Ride to Eat

Spent about 12 hours riding and eating yesterday. I met New Guy Ray in the Chelsea Market Basket parking lot at 6:00 and we made our way to Cohassett MA to pick-up Marc and Valerie. Marc then led us on a nice south coast ride to the seaside town of Marshfield MA. We had breakfast at Arthur & Pat's. You can't really tell by the picture, but this little shack served the best eggs benedict I've ever had. They used pastrami and something about it really tasted good. We hung out there for about an hour then made our way to Smithfield RI to meet with the rest of the gang for a ride around RI and CT. We met our friends Mo, Larry, and Victor at Victor's place. Chatted for a few minutes and got right down to business hitting all the backroads around RI and dipping into CT for lunch at the Dogwatch Cafe in Stonington CT. We got done with lunch around 2:00 and Victor said "let's go to the Vanilla Bean for coffee." Victor led the way. The Vanilla Bean is in Pomfret CT which is about an hour ride from Stonington. We left Stonington and three hours of backroad riding later we were still not at the Vanilla Bean. I don't think he'll admit it, but he was lost. Anyway, New Guy Ray and I bailed on the rest of the adventure to head back to Boston. I got home at 6:00. The weather was perfect. Sunny and chilly, but not too cold.

Beemers and Pancakes

Every year around this time my motorcycle club (http://www.yankeebeemers.org/) does a ride to Gould's Sugar House in Shelburne Falls MA for the seasonal closing of the restaurant. I met Marc, Valerie, and New Guy Ray at our usual Hwy 2 meeting spot and we took 2 to meet the rest of the group in Orange MA. We hung out in Orange for about an hour. Marc had a "super secret" route planned for the ride to Gould's, but a few others were planning the same route so it wasn't much of a secret. In order to prevent getting stuck behind a bunch of motorcycles, we jumped out a little early and started the route ahead of everyone so we could move along at our own pace. It was a great ride with lots of twisted roads to negotiate. It was a technical ride and definitely not for a beginner. We took so many turns that there is no way I could do that route again without Marc. He's got it memorized. I'd like to do it again this weekend, but I think we're heading to Vermont. Anyway, we did about two hours of riding before arriving at Gould's for some pancakes and conversation. Marc and Valerie had to go home after lunch, but New Guy and I had some time to do a little more riding. We did a nice loop around Heath MA including a bit of gravel which is always fun to me. We dipped into southern Vermont for a little while on VT100 and VT9 before linking with 119 through southern NH and then dipping back into Mass along 119 to Moto Market in Acton. Moto Market is a cycle gear shop. I ordered a cable from them and had to pick it up. It is a cable to replace the one I have that goes from my iPod to the helmet so I can listen to the iPod on the road. We got there just a few minutes before they closed. A couple other club members were there so we chatted for a bit and then New Guy and I booked it home. He lives in Medford which is near Chelsea so we basically took the same way home. It was a nice day on the road.

IBR preparations continue. The boxes are arriving on a regular basis. I received my cb and comm system late last week. I think the fuel cell will be the last thing to arrive. Once I get that, I will bring the bike to the shop. I did a nice little ride yesterday. The Yankee Beemers monthly breakfast was in Mendon MA yesterday. I met a group in Cambridge early Sunday morning and we cut through some backroads to get to Mendon. After breakfast a few of us did a backroad route to the Vanilla Bean coffee shop in Pomfret CT. Someone from the club mapped the route and I loaded it into the GPS. We split into two groups. I hate riding with more than three people in tow. We must not have matching map sets because my GPS took us through a CT state park with nothing but gravel and boulders for a road. It was an interesting challenge to get through there. We hung out at the Bean for a couple hours before riding the high-speed pavement back to Boston. It looks like I will be nominated for a club officer position for next year. More on that in another post. I spent some time last night mapping out a local 1,000 mile loop which includes a border crossing into Canada and back into the U.S. I think it will be a decent prep route for running some local weekend SS rides before the big event. I've also mapped-out a cross-country BBG3000 and SS3000 I would like to do before next June. The tough thing is finding the time to do these things.

Iron Butt Rally Prep

The tag line for the Iron Butt Rally is 11 Days 11,000 Miles. That is true, but I have heard it as 11 Days 11,000 Dollars. I am in the process of modifying my bike for the Rally and it is quite the ordeal. I have a checklist of items and a schedule to get things done well in advance of the Rally in June. I want the bike to be totally tricked-out by February. I want to break everything in and get used to the bike and the modifications. It is going to be a completely different ride when I am done with it. Some of the farkles and mods include: Ohlins suspension upgrade, digital HID headlight replacement kit, 4.5 gallon aux fuel cell, custom fuel cell cover, cb, satellite radio, communications system, and a bunch of other stuff. I don't think it will amount to $11,000, but it is still a lot of stuff to buy. I have been chatting back and forth this week with the guy who is building my fuel cell. He is in Washington state. The base for the cell is the passenger seat on the bike so I had to scour the internet to find a used seat to send to him. I did not want to ruin the one I have because I am thinking I won't have the cell on the bike all the time and want to be able to swap it out with my seat. I found one on a BMW forum board and it is being sent to my guy in Washington now. Once the cell is done in a couple weeks, I will have it sent to the woman who is going to make a custom cover for it in Florida. A lot of moving pieces to coordinate all of this, but I love doing that stuff. So far, the plan is working and things are moving along. The good thing about this fuel cell is that it is basically plug and play. He is building the cell, mounting it on the seat base, and will be providing all the necessary plumbing to connect it to the tank. I've heard good things about his tanks so I am looking forward to that modification. With the addition of the fuel cell, I will have a range of almost 400 miles without having to stop for gas. For everything else, the plan right now is to get everything ordered and then have my mechanic install everything that I can't do myself which is most of it. Their labor rates are significantly discounted during the winter months so I will have them do it in December.

Colors in the Catskills

I was out the door by 4:30 am on Saturday. I made good time up to Hunter Mountain in Hunter NY for the Colors in the Catskills Rally and Oktoberfest. The Rally was organized by the BMW Motorcyle Owners of America (http://www.bmwmoa.org/) and sponsored by Max BMW. I wanted to get there early and sign-up for the demo rides. The BMW demo truck was there with about 20 demo bikes available for rides. As I prepare my bike for the Iron Butt Rally, it is going to be less and less of a canyon carving sport touring bike and more and more of a long haul long distance trucker so I was looking forward to testing out some potential new bikes. I would really like to have a second bike for my weekend rides. I wanted to test the BMW K1300S model bike. I got to take one out for a 30-minute ride on Saturday and I was ready to buy it after spending five minutes on it. It's a perfect fit. It has gear shift assist so you don't even need to use the clutch to shift up. You can just hammer on the throttle and speed shift up. Very cool. I spent the day riding demo bikes and hanging out with a few friends then made my way back home. I started the Iron Butt Rally spending frenzy today with the purchase of a new Garmin Zumo 550 GPS. What's better than having one GPS? Why having two of course. Now I will be able to have a route mapped on one GPS and manage scenerios, options, and timing with the second one without interrupting the routing on the primary GPS. I've heard good things about the Zumo 550. It is a rugged waterproof GPS so it should be serviceable on the RT in all sorts of conditions. Many more farkles to come.

Rides Rides and More Rides

It has been awhile, but I have been doing quite a few rides. Of note, I did the Rendez-vous Rally which started in Quebec a couple Saturdays ago. The Rendez-vous is a 12-hour competitive rally. 12 hours is too short of a time to call it an "endurance" rally, but some do. I've explained this before, but competitive rallies are basically a scavenger hunt by motorcycle. I had a fun time on this one. I am in the middle of the Iron Butt Association National Parks Tour which is a challenge to get 50 park stamps in the National Park Service Passport from 23 different states so every time I go out for a ride, I look for opportunities to get another stamp. The ride up to Quebec was no different. I stopped along the way in Vermont and New Hampshire to get two stamps. The one in Vermont was the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and the one in New Hampshire was the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Site. Ideally, I like to stop and hang out for a bit and see the parks, but I was in a bit of a hurry on Friday to get up to Canada so I just stopped, stamped my passport, and rolled on. I still need a lot of stamps to fill the passport, but I have a year to do it. Once at the Rally hotel on Friday, I hung out with some of the regular rally riders. My friend Sanjay was there. Sanjay is a member of the Yankee Beemers and rode the Minuteman Rally with me. We had a meeting and then I did some last minute prep of my route before getting about seven hours of sleep. The riders meeting was at 5:00 am on Saturday. The start was uneventful except for the fact that every bike turned left from the hotel parking lot except me. I went to the right and headed to the Canada/New York border versus the Canada/Vermont border which it looked like everyone else was heading to. I've been riding around VT, NH, ME, and MA for the past couple years. I haven't done much riding in NY so I selected my first batch of bonuses in NY. I spent the next 12 hours riding around NY, MA, and VT before heading back up to the barn. I knew I wasn't going to be competitive in this rally so I took it easy. I ended up doing about 650 miles in 12 hours. A fairly high amount of miles for 12 hours and collecting bonuses as well. I ended up in the middle of the pack. There were about 40 riders and I placed 15th. I was happy with that. I made a couple mistakes and would have placed 5th if I didn't make those mistakes, but whatever. So, that was the big Rendez-vous Rally. The more important news is that last week the drawing for slots in the 2011 Iron Butt Rally (IBR) was announced and I received a "congratulations" email from the Rallymaster. The IBR starts in mid-June in Seattle and ends 11 days later in Southern California. I am now starting to prepare the bike for the IBR. More on that later. This weekend I am heading to the Catskills and the Color in the Catskills Rally. It is the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America free Rally they do every year. Basically a hang out and ride type of rally. Most people spend the whole weekend there camping, but I am only doing a day trip on Saturday which means up at 3:30 and out the door by 4:00 am on Saturday morning. I love those early morning rides. Later.

Damn Yankees

I am a member of the Yankee Beemers Motorcycle Club (http://www.yankeebeemers.org/) and last weekend was the 25th anniversary of the Damn Yankees Rally in Heath MA. Heath is a tiny little town in the northwest corner of MA and it has some of the best riding in New England. It is an easy launch point to the great roads in western Mass, southern VT, southern NH, and NY. This is one of those gather, ride, and hang out kind of rallies. Camping is very popular in the BMW motorcycle culture. The rally was held at the Heath fairgrounds so it was easy for everyone to pitch their tents and camp out for the weekend. There was a record attendance of over 300 people there. I spent last Saturday there, but did not spend the night. I woke up at 3:30 in the morning on Saturday and left the house at 4:00 to get there by 6:30 for the morning cup of coffee and BS session about the hijinks from the night before. I spent a few hours chatting with everyone then I set out on a nice 300 mile solo ride around the area. I did 8a in Mass before jumping on 112 and 100 in VT for a little while. Dipped back into Mass and then into NY for an hour or so before riding back into Mass and returning to the Rally site. I rode to the top of Mt. Greylock and Mt. Sugarloaf. That was the first time for me and getting up there was some fun riding. I was back at the Rally by 4:00 in the afternoon. Just in time for the start of the Scottish Trials and Free Trials. The Scottish Trials is a course with a set of obstacles to overcome. It is a challenge of your maneuverability skills and usually includes a jump of some kind. Mostly dirt bike types will do this stuff, but I saw one Suzuki SV650 sport bike do a decent job, but did not crack the top three riders. One guy hit the jump too hard and smashed into the port-o-potty. He was fine and finished the course. The Free Trials are open to pretty much anyone. They have a slow race (last place wins), a two-up challenge to throw cans into a garbage can, a kick the doll challenge where you ride by this doll and kick it as far as you can, and a few other odd challenges. It was fun to watch, but I didn't try any of them. The RT is just too heavy for me to do any of that stuff. They had a charity group provide the catering for the Rally and they made an awesome barbeque chicken and corn on the cob. I ate and made the trek back. All in all a great day of riding.

92 and Rising

We spent the day Saturday in Provincetown MA aka P-Town. Provincetown is on the very tip of Cape Cod. We took the ferry there from Boston on Saturday morning and planned to spend the day walking around the little town, do some people watching, take some pictures, have lunch, and then take the late afternoon ferry back to Boston. The ferry is about 90 minutes. If we were to drive there it would have taken at least three hours so the ferry was a much better way to go. We had a nice day. On Sunday, I went to the Yankee Beemers monthly breakfast meeting in Southbridge MA. The Yankee Beemers is a motorcycle club with primarily BMW owners as members, but there are a few Triumph, Ducati, and other bike brand riders as well. My friends Marc and Valerie are members as well so we met along the Mass Pike and went down there together. After the meeting we hit the road for a ride around CT and RI. The temperature hit 92 around 3:00. We only did about 200 miles that day. It was mostly a social riding day. It was too hot to do anything else on Sunday. Les and I had an early dinner and went to Arlington MA for ice cream and then called it a night.

Vermont in the Heat

It hit the low 90's last weekend and I decided to go for a ride in full gear. Crazy? Maybe, but I always look at extreme weather as a rider training opportunity. It's good to ride in different kinds of weather to improve skills and push yourself to see what you are capable of. Many riders do not like to ride in the rain, but I love it. The harder the rain the better. I once rode four hours up Vermont in heavy pouring rain to a rally and I discovered that I really like riding in the rain. So, last Saturday morning I met Marc and Valerie at one of our meeting places along US 2. They beat me there which is not the norm. When I got there, Marc was topping off his tank and we chatted for a bit. The first thing he said to me was "are we really doing this?" It was 7:00 am and kind of cool outside, but we all knew it was going to be a scorcher. We booked up to Vermont through some very nice roads in New York while the weather was decent. Our routine has been to basically ride north until lunch time, park it for lunch, and then head back south on a different route to get home. The whole time I chase Marc's blue K-rocket beemer (see picture). That's basically what we did on Saturday and I didn't really feel the heat until around 3:00. We did the hills and curves along VT 9 on the way back and that is one of my favorite roads in VT. Very smooth, but traffic held me back a bit. We ended the day in Chelsea where we met Les for a nice dinner at Ecco in East Boston.

The Catskills

My friend Marc and I met along the Mass Pike at 7:30 Saturday morning for an adventure in the Catskills. I knew it was going to be a long day. It was 4th of July weekend and it was going to be hot. I was, of course, in full Aerostich gear. I had my long LD comfort undergear along with a nice wicking shirt so I stayed relatively cool until the end of the day when it got really hot. I probably drank about half a gallon of water and only had to go to the bathroom once so that gives you an idea of how warm it was in all the gear. Anyway, the ride started out very nice with some great roads through MA and CT heading to NY, but slowly the traffic started to increase. Marc warned me that there was no easy way to get to where we were going. We hit a lot of lights and traffic heading to 23a in NY. Once we got there though, the road was as advertised. 23a is one of the best motorcycle roads I've been on. It wasn't as nice as the White Forest in NH, but it was pretty nice. We buzzed uphill most of the way on 23a and then had lunch at a place called Maggie's Krooked Cafe in Tannersville NY. Marc was really bragging-up this place. I guess he's been there a number of times, but I thought it was just alright. The location was perfect though. It is right on top of the 23a mountain. We hung out there for about an hour before hitting the road back home. We decided to take a different way home through part of VT. It started to get incredibly hot once we dipped into western MA around 5:00 in the afternoon. We took Hwy 2 in western MA which is basically the Mohawk Trail the whole way. It was a nice ride with no traffic. I've been along the Mohawk Trail before, but I always hit traffic so it was nice to really book through there without traffic. It was shady most of the way until we exited the Trail and got on the straight route back to Boston along Hwy 2 and baked in the sun the whole way home. I got home around 8:00 pm so it was a little over 12 hours and about 550 miles on the clock. A nice bit of riding. I am planning to take the RT to Second Wind BMW this Saturday for some much needed mid-season maintenance.

Italy 2010 Part 2

I'm back from Italy. Not much more to add to my Part 1 post. I was glad I rented the GS bike while I was there. I am planning on buying a new motorcycle in a couple years and heard a lot of great things about the GS so I wanted to try one and put it through the ringer. I put on about 1500 miles during the week. I rode in a bunch of different conditions. I spent a day riding around the twisty hills of Tuscany, Umbria, and Marche. I rode 300 miles of slab in the rain to Venice. I spent a day riding around urban traffic in Rome. The bike performed well in all conditions, but it just doesn't have the same comforts I am used to with the RT model. I do a lot of long distance riding and the GS doesn't have the wind protection the RT has so you get fatigued a lot faster on the GS. I found myself laying on the tank bag and crouching to stay out of the wind stream on the autostrada. I got tired after a 300 mile day and that normally doesn't happen to me. I think I will stick with the RT when the time comes for a new bike. I stopped at the Ducati World Headquarters in Bologna on my way up to Venice. I spent a couple hours walking around the museum and parts of the factory. I was surprised of the lack of security at the place. I just walked around and no one said anything to me. I even ate lunch in their cafeteria. A crowd of people gathered around my BMW in the parking lot and they were all looking over the bike. The parking lot was filled with Ducati bikes so I suppose a BMW is a novelty to them. I talked to one of the guys in the parking lot who designs parts and I asked him why I was able to walk around so freely and he told me that once you are through the gates, you can pretty much do whatever you want. Not sure about that. Anyway, I spent a few hours there and then made my way up to Veneto to visit with friends for a couple days. I spent a day riding around Rome on Friday which was a lot of fun. I was surprised how easily I was able to get around. I had the best meal of the week at a little place next door to the one-star hotel I was staying in near the train station. I took the train to the airport and that was it. I would like to live over there again one of these days, but I'll settle for the occasional trip to the timeshare.

Italy 2010 Part 1

I am in Italy this week. Les and I purchased a timeshare in Tuscany back when we lived in Naples. The website for the timeshare is: http://www.borgodivagli.com/. Back in 2002, this place was a pile of rocks in the Tuscan hillside with a goat path leading to it. It is very remote. Les and I came here and saw the potential of what it would look like when it was complete so we purchased a week/year for the next 50 years. I have travelled throughout Italy and most of Europe and this is the most beautiful, serene, calm place I have ever seen. Unfortunately, we don't get here every year due to work and scheduling and a bunch of other excuses. We have given the week as gifts to friends and they have all had the opportunity to enjoy it as well. Last summer, I decided I would come here and booked the trip a long time ago. I decided to rent a bike while I am here this time. I rented a brand new 2010 BMW R1200GS (in the picture). I rented the bike in Rome and rode up here yesterday. It is a different experience riding a bike around the hills of Tuscany and Umbria. The plan for the week is to relax today, hit the roads around here tomorrow, ride up to Venice and Vicenza to visit friends on Tuesday, return to the Borgo on Thursday, spend the day riding around Rome on Friday, and fly back on Saturday. That's it.

2010 Minuteman Rally Report Part 3

I took my rest bonus at a truck stop somewhere in VT. It was a productive rest bonus because I got 5,000 points for the rest; the truck stop sold VT-made syrup so I got 3,000 points for purchasing the syrup there, plus I filled the tank. All in all I thought I was in pretty good shape even though the last couple bonuses were a bust. At 1:15 am, I moved out into the darkness and found the next bonus location (an auction site) within about 30 minutes. I was ready to begin my routine. I got off the bike, went to get the flag and rally book to bag the bonus when it hit me. Pow—no flag! I thought for a moment and realized I likely left it at the last bonus location. Shit! I just started to laugh and say out loud “rally over.” All I could do was laugh. I got my head straight and realized I still had four hours until the rally was actually over which gave me time to go back, get my flag, and maybe bag one or two more bonuses. It was a long haul back to the flag; about 75 miles on the slab and then 75 miles back to where I started. The picture in this post is where my flag was parked for about four hours. During that time on the slab I was doing all sorts of calculations on the GPS to figure the best route back to the bonuses and rally headquarters. I quickly figured that I only had about an hour to bag as many points as possible so I only went to the two with the highest value that were left on my list. I hit a 750 pointer which I was so happy about; then the sun started to come up and I knew I needed to book. I made one more stop in Brattleboro VT, but could not find the bonus so the last third of the rally was basically a bust with only 750 points nailed to my rally book. I quickly filled the tank near Brattleboro and hauled ass back to the barn in Northampton. I checked-in at 5:51 am. I had nine minutes to spare. I spent those nine minutes thinking I should have spent nine more minutes searching for that stupid bonus in Brattleboro. Anyway, the line at the scoring table was long so I gathered my stuff and found a dark corner of the hotel and crashed for about an hour. When I got up, the line at the scoring table was longer so I just wandered around the hotel and talked to the folks and started to hear about the top scorers. I had calculated 24,000 points and was hearing numbers like 30,000 for the top finishers so I thought I would be in the middle of the pack somewhere. My friend Paul Saucy and I were the last two to get scored. Paul ended up with 27,175 points. He only went 891 miles so that was a very efficient ride for him. It was his first rally as well. He ended up in 5th place. At the scoring table, I argued a bit with the Rallymaster regarding one of the bonuses, but I lost the argument and didn’t push it. Paul was next to me at the table and just said “it’s 50 points dude, forget it, he’s the Rallymaster.” I took his advice. Paul ended up losing 350 points at the table so I guess I couldn’t complain too much. Brunch was then served around 11:00 and we all ate and waited for the results. The Rallymaster announced the top 10 finishers and I wasn’t in the announcement, but I knew I must have been close because 10th place had 24,124 points. It was Adam Peirce who was riding on a KTM bike and only went 721 miles. Very efficient. I went a total of 1,078 miles for 24,045 points. I would have been under 1,000 miles if I didn’t go back for my flag. I ended up heading for home around 12:00. I was probably the first one out of the parking lot after the ceremony; I just wanted to get home and take a nap. I was very happy with my results for my first rally, but still a little pissed that I did not break into the top 10. Fast forward two days and the results get posted on the Minuteman website: http://www.minutman1000.com/. Guess who’s in the top 10? Oh, hell yes—Me! There was a tie for 4th place so everyone moved up one from there. I must have been in 11th because my name is now in the top 10, misspelled, but in the top 10 nonetheless. I was pumped when I saw that. Even with all the mistakes, I still cracked the top 10. If I rode my plan perfectly, I would have been in 6th, right behind my buddy Paul. It was a good rally and I am looking forward to the next.

2010 Minuteman Rally Report Part 2

All the bonus location coordinates leading up to Rockwood ME were exactly correct. The GPS told me when to stop and I was exactly where I was supposed to be. However, when arriving in Rockwood the coordinates for the church I was suppose to take a picture of was actually a gas station. I ran into two other riders at that gas station and we asked the attendant where the church was and it was about a third of a mile down the road. The other two riders were taking a break at the gas station, but I was still in rally mode and had no time for this break business so I went to the church, took the picture, and left. At the scoring table, I found out that the guy who programmed the coordinates for this bonus got gas at that gas station and those were the coordinates he used as the bonus. It wasn't a big deal, but it was about eight minutes of time wasted and in a 24-hour rally that's a lot of time if you ask me. On my way back down to more bonuses in NH and VT I saw about seven other riders heading up to the bonus in Rockwood. It was a sizeable bonus at 2,000 points and it was a real easy ride there. Most rally riders will find a high-value bonus and work their routes around that bonus and since I saw the other riders, I knew I had to stay on top of my game because they were all likely doing the same or similar route as mine. I bagged a couple 900 point bonuses in Maine on my way into NH and VT. I told myself I would stop at 11:00 for my rest bonus. The rest bonus was worth 5,000 points and only needed to be two hours long. Around 10:30, I approached an area in NH where there were two 500-point bonuses very close to each other. One was a monument at a Quaker church. It was very remote and along a dirt road. My GPS basically shut down at this point and it was pitch black and I could not find either bonus location. I was going down this dirt road that turned into a dirt path that turned into a grass path that turned me into a nervous wreck. There was no place to turn around so I kept going down the path and after about a mile I came to a house with a wide driveway area so I could turn around. A dog came running from the house barking like crazy and as I was turning around he was nipping at my foot; once I came about I bolted out of there. I still had the larger problem of being lost in the middle of nowhere with no GPS reception. I kept going along several different dirt roads giving up on the bonuses and just trying to find my way out of there. At one point I thought I popped a tire so I was paranoid about riding on it. I finally came across some pavement and found a street light to park under and check the pressure in the tires. The tires were at 36 and 42 psi which is exactly where they were supposed to be. I was pissed at myself at this point. I missed 1,000 points and lost an hour of rally time. It was about 11:15 pm now and I found a gas station to stop and rest for a little while. I couldn’t really rest, but I tried. I got going again exactly two hours later at 1:15 am.

2010 Minuteman Rally Report Part 1

So, I explained the basics of this sport earlier, but wanted to get more into specifics about planning the ride and riding the plan. We received the bonus locations a few days before the rally and I probably spent about four hours in total mapping a route prior to the Friday evening dinner before the rally start on Saturday. On Friday night I spent about another hour fine tuning things. I didn’t change any of my route plans, but I did write down all of the bonus codes and what was required at each stop. I wanted to have that on my tank bag so I could quickly reference each location. That way I didn’t need to fumble around with the rally book before getting started at each location. This saved my ass big time because my GPS screwed me at the third bonus location. More on that in a minute. So, I had the plan and was ready to roll on Saturday morning. We had a riders meeting in the parking lot of the Clarion Hotel in Northampton MA at 5:30 in the morning prior to the 6:00 start. It was a very well organized event. We were instructed to line up three abreast at one end of the parking lot and my bike happened to be near the start so I was the second bike out of the chute. My basic route was planned at a thousand miles with 28 stops. I would hit MA, NH, ME, and VT. I stayed away from CT, RI, and NY. There was a bonus at Madison Square Garden and people actually went there for it. It seemed like a real time burner to go all that way. The point return for going that route was not worth it. Anyway, my first set of bonuses was in downtown Boston which is my back yard so I was pumped and off to a good start. However, I am not a Garmin power user so I am still learning the functionality of my GPS. One of the bonuses was the TD Garden where the Celtics and Bruins play. Anyway, I used to work next door to this place so I know the area and knew exactly where I would go for the picture which did not jive with the Garmin so because I didn’t pass the waypoint (according to Garmin) the GPS kept recalculating to take me back there. I was 10 miles on to the next bonus, but Garmin would not give me directions to it because I did not go by the TD Garden waypoint. I was so frustrated I deleted the route and just went with individual waypoints. Here is where my handwritten sheets really saved me. Because I had all the route codes as waypoints in the GPS and I had them in the order of my original route, I would just punch in the waypoint and go. It was one extra step when I would get back on the bike, but I didn’t have time to mess around with the route and it didn’t really take up any time because I had the general directions of the entire route in my head and could motor along without the need for immediate directions from the GPS. The key to success in these rallies is time management. You really need to have a quick efficient system of being able to get off the bike, get your rally flag, take the picture, fill-out the rally book, put everything away, and go. I purchased a piece of luggage for the back seat of the bike with a quick zipper which I stored everything in and made it easy to access. My stops were about 60 to 90 seconds. I would leave the bike running, get off the bike, only take one glove off, leave the helmet on and just flip it up, grab my stuff, take the pic, put everything away, and take off. I thought it was about as efficient as I could be. I might be able to shave a few seconds if I convert the zipper bag to a velcro bag, but otherwise I’m doing everything right. Gas stops need to be quick and efficient as well. I basically treat the gas stops like bonus stops with the same routine. From Boston I motored up the coast stopping in Wakefield MA, Newburyport MA, and Portsmouth NH before making the long haul up to Rockwood ME where I will pick-up in Part 2.

Moto Rally Indoc

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was planning to do the Minuteman 1000 24-hour Rally this year. I did it this past weekend and had a blast. There are two types of motorcyle rallies. There are the kind where you hang out with a bunch of like-minded riders like Sturgis or Laconia Bike Week and then there are real rallies where you are competing with other riders in a scavanger hunt kind of game. The way it works is that you get a bonus listing and you need to map the optimal route collecting the most points in a limited time. The Minuteman is a 24-hour rally so you have 24 hours to collect the most points. Points are given for a variety of things at the discretion of the Rallymaster. In this rally there were 80 bonus locations scattered around the mid-Atlantic, primarily New England, but with a couple locations in Canada. We were given the locations on Wednesday night and the Rally started Saturday morning at 6:00. When I got the locations I mapped a few different route options because we did not get the actual rules of the Rally until the group dinner Friday night. Sometimes you are given constraints like you can only visit this location from 8:00 to 10:00 or a daytime or nightime bonus. This rally is targeted for beginners so we were not slammed with a bunch of rules. Also, we were given additional point collecting opportunities on Friday night like 3,000 points for purchasing a pint of Vermont-made syrup in Vermont. We were also given points for resting. To earn the rest bonus you need a receipt with a date/time stamp from a place at the beginning of your rest period and a receipt from the same place at the end of your rest period. It could be an ATM receipt or a gas receipt or a coffee shop receipt, it doesn't really matter if both receipts are from the same place. Mine happened to be gas receipts. You also received points for maintaining a fuel log (receipts and odometer readings for each fuel purchase). Most of the bonus locations required a photo to prove you were there in order to claim the points. We were issued rally flags with a number and we needed to have our flag in the picture in order to collect the points. Some bonuses required a receipt and others required answering a question about the location visited like "how many flag poles are on top of the building at this location?" That's a little background about rallying. There are rules, but mostly it is about having fun. I am going to break this post into two. More specific details about my ride in the rally in part 2.

It's a New Day

It is the conclusion of my first week at NOAA. Like anyone in any new job, I'm lost right now, but I am pretty sure it will be a good fit for me here. I am basically being left alone to run my program. That is the building in the picture and my office is in the corner on the third floor. I have a lot of work ahead of me because the organization is in need of additional resources and staffing in the government is a significant challenge. We do a lot of systems development here and that is not something I am entirely familiar with so I have a learning curve to negotiate. I learned a lot about all sorts of application development platforms... Oracle Forms, Reports, Apex, PHP, Java, Python, and the list goes on. We need to all agree on a single platform for future development so that is another area I will be working on in the coming weeks. NOAA has a Science Center in Woods Hole MA and I am going down there next Wednesday to take a look at that operation. They do some support for our Regional Office so I need to understand what's going on there. I am looking forward to recharging a bit this weekend. Les and I don't have any plans. I am not planning to do any riding this weekend, but we'll see. I am doing the Minuteman Rally next weekend. It is a 24 hour "bonus" type rally. You can look at http://www.minuteman1000.com/ for more info if you're interested. It is a competition where you basically ride around for a day and find the bonus locations and get points. Kind of like a scavanger hunt. More on that in a couple weeks. Enjoy the holiday weekend.

Last day at GSA

Friday was my last day at GSA. I worked in that office for five years and seven months. That is the longest I've worked anywhere. A few years ago I determined that I moved, on average, every two years since I was 18 years old. I'm 40 now. I've moved a lot. Fortunately, with this new job, I will not have to move. The new job at NOAA is in Gloucester MA which is a 45 minute drive from our apartment. Leslie and I will now have equal commuting times, but mine is a little easier since I don't have to go through the city like Les does. My last day was nothing special. In the morning, I walked around the building and said my goodbyes to everyone who was there. Very few people at GSA work on Friday. GSA has a lot of teleworkers and workers with alternative schedules which allow them to take most Fridays off of work. Sometimes I think I'm crazy for leaving GSA because I have it so good there, but I've been in a rut for the past couple years and it's time for a change. Anyway, the team took me to lunch at Boston Beer Works. My boss gave a short speech thanking me and all that stuff. I received my gift. They gave me a movie theater gift certificate and a BMW motorcycle baseball hat. Then I spent the afternoon chatting with a few folks and then went back to Boston Beer Works after work for drinks with a couple people. My former boss, who is now retired (lucky bastard), came back into town for my luncheon and he stuck around for drinks and then my colleague Tony was there. We had a nice couple hours talking trash about work. I vowed to stay in touch with them. I am likely going to be using GSA services in my new job so I will be visiting them again in the future as a customer. Then I got on the scooter and came home. Nothing too spectacular. I'm not nervous about the new job, just a little anxious. More on that as things unfold at the new gig this week. Later.

Chicago

I spent the first half of the week in Chicago this week attending the GSA CAR Directors Conference. One of the additional duties I have been saddled with in GSA is the role of the Regional Customer Accounts and Research (CAR) Division Director. It is basically managing a team of four marketing folks. It is a good group of people in CAR. They have a lot of energy and passion for GSA and helping our customers, but I have not been able to spend the necessary time managing the program because I'm too busy managing my own program. I'm not sure why my boss wanted me to go to the meeting considering it is my last week at work, but I'm a good soldier to the end. It was a nice and easy trip to Chicago. I was able to go up to the Skydeck in the Willis Building (aka Sears Tower). That is where I took the picture in this post. They built this thing called "The Ledge" which is basically a glass enclosure that sticks out about two feet from the building and you step out on to the clear floor and look down and I guess it is cool or something. It was a bit of a let down, but it was funny to see kids get scared to step on it. One guy pushed his daughter on to it and she freaked out. I got back last night. I spent today finalizing a few things at work and making sure things were set for my departure. One of my colleagues took me to lunch today at Boston Beer Works. I've got a few paperwork things to do tomorrow morning, I will then sweep through the building and say my goodbyes, go to a group lunch, get a card and gift, turn in my ID card, and be on my way. Leslie asked me a couple weeks ago what I would miss most and I said my colleague Tony and a few others. She said "no, wrong answer" and I said "what do you mean?" She said I would miss being able to park in the building. It's true, parking in my building for free in the center of Boston is definitely a perq I will miss.

ME and NH

I had a great week of riding last week. I logged about 1,000 miles riding around New England. I took the day off of work on Thursday and planned a ride around Western Maine. It took me about three hours on the slab to get to the route, but once I got on the ride it was nice. I even had the chance to do a little dirt biking with the RT. The roads in Maine aren't the best, but they were isolated and there was no traffic anywhere. The roads are a little chewed up because of the logging industry. Everywhere you go in Maine you are going to see logging trucks and over time they pretty much damage every road. There were a few ARRA construction projects going on to improve some of the roads so maybe next summer it will be a different story. Overall, it was a nice day to just be out on the bike. On Saturday, I connected with my friends Marc and Valerie again for a nice long ride on the roads surrounding the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire. Beautiful roads and scenery all day long. We stopped at Whitehorse Gear in North Conway for their Open House event. We had some lunch there and did some shopping in their warehouse. They sell almost every piece of motorcycle gear you would ever need. They also run a publishing company that publishes mostly motorcyle-ish books. I purchased a Ron Ayres book and then we were on our way for the ride back. We did some more mountain roads and twisties before linking with I93 for the express back to Boston. It was a perfect day to ride too. Great weather and wonderful roads. The roads were exceptional around the National Forest area.

Back to VT

Had plans to go riding in Vermont on Saturday, but it was pouring rain and thunderstorms all day. I don't mind riding in the rain, but when the purpose is to hit the twisties hard and enjoy the scenery, rain is an annoyance and ruiner of fun. I ended up going early Sunday morning instead. I met my friends Marc and Valerie who ride 2-up on a BMW K1200S which is a sport bike and built for the roads in Vermont and the track. I like riding with Marc because he is a better rider than I and it is a challenge to stick with him on the road. We met another guy named Jeff who rides a Ducati Monster 696 which is a "naked" sport bike. Jeff lasted about 10 miles and peeled off because his hands were getting too cold. It was cold on Sunday, but I didn't make the same mistake I made a few weeks ago, I wore my heated gear to stay warm. We took 119 out of Mass and through NH to get to VT then linked with VT 5 in Brattleboro before heading north on VT 100 to Rutland for lunch. Some great roads along rivers and rolling hills. We got to Rutland and everything was closed (Mother's Day), but we found a pub that served burgers and ate there before hitting the road back home. All in all it was about 400 miles over 10 hours. I got home in time to watch the Amazing Race.

IBA

I mentioned in a previous post that I completed a Bun Burner Gold (BBG) ride in the summer of 2009. A BBG is an Iron Butt Association (IBA) certified ride. I have been a member of the IBA for a couple years. The first ride I did was a Saddlesore 1000 which is 1000 miles in 24 hours. I rode down to Atlanta where I met Leslie and we attended a friend's wedding. The IBA requires documentation of the ride in order to get it certified. I had to provide a map of the route I took with the stops I made highlighted on the map, I needed to have a start and end witness signature on a form, I had to submit all of my gas receipts along the way, and I needed to fill-out a fuel log marking the location and odometer readings at each fuel stop. I submitted all the paperwork and about six months later I received a certificate. Kind of a lame nerdy thing to do, but I'm kind of lame and nerdy. Well, the Saddlesore ride was kind of easy for me so I wanted to do something the IBA calls an "extreme" ride. The BBG is 1500 miles in 24 hours. That is averaging 62.5 mph including all stops. You really have no time to relax on a BBG because you need to keep moving. My route was basically all slab (I90 to I94 to I35) from Boston to Hinckley MN. On the Saddlesore I was able to pull over and get a four hour nap and still have plenty of time to complete the ride. The BBG was a straight shot. The only stops were for gas and two 20 minute food stops (combined with gas). I completed the ride in 23 hours. It was an interesting experience because you have the challenge of achieving the goal while fighting things like fatigue and boredom. I didn't have my GPS yet at this point so I was doing all of the calculations in my head as I was riding which kept my mind occupied. I would figure out what my average speed was because I knew it couldn't drop below a certain number. When I got to about hour 20, I couldn't do the math and just focused on the road and looking out for deer along I94 through Eau Claire, Menomonie, and River Falls WI. The only mind/fatigue weirdness was when I was heading into MN they were doing road construction so there were orange cones along the interstate and I was imagining they were closing in on me so I had to hurry and pass by them. It was kind of like that scene in the original Star Wars when Luke was in his X-Wing going around the Death Star half tunnel thing to destroy it and it was getting narrower and narrower and he had to fire and pull out of there before hitting the wall. I thought for sure the cones were going to close-up and block me from going through. I laughed after I got through the construction area. I have heard several fatigued riding related stories and they all crack me up. Ron Ayres has written a few books about his experiences as a Long Distance Rider. He tells a funny story from one year he was riding in the Iron Butt Rally which is basically 11,000 miles in 11 days. Anyway, one of the riders on like day-8 was pulling into a gas station to get gas and his eyes were dry so he wanted to drop some Visine into his eyes. He leaned his head back and put the drops into both his eyes and then realized he forgot to take off his glasses.

Postponed

Well, a lot has happened in the past few weeks. I had to postpone my vacation trip. I was recently offered the position of the Director of Information Resource Management with NOAA in Gloucester MA and I accepted. It's a big job and a big opportunity to do something new with an agency that has a completely different mission. I couldn't go on vacation for two weeks and then leave so I decided to postpone the trip. I am wrapping things up at GSA over the next couple weeks and then I start at NOAA on May 24. I have been with GSA for over five years now and if you look at my track record, that is the longest I've been anywhere. It's time to move on. I am hoping to do the bike trip in the fall, maybe October. I have been thinking about this trip for about a year and I have been planning it for the past six months. It would be a shame not to do it. The upside is that I have the summer to ride around New England on the weekends. Last weekend I did a loop through central Vermont. Here is the route: http://tinyurl.com/684d8b I road some of the nicest roads I've ever been on. I left at 5:00 in the morning and it took me two hours just to get to the starting point of the route. It was freezing for the first half of the day and I was regretting not bringing my electric vest. The road through the Groton State Forest was a wild ride. It was the middle of nowhere deep in the woods and if I broke down, I doubt I would have seen another vehicle for days. There was still snow on the side of the road as well. Once I got up to Stowe, I had to take off the layers of clothes I had on to try and keep warm because it almost instantly got hot outside. I pulled over and had a quick lunch in Stowe. The last half from Stowe was such a nice ride, I want to do it again this weekend. However, I've already got plans to do a nice 180 mile swing around southern New Hampshire on Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes.

Luggage

The first piece of luggage I ever bought was the Big Mak Jr. tank bag. In hindsight I wish I would have purchased a larger Big Mak bag, but the Jr. is decent. I like the Big Mak feature that the bag is securely on the tank, but you can easily flip it up to get to the gas cap. Tank bags are incredibly pricey for the RT so I am sticking with this one for now. I only use it to for quick access items like sunglasses, chapstick, ear plugs, glove liners, and occasionally my keys. I also stuff any stray accessory cables in there. The RT came with hard side cases and a hard shell top box (aka trunk). I quickly purchased some liners for the side cases. Again, an expensive item so I went on the cheap and purchased the Bestem side case bags. They have actually worked very well and I don’t think the expensive BMW bags are any better. The only thing that is questionable on the Bestem bags is the zipper. The zipper is a little flimsy, but it hasn’t broken yet and I’ve been using them for over three years now. Since Leslie will never get on the bike I figured I could get a nice piece of luggage to mount on the back seat. Over the winter I purchased the Nelson-Rigg CL-150 expandable sport tail pack. I haven’t used this bag yet, but it is a perfect size and is waterproof so that is really all I was looking for in a seat bag. I am planning to put items like food, water, and maps in the tail pack so I don’t have to pull the key out and open the trunk and fumble around for them at a gas station. In June, I am planning a trip to Italy and plan to rent a BMW R1200GS and ride around. I knew I would have a lot of room for luggage so I bought a nice backpack specifically designed for use on a motorcycle. It is the Kriega R25 backpack. I will use it on the upcoming trip in May, but I will likely just put it in the trunk versus wearing it on my back. In Italy, I won’t have a trunk so I will need to wear it. It is very comfortable and shouldn’t cause much discomfort. That’s it for luggage. Packing for two or three weeks on the road is a challenge, but since I do not need space for camping equipment, I should have enough room for an adequate supply of clean clothes.

Farkles Continued

I ride a lot at night on these long trips. I rather enjoy nighttime riding, but one thing you are exposed to is less visibility and more deer. I wanted some extra lights for the bike so I bought the PIAA 1100X Universal Driving Light kit. These lights are very small, but kick out a lot of light. They mount very nicely in the front of the faring and there is an on/off switch on the left handlebar. The lights don’t project out as much as I like, but you become very visible to other drivers on the road which increases your safety rating. I am always looking for deer at night and the extra lights do help.

I am paranoid about getting pulled over for speeding. I am not an excessive speeder, but I like to be aware of my surroundings so I have a Valentine One (V1) radar detector. You can get pulled over for just about any amount of speed over the limit and speeding tickets are expensive. More important than that, getting pulled over takes a lot of time away from moving forward along the road. The V1 is one of the top of the line radar detectors and displays much more information than a standard radar detector. If I avoid one ticket from the use of the V1, it is worth having. I am sure it has saved me a few times. There are a lot of people with philosophies on whether or not it is efficient to speed. I don’t have a philosophy, I don’t speed like crazy, but I do exceed the speed limit on occasion and I prefer the added sense of comfort the V1 gives me. My V1 is mounted on an accessory shelf I installed on the dash of the bike. The shelf is great and I have room for a couple other farkles if I decide to scale a bit. The V1 is covered with a molded plastic cover so rain is not a problem. I have the V1 connected wirelessly to a Vizalert attached to my helmet. The Vizalert is a little panel of lights that are on the inner right side of the helmet. The lights indicate the alert being displayed on the V1. This is very useful on the highway when you can’t hear any of the audible alerts. I should note that I do not have the V1 hardwired to the bike’s electrical system. I prefer to have it connected through the accessory outlet. This way, I can take the V1 with me and use it on other vehicles if needed. I have a Big Mak tank bag which I use to store all the cables. I purchased the small tank bag, but in hindsight, I should have purchased the mid-sized bags. The bag tends to get overstuffed in the winter with all the electrical clothing cables going through it. With a mid-sized bag I could take the gear off the bike and quickly put it in the tank bag and take it with me easily. I do that now at home or at hotels when I don’t want to leave the gear on the bike overnight, but the stuff does not fit neatly in the small Big Mak tank bag. This leads me to luggage which I will save for next time.

Tires, Tires, F'n Tires

A break from farkles to discuss tires. I am so pissed right now and it is all due to my tires. The last set of tires I had on the bike were Michelin Pilot Road 2 model tires. I didn’t know anything about tires at the time and they were on sale so I purchased them. They are a sport-touring model tire and since the RT is a sport-touring bike I figured they would work well enough. I was only expecting to get about 8,000 miles out of them. They performed flawlessly and I put almost 12,000 miles on them. I rode them in just about every road condition possible. They never lost air, no punctures, perfect. I know I needed new tires for this long 9,000+ mile trip I was going on so I wanted a tire specific for touring. I did some research and Metzeler has one of the best reputations for tires. The general consensus is that they are pricey, but worth it. In December 2009, I decided to get the Metzeler ME880 Marathon model tires installed. I was expecting to easily get 12,000 miles from these tires. I have had nothing but problems with the rear tire and it is driving me nuts. I never had to “plug” a tire before and after only about 1,000 miles on these, I got a flat. Then a few weeks later I got another flat and now I have a weird super slow leak or maybe no leak at all and it is driving me nuts. It went flat and I filled it up with air and 12 hours later it went flat then I filled it up again and I couldn’t find the leak because it was so slow and weak. Yesterday, I filled it up with air again and this morning I checked it and it is fine. I have no idea what is going on and I am not comfortable at all with this tire. I ordered another tire from Second Wind BMW in Merrimack NH. It should be in this week. I really hope it is the tire and not something more serious like the rim or something. A word on Second Wind BMW… I had been using Greater Boston Motorsports for a couple years. They are Boston’s BMW dealer in Arlington MA. I was using them because they were close, but their customer service has always been really bad. They deal with too many bike models so their parts personnel don’t have a clue. They have ordered the wrong parts for me on a number of occasions. I decided to try Second Wind back in December. They picked-up the bike and I had them do a major service for me. Very responsive customer service and they only deal with BMW and Triumph bikes so they have a specialized focus. The location is not too far away and it is a good launching point for some great roads in NH.

Farkles

“Farkling” is a term used in the motorcycling community to describe gadgets. I can’t get enough of these. I want them all, but don’t have the space. I am always seeing products that could improve my ride, but I need to be selective because you can’t hook-up everything. Sometimes I wish I would have purchased the RTP version of my bike which is the Police bike version. It does not have a pillion seat; it has an extra battery in place of the seat in order to run all of the extra lights and what not for police bikes. These bikes are available commercially and I have seen many of them on the road. I am a member of the Yankee Beemers Motorcycle Club and one of the riders has one completely fitted with all sorts of fun stuff including a full computer with internet access on the fly. He’s got a Toughbook computer in the trunk and it is connected to a flip-up touchpad on the tank bag. Very cool stuff. I am in the process of buying a Verizon Netbook with 3G in order to be connected on long trips. I am not attaching it to anything, but it will be in the trunk so I can use it at stops and overnights. Also, I plan to use Microsoft Streets and Trips to modify my route along the way and need to connect the GPS to the Netbook in order to upload changes to the route. This shit is crazy; I am obsessed. Anyway, I do have an adequate amount of Farkles on the bike to play with. We’ll start with the BMW Navigator III GPS which is a Garmin (very similar to the StreetPilot 2820 model) specifically designed for motorcycles. It is waterproof so I can roll in the rain with no problems and it has some great features. Besides the Bluetooth capabilities it has some great data and tracking features plus some large buttons on the mount so you are not fumbling through screen menus to get to some of the more frequently used features. I like the “speak” button; it gets lonely on the road and I like to hear a chick’s voice now and then. Typically, I use the Mapsource software on my Dell Inspiron laptop to map my route and then load the route into the GPS via USB or Bluetooth from the laptop before mounting it on the bike. Soon, I will start using the Netbook and Streets and Trips. Routing takes a lot of time, but it is part of the ride and I enjoy doing it. Mapsource is a little clumsy so I’m hoping Streets and Trips will lessen the time I have to spend on routing. The 2010 version of Streets and Trips will take your route and load it directly to your GPS which is very cool. I have a BlackBerry Tour cell phone with Verizon service which connects via Bluetooth to the GPS. This is nice because the phonebook from the BlackBerry syncs to the GPS as well. I can easily make calls and answer calls on the move. I’ve done this and the sound/reception is very clear using the features of the helmet to hear and talk into the installed mic. The caller can not tell I am on a motorcycle rock’n down the highway. More farkles later….

The Nolan N103 Outlaw

The Italians really know how to build a helmet. I was shopping for a helmet for quite some time before deciding on the Nolan. I saw a special on the Discovery channel which featured Alpinestars protective riding gear (also Italian) and Nolan helmets. They went to the factory and had engineers explain their process for developing and building Nolan helmets. It was very interesting and convinced me to look into Nolan further. I talked to a few people who own them and the only criticism they’ve had is that they feel the Nolan helmets are noisy and heavy. I agree with both assessments, but you can easily mitigate the first with some ear plugs and the heavy thing just makes me think that I’m getting more protection so I’m ok with it. The main reason I purchased the Nolan was for the communications. I bought the “Outlaw” flat black model. I wanted as few wires and cords as possible in terms of the communications system for the bike so I purchased the Bluetooth comm unit for the helmet. The helmet comes with a boom mic, but you need to purchase the comm unit separately. My BMW Navigator III GPS (special Garmin GPS for BMW, but it is almost identical to the Garmin StreetPilot 2820 model) unit is the central nervous system of the bike and the helmet connects to it via Bluetooth which is wonderful when it works. I’ve been on rides and the connection will drop off for no reason. At times I regret not getting the hard-wire system, but I’m stuck with this now and have learned to deal with it. I think I’ll save the GPS discussion for another post. Back to the helmet… It is a flip face helmet so when I stop for gas, I don’t really need to remove the helmet. I can just flip up the front and I have full visibility. This saves time. The flip face is also useful for quick water and PowerBar stops. Another useful feature is the retractable shaded visor. Nice when you are wearing regular glasses and the sun decides to come out. Instead of stopping and putting on sunglasses you just need to drop down the shaded visor on the fly. There is an outlet to plug an iPod into the helmet. I don’t do this very often, but the sound quality is quite good with the built-in speakers. The Bluetooth has eight hours of “dormant” battery life which is a challenge on long trips. I recently purchased a charger so I should be able to charge the helmet Bluetooth on the fly through the bike’s battery accessory socket. I have also connected a Vizalert heads-up display to the helmet, but I will save that discussion for a later post. All in all, a nice helmet with several features and some scalability.

Riding Gear

To call my interest in motorcycles and the sport of motorcycle riding an obsession is an understatement. This is no joke; I am constantly thinking about ways to improve my riding, what can I get to make things easier, how can I increase my range, how can I reduce the amount of time needed for stops, how can I be more comfortable, how can I lessen fatigue, how can I improve my route, how can I mitigate my exposure to risk, how can I deal with the time/distance constraints within my trip, what foods can I consume to better my abilities, and on and on and on. I have a fairly rigid physical fitness plan and diet and the only reason I have such a thing is to be in top physical health in order to maximize my riding capabilities. I enjoy being healthy, but really I just want to be in shape in order to ride hard for days and days and days at a time. Whenever I meet other like-minded people, I usually walk away from the conversation with a list of books to read or products to research in order to determine whether or not to incorporate them into my world. I get a lot of ideas from bulletin boards and of course all the magazines I subscribe to. As I re-read the beginning of this post it really looks ridiculous and this interest may wane in the future, but for now I am just being honest and trying to explain this obsession. Ok, so…back to riding gear. The basic piece of gear starts with my fully armored grey on grey one-piece Aerostich Roadcrafter riding suit. Aerostich is a company headquartered in Duluth MN and since I am from that area, I try to use them for any gear and accessories. Also, they have a very strong reputation in the riding gear commercial space, particularly within the BMW owners’ community. I have been there a couple times and once I set my sights on the Roadcrafter, I decided to ride there to get a custom fit and besides, you get a 10% discount if you purchase from them directly in Duluth. I did a Bun-Burner Gold (BBG) ride there last summer. The BBG is an Iron Butt Association (IBA) certified ride of 1500 miles in 24 hours. I actually went 1500 miles in 23 hours. I think the IBA will be the topic of a later post. Anyway, I got fitted for my Roadcrafter and they sent it to me a couple weeks later. I love the suit. It really is worth every penny (~$900). What do I wear under the suit? There is so much protection on this suit that you could wear nothing underneath if you wanted and you would still be very well protected from any road rash if you find yourself skidding down the highway. I have been experimenting with several different “base layers” and undergarments. On short day trips I usually just wear normal street clothes underneath, but on long distance (LD) trips I need to wear the most comfortable stuff possible. I have tried several Under Armour, Nike, Addidas, Rukka, and Alpinestars products for shirts. All of them have been decent. Under Armour has worked best for winter riding and the others have been adequate for summer riding. You really just need something that is close to the skin and “wicks” the sweat from your body. For underwear, you can not go wrong with LD Comfort underwear. An excellent product and will give any LD rider the ability to go an extra couple hundred miles on any given day without crotch rash. I recently purchased a few pair of the long LD Comfort underwear in preparation for next month’s trip. My plan is to wear the long underwear and a wicking shirt under the Roadcrafter and that’s it. I have a nice Aerostich Kanetsu electric vest for the winter, but it won’t be necessary on this trip. I am not bringing it, but I am aware that the temps will drop so I am bringing a couple sweatshirts and they should be adequate. Boots and gloves. Last year, I read a blog from a woman who rode across Europe and she had some recommendations which I adopted. Two of which are boots and gloves. For boots, I have the TCX Airtech Gore-Tex boots. This boot is marketed as a summer boot with “breathable” waterproofing features. However, I wear the boot year round and have had no problems with varying temperatures. They are very comfortable, but you need to tuck your pants into the boot because if you don’t, the top of the boot will rub your shin and irritate your skin. For summer gloves, I use the REV’IT! Zenith H2O Gloves. REV’IT! makes a bunch of summer gloves, but I needed the waterproofing because I actually love to ride in the rain, but I like to stay dry as I do it. These gloves are comfortable and perform in the rain as advertised; they also have some knuckle armor. However, when it is extremely hot and you get sweaty, they are very difficult to take off and put back on which increases your stopping time and (to me) that’s unacceptable. I have some cheap cloth liner gloves that I wear underneath and they have helped tremendously. I wear them for a day and throw them out. They are perfect for this purpose and you can find them at any Home Depot and they are cheap. In the winter and cold months I have a couple options for gloves. I have the Tourmaster Winter Elite glove which is very comfortable and they have a nice rain cover attached to them. These gloves are great for the cold spring and fall rides. When you get deep into the winter though, you need to break out the electrics. In November 2009, I purchased the Gerbing’s 12V Hybrid Heated Glove. The gloves have a battery so you can wear them without being tethered to your bike’s electrical system. However, the battery will only last about an hour at the full level. If you are on a long trip, you need to connect them to the electrical system for constant use. I bought the Hybrid model because my commuter bike is a 2002 Piaggio Vespa PX150 and I didn’t want to get it all wired for accessories. My commute is only about 15 minutes so I can use the gloves for about a week on a single charge. They are very warm and I have been quite happy with them. They have no armor protection and they say they are waterproof, but I’m not sure I would trust them in really heavy rain. Who’s riding in the rain in the winter though? I will ride in any weather except freezing rain unless I’m stuck and I have to. Wow…this is a long post and I still have my complicated helmet to write about… I am going to save that for another post.

Creature Comforts

I just reviewed the older posts on this blog. That first trip I took was a lot of fun, but if I took the same trip this year it would drive me nuts. I'm a different kind of rider now and doing less than 500 miles in a day is a waste to me. In fact, most of my rides on this trip next month will be close to 1,000 miles/day. I like to get where I need to go. There is no sense in stopping if you are physically able to keep going. The other big difference is the bike. I own the same 2004 BMW R1150RT, but I have added so much to it. In 2007, my plan was to do the trip and then sell the bike when I returned, but the bike performed so well and it is such a capable multi-use machine that I decided to keep it. I decided to add to it and modify it considerably. I have tried to make the bike as comfortable as possible. A few of the "comfort" modifications include a Cee Bailey windshield to increase the wind protection which reduces fatigue. I have a Russell Day-Long saddle and it is probably the single best addition to the bike. It makes a huge difference and gives me the ability to put up the big miles. I do not have cruise control. I've tried it and don't feel comfortable with it so I opted for a Throttle Rocket wrist rest which also reduces fatigue in my opinion. I am able to maintain speed with very little effort and do not need to keep my hand wrapped around the throttle. I recently added some Hawks Talons highway pegs. I have not had much opportunity to use these, but on last summer's cross country trip I found my legs began to cramp a bit being in the same position. The pegs should give me the ability to stretch on occasion. I do prefer the default RT riding position, but figured I could use a little stretch now and then. I have noticed my knees occasionally need the break. I consider riding gear a comfort modification as well, but more of my philosophy on riding gear and farkling during a later post.

Restart

It's time to get this sucker started again. I really blew it the last time I tried to keep this blog going, but decided to give it another go. I am at the final stages of planning and preparing for my big trip next month. You can see the route at: http://tiny.cc/btreq You'll need to zoom out a bit to see the whole picture.

I have planned the ride and I am planning to ride the plan. So far, the plan is to leave Boston on May 1st and ride to Orlando in a day, where I have to spend the week working the big GSA Expo (expo.gsa.gov). If you are a federal employee, you really need to see this Expo at least once in your career. It is quite an event. From there, I will head west on Friday, May 7th. I will spend a day in Little Rock. For some reason, I really want to see the Clinton Library so that is why I am stopping there. Then on to Albuquerque to visit friends. I will ride Route 66 through Oklahoma along the way to NM. Then on to Phoenix to spend a day or so with a friend. Then San Diego to see some family and friends. Then L.A. to visit another friend and see the J. Paul Getty museum and villa. Then the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco where I will spend a couple days visiting friends and riding the area a bit more. Then heading east through Nevada along "The Loneliest Road in America" aka U.S. Route 50. The next major stop is to see the Devils Tower National Monument in Hulett WY. Then to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse in South Dakota. Then down to Kansas City to see friends. Then St. Louis to see friends. Then dip south to the Tail of the Dragon in NC. Then haul ass back to Boston from there to be back by May 22nd. All in all it should be about 9,000 miles.