Making room...

Gateway BMW Open House, May 7th, 2011.

Gateway BMW (The Best BMW Dealer...IMHO) had their spring Open House this past Saturday.  In addition to the great food, great deals (on bikes and gear) and tire kicking, they had Chris "Teach" McNeil.  They let him take the shops new $23,000 K1600GTL for a spin.  Really!  Chris had to wait for the Demo bike to get back from test rides to put on his show.  Below is the result.



I have some more footage and will post it to YouTube as I get it edited, so check out my Channel later this week.  If you would like to see some photos of the event check out Gateway BMW's Blog post.

See you on the road.
GAW

ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day.

Back on April 12, blogger Gary France posted what I will call a challenge.  He asked fellow bloggers to particapate in ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day (link to post).  It sounded like a great idea and I was looking forward to it.  But if there is one thing that I excell at it's procrastination,  I had planned to do as he asked and copy his post to my blog, but before I knew it, it was already May 1st. 

I spent the greater part of the day doing the father and family thing.  By the time I was free to go out and make a photo it had started to rain, so I opted to hold off for a while, and before I knew it my window of opportunity and disappeared.  At around 9:45P.M. my second window of opportunity arrived.  I told my wife I had a project to work on and would be out for a while.  She looked at me with suspicious eyes, I think she thought I was going to covertly go and eat a pizza, but when I started to put on my riding gear she became slightly worried.  Had I lost my marbles?  Going for a leisurely ride at 10:00P.M. on a rainy Sunday night?

To the heart of the matter, Gary here is my submission to ABCD 2011.

The photo was taken just a mile or two from home, as you can see I have the center-line (just below my left hand) and you can even see my grinning face, well some of it (right hand mirror).  The image was taken with my GoPro HD Hero, set to take one still image every 60 seconds, it was mounted on the Chesty strap.  You can see a few more photos I took at the link below.

ABCD - A Bloggers Centerline Day.

Thank You Gary for coming up with the idea.  I look forward to participating again next year.

See you on the road.
GAW

Falling leaf Rally, Crash testing the BMW G650 XCountry.

I attended the 2010 Falling Leaf Rally this weekend and partook in the GS/gravel road ride.  After Lunch in Bixby, MO 5 of us decided to take in a few more gravel roads instead of taking tarmac back to the rally grounds.  

I must say the part I like the best is my feet pointing toward the sky. It would seem I have a thing for low water bridges,  this is twice in as many months.  No harm done that a few zip ties couldn't fix. 

See you on the road or in the creek.

GAW

The Score is even, 1 and 1.

Not much to talk about lately, my family returned from and extended stay abroad recently and they have kept me busy.  Until today that is.  Today was my day off, the little one had school and my better half had plans.  I was off to ride the Creeks of Warren County with my Trusty GoPro HD Hero.  It was a Great day of riding, I put about 200 miles on the clock mostly on gravel and I shot 16 GB of HD footage half a 60 fps.  Well I filled up the 16 GB card but I only thought it was HD footage.  Turns out I shot 1200 5mp images 2 seconds apart and I found the main weakness of the GoPro HD Hero, it's archaic menu system.  Even though I studied the user guide the night before my ride I some how messed up when trying to change from 720p @ 30fps to 720p @ 60fps.  So until I can sort through all the images (should make an interesting time-lapse) I leave you with a teaser of 3 consecutive images shot at 2 second intervals, enjoy.  I guess I found the second flaw in the GoPro HD Hero, it's numbering system!  I have 5 sets of images all with the same number!

GAW.

It's called SLIME... and it's slippy, very slippy.

I'm Back!

It's been a long eight weeks, but I was finally given my release early last week.  So I set to planning my weekend travels.  I decided to visit my father and of course there would be pizza.  Saturday I was up early, but didn't leave until after 10 A.M. due to a craigslist appointment (that way I had money for pizza and gas).  I took what would normally take about 2 hours and extended it to over 6.

The first stop of the day was an old church, there are no markers or signs about it.  I think that makes me wonder even more about it's history.  The first 100 miles were spent mostly on gravel and I found about 12 low water bridges.  I didn't get my feet wet until the last one just after leaving Frankenstein.  Yes I went to Frankenstein, MO and no I didn't take a photo. There was not a single sign to be found in the whole place.  After a good visit and good pizza I had a twenty minute ride in the rain heading toward the lightning.

Sunday morning I had breakfast with my father at The Brick in Moberly, my favorite breakfast joint.  My plans for the day were to eat at Taco Johns in Pittsfield, IL and sleep in my own bed a the end of the day.

As I approached my first gas stop of the day I decided to add two more destinations.  The first was the Haunted tunnel (so I'm told),  it passes under the BNSF railroad less than a mile from the Des Moines River.  The second was Sorrento's Pizza in Fort Madison, IA.  The tunnel passed through, but no ghost were seen, just some graffiti.  When I arrived in Fort Madison I found Sorrento's Pizza closed.  It had been over 10 years since I last had pizza there, and for some reason I knew they would be closed, but it didn't stop me from trying.  Finding no pizza in the Fort I crossed the river into Illinois and headed south towards Pittsfield and some Taco Johns.  My day ended around 9:30 P.M. when I arrived home.  My behind knew I had put a few miles on the clock, but I was still surprised by just how many.

2 Days.
3 States.
20 Hours on the road.
630 Miles traveled.

Not a bad start.



See you on the road.
GAW.

P.S.  To those of you that recently attended the International Moto Blogger's Convention in Bend, I have been following along with all of your blog's and have lived vicariously through your eye's, I thank you for that.  I would have loved to have been there, but in the end it just wasn't meant to be this time around, next time...  I won't even start on those terrible roads in Oregon.

A ride in the woods Part 2 the prequel and other stuff.

I was feeling better this weekend so I ended up doing some work around the house that I had put off  during the week so I didn't spend much time working on fun stuff.  I did finish putting together this video I shot the week before my small get off.  I was riding alone on a more difficult trail than the one that took me down.  I hesitate to state where this trail is, I rode it on my way to lunch and on my way home.  I didn't see any "No Trespassing" or "Private Property" signs on my way to lunch and there were no gates blocking the road, I'm just not sure if it is a public road or not.  It was an enjoyable ride and I'm glad I found it.

This video is the first video I edited with Adobe Premier Elements 8.  It works very nicely and I believe it will let me get out comes closer to my "Vision's".  Now I just need to get better bringing the time down.  I did have one problem,  I wanted to record a short narration track of about 20-30 seconds, but it crashed the program at about 10 seconds into the recording.  I finally recorded the track in another program and just imported the clip into PE.  I have some family video that I need to put together and then I will start work (pre-production & filming) on an epic moto docudrama that has recently been banging around in my head and also do a Redux on a short riding video I did last year.  When I get home today I will have a box from Filmtools.com waiting for me, that will really give me the itch...

Connections,  I enjoy looking at maps on Google Analytics and the Feedjit list (lower right side of blog) to see where the people who read my blog come from and how they got here.  Last week I saw a hit from Salisbury, MO which is truly just a hop, skip and a jump from where I grew up (maybe 20 miles?).  When I was a kid Salisbury was home to the only motocross track I knew of and the Kawasaki dealer( a friend rode Kawasaki's, I rode Yamaha's).  I believe the track is long gone, but I think the Kawasaki dealer (Doug's Cycle Shop) is still there.  What really interested me was that the hit came via Wet Coast Scootin.  Just makes me wonder about the path they took getting here?  So Mr or Mrs Salisbury, if you visit again I'm from Higbee thanks for stopping by.

Enough for today, back to work.

See you on the road.
GAW

It's all in the Landing!

The video pretty much says it all. I performed a similar stunt about almost 25 or 30 years ago, with nearly the exact same results.

It looks like I will have some time to hone my video editing skills, and treasure hunting skills on eBay.

I'll update in a day or two, between typing one handed and the vicodin it's time to call it a night...

See you on the road.
GAW

A ride in the woods, May 24th, 2010

For the last few weeks is has rained more or less 24/7, at least it seams that way.  If the sun did shine I was either at work from sun-up to sun-down or I had family obligations.  That is until yesterday, I had a brief window of opportunity from 10am to 3:30pm.  What follows is short snippet of my journey.



The rain had stopped, the Sun was shining and I had the day off from work and family affairs. I went for 150 mile lunch ride via a couple of creeks. Give me a few days and I will post a longer version with a few more highlights.

See you on the road.
GAW


Note:  Sorry, YouTube just doesn't have a embedded size that fits my layout, so the video is best viewed on YouTube, the mgt

Gateway BMW GS Challenge.

Two weekend's ago (4/10/10)  I attended the Gateway BMW GS Challenge at Honz's Rouge Creek Ranch near Potisi, MO.  This was the second year for the event.  There were 36 spots available for $135 each, and included primitive camping at the Ranch, hot dogs Friday night, 3 catered meals Saturday, instruction by one of three highly qualified instructors, the GS Challenge at the end of Saturday and a off road ride Sunday.  I almost forgot plenty of helpers to help you pick-up your bike WHEN you drop it, R1200GS Adventures are very heavy you know.  Gateway BMW gives first dibs to those who bought off road capable bikes in the last year, and the rest are offered to the public on a first come basis.

Two of the instructors, Del and Jeff were from RawHyde Adventures, the other Mark was The BMW area representative and a instructor for the BMW off road school in North Carolina.  Each instructor had 3 to 4 helpers including staff from Gateway BMW and experienced local riders.  The participants were split into 3 groups based and riding experience.  I was in the middle group and Mark from BMW was my instructor.

Saturday morning arrived quite early after a restless & cold nights sleep in my summer sleeping bag (April is not Summer time!).  Breakfast of bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, fruit, pastries, juice, milk and coffee was ready at 7:15 A.M. and the riders meeting started promptly at 8:00 A.M.  There would be 5 differnt areas were we would practice things such as hill climb & decent, braking, tight turning radius, figure 8 and creek crossing.  All of the exercises would be performed at relative low speeds and would test your balance and clutch modulation or friction zone ("I love the smell of burn clutches in the morning" is on the shirts,  The big GS's all have dry clutches).

Our group started with a short ride around the property to warm up the bikes and riders, then jumped into probably the most difficult task of negotiating a small ditch, rocks, back and forth around 4 or 5 close spaced trees and up a small rise where we would get inline to to it again.  This first section required all of the skills we would learn individually later in the day, nothing like starting at he top and working our way down.


Next was creek crossings and braking.  The creek only claimed one victim, and then only as he was exiting the creek, so no hydro lock. The goal was to keep more weight on the back tire to help the front tire roll over any unseen holes or rocks, and to look where you wanted to go, the horizon.   Braking was to learn how the bike reacts on loose surfaces both with and with out ABS on.  With ABS on the bikes have an exaggeratedly long braking distance on flat surfaces and can literally run out of control on descents (A clip of why it's important).  My bike doesn't have ABS so no big deal, but the big bikes all do.

After braking we were onto figure 8's.  2 rows of 2 cones about 10-15 feet apart and slightly staggered.  Left 180 degrees around the first cone, right 180 degrees around the second cone, then left , right and end of the line again.  The goal is to turn you body the way you want to go and use your bum for balance.  Just don't look at the cone,  because just as riding on hard surfaces that's were you will go and you will need help picking up your bike.

Hill climb and decent was next.  The goal was to carry just enough speed to make it to the top of the hill with out becoming air born or losing traction.  If you stalled the engine going up we learned how to use it to get us back down the hill in a controlled manner.  For the decent it was important that ABS be off so that you could control the bike.  The hill looks much tamer in the video, the first time you approach the decent it looks vertical from behind the bars, same with the way up.

We ended the instruction literally riding in circles.  Riding in circles at steering lock is one thing on flat even pavement and something completely different on a uneven rocky dirt surface.  The later requires modulation of brakes on down slope and modulation of the clutch on the up hill slope.

After the last of the instruction it was break-time, while the instructors and ringleader Honz set up the Challenge course.  The Challenge was on a volunteer basis, but would test all that we learned and some that we didn't.  Of course there would be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd valued at $200, $100 and $50 respectively.  After having spent the better part of the day moving slowly in the hot sun wearing full riding gear I was slightly delusional, so of course I signed up for the challenge.  The course set and instructions given it was time to send the riders in one at a time.  I was about a third of the way down the list of 15 riders, so I had the advantage (disadvantage?) of seeing several riders complete and not complete the course.  The runs were timed and judged.  The lower the time the better, but if you put your feet down in the technical areas or fell down you were penalized,  If you did something spectacular you were awarded, based on audience approval.  You stared out at the top of  the steep decent, then down to right turn and over several logs, next through an area of large rocks around a large mud hole, then you had a choice to make go through the 30 foot mud pit or around it.  If you went around it you would lose points, but if you went through it all bets were off (the one rider who choose to go around it ended up crashing into mud pit).  Tight circle around a cone was just as you exited the mud pit.  After you made it around the cone it was unknown...  our group never made it down this path during the day as one of the other groups all 12 bikes stuck in the trail.  It turns out it was a rocky wet marshy mess, basically you were running down the middle of a muddy creek bed with several turns ending in a climb up a muddy bank onto the road.  A short sprint down the road and you entered the bottom again through some very large rocks.  At this point you have a choice to make, take the dry path and make a sharp left and climb the hill you started at or take the wet path and have a gentler turn to the hill.  Finely it was my turn, It seemed like I had been sitting in the sun waiting forever.  As I watched Leo give me the countdown things around me just faded away, I don't recall seeing any of the spectators along the course, the only thing I remember was thinking "GO, GO, GO!" and the course it self.  I kept the bike on two wheels and made through the course with out indecent, it felt like I was going quick, but when I look at some of the video it looks quite slow.  I did the best I could and was quite beat afterward.  At some point near the end one of the guys from the shop came up to me and said "You had a great time through the course", I got a little excited and thought I might have a chance.  It would be great if I placed.  After everyone had completed the course it was announced that they had a winner, but that they also had a tie for 2nd and 3rd and that once the tie was taken care of they would announce the winner.  I was not one of the riders in the tie-breaker and my hopes of placing were dashed. It was decided the tie-breaker would be settled my clap-o-meter and that the riders would rider the G450X demo bike (it's been through the ringer a time or two).  A short course down the hill, through the mud pit and back up the hill was set.  The second rider went through the mud pit twice and a pone climbing the hill gave the bike a toss to the ground, sort of rock start style.  The crowd loved it and 2nd place was his.  It was then time to annouce the winner,  "Out of know where, the dark horse, only had the bike for 6 months, with a time of 2 minutes and 11 seconds... Art Wheeler".  I was shocked, but it did feel good.

As good as it felt to win, I have to say the guys on the R1200GS Adventures deserve more credit than I on my diminutive G650 XCountry,  They have my respect.  I don't know if I would have even taken on the class if I was riding a 1200GS.

I was told that all of the riders who did the challenge were invited on a trail ride later after supper.  Speaking of supper it was again catered by Liz Huff and included chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, hot rolls, and baked apple crisp, of course it was delicious.  It would be challenging, and if you had a big bike you would only want to do it with knobbie's.  As much fun as it sounded I declined, I was absolutely exhausted from the instruction and being in the sun all day.  Later that night while we sat around the bonfire, I drinking my annual beer (I won so I had to celebrate), the guys from the afternoon ride rode into camp.  The tales they told both made me wish I had gone and glad I didn't.  Little did I know at the time...

I had hoped my annual beer would help to put me to sleep, it had little effect, and 6:30 a.m. rolled around quite fast.  Sunday's options were;
1. Pack up and head home.
2.  Take the gravel road ride to Bixby, MO (The center of motorcycle heaven, both street and dirt).
3.  Take the gnarly trail ride to Bixby, MO
I choose to pack-up and take the gravel road ride.  I wanted to get a feel for the bike with a touring load, plus I would have help picking it up if I had a tip over.  We had to meet up at the Micky D's in Potisi at 8:00 a.m. with the bikes and body's fueled and ready to go.  I also stocked up on water and fig newtons for the ride, a little hydration and energy never hurt anybody.

After a brief pre-ride talk 20 bikes lined up behind Ringleader Honz and we were off.  It didn't take long for the group to figure out that the GRAVEL roads were only letting Honz enjoy the ride (in Missouri gravel = limestone and limestone = white chalky dust, lots of it).  I was in the middle of the pack and my Hi-Vis stich had lost it's Hi-Vis.  At a rest stop it was put to a vote and we decided to take the un-marked, not on the map roads, more dirt less gravel.  We finally ended up at what Honz called the impassable pass (the trail from the night before) , apparently it becomes impassable for the big bikes with even the mention of rain.  Luck for us it was sunny.  The trail leading us to the impassable part put to use the knowledge we learned the day before, lots of tight weaving between trees and rocks.  We staged the twenty bikes at the precipices to the impassable portion and Honz talked us through it one at a time.  We all made it through unharmed, even Tilly the enduro dog (see video).  The trail ended just a stones throw from the Rouge Creek Ranch, so most of the group called it a day, myself included and went our separate ways.



I can't thank Bob Honz and the guys at Gateway BMW enough for putting on this event, it was an absolute blast!

I do feel a little bit guilty about winning the GS challenge, being on the smallest bike and all, but not guilty enough to forfeit my prize...

All the photos of me in this post were taken by Marilyn Roberts, she has many other photos from the event at the following Link.

Sorry the video clips just don't fit the layout of the blog, it's better to watch them on YouTube .


See you on the road, or off.
GAW

BMW Santiago Boots.

I had been on the look out for a new pair of motorcycle boots for a while as my current boots were 10+ years old and had somewhere beyond 50,000 miles on them. I had a few requirements, first was Gortex lining, or equivalent.  Second was to be a bit more off road worthy with out being full-on MX boots.  Three different boots readily fit my requirements, Sidi Discovery Rain Boots ($325), Gaerne Balance Oiled Boots ($360), and BMW Santiago Boots ($360).  All three boots had waterproof linings.  The Sidi and Gaerne boots had three buckles and external plastic shin guards, while the BMW boots only had  buckles above and below the ankle and Velcro closures at the top. The BMW also has a plastic shin guard, but its laminated between the outer leather and inner lining.  The Sidi boots were leading the pack mainly for the price and the positive comments about them on advrider.com, but in the end it was the BMW boots that won out.  I had had a good experience with my BMW boots over the past 10 years, no leaks and comfortable.  The Kicker was the final price,  do to some savvy shopping and timing I, em Santa was able to purchase the BMW Boots for only $235 plus tax.  A deal that I couldn't pass up, I paid more 10 years ago for the boots I'm retiring.  Because I signed up on the BMW XPLOR site I got a $100 off BMW apparel over $300 and my dealer was having a 10% off holiday sale, hence the price I couldn't pass-up.

Some of the features of the Santiago Boots include two adjustable buckles one above and one below the ankle.  There is a metal cap on the front of the sole that is replaceable.  The toes of each boot have a rubberized coating and the left boot has a extra layer for the shifter.  There are hard panels over each ankle and shin with corresponding padding underneath.

So far my experience with the new boots have been some adventure vacuuming (to which they might be overqualified, the jury is still out) and a short trip to the gas station (45 min trip to the 1 mile away gas station).  I will try and post an update after I put a few more miles on them, hopefully they will holdup as well as the boots I'm retiring.
 
Photos are of new and old for comparison.

See you on the road

GAW.

Slowly getting it dirty.

This morning I went on the Club ride to St John's "Gildehaus" for the 48th Annual Sausage Festival. I was but one of the 3,877 diners served. They will have the 49th Annual Sausage Festival on Sunday October, 24 2010, so plan ahead.

After I was stuffed like a sausage I went my seperate way and explored some road's in the area that I had yet to ride, plus a few that I have.

The first and last photos were taken on Melrose Rd. The other two were taken on Grand Army Rd. Grand Army Rd. started out paved but quickly turned to gravel.



See you on the road.

GAW

The Itch, has been scratched.

I have had an itch for quite some time, but no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't scratch it. The more I talked about it the worse it got. It would keep me up all night doing internet research on the best way to sooth it. It would cause me to day dream at work for hours on end. My wife would never even discuss it. I had come to the conclusion that I would suffer this itch for all eternity.

A few weeks ago I decided to try and get my wife to help me one more time. I double checked all of my research, consulted friends and I practiced in front of a mirror. In the end I gave a passionate speech. I layed out all of the positive points. I made it clear that if my itch got scratched, that I wold be more than willing to return the favor when the time came. I probably gave the best sales pitch of my life.

I guess I should remind the readers this is a blog about MOTORCYCLES. Get your minds out of the gutter.

About a week after my sales pitch I started to get that feeling I would be living with itch for a long time, when my Loving wife asked me If WE were going to the motorcycle shop that weekend? I think I passed out. When I awoke I checked to make sure I had heard correctly and then didn't ask again for fear something would change.

As it turned out we couldn't make it to the shop that weekend, so I called Gateway BMW Motorcycles on Friday afternoon and asked them to put a sold sign on the bike a 2009 BMW G650X Country, and that I would be in on Wednesday to sign all the papers and take delivery. It turned out to be a good idea to call them as Saturday some came in to buy MY motorcycle.

My itch got scratched at about 2:30pm on Wednesday September 30th, 2009 when I left the Dealer on my new bike, taking the long way home of course.

Look for more about G650X in future post.

See you on the Road.
GAW

DynaBeads - How to balance without balancing or how I cured my neurotic psycho-somatic feelings.

I recently purchased and installed new tires on my motorcycle for the first time. Just to clarify, I installed the tires myself for the first time (on a street bike anyway). I have used up 5 or 6 sets of tire's over the years, but I always had them installed by a dealer.

A friend of mine has a No-Mar tire changer and a static balancer. I made arrangements to visit him with my old tires still mounted on the wheels (left the bike at home) and the new tires. In a matter of about 30 minutes we had the old tire's in the back of my truck and the new tires installed. Then it was time to balance the tires and wheels. I'm no expert on balanceing tires, this being my first time, but the idea when static balancing is to find the heaviest part of the tire/wheel and add weight to the opisit side of the wheel using stick on weights. We went through the process with both wheels, adding another 15-20 minutes to the whole job, not to bad less than an hour to mount and balance for my first time.

Later that day I installed the wheels back on the motorcycle and took it for a test ride. During the ride I thought I could feel the slightest vibration, more so at certain speeds.

At this point my neurotic behavior kicks in and I start down a dangerous path of "what if's" and "should I's". What if I did the balancing wrong, should I re-mount and re-balance? What if it's a defect in the tire, should I... If I was sitting in a chair while this was going on and you observed me, you might notice my eye's vacant or a small string of drool. No big deal sitting in a chair in a padded room, but I'm traveling in excess of the posted speed, on a road that doesn't have 1 inch of straight and level pavement. This prosses continues at lightning speed until I have a really wet brain fart. After the brain fart I conclude that the balance must be off slightly and that I must revisit it.

Re-mounting and balancing is not a simply process as I would need to contact my friend with the equipment and set up a date and time, also I ride to work everyday and my weekends are usually full of family time. So there had to be an alternative, some place between Google and ADVRider I found DynaBeads, small ceramic beads that you pour down the valve stem and they dynamically (Magically) balance your tires as you ride. Using the DynaBeads web-site (click on title link) I found a dealer near me and the proper amount of beads for my bike 2 oz front and rear. After leaving the dealer with $26 less money, I had two 2 oz bags of DynaBeads and a installation kit (plastic bottle and tube). Installation is a breeze,

1. Let the air out of your tires.
2. Remove the valve stem.
   
3. Put the proper amount of beads in bottle.
4. Connect tube to bottle and valve stem.
5. Squeeze bottle (pump?) until all beads have entered tire.
6. Replace valve stem.
7. Inflate tire to proper pressure.
8. Repeat until all tires have been done.

Not to bad, I had both tires done in a matter of minutes and was ready for a test ride.

My first impressions during the test ride was that things had noticeably smoothed out, but I could still feel a vague vibration at certain speeds/RPM's. At that point my neurotic behavior kicked in and I started down the dangerous path of "what if's" and "should I's"...

I have now convinced my self that during my most recent oil change I overfilled the oil (my bike takes exactly 3.7987779 quarts of oil) and spun a bearing or broke a piston skirt. At the moment I'm reserching if DynaBeads poured into the crank case will help, I'll let you know how it turns out.

The big question, DynaBeads, did they work? I think so. I read many accounts from people who said they will use nothing else, but I still think it wise to balance your tires in a conventional way before pouring $25 down your valve stems.

See you on the road.

GAW

P.S. I have found a soultion to my balance / vibration problem, but you will have to check back later to see what it is.

Chris Pfeiffer takes over BMW HQ.

Stunt Rider Chris Pfeiffer has taken over BMW HQ. BTW Chris rides a BMW F800R.



Chris has been riding BMW's for a while, but is not the first, a few years ago you may have seen Jean Pierre Goy doing stunts on the Behemoth K1200LT Luxury Touring Bike, if not here is a short clip. Jean Pierre Goy was also the rider in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.

BMW Motorrad has been trying to lure new younger riders for some time now and I believe Chris Pfeiffer is a part of that plan. If you are a lucky soul You can even get a Chris Pfeiffer Replica F800R (only 68 are being built).

GAW

250 miles and Taco Johns for lunch

250 miles for Taco Johns? I know what your are thinking. Why spend half a day and 7 gallons of gas to eat at Taco Johns, Why? The short answer, for the same reason I ate the middle of a chocolate cake for supper, because I can (it doesn't hurt that my girls are on extended travel). This whole affair is wrought with questions. First why in the world would I chose to eat at Taco Johns? Because the nearest Taco Tico is a 500+ mile round trip and I didn't decide to go out for lunch until 11:30 a.m. I know, I know I still didn't answer your question, why Taco Johns or Taco Tico for that matter?

As a young impressionable child I would go with my aunt, uncle, cousins and a van load of people to Taco Tico in Columbia, MO (long since gone) we would get a trays of tacos stacked a foot high, really. Later Taco Johns became more accessible and satiated my craving. To this day I have a couple of brain cells buried way down deep in the noodle that do nothing but chant one of two things: "We want Taco Tico" or "We want Taco Johns"..."We want Taco Johns"..."We want Taco Johns"..."We want Taco Johns"..."We want Taco Johns" over and over and over...

The ride. It has been a few years since I last traveled up Missouri Highway 79, and that was in the car chasing trains, so I had forgotten how straight and flat it is up to Louisiana. I saw lots of biker types (Harley's, Metric cruisers) but not much else on two wheels. The only time I leaned the bike was to avoid the vast amount of roadkill. There are better, more enjoyable roads to travel but I was hungry. I crossed the Mississippi River at Louisiana and had another flat and straight 30 miles up 54 to Pittsfield, Il. I arrived at the Shell gas station/Taco Johns at 1 p.m. I had 2 tacos, a burrito and a diet Coke. I thought about getting a bag of taco's for supper but in my rush to leave home I didn't put my sidecases on the bike, and as much as I like Taco Johns I didn't want to leave my cameras in Pittsfield. Leaving I took Illinois 106 northwest through Hull to I-72 and crossed the Mississippi into Hannibal, MO so that I could ride the more motorcycle friendly part of MO 79. The ride south from Hannibal wasn't as pleasing as I remembered. The road was fairly rough with lots of tar snakes. I did stop at one of the scenic overlooks to snap a photo.

Taco Johns was perfect, or as perfect as it can get. It felt good to put a few miles on the bike in one sitting, most of my riding these days consist of my 50-a-day commute, but the path I choose was less than perfect.

I think I will do lunch at Taco Tico next time. St Louis, MO to Louisville, KY isn't to far for lunch, it it?

GAW

Jesse James rides a BMW...

Jesse James' (of Monster Garage and West Coast Choppers fame) new TV show Jesse James is a Dead Man Debuts on Spike May 31st. In one of the episodes Jesse rides a motorcycle on the Ice haul road in the Arctic, That motorcycle appears to be a R1200GS. There is no schedule for that episode yet. To find out more click the title link.

GAW

Content

Content adj. 1. Satisfied. 2. Resigned to circumstances.

Satisfied: On the ride home from work this incredible feeling of Satisfaction always hits me head on about halfway home. My motorcycle has become an extension of me as we follow the road first left then right, again and again... When I'm riding my bike (sorry I never have given it a name) I can never see how I could replace it. The bike fits so well, either my behind has changed to fit the seat or the seat has changed to fit my behind. I know the familiarity with the motorcycle has a lot to do with the satisfied feeling, the motorcycle and I have shared many great adventures together. The majority of the miles racked up have just been myself, the motorcycle and the road, but the road is always changing not to be seen or felt again.

Resigned to circumstances: Some mornings on my ride to work I get lucky and only have to stop at 10 of the 40+ traffic lights, the rest of the mornings I make a lot more stops. I would have liked to post a photo of me in the morning traffic, but as my hands are busy (with clutch, gas & brake) and my brain is tied up tracking all of the enemy ships around me, there will be no photo. My morning commute (20 miles of no more than 45mph and 5 miles of freeway) is perfectly suited for a twist & go scooter in the 1/4 to 1/2 liter range, but I'm resigned to the fact a scooter is not in the book's this year. The Missus said a scooter was ok, if I sold the motorcycle. That's not an option, see above. If only more people needed what I'm selling...

The video is the last portion of my commute, enjoy. Warning 10 minutes!!


See you on the road.
GAW

The Short-cut...

My career path has led me to sit in a dark room, stare at a computer monitor and listen to a hypnotic droning sound, for 5 - 7 minutes at a time. When the noise stops I often find that I have been day dreaming. Recently those daydreams have been about past motorcycle adventures...

July 15th, 2001 I found myself in Maybell, CO eating a cheese burger for a late lunch with a critical decision to make. Take the short cut or take the long way? I was on my way to the BMW MOA rally in Redmond, OR, earlier that day I started from Fort Collins, CO and had passed through Rocky Mountain National Park. My goal for the day was Rock Springs, WY. The long way was very simple, continue west on U.S. 40 to Vernal, UT then north on U.S. 191 to Rock Springs, WY (It might have been a really nice ride, I may never know). The short cut would take me northwest on CO 318 to the very northeast corner of Utah and what looked to be about 20 miles of gravel road before hitting Wyoming and a few miles of paved road to U.S. 191. The short cut (see image above, then click on the title link to see what it really looks like.) would knock off 60+ miles, making Rock Springs only 143 miles away. Of course I took the short cut, but not why you think, it had been tickling my brain for weeks. Ever since I first laid eyes on the map and this lonely little road I knew I had to take the short cut. I left Maybell with a full tank and stomach. 318 was a fine road, I know because I don't remember one iota about it. There was a sign when the pavement ended, it said only 40 more miles to U.S. 191, halfway there. I immediately found myself on a washboard surface that literally blurred my vision and banged my teeth together (see below). No matter what speed I drove there was no relief. Occasionally the road looked to smooth out, but when the tire would hit it I found myself in 3-4 inches of powder, not fun. It seemed like I had been riding in this stuff for hours. I soon saw another sign that said only 35 more miles to U.S. 191. I stopped to think about my SHORT CUT, There was just no way I could turn back at that point, it would have added several hundred miles to the day or left me with out a roof for the night. The key to the road was to ride it like I was on a dirt bike, so up on the pegs I went. I was able to cruise about 35-40 mph with out having my teeth fallout, I would find missing bolts and screws for days and weeks afterword's. I guess my brain had softened some and that is why I didn't stop and snap a photo of the next sign I saw. It read something like this: "Caution Narrow Winding Road Ahead. 14% Grade. Trucks should use tire chains." The road went from washboard gravel to a relative smooth crushed red rock, but the pot wholes were of historic proportions. The road was not much bigger than two tire tracks and the thought of meeting one of those trucks needing tire chains was a little unnerving. The other side of the pass was of a much gentler grade down into a large valley. I did scare up a group of 15 -20 prong horn antelope, it was quite a sight to see them running at speed off to my right. It wasn't long before I came to beautiful paved road (I must have made it to Wyoming). When I reached U.S. 191 the sun was getting low in the sky. A few miles up the road the setting sun was putting on a show and forced me to stop for a few photos. After taking the photo above I realized all of the gear strapped to the pillion had worked loose on the gravel roads and was in danger of leaving me on the road ahead. By the time I finished repacking the sun had long since set. The last 40 or so miles into Rock Springs were surreal as I followed glowing white and yellow ribbons. If only I had had a video camera.

I went on to have a great trip I saw Crater Lake national park, had a great rally and did a SS1000 on the way home. I actually rode 1900 miles in 38 hours including a 5hr motel room stay but only documented the first 1100 miles for the Iron Butt Association. But out of it all, the thing that comes to my daydreams is the short cut.

GAW

Tom from work.

I know that my motorcycle is a bit odd looking, that's part of what drew me to purchase it, but as ugly as it is to many I have never heard anybody say it was threatening.

Apparently Tom was feeling a little inadequacy by the presence of my motorcycle, and decided to assert his authority, letting all know who's parking lot it was. Suddenly halfway across the parking lot to the confrontation he turned chicken and ran...