Winter Riding

Winter riding is a fickle date, never knowing exactly when weather changes will leave you with a sunny day and clear roads, or an opportunity to practice your riding posture sitting on your bike in the garage with 4 inches on snow in the driveway.

We went from this...















to this.. in a matter of one week.

Took several weeks to melt off well enough to get hit again with 2 inches more that was gone in mid-40°f temperatures that followed, but the ability to fit in a few rides never fails the willing so we cranked out several in the January-now timeframe.

John near Spanish Orchards

Jon and Terry up Badger Mountain

John and I up Badger Mountain

Karen and I in Chelan

I've managed to put on 1000 miles on Mystique...

...and hit a 90,000 mile benchmark on Mistress just yesterday.

Adventure, Beta Version

Since there were no takers on a pavement run, I geared up and tested my panniers on the old Highway 28 and Stuhlmiller road between Spanish Orchards and Quincy. It was a kick to get back in there and root through numerous obstacles and road blocks that many dirt bikes had obviously worked their way around and climb different directions up the grade. Several dead ends that I got to wrestle myself through (the sand was a royal pain) and learning the balance and track of the bike.  Mystique performed admirably, but her rider needs more confidence, that's for sure.



Forgot what it was like to wrestle a 400 lb dual-sport over rough terrain, ugh.  I need a fitness plan. Also, got way back in there and suddenly the low-fuel light comes on. Hmmm... get down to the Trinidad Trading Post for fuel and I'll be good. Nope, closed down. I am not sure where the low fuel kicks in since this is my first tank and Quincy is closest so off I go... filled up 3.4 gallons at 201.5 miles leaving me a 1.2 gallon reserve when the light kicks on.  60 MPG, and that was almost all city miles in Wenatchee.  I can live with that.

Backtracked my route and the sun started dipping as I was returning from Quincy, 37°f sure felt chiller than it said.  A great test of the baggage and a first mileage estimate, what a great Sunday!


On a side note... only saw two other bikes out on the highway between Wenatchee and Quincy, an R1200RT and an R1200GS.

Oh, yeh...

Men and Women

Heh...

New Girl Has A Nice Rack!

Yeh, a bit saucy maybe, but then so is the bike.

I wanted some way of carrying the things I would/could need and didn't want to just strap stuff to the rear seat like I have with all my other dual-sports and found a used Happy Trail pannier rack set designed for the bike off the Seattle Craigslist for a fair price and picked it up when we returned Jacqueline back to Seattle after Christmas.

Mounting it took about 15 minutes (it was way easy) and then I began thinking "ok, now what are you going to attach to it so you can carry all the crap you want as you tend to overpack for everything?".  I remembered I had two medium ALICE (All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment) from my Army days that I had thought about garage selling the last 10 years but never had, so I pulled those out and lined it up with the Happy Trails rack... wow, this will work!




Stripping off the pack, I attached the frame of the pack to the rack and clamped it up like it was made for it. Attached the pack and viola!, I have soft panniers.










The packs come off with 2 straps for securing (if I need to motel it a night), and if for some reason I have to hike out from somewhere, the packs have their shoulder straps that can be reattached again with all I need to be safe and  survivable (canteens, e-tool, compass, poncho w/liner, fire kit).







Now I need a name for the new girl, something that has the allure of unknown destinations in it... I think Mystique fits.



And so it begins.

Still a Beemer Nation... Adventure Style!

Yeh, yeh, yeh....

My friend Bob said I have as big a problem as Harley riders... they won't buy anything but their brand and I won't buy anything that hasn't got a propeller on the side.

I guess he is right.

Went to see a 2006 F650GS that caught my eye... needed some tlc but had lots of potential, kind of like that Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.

I was priced fair, not a steal yet worth the money.

And it was a Beemer.

A Beemer Thumper.

And an adventure thumper to boot.

Life is too damn short not to live on the wild side.

Parked next to Mistress is like having your girlfriends running into another at the same club in a sense (these are things guys never bring up in mixed company).

The adventure spirit reawakens.

Day before Thanksgiving

So with Thanksgiving around the corner and with pies and dressing to do, I get home early embraced with a laundry list of stuff with no guarantee of uninterrupted time in the house and decide that before I get down to chores I'd rather have a break. "Want to go out on a ride?" I ask expecting the "no, it's below 50°f and too cold", but instead it's "let's go for it" so off we go for a 45 mile jaunt and test the new suspension 2-up.


I'm loving it, and so is Mrs. RedTigre. A cool 45 minutes out and a nice glass of Port upon return, easy on the soul...



Now it time to get down to business and enjoy the smells of home kitchen cooking.

*UPDATE* New suspension

How do you improve an 850 lb. Sport Tourer?

Buy performance progressive springs (HyperPro) from Klaus (http://www.wilbersusa.com).

That, and add said springs to newer/used front and rear struts with 10k each off eBay. Find a place to do the spring swap and spend a day installing and learning this is the workout you've meant to get lately.

Holy shmoly... took the test ride today and cornering was usually 35mph in a 20-25 curve, hit the same curve at 35 mph and hmmm...there was no effort.  Went back and hit it at 40 mph... no effort.  Hit it again at 45 mph... no effort and no center stand dragging. This thing corners like it was on rails.

Not brave enough to hit it at 50... how low can you go?  Braking, tracking, bumps on bridge joints passing like they aren't there , talk about regaining control... never had Ohlins or Wilbers but for $600 total, I am pleased.

Now I just have to figure out why I failed to connect the fuel gauge... another tupperware party, there goes an hour I'll never get back.

*Update*

Yep, took apart the side tupperware and found the missing wire not connected. Had her apart, connected, and back together in 30 minutes.

I'm getting pretty good at this.  ;)