out or collapsing due to neglect. About the only thing moving during the daylight are the trucks coming out of Texas into New Mexico but as it starts to get dark the town seem to come alive "Zombies". We hit the town limit just as the sun was setting and as we expected no one on the streets but we were seeing a few of the houses and the motel lights starting to come on. Needless to say we didn't slowdown much we just focused on the road and headed for Tucumcari for our last fuel stop before heading for the finish in Albuquerque, NM.
We arrived in Tucumcari about 45 minutes later (it was completely dark now). We grabbed our mandatory last fuel recipe and started down I-40 for Albuquerque. The Interstate was busy and we were maneuvering around the semi-trucks, we must not have been that visible because several time the trucks would pull out in front of us as we were trying to pass. Outside of the few times we had to slow down for the trucks all went pretty smooth into Albuquerque and to the finishing point at the Village Inn. 16 hours and 15 minutes later Dan, Jeff and I were getting off our motorcycles and heading into the Village Inn for breakfast at 21:15. As we walked in we were greeted by Bob, Rex, Chris, Jack and our official witnesses. We sat down shared stories about the road, it was there that Bob told us about the three riders from Texas. So out of the 19 riders that started seven were now finished and three were out so we were still waiting on nine riders. I hung around for a couple of hours and two more riders showed up, we heard a couple were late getting out of the mountainous section so we knew that would be a tough ride for them the rest of the way. When all was done we ended with 16 finishers out of the 19 starters and a lot of good stories
Well until next time ride safe.
As November rolled in I was getting the V-Strom ready for the Bit Nippy 1000 coming up the first week in November. I found a 1.5 gallon Rolplx tank that I mounted where my topbox normally sits. It is always nice to carry a little extra fuel just in case. Talking to the organizer the longest stretch we have to do is 240 miles, which if all is going well my V-Strom can do. I decide that just in case, I would add the extra capacity if something happened. So the V-Strom was ready but was I?
I was waiting to decide if I was going to be able to ride based on my knee. I injured it in Canada in the boundary waters back in June. I went on a boyscout canoe trip and twisted my knee. I set it up that I would go to the start and see how it felt and decide the morning of the ride. I rode up to the starting point (Las Vegas, NM) on Friday afternoon without any issues. Not really a big deal it's only about 120 miles from home. I arrived at the hotel/starting point and settled in waiting for the other riders to arrive. They started filtering in and soon there was 25 people of which 19 were riding. We all went to dinner that night and were given out packet with route and release forms. After a so-so dinner, I filled up the tank and headed back to my room. My goal was to get to sleep by 22:00 and get up at 04:15 for the 05:00 start. All went well and I was up by 04:15 getting the motorcycle packed up and ready to go. My knee was a little sore but really didn't feel that bad so what the heck I decided to give it a go. I sat around with a few of the riders, having a cup of coffee waiting to get checked out for the ride by one of the volunteers. The volunteers needed to get our odometer reading and keep us in place till the official start of 05:00. Once it was 05:00 we were allowed to take off and the only rules were we had to get gas recipes at the designated corners and be at the Village Inn in Albuquerque, NM by 04:00 to be considered a finisher. The reason for 04:00 and not 05:00 was that we had a time change and the clocks rolled back at 02:00.
A little history the reason for the ride being called Bit Nippy is every year we are always looking for the coldest weather but this year the weather was quiet mild. This is the third year for the ride, the first one was a run to AZ where we stopped at the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler, AZ then back home. The second year was a run to KS. and back down through CO. This year I believe the low was registered on I-40 between Albuquerque and Gallup at 26 degrees.
I started a couple minutes after 05:00 flying down I-25 heading for Albuquerque then Gallup, NM for our first fuel stop. I was running about 5 mph over the speed limit on the Interstate and knew I could not make it all the way to Gallup without out fueling up. The ride from Las Vegas to Albuquerque was done in the dark running through the northern mountains around 80 mph was a little nerve racking. You really need to keep your head on a swivel watching the road and looking for wild life. But all went well passing a few of my peers on the road, I passed the three guys from Texas about half way to Albuquerque. Looked like they were going to stick together through the whole ride. Once in Albuquerque, I turned West onto I-40 and pulled off I-40 for gas about 60 miles outside of Gallup. Since I have 24 hours to completed the ride I really wasn't to concerned about the lengths of my stops so I grabbed a cup of coffee and watch two of my peers ride by. I do not ride with heater gear so even though the temps didn't drop below 26 degrees that's still cold running at 80 mph! I grabbed cup of coffee it was a nice warmer upper and stretched the knee out.
I finished the ride to Gallup as the sun came up and picked up my gas recipe as I pulled into the station one of the guys that passed me while I was at my first stop was just pulling out and as I was finishing fueling one of the guys (Dan) showed up on his BMW. We exchanged pleasantries and I headed off to Shiprock, NM. The road to Shiprock is always a little rough, it seem they are always doing something on that road. It was a quiet ride in following a little sports car that seems to want to share the up front time with me. Every once in a while they would slowdown and I would pass then maybe 10-15 miles later they would pass me again. This went on several time, till I pulled off in Shiprock to get another recipe for my next corner. As I pulled into the station, Dan caught me and a second bike pulled in as I was getting back on my V-Strom. We chatted for a couple of minutes and I wished him a safe ride and off I went. As I pulled back onto the road there was the BMW again in front of me. I decide to ride on his tail through Farmington and Bloomfield. As I pulled up next to him at a stop light in Bloomfield, I asked if he minded me tagging along on his fender. He said the more the merrier and he was going to pull off soon to grab a bite to eat. I told him there was a pretty nice place in Chama if he could make it that far. Kind of unusual riding with someone it was kind of nice, most of the time Long Distance Riders (LDR) ride alone and never see another rider sometimes for days. So having someone to follow and ride with can be enjoyable. So off we went for Chama, NM and our third official fuel stop. It was a nice winding road through the mountains and Dan was setting a swift pace. As we pulled into Chama we were closing in on the half way point. There was three other bikes just completing their fueling and pulling out I talked with Dan asking if he wanted to get a bite to eat, he said if I was okay he would like to push on. I told him I was good to go so we fueled up drank some water and pushed on. (I think seeing how close we were to the other riders made him want to continue). So off to Raton, NM for the next fuel stop by way of Taos and Eaglenest. This section was all mountainous roads with a short jaunt across the Taos Junction Bridge. You might remember the bridge it was in the movie "Wild Hogs". It is a great bridge to cross it spans a deep gorge just outside Taos. As we were flying through the sections Dan was scraping his pegs quiet a bit. At one point we hit a turn and Dan said if I wanted to pass go ahead and I told him pick a speed he was comfortable with and I would follow. I think he felt I was pushing a little, there was a couple of corners he slowed down quiet a bit and I was applying the brakes pretty hard to give him some room. I wasn't trying to push and he was running fine, we were making great time. We also passed the Philmont boyscout property, just before Cimarron. This is one of three boyscout high adventure camps, My son and I will be there next year in June backpacking. As we pulled into Cimarron, we were applying the brakes to get down to the speed limit. Cimarron is not a big town and as we passed the city limits we saw a couple of cruisers sitting on the side of the road in the middle of town just relaxing. As we passed you could tell they were kicking back having coffee just monitoring the road. As we left town we kicked it up a notch and as we came up on NRA Whittening Center we were applying the brakes again, the speed on that section of the road was 55 mph and we were running close to 90 when we encountered the first of three state trooper cars. They looked like they might have been at the Whittening Center on the way back to the state trooper post that we had passed about 2 miles back. After we passed the second trooper, I saw the car in the distance and I thought no way three in a row. I back out of the throttle again and sure enough a third trooper but this time he gave us a long look before continuing on his merry way. After that encounter, we slowed it down till we reached the interstate and Raton for our fourth mandatory fuel stop. We pulled off the interstate for fuel at the turn for Clayton, NM. As we pulled into the station with Chris and Jeff still fueling, Chris said we were 5-10 minutes behind Bob, Rex and Jack. Dan and I were not in a hurry so as Chris took off we were still fueling the bikes and grabbing a quick snack and drink. Jeff hung around and we told him to join in if he wanted too. I called home and was scolded by my wife she said my Spot wasn't sending a signal, I told her it was flashing and all was well. I shut it off and turn it back on and hopefully it would work the rest of the way in for her. She never has liked it when I do these rides but at least the Spot lets her know I'm okay and still moving. She and my son were worried when they were not getting the signal.
After Dan checked in with his wife the three of us took off for Clayton our next fuel stop and turn South. On the way Jeff was falling a little bit behind so Dan backed off the throttle and slowly Jeff caught back up. Once together again we lowered our pace which was probably the right thing to do, there are several turns that are pretty tight on the road into Clayton that are not well marked. We road straight into Clayton with no issues, grabbed out fuel recipe and hit the road for Tucumcari, NM our last mandatory fuel stop. Later at the finish, we heard that the three riders from Texas had an accident on the way to Clayton. One rider ended up getting checked out at the hospital. One of the other riders did go down but was okay. Out of the three, one totaled their motorcycle and one banged his up, they decided to head home from there since they were right on the TX line. I'm still not sure what happened but the important thing was everyone was going to be okay.
Our next goal was to get through Nara Visa, NM before the "Zombies" came out. If you have ever been through Nara Visa it is a little town at the corner of State Road 402 and US Highway 54. There is no gas stations only a hotel a few houses and several building that have been burned out or collapsing due to neglect. About the only thing moving during the daylight are the trucks coming out of Texas into New Mexico but as it starts to get dark the town seem to come alive "Zombies". We hit the town limit just as the sun was setting and as we expected no one on the streets but we were seeing a few of the houses and the motel lights starting to come on. Needless to say we didn't slowdown much we just focused on the road and headed for Tucumcari for our last fuel stop before heading for the finish in Albuquerque, NM.
We arrived in Tucumcari about 45 minutes later (it was completely dark now). We grabbed our mandatory last fuel recipe and started down I-40 for Albuquerque. The Interstate was busy and we were maneuvering around the semi-trucks, we must not have been that visible because several time the trucks would pull out in front of us as we were trying to pass. Outside of the few times we had to slow down for the trucks all went pretty smooth into Albuquerque and to the finishing point at the Village Inn. 16 hours and 15 minutes later Dan, Jeff and I were getting off our motorcycles and heading into the Village Inn for breakfast at 21:15. As we walked in we were greeted by Bob, Rex, Chris, Jack and our official witnesses. We sat down shared stories about the road, it was there that Bob told us about the three riders from Texas. So out of the 19 riders that started seven were now finished and three were out so we were still waiting on nine riders. I hung around for a couple of hours and two more riders showed up, we heard a couple were late getting out of the mountainous section so we knew that would be a tough ride for them the rest of the way. When all was done we ended with 16 finishers out of the 19 starters and a lot of good stories
Well until next time ride safe.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
September 2012
Well here we are another month and still not a lot of riding. After getting back from Denver, I turned right around and headed for Indiana, to visit family. We took the train out of New Mexico to Chicago. I think we all enjoy the ride. If you have not been on the train in a while it is quite the experience. Okay back to motorcycles, I'm currently working on getting the bike in shape for the BN1000 coming up in November. I'm hoping to get the air cleaner, plugs and vavle check completed in the next couple of weeks. I'm also checking into the best way to carry extra fuel. My V-Strom doesn't have an auxiliary fuel cell like my FJR1300 and I really don't want to go through the expense of adding one. My range is only 220-240 miles based on if I can keep it under 75 mph so I need a way to protect myself just in case I need extra fuel.
The riding group I belong to has several rides set up in the coming months so hopefully I'll get some miles on the bike before the BN1000. We are starting in Las Vegas, NM but not sure of the route yet.
Well until next time ride safe.
Well here we are another month and still not a lot of riding. After getting back from Denver, I turned right around and headed for Indiana, to visit family. We took the train out of New Mexico to Chicago. I think we all enjoy the ride. If you have not been on the train in a while it is quite the experience. Okay back to motorcycles, I'm currently working on getting the bike in shape for the BN1000 coming up in November. I'm hoping to get the air cleaner, plugs and vavle check completed in the next couple of weeks. I'm also checking into the best way to carry extra fuel. My V-Strom doesn't have an auxiliary fuel cell like my FJR1300 and I really don't want to go through the expense of adding one. My range is only 220-240 miles based on if I can keep it under 75 mph so I need a way to protect myself just in case I need extra fuel.
The riding group I belong to has several rides set up in the coming months so hopefully I'll get some miles on the bike before the BN1000. We are starting in Las Vegas, NM but not sure of the route yet.
Well until next time ride safe.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
August 2012
It has been a while since I've updated my Blogg. To be honest not much going on riding wise. I've been busy working with my son on his boyscout stuff. I'm proud to say he made his "Life" rank and is now working on his "Eagle". Well back to motorcycles, Since March I've replaced my old Garmin's with a Nuvi 500, not really sure I like it yet. The new mapping software base camp is different and doesn't seem as user friendly as mapsource was oh well. I've been on a few short rides nothing that long but have been increasing my time on the dirt. I've found that if I really want a more stable bike on the dirt I need to change me tires to a 50/50 (street/dirt). I'm currently running a 70/30 and it is a little tough at times on the gravel roads but doable. I've also been wiring in a couple of other things getting the bike ready to head to Denver soon for the IBA National meet. I just came back from a 500 miles ride visiting family and friend this past weekend. Had a great time playing with the grandchildren and going to dinner with an old friend. I've been tracking a buddy running in the BUTT LITE VI, he has been having a little trouble but with any luck he should make the finish in Denver on schedule. I'm going to head out in a couple of days and meet a friend on the road, we will ride into the IBA International Meet together. My wife is going to fly in and meet us at the hotel. Should be a great weekend getting in about 1000-1500 miles. Planning to make a run over to Pikes Peak, and just goof off with friends I've not seen for a year or so. Well the ride to Denver was uneventful which is always nice, I hooked up with a friend at 07:00 and we rode to Denver, CO. We stopped and had a nice breakfast in Trinidad, CO, then made our way to the Marriot hotel. We arrived at noon and tried to check in, to my surprise I was told that my reservation was cancelled. After a little decussion I went to their computer and printed my confirmation number. Somehow they had messed up when I changed my arrival date and cancelled the room. Luckily I kept my e-mail with the confirmation. After that was squared away, I unloaded the V-Strom and it was off to the room. My wife showed up about 30 minutes later and after we were settled in to our hotel room, we headed down to the festivities meeting up with old friends. That night we went to the Buckhorn Exchange a nice steakhouse (oldest in Colorado) with a couple of friends.
They have some exotic meats on the menu like yak, ostrich and appetizers like rattlesnake and rocky mountain oysters. We had a great meal and headed home on the rail. The rail is a great way to get around in Denver. It only took us 10 minutes by rail but would have been 40 minutes at least on the motorcycles. The next day Stacey and I headed out for Mt Evans, when we made the turn and started up the mountain we ran into some friends doing the same thing. We stopped took a picture of the sign and headed up to the top with them.
One of the riders had a GoPro and was taking a video of the ride to the top. As we reached the top, we saw Mountain Goats all over the place. We parked just as it started to snow, we walked around taking several pictures of the scenery.
We hung around at the top for about 40 minutes as the snow started falling harder. We decided to get out of there before the snow started to stick. Dennis told everyone to take your time heading down and we would all hook up at the gift shop at the bottom. As we took off the snow was falling hard enough that I had to wipe my face shield every few minutes so I could see. One of the riders pulled onto the shoulder and looked like she was playing with her GPS, later I found out their BMW stopped running. Her oil was low and on the BMW they shutoff to protect the engine. One switchback later the rider that invited her pulled over and was waiting for her. I continued on following Dennis on his Goldwing to the bottom. We parked waiting on the other riders.
At the bottom I found out they could not get her running, so he headed for the bottom to find some oil. He was able to borrowed a quart of oil from another rider who had stopped at the gift shop. He went back up filled up her BMW and she rode it down the hill. Felt bad about passing her after I found out she was having trouble but all worked out in the end. The next day we just hung around the hotel checking out the seminars and chatting with vendors about the latest must have long distant products. We didn't buy anything but I did find several things that I would love to have on the V-Strom. Later that night we attended the banquet. The next day we did the same thing, we also watch the cop cone test. Several riders manage to master the cones to win a prize.
We also watch a bike build where they took a V-Strom 650 stripped it down and added a lot of nice toys and put it back together. After that we attended the closing ceremonies and headed for our room. Stacey was flying out early and I was riding back with a friend. The next morning after breakfast, Stacey headed for the airport and we headed for the motorcycles. We decided to take mostly back roads instead of heading straight down the freeway. We headed west to Leadville, CO. where we turned south and headed for New Mexico. The roads and weather were great, it was a perfect day to be out on the V-Strom. We stopped in Alamosa, CO for lunch and we made it home by 18:00. I ended up riding 1100 miles. I'm know getting ready to change the oil, air filter and possibly do a valve check. Since I have the plastic and tank off might as well do the check. Until next time ride safe
Monday, March 5, 2012
March 2012
All is well just got back from Portales/Lubbock visiting family and having dinner with some friends. I rode to Portales to be with family Friday night and took off the next day to meet up in Lubbock, TX for dinner. I ended up leaving late from Portales and ended up being 30 minutes late. It actually worked out because we were supposed to meet at Joe's Crab Shack but they were so busy (2 hr wait) we moved to Johnny Carinos down the road. By the time I arrived, they had just seated us. Had a great dinner then found out only one of the riders was running all the way home so we hooked up and headed for the barn. We left Lubbock at 21:30 and arrived in Albuquerque at 02:30. It took us 5 hours to travel 330 miles with a 30 minute stop for fuel in the middle (I wanted a cup of coffee). We averaged 66 mph not bad considering we were not in a hurry. My buddy that rode back with me did a saddle sore 1000 he traveled 1033 miles in 20 hours, not bad considering he made a 1 hour stop in Turkey, TX and 2.5 hour stop in Lubbock.
My goals this year is to do the Smoke Chasing Tour again but this time hitting BBQ location in my home state and just kicking back riding in New Mexico. Family wanted me to stay close to home this year so that's the goal. I'll probably go for a ride every other week, just enough to keep the juices flowing.
Well someone gave me a shout and off we went riding the high road to Taos New Mexico. We stop for lunch at a nice restaurant in Chimiyo. Afterwards we looped around through the Jemez mountain range stopping at my favorite watering hole Los Ojo's in Jemez Springs. It was a nice ride running about 200 miles and the weather was perfect. When we started it as about 46 degrees and around 65 when we stopped for lunch. The V-Strom acted up a little at high altitude 7700 feet, it was struggling to start like it was starving for fuel. Need to figure out what happened because we I made it home I didn't have an issue starting it.
I still have not picked up my Smoke chasing information so I'm a little behind.
Well until next time ride safe.
My goals this year is to do the Smoke Chasing Tour again but this time hitting BBQ location in my home state and just kicking back riding in New Mexico. Family wanted me to stay close to home this year so that's the goal. I'll probably go for a ride every other week, just enough to keep the juices flowing.
Well someone gave me a shout and off we went riding the high road to Taos New Mexico. We stop for lunch at a nice restaurant in Chimiyo. Afterwards we looped around through the Jemez mountain range stopping at my favorite watering hole Los Ojo's in Jemez Springs. It was a nice ride running about 200 miles and the weather was perfect. When we started it as about 46 degrees and around 65 when we stopped for lunch. The V-Strom acted up a little at high altitude 7700 feet, it was struggling to start like it was starving for fuel. Need to figure out what happened because we I made it home I didn't have an issue starting it.
I still have not picked up my Smoke chasing information so I'm a little behind.
Well until next time ride safe.
Sunday, February 5, 2012
February 2012
WOW! Have I been away. A lot has changed since I posted last August. We ran the Land of Enchantment (LOE 2011) Rally in October. All went well, had a great time catching up with friends. We will probably not run the LOE in 2012, the staff (really only two of us) are having conflicts with our scheduled dates and I'm really out during October this year so we don't want to commit. We will probably make a final decision next week. If you haven't noticed the name change, I sold the Gold Wing and now own a Silver V-Strom. I originally purchased the Goldwing while I was looking at a Dual Sport, the wife wanted something more comfortable. She said if I purchased a Wing she would probably ride more so that's what I bought. The Wing was great very comfortable to ride and I did a lot of miles on it last year. Went on my sabbatical, probably 8000 miles with no real issues. Came back did a couple saddle sore 1000 rides. Did the Smoke Chasing Tour too. All this riding and my wife really didn't ride that much so I decided to get rid of the Wing and get the motorcycle I wanted. I started looking and found my V-Strom at a local shop and bought it. It is a 2008 with just under 12K on it. I had a couple of issues but the shop has taken care of them, so I'm pretty pleased with the V-Strom so far. I cut the seat down to get me closer to the ground, I don't want to lower it because of the loss of ground clearance. I still can only touch one side at a time and that's on my toes but that's okay.
My first ride I decided to check out San Lorenzo Canyon in New Mexico. My son's boy scout troop was camping there that weekend and I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there. After you leave the pavement it is about 5 miles of riding in a wash. The sand is real loose and I figured this would be a good test for the bike. I found out quickly that the tires are no match for the sand as I got stuck a couple of times. The ride was fun but it sure wore me out. I'm not use to the physical work of riding in the dirt or dragging your bike through the soft sand. It must have been six inches deep at times.
Since that first ride, I have replaced the tires with a 70-30 (street-dirt) combination. This still will not help if I get in the sand again but the tires should work well on dirt/gravel roads.
I'm taking off this weekend to head to Portales, NM to see family then on to Lubbock, TX to meet up with friends. One of the guys has never been to a Joe's Crab Shack, so we are riding 400 miles for dinner. I'll probably spend the night in Portales ride to dinner and ride back to Rio Rancho with the group. I figure dinner at 19:00 get out of the restaurant by 20:30 then high tail it for home. I was thinking we run straight back should be home by 02:00-03:00. The weather looks good but should be a little chilly running in the morning.
Well until next time ride safe.
My first ride I decided to check out San Lorenzo Canyon in New Mexico. My son's boy scout troop was camping there that weekend and I wanted to make sure I knew how to get there. After you leave the pavement it is about 5 miles of riding in a wash. The sand is real loose and I figured this would be a good test for the bike. I found out quickly that the tires are no match for the sand as I got stuck a couple of times. The ride was fun but it sure wore me out. I'm not use to the physical work of riding in the dirt or dragging your bike through the soft sand. It must have been six inches deep at times.
Since that first ride, I have replaced the tires with a 70-30 (street-dirt) combination. This still will not help if I get in the sand again but the tires should work well on dirt/gravel roads.
I'm taking off this weekend to head to Portales, NM to see family then on to Lubbock, TX to meet up with friends. One of the guys has never been to a Joe's Crab Shack, so we are riding 400 miles for dinner. I'll probably spend the night in Portales ride to dinner and ride back to Rio Rancho with the group. I figure dinner at 19:00 get out of the restaurant by 20:30 then high tail it for home. I was thinking we run straight back should be home by 02:00-03:00. The weather looks good but should be a little chilly running in the morning.
Well until next time ride safe.
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