The New Mount

Saturday 12/29:  I got this new 2013 BMW R1200GS Adventure for the Rally.  My 2008 GSA was put out to pasture after 160,000 adventurous miles.  Standing next to the new mount I engaged in a bit of zen bonding.  I began to tell the GSA what was in store for it with all the training rides, field testing, and a couple of practice rallies all culminating in the "Ride of a Lifetime".  I told the GSA I needed to depend on it performing flawlessly, like it's predecessor. 

Then, I asked my motorcycle if it understood that our partnership was special.  That we are a team and I am the team leader.  I asked if it had anything to say about it's role in our riding adventures. 

Just then, as if by some flash of serendipity, the stereo in my garage began playing......

"I'm going to make this place your home!

Seemed pretty fitting, to me.

Friday 11/30:  Headed north to New Mexico and turned right in Carlsbad.  Wanted to eat up some daylight to give the FLIR some more night time riding.  Specifically, I wanted to do some non-Interstate roads.  And what better place than the interior of Texas between I-20 and I-10.  Got dark when I arrived in Brady, about 3 hours away from home.  Stopped for gas, a sandwich and change into night riding glasses.  Adjusted the brightness/contrast on the FLIR and headed out.  The best settings I found for brightness/contrast are 10/5 respectfully on the monitor.  This gives the best view at night.  In addition to the ability to see the critters on the road, shoulders and on the adjacent field I found looking at the monitor screen when approaching vehicles and I pass each other.  I used to just look off to the right side to reduce the glare.  I often worried about hitting something just as I and the vehicle coming in the opposite direction pass.  Looking at the infrared display gave me a clear view of the road ahead.

I get better at using the FLIR with each ride.  I found that when I glance down at the monitor I should focus in the road at the point where my headlights stop.  This helps me to see if a critter is in the road on my path of travel.  By doing this I can also monitor the shoulder margins on each side of the road for the tell-tale white hot blobs of deer sign.  This gives me more than a 10 second path of travel view with just a half-second glance at the monitor.  The last hour of riding was through some of the most critter infested parts of the Texas Hill Country:  Fredricksburg to Luckenbach to Blanco to Wimberley.   I would never take this familiar route at night.  I would take the larger highways of US290 to US281 instead.  Riding with the FLIR made this experiment worth while and was less stressful.  It was good training.

Thursday 11/29:  Got a new farkle for the new mount and I'm going on a shake out ride to see how it does on the road.  See:  The FLIR PathFindIR Project posting for details.  I want to do some hill country roads, some interstate and some dessert highways to get a good workout for the installation configuration of the camera and it's monitor.  I've already determined the FLIR picture is not very effective with direct sunlight on the monitor.  But, it's primary use is for night time riding and spotting critters on the sides of the highway up to 1,000 feet ahead.

Wednesday, Nov 7:  Doing a shake out ride to the Texas Gulf coast and down to South Padre Island where I'll RON.  Then on Thursday head up along the Rio Grande to Laredo before turning north back to home.  A little over 1,025 mile ride. 


Ok, I got the new ride and it's pretty cool.  Has that new bike smell and feel.  Got finished wiring up my GPS harness, CAN Bus helper, modified the rear seat to accommodate my "BackUp" back rest, and tail bag.  I rode it to Gruene HD for my weekend class and plan on doing a 450 mile around the block ride on Monday to get the 600 miles on it for the initial break-in service.


Been working on farkeling it up to meet the functionality of the old GSA.  Here's a list of the things I've been doing to the new GSA to get it long distance ready.

• Tank bag
• Installed the oil cooler protective grill. 
• Headlight plexiglass protector.
• Foot pegs on the crash bars.
• Windshield extension
• Installed water bottle holder
• BakUp back rest onto the rear seat pan
• Tank bag holder on the rear seat pan
• Gas cap lock quick release
• Throttle tension adjustor
• Garmin zumo 665
• Spot Personal locator mount
• Freeway Blaster Fiamm low tone horn
• Retro-reflective stickers on panniers
• Anti-slip striping on pannier lids

As I make modification I'll post them here. 


Today, Tuesday, October 23rd,  I'm riding my un-farkled 2008 BMW R1200GS Adventure to Lone Star BMW in Austin to pick up my brand spanking new 2013 BMW R1200GS Adventure.  I was holding out for one of the new water cooled Adventures but they won't hit the market until late in the model year.   Even though my 2008 GSA is rock solid dependable, it currently has 160,000 miles on it and would have well over 200,000 miles on it by the time I trained up next year's rally season.

It's a Deal !

"Hey Gary, this looks just like the old bike."  "Yeah, I know Tim, and it's costing you a lot more to boot."










The Old Mount:  SOLD!
I put the 2008 up for consignment at Lone Star BMW/Triumph in Austin.  It is covered by an zero deductible extended warranty until July of 2015.  I put in a new clutch when it blew a U-joint at 123,000.  I will miss this trusty ride but have great hopes for the 2013 GSA.  The initial asking price for this excellent motorcycle is $9,500.

DYI Long Distance Riding Adventures

Riding long distances is all about being safe.  Knowing your limits and riding within them.  It is about extending your riding horizons beyond your local area.  Want to get more out of your limited vacation time?  Learn how to ride long distance.  All it takes is a full tank of gas and an empty bladder.  No, seriously, LD riding is nothing more than staying on the motorcycle from fill up to needing gas again.  By doing this you begin to know what things on your motorcycle cause discomfort.  What items of your riding gear need to be changed.  Riding long distance is about solving problems that come up while riding the motorcycle.  

Do Some Homework:

Archive of Wisdom -- 28 Tips & Techniques from Iron Butt Rally veterans
Long-Distance Riding in Hot Weather - Tom Austin, IBA Chief Technical Advisor
Motorcycle Fuel Economy -- Tom Austin, IBA Chief Technical Advisor
Fatigue and Motorcycle Touring, by Dr. Don Arthur.
Fatigue and Riding Smart -- PowerPoint Presentation
First Responder Actions -- PowerPoint Presentation
(Dr. Arthur's work posted here with his permission)

Do Some Training:  See ROG Testing post

1.  Pick a day to ride
2.  Pick a route on interstate highways (highest speeds, highest consumption rate)
3.  Fill your gas tank and 1 or 2 gallon safe/approved gas container.  Be sure to stow it safely.
4.  Zero your trip odometer and head out on the highway
5.  Ride until the motorcycle runs out of gas.  NOTE ROG distance
6.  Add the contents of the gas container and ride to the nearest gas station.
7.  Fill the gas tank and determine total capacity (fillup + gas can - gas used from ROG point to gas station)
8.  Go to step 3 above and REPEAT!

This is basic LD training.  It's not about the scenery along the way.  It's all about bonding with your motorcycle.  The goal is to be able to comfortably ride out 90% of a full tank of gas.  So, to that end it is important to know the fuel endurance distance (FED) of your motorcycle at sustained highway speeds.  Don't focus on miles per gallon, rather how many miles can you get out of a full tank of gas.  Sustained speeds, over 55 mph, on the interstate will give you the lowest fuel endurance miles. 

Be sure to hydrate while riding at a pace that will not fill your bladder too quickly.  Feel free to stop for rest between gas stops during your early training sessions.  If you feel discomfort while riding note what is causing it and work at solving the problem.  Your body will tell you what needs to be corrected.  Use the same tactic for solving motorcycle mechanical and equipment issues.

Make your motorcycle a comfort zone:

These items work together to solve the "monkey butt" issue.  The combination of a solid seat foundation with the ceramic beads allow for air flow and changing pressure points for added blood circulation.  The undergarments wick moisture away from the skin to keep the backside and thighs dry.  The outerwear riding pants are Gore-Tex waterproof and slide on the ceramic beads very smoothly.  The system works well for me for long hours in the saddle day after day after day.  See the complete list of my riding gear here:  Farkle Data Sheet

1. Seating foundation:  Sargent Seat
2. Dynamic Pressure/Air Circulation:  BeadRider ceramic beads
3. Underwear:  LDComfort riding shorts "Wonder Fabric"
4. Outerwear:  Aerostich AD1 Riding pants

Having highway peg helps with differing ones leg position while riding.  Also, being able to stand up while riding allow for blood to flow more freely in the legs.  It is important to wear compression socks to avoid lower leg swelling and the risk of blood clots.  Dr. Scholl's therapeutic compression socks work great for me and are available at Walmart for $8.95.

I use a motorcycle back rest mounted to the passenger seat pan.  It's made by Bakup USA.  It's an American company that has both rider and passenger back rests available for all makes and models of motorcycles.

Your First Iron Butt Association Certified Ride

The entry level IBA certified ride is the SaddleSore 1,000 or Bun Burner 1500.  I recommend the Saddle Sore 1,000 as your first IBA ride.  It can be done is under 18-20 hours.  It takes only one witness a the start and one witness at the finish.  For a detailed PowerPoint presentation on how to prepare the documentation see Dr. Howard's easy IBA Documentation Presentation.

Here are the basic steps:

1. Pick a day to ride
2. Pick a route that is easy to document and verify (See rules)
3. Pick a time to start
4. Get start witness sign off first
5. Get start dated business receipt (DBR) to start the ride clock
6. Get a DBR at each pit stop
7. Get a finish DBR to stop the ride clock
8. Get finish witness sign off last
9. Submit your certification package (see rules)
10. Start planning your next certified ride

Here are some LD riding adventures you can do anytime you want.

• Texas I-10 Solstice 'Day Ride' -- Orange to Anthony, Sunup to Sundown
• Iron Butt Association Certificate Rides --The Bucket List
• Texas World Capitals Ride -- Visit as many of the 23 communities in Texas with names of world capital cities in 24 or 36 hours
• Texas SaddleSore 1,000 -- Ride 1,000 miles in fewer than 24 hours all in Texas
• Ride Around Texas -- Ride the perimeter roads around all of Texas
• Bun Burner 1,500 -- Ride 1,500 miles Texas - Oklahoma - New Mexico - Texas in fewer than 36 or 24 hours.
• Texas Historical Markers -- Practice hunting bonus tasks locations and learn more about "The Great State of Texas"

Heaven to Hell 1,000 - Gold

IBA Certification

Starting Odometer:  152,528   Ending Odometer:  156,252   Total Miles: 3,724 (TX to Denver, H2H 1,000 back to TX)

This adventure had two parts:  attend the IBA International Meeting in Denver, CO and riding the Heaven to Hell Gold challenge ride.  I'll be departing home on Monday, August 13 and returning around Wednesday, August 22.  See the full SpotWalla Map.

Monday 8/20:  Refreshed from our rest we had a quick hotel breakfast and departed for our second mandatory DBR spot in Ely, NV.  I had programmed a waypoint in my zumo 665 for the gas stop some weeks ago.  Our original plan was to do our rest stop in Ely.  I was leading on this segment so I just rode to the Ely Gas waypoint I had in the GPS....effectively passing a much better choice right next to the turn off to Beatty.  I caught hell from my rally mentor, Dr. Howard, for relying too much on the crap in the GPS and not paying attention to the road signs.  We ended up spending about 30 minutes for a gas stop and riding around in Ely.  At this point our slack time to the Badwater finish was down to about an hour.  We still had to stop at Beatty, NV just outside of Death Valley for a mandatory DBR.

Howard leading the way

Smile!

The wide open spaces on this segment meant we could push a little harder and make up a few minutes.  By the time we got to Beatty, Howard had gained us 25 minutes.  We gassed up, soaked our LD Comfort shirts down and departed on the last 58 mile segment. 

Don't drink the water

Odo and Temperature

It was 114f on my bike thermometer when we pulled into the Badwater parking lot.  Time was just after 2 PM PDT on August 20th.  Spot'd our arrival, took a couple of pictures and headed towards Boulder City.  The temperature climbed to as much as 118f as I was riding out.

Joe was there!

 

We stopped in Kingman AZ for the night.  Took a shower, walked across the parking lot for dinner, then back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.  We're parting company tomorrow.  I'm heading back to Texas.  Joe and Howard are taking I-40 east to get some NPT stamps along the way.

Got Oxygen?

Sunday 8/19:  Going to pack up and get ready to re-position to the top of Pikes Peak for our 3PM MDT departure.   Check out the route plan sheet for the timing to waypoints.  Joe Green joined Dr. Howard and myself on the ride to Pikes Peek.  Our plan was to depart around 3pm local so we are on I-70 during most of the night riding time.  We got to the summit a little after 1pm and took in the sights.  Pictures to follow shortly.  Wow, "Got Oxygen" .... I really noticed the lack of oxygen at 14,100 feet.  Hell, I was out of breath taking a piss in the port-a-john.   After taking in the sights we went into the gift shop an had lunch.  I took a nap after lunch for about 30 minutes.

Mandatory Waypoint

After making a gift shop purchase to establish our starting DBR (dated business receipt) we departed the mountain top at about 3:15PM.  Next mandatory waypoint location was Independence Pass on CO 82 on the way to Aspen.  Dr. Howard and Joe are doing the National Parks Tour soe they stopped just of US24 for a park passport stamp.  I waited at the highway intersection for them to return.  At Independence pass we stopped for a quick bonus picture, "Spot'd" and rode down the mountain. Very narrow parts along the steep mountain parts.  At the junction of I-70 we topped off our fuel for the long ride to Delta, UT.  The was our rest stop and we arrived there a little after 1pm.  Our plan was to do 5 hour rest stop.  By the time we got to Delta we were about 1:45 behind our ride plan.  We cut the rest period down to 4 solid hours.   



Iron Butt Association International Meeting

Saturday 8/18:  The breakout sessions today were interesting.  I attended an over view of Garmin's new mapping software BaseCamp.  I've been experimenting with BaseCamp for a while now but have not found it more useful than MapSource.  But, I found out that BaseCamp will be including a way to include dwell time in the properties of a waypoint.  This is a significant improvement while planning multi waypoint routes to get an overall and more accurate route travel time.  I also attended the 2013 Iron Butt Rally briefing where the general location of the rally check points were announced.  This will help all those entered in the rally.  As you might expect the rally will encompass the entire lower 48 states and maybe much of Canada and Alaska.  More information to follow. 

Friday 8/17:  Today was filled with lots of good information about long distance riding. The IBA organization has done a great job putting this meeting together.  The venue at the Marriott Tech Center is first rate.  The speakers have been very professional.  Of particular interest to me was the presentations by Dr. Donald Arthur (USN ADM) who is very active in the long distance riding community.  His article on FATIGUE and Motorcycle Touring is the must read for rest management.  He delivered a presentation on First Responder action, or what do you do if you come across a motorcycle crash with victims.  His presentation tomorrow on Fatigue will be very interesting.  Howard Entman and I have been going over our plans to ride from the top of Pikes Peak to Death Valley.  We're changing our departure time from early morning to 3pm MDT to minimize riding on two lane road at night.  By leaving in the mid afternoon that will put us on Interstate 70 during most of our night riding.  More later about the ride on Sunday. 

Thursday 8/16:  Got up early this morning to see off the 40 or so Rally 101 participants depart for their training ride.  The Rally 101 classes yesterday were about creating a ride plan from a rally book.  A set of bonus locations and rules for a long distance motorcycle rally.   The all arrive back later today and go through the scoring process.  Speaking of scoring, I attended a class on scoring the Iron Butt Rally.  Was a great learning experience.  Lots of attention to details and focus on the process.  Going to work on the audio issue I'm having with my helmet and XM audio amp.  Also, I want to reboot my zumo 665 to see if that resolves the time zone change issue.  Want to get finished before happy hour.....

Wednesday 8/15:  Slept in today.  Walked across the parking lot to the Waffle House for breakfast, yummy!  I'll probable leave Castle Rock and ride the 40 miles or so to the IBA International Meeting hotel at the Marriott Tech Center.  I'll be there till Sunday when Dr. Howard and I ride to the top of Pikes Peak for our Heaven to Hell Gold challenge ride. 

Tuesday 8/14:  North to Denver, well actually just outside of Denver.  I did a GPS time zone function check while crossing from CDT to MDT.  I prefer my GPS clock to stay on CDT and all subsequent time calculations to be made using one time zone.  It's less confusing to me.  My zumo 665 will change the arrival time to a waypoint as I cross a time zone.  I've emailed Garmin technical help but they skeptical.  So, just before crossing the TX/NM border from CDT to MDT I took a screen shot of my unit clock settings that shows the "Automatic" box unchecked.  Then, just before crossing the border I took another screen shot that shows the clock, location, arrival time to Denver.  Shortly after crossing the border, another screen shot.  Sure enough, the arrival time at the destinations increased one hour.  When I got to my motel in Castle Rock I sent Garmin the screen shots.  

Monday 8/13:  Left home around 11am to head west.  Took the southern route on US90 instead of the usual I-10.  Of course it was warm, around 102f till I reached Sanderson.  The ride into Alpine was a lot more comfortable with temperatures in the high 80s.  I'm trying a new neck cover made of Dryline fabric.  It's a Halo head band but instead of putting it on my forehead I tied it around my neck as a bandana.  It was much more comfortable than my usual cotton bandana.  I could feel the evaporation on my neck working.  

The IBA International meeting is a gathering of long distance enthusiasts from around the world.  Held every two years it is put on by the Iron Butt Association.  The agenda for the meeting is jammed pack full of seminars and breakout sessions with the focus on the various aspects of long distance riding and the sport of competitive rally riding.  The event runs from Wednesday, 8/15 though Saturday 8/19.

On Sunday, August 19, I and my rally mentor, Dr. Howard, will depart the Marriott Tech Center hotel in south Denver and ride to the top of Pikes Peak.  We are shooting to be at the summit around before 9AM MDT.  This will be the start point for the IBA challenge ride Heaven to Hell Gold.  Ride from Pikes Peak, across Independence Pass, through Ely NV and finish at Badwater, CA in the middle of Death Valley, all in under 24 hours.

A - Pikes Peak Highway, CO
B - Independence Pass, CO
C - Ely, NV
D - Beatty, NV
E - Badwater, Death Valley, CA