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