REDDOG

My Dad and brother both ride beemers and always attend the BMW International rallies. This years rally was in Gillette, WY, which is only 420 miles from my house in Colorado. A perfect excuse to get together and ride! My Dad has a large trailer that can haul four bikes, so he loads up four beemers (Dads, brother's, brother-in-law's, and local friend of theirs) for the 1800 mile drive from Delaware to Colorado. The other three riders flew into Denver and I picked them up a few days before we started heading north for the rally. All my family live in Delaware, so I don't see them too often being so far away. Also, my Dad is 72 now with some health problems that hamper his riding. He planned the route with some lighter days to suit his needs, which was fine, as we were happy to all be riding together yet another year. The bikes (I probably screwed up BMW names): Dad - R1100 RT Greg (Brother) - R1150 GS Todd (In-Law) - K1200 GT Dave (family friend) - K1100 RS Bill (Reddog!) - VFR 800 Unpacking the bikes.. Pike's Peak from my back yard.. A few local deer showed up at the house to entertain the tourists.. The plan was to ride two days in Colorado, then head north to South Dakota, then west to Rally in Gillette. The first ride was up to Pikes Peak and the Delaware guys really enjoyed it. Of course I took my DRZ 400 instead of the VFR. The VFR does fine, but nothing better than a dirt bike to maximize the fun to the top. Half way up..my brother was stoked.. Greg at the top. He was just at sea level a day ago! Dave on the way down.. Colorado day#2 - Woodland Park to Aspen I rode two-up with my wife, brother Greg on the right.. On the way to the rally we spent a few days near Custer State Park, then west to the rally in Gillette, WY, plus two days riding in NW Wyoming. I will let the pictures describe the rest of the trip. The usual tourist stops; Rushmore, Bad Lands, Devil's Tower, Custer State Park. Then we did a 670 mile day out to NW Wyoming from Gillette...really great riding in that area. Over the Big Horns, Bear Tooth Pass, and Chief Joseph HWY. Simply awesome roads, great corners, scenery, and posted 65 MPH everywhere! (Even in the tight fun sections) We also found courteous drivers who would pull over and let us by in the tight stuff. Reddog..

"That took 20 minutes out of my day and some woman I passed "legally" on a dotted line stopped honked her horn and wagged her finger at me?? " Dang Slammer...everyone is out to get ya!.. :biggrin:

Loved the vertical profile from the Zumo. Impressive elevation change in the first 140 miles.

Rode it today and it was almost clean, they must have swept it. Saw your buddy about half way to Deckers in the corners. Thankfully he had his radar on versus instant on so I got a few corners warning before I saw him. I also ran into him a few days ago when I drove through there (same truck/atv combo). Again he was running radar. Seems they are getting a hard on for that area for some reason. BTW - Did he actually call it Horse Power Hill when he was asking about the 50 mph speed limit?

I finally made it out Sunday, south to Pueblo, 50, then 115 back to the Springs. Felt great to get out...but the wind was horrible! Almost went to TC but it was getting colder the further west I went.

Excellent write up and pics! I am still planning a PCH run next year. Poor Craig was frantic trying to get the bike running and make the trip. I had an extra RR and he came up to the house ASAP to pick it up and try it. Turned out to be the stator...bummer.

Great ride Miguel, thanks for coming along on such short notice! Can't believe you worked all night and still made the ride. That HD guy was cracking me up. Notice I was slowing after the corners to let him catch up, he really wanted to pace with us. The kind of guy you would like to stop and have a beer with...no doubt he loved to ride...couldn't quite push his machine through the corners (well not even close), but he was having a blast just like we were. It would have been ok if he had just caught up on the straits but then he tried to pass us...the nerve!. Like I said, he was having fun and really riding that beast. Nice to follow you back through the black canyon, it was the smoothest run ever through there for me. The cows were a problem, but great conditions other than that. Don't forget next year... :rolleyes:

Yes, Electrex screwed me over. Advertised a 6th gen stator part number, but didn't realize there was a difference between 5th and 6th gen stators. Shipped me a 5th gen, which was smaller and didn't work of coarse. I sent them photos of the difference in sizes and they ignored me. Never got my money back. I must admit though, they did ship me the wrong one pretty quick from overseas.

Poor Tim on the FJR. Blows one corner the whole trip and Miguel is right there to catch it on vid... :goofy: I checked the map again and still can't find the road he was signaling with his right blinker. There was a campground about 20 miles up the road, maybe just giving us advanced notice.. :blink:

Are you getting any of the pics? I see them fine when logged in as a member. Just have to wait a few for them to load before starting to scroll down. There are a few more this AM than I got to open last night. I waited until the "Done" message came up, but still can't see all of them. Love the ones I CAN see. (Says he with an envious look!). Ernie Ernie, My photo server was blocking hotlinks. I am fixing it now and it should work fine in the next hour or two.

Are you getting any of the pics? I see them fine when logged in as a member. Just have to wait a few for them to load before starting to scroll down.

TWO NEW VIDEOS My good friends Tim and Gary planned to spend a few days in the Ozarks and then head West to ride NM, AZ, and UT. Weather could be a factor out West, so our plan was to meet in Taos, NM, and then plan the rest from there. video preview :media:Devils Highway video - highway 191 Arizona, 20 min 65 mb mvw format, dmb and Nirvana do the sound. :media:Highway 152 New Mexico - the best road in USA in my opionion a wonderful surprize. Miguel (VFRD CEO) and I have been riding together for years around Colorado, so I sent him a typical two sentence email inviting him to ride along. Hey Miguel, lets ride for a few days down south. Meet at the World Arena in Colorado Springs (10am Sunday), spend the night in Taos and figure out the rest after that. Miguel emails back that he will be there. Thats it, we are all set. I love simple plans! Rather than slab from the "Springs" to New Mexico we decided to take mostly backroads. So on to the pics...... Leaving Woodland Park Sunday morning, Pikes Peak in the background. Breakfast in Colorado Springs. You would never guess by the quality of the sign, but the food and service are always good. Popular with bikers as well. I arrived early at the World Arena to meet up with Miguel and had time to watch the SCCA folks racing around their little road course. Miguel shows up right on time and we take the backroads to Westcliff, CO. The San De Christo mountain range is snow capped and spectacular. These buffalo almost caused a crash. Miguel was leading in the left side of the lane with me in trail. I saw his hand go up and thought he was telling me to look the buffalo, so I did. I looked strait again and see Miguel hard on the brakes and moving quickly to the right. Not enough time to stop behind him, or go left around him. I decided to let up on the brakes and try and squeeze between him the guardrail. He saw my head light at last second and moved a little left. We missed each other by a few inches. He actually signaled that he was going to stop and take a picture of the buffalo...oops...... We wrote it off as being rusty after a long winter and agreed that if we did crash this trip it would not be into each other. Lunch in La Veta, CO. Private parking right outside our rooms in Taos. There are some big ass trees in Taos! Hung my hat in there for comparison. Gary (left) and Tim at breakfast. Gary came in from Texas, Tim from Ohio. Miguel suggested lunch in the "Plaza", downtown Santa Fe. Great choice and really neat town. From Santa Fe we take back roads down to Al-bu-kurky. This is on top of Sandia peak, which overlooks the town. It was cold until we got to the top, at which point the radio transmissions from all these towers seemed to have a warming sort of microwave effect on the body. It also raised my battery voltage by two volts when we passed the towers. Not to mention setting off my radar detector, resetting my mileage, and shorting out my electric vest. No wonder people think weird alien stuff happens in New Mexico. Forum CEO...attention on the deck! Albukurky down there in the haze. Hotel in Silver City, NM. Amazing how much crap goes on the bike. In Arizona now, heading for "Devils Highway". Devils Highway, 83 miles of curves. Give this road the utmost respect we agreed at the half way point. You name it, it was there. Elevation changes, tight unpredictable curves, very little signage, random gravel, steep cliffs with no guardrails, and plenty of things to hit if you screwed up. Either the valley a 1000 feet below, the trees, or rocks. Not to mention you are literally out in the middle of nowhere. Miguel will be posting some good video of 152 in NM and Devils Highway (191). Lots of slab in AZ after Devils Highway. We were heading north to Mexican Hat in UT. The door lock to my room at the Mexican Hat Lodge. Guess the crib might be handy if you brougt little ones along. No bar of soap or shampoo in the room, but they did have a nice Gojo soap dispenser mounted inside the shower stall. Here are our steaks, on a grill that swings above the fire as they are cooked. Don't think the Mormons are pleased with this beer label. It does seem popular with the locals though. Get up, ride 500 miles, find a hotel, eat dinner, and party. The daily routine never got old. More rocks in Utah. Heading home. This was a bike shop in Gunnison, CO. Tim's tire was wearing down faster than expected and he was not going to make it back to Ohio. Ended up getting a tire a tire in Colorado Springs before heading home. The total trip was 1800 miles in four days. Great time and great company.

Alright Slammer....no more leading group rides with all those gadgets onboard. How can you possibly pay attention while... :music:, and :joystick:, and :goofy: ; btw - is the new detector working well?