January Riding

The weather in Oklahoma can be iffy at best.  For example, Oklahoma City schools were closed Friday due to extremely cold temperatures of 5 degrees with sub zero wind chills.  Saturday, it was sunshine and highs in the middle 60's.  I've been able to ride quite a bit and have been spending most of my riding time on my BMW F800 GS Adventure I bought back in October.  You're definitely out in the wind a lot more on this bike than my RT but that's been helped some with the addition of a Laminar Lip .  The lip helps solve the buffeting problem and moves the air flow higher up as I ride.  I wish it was a couple of inches taller but it definitely helps.  Here is a pic of it installed on the bike. 
Missy has given it her seal of approval as well. Speaking of Missy, this is just her 2nd ride this year.  She had her right eye pop out of the socket on December 11 and had to have surgery to fix it.  Fortunately, she's back to her normal self now and seems to have full sight in it.  We're taking it easy so far with just short rides around Lake Draper or down to Starbucks.
I've  never been too thrilled with group rides but this year I've been on a couple of rides with some fellow BMW owners, Tom, Mark, and Ron.  We started the year off right with a New Year's day ride and have ridden 3 or 4 other rides so far.  We all seem to have similar riding styles and it's nice to talk motorcycles with fellow riders.  One of our recent rides was to Medicine Park and Mt Scott, 2 of my favorite places to ride in Oklahoma.  Here's a pic of Tom on top of Mt Scott.

He's holding my placard for the 2014 2014 Big Money Rally .  The rally is all done online by submitting photos from various bonus locations around the country.  Some locations include designated libraries, county courthouses with former president's names, and other places.  It's been fun so far and a good reason to ride to places I might not visit otherwise.
I had the misfortune of having my 2nd flat tire of the year on the GS yesterday.  I was riding with Tom, Mark, and Steve and we had just gotten to El Reno.  As I turned a corner, the bead broke on the rear tire and I almost lost it.  Fortunately, a nice retired Marine lived right across from where I had the flat.  He let me park the bike at his place so I could take the wheel off and go get a new tube put in.  Tubed tires are a real pain to repair.  When I finally got the bike home, I ordered the stuff I need to be able to make a roadside repair in the future from Best Rest Products along with a couple of spare tubes.  Maybe if I carry this stuff with me all the time, it will ward off any more flat tires and if not, at least I'll be able to fix it myself.
Winter weather is supposed to blow back in tonight with a high tomorrow in the 20's so it looks like the bikes will stay parked most of this week.  I'm not complaining though, any chance to ride in January is good and we've had several nice days this year.

Gadget and Toys

I've always been a gadget geek, from a transistor radio as a kid, to the high tech stuff of today, trying the latest and greatest is a passion of mine.  As I expand my motorcycling into long distance riding, of course it's only natural that I include as many high tech gizmos as possible.  Now that winter is here, most days you'll find me right here by the fire in my comfy Ekornes Stressless Recliner with laptop table .

I've been an Apple fanboy for a while now because they make great stuff and it just works but lately I've been branching out some.  Most of the long distance rally info seems better suited for using windows devices for routing and planning.  Garmin Basecamp has versions for both MAC and PC and my new BMW Navigator V connects to my MAC just fine but other tools such as ezBake and Microsoft Streets and Trips run much better on a PC.  I've been looking for a while, and picked up an ASUS Transformer Book T100 yesterday.  This little windows 8.1 machine has a detachable tablet and keyboard combo that should work nicely as a routing computer.  I played around some with it yesterday and here's how it looks in action.

I wish there was an IOS version of Basecamp that I could run on my Apple iPad Mini Retina.  There a couple of apps that are nice, Motion X GPS Drive and Motion X-GPS .  I use both of them on the mini and my iPhone 5s to navigate, store bonus information, etc.  What's really nice about Motion X-GPS is you can associate a picture of the bonus location with the coordinates as well as a note about what is expected to claim the bonus points.  It's very handy to pull up at the bonus location to review quickly.  

I'm entered in the 2014 Big Money Rally and it looks like it will be a lot fun.  As you ride to each bonus location, you submit a picture from your phone at that location.  I like that they've included the use of smartphones into the rally.  From the old days of Polaroid cameras, to the modern times of digital cameras, the next logical step is smartphone use.  I know my iPhone 5s takes better pics than the digital camera I have. Most of the time, great apps come to IOS before there's an Android version.  That's not the case with Bubbler GPS , a tracking program that also includes the ability to send quick OK messages to those who might be concerned about your ride.  Joel Tolbert has also developed an app for the Big Money Rally for android, BMR App that allows easy check in from each bonus location as well as picture submission.  Maybe I need an Android phone to try out.  Hmmm.  

As you can see, I'm definitely a gadgetholic, it's cheaper than crack.....maybe.

End of the year update

I haven't done too well keeping the blog current this year, something I intend to do better at in 2014.  I have had a good year motorcycling with just over 25, 000 miles on 2 wheels.  Shortly after the Big Texas Rally, I took my RT in for service at Tulsa BMW and took a liking to a new 2014 F800GS Adventure they had sitting on the showroom floor.  I'd been thinking about one for a while and just couldn't resist so I'm now a 2 bike owner again.  Here's my riding companion, Missy, on one of our morning rides around Lake Draper.

I've only got a couple of thousand miles on it so far but really like riding it....in warm weather.  There is no comparison between it and the RT for blocking wind and cold so I doubt I ride it much between now and spring.  I prefer the RT's big windscreen, heated seat, and grips for the cooler weather riding.  I ordered side cases or I guess the proper name is panniers for the GS and they took almost 6 weeks to arrive but here's a pic of them.

I haven't been on any other trips or rallies since Big Texas and it looks like my RT is going to end the year with just over 51,000 trouble free miles.  She is going to be 20 months old next week so I guess that's not too bad.  I turned in just over 22, 000 miles to the BMW MOA mileage contest this year which ran between April and October so we'll see how that ranks among other riders in the country.  Last year, I was the high mileage rider in Oklahoma but not even a top 25 finisher nation wide.  I use a  Spot GPS tracking device most of the time when I ride.  It allows me to track where I've been, send messages to those who might be worried about me, and send an SOS message if I should have an emergency.  Here's a screenshot of most of my trips made in 2013.

All in all, it's been a great riding year with some great scenery, no mishaps, and a fun time on the bike.  In 2014, I've got several plans made for rides I'd like to take.  The first will be in mid March when I plan to ride to San Diego, get an external fuel cell made, then ride a 50cc (coast to coast under 50 hours) to Jacksonville, FL for the Iron Butt Associations bike week meet up.  Later in the year, I plan to ride in the How The West Was Won rally in Colorado as well the Big Texas Rally again.  I might ride in a couple of others and I need to cover some of the eastern part of the country that I haven't ridden in yet.
I plan to update the blog more frequently as I enjoy riding the bikes and retirement.  Stay tuned for 2014, have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Big Texas 36 Hour Rally Ride Report

This past weekend I rode the Big Texas Rally, my first attempt at an Iron Butt type rally.  If you're not familiar with how these work, you're provided a list of bonii with each being worth a different number of points.  Then you're provided a check in or rally end location and the time you must be there.  You're task is to select the number of bonii you can ride to, do whatever the rally book calls for at this location, and get to the end location on time.
The Big Texas rally book had about 90 potential bonus locations and several locations you could start from.  I chose to start in Childress, Texas.  The night before the rally start, Mark and Eric had reserved a room at Maxey's Steak House for us to have dinner if we wanted to.  I went, had a good meal, and heard some good discussion about the rally.  As a newbie, I just sat and listened to those who had done several rallies.
The rally start was at 6 am on Friday, I was there early, got my starting receipt, and was anxious to get started.  About 20 riders were starting at Childress, here's a pic of some of them.

We got started at 6 am, I don't think anyone but me noticed me stalling the bike as I started out of the lot, something I've done on the RT about 3 times the entire time I've owned it.  My planned route was to ride over to Amarillo, get the Cadillac Ranch first, then head to Palo Duro Canyon.  It was pretty chilly and dark on the way over, I was watching for deer but didn't see any.  I got to Cadillac Ranch ok and walked down to take the required picture.  The rally book stated we must paint our first and last name as well as rider number on the roof or trunk of any car, then take a pic of ourselves including all. I had an issue with my flag blowing around and obscuring my number so I had to make 3 attempts at it before I got this. You have to look real close to see my info because I tried to use a paint pen instead of the spray paint that would have been much better.  I should have researched it better online and I would have known this.

I jumped back on the bike and headed for Palo Duro Canyon.  If you haven't been there before, it's really a pretty place and fun ride to the bottom.  I got passed by the eventual rally winner, Erik on the way down but that's ok, he was in it to win it, I was in it to finish.  Nice job Erik.  He was at the plaque when I arrived and was gracious enough to take the pic for me.

Rally Master Wayne had a great idea that changed things considerably for me and several other riders as well.  Originally, there was a list of 12 Texas icons worth 150 points each if you took a pic of them along the way.  At the start, it was announced that these icons would be worth 1500 points each instead.  Suddenly, I went from worrying about getting the required 25,000 points to be considered a finisher to knowing that I could relax a bit and have plenty of points just by picking up a few of these. Anyone collecting 10 or more would also get an extra 5,000 points.  I managed to get 5 of the icons, a windmill, a pump jack, a posted sign, a cactus, and a rodeo grounds.  Here are the pics of those.

I won't bore you with every single bonus I picked up but I rode my plan pretty well Friday but made the mistake of a newbie by not hydrating very well and I waited too long to grab anything to eat.  By 5 pm I had a thumping headache and at least 3 hours left to ride.  I made it to Sonora, Texas right at 9 pm after a harrowing ride on I10 where I just knew I'd have a close call with Bambi's daddy.  We were warned about I10 just after dark and just before dawn being very bad for deer in the road.  My route planned for me to be on it for both, not a great idea but I was lucky enough to avoid any mishaps.
The rally book called for a minimum rest bonus of 4 hours and 15 points per minute up to 8 hours.  I checked in to the motel, took some tylenol, and laid down with a cold wash cloth to try and get rid of my headache.
The alarm went off early on Saturday and I was feeling quite a bit better.  I got my rest bonus end receipt and a cup of coffee to start the day.  I already had enough points from Friday to be a finisher so I decided to take an easier route and make it safely to the finish on time.  I grabbed some great BBQ at Kreuz Market in Lockhart and headed to Austin for a noon picture bonus at the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue.  Parking here was bad so I parked about half a mile away and looked like a strange sight walking among all the joggers and walkers in my riding gear.  Just about everybody in the rally showed up at this bonus.  The rally book said that at exactly noon, 1 picture would be taken and for 2,000 points we had to be clearly visible in it with our rally flag as well.
After this picture, I hot footed it back to the bike and head for the next bonus, a pistol shoot near Killeen.  Here, we had to place our rally flag about 10 yards away, then shoot at it 3 times with either our pistol or one provided by the rally.  I opted to shoot a Ruger 9mm and managed to perforate my flag 3 times.  1 of the 3 was a flesh wound, just on the edge but a hit is a hit.
I had originally planned to get several more bonii after the pistol shoot but I was dragging and that nagging headache was starting to come back so I headed towards the rally check in location.  I had heard that I35 north was shut down due to an accident so I meandered north up highway 317 a while. This turned into a nice winding road and I was able to just relax and enjoy the ride.  At the start of the rally, our driver's license and insurance cards were sealed in an envelope.  At the end, if the envelope was still sealed, it was worth 5,000 points.  I only saw 3 or 4 troopers my entire ride and rode no more than 5 miles over the limit, so I had these points in the bag.
I made it to the rally check in just before 5 pm, completed my scoring paperwork, and was scored.  I had ridden just over 1200 miles, scored just over 30,000 points, and completed my first rally.  After a shower, the bar was open, we had some good food, and I met more riders.  The scoring took a while and the winners were announced just after 11 pm.  Congrats again to Erik and all of the riders who participated in the rally.  A special thanks to Steve B for giving me some rally routing pointers prior to the rally.  Texas is really very scenic and I'd encourage anyone to take a drive around to see it.  I'd like to thank Wayne and all the others for putting on the rally.  I think I'm hooked, it's cheaper than crack....barely.

A Long Distance Riding Legend Is Gone

John Ryan, the man who would stop at nothing, is gone.  I'm sitting here this morning, unable to sleep, still thinking it's all a bad dream. John was killed yesterday in a motorcycle accident.  While I hadn't known known John very long or really all that well, I feel like a void has been created in my life.  I didn't meet John until this year's Very Boring Rally in Minnesota.  I had read about him and his long distance riding accomplishments including his record time of just over 86 hours from Alaska to Florida. So why is a usually non-sentimental guy like me at such a loss?

I just started riding motorcycles in late 2010 and did not discover long distance riding until mid 2011.  I started posting some of my accomplishments on Facebook and mentioned John in a couple of those.  One day I logged in and had a friend request from The John Ryan, I was thrilled.  I accepted the request and before too long, when I would post something about riding, a rant about liberals, or how a good guy shot a bad guy, I'd get a "like" from John.  Maybe stupid to some, but to me, it was exciting every single time.  His posts were always entertaining, even during that time he thought about quitting Facebook.  I loved reading the stories about Fubar Farms or how he thought Obama was the worst President ever.  It seemed we shared a bond that was hard to explain.  That's how John was to me, a legend but a guy who didn't act like it and took the time to make you feel like you belonged.

I met John briefly at the Aerostich Very Boring Rally this year and heard him speak.  I remember wanting to get there early in case the room filled up so I could sit close.  When I walked in the room, John was asleep on the stage, just sacked out in his Stich, not moving a muscle.  He woke up right at the starting time but was having some issues with his blood sugar level and ate some fruit before he started talking.  I could tell he wasn't comfortable in front of a crowd and would probably prefer to be out riding somewhere on his bike instead of speaking.  He talked for a while, then answered every question anyone had.  I remember how good natured he was with the ventriloquist when I'm sure he would have preferred to strangle the guy but there were too many witnesses.  I was so awestruck, I took a picture of his Yamaha parked just outside the front door.  It looked...well.....ridden.  John didn't care about the latest technology or a clean shiny bike, he liked to ride.  No bluetooth helmet, smartphone, or any other contraption, just him, the bike, and the road.

John and I were gong to share a room at the end of this month at the Iron Butt Association party in Dallas.  I was looking forward to it, but now I'm not sure I want to go.  I can hear John now though when he sees all of us mourning his loss and he'd probably say something like this "F it, I zigged when I should have zagged and that f-ing cager nailed me.  You guys don't sit around feeling sorry me, get off your ass and go ride."  I'll go ride, but I'll be a little less excited about knowing John's not here to "like" my post when I write about it.

The Great Salt Plains

As I've mentioned before, the Tulsa BMW store has a summer adventure contest going on until the end of September.  They've picked several sites around the state, some with locations, and some you have to determine where they are based on the picture they've provided.  I've visited all but 4 of the sites and today it was the Great Salt Plains just west of Jet, OK.  I've lived in Oklahoma most of my 57 years and have never seen this area of the state.
My friend Tom and I rode up there this afternoon and stopped to enjoy some Eichen's chicken along the way in Okarche at the oldest bar in Oklahoma.  Tom had never been and didn't know quite what to expect but once he got past the no menu and chicken delivered with some wax paper to eat it off of, he liked it.
Tom used to live in this area and we took a short cut that led us down a gravel road that quickly turned to sand.  A bit of slipping and sliding but we made it without dropping the bikes and I have to say, it's pretty vast area of salt plains, in fact, I'd say great even.  Here's a pic of today's big adventure.

Rides between the rides

I've been back from my northwest ride a few weeks now and have mostly been just riding around locally and to a few more of the Tulsa BMW Summer Adventure tour locations.  I made runs last week NE to the Blue Whale at Catoosa, the big oil guy at Expo Center in Tulsa, Bartlesvile, Great Salt Plains Lake, and Ponca City.  Well...Ponca City was a screw up on my part, the correct item I'm supposed to photograph is The Pioneer Museum in Woodward, not the Pioneer Woman Museum in Ponca City.  Oh well, it was a nice week for riding, sure can't complain about highs in the 80's in August.
Later this week I'm headed north to the Very Boring Rally, The Aerostich company is putting on in Duluth, Minnesota.  http://www.boringrally.com/  Long distance riding legend, John Ryan will be speaking on Saturday as well as several other seminars and some nice riding.  I'll be able to add Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to my states ridden in map when I get back.
I'm also getting into a new game, long distance rallying.  My first attempt will be at the Big Texas Rally in October http://bigtexrally.com/BigTexRally/BTR-HOME.html I've been thinking about this ever since the Iron Butt Rally in July.  This rally is 36 hours in length and most of us will ride between 900 and 1800 miles.  Basically, you get a rally packet with multiple locations called bonuses, each worth a certain number of points.  Some of these require a picture of you and your rally flag or bike, require you to take some other action, or answer a question about that location.  Your job is to take the packet, look at the locations, figure out how many you can safely ride to and still make it to the check in location on time.  There is a required rest bonus in this rally as well as at least one mandatory bonus stop.  It's not a race, more like a scavenger hunt on wheels.  I'm looking forward to giving it a try so be watching for my rally report after I ride in it.  That's it for today's update, I'll clue you in to all the excitement from this weekend's Very Boring Rally when I get back next Monday.  Here's a few pics of some summer adventure locations in Ok.